At a glance
Students filled the room for this Board of Education meeting, and the district's programs took up most of the night. An administrator walked the board through the Hudson City School District's diversity, equity and inclusion work and the grants behind its after school programs, including a $1.1 million award split evenly between the elementary and junior high schools that runs five years for a total of $5.5 million. A student representative reported on clubs and winter sports, and four student musicians played music from the Grinch. The board put several motions to voice votes, including two bullying prevention policies, the personnel agenda and the consent agenda, and it held two executive sessions. Near the end, the superintendent told the board the district's chief financial officer has left, that an interim business official and an interim transportation coordinator are now in place, and that the books for the 2023-24 school year are still being closed.
Roll Call, Agenda and the Student Report
The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, a roll call and a motion on the agenda, then turned to the student representative for a run through student council plans, club news and winter sports.
Key points
- A motion to accept the agenda as presented was made, seconded and put to a voice vote
- Student council is planning a winter themed spirit week, a cookie decorating party with 20 slots per grade, and its annual alumni panel, where students who graduated last year come back to talk about their first year at college
- The mock trial team received its case from the New York State Bar Association, which the student representative said runs about 192 pages and is posted publicly
- Model UN held a mini session in school on North Korea and nuclear bombs, a student club ran a blood drive, and the environmental club was invited to attend meetings of a nonpartisan citizens climate lobby looking for youth advocates
- Boys basketball won the Battle of the Bridge, and Keith Robinson broke a Hudson High scoring record
- The Hudson bands played at Hudson Hall during Winter Walk, and the cast list for the school musical is set, with rehearsals already started
This is a YouTube auto-caption transcript with no speaker labels, so attributions are left out unless a name was clearly spoken. The roll call responses come through as single garbled words, so who answered cannot be established from the transcript. The board has a student representative who is not a board member.
DEI Presentation: Grants, Team and Name Recordings
An administrator presented part one of a report on the district's diversity, equity and inclusion work, starting with the grants she oversees and the team she built.
Key points
- The grants she is responsible for include the 21st Century after school program, Learning Enrichment After School Program Supports (LEAPS), My Brother's Keeper, and stronger connections
- The district was awarded $1.1 million through LEAPS, $550,000 for the elementary school and $550,000 for the junior high school, running five years for a total of $5.5 million
- The 21st Century program runs in collaboration with mental health services at Columbia Greene, and that program's director, Mrs. Carpenter, was in the room
- The DEI community team started with 12 staff from different departments and four administrators. Three staff have since left, leaving nine, and the team now has five administrators and eight community partners
- She said establishing a DEI community team takes three to ten years, and that Hudson is making progress little by little
- Survey results after DEI training showed agreement she described as no less than 85 percent and almost 98 percent on the culturally responsive sustaining framework, drawn from 71 responses
- The district recorded every student's name from kindergarten through 12th grade so staff pronounce them correctly. She said she knows of no other New York district that has done this, the state education department asked her to write an article about it, and recording staff names is a goal this year
The After School Program: Enrollment, Trips and Grant Money
The presenter detailed what the 21st Century and LEAPS dollars are buying: enrollment across three sites, summer trips, new activities, and a NASA challenge. She also walked through the program's grant history and a survey that barely anyone answered.
