The evening of 2024-08-27 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Gene (Superintendent) welcomed everyone to the start of a new year, where he shared some of the many ways HFL is getting ready. One that stood out to me, was how teachers are questioning the trainer during the science of reading training. Which I think is great. If there were more questions in the past, we might have realized we were being sold a story sooner.
As expected, the BoE approved their Goal for the year. As the document says, this is “separate from District goals”. Which is good, because otherwise a goal to “actively advocate” could be a little concerning. By the sounds of it, this year the District will continue to focus on educating. While the Board will focus on convincing other governmental bodies to either support the District financially or decrease mandates that complicate the matter. A shame this is the situation, but when you decide your biggest challenge comes from external factors? Need to act accordingly.
Bus purchase was approved. We (the voters) approved this action at the last vote. Now it’s time to actually spend the money (or at least allocate it so it can be spent). Worth noting, this will be with ‘cash’. So no new debt for school buses.
A few policies were reviewed, a couple of which I have thoughts on.
5620 Inventories had the need for an annual inventory removed. Which would be worrisome, except that apparently BOCES does this every 5 years already. And some departments do partial reviews more frequently. So due diligence should still be done, even if it’s not called out in this policy.
7445 Student Voter Registration was changed to better meet legal requirements. I have no opinion on that, but I have mixed thoughts on it being mandatory to register students. On the one hand, we should want every eligible voter to vote. On the other, we should want every voter to be knowledgeable before doing so. I would think that, if you couldn’t be bothered to take the initiative to register, you probably won’t be knowledgeable come election time. Reversely, if you took the time to register, you are also likely to make sure you’re informed when it’s time to vote.
Mind you, I say this while I’m pretty sure I was registered while in High School. And I like to think I’m reasonably informed come election time.
Finally, joining the PBAC was mentioned. So if you have an interest in the District, and would like to help out come budget season, give Colin (Business) a yell.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the August 27, 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 is also available.