At a glance
The Hudson Development Corporation told the Board of Education it has an offer in with a due diligence period on the John L. Edwards building, and laid out a plan to reopen it as a hub for college and career classes, child care, a bigger youth center and city government offices. The district's budget presenter said state aid projections show a total decrease of $2.8 million, which would leave a $2.2 million gap if Foundation Aid is not restored, while still proposing a 2% tax levy increase against a 3% cap. Questar III BOCES opened the night with a tour of its career and technical programs, and two students told the board directly what those programs have meant to them. District staff also proposed rebuilding the Blue Hawk Academy around a 9th through 12th grade cohort model starting in September. The board took no recorded budget action: it approved nothing beyond a consent agenda put to a voice vote, and went into executive session twice.
BOCES Enrollment Trends and the CTE Surge
Questar III BOCES opened the meeting with a look at where enrollment is heading, including a regional and national surge of interest in career and technical education.
Key points
- A presenter said college enrollments have been falling, and named a local college closing in April, identified with a verbal hedge as the College of St. Rose
- Interest in career and technical education is spiking regionally, statewide and nationally as workers in the trades retire
- CTE enrollment at Questar III has risen over recent years and continues to climb
- Special education enrollment dropped after the pandemic and has since gone back up
The transcript begins at 00:00 in the middle of the BOCES presentation. Whatever opened the meeting, including any roll call, attendance and opening items, is not in the record this summary was written from. The captions are automatic and carry no speaker labels, so names appear here only where someone said them out loud.
Two Students on What Their Programs Gave Them
Two students came to the board to describe their programs. One is in the Questar III culinary arts program, the other attends STEM High School on the Hudson Valley Community College campus.
Key points
- Kenneth Jackson, who introduced himself as a Hudson High School student also attending a Questar III technical program, said the culinary program helped him get accepted to the Culinary Institute of America and is helping him pursue Johnson and Wales
- He had just finished a competition at the Culinary Institute of America against New York and Vermont schools, where his team scored 225 out of 250 points and did not place first
- His dessert drew a comment from a judge that the plating was too perfect
- A student who gave his first name as Jackson said he chose the civil engineering pathway at STEM High School after hearing about it from a friend the summer before ninth grade
- He said he has earned 19 college credits from Hudson Valley Community College, and that the smaller, project based classes and the community mattered more to him than the college credit
The STEM student also gave his grade point average, but the captions garbled it, so it is not repeated here.
Questar III's Program Lineup and New Offerings
A Questar III administrator named Jim, who oversees instructional programs, walked the board through the CTE centers, the two partner high schools, the New Visions programs and what is launching next year.
Key points
- CTE runs at two major centers plus a center in Durham, with programs including auto tech, culinary arts, cosmetology, aviation, welding and a career studies option for students who need smaller group attention
- A youth apprenticeship program pays students while they learn, and some have been hired by the businesses where they apprenticed
- STEM High School sits on the Hudson Valley Community College campus and lets students earn an associate degree alongside a Regents diploma at no cost to them
- Tech Valley High School, founded in 2007, is fully project based and has had a 100% graduation rate for a long time, though its associate degree path is not directly funded
- New Visions programs are selective, generally drawing students in the top 20% of their class, and include education, visual and performing arts, STEM at RPI, scientific research, a new business and accounting program at Columbia Greene Community College, and the EPIC emergency preparedness and cyber program
- The New Visions medical program, which meets at Hudson Valley and does rounds at Samaritan Hospital, drew 50 applicants for 15 slots this year
- New for next year: an education careers program at the Klein technical school, an electrical trades lab and expanded welding at Gibson in Troy, a firefighting program that can bundle with EMT, adult education including CDL training, and changes to special education staffing ratios and reading support
What Hudson Buys from BOCES and What It Costs
A Questar III finance official named Harry took the board through Hudson's purchases, its aid ratio, and the administrative budget the district votes on each April.
Key points
- Hudson purchased about $4 million in BOCES services last year, of which $1.2 million went to specialist services for high need students
- The district's BOCES aid ratio is 42.9%, but deductions for items that become district property and for BOCES salaries over $30,000 bring the effective aid closer to 38%
- The 2024-25 BOCES administrative budget is rising 1.24%, a contingency level increase driven by other post employment benefits
- Hudson's share rises more, 2.6%, because a change in allocation method put Hudson at almost 5.4% of the total budget as its share of regional attendance grew
- Interest income, federal grant charges and statewide service fees cover about 20% of that administrative budget, bringing Hudson's charge to about $317,000
- After aid and surplus refunds, the estimated net cost to Hudson for 2024-25 is about $155,000, roughly $6,000 or $7,000 more than the current year estimate
- Component district boards vote each April on Questar III board members and on the administrative budget; all other services are one year contracts a district can drop
Board Questions on Seats, Attendance and Alternative Education
Board members pressed BOCES on how many seats Hudson gets, whether attendance history keeps struggling students out of CTE, and where Hudson's participation sits compared with other districts.