Key points
- 245 students are registered for the program: 130 at the elementary school, 35 at the junior high and 80 at a third site. The elementary school has a waiting list
- Summer activities included designing backpacks and trips to an aquarium, the Bronx Zoo, the New York State Museum and a Columbia County Youth Theater production of Alice in Wonderland. Students also went home with four to seven books from faculty
- Only 11 of 89 students completed a program survey that a consultant sent to families at home. Staff concluded the survey has to be given on site during the program instead
- Two goals came out of the survey work: increase students' academic confidence by 75 percent and increase positive behaviors by 75 percent
- Tap dance starts in January, and two supervised game rooms are being created, one at the junior high and one at the senior high, with adult staff, sign in and attendance tracking for students who stay after school
- Hudson is one of only 10 New York districts chosen for a 2025 NASA design thinking challenge, alongside Manhattan District 5. Students will build, launch and recover, design a filter that purifies water, and use coding to make protective footwear for astronauts, interacting with astronauts virtually
- The presenter said the district secured about $840,000 in 21st Century grant money and that a later round came in far lower, which the state attributed to recycled application material. She said she wants over $1 million next time. The program's consultant, Brockport Research Institute, visits twice a year and reported successes including communication with families and positive behavior management
The reduced 21st Century award appears in the captions as "179 766" with no dollar sign or comma, so the exact amount cannot be read reliably and is not stated here.
A Mental Health Clinic, Telehealth and Sensory Rooms
The presenter described three layers of mental health support the district is adding: a clinic in the district office, telehealth appointments outside school hours, and sensory rooms in all three buildings.
Key points
- The district is working toward a mental health clinic on site in the district office, with a formal announcement to come through the superintendent
- Cartwheel telehealth services are offered after school and on weekends rather than during the school day, because children should be in the classroom learning, and mental health providers have also been on site
- Referrals stood at 27 at the time of the meeting, one more than the 26 on the slide
- The presenter gave referral rates of about 42 percent at the high school, about 35 percent at the elementary school and 23 percent at the junior high
- Sensory rooms are being set up at the elementary school, junior high and high school for students who are dysregulated and need a place to settle before returning to class. Students sign in, staff track how long they stay, and furnishings were still arriving
- Asked whether the rooms would be a place for students who simply do not want to go to class, the presenter said no
From roughly 38:11 to 39:15 the captions break down almost completely. The details of the clinic, including hours, staffing and insurance, are not recoverable from the transcript.
My Brother's Keeper Fellows and Family Workshops
The presentation turned to My Brother's Keeper, covering the program's mission, its graduating and incoming fellows, community service, trips and a series of workshops for families.
Key points
- The My Brother's Keeper vision and mission were written by the program team around the district's six keys for school improvement
- Two fellows who graduated last year were recognized. One is serving with the National Guard and one is at a SUNY campus playing soccer
- Two new fellows were introduced along with their mentor
- Fellows read four books a year. Titles named were Mad Truth, When I Was Puerto Rican and Rich Dad Poor Dad
- Fellows take part in two major events: Standing Deliverance at the Empire Center in Albany, and a symposium that drew more than 1,000 attendees last year, where one Hudson student sat on a panel with the author of Mad Truth
- Community service included unloading a truck to set up a food pantry at Solid Rock Church and washing fire trucks in Greenport. Trips included Lake George, Six Flags and Washington, D.C., where students visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture and toured the Howard University campus
- Family workshops covered resources for families impacted by incarceration, why attendance matters, resume writing, literacy, and communicating with teens using a restorative lens
Students were named aloud from the floor, but the captions render most of those names inconsistently, so they are not repeated here.
Saturday STEM and the Panorama Survey Results
The last part of the presentation covered the Flying Classroom Saturday STEM program and the district's June Panorama survey results from students, teachers, staff and families.
Key points
- The Flying Classroom Saturday STEM program is open to grades 6 through 12, still has space, provides lunch and runs on select Saturdays through the school year
- Students have worked with hydroponic and aquaponic systems and built a contraption to move pollen from flower to flower the way a honeybee does
- The presenter said many students did not complete the June survey because a phishing scam was circulating at the same time and students had been told not to click links. Next time the district will set aside time during the school day
- Among students in grades 3 through 5, 86 percent reported supportive relationships, 47 percent emotional regulation and 51 percent challenging feelings
- Among students in grades 6 through 12, 79 percent reported positive relationships with adults, students and teachers, 42 percent challenging feelings and 36 percent emotional regulation
- Teachers returned 141 responses: 71 percent on teaching efficacy, 76 percent saying they feel ready to support all learners, and 41 percent on school climate. Feedback and coaching scored low, and the presenter said supports have since been put in place and she believes those June numbers are already rising. Staff rated school leadership at 58 percent
- 78 families responded, and 67 percent named a barrier to getting involved with their child's school
The presenter was reading numbers off slides and the captions lose several of them, including which barriers families named most often. Only figures that came through clearly are listed here.
