At a glance
The Hudson City School District's new business and finance director, Christy Ferry, told the Board of Education that grant money has been miscoded into the general fund and that untangling it means combing through $58 million in spending, requisition by requisition. Board members pressed her on why the problem surfaced only after she arrived, and later in the night pulled the June financial report off the consensus agenda over a teachers retirement line showing a $1.9 million budget against $32,000 spent. The board approved the Smart Schools Investment Plan, which would put $1,771,233 of state money into network cabling, wireless, cameras, clocks, PA and phone systems, but tabled the district safety plan because the safety team chart and several dates were still blank. The Pioneer Charitable Foundation opened the meeting with a school supply drive partnership, two new teachers were welcomed, and a resident asked a question she said she had been asking for four months. The board held two executive sessions on the employment history of a particular person or persons.
Pioneer Charitable Foundation Brings a School Supply Drive
Alexander Armstrong of the Pioneer Charitable Foundation introduced the foundation's fifth annual school supply drive and its new partnership with the district. The presentation covered the foundation's grant programs and closed with a board question about how families get help.
Key points
- Armstrong, a financial adviser and a member of the Pioneer Grant Committee, works in Hudson as part of Hudson Financial and described family roots in the district going back generations
- Since its founding in 2018, the foundation has distributed over two million dollars in grants to more than 400 nonprofits serving children and families in the region, Armstrong said
- Pioneer covers all administrative costs, so 100% of proceeds go to community based nonprofits
- Two cornerstone fundraisers, the Grand Carnival and a mini golf tournament, have together raised over $200,000; this year's golf tournament raised $16,000
- Supplies, food, winter hats and coats, bedding and baby supplies are collected across Pioneer's 22 branches and through employee donations
- Last year's school supply drive brought in over 4,800 total items, and the foundation plans to meet families at the district's back to school ice cream social
- Asked how a family in need gets a referral, Armstrong said an organization can approach Pioneer directly, as Friends of Hudson Youth recently did, or a Pioneer employee can apply on a family's behalf
A short foundation video played during the presentation, and the captions of it break into fragments between roughly 14:50 and 16:00. Figures spoken in the video are not reported here.
The New Business Director's 90 Day Fiscal Analysis
Christy Ferry, the district's executive director of business and finance, presented a review of district finances covering roughly her first 90 business days on the job. She laid out what she looked at, what she ranked as most urgent, and a three year plan she is building from it.
Key points
- Ferry said the analysis was not meant to solve everything in 90 days, but to identify the conditions the district is working within, spotlight risks, and find room for improvement
- The four objectives were high risk fiscal and compliance issues, misalignment between financial operations and board policy, gaps in transparency and internal controls, and long term financial sustainability and capacity
- She ranked findings in four priority levels: compliance first, then operational processes and internal controls, then aligning money with instructional priorities, then stability and capacity building
- Early wins she listed: the 2025-26 budget passed with voter approval, the capital project won voter approval, the business office is now fully staffed including a payroll clerk, and the district was awarded a 2025 SNAP-Ed community growers grant of $50,000
- She described a three year road map: year one stabilization and correcting what was inherited, year two refining systems and controls, year three long term sustainability
- The values she said would anchor financial decisions are transparency, accountability, stability and sustainability
Board Presses on Miscoded Grant Money
Board members asked Ferry what she had actually found and why it had not been caught earlier. Her answer centered on budget coding and on grant money sitting in the wrong fund.
Key points
- Asked for a timeline on details, Ferry said more will surface in the district's internal and external audits, both underway, and that she wants to combine those findings with her own
- The specific problem she named is coding: making sure every expense is coded accurately, and making sure administrators understand the difference between the general fund and a federal special aid fund
- She said there is over $3 million in grants at Hudson City Schools and that all of it needs to be coded accurately
- Finding money that landed in the wrong code, she said, is like looking through $58 million and checking every single requisition
- She said she started addressing this at the administrator retreat by walking administrators through budget codes and who supplies them
- A board member repeatedly asked why it took a new business official to identify the problem; Ferry said she identified it immediately but could not say why it had not been done before
- Someone at the table offered that the short answer is a tremendous amount of turnover in the business office, calling that the reality rather than an excuse
The YouTube auto captions carry no speaker labels. Board members who asked questions in this exchange are described by role, not named, because the transcript does not say who was speaking.
Board Reports and a Districtwide Staffing Audit
Committee chairs had little to report. The board president said the board is working with the central office on a full audit of district staffing numbers.
