The evening of 2026-04-28 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
The meeting started off by delivering a Cougar Pride award to some wrestlers. Which meant a field trip to the new wrestling room. Which we had a tour of a while back, so good to see it now that it’s in use. Also good to see the kids being awarded. They certainly enjoyed it, judging by their cheering.
There was a rare amendment to the Consensus Agenda, to include someone retiring. Who is was wasn’t directly stated, as it was the person they talked about in executive session. Although, something Gene (Superintendent) said later implied it was a counselor.
The Art Boosters are looking for members. If you like art, perhaps you can lend a hand. It was pointed out they only meet once a quarter.
There were a few public comments. One asking for larger portion size for the free lunches. Ironically, if it wasn’t free, you could probably just buy a second helping. And two wanting the retired music teacher position to be refilled. I’ll give the music people credit. They had the former student doing the direct ask, while the (retiring?) staff did the subtle ask by sharing how the recent music festival went. And the nice awards received.
HFL is looking for Special Education staff. I think I heard 7th grade, but either way, if you’re interested I’m sure they would like you to apply. And if that isn’t your interest, there are other positions open.
A good chunk of the meeting was taken up by a Workshop on Post-Secondary Goal. Focus seemed to be on the State’s graduation requirements, that are coming down the pipe. While also looking at what local employers want in their new hires.
Overall, the State’s requirements felt more like indoctrination then education. Which shouldn’t be an issue if Critical Thinking worked the way it is promoted. But the more I see that talked about, the more I think what the public think it means and what the school treats it as meaning are two different things.
The discussion also had me thinking this might be adjusting an obsolete system to staying relevant. The existing education model was built to produce factory workers. But as that is no longer were most high school graduates go, the current model is showing it’s flaws. So retooling for a new production line makes sense, if you’ll excuse the industrial allusion. I suppose the argument could be made we’ve been doing that for a while now. Perhaps we’re in a ‘March of Dimes‘ scenario, where the original problem has been solved and it’s time to dissolve the organization. But, of course, that won’t happen.
There was a report on the School Lunch program, which tied in nicely with the earlier comment. Apparently, free food is popular. Which should be obvious. And highlighting once again, free lunch doesn’t actually exist. The students may not be paying at the point of pickup, but the taxpayers certainly are, at some point. Which ties back into the Workshop, as that pointed out math skills needing work. Does providing ‘free lunch’ help or hurt math skills? I would assume kids don’t pay with cash anymore, but all the same, seeing the numbers couldn’t hurt.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the February 24, 2026 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.