the ad in the lower left corner of page 2 just opposite.

Shifting forward into the Stanley-Boyd School Board and its recent September 28 meeting in the high school gym, there was plenty to talk about and listen to, including a hearing from parents and kids–26 in all.

To put the above number in proper perspective , a normal school board meeting may draw on average from three to four non-board participants–if it’s lucky. So what was the big occasion?

Mask mandates, or rather, the plea that parents be given final say on whether to have their children wear one. With the district now back at level one for wearing on buses, and speaker after speaker holding forth in open comment to finish with applause from the gym bleachers, the tenor was clear: board members were trying to do their best, but parents should have final say as to whether their kids needed to wear a mask. Among the parents was one mother who said the masks caused her son headaches, with others questioning the effectiveness of the cloth covering (including a healthcare worker) and another rhetorically asked what the definition of “insanity” was, noting that the night of the school board meeting was day 551 since the stay-at-home order had been given–nerves were wearing thin with continued restrictions. But in case you thought coronavirus was the only topic on hand September 28, you’d be wrong–there were also upcoming architectural interviews on October 18 for changes recommended by CESA 10, with a prior architectural preference discussion being brought up by Superintendent Jeff Koenig.

“Basically everyone had companies they did like and companies they didn’t like,” he said of board member feelings on the matter. Speaking of which, how about the budget numbers?

Those are still out, although the latest math as of Monday suggests a rate of $6.10 per $1,000 in property value, which Koenig noted was one of the lowest for the district historically. That unofficial figure, meanwhile, hinged and hinges in part on state aid and student enrollment, with 4K students counted at 60 percent for budgeting purposes.

Official numbers are still out on the education cost equation.