At a glance
A consultant told the Hudson City School District Board of Education that the district's human resources work is scattered across many offices and individuals, with no one person holding the full picture, and called HR one of the most risk prone areas of the district. She credited the district's new HR director, hired after the audit was done, and laid out fixes for the personnel consent agenda, certification tracking, onboarding, personnel files and payroll communication. Teachers and residents then filled two public comment periods, pressing the board on the rollout of new programs, on the case for hands-on classes, and on a social media petition seeking the superintendent's removal. The board took four voice votes, on the agenda, the graduation ceremonies policy, the personnel agenda and the consent agenda, and closed by resolving to enter executive session to review employment history.
Roll Call and the Agenda
The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a roll call taken by the board clerk. A member moved to accept the agenda as presented.
Key points
- Seven board members answered the roll call: Mark DePace, Amanda Grubler, Kjirsten Gustavson, Willette Jones, Calvin Lewis, Matthew Mackerer, and a member the captions recorded only as Walker
- The board clerk, Tracy, read the names
- No one raised questions on the agenda
- A member moved to accept the agenda as presented, another seconded, and the chair called for all in favor
The captions record the call for all in favor on every motion in this meeting but not the responses, so this page says a motion was put to a voice vote rather than that it passed. The first two minutes of the recording, before the call to order, contain no speech.
Student Representative's Report
The student representative, Thomas, ran through recent and upcoming school events, then told the board that higher achieving students feel overlooked.
Key points
- The Varsity Club and Hawks Against Cancer held a walkathon Sunday for breast cancer awareness
- Juniors and seniors played nine holes on a golf field trip donated by the owner of a local golf course
- Upcoming events: a sophomore tour of Bard College, which he said also opens access to the Bard early college program, a Frederick Douglass performance at Hudson Hall on November 1, a Model UN conference on November 3 that he said has been approved for funding, and Powderpuff football on November 7
- SAT scores were released October 18
- He said there has been more focus on underachieving students, rightly so in his view, but that higher achieving students are left feeling neglected, pointing to SAT tutoring the school used to offer and to AP classes being up for debate
- He said students applying to selective colleges find it hard to get the resources they need and to connect with students across the state and country
- He referred back to the DEI coordinator's remarks at the previous meeting about providing opportunities to students on a high achieving path
The student representative gave his surname, but the captions garbled it, so only his first name appears here.
HR Audit: A Department Spread Too Thin
A consultant presented the findings of a human resources needs assessment she conducted for the district. Her central finding was that HR duties are divided among numerous departments and individuals with no single owner.
Key points
- The consultant said HR responsibilities are spread among numerous departments and individuals, so no one person understands the full duties of the department
- The audit found that arrangement also jeopardizes the confidentiality normally expected of an HR department
- The audit named the lack of established processes as a second problem, and the consultant said neither finding is unusual in a district with no HR director
- The consultant congratulated the district on hiring Miss Brooks as HR director, said Brooks has the background to succeed, and asked for everyone's patience while Brooks and her staff build processes
- In response to a board member's question, the consultant confirmed the review was conducted before Brooks started
- A board member said the district has a road map and plans to implement and execute the changes, and the consultant said that is the purpose of the needs assessment, to put consistent, fair and equitable systems in human resources
The person who gave this presentation is never named in the transcript, and the opening sentences were lost while the microphone was fixed. A later exchange with the board also went unrecorded and had to be repeated on mic.
HR Audit: Hiring, Certification and Onboarding
The consultant walked through the areas she said need immediate attention, starting with the personnel consent agenda the board acts on at every meeting.
Key points
- Every appointment on the personnel consent agenda has to comply with education law, Civil Service law and the collective bargaining agreement, and the consultant said some compliance issues must be addressed, including tenure areas that comply with Part 30 of the commissioner's regulations
- The consultant provided the district with a sample personnel consent agenda format and a list of Part 30 tenure areas for reference
- Certifications and licenses are verified at hire but never followed up, so initial and provisional certifications can expire without anyone noticing, and the consultant said there is presently no oversight of coaching certification, calling it a great liability
- An uncertified teacher must be appointed as a term or temporary appointment and cannot earn seniority until certified
- The district has compliance posters, board policy and notices on job postings, but no Title VI compliance officer, which the consultant said was not appointed at the reorganizational meeting and should be the HR director
- A written hiring guideline exists but the consultant found it is not consistently followed; the HR director is reviewing it and will share the final version with all administrators
- Recent hires said they did not feel welcome, with onboarding handled through SchoolFront forms, and the consultant recommended a real orientation that includes non-instructional employees, who the consultant said rarely get the welcome teachers get
HR Audit: Files, Payroll and Liability
The consultant continued through tenure tracking, evaluations, attendance, personnel files, payroll communication and employee relations, and closed by describing HR as one of the district's biggest sources of legal risk.
