Give Newport timely access to meetings

In this, the 21st century, with as many mediums as there are --

the Internet, television and beyond -- it’s amazing that some Newport

Beach residents still have to wait 11 days to watch Newport-Mesa

Unified School District meetings. They could translate the meetings’

results from Morse Code faster than that.

It seems a horrible injustice that these residents, who pay as

much as they do in both taxes and cable fees, don’t have the option

to watch the meetings live on television. Even the next day would be

a bit more acceptable.

So the school district has decided to pursue help from the city’s

two cable companies -- Adelphia Systems and Cox Communications -- in

gaining another public access channel that can allow their show, if

you will, to compete with the Newport Beach City Council’s.

You see, only one public access channel can show the meetings and

it must also show the City Council proceedings, also held on evenings

the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.

If the cable companies do not grant the district’s request, the

school board trustees should do whatever the can to ensure that

residents don’t have to wait 11 days.

If that means changing meetings to the first and third Tuesdays of

the month, it would guarantee that most meetings would be live in

Newport-Mesa. Occasional conflicts would arise in Costa Mesa when its

City Council, which convenes the first and third Mondays, meets on

Tuesdays following a Monday holiday.

But the trustees should really consider changing the meeting days

to ensure that residents have more timely access to the school

district.

It’s a shame that we want to bring our children into the

information age, yet we still have difficulty bringing ourselves into

it.