Key points
- Most programs are open enrollment and BOCES said it can currently take all the students Hudson wants to send, though New Visions has caps and culinary arts has had waiting lists
- Intake looks at a student's desire for the coursework and at attendance, with chronic absenteeism weighing against a seat
- One board member argued that students with attendance or motivation problems are exactly the ones who need a visible path forward, since college bound students often do not need the trades programs
- BOCES said it is creating an alternative learning program at the superintendent's request, designed to link those students into career and technical programs, with hopes of opening in September
- Asked how Hudson compares with other districts, BOCES said Hudson looks comparable to districts its size and promised to send the enrollment numbers to the superintendent
- A BOCES official said the region's weighted attendance measure has fallen from 44,000 students 30 years ago to 29,000 today, even as technical education enrollment rises
- The same official said Questar III has put out a request to hire an architect for a multiyear renovation of the Klein center in Hudson so the space can hold more programs
BOCES agreed to send Hudson's program enrollment numbers and its share of regional purchases to the superintendent to share with the board.
HDC's Vision for the John L. Edwards Building
The Hudson Development Corporation presented close to a year of work on reusing the closed John L. Edwards school as what it called a Hudson hub, with education, child care, the youth department and city offices under one roof.
Key points
- HDC's presenters described the building as 89,500 square feet on four levels, in good shape, with the group using a 2019 feasibility study as its blueprint
- Proposed education partners include Columbia Greene Community College, three and a half miles away, Bard Early College, which currently offers two classes in Hudson, and the Culinary Institute of America, 40 miles south, which sends professors and curriculum to other campuses
- The group said regulated child care programs in Hudson have dropped 64% since 2009, and raised overnight or shift work child care as an unmet need
- HDC said it has heard a conservative estimate of 60 to 100 new hospitality jobs coming, and proposed training space in the building for them
- The presenters proposed moving city government offices into the building, saying the city has not agreed and that HDC has not talked them into it yet
- They said selling three city owned buildings would put them back on the tax rolls and generate roughly $30,000 a year in additional school tax revenue
- The youth department needs about 11,000 square feet not counting the gym, the presenters said, and a large room in the building could host council meetings, hearings and other public events
- HDC engaged a Manhattan firm that works with nonprofits on real estate for three months of work, formed a building committee of a local engineer, architect and contractor, and has a grant writer looking at state grants, which are reimbursable and would require bank financing up front
Between 43:26 and 45:36 the captions record no speech at all, so the handoff from the BOCES presentation to HDC, including any introduction, is missing from the transcript. The presentation itself picks up mid sentence.
The presenters also gave the site acreage and a national count of school closures per year, but the captions garbled both, so neither is repeated here.
How HDC Would Pay for It, and the Offer on the Table
Board members asked how the project would be financed. HDC said grants would reimburse construction, bank financing would front the work, and its treasurer said the group has the cash for the due diligence period.
Key points
- HDC said it would seek grants for the renovation and use financing to cover spending until grants pay back
- The group's treasurer said the external funding is hard work but not undoable, and that the uses are relevant to Albany and to major banks the group is talking to
- HDC told the board its offer includes a due diligence period, and that unlike a typical developer it already knows the building, the community and the feasibility study
- Making the building safe and viable comes first, and the group expects to phase the work because it cannot afford to do it all at once
- The preliminary pro forma is unfinished because HDC does not yet have site control or a deal
- One board member said the city center idea and the space for the youth department were the most appealing parts, noting the youth department's current building has not served its occupants since the 1980s
- HDC said child care organizations it met with field roughly 100 calls a day about child care and have no solutions to offer families
The board asked questions and thanked the presenters. The transcript records no motion, vote or agreement on the building at this meeting.
Blue Hawk Academy: What Worked and What Did Not
The Superintendent said a needs assessment during the first 125 days on the job found the Blue Hawk Academy needed a different structure, and a redesign team walked the board through the program's short history.
Key points
- The Superintendent said the Blue Hawk team, the junior high and senior high administrators and a consultant, Dr. George Parker, were asked to come up with a proposal and a design
- The academy launched in February of last year for grades 7 through 12, with a staggered day from 10:00 to 4:00, online academics and a focus on relationships and community
- That model had no designated academic staff for the online program, and students checked out mentally when the rest of the building emptied in the afternoon
- The staggered schedule also meant extra transportation cost, with some students on a bus for an hour, and students felt separated from the rest of the school
- This year the program returned to a normal day with regular transportation, pushed students into regularly scheduled classes and added a couple of cohort math sections
- The tradeoff was that students could not be scheduled together, so the sense of community was lost, and students consistently said they missed it
- The team visited and networked with several other school districts, some in person and some virtually, and hired a driver, a monitor and a Blue Hawk administrator
The Redesigned Blue Hawk Academy
The team proposed a cohort model for grades 9 through 12 with an intense focus on ninth and tenth graders, a structured day in Blue Hawk space, and a formal application and interview process.
