As the coronavirus situation continues to develop, the Board of Education (BoE) is still holding regular bi-weekly meetings, fully open to the public. As is natural, there are concerns over how the school closures have affected certain situations. This was reflected in the 4/28 public comments, where a varsity tennis coach drew attention to the fact that Spring coaching pay had been reduced by around twenty percent. He pointed out it wouldn’t have been that great of a loss for the district to pay the full amount, as the original pay was already relatively low, and the coaches had already put in a lot of work preparing for the season. In response, the BoE acknowledged the hard work coaches have done, and also stated that the pay is not final, and that it is the “phase one” payment. There were some disagreements on how the public comment was directed, but other than that, what the BoE offered was that the coaches’ pay, along with many other things, were incomplete, and that discussions would have to be made in order to address everything.
The 5/12 meeting referenced back to a couple weeks ago. The main topic of conversation regarded announcements made at an elementary school that discussed gender fluidity and the LGBTQ+ awareness effort. This was brought up by a man who asked if anything, like organizing a panel where the situation could be discussed openly without time limits, was planned. His stance on these events triggered a back-and-forth with public comments. Some spoke about how they were offended by the situation, and others discussed how they felt the events were fair and even necessary. The BoE pointed out that Chris Malcolm, a board member, has been having discussions with the prior attendees and building leaders in order to discuss these events. They reassured the man that they would reach out to him.
In both meetings, Doctor Brown had students from a wide range of grades discuss their experiences during Distance Learning 2.0. The 4/28 student experiences generally boiled down to disappointment over losing things, like the close-knit community at LACS, learning, and other school events in general. They also emphasized how they wished teachers and administrators would reach out and communicate more, as it would help students feel more reassured and organized. The 5/12 group consisted of younger students. Similarly, they bemoaned not being able to learn in-person, but pointed out how they liked the organization that distance learning has forced, and its more manageable workload.
The rest of the two meetings were mainly devoted to discussion of the budget. At the 4/28 meeting attendees talked about the changes in taxes, state aid, and reserves compared to previous years. Most of the discussion during the 5/12 meeting pertained to the process of voting on the budget, and the timeline for the voting. There are many aspects of the budget; it is beneficial to refer to the district’s informational page on their website: https://www.ithacacityschools.org/districtpage.cfm?pageid=214.
The budget meetings and the voting meetings are completely open to the public and are more easily accessible than ever. For those who wish to attend the voting meetings, it is best to join at seven o’clock, as the BoE will be in an executive session prior to that. Additional information and links to the digital meetings are available here: https://go.boarddocs.com/ny/icsd/Board.nsf/Public#.