At a glance
Federal grant money and summer programs took up most of this Board of Education meeting. Christy Ferry, the district's executive director of business and finance, walked the board through the Title funding Hudson City School District receives under the Every Student Succeeds Act, and board members pushed back on a form that asked them to sign off as having been consulted when what they had seen was a presentation of past examples. The board adopted a new personal electronic devices policy on its first reading so the district can meet a state submission deadline tied to funding, with members saying plainly that they expect to revise it during the year. A resident told the board she has been asking the same question about savings from unfilled retiree positions since April and still has no answer. The board also approved its personnel and consensus agendas, heard a summer program report from the superintendent, and closed the night by moving back into executive session.
One Member Out, One Remote, and a New Student Representative
The board opened with one member absent and one joining remotely, added a discussion item to the end of the agenda, and welcomed the student representative to the board.
Key points
- The chair said board member Calvin Lewis could not attend and sent his regrets, and that board member Maureen Sheridan was joining remotely
- The roll call recorded Mark DePace, Amanda Grubler, Kjirsten Gustavson, Diana Howard, Matthew Mackerer and Maureen Sheridan present, with Calvin Lewis absent
- After Maureen Sheridan pointed out that the agenda had no discussion item at the end, the board moved and seconded adding one as item 12 and called for a voice vote
- The board then moved, seconded and called a voice vote to accept the agenda as presented
- Leona Prova, the student representative to the board, introduced herself and said she is the student council president
These are YouTube auto-captions with no speaker labels, so most remarks cannot be attributed to a person. Names appear here only where the transcript says them aloud. The recording also begins at 02:30, part way through the board settling in, so anything said before that is not in the record.
Federal Title Grant Money and What It Pays For
The district's executive director of business and finance presented the consultation and collaboration session for Hudson's federal Title funding, walking through each Title and how the money has been spent in past years.
Key points
- Christy Ferry said the district received $830,412 in Title grant funding last year, and that this year's application has not been finalized
- Only Title I Part A funds have been released by the federal government, she said. Titles II through V are still under federal review and districts have been told to plan for delays
- Title I Part A money has gone toward reading and math specialists, summer programming, teacher salaries, decodable books, and equitable services for non-public schools
- Title II Part A has paid for instructional coaching and professional learning communities, and Title III Part A for the Lexia Learning program and language acquisition materials
- Title IV Part A has gone toward technology, accelerated learning exam fees (Ferry confirmed these include AP exams), and school resource officers running restorative practice and mentoring circles
- Title V Part B, for rural and low income schools, has funded Lexia, project based learning, STEM programming, and student supplies
- Ferry said New York State receives roughly $1.6 billion a year under the Every Student Succeeds Act, and that about 180 districts in the state qualify each year for the rural education program
Ferry said a collaboration form would be posted on the district website the next day for anyone who wants to add a comment on the presentation. The Title funding application is due August 31.
Board Members Question What They Are Being Asked to Sign
Several board members said the collaboration form would have them certify they were consulted on how the district will spend federal money, when what they had received were examples of past spending.
Key points
- A board member said the form reads as signing off that the board has been consulted on the district's use of the money, and asked to hear the actual plan for each bucket before signing
- Ferry said what she presented were examples, that districts typically reuse Title funds the same way year to year, and that the plan for this year is not yet written
- Another member said the words at issue are consultation and collaboration, and that the board was being asked to certify it collaborated when it had watched a presentation
- Ferry said the other listed stakeholders, including parents, teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and instructional support staff, have not been consulted yet, and that she cannot submit the application until they have had input
- A member said those stakeholders are not speaking participants in the meeting and should get a real chance to give feedback. Ferry said the form would go on the website and out to all the listed groups
- Members discussed revisiting the item in September, noting that few people attend meetings in summer, and raised inviting families to a session in the library during August
- Maureen Sheridan asked when the application is due. Ferry said August 31, and that approvals have come back from the state as late as December in past years. Ferry also said she does not believe a consultation and collaboration session has been held at a board meeting before
Committee Reports and a Call for Policy Committee Volunteers
Two of the three standing committees had nothing to report. The policy committee reported goals for the year, asked for community volunteers, and explained why the cell phone policy was coming to a vote the same night it was first read.
