The Bow School Board revised its policy on recording meetings in response to ongoing public pressure from residents who have expressed frustration with the board’s transparency.

Marcy Kelley, superintendent of Bow and Dunbarton school districts, suggested changing the recording policy to allow all recorded meetings to be kept and made available for public viewing for five years after the recording date.

All school board members unanimously approved the policy change earlier this month, although the revisions have yet to be updated in the official policy document.

The policy revision comes after a contentious annual school district meeting in March when residents presented a petitioned warrant article requesting that all board meetings be live-streamed and recorded. They also asked for the recordings to be available online for at least five years.

Although many community members supported the proposal at the school district meeting, the board ultimately voted it down, saying they felt that the existing policy was sufficient. One board member, Melynie Klunk, voted in favor of the proposal.

In addition to the five-year access rule, the revised policy outlines procedures for any potential video edits.

“In the unlikely event that the recorded meeting requires an edit to be made to the recording, the approved meeting minutes from the same meeting will be amended and presented to the Board for approval with revised meeting minutes noting the time of the edit and rationale for the edit,” the policy states.

School board members said there hasn’t been a time when they can remember a video having been edited.

“It’s going to be such a rare occasion, I imagine,” said board member Jenna Reardon.

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com