The evening of 2022-09-13 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Biggest news likely comes as no surprise: HFL had a good opening day/week. While this is to be expected, that doesn’t lessen the value. If the past few years have taught us nothing, it should have reminded us of the risk of ‘excitement’ and the value of ‘boring’.
Early in the meeting was a follow up on who decides High School graduation timing. By the sounds of it, it’s a group decision based on weighing all the various factors. While I like ‘the buck stops here‘ as a practice, I understand how reality isn’t always that straightforward. Still, good to have this answered.
There will be a public hearing on ‘Certain Property Tax Exemptions‘ Thursday September 15, 7PM at the High School Auditorium. No action to be taken then, but gathering input for future consideration on property tax exemptions (or not) for seniors, disabled, veterans, and first responders. Personally I think it comes down to a value judgment on a single question: Is equal treatment under the law more or less important then supporting those in need/who help us? But I’m just me. I’m looking forward to hearing the comments from others in the community.
Capitol Project Phase 3 continues to inch along. Tonight was part of the SEQR process, where the BoE reaches out to other governmental agencies to see if they want to be ‘lead agency’. I’m sure no one will be surprised when they all decline, paving the way for the school to take that role and continue the project along.
While there was little discussion on the details of the project, as the focus was on SEQR, I noticed something in the plans. It looks like a number of the ‘toilet rooms’ will be renovated to create single occupancy rooms. Nothing was stated, so this is purely me speculating and trying to read between the lines. Having said that, I would guess this is an attempt to work around the ‘trans’ issue (for lack of a better description). This would seem to minimize the potential of mixing sexes, which concerns a number of people. While also allowing those who choose to live as a certain gender to do so, which concerns another group of people. Not a perfect solution (if it’s even intended as one), as neither ‘side’ will be truly happy. But like all good compromises, it should mitigate the biggest objections and be acceptable to all but the most ideologically locked. Eh, or not. We are human after all.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see if my speculation is even in the right ballpark. More likely, I’ve gotten lost in the weeds.
Kim Roberts (Community Education) gave her annual report. Long story short: The program is profitably due to Cougar Care. Challenges, of course, but they sounded similar to those impacting education in general. Of note, the Wellness Center hours and fees will be reviewed at a future date. So expect that to come back in the next few months.
As Colin Pierce will be taking Bruce Capron’s place, he was given a number of roles/titles tonight. Tax Collector, School Purchasing Agent, Payroll Certification Officer, etc. All part of a (hopefully) seamless transition process.
The Board had an interesting discussion around their own practices. At the core, they seemed to be reviewing if policy matches practice. By the sounds of it, the answer is ‘mostly’. Which is good. Both the matching, but also that they periodically confirm such. At some point, everyone on this Board will leave, and new people will come along. Best to have ‘how’ documented as much as possible, to help that future Board do it’s job.
As an aside, and to hopefully clarify if you heard the same thing I did, this Board Manual is available to the public. Perhaps useless too, as we aren’t on the Board. But it is there should any of us want to look at it. Maybe because you are considering running for school board.
And less we forget, Fall Weekend is coming. Detailed schedule can be found at the HFL website, under the news section. Or, since they seem to want this information shared, right here:
Make sure to update your calendar accordingly…
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the September 13, 2022 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 will likely be available soon.