Lowcountry Montessori School 

                              Livestreaming of Public School Governing Body Meetings

All meetings of a public-school governing body, as defined by the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, must be open, accessible, and livestreamed to the public, except during lawful executive sessions. Links to livestreams should be posted with the meeting notice and subsequently posted on the School's website within two days of the meeting. The livestream must be of sufficient quality to permit clear hearing and identification of speakers, and closed captioning is strongly encourage. 

If a governing body cannot provide such livestream access despite making reasonable efforts to restore livestream access during the meeting, it must make a clear audio and video recording of the meeting in its entirety available on the School's website within two business days of the meeting. 

The School shall work with technology partners to establish, expand, or improve livestreaming capabilities. Upon a showing of reasonable efforts to comply, but with evidence of limited or no broadband access, the School may request up to a twelve-month extension for compliance from the State Board of Education's Policy and Legislative Committee. 

The State Board of Education may impose penalties for policy violations or noncompliance not to exceed one percent of state funds to the School. 

This Policy is adopted pursuant to South Carolina General Assembly Bill A28.

A. Chavarria asked how long we have to store the data and can we archive?

G.Alexander mentioned he believes City Council meetings have to be kept for 5 years. 

S. Fox mentioned possibly getting mics for better clarity.

L. Lyles asked how long meeting minutes are currently stored. 

   S.Fox says Board on Track stores all minutes, but not sure how long it stores them for. 

S. Fox Google meet has closed caption and recording. 

L. Lyles clarified that this includes all Committees and all Board Meetings. 

L. Lyles asked about uploading. 

S. Fox stated she usually just creates a Youtube Link.    

November 5, 2025 is when livestreaming and recording posting needs to start.  

Public Comment by Valerie Roming

USDA that we submitted in has been returned. We are still waiting for the second portion, Federal Government shutdown slowing the process. 

G. Alexander asked if we would need a budget revision. 

S. Fox says yes.

S. Fox brought up the cost of the Pre K 3 and 4 program, the cost of the staffing, and possibly charging to help offset the cost of the program as it is not included in government funding. 

Student count with Pre K 3 and 4 is 395, with out is 342, day 5 count was 336.

J. Poole asked if we can include Pre K 3 and 4 in our counts. 

S. Fox clarified that they do not count. 

J. Poole asked if kids have started or were just not here for the 5 day count.

S. Fox stated that we need to really worry about the 135 day count, as that determines the budget for the next year. 

J. Poole asked what day is the 135 day (3-17)

L. Lyles clarified that it is not actual students in seats that day.

G. Alexander clarified that the count is an average of the student enrollment between the different count dates.  

CTE Teachers planning 3 showcases 

Looking into a Riverview Field Trip. 

TCL Field Involvement and possible donations. 

L. Lyles asked about Beaufort County Montessori students, if there is a way to approach those families so they can continue the Montessori program with us. 

L. Lyles asked if we attend the Beaufort County School Fair. 

S. Fox stated we are not allowed because we are not a Beaufort County School. That Riverview usually has a High School night and that we generally go to that for the rising middle schoolers. Believe it will be in  December, so our High School Open House will be in January. 

Our Lottery is October 1st - January 31st. 

G. Alexander-Alliance Meeting last Friday had a lot of good information. 

New Charter Lottery Law passed 5% to 10% of enrollment can be designated to military families

S. Fox said we may need to update our bylaws and change our student enrollment weightings. 

L. Lyles asked about a Sponsorship update. 

S. Fox stated the banners were in and shirts were ordered. 

L. Lyles asked if there is a way to get everything done earlier in the year. That it may be easier to sell if we could have an earlier date. 

G. Alexander asked if there was anything the Board could do for the Director. 

S. Fox asked that the Board on Track stuff be updated. 

J. Poole asked whose responsibility it was to input stuff into Board on Track. 

G. Alexander stated that it was his and the Secretaries job. That S. Fox was talking about the calendar stuff. 

J. Poole asked about the financial information. 

---There was clarification about what information was mentioned in Public Comment. 

L. Lyles asked about Trunk or Treats