Key points
- The audit committee had a meeting set for the next morning and nothing to report until then
- The facilities committee had nothing to report, and the policy committee had not met since the last board meeting
- The board president said the board has been collaborating with the central office on a full audit of all district staffing numbers, aiming at a long term roadmap for the coming school year and beyond
- The president said many positions are still to be filled and that the board hopes to have a comprehensive overview in the coming weeks
- The president commended Matt and Diana for attending a school boards association leadership conference in Albany over the weekend
- The board held a retreat the day before, moderated by Mark Snyder, covering board governance, agenda setting, parliamentary procedure and board planning
The state school boards association is rendered in the captions as NISSBA and NISPA in different places, so it is described here generically rather than spelled out.
Smart Schools Investment Plan Approved
The board opened a public hearing on the Smart Schools Investment Plan at 6:34 p.m., heard an overview from the district's instructional technology manager, and approved the preliminary plan after closing the hearing at 6:40 p.m.
Key points
- Cheryl Rabinowitz, manager of instructional technology, said the plan has been years in the making with the community, the technology committee and the technology department, and required a district technology plan, needs assessments and surveys to qualify for the state money
- The money allocated for the smart bond is $1,771,233
- The plan proposes upgrading network cabling for wireless, security camera, PA and phone systems, upgrading wireless access points to support computerized testing, classroom instruction and guest Wi-Fi, and upgrading security camera, clock, PA and phone systems
- The plan falls in two categories, school connectivity and high tech security features, and is tied to the district technology plan goal of a fully functioning robust network and wireless
- The district fronts the money and is reimbursed by the state, which a board member noted means no cost to the taxpayer; Rabinowitz confirmed that
- Rabinowitz said state approval typically takes six months to a year, and only then can the district purchase the equipment
- The plan has been posted on the district website since May, was presented to the community in January and again in May, and an email address was set up for questions; Rabinowitz said no questions or comments have come in to date
The board approved the preliminary Smart Schools Investment Plan dated May 20, 2025 on a voice vote after a motion and a second. Rabinowitz said she would submit it through the state portal the next day for the superintendent to review and forward.
The captions record the motions, the seconds and the call for all in favor, but not the responses, so individual votes on this and other items cannot be confirmed from the transcript.
District Safety Plan Tabled Over Blank Chart and Missing Dates
The board opened a public hearing on the 2025-26 district safety plan at 6:41 p.m., found the version in front of it incomplete, and voted to table the plan for approval at a later date.
Key points
- The president said the safety plan is mandated by New York State, is developed with Questar III BOCES, and had been posted for public comment starting July 3
- A board member said the plan is not ready as is: the district safety team chart is blank and several dates in the timeline of required actions are missing
- Tracy Catalamo, from Questar health and safety, said names had been added after the board raised this at the last meeting and that a version with names was shared with the board clerk, but that is not the version in the board's document system
- Board members noted the safety team was appointed at the district reorganization meeting, and that the plan's own checklist calls for the board to approve the safety team
- Catalamo said the plan must be approved by September 1, but committee member names do not have to be written into it and can be added at a later meeting
- Wayne Kenny, a high school science teacher and past president of the Hudson Teachers Association, raised new state legislation on classroom temperatures: at 82 degrees the room must be measured and cooling steps taken, and above 88 degrees students have to be moved out
- Catalamo said an amendment signed after the session opened in January removed the requirement to put the heat rules in the district safety plan, and that a plan is in process with a district staff member, with the amendment allowing for what is practical room by room
- Staff said the elementary school already moves students, including to the gym, when rooms get too hot, and that those steps simply need to be put in writing
The board closed the hearing at 6:48 p.m. and voted to table the 2025-26 district safety plan for discussion and approval at a later date. A board member noted the plan can still clear the September 1 deadline if it is approved at the next meeting.
Executive Session and the Personnel Agenda
The board went into an early executive session on the employment history of a particular person or persons, returned about 16 minutes later, and accepted the personnel agenda.
Key points
- The board entered executive session at 6:48 p.m. to discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons
- It came out at 7:04 p.m. with no announcement of any action taken in the session
- The board then accepted personnel agenda items A 1-10 and B 1-2 after a motion and a second
- A board member noted that a field trip request from My Brother's Keeper had not been signed off by an administrator, then set it aside as belonging to a different part of the agenda
The transcript jumps from 57:56 to 73:25. That gap is the closed executive session, which is not public, so nothing said in it appears in the record.
Two New Teachers Welcomed
The district introduced two new teachers, who stood to be recognized and named the grade they will teach.
