While today is also the budget vote, the evening of 2022-05-17 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
The bulk of the meeting was a pair of Public Hearings. One for the Code of Conduct and the other the Emergency Response Plan.
There was also talk about a ‘Solar Tax Credit‘, which had me thinking of last night’s Village Trustee discussion. In this case, the discount appears to be 12%. Regardless, I gained no further insights for how the discounts are funded. Although if solar was that cost effective on it’s own, I would think there wouldn’t be any need for discounts.
New principals have been arranged for Manor and Middle, as the current ones step down at the end of the year. Joelle Weaver steps up from Manor’s Assistant Principal, which is a logical transition. And Jason Juszczak will be Middle’s Principal.
Besides some verbiage tweaks for legal reasons, the biggest change to the Code of Conduct appears to be the dress code. Three students spoke on it (grades 6,9, and 11), and the need to streamline the dress code. Apart from the phrase ‘private body parts’, which just feels odd and poorly defined, the rewording seems reasonable enough. But there were two things that the students said I felt were rather profound. If likely not for the reasons they thought.
The first was the idea that equal enforcement is a necessary component of any just rule system. Now the discussion here was around the dress code, but this also applies to the Rule of Law we all have to live in. Or at least most of us, as there seem to be those who are ‘above the law’. Or as Orwell put it, some animals are more equal then others. Still, good to hear students identifying this important aspect of justice.
The second was the sexist bias of the dress code. On the one hand, they did have some valid points (bra, cleavage, etc). But on the other, this adds more weight to the ‘schools are indoctrination centers, out to destroy civilization’ idea. After all, ‘bra straps’ was followed by ‘boxer shorts‘. Which is to say, you find what you are looking for. (And yes, that also applies to me looking at this topic.) Oddly enough, this was consistent with wanting to treat perceived threats the same as actual ones. Thankfully legal counsel suggested against that change.
The Public Hearing for the Emergency Response Plan felt more like a formality then anything else. Which isn’t bad. It needs to be done, it’s a prudent review, and due diligence is important.
A number of people expressed happiness with Cougar Creations and the various other in-person activities going on. And then there was SuperGene.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the May 17, 2022 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.