Questions on the After School Program and Its Wait List
The presenter answered a question carried over from an earlier board meeting about how the after school program handles behavior, and then took questions from the room about clubs and the elementary wait list.
Key points
- Responding to a question raised at an earlier meeting, the presenter said a student who acts out is not sent home for the day. Students are removed for fighting or destroying property, and many interventions come first
- She said she is working with the program coordinator to make the language more restorative and to lay out levels of behavior with matching interventions, so families can see how it works
- Someone in the room asked that the high school's competitive clubs, which compete at state and regional levels, get a chance to present to the board. The presenter said she had emailed about that and wants to connect
- Asked about the elementary school wait list, the presenter confirmed it is a capacity issue and that enrollment is first come, first served
- The rest of the answer, which appears to touch on attendance, registration forms and when enrollment reopens, is not recoverable from the captions
From roughly 68:49 to 72:45 the captions break into fragments. Several minutes of the wait list and enrollment discussion are effectively absent from the record this summary was written from.
Student Musicians and the Music Program's Scheduling Squeeze
A woodwind quartet of students played seasonal music for the board, and their teacher used the moment to describe how scheduling is pulling students out of the music program.
Key points
- Four student musicians performed music from the Grinch on clarinet, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and alto saxophone
- Their teacher said one of the players, Thomas, scored 100 on his level six All State NYSSMA solo last year, which earned him an alternate spot for the conference all state ensemble, and that he attended the Zone 10 all state conference a few weeks ago
- About 75 students take part in band at the high school
- The teacher said 42 percent of course requests for music in the high school this year could not be accommodated, and that scheduling is what costs the program students once they reach the junior high
- He described Hudson as a small city school district trying to offer a lot without the resources students deserve, and said he had given a presentation to upper administration that he would like to share with the board
- One speaker said students turn to the band room as a place to go when they have to wait after school, and thanked the music staff for building those relationships
- The junior high concert is Thursday at 6:30 and the high school concert is Wednesday, December 18 at 7
Executive Session, Policy Work and Personnel Votes
The board went into an early executive session, then returned to old business, policy committee items and the personnel agenda.
Key points
- The board announced a need for an early executive session concerning the employment history of a particular person. A motion was seconded and put to a voice vote
- The policy committee tabled policy 0100 for the moment and will discuss it at its next policy meeting
- A participant addressed as Matt questioned a policy that sent workplace harassment complaints to the DEI manager rather than to HR. The answer was that the policy predated the district having an HR office and that the change would be made, with the related regulation sent back
- A motion to accept policy 0115, student bullying prevention and intervention, and policy 0115 R, the matching regulation, was seconded and put to a voice vote
- A motion to accept policy 95206, rights of employees to express breast milk in the workplace, was put to a voice vote
- A motion to set the personnel agenda, items A one through seven and items B one through four, was seconded and put to a voice vote
The captions record the words "all in favor" for each motion but never the responses, so the transcript does not show how any of these motions came out. The number of the harassment policy Matt asked about comes through garbled and is not given here.
From 84:23 to 100:22, roughly 16 minutes, the transcript is nothing but silence markers while the board was in executive session.
Superintendent's Report and the Teaching and Learning Update
The superintendent gave a short report and introduced a new practice of brief verbal updates from each member of the executive team, starting with teaching and learning.
