Tonight (2017-01-24) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE), and before that the Program Budget Advisory Council (PBAC).
Full disclosure: I sit on the PBAC, so some of these Observations aren’t exactly from the Audience.
This budget study session was at the Manor building. Agenda was the presentations from Manor (2-5) and Library Media Services. They each spoke on what greatness they had done over the past year, and what they wanted to change for next year. Along with that was a budget projection/wish list.
Just like last year for this meeting, it was snowing on the trip over. Unlike last year, they had the meeting in one of the class rooms, instead of the gym. Probably a good move, the large open room was a bit cold last year. I didn’t see anyone putting on their jackets at the meeting this year.
Tammy, Julie, and Alicia (Librarians) did the Library presentation. You’ll note three names, but four buildings. Apparently the High School doesn’t have a librarian. As I understand it, they had a new one this year, but she has since left (for whatever reason). And while they are looking for a new one, they do not currently have one. Hopefully that will get worked out soon.
The lack of a fourth librarian was a focus of their presentation, but they also touched on the desire to have another Instructional Technology Specialist. There is a degree of logic to this, if we are going to have all these computers around, we really need to have people who’s function is to direct the teachers in how to use them. Of course, it could also be argued the funds could be better used elsewhere. And that’s the whole point of budgeting, figure out how best to allocate limited resources.
It also was announced that Pete the Cat is now the president at Lima School.
Manor was next, and there was quiet a crowd for that. Jeanine (Manor Principal) led the group, but probably spoke the least. A collection of new staff was introduced (10 if I counted correctly). Generally they were replacements for staff that had left previously. Although if I have the backstory right, one ‘new’ teacher is on her third year here. Something about various long term sub positions, and now she is full staff.
They had an ‘i’ thing going on (iImagine, iCelebrate, iMatter, etc). I didn’t really get it, but they seemed thrilled by it.
Manor did a good job switching between slides in PowerPoint and videos on a website. Not exactly rocket science, but over the years I’ve seen many a presentation fail on that. I particularly liked the video where a number of staff stated what they wanted for next year. While most of them were asking for the same sort of thing (more ‘technology’ and ‘professional development’), it gave insight into what different classrooms were like. As the videos were taken in different classrooms, they gave a quick view of how multiple classes were setup. It was also amusing watching their eyes move as they (presumably) read their lines.
On a down note, Manor has a “Habits of Mind” program that bothers me for some reason. I haven’t been able to articulate what it is that bothers me about it, so my concern may well be overblown. But something strikes me as ‘odd’ here. Maybe I’ll figure out how to put my gut’s feeling into words by the time next years meeting rolls around…
Which brings us to what I think is the worst part about being part of the PBAC. I miss out on the BoE’s discussion on the presentations, and the regular meeting that sometimes follow (as it did tonight).
Tonight, as tends to happen, the BoE had finished the public portion of their agenda by the time I got back from the PBAC discussion. They still had some executive session items, but I don’t get to watch those. So no Observations on the Board of Education meeting for tonight, just the Budget Study Session that came before it.