The evening of 2026-10-27 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
This meeting was at Manor school, which was dressed up like Hogwarts. Coming into the building there was a train, floating candles, and owl on a stack of books. And the decorations continued throughout the building.
As for the presentation, I’ll steal a line: Manor is amazing, but there is work to do. I like that philosophy. It acknowledges the good work done so far, while still looking ahead at what even greater accomplishments can be reached.
It was entertaining to hear that the Habits of Mind are being exported. Apparently as place mats at eateries around the area. Which has me tempted to go out to eat, just so I can ask for one.
There was a bit about illness and keeping the building clean. Which is good and all, but had me thinking. Even as we educate the kids minds, are we also teaching their immune systems? Should they be getting the flu and what not now? So that later in life, their bodies know how to handle other illnesses better? I don’t know, it’s well outside my area of expertise. But a while back I read something about how making peanut free zones led to an increase in peanut allergies. I have no answers here, only questions.
It is once again Red Ribbon week. Thus a reminder drugs are bad.
During the Committee updates it was highlighted that State and Federal laws around transgender topics are in direct opposition. Yet the school is legally obligated to follow both. Regardless of your opinion on the topic, this will put schools in no win scenarios. A shame we can’t keep politics out of schools. But we’re people, it’s kind of inevitable.
There was a presentation on the summer staff Professional Development. What stood out was the Student Showcase. Which showed students involved. Either with running their businesses (yes, some HFL students have businesses), or engaging the staff in other manners (like a 5k run). Goes to show, even when the staff are the focus, the students are still the highlight.
The policy updates discussed last meeting were approved with no discussion. Which wasn’t really a surprise, and highlights the benefit of the first/second read approach. In any case, I used the Public Comment portion of the meeting to suggest they make it easier for people to make public comments. Pointing out that the Board has said they want to have better communication with the public. And throwing obstacles in the way is not consistent with that goal. I didn’t expect them to change anything, not tonight at least. But as a wise man once said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. While it would have been nice if they acted on (or at least discussed) my input, in my mind that was secondary. What I was really after was being understood. Successfully articulating the idea in such a way the message was communicated. Considering some of the discussion after the meeting, I think I pulled that off.
District Reserve Plan was adopted. In and of itself, hardly of note. But having last night’s Town budget workshop in mind, it stood out. It would have been nice to see something similar for the Town. I think I’ll make the suggestion.
And next week’s BoE meeting will be at the Middle School.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the October 27, 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.