Key points
- Probationary appointments and the tenure process are tracked manually in the superintendent's office, and the consultant recommended HR take that over using a digital system and notify administrators each fall when probationary periods end
- Teacher and administrator evaluation plans follow the collective bargaining agreements, but the consultant said support staff do not appear to be evaluated at all and recommended a formal process for them
- Absence management involves secretaries and supervisors with no one person responsible, and the consultant said HR should own it and review attendance data with building leaders
- The district keeps both paper and electronic personnel files, with the electronic system started in 2023 and not all files scanned in; the consultant sampled 30 files and found missing I-9 identification, transcripts, licenses and evaluations
- After instances where a revision made at a board meeting never reached the payroll office, the consultant recommended the board clerk initial the final personnel consent agenda and give copies to the HR director and payroll
- Responsibility for Family and Medical Leave Act requests, which provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid job protected leave, has shifted back to HR, and the consultant said employees must be fully informed of their rights
- The consultant said employee disputes are handled at the building level, which is a problem when the issue is with an immediate supervisor, and that the HR director should be the point person
- The consultant summarized that HR is one of the most risk prone areas of the district and that without one expert overseeing it the district's exposure to lawsuits grows
Graduation Ceremonies Policy and the Personnel Agenda
The board took up the third reading of the graduation ceremonies policy and then the personnel agenda.
Key points
- A member introduced the third reading of policy 4772 on graduation ceremonies, saying the superintendent worked with a staff member on language reflecting how they usually approach speakers
- No one had questions or comments
- A member moved to approve amended policy 4772, another seconded, and the chair called for all in favor
- The chair said there was no need for an executive session at that point in the agenda
- A member moved to accept the personnel agenda items A through M, another seconded, and the chair called for all in favor
Public Comment: The Case for Hands-On Classes
The chair read the ground rules for public comment, and the first speaker, a substitute teacher, asked the board to add real world classes for students.
Key points
- The chair explained that state law does not require a public comment period, that the board is there to listen rather than respond that night, that privacy laws bar comments about school personnel, and that each speaker has three minutes
- The first speaker said he has applied since May and been subbing since November while trying to get an appointed teaching assistant spot, and believed he might be appointed by the board that night
- He said education in Rome was described as the pursuit of the good, the beautiful and the true, and that Hudson has plenty of the good and the true but lags on the beautiful
- He said the district has art, music and agriculture classes, but students are asking for more
- He said students ask him every week to sew a shirt, fix a backpack, fix an RC car or fix a shelf, and he asked the board to help add enrichment through real world classes
The captions garbled this speaker's name when the chair called him. He said students call him Mr. D.
Public Comment: A Teacher on the Rollout of New Initiatives
Laura Bender, a high school social studies teacher, told the board that recent district initiatives were rolled out without meaningful faculty input, using the Achieve 3000 reading program as her example.
Key points
- She introduced herself as a social studies teacher at the high school for the past 12 years and said teachers support efforts to improve student success
- She said the recent rollout of initiatives felt rushed and lacked clear communication and faculty partnership, in contrast to what she called Hudson's proud history of collaboration
- She described Achieve 3000 as an online program that measures student reading level and provides nonfiction texts, and said the goal is commendable but the initiative assumes Hudson teachers do not understand student needs or use data
- She said teachers used the Scholastic Reading Inventory for years to gauge reading levels, that its elimination before last school year left them without literacy data, and that calls for its return went unanswered
- She said training on the platform was 40 minutes in the middle of a regular school day during the first weeks of school, leaving teachers scrambling
- She said 75% of her current seniors are in college English courses or integrated ELA programs and may not participate fully in Achieve 3000, skewing the literacy data
- She said the district has lost veteran teachers over the past two years, that their departure is misattributed to accountability, and that they ran clubs, advised classes and kept safe spaces for students
Public Comment: Percentages, Farming and Following Through
A community member who volunteers in the schools questioned the way student data was presented at the previous meeting, asked for follow-through on ideas raised at public comment, and pressed the superintendent on the Saturday STEM program.
