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‘Change requires
strong leadership’
Annual meeting energizes HFM BOCES for advocacy work ahead
 Board
of Education President Robert Townsend got right to the point in
his remarks at the HFM BOCES Annual Meeting on Tuesday evening.
Faced with escalating costs, dwindling reserves and steep
reductions in state aid, local school districts are challenged
to provide a quality education for their students.
“This is the most difficult time for education in New York
State,” Mr. Townsend told the assembled audience of school
superintendents and board of education members. “The change we
need will require strong leadership.”
Singling out the legislative lobbying in March that quickly
energized HFM BOCES 15 component school districts, he thanked
new District Superintendent Dr. Patrick Michel, Assistant
Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Hohenforst and the school district
superintendents for their tireless efforts. The advocacy during
state budget negotiations resulted in rallies in Albany, student
letter-writing campaigns, and significant media coverage of HFM
BOCES component districts’ call for equity in the distribution
of state aid to upstate New York schools.
Reading a letter from New York State Education Commissioner Dr.
David Steiner, Mr. Townsend shared the commissioner’s report on
Regents reform, Race-To-The-Top progress, and his support for
BOCES.
“We are facing severe fiscal challenges in New York,” the letter
read. “BOCES, and the services they provide, are more important
than ever in meeting these challenges.”
In speaking of services provided to school districts, Mr.
Townsend announced that Career and Technical Education tuition
for the 2011-12 school year would remain unchanged for the
fourth year in a row.
“We hold up your schools and your students’ best interests as
our backdrop in consideration of the HFM BOCES budget.” He
explained. “For the many challenges that face our districts, HFM
BOCES is here as a resource for you.”
The proposed $31.43 million HFM BOCES spending plan represents
an increase of 2.2 percent, driven primarily by increasing
healthcare and pension costs. Component school districts’ Boards
of Education will vote on the administrative budget on April 27.
 In
his remarks, Dr. Michel spoke of his plans to promote more
shared services and consolidations, and to continue his advocacy
for mandate reform and funding equity for upstate schools.
“We will meet with our local education and business leaders,
along with our legislative representatives on Wednesday, Apr. 6,
to explore ways to change how we do things,” Dr. Michele said.
“We will launch a Facebook page, Shortchanged in Upstate NY, to
be a visible and vocal voice for our efforts. I expect you all
to join us online.”
The next steps, Dr. Michel said, are to develop short-term and
long-term priorities to address the challenges facing schools,
highlighting a transportation pilot program and discussions of
shared food service management services as two examples of new
avenues for consolidating resources.
“Has anyone been following the recent elections in Haiti?” Dr.
Michel asked. “The newly elected president won with 68 percent
of the vote, based on the promise to provide free education for
every child.”
Haiti’s population contends with unemployment hovering around 80
percent and nearly 1 million people still homeless after the
2010 earthquake. Even before the disaster, less than half of the
children in the country could afford to go to school. New
Haitian President Michael Martelly explained his platform
promise of free education for every student by saying that he
“wanted the future of our country to be provided for.”
“They get it,” Dr. Michel said in closing. “In our country
steeped in overabundance, we take education for granted. Yet in
the most impoverished country in the world, they truly embrace
the commitment to public education.”
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