The February 25 and March 10 Board of Education meetings contained several important topics. The February meeting had one public comment, but with little content, and the March meeting had no public speakers whatsoever.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a brief presentation on the district’s response measures to the virus. The original plan was if a student showed flu-like symptoms, they would be given a mask and sent home. In the case of a confirmed coronavirus case, the school would be closed down for at least twenty-four hours. Most of the decisions are made by the county health department. The district is closed as of March 13 through April 12, and the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Tompkins County was announced by officials on March 14.
During the February meeting, similar to last year, a few LACS students gave a presentation on the academic calendar and how it could be altered. For the LACS graduation requirement of addressing bias, where students have to identify bias and take action to make a difference, they decided to target inclusion. The students discussed solutions for exclusion with elementary students in order to gain a better understanding of what inclusion meant to them. Their main focus was making the calendar more inclusive by addressing the religious holidays that were not district recess days. Using data from students throughout the district from a survey they conducted, the students decided to narrow down the scope to three specific holidays: Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and Eid al-Fitr. The group proposed truncating a few of the longer holidays, like the February break.
Something of perhaps lesser importance to students, but significant nonetheless, was the budget presentation. Every year, a budget is carefully crafted, with specific amounts of money allocated to different areas, like employee benefits or transportation. The budget acts as a huge deciding factor in many policies, purchases, and hirings that the district will make. Among the more important parts of the presentation was a discussion centered around allocating part of the budget to add one art teacher and one music teacher. The intention is to help foster stronger connections by not having teachers “hop” schools (teaching at multiple schools over the course of a day). The eventual goal is to have at least one music and one art teacher for each school. The budget also includes many things discussed in prior meetings, like the installation of electric cables in preparation for possible electric buses, for which the Board will be voting on April 14.
Overall, these two board meetings were very important going forward for future years. The proposed calendar changes could affect a large portion of the religious population for the better, and the budget affects the entire Ithaca community, from the funding for certain programs to the taxes that families have to pay.