Key points
- The audit committee had no report and said it will schedule a meeting for August
- The facilities committee had no report
- Amanda Grubler said the policy committee met the prior week and outlined goals and work for the year
- The committee is looking for school staff, parents and community members to serve, with applications due to the board clerk by August 11
- Grubler said the cell phone policy was on the agenda as a first read and up for approval the same night, which she said is not common practice or best practice for giving people time to respond
- She said the district has a deadline to submit its proposal to the state to be eligible for additional funding to support the new policy
- She said the board expects to revise the policy several times during the year as the district works toward being cell phone free from bell to bell
A New Welcome Packet Explains What the Board Does
The board president used the president's report to walk through a new welcome packet handed out at the door, covering the board's roles, how its meetings work, and how residents can raise an issue.
Key points
- A board retreat is scheduled for August 4, described as a private working session on how the board operates together rather than a business meeting
- The welcome packet was designed to promote transparency, clarify the board's roles and responsibilities, build trust, and support participation by board members, staff and the community
- The board has three main roles: setting policy, fiscal oversight, and acting as the appointing authority that hires and evaluates the superintendent and approves staffing on the superintendent's recommendation
- The board directly oversees three district employees, the superintendent, the board clerk and the district treasurer. The president described the board as determining the what, while the superintendent and staff determine the how
- The president said the board has seven members and its authority is collective, so individual members cannot make decisions, direct staff or speak for the board on their own
- Agendas are posted on BoardDocs, usually Friday evenings, though the legal requirement is 24 hours in advance. BoardDocs will be renamed Diligent after its parent company, with the same functionality expected
- Residents sign up at the clerk's desk and get up to three minutes. The board generally does not respond in the moment because it can only act as a whole, and follow up goes through the board clerk. For most issues the president laid out a chain of command that starts with the classroom teacher, then the building principal, central office administration, the superintendent and finally the board
A Resident Presses Again on Savings from Unfilled Retirements
The one member of the public signed up to speak said she has been asking since spring about savings the district said would come from not replacing retirees, and has not gotten an answer.
Key points
- The board turned to the first public forum, and the one signed up speaker was introduced as Nikki
- Nikki said she has been asking the same question since April and May about savings from not hiring replacements for retirees
- She said this was the fourth month in a row she has raised it, and that she has asked more than once at budget meetings
- She said the situation seems shady and ridiculous
- A board member answered that those items are being actively worked on, said the board would try to get to the bottom of some of it, and said: I understand your frustration
The captions caught only pieces of this exchange. Several sentences break off mid thought and the audio appears to drop out, so the speaker's full question and the board's full answer are not in the record.
Executive Session, Then the Personnel Agenda
The board went into an early executive session on the employment history of a particular person or persons, returned after about 27 minutes, and approved its personnel agenda.
Key points
- The board moved and seconded entering executive session at 6:32 p.m. to discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons, and called for a voice vote
- The captions pick back up as the board moved to exit executive session at 6:59 p.m.
- The board then moved, seconded and called a voice vote to accept personnel agenda items A 1 through 5 and B 1 through 5
- The transcript does not describe what those personnel items were, so the appointments and changes approved are not in the public record here
- There was no new staff member to welcome at this meeting
Nothing appears in the transcript between 34:28 and 61:21. That stretch is the executive session, which is closed to the public, so the gap is expected rather than a recording failure. Separately, the captions record each motion, its second and the call for a voice vote, but never the responses or a tally, so no vote counts appear on this page.
Superintendent's Report on Summer Programs
The superintendent's report was an overview of the district's summer programs, with enrollment and attendance numbers for each and an update on Regents exams in August.