Key points
- Ninth and tenth graders would start the day with a check in and community circle, take core classes in the Blue Hawk space with designated teachers, travel together to an elective, and end the day on college and career readiness
- Eleventh and twelfth graders would follow a slow release model, attending regular education classes, mentoring younger students, and working on resume writing, financial literacy and workforce skills
- The program is for students pursuing a standard diploma who do not require specialized instruction but need motivation and support, and staff stressed it is not a placement for students on suspension
- Applications would be accepted twice a year, 30 days before the start of school and 30 days before the second semester, replacing rolling enrollment so the group culture stays stable
- After an eligibility review and a family and student interview, approved students and a family member would both sign a contract; students who are not a fit would still meet with staff about other supports
- The team listed its staff roles: a driver and monitor, a teaching assistant, a restorative justice specialist, a school counselor and the associate principal, with an open social worker position and core teachers still needed
- The junior high principal said the program is moving to grades 9 through 12 partly because the two schools the team visited run it that way, and because junior high students' emotional needs differ; the junior high will instead build restorative practices schoolwide next year
Staff said 29 students are in the program now and they are looking at about 35 going forward, that it is not a four year commitment, and that core teaching would come from existing district staff rather than new hires. One student who finished seventh grade in the program will not continue into it next year, and staff said there is a plan for that student. Board members praised the decision to gather student feedback and asked about the application process, which staff said is still being developed and will be offered online, on paper, or however a student needs it.
Asked about the listed threat of frustration and lack of stakeholder support, staff pointed to negative talk on social media and inside the school early on, and said a similar presentation on a recent superintendent's conference day drew overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Budget Update: A 2% Levy and the Foundation Aid Gap
The district's budget presenter returned with an updated proposal, still built on a 2% tax levy, and warned that the state budget is running late and that Foundation Aid is the whole ballgame.
Key points
- The proposal keeps all general fund student programs and services and continues investment in classroom instruction and student supports
- The tax levy increase stays at 2%, below the district's 3% tax cap; the district levied 0% last year and 2% in 2022-23
- The proposed budget is up about 2.28% over the current year, which the presenter said is about average for the district, with the trend line heading down
- Expenses came down about $660,000 from the presentation two weeks earlier
- State aid is about 44.8% of revenue and the tax levy about 47%, which the presenter described as neck and neck
- The state aid projections show a total decrease of $2.8 million, with one aid category down 10% in the governor's proposal; BOCES aid is projected at $986,000
- Without a Foundation Aid restoration the district faces a $2.2 million gap, and with it the gap disappears; the presenter said lawmakers are reportedly pushing for a 3% Foundation Aid increase
- Remaining unknowns include the state budget, out of district placements and their transportation, contract negotiations and outstanding grant applications
- If voters reject the budget twice, the district would move to a contingency budget and cut non contractual items, which the presenter called unfavorable and unusual
Asked when a fully categorized budget would be available, the presenter said the April budget presentation, and that it is hard to build line by line without knowing the revenue.
Budget Calendar and the First Executive Session
The presenter read out the budget calendar from April through July, then the board moved into executive session at 7:59.
Key points
- Another budget workshop is set for April 9, with the state budget hoped for April 2 or 3
- On April 23 the board will meet to vote on the BOCES budget, which is Questar III's entire budget, not the administrative budget alone
- Voter registration day is April 25 and the property tax report card is due April 29
- The public hearing on the proposed budget is May 7, and the budget vote is May 21
- If the May 21 vote fails, a second vote would be held June 18; the budget takes effect July 1
- A board member asked what happens if the BOCES budget fails, and the presenter said it would take a majority of voters across the component districts in the region, so one district voting no would not by itself defeat it
- The board moved into executive session at 7:59 to discuss a matter involving board of education rules and procedures; the motion was seconded and put to a voice vote
From 111:51 to 131:20 the transcript records no speech, which is consistent with the executive session. The roll call responses to the votes at this meeting were also not captured: the captions record the call for all in favor but none of the answers, so this page says motions were put to a voice vote rather than that they passed. A deadline for proposition submissions was read from the slide, but no date for it came through the captions.
Student Recognition, a Conference Report and the Consent Agenda
After the executive session the board returned, opened a public forum with no speakers on the list, honored a student, heard about a conference the Superintendent attended, and took up the consent agenda.
Key points
- The district celebrated Zachary, a Hudson senior high school student, as the first to complete a Capstone project for the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness
- His project was planning and carrying out a concrete walkway at American Legion Post 184 as his Eagle Scout project, providing safer access to a memorial garden for veterans
- New York State approved Hudson to offer the Seal of Civic Readiness effective from the 2022-23 academic year, and it appears on a student's transcript and diploma
- The board was told Zachary will be invited back to receive something from the district and the board
- The Superintendent reported attending the League of Innovative Schools conference in New York with two colleagues, including a visit to Mineola High School, and said the hope is to bring board members, principals and teachers to future conferences
- A board member moved to approve consent agenda items A through L; the motion was seconded and put to a voice vote
- The board then moved to a second executive session to discuss proposed, pending or current litigation
The transcript ends moments after the motion for the second executive session, with no adjournment recorded, so anything the board did after that is not in this record. The honored student's surname was spoken but the captions rendered it in a form this summary cannot confirm, so only his first name appears here.
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.
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