Scranton Times-Tribune reporter @HofiusHallTT covered a school board meeting last night. The meeting, live-streamed via Zoom, was capped at 100 attendees. https://twitter.com/HofiusHallTT/status/1305656001421549568

The meeting filled up, and people who wanted to watch and/or participate via Zoom were not able to. The district solicitor indicated that this is not a violation of Pennsylvania's #SunshineAct. https://twitter.com/HofiusHallTT/status/1305672852503441409

Whether or not that set of facts is a violation of the Sunshine Act has not been tested, to the best of my knowledge, in any Pennsylvania court. ( @OpenRecordsPA has a statutory duty to provide Sunshine Act training, but we do not make any rulings on that law.)

And if this meeting (or a similar one) is ever challenged in court, the solicitor may be proven right. However, I believe any comparison between a Zoom meeting and a brick-and-mortar meeting is misplaced.

Zoom offers large-meeting options that allow up to 500 attendees and up 1000 attendees. It looks like those options start at $50 per month and $90 per month, respectively. That's a remarkably small price to pay for vastly increased transparency.

Side note about brick-and-mortar meetings: If a room fills up, many agencies (not all) have the ability to move the meeting to a larger room at the same location with a modest amount of effort. Or, if they know in advance, will schedule it in the larger room in the first place.

Back to Zoom: The $50 per month plan (500 attendees) totals $600 per year, and the $90 per month plan (1000 attendees) totals $1,080 per year. It's a tiny investment to ensure that the public can attend and participate in agency meetings.

Any agency that might ever have more than 100 people wanting to attend a Zoom meeting should seriously consider upgrading. (Other services have similar features.) From my perspective, it would be extremely difficult to explain why you chose to keep the 100-person limit. /end

Great point here from @amandasaint5 about brick-and-mortar meetings. https://twitter.com/amandasaint5/status/1305844275566063616