Key points
- The summer scholars program, run through the national summer school initiative, has 100 scholars enrolled, with 60 attending regularly and the rest attending sporadically or not at all. It is aimed at tier 2 students this year rather than the lowest performing students
- The superintendent said most parents support the program and keep bringing their children, that some students have said they find it boring, and that staff are working to improve the experience
- Letters went home with K through 8 students about picking up backpacks. A staff member began calling parents, and the superintendent offered to drop backpacks at homes if needed
- The elementary after school summer program has 90 students enrolled with average daily attendance of 75, and the junior high component has 12 enrolled with about 10 attending each day. Enrollment is still open and applications are still being accepted. Students there built a pinball machine and a mechanical arm, and some are expected to present their STEM work to the board on August 19
- The extended school year program, which serves students with IEPs, has 46 students enrolled with average attendance of 37. Transportation pickup and drop off times have become consistent and concerns have been tracked and resolved
- High school summer school had 63 students eligible and 46 enrolled. Of those, 36 are taking courses including English 9, English 10, English 11, global 10 or US history, and 8 are taking health. Ten more are doing online credit recovery through Questar in the high school library
- The high school will administer 116 Regents exams on August 19 and 20, including exams for 45 students from Chatham under a collaboration the superintendent said has run for years
The captions garble the first course in the high school summer school list, so it is left out of the bullet above. Algebra 1, English 10 and global 9 were the courses moved online through Questar because of difficulty finding summer school teachers.
Consensus Agenda and a New Personal Electronic Devices Policy
The board approved its consensus agenda and then adopted policy 5695 on personal electronic devices upon its first reading, rather than holding it for a second read.
Key points
- The board moved, seconded and called a voice vote to approve consensus agenda items A through N
- The chair brought up the first reading of policy 5695, students and personal electronic devices, and asked whether anyone had further questions or comments. No one did
- The board then moved that it was necessary to adopt the policy upon its first reading, moved to adopt it, took a second and called for a voice vote
- Amanda Grubler had explained earlier in the meeting that the same night vote was driven by a state submission deadline tied to funding for the new policy
- She said the board does not expect this to be a one and done process and anticipates revising the policy through the school year
With the policy adopted on first reading, the district can submit its proposal to the state. Members said on the record that they expect further revisions once the school year starts and they can see how the policy works in practice.
The Student Representative on a Social Studies Trip to Europe
With no one else signed up for the second public forum, the student representative asked to speak and gave the board a report on the social studies department's trip to Europe.
Key points
- The board clerk confirmed no one else had signed up, and the student representative asked to sign up to add something left out earlier
- The student representative thanked the social studies teachers by name for their work on the trip, including the fundraising, and said the trip came with $225 extra to spend
- The group visited Paris, Lucerne in Switzerland, Munich and Versailles, and saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and the Alps
- The tour guide gave the group history, culture and current events in Europe, and the student representative said seeing so many people on bikes and using public transport was a reason to want to ride a bike
- Asked what the best place was, the student representative said the students and teachers on the trip all picked Lucerne, describing a beach, a castle and a community center there
The speaker named four social studies teachers, but the captions garble all four surnames past the point of confident spelling, so they are not printed here.
Upcoming Meetings and a Second Executive Session
The chair read the fall meeting calendar into the record, then moved the board back into executive session to close the night.
Key points
- August 5 special Board of Education meeting, high school auditorium at 6 p.m., including the smart schools investment plan public hearing and the district safety plan public hearing
- August 12 policy committee meeting at 5 p.m. and September 9 policy committee meeting at 5 p.m., both in the high school library
- August 19 regular Board of Education meeting and September 16 regular Board of Education meeting, both in the high school auditorium at 6 p.m.
- August 22 facilities committee meeting and September 16 facilities committee meeting, both in the district office conference room at 4 p.m.
- The board moved and seconded entering executive session at 7:11 p.m. to discuss real estate transactions and the employment history of a particular person or persons, and to appoint Mark DePace as clerk pro tem
- The chair said there would be no further business after the executive session
The captions render the clerk pro tem appointment in the closing motion as clerk prom, and the surname as Pace. The reading above follows the board roster, but the exact wording of that part of the motion is not clean in the transcript.
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.