Dubay, others block livestream
Since the Spring of 2020, all L’anse Creuse School Board meetings had been live streamed, with voting meetings being streamed with audio and video, and other meetings (for some reason) being audio only. These streamed meetings were very valuable, as I am immuno-compromised and cannot attend in person.
In the Fall of 2021, Trustee Shane Sellers made a motion to add video streaming to the ‘audio only’ meetings, so all meetings would be live streamed with audio and video. President Dubay, Vice President Servial, Secretary Ross, and Trustee Hilton all fought against adding the video stream at that time. Then beginning with the very next meeting, without any notice and with no vote, all live streaming was suddenly stopped, with meetings being posted as much as 72-hours later. The timing is more than suspicious.
At the Jan. 18 meeting, Mr. Sellers decided as a free service to the district to live stream the meeting on Facebook from his seat, and again made a motion to live stream all the board meetings. In discussion, he pointed out how nearly every other surrounding school district live streams, and pointed out many parents, students, and employees of the district have come to rely on the live streams to stay informed about district business and happenings. The reaction of many on the board was shocking.
Dubay, Servial, and Ross constantly interrupted Sellers with condescending tones and/or outright rude behavior while he attempted to make his case for returning to live streaming and seemed angered by the idea of additional transparency. Only Dr. Spencer agreed that live streaming all meetings with audio and video was a good idea.
When asked to indicate what value not live streaming the meetings has for the community, Dubay and Ross, with no evidence, cited cost factors. It seems Dubay has no trouble spending taxpayer money on personal political censures last spring and summer, but balks when it means providing live and up-to-date information on the school district to the community.
If the meetings are being filmed for later showings, why not allow them to be streamed live as well? Some members said the additional cost would be $30,000 — how and where did they get that figure? If the meetings are recorded, it would seem that streaming them should add little to no additional cost, especially given the labor involved in uploading the recorded version up to 72 hours later, which some on the board indicated was necessary to allow time for editing.
That is the very reason why the meeting should air live, especially since, to my dismay, the discussion I am referencing was completely edited out of the January 18th meeting video posted to the district’s YouTube channel. That’s abuse of power.
Dubay has abused her power for political purposes in the past, and she, Ross and Servial have done so again by depriving the community of a valuable service and added transparency. They seem to forget who they work for. It’s not themselves, it’s the community. Anything that limits transparency, especially today, is wholly unacceptable.
Candice LeFleur
Harrison Twp.