Key points
- She said the charts at the last meeting breaking down how students were doing reminded her of divide and conquer, and that a student enters school as a student, which is what she saw when she volunteered
- She said she understands the reporting is required by the state and the federal education department, but that each school has a unique set of students and problems that go beyond percentages
- She said the public feels left in the dark, citing a basketball trip to the Basketball Hall of Fame and a drama club grant raised at earlier meetings with no word since
- A board member responded that the basketball team did receive approval for the trip on one of the agendas and that the theater program got its letter of support for the grant
- She questioned the virtual format of the Saturday STEM sessions, saying Hudson Valley farmers would share their time and knowledge in person, and the superintendent said teachers will also circulate the room
- She backed the earlier speaker's call for practical skills, saying students learn math by measuring for a cake or a shelf and that hands-on work makes them feel like fully developed people
The captions garbled this speaker's name when the chair called her, so no name is given here.
Public Comment: Calls to Stop the Infighting
Two speakers urged the community to stop attacking district staff, both referring to a petition circulating on social media seeking the superintendent's removal.
Key points
- Malachi Walker said the community has to be proactive and that it can no longer be us against them, only all of us against the failure of the children's future
- He addressed the person circulating what he called an uncalled for petition to have the superintendent removed, saying to speak now or forever hold your peace, and called for no more personal insults or finger pointing
- He said a genuine love for each other has to be the foundation, and that children are watching and listening to how adults treat one another
- A parent and former district student said she saw a petty petition on Facebook and disparaging remarks about administration, and said everyone in the paid seats is credentialed and certified while board members serve on their own unpaid time
- She said the district's results cannot be hidden and that students know it, describing a student body of many backgrounds required by New York State to attend
- She said Hudson teachers are the highest paid in Columbia County while the district has the lowest test scores, and asked what the problem is, saying it cannot be the kids
- She described her son bringing home a clothespin he made in wood shop, adding to the ones her other children made
Superintendent's Report: Recognition, Saturday STEM and Harvest Month
The superintendent announced a new staff recognition award, marked school board recognition month, and reported on the Saturday STEM pilot, Harvest of the Month and a dental partnership.
Key points
- The superintendent said the new Superintendent Spotlight on Excellence award came out of hearing that staff needed to feel more appreciated, and will hand it out while walking through classrooms and then announce the recipients during the superintendent's report at board meetings
- The superintendent noted the New York State School Boards Association recognizes October 14 through 18 as school board recognition week, thanked each board member by name along with the student representative and the board clerk, and gave the board a token of appreciation
- The superintendent reported on the flying classroom Saturday STEM pilot for junior and senior high students, running through June, and said 56 students will be in the pilot, with the district hoping to extend it to more students next year if it goes well
- For Harvest of the Month, students ate a variety of apples sourced from two local farms on Wednesday, October 16
- A high school food and nutrition class taste tested five varieties of New York apples, learned which are best for baking, snacking, sandwiches, salads and applesauce, and made applesauce
- The superintendent thanked the NYU dental program, which has come to Hudson since before the pandemic, and said the district expanded it this year beyond the elementary school so that students at the junior and senior high school could get dental services
The captions garbled the start date of the Saturday STEM pilot and the number and length of its sessions, so those are left out here rather than guessed at.
Consent Agenda, a Second Public Forum and Executive Session
The board acted on the consent agenda, heard three more speakers, read the November meeting dates and resolved to go into executive session.
Key points
- A member moved to approve consent agenda items A through L, another seconded, and the chair called for all in favor
- Janice Beckles, who said she used to substitute in the district, asked for trade schools so graduates can go into plumbing, electronics or contracting, and described letting students in detention read anything they chose to get them engaged
- A speaker returned to the data presentation from the last meeting and said high achieving students feel a disconnect, noting AP numbers were shown for optional classes and that AP Calculus scores showed two students in a course the district does not actually offer
- That speaker said art, music and drama are strong in the district and asked that creativity and expression be a core principle alongside the core subjects
- Another speaker disputed the earlier claim about pay, saying Hudson teachers are not the highest paid in the county and that another district in the county that just settled its contract is, and said test scores are a poor measure because only certain students take the tests, some opt out, and some of those who opt out are top students
- The chair read the November dates: a regular Board of Education meeting November 5 at 6:00 p.m. in the high school library, and a policy committee meeting at 5:00 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:00 p.m. on November 19 in the same room
- A member read a resolution for the board to enter executive session at 7:01 to review the employment history of a particular person or persons, with no further business after it, another seconded, and the chair called for all in favor
The recording ends as the board enters executive session, so nothing that followed is in this 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.