Tonight (2021-07-06) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Worth noting, as the Governor had expired his executive orders, this was back in the Board room. Essentially the same as it was two years ago. The room had been remodeled, everyone has gotten a little older, but other then that more the same then different.
One of the first actions of the evening was setting David Francis as Board President, Caralyn Ross as Board Vice President. So I was completely wrong in my prediction.
After that, it was on to the annual re-organizational meeting. Which means many motions with little discussion. Which is rather boring as it’s almost the same every year. To Dave’s credit, he did group things and made an effort to streamline. Would need to compare to last year to see how successful he was, but I applaud the effort.
Breakfast/Lunch cost was increased, but as they are still ‘free’ to the students, not directly relevant. But as we (and them, eventually) pay taxes, significant all the same. As there is no such thing as a ‘free’ lunch, someone always pays. Eventually.
I found the committee descriptions interesting. I can’t recall them being read off like that in the past. Seems like a good practice, both from the viewpoint of board members (some of whom are new, and others who may not have thought about this in a year) and the public (who may not know what committees do).
And those are the portions of the re-organizational part of the meeting I found of note. Which took the first ~1:40 of the meeting.
The business meeting started off with much more excitement. To such an extent, they have to pull out Robert’s Rules to get through the Agenda (and Consensus Agenda). Great fun to watch. And while I admit the rules can be silly at times, they do provide a framework which seems to minimize conflict at the table. Or maybe I’ve only ever observed well behaving boards.
Gene (Superintendent) gave a nice summary of his job, but also the role of the School Board. In particular, he explained the limitations of the group. Highlighting how their meetings are open to the public, but not for discussion with the public. Although some of that does occur around the edges. If you want to hear his summary, it starts at the ~1:55 mark. He also pointed out that, if you want school to be ‘normal’ come September, now is the time to be lobbying for it. Or reversely, take after our founders, and convince the Board to break the law. Gene didn’t suggest the second option, I’m tossing that idea out there.
The rest of the agenda items had the feel of standard start of year actions. More contracts and agreements that didn’t make it into the re-organizational part of the meeting (for whatever reason). But the trash still needs to be picked up.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the July 6, 2021 meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education.
Agenda’s and similar information can be found at HFL’s BoardDocs page. While a recording is available online.