Tonight (2017-12-19) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
As has happened most times the topic comes up, the Urban-Suburban program dominated the meeting. Tl;dr: After much discussion the board voted 7 to 2 in favor of joining Urban-Suburban. Implementation plan details for discussion in January.
A camera crew form channel 10 interviewed Gene (Superintendent) before the meeting, and remained for the first part of the meeting. They left before the board actually got to the discussion on Urban-Suburban. Which in itself was amusing: there for the superintendent, public comment (all two of us), and then left before the real discussion.
One of the two commenters was myself. I don’t like commenting, especially in front of a camera, but sometimes I feel the need to speak. Never sure how well I come across, and if my intended points match up with what is heard on the other end. I spoke against joining the Urban-Suburban program, with a focus on how diversity shouldn’t be a mission critical goal and how accepting money for attendance (tuition) is the act of a private school. The other commenter was a former board member who eloquently spoke in favor of the program. She seemed to focus on how difficult it is for minorities to live in the district (at the risk of putting words in her mouth).
I think this is the most contentious issue I have seen the board deal with. For how small of an impact it is likely to have, it felt like a group reluctantly making a decision they had to. Mind you, I am against this action, so my view is clearly biased.
Much discussion back and forth amongst the board before they voted. Primary topics were financial impact, problems we solve, enrichment offered, and the underlying function of the board.
It sounds like a mostly positive financial impact, but there was some debate on how to interpret the numbers. It was also said that any (potential) financial gain shouldn’t be a factor in approving (or denying) the program. It should stand (or fall) on it’s educational merits.
From the board’s discussion, they seemed to feel the primary benefit was increasing diversity amongst the student population. And from that, using the additional students as a way to offer another kind of enrichment opportunity.
It was pointed out how there are always problems to solve. The question is do we solve problems of growing and changing, or do we solve problems of remaining static and decaying. An interesting viewpoint, which does raise the question of what we are trying to grow/change towards.
This situation reminded me of a reoccurring phrase at BoE meetings: We can do anything we want, but not everything we want. Which is to say, we can clearly add this program. But by doing so we spend a certain amount of time/focus, which means we can’t do something else. Leaving the question of if this is the best use of our limited time/focus.
Directly after joining the Urban-Suburban program was approved, a motion was made to require BoE approval before allowing any students from this program into the district. Which lead to pop quiz on Robert’s Rules of Order. Always fun to watch groups work through that particular challenge, and I would say they passed this time.
I’ll mention again that I am impressed with Gene in his role as Superintendent. He seems to do his job well, and makes sure the board gives him the information he needs to do that job. No letting them give him mixed messages, he makes sure they are clear in their direction.
Which brings us back to the only other item of note tonight, the Superintendent’s report. From an agenda point of view, this was back at the start of the meeting.
Lot’s of activities going on around this time of year. Concerts, sports, etc. Impressive amounts of giving by those in the schools too. Time spent volunteering, money donated directly to charities, food for those in need, and all sorts of other gifts.
The library on BoardDocs has been updated with a collection of information for the board’s usage. Of note is a chart of when policies were last updated. Should make it easier to catch obsolete ones. Unfortunately, this section of BoardDocs isn’t open to the public.
Gene also offered a historical tidbit. The first time HF-L considered the Urban-Suburban program was back in 1972. That put some perspective on things for me, the district has been bouncing off this idea for longer then I have been alive.
While I didn’t agree with the board’s decision tonight, I found the way it played out worth watching. Always interesting when elected official discuss the function of their board (and government in general).
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the December 19, 2017 meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education.
As has become the norm for this group, Agenda’s and similar information can be found at HFL’s BoardDocs page.