The evening of 2026-08-11 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
Carol filled in as acting president, as Lynley was elsewhere. Not the only one, as a number of people were away. I would assume summer vacation. Regardless, the rest of the Board was there.
Public Hearing for the District’s Emergency Response Plan, as happens each year. Updates felt rather minor. Changing names, to reflect changes in staffing/membership. That sort of thing.
Colin gave his Assistant Superintendent’s Report, since Gene was elsewhere. He made a point that HFL does NOT use facial recognition or collect biometric data through the camera system. Apparently the NYS Education Department says that is a no-no. Mind you, didn’t rule out gathering biometric data other ways. Not that I am accusing them of doing so. But words can be funny that way. An explicit denial of one thing may just imply something else.
Colin also gave a presentation on the upcoming school taxes. And highlighted multiple videos exist, if you are interested, as well as an official pamphlet from the State. Regardless, voters approved a 3.22% levy increase, so that’s what we get. Does that mean your tax bill goes up 3.22%? It’s complicated, but probably not exactly that amount.
He also went into property assessment vs tax rates. If all else was equal, as assessment goes up, rate should go down. At least that’s the theory. In a general sense, it fit what data was presented. Does that work out for every property? Probably not.
One of the graphs he presented showed the tax rate dropping 35% in the past 5 years. Colin attributed that to the increase in property value. Which is consistent with the theory as stated.
As an amusing tidbit, there is one (1) parcel in the Town of Richmond that is in the HFL school district. Which has me thinking the School should give that away to whichever District neighbors in that direction. If only to save the administrative hassle. I understand school districts don’t follow Town or County lines. But one parcel just doesn’t seem worth it.
Driver’s education is mostly being handled by AAA. It was said that HFL would be open to a local driving teacher. I’m sure there are requirements and such, I doubt I would qualify. But if you wanted to teach kids how to drive? It sounded like they would like to have you. I would think Kim is the one to talk to.
Another construction report, with pictures. Also appears to have been a delay. But they are still confident about opening on schedule. At least for the students. It sounds like some non-student events were moved, just in case.
And the BoE adopted a goal for the year, graduate students. Yes, that is something they do every year. But the State is redefining what graduation means, so they have to adjust accordingly. With that sort of shuffling being forced on them, I can’t really fault the Board for focusing on this goal for now.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the August 11, 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.