Key points
- Olivia Stavy will teach 10th grade English language arts at the high school
- Stavy holds a Bachelor of Arts in adolescence education with a concentration in English, did fieldwork at Kingston High School, co-taught a Hudson Valley Writing Project workshop, and student taught this past spring at Hudson High School and the junior high
- Nicole Goins will teach fifth grade at the elementary school
- Goins graduated in December 2024 with a bachelor of science in early childhood education and has worked as a K-8 substitute teacher and as a preschool teacher
- Both were welcomed by the board and the room with applause
Public Forum: A Question Four Months Old
One resident signed up to speak. The comment concerned a claim about saving money by not replacing a position, and a four month wait for an answer.
Key points
- The board clerk said one person, Nikki Chenito, had signed up to speak
- The president restated the rules: three minutes per speaker, no public discussion of individual district personnel or students, and the board listens and responds at a future meeting or has an administrator follow up
- From what the captions caught, Chenito referred to something said at a presentation about saving money by not replacing a position, and said it was confusing to still be asking after four months
- The president said the board has been actively working with the central office to gather the information and said the frustration was understood
- No one else signed up to speak, and a second public forum later in the meeting also drew no speakers
The captions for the public comment, roughly 77:59 to 79:52, break into disconnected fragments with long blank stretches. The substance of what the speaker asked and most of the board's reply are not in the transcript, and the summary above reports only the fragments that survived.
Superintendent's Report: Retreat, Hiring and Bell to Bell
The superintendent reported on the administrator retreat, open teaching positions, the new cell phone policy and a summer backpack program.
Key points
- The administrator retreat moved among the Chamber of Commerce, the Hudson library and the central office over several days, and the superintendent thanked Miss Coons for arranging it
- The retreat covered MTSS, PLCs and other initiatives for the coming year, with details to follow
- Teacher finalists for junior high positions were due to come to the superintendent later in the week, and one finalist for the elementary school was interviewed that afternoon
- On the bell to bell phone policy, the superintendent said the policy was read through with student representatives and can still be adjusted as necessary
- Students will not be allowed to access their devices from the start of the school day until they are ready to depart; a letter goes home on the first day and will be posted to ParentSquare before it
- Principals and school based teams weighed in on the policy, and it will be covered in professional development on the superintendent conference days in September
- The district bought backpacks with books for students not attending summer programs, and staff are delivering the ones students could not pick up; junior high students who did not receive Scholastic books should contact the district
- Asked why a teacher on assignment appeared in retreat photos, the superintendent said the literacy coordinator attended only on the days those support areas were discussed and works in a support capacity, not a supervisory one
June Financial Report Pulled and Tabled
The board approved most of the consensus agenda but tabled two items for discussion and pulled the June budget status report, which Matthew Mackerer said raises questions about last year's budget compliance.
Key points
- The board voted to table consensus agenda items D and E for further discussion, then accepted items A through C, F, and H through R
- Item G, the financial report, was pulled for discussion
- Mackerer pointed to code 902-8000, teachers retirement, on page eight: a $1.9 million budget with only $32,000 spent, and asked whether the district expects to spend the full amount
- Ferry said she would come back to him on the teachers retirement line
- Mackerer also raised negative year to date expenditure lines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars
- Ferry said several items have been miscoded as between grants and the general fund and that she works on it daily; title grant funds end in August, another grant ends at the end of September, and some amendments are still pending approval
- Mackerer said the statement shows $2.3 million unexpended in the general fund while teachers retirement alone is a $1.9 million expenditure, and said that raises concern about the state of last year's budget compliance, ranking it high among critical items
The board voted to table consensus agenda item G. The president summarized the issue as negative budget lines in the budget status report that Ferry suggests may need to be coded to grants, which would reduce the negative in the general fund.
Meeting Dates and a Second Executive Session
With no new or old business and no one signed up for the second public forum, the board ran through upcoming meeting dates and went back into executive session.
Key points
- A board member urged colleagues to take advantage of board development opportunities after attending the state leadership conference two years running
- Upcoming dates read into the record: audit committee August 6 at 10:00 a.m. in the district conference room, policy committee August 12 at 5:00 p.m. in the high school library, and a regular board meeting August 19 at 6:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium
- A facilities committee meeting was added after a board member caught the omission: Friday, August 22 at 4:00 p.m. in the district conference room
- Also announced: policy committee September 9 at 5:00 p.m. in the high school library and a regular board meeting September 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium
- The board entered a second executive session at 7:24 p.m. to discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons, with no further business to follow
- The board approved a motion to appoint Mark DePace as clerk pro tem
The transcript ends with the motion to appoint a clerk pro tem. Nothing from the second executive session is in the record, and the transcript does not show the meeting being adjourned.
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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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.
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