Tonight (2021-01-26) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE), and before that the Program Budget Advisory Council (PBAC).
Full disclosure: I sit on the PBAC, so some of these Observations aren’t exactly from the Audience.
Tonight’s presentation was from Lima Primary. As always, they talk about how great things are going, and how they are overcoming challenges. They emphasized the smaller class sizes this year, and the desire to continue that (or even decrease size further) in future years. At the same time, it was pointed out how all students are in school all days, unless parents decide not to (for whatever reason). Such a statement is only a surprise this year, any other it would be doing the job as expected.
Which was different. On the one hand, it felt much like any other presentation. On the other, it had a twilight zone feel to it. The plastic dividers had me thinking of prisons, the masking of criminals. I was wondering if I’m the crazy one, or everyone else was. Of course, both are true, but that’s more about being human then the current situation.
Besides Lima’s presentation there was some talk about state aid and the tax cap. At this point, the tax cap is expected to be ~1.8%. Early stage of the process, so likely to change somewhat. State aid was more interesting, as it sounds like the State is playing games again. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, if you will. To add insult to the financial injury, this is nothing new. Such has happened in the past, and will continue so long as Albany has the option to balance it’s budget at the expense of someone else (the school in this case).
Highlights to me, yet again, how the responsible approach to state aid is to ‘just say no‘. Anything else leads to entanglements that, at best, distract and confuse. At worst, remove any meaningful local control over education.
As usual for a PBAC meeting, I missed the first part of Gene’s (Superintendent) report. When I came in he was talking about how we are in bizarro world and the students want it to be over (likely the adults do as well). Yet again brought up the question of ‘when does it end’. Maybe I’m the crazy one, but the answer seems obvious. The current panic ends when we decide it ends. At some point, this coronavirus rolls into the existing collection that make up the common cold and seasonal flu. Never really goes away, but lowers in threat to the point we just live with it. When that happens is complicated. Some would say it’s already the case. Others stand to gain from the panic, and thus it will never be the case.
Ironically enough, some students prefer to have classes from home because they can at least see the faces of their class mates. Which is a sure sign we have gone too far. When real world social interaction is so cumbersome that virtual is preferred, it’s past time to rethink those restrictions.
Capitol project was mentioned. Apart from pointing you at pictures, nothing really to say.
Agreement with RIT about graduation was made. Although there was a sense it will be canceled and handled on campus. While I think the logic is poor, I think having the ceremony on campus is a good thing for the community. After all, the graduates didn’t just appear in a vacuum. They are part of the community, they should be here to celebrate with their friends, family, and yes, neighbors too.
The school lunch program is doing poorly. Not unexpected, with all the craziness going around. But it’s when you look at the details it gets really bad. Currently, due to panic, all students get free lunch. The state will reimburse, regardless of families financial need. Enough families have been making lunches, that the school isn’t selling enough to cover their costs. And this right here serves as an example for the mess we are currently living.
If you decide to take responsibility for your own family, and ensure they are fed, the school district (and by extension your taxes) are penalized. But if you abdicate to government the duty of feeding your family, then someone else foots the bill, and you personally benefit. Like so many ideas, it may sound good at first glance, but money doesn’t grow on trees. Someone always ends up paying. And at some point that someone will have had enough and stop. Much better to have people take care of people.
You do what you can for yourself, and ask your neighbor for a hand when you need it. They do the same for you in turn. Of such is civilization built. Eliminate the bureaucratic overhead, encourage responsibility, and personal growth. Or from a wiser source then I: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the January 26, 2021 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.