The evening of 2024-03-12 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Once again time to recognize the recipients of the Cougar Pride Award. Which means a break to stretch and chat towards the start of the meeting. Also cookies, can’t forget those.
The Robotics team is off to RIT soon. Which explains why I saw them packing things up tonight.
And the Drama Club is getting ready for Mamma Mia. Which explains the fliers I’ve seen around.
The PBAC gave our recommendation to the BoE, and in the interests of full disclosure I am part of the PBAC (not that it matters tonight, I said nothing). Bottom line, we ranked proposed budget increases and acknowledged the budget would be difficult this year. Now the Board has the harder task of actually balancing it so we can vote in May.
There was an update on the Capitol Project(s), and it was even more interesting then most. I particularly like these for the various pictures provided. Usually get to see before, during, and after shots of whatever is being done. While that was included tonight, there was also a walking tour of the old B wing of the High School. During which planned renovations were pointed out. And there are definitely some spots that need work.
There was a focus on restoring much of the historic appearance of the High School. Which is nice, I suppose. But how much of that ‘historic’ feel was just using what was readily available at the time? The equivalent of buying the cheapest paint, because keeping expenses down is more important than color. Regardless, as mentioned above, places do need the work. If making it look ‘old fashioned’ doesn’t cost too much more…
For me, the highlight of the tour was the backstage of the auditorium. There are years worth of students signing the walls (and similar, as they used columns, ceiling, etc). That is history I would like to see preserved. Especially over the other changes. What does it matter how the floor looks, when we are painting over the mark left behind by the students.
In many ways, it’s the same as the budget discussion. We lack sufficient resources to do everything. How do we prioritize what we do have? Restoring a historic feel to a building can add an aura of prestige to the institute. Whereas preserving past students artwork may be dangerously colorful.
Either way, it sounds like construction might be starting in September. And once again, the pool should be open ‘next week‘.
And then there was the discussion on the future of the Cougar Pride award, and the newly named Cougar Kudos. At the risk of putting words in their mouths, it almost sounded like they were looking for a problem to solve. As was pointed out a number of times, they aren’t being buried in nominations. And as was also pointed out, the nomination process itself acts as a filter. People won’t make nominations if they didn’t think something worthwhile was done.
Which did have me wondering: How often does the Ambulance go to the school? Or the homes of students? With everything I’ve heard about the ambulance service, I would be shocked if that number wasn’t well above zero. And in my mind, that would reach the necessary threshold of ‘exceptional contributions to the district’. Similar logic would also apply to the Fire Department, or even the plow crews (even if this was a light year for them). For that matter, there is also the sewer plant (pretty sure they would close without indoor plumbing) or even the parents (no parents, no students). Or any of the other things it’s all too easy to take for granted. Which shows, if you take the time to think about it, there is a whole world of ‘exceptional contributions’ out there.
But then again, I’m of the opinion ‘any excuse for a party’.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the March 12, 2024 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.