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TC 05-01-96 Telecommunications Commission Regular Meeting May 1, 1996 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Mike Winch. ROLL CALL Present: L.T. Cmttadauro, Bill Mannion, Ernest Tsui, Mike Wincn AbSent: Paul Rodwick Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman De A,7a College: Ron Fish Guests: Karen BurneR, FUHSD; Harvey Barnett, CUSD; Linda Grodt and Don Yaeger APPROVAL OF APRIL 3, 1996 MINUTES L.T. C-uttadauro made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Ernest Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Linda Grodt told the commission that she had entered three Silicon Kids shows in the children's category for the upcoming BACE awards and all three were chosen as finalists. One of the - three shows is also a finalist in the community event category. Donna Krey told the commission members that if anyone wanted to attend the awards ceremony on May 10, there is money available in the conference and meeting budget. She also suggested that the educational channel may be interested in G-rodt's programs. Don Yaeger said he had one finalist in the docudrama category for the BACE awards. Written: Krey distributed copies of the Coastal Access Community newsletter as well as the Alliance for Community Media newsletter. NEW BUSINESS Update on telecommunication programs in schools: This item was taken out of order. Karen Burnett of the Fremont Union High School District and Harvey Barnett of the Cupertino Union School District were introduced to the commissioners. Burnett distributed a memo on Cupertino Educational Television and explained her job at the school district as coordinator of information services, which includes overseeing Cupertino's new educational access channel, Ch. 63, which has been on the air since February 8, 1996. Sunnyvale also has an educational access channel, and Burnett said the district would eventually like both cable television channels available to all students within the district. Recently, Channel 63 has been showing local programming on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m., including the FUI-ISD foundation recognition dinner program, a Homestead High School program produced by its students, and a series on the AIDS sympositun which was held a few months ago. - Bumett distributed an information packet about Sunnyvale's Channel 28 and said she would like to do the same thing for Channel 63. TCI has given permission to use Cable in the Classroom programming in Cupertino. Barnett said the elementary school district is not involved in either of the educational channels formally, however, they were in on earlier discussions. Because the elementary school di~t~ict serves six cities, they were concerned about eq~,al access for each of thc schools within thc district. Currently, there are no resources available to support being involved with the educational channels, said Barnett. His position is Director of Technology and he is encouraging teachers to use an interactive multimedia set of news stories daily that come across the cable system and are stored on the school's hard drive. TCI provided the cable modem for free. There are six stories daily that include text video graphics, easy to edit by teachers, kids can see it, and provides video links. This is mainly being promoted for grades 4 through 8. He said Collins School in Cupertino is not wired for cable because its cable drop is more than 150 feet from the pole. TCI said they would install the drop for a one time installation fee of $4,500. Krey said she will look at the new franchise agreement, which has a list of all of the schools that will be wired, and will get back to Barnett. She will also provide a copy of the franchise agreement to Burnett. All of the schools have been wired for video cable and this means that each classroom can access the cable netWork. There is also a potential for cable broadcasting from within the school. Kennedy Junior High School bas had a video production class for the past five years, and they regularly broadcast student-produced videos over the system. Tsui asked Barnett what he would like to see happen in the future. Barnett said: 1) Enhance home to school communication; 2) promote interactive learning at home through television; and 3) have the ability to broadcast to all of the school sites. He said they still have the ability with the county's ITSF system but the charges for that service became exorbitant, as well as the fact that the district has a very extensive videotape library. Ron Fish offered to provide tapes of the little league games held at Wilson Park to be shown on Channel 63 as well as a list of crews that would be available for assisting with any video projects. He also offered the use of De Anza's access studios. Burnett added her district's future visions: the idea of media literacy, including training and learning and practicing, which would match up students with real life experiences. OLD BUSINESS Discussion of educational grant guidelines: Tsui said the commission wants to assist the school districts with their long-term goals. It was suggested that each district add its goals to the grant guidelines. After discussion, the following changes were suggested to be made to the grant application: Add "and video" follow~n, g telecommunications in the first paragraph of page 1; delete "new and" in number 1 on page 1; add the goals as outlined by the school districts; delete the second sentence of the second paragraph under "Management of Awarded Grants" on page 2; delete the last three sentences of the third paragraph under "Management of Awarded Grants" on page 2; and delete the second sentence of the last paragraph on page 4. Guttadauro made a motion to have one commissioner involved in reviewing school grant applications to the district; Tsul seconded; and the motion passed unanimously..Cmttadauro .made a motion to accept the revised educational grant guidelines and application fo~m; Mannion seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Review of public access grant guidelines: This item was continued to the next meeting. Review of Channel 26 promotional activities ~md consideration of allocation: Krey said she talked to Kathi Noe of TCI about funding some of thc costs of thc relocation of Channel 26. TCI has agreed to fund two newspaper ads to run in the Cupertino Courier for six weeks, at a cost of a little more than $1,000. The commission still has money available in its budget and Krey suggested paying for thc costs of the promotional T-shirts or the re-design of the banner. Cmttadauro made a motion to approve the purchase of 72 T-shirts at the cost of $650; Mannion seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Discussion of telecommunication expeFts presentation: This item was continued to the next meeting. NEW BUSINESS Discussion of question/answer fact sheet: This item was continued to the next meeting. Krey will write an article about TCI's rate increase for the June Cupertino Scene. Consideration to cancel one meeting in the summer: Guttadauro made a motion to cancel the regular meeting of the commission July 3, 1996; Mannion seconded and thc motion passed unanimously. Review of city ordinance on TV, r~dio aerials: Krey explained that the planning department is currently working on this ordinance and would like input from the commission. Tsul and Wincn offered to read the ordinance and report back to the commission at the next meeting. TCI: The March report was included in the packet for the commission's review. City of Cupertino: Krey informed the commissioners that the annual CREST awards ceremony will be held May 16. The City Channel will be taping the ceremony and will replay it the middle of June. Krey also told the members that Pac Bell is applying for a cable f~anehise in the city of San Jose and would like to have the agreement signed within the next month. Because they are asking for a cable franchise agreement, they will be required to pay a franchise fee of 5 percent. Dc ~,nza College: Fish distributed copies of his report. He said his assistant's hours have been cut back and work has been hectic for him. Fish and Maunion had lunch with a couple of people from the Cupertino Courier and they discussed the possibility of doing a Cupertino Courier news show. - ADJOURNMENT Mannion made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:34 p.m.; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next regular meeting is June 5, 1996. ATTEST: APPROVED: