Tonight (2019-10-29) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Likely of greatest significance for the average taxpayer (ie voter), there will be a special vote on December 17th to spend about $10 million on another capitol project (2.5 for those of you keeping count). On December 10th there will be a public hearing at 7PM, if anyone has any questions on this topic. It was pointed out that if we spend the ~$10 million, the state will reimburse ~$7 million. If we spend nothing, we get nothing. So another case of having to spend money to get money.
Also another case of ‘no local tax impact’, which always feels deceptive to me. Taxpayers pay for it all, one way or another. Sure, this time the ‘local’ portion is being covered from a reserve. But that was filled by previous taxes, and will be refilled by future taxes. And where does ‘state aid’ come from if not taxpayers? Having said that, the practice of saving money for big expenses is prudent. Just needs a better description then the clear lie of ‘no local tax impact’.
While this next project plans to do a variety of things, it should be less directly impactful on the students. At least in the high school, where it was said it focused on more behind the scenes infrastructure. Nothing of the scale of losing the cafeteria and main entrance to construction.
As an aside: I found out what is on the second story of the ‘old’ High school, between the auditorium and the B gym. I have been wondering for a while, and have asked various people, but before tonight I hadn’t gotten an answer. Well asked Aaron and he said it was the mechanical room for the HVAC to cover the auditorium and B gym. Which makes sense, especially if you look at a picture. Notice the large machines on the A gym, that are not on the B gym. So personal pondering answered.
Lima recent had another Maker Faire. Sound like it went over so well that the kids were upset they didn’t get to continue those activities the next day.
Membership for this years PBAC was approved. Much larger group then last year, which is good (I was lonely at a few of those meetings). It was also pointed out that many of the current BoE members were on the PBAC before getting elected. Thus it could be argued a robust PBAC is in the districts long term best interests. Either way, good job on recruitment.
First time this year we had student representatives. A pair of girls shared how the student body felt things were going. While they expressed some concerns about AP’s (Calculus and Physics in particular), they were mostly positive about the year to date. It also sounds like these two keep very busy schedules, so I wonder how many meetings they will make it to.
There were a number of reports presented: Professional Development/Curriculum,
Special Education, and Student Attendance. Feel free to read if they hold any interest to you.
Which brought us to the big discussion on last weeks NYSSBA convention. In fact, they only got about half way through before they decided to do the rest next time. In all fairness, the agenda did say it would be continued, so the cut off was expected.
I found the general feel of the NYSSBA discussion split. Some of the topics and language felt consistent with many that are discussed throughout the year. Life skill class, mental health, etc. But some of it made little sense, and felt like a frame of reference was missing. Which is probably why you go to a convention, to learn about that reference.
As an aside: It was mentioned that even if nothing was learned at the convention, it had value in showing that we (HFL) are on the right track. Which is amusing in that it answers the age old question of ‘if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?’. If the measure of ‘on track’ is to ‘compare with others’, then yes, you would.
As an amusing tidbit, the BoE used dotstorming to decide their next workshop (spoiler: On-Line Learning Potential). As the link was shared before the meeting, I was tempted to sign in early. Then leave myself there for the duration. As usual, my desire to be silly was overpowered by my desire to stay out of the way and be unobtrusive.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the October 29, 2019 meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education.
As has become the norm for this group, Agenda’s and similar information can be found at HFL’s BoardDocs page.