Minnesota association launches live stream of meetings

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Association for Pupil Transportation (MAPT) members who can't make it to Wednesday's committee meetings in person will have another option: tuning in online.

MAPT's safety and special-education committee meetings will be held at the Saint Paul Public Schools administration building this Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Both meetings will be available in a live stream on YouTube and Google+. Web viewers will even be able to submit questions for the meeting moderators and the members in attendance by commenting via YouTube.

To view the meetings on Wednesday, go to MAPT's YouTube channel and look for the live broadcast that will be titled “MN MAPT Safety and Special Ed 01 15 2014.”

Jason Schoolmeesters, who is director of transportation at North Branch Area Public Schools and serves as MAPT’s webmaster, told SBF that the association began using the streaming technology in March of last year. Since then, MAPT’s monthly safety and special-education committee meetings have been available as a live stream.

“Our initial hope when we began using this technology was to see more MAPT members, school districts, bus contractors and others to be able to gain important knowledge and expertise by tuning into the meetings either live or watching them at a later date,” Schoolmeesters said.

On Thursday, the association will expand the use of the technology for its board meeting. A few board members can’t attend in person but will be able to participate in the meeting using Google Hangouts.

Schoolmeesters added that the ability to log in live for the MAPT committee meetings has been a popular option for some members.

“We have heard from many users that they really appreciate the opportunity to be a part of these meetings using this medium and technology,” he said.