At a glance
A parent came to the Hudson City School District Board of Education with a hard message about the junior high: the clubs her children took part in last year, student council and the National Junior Honor Society, no longer have advisers, and her son had three Spanish teachers in two and a half months. She asked the board to take a close look at a school she said serves about 360 students. The board also set a public hearing for January 9 on a property tax exemption for disabled and low income residents, took up an amended exemption for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, and gave a first read to a workplace violence prevention policy. The superintendent's report was given over entirely to thanking the fall athletes. The recording captures only the public portions of the evening, which the board bracketed with two executive sessions.
Roll Call and a Change to the Agenda
The meeting opened with a roll call taken by Tracy, followed by a single change to the running order. The student representative report was moved ahead of the evening's first executive session.
Key points
- The presiding officer asked Tracy to call the roll, and several people answered here
- The one change to the agenda moved the student representative report in front of the executive session
- A motion to accept the agenda as changed was made, seconded, and put to a voice vote
The auto captions render the roll call as a run of broken fragments, so this summary does not say who was present or who holds which office. One name is clear in the captions, Lauren Jones, but the captions do not say what role that person holds. A student representative gave a report later in the meeting, and a student representative sometimes answers the roll alongside board members, which is another reason not to read the list as a roster.
Superintendent's Report: Thanks to the Fall Athletes
The superintendent's report was a single item, a thank you to every student athlete who competed in the fall season. It ran through the season's results and then named each team that took the field.
Key points
- The girls volleyball and tennis teams qualified for the selection playoffs, and the boys soccer team reached the playoff semifinals
- Three high school tennis players reached the individual sectionals, and three golfers also qualified, with one golfer advancing to the second round
- The report credited sports with building character, discipline, self confidence and time management
- Coaches and families were thanked alongside the athletes
- Varsity teams named were girls tennis, girls soccer, boys soccer, golf, girls volleyball, football and cheerleading
- Junior varsity girls volleyball was named, along with modified girls volleyball, girls soccer, boys soccer and football
The captions render the name of the golfer who advanced to the second round as a fragment, so the name is left out rather than guessed.
Student Representative Report
The student representative described a holiday spirit week, mock trial preparations, and a student led teach in on Israel and Palestine held that same day.
Key points
- Student council is running a holiday spirit week before the break, with themes for cozy sleepwear, holiday colors, a family photo day for friend groups, and characters
- The yearbook staff closes the week with its annual ugly sweater contest
- Mock trial has received its case for the year and has begun preparing for the spring contest
- The representative hosted the Israel and Palestine teaching that day and said it went relatively well for a first attempt, with a good turnout
- Students heard both sides and kept the conversation respectful on what the representative called an extremely polarizing topic
- The representative said there was room for improvement on which perspectives were included, and plans to make future sessions more inclusive
The Board Goes Into Executive Session
Right after the student report, the board moved into an early executive session. The recording picks up again when the public portion resumes.
Key points
- A motion was made to enter executive session at 6:09 p.m. and put to a voice vote
- The transcript carries no discussion from the session itself
- The public meeting resumes on the recording with a thank you to the room for its patience
The captions jump from the motion to enter executive session straight to the meeting resuming, with only a few seconds of recording between them. Executive session is closed to the public, so nothing from it appears here. The times read aloud in the meeting span 6:09 p.m. to 8:29 p.m. while the recording runs about fifteen minutes, so whatever else happened in those hours is not in the record this summary was written from.
Amended Tax Exemption for Volunteer Firefighters and Ambulance Workers
The board took up a revision to local law three, an amended resolution on a partial real property tax exemption for eligible volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.
Key points
- The item was described as a revision to local law three, amending a partial real property tax exemption
- The exemption is authorized under section 466a of the New York real property tax law
- A motion to accept the amended resolution was made, seconded, and put to a voice vote
The captions record the call for all in favor but none of the responses, so this page says the motion was put to a voice vote rather than that it passed.
