Fairfield school board approves new cameras for FHS auditorium, A.C.T. building

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors approved a plan Monday to purchase cameras and audio equipment to improve the district’s livestreaming videos.

The board members voted to accept a bid from Fairfield videographer Werner Elmker in the amount of $76,430, which would be paid from the school district’s PPEL/SAVE funds. The money would go toward two new cameras in the school board’s meeting room at the A.C.T. building, and three new cameras at the Fairfield High School Auditorium, which is used for concerts, musicals, plays, guest speakers and other events such as hosting a Veterans Day ceremony. The new cameras could rotate, zoom in and out, and be controlled remotely.

The new audio equipment would send the audio feed from microphones into the livestream instead of remote microphones. Fairfield schools technology director John Grunwald. Grunwald said he is not satisfied with the quality of the district’s current streaming service.

“Every month we stream our board meetings, and they need to be much better quality,” he said. “People need to be able to hear and see better, and this [new equipment] should help with that. We’ll have two cameras to switch between, and zoom in and out. One camera can focus on the speaker, and another can go wide.”

Grunwald said having the new cameras will make setting up for streaming quicker and easier. At first, Grunwald will run the cameras, but he hopes to train other staff members to use them and even put students in charge of them, too.

“Watching things in the auditorium or watching the school board will be a better experience,” he said. “Right now for our livestreams, we’re dialing into Zoom and using the speaker phone. [The new equipment] will incorporate the mics at the board table.”

In addition to streaming the school district’s monthly board meeting, the district’s YouTube channel also shows events such as basketball games in the FHS gym. Grunwald said this camera is unmanned, and is programmed to follow the action on the court as players move from one end to the other.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com