The evening of 2024-09-24 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Michael Ruff (uncertain on spelling), the new Student Board Representative, was sworn in. As the District, and by extension Board, exists to educate children, I think it’s prudent to have at least one at the table. Even if they aren’t technically a voting member, but that likely has more to do with legal aspects then anything else.
The State is giving graduation requirements an overhaul. They welcome you to ‘Participate in the discussion‘, or read more on the measures they have taken. On the one hand, periodic reviews can be prudent. On the other, so much of what comes out of Albany sure seems to cause problems more then help.
Discussion around the proper place of smartphones and similar in schools continues. The data does seem to support keeping them out. Personally, I don’t think there will be any progress here until the issue with adults is addressed. If we adults can’t put our phones down, how can we expect students to be any different? After all, they are only following our example. On the other hand, if we can show that we can set aside the temptation, and still focus on what needs to be done? Changes it from a ‘do as I say, not what I do’ scenario, into a ‘share coping strategies’ one. Which I would expect to fit much better in a teaching environment. Which reminds me, I should leave my phone behind next meeting. Just to prove the point.
Fall Weekend parade is coming up October 5 at noon. And I’m sure the weekend will be filled with all sorts of other events. As an aside, flip-books are cool and pretty. No argument there. But for my usage, a PDF file is much more convenient and practical. Even if the hard copy likely to arrive in the mail soon enough does make it a bit of a moot point.
The bulk of the meeting was taken up with an Academic Data Summary presentation. The overall feel was ‘HFL is amazing’, especially in comparison to other local districts. And as much of an accomplishment as that is, it had me wondering if this was the right measure here.
If I’m running a race, my actual time doesn’t matter. My comparison to the other racers is all that matters. If I’m building a bridge, any comparison doesn’t matter. Getting to the other side is all that matters. So does teaching children better fit the race or bridge situation?
We’ve got things covered from the race standpoint. But my feeling is it’s more a bridge case. And while we’re reasonably good there, we aren’t as good. Perhaps this explains the focus on continuous improvement. Always trying to get that bridge closer to the other side. Perhaps not the best analogy, since we don’t just drop kids off the incomplete edge. Or do we? How to measure that…
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the September 24, 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.