LEBANON — School officials say they’re working to update the district’s website and make information more accessible to voters, after hearing calls for increased transparency this week.

The Lebanon School District didn’t post online information — such as an agenda — on the Feb. 2 deliberative session ahead of the meeting, School Board Vice Chairman Richard Milius said during Wednesday’s School Board meeting.

Several people also have asked why the district’s annual report no longer is mailed to residents, he added, while others noticed that meeting minutes on the SAU 88 website were updated only through November.

“I understand that anyone who wants to look at those minutes can go to the SAU, but I find it really disturbing (that information isn’t online),” Milius said in a CATV recording of Wednesday’s meeting. “Anyone who wanted to track all of that information down, they’re kind of out of luck.”

State law requires that meeting minutes be available for public inspection five days after the meeting, and the district is meeting those requirements by making a draft accessible at its office at Seminary Hill, Lebanon School Superintendent Joanne Roberts said during the meeting.

But the School Board’s own policy goes further, requiring minutes to be posted online once they’re formally approved, which usually happens two weeks later during its next meeting, Milius noted.

“I didn’t know and I’m grateful to know this,” Roberts said of the website concerns. “It wasn’t due to a lack of not caring or ignoring it. I simply didn’t know it was an issue.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the online minutes had been posted through the beginning of February.

As for the annual report, Roberts said it hasn’t been mailed out to residents for about three years. The copies have cost more than $10,000 to produce in the past, and the School Board decided to save money by offering print editions only in Lebanon libraries, City Hall, the SAU office and polling places, she said.

The report is available online at www.sau88.net.

Wednesday’s meeting wasn’t the first time School Board members have clashed over transparency and information provided to voters.

The board voted last month to remove its vote tallies from the School District warrant, making it appear to voters that the nine-member body fully “recommends” a $19.9 million effort to modernize the city’s school buildings, and a separate $9.4 million article calling for a new auditorium at Lebanon High School.

In reality, the board approved the modernization project and auditorium in 5-2 votes during the January meeting. Board members Tammy Begin and Suzan Louzier were absent from that vote and had opposed past modernization plans.

Milius and board member Christina Haidari argued that removing the tallies would effectively hide the board disagreement from voters, while others countered that keeping them would confuse residents, who might then decide not to support the building projects, according to January meeting minutes.

“My personal perspective on it is we all really want to engage in transparent government,” School Board Chairman Adam Nemeroff, who supported including the tally, said in a phone interview on Thursday.

On the other hand, Nemeroff said he understands the view that including tallies could confuse some voters.

Ultimately, Lebanon residents this year will choose whether warrants will include a vote tally from the board going forward. Article 10 on the March 12 ballot asks whether a tally should be recorded on all future warrant articles.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcame rato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.