Tonight (2020-09-22) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Back in the cafeteria, but in a different part of it. Last meeting was in the corner, this one was in the center. I liked the layout better, but the acoustics made it feel too quiet until the meeting got started. Not that it really matters, as we will likely be back in the Board room before too long.
The big topic of the evening was how things have gone for the first two weeks of school. Gene (Superintendent) said this has been the ‘hardest thing’ he has ever done. Then rattled off a list of things that were plenty hard enough, but easier in comparison. And while he does his job well, it’s clearly a team effort to reopen a school while so many are treating this as the end of the world.
All the principals and most of the department heads sounded off on how things have gone in their area. While difficulties have come up, there was a strong sense of having done a good job and overcome a significant challenge. Even as there was plenty still to do.
There is even an effort to humanize each other, which I think is great. The steps we are taking to deal with this panic are inherently dehumanizing. Time will tell how well these efforts to counter that will be, but I am glad to hear they are being taken.
And in those few paragraphs I summed up about two hours of discussion. Feel free to watch the recording if you want all the details. Gene’s report at the start and the committee meetings at the end was primarily where this was discussed.
The committee discussion at the end was amusing in that Carol (Board President) effectively lost control of the meeting. Not that it wasn’t great discussion, but it ceased to be an orderly meeting and became an open discussion. Which isn’t criticism, things like this is why I go to meetings in the first place.
And lest anyone misread me: while I think the school is doing great with the situation they have to deal with, I am firmly of the opinion the problem is not the disease, but the panic that has been promoted around it. Which does leave me in an odd situation. I would like to be wrong, in that a portion of our media and/or government having lied to us for their own purposes is a terrible thing, and we should all be better off if that wasn’t the case. But if that’s not the case then that means a disease is killing a staggering portion of the population. I’m leaning towards the lies being the less bad option, if only because we are still alive afterwards. But as reality does not conform to my desires, I can only hope to be wrong on two accounts here.
A Code of Ethics for the BoE was adopted. Looks decent enough, and there was discussion about it being ‘aspirational’. But it feels to me like if they are going to have something it needs to have some sort of punishment clause. Otherwise it’s just feel good, means nothing. Also may risk running afoul of the religious test clause.
We now have a value for the additional costs the previous election, and it’s unusual nature, entailed. About $17k, the bulk of which was spent on mailings. In the grand scheme of things, not a huge number. But as there are multiple ways in person voting could have worked, it was a completely unnecessary expense. And I’m not just saying that because I didn’t ‘win’.
To go with the unusual election cost, we have expected costs due to the panic. While the numbers will likely change somewhat by the end of the year, Bruce (Business office) is currently predicting about $500k (half a million) in unplanned costs. Primarily split between teachers, cleaning, and software. There is a possibility FEMA may reimburse some of this, but it sounds like that is a slim chance and it wouldn’t be for very much if it did happen.
In many ways this illustrates the value of both having reserve funds and building a little buffer into the budget. If everything goes right, the buffer just carries over to next year. If something goes wrong, the buffer becomes the difference between stumbling through the crisis and chopping programs mid year.
The Board approved their goals for the year. Nothing earth shattering, but it led to some good discussion about how to interact with both the public and the staff/students. Which I suspect will bear fruits at the next meeting.
While there wasn’t a formal vote, the informal ‘feel of the room’ looked unanimous. HFL will likely be leaving NYSSBA in the not too distant future. Reasons sited were around lack of support, primarily in the current panic. No reason they can’t rejoin if they change their mind at some future point, but they have been questioning the value of this group for a few years. Might as well try a year or two off, see what that feels like.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the September 22, 2020 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. While a recording of the meeting will likely be available soon.