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Ashe County Husky fans have hopes of seeing high school sports on television thanks to the memorandum approved Monday night by the board of education.

The board approved a memorandum for events to be shown on SkyLine/SkyBest’s channel. The events will be delayed for about three days after they occur.

The reasoning for this is twofold.

One reason for the delay is so SkyLine/SkyBest can edit the game. This will include adding sounds, advertisements and color commentary.

The other reason for the delay is so the high school will not lose money from admissions collected at the gate. In fact, SkyLine/SkyBest will promote upcoming events in their edited version.

During the meeting, there was some concern over students’ rights to privacy if they were broadcast by SkyLine/SkyBest.

There are potential problems with broadcasting students on television without parental consent, board members noted. The question was raised about how the school will know that every athlete has had his or her consent form signed allowing them to be on television.

To insure all student athletes are accounted for, when it comes to being photographed or videotaped by the media, every homeroom hands out consent forms for parents to sign as the school year begins. This consent form is handed out to every high school student, and it includes permission for all forms of media, including television.

It was determined that very few students refuse or neglect to have their parents sign the media consent forms, so consent should not be a problem, the board noted.

Several other questions were brought forward during the meeting.

Are there special privileges granted to minors to protect their privacy?

Do student athletes sacrifice some degree of privacy when they are at school events?

Superintendent Dr. Travis Reeves said that some privacy will be lost when a person is in a public place.

One question raised by Dr. Lee Beckworth, board member, was what happens if a parent signs a consent form for their child to be on television and then has a change of heart? In this instance, does the athlete give up the right to play on that team?

There was no clear answer provided at the meeting.

Ultimately, the school board did approve the memorandum of understanding for video production.

Another item on the agenda during Monday’s meeting was Ashe Outreach Ministries asking for an expansion of kitchen services at the West Jefferson site in order to help their non-profit cause to feed the community.

“More hungry will be fed upon the expansion of the kitchen.” said Pastor Rob Brooks.

Using this kitchen could serve more of a purpose than only serving food to the community, board members agreed. It could also be an opportunity for students to help out in the community.

“If we could involve the high school students, it would be a great opportunity for them to volunteer.” said Beckworth.

The reason the West Jefferson site grabbed the attention of Ashe Outreach Ministries is because of the centralized location. Pastor Brooks also recommended that the site be used as an educational center to help build business plans for local entrepreneurs.

The kitchen expansion may have an impact on the Ashe County Early Learning Center located at the West Jefferson school site. The kitchen and learning center will need to share storage space for food and they will also need to share water. Director Terry Richardson and Pastor Brooks planned to meet with a health inspector Wednesday to check for problems with the kitchen.

In spite of any potential problems, C.B. Jones remained optimistic by saying “If we can make this work, it’ll be a win-win for everybody.”

This agenda item was put forward for consideration, not for approval. So no finalized decision was made Monday night.