The evening of 2022-07-05 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
This was the annual re-organizational meeting, so many many motions. I really should ask why they use the method they use. I can think of multiple ways to improve efficiency, and thus shorten the meeting. But if they want to do it this way, I guess that’s their call. I just should ask so I don’t keep suggesting changes.
While the Board Vice President was appointed as expected, I was surprised Amy West became the President. From context, I get the sense she is not thrilled to do the job, but is willing, and deferring to the judgment of the group as a whole. In the end, what more could be asked of her? Step up when needed, despite any personal feelings, and trust others for support. Pretty sure it’s not her first time as Board President, so she should be fine.
Other then that, nothing really stood out in the re-organizational portion of the meeting. The regular meeting afterwards had some interesting discussions.
As the only member of the public in the room (as far as I could tell the rest were BOE, staff, and other support personal), I offered a comment during that portion of the meeting. Put simply, I tried to raise the issue of how the Board would handle an order that violated their Oath of Office. Seemed fitting as a number of them took their Oaths at the start of this meeting. Hopefully the sort of issue that never comes up, but considering the past few years… Better to ponder some before reaching that pass.
Once again time for the pizza bid to be approved. Salvatore’s Pizza ‘won’ at ~$36k. That’s $8/$11 per pizza (depending on pizza details). Which is alot of pizza. As usual, brought a bit of a chuckle from the room. Something about what to most of us is a simple purchase, yet at scale becomes much more significant, which people (myself included) find amusing.
The big discussion here was once again Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK). Both in how that impacted the future capitol project, but also the idea of bringing a class ‘in house’ as an experiment. The UPK classes are currently outsourced. Is an interesting idea, and definitely worth exploring before building a new wing on Lima.
I did find it interesting that the Lima principal was not in the room. Although not an issue, as she had clearly offered input in getting the plans to this stage.
Gene provided yet another example for why he is good at his job. He highlighted that adding a wing to Lima would bump the tax levy up. Only for a few years (baring other factors), but he didn’t think 4%+ would make for an easy sell to the public. He made it clear he would back the Board as they choose the path forward, having done his job in identifying obstacles on a particular route.
Personally, I think the question goes to the benefits of UPK. Apparently, this years graduates are the first where a portion of them went through this program. So how do those that had this advantage compare to those that didn’t, at the graduation mark? No idea what the answer would be, but that seems the appropriate measuring point. If it has a big impact on say 1st, 3rd, whatever grade, that is nice. But if that impact vanishes by 12th? Then not worth it.
I asked this question during that portion of the meeting. And while I would like an answer, I don’t need it. But I think the Board should have that data as they consider additions for this program (and by extension, additions to the building). If the benefit is massive, it makes it an easier pill to swallow. If it’s negligible, why bother.
Although, as the job here is educating, I would be shocked to get an answer of ‘negligible’. A clear conflict of interests there. Thus making this an opportunity to gain credibility, by offering an answer not in the organizations obvious best interests. Having said that, I would rather a true and accurate answer, over any sort of ‘misinformation’.
I also asked who picked graduation time. Apparently this question has been asked by others. For those of you who missed it, that event was on Sunday Jun 26 at 10AM. While no answer as to ‘who’ was offered, listening to context after the meeting offered a ‘why’. 10AM gives the whole day to delay to, should the weather not cooperate. Reasonable enough, and for six other days of the week I would even approve. But Sunday morning is church time. Or at least it has been historically. Thus wondering ‘who’ made the call here. In any case, we’ll see if I get an ‘official’ answer at some point, or am left to speculate.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the July 05, 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.