Personnel Agenda
The board moved through the personnel agenda, pausing briefly to sort out how far down the lettered list the motion reached.
Key points
- A motion was made to accept the personnel agenda items A through N
- Members went back and forth for a moment over whether the list ended at N, and confirmed from the printed agenda that it did
- The motion was seconded and put to a voice vote
- The captions do not describe any of the individual personnel items
The auto captions render the opening letter of the lettered agenda ranges as the numeral 8 rather than the letter A. The members' own exchange on the recording makes clear the list runs through N.
Public Comment: A Parent on the Junior High
One resident spoke during public comment, with concerns about clubs, staffing and academics at the junior high. The board opened the period by explaining it listens rather than responds.
Key points
- The board explained that state law does not require a public comment period, that it holds one anyway, and that it is there to listen rather than to discuss, with each speaker allotted three minutes
- The speaker said her child took part in student council and the National Junior Honor Society last year and that neither club exists now for lack of advisers
- She said there are barely any clubs at the junior high because teachers are not volunteering as advisers, while the high school has many clubs and many teachers willing to advise them
- She said her son had three Spanish instructors in the span of two and a half months this year
- She said the junior high has lost another associate principal and that she is not sure how many that has been in the last year and a half
- She praised the teachers her children have had, and noted she believes advisers receive stipends
- She said about 360 students attend the school and asked the board to take a close look at what is happening there
- Tracy confirmed no one else had signed up to speak
The speaker did not give her name on the recording and no one else said it, so this page describes her only as a parent of junior high students.
Consensus Agenda, a January Hearing, and a Policy First Read
The board passed through its consensus agenda and then set a January public hearing on a property tax exemption for disabled and low income residents. A workplace violence prevention policy came up for first read.
Key points
- A motion to accept the consensus agenda items A through H was made, seconded, and put to a voice vote
- The board gave notice of a public hearing on January 9, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in the library of the Hudson Senior High School
- The hearing is to consider adopting a resolution implementing the disabled and low income citizens real property tax exemption under section 459c of the New York real property tax law, at stated maximum income limits
- A member explained this revises a hearing and policy adopted the previous month, adding disabled residents alongside low income residents
- Policy 8130.2 on workplace violence prevention is up for first read, and the next policy committee meeting is not until January
- A member said there were no red lines in the policy and that the only change was to a name in the text, and another member said it is in fact a new policy
The captions render the name being changed in the workplace violence policy as an unreadable fragment, so it is not reproduced here. The exchange about whether the document was a revision or a new policy also ends without a clear resolution on the recording.
Upcoming Dates and a Second Executive Session
The board read out the calendar through late January and then closed the public portion of the meeting with a second executive session.
Key points
- Holiday recess runs December 25, 2023 through January 1, 2024, with classes resuming Tuesday, January 2, 2024
- An audit committee meeting is set for Tuesday, January 9, 2024 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the district office conference room
- A policy committee meeting is set for Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. in the high school library
- The next regular Board of Education meeting is Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in the high school library
- A motion was made to enter a second executive session at 8:29 p.m., seconded, and put to a voice vote
- The board said there would be no further business after that session
After the motion to go into the second executive session, the captions trail off into a handful of stray words and stop. Nothing further from the meeting is in the record.
About this page
FUTURE HUDSON is an experiment in civic engagement: every public meeting of the City of Hudson since January 2026, transcribed and made readable, so any resident can follow what the city is deciding without attending every meeting. This page covers one meeting; see the full archive.
How it was made
The meeting video was transcribed automatically; the transcript was then organized into sections and summarized. The raw transcript is above, every claim can be checked against it.
What to be skeptical of
The transcript is automated and contains speech-recognition errors; names and numbers may be wrong. This page has not been reviewed by a human. Nothing here is an official record, the school district's official minutes are authoritative.
About coverage of this body
Board of Education meetings are livestreamed by the Hudson City School District to its own YouTube channel. The school district is a separate government from the City of Hudson. If a meeting is missing from the archive, the recording was likely not posted. See the archive index for the full coverage note.