Key points
- The district's December newsletter will be released sometime next week, before the holiday break
- The literacy committee, made up of teachers from different grade levels, administrators and literacy coaches, is looking at how writing is taught across grades and will conduct a needs assessment using student work samples from each grade level
- A Flying Classroom celebration is set for December 21, with RSVPs asked for by December 13. Parents and community members are invited, and families interested in how the district uses its federal title grant money can come as well
- Going forward, each member of the executive team will give a short verbal update at board meetings, with fuller presentations when their turn comes
- A half day for the secondary schools the next day gives teachers professional development on Achieve 3,000 and Rubicon Atlas and introduces the district's coaching model, supported by two internal coaches
- Professional learning communities meet twice a month at the elementary school and after school at the junior and senior high from 2:45 to 3:15 or 3:30. A fourth grade group found that standards they were teaching were not aligned to the state assessment and adjusted the curriculum
- A practice computer based assessment runs in January at the elementary and junior high schools, ahead of spring state testing that all students in grades 3 through 8 take on computer with their usual accommodations
The first minute or so of the superintendent's report, around 104:10 to 105:08, is badly garbled in the captions and its subject cannot be established.
HR Update: Hiring, Certification and Onboarding
The district's human resources director, introduced as Miss Brooks, gave the first departmental update, covering vacancies, a records grant, a staffing audit and a rebuilt onboarding process.
Key points
- She is posting vacancies on an ongoing basis and pointed to a serious decline in the number of teaching degrees coming out of universities, with exit interviews planned to understand why people leave
- A local government records management improvement fund grant starts in January. Staff and a project manager have been interviewed and hired, and the work will organize district records and archives, including business office, special education, HR, substitute and board agenda records, outside school hours
- A rebuilt onboarding process has been presented to administrators, with a checklist covering building access, badges, laptops and curriculum systems, and it will be posted so the whole district can see how hiring works
- A district wide staffing audit is underway covering building, department, full time and part time status, FTE, location and certification
- She said every teacher and teaching assistant in the district is fully certified, and that coaches' certification is the remaining piece, with support from a regional certification coordinator and an effort to cover the cost of required workshops so coaches do not pay out of pocket
- Standard procedures are being written for FMLA and workers' compensation so staff can see timelines and track their leave banks, and she is working to make an employee assistance program live in the district
- She completed Title IX training that day, and holds monthly HR huddles in each building during a lunch period so staff can drop in with questions
Interim Finance Leadership, Consent Agenda and Upcoming Dates
The superintendent gave an update on the district's finances after the departure of its chief financial officer, a parent letter was read into the record, and the board closed with the consent agenda, January dates and a second executive session.
Key points
- The superintendent celebrated Keith Robinson again for breaking the school record for most career points
- She said the district is going through a transition in financial management because of the recent departure of its chief financial officer, and that the board worked with her to quickly appoint an interim business official, Sue Hutter, and an interim transportation coordinator, Bill Mirad
- The interim business official is closing the books on the 2023-24 school year, completing reports required by New York State, handling day to day finances and finishing treasurer's reports from last spring to the present. The district is reviewing options for additional help with those tasks
- Auditors are reviewing every account, and the interim business official was scheduled for a call the next day to learn when the audit will be finished
- The interim transportation coordinator is analyzing every contract to gauge where the district stands on transportation finances. The superintendent said the goal is accurate information and that an update will come as soon as it is available
- A letter from a parent supporting the after school program was read into the record, describing the program as a safe, enriching place and its staff as family
- A motion to approve consent agenda items A through L was seconded and put to a voice vote, and the board then announced a second executive session on proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property and the employment history of a particular person
The names of the interim business official and the interim transportation coordinator were spoken aloud, but the captions render both surnames more than one way. The spellings here follow the most common rendering and should be checked against district records.
- Board of Education meeting, January 7, 2025, 6:00 PM, high school library
- Policy committee meeting, January 21, 2025, 5:00 to 6:00 PM, high school library
- Board of Education meeting, January 21, 2025, 6:00 PM, high school library
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.