SOUTH DEERFIELD — The school committees of the Frontier and Union 38 regional school districts have approved a new public comment policy in response to being “Zoom-bombed,” or hacked, at a recent meeting.
“I’m trying to put something in place until we can get better security on that,” Superintendent Darius Modestow said Tuesday at an individual school committee meeting for the Conway Grammar School.
As part of the policy, members of the public are asked to submit comments or questions in advance of the meeting. They can do so via email to an address that will be set up for each individual committee, or by dropping off a written comment at the central office on North Main Street.
Modestow explained that the need for a new policy followed a joint meeting of the Sept. 3 Union 38 School Committee, during which hackers took over the screen and shared videos of pornography.
“The open Google Meet, I can’t keep secure without restricting people somehow,” Modestow said at the Frontier School Committee meeting earlier this month. “The same thing happens with Zoom.”
Modestow said in consulting with the school districts’ attorney, he was advised that other districts are operating under a similar policy of requiring comments be submitted in advance.
Frontier School Committee member Phil Kantor said he had concerns about the policy, namely that it would affect the public’s ability to really participate in meetings.
“I come from the perspective that the secret sauce of Frontier success is the community support of Frontier,” he said. “This is the kind of thing that chips away at (our democracy).”
Kantor said he felt as though the public was being punished for something that was not its fault. Instead, he would prefer if there was a policy in place for switching to a conference call in the event of hacking in the future.
“Those are fairly safe and that would at least allow the public to participate unfettered,” he said.
Modestow said that could be considered. He noted that Google is expecting updates to be released in October that may improve security.
At Tuesday’s meeting for the Conway Grammar School, Modestow clarified for committee members that the security concerns being addressed for public meetings do not necessarily apply to students in their remote learning classrooms.
“It’s very different,” he said. “The school classrooms’ Google platform, you can only be (in), if you’re invited in. Even parents can’t get into those classrooms unless they’re invited directly. … It’s very different from when we send a Google link out to the world and we say, ‘Please come join us for our meeting.’”
Modestow advised the committees to vote on the policy, acknowledging that a vote would not mean the policy is set in stone.
“(If) a policy doesn’t work for us, we can change a policy at any time,” he said.
The Frontier School Committee and the four committees for the Union 38 school district’s elementary schools each voted in support of the policy, with a request for Modestow to return to them with possibilities for audio submissions, or inviting people to participate if they let the district know ahead of time.
“Public comment,” Modestow said to committee members on Tuesday, “is an important part of this committee’s work.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne