At a glance
Two weeks before school opened, the Hudson City School District Board of Education heard an update on a roughly $7.9 million energy performance contract and a pitch for a student clay target shooting club run with the Hudson Fish and Game Club. Board president Mark DePace recognized Calvin Lewis, who resigned from the board to lead the Hudson Youth Department, and laid out three ways to handle the empty seat: leave it vacant until May, appoint someone, or hold a special election alongside the fall vote on selling the John L. Edwards property. Dr. Bailey, giving the superintendent's report, walked the board through New York's new school phone ban, the legal timeline for a public vote, and a request for a special meeting to approve hires before opening day. The board approved the personnel and consensus agendas and the district-wide safety plan, and took no vote on the vacant seat. Two executive sessions bracketed the public business, and the captions record nothing during the first one.
Opening, Roll Call and the Student Report
The president called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m., the board stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, and the clerk called the roll. The student representative gave a short report before the evening's two presentations.
Key points
- The president called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. and welcomed Dr. Bailey
- Board member Amanda Grubler joined the meeting remotely
- The board clerk called the roll and every member called answered here
- The board approved the agenda as presented on a voice vote
- Anyone wanting to speak was asked to sign up for public comment at the clerk's desk
- The student representative said school had not started yet, so there was little to report beyond volleyball tryouts and other sports tryouts
This is a YouTube auto-caption transcript with no speaker labels. Names are used here only where the transcript says them aloud. One surname in the roll call is garbled past recognition, so this page does not print it or guess at who it was.
Energy Performance Contract: 15 Measures and the Numbers
Justin Benois of Energia and two Johnson Controls staff updated the board on an energy performance contract, a project whose guaranteed energy savings are used to pay for the work. They came to share scope and financials ahead of a contract vote they hope to see in September.
Key points
- Benois said Energia serves as the district's energy consultant, owner's representative and engineer of record, and will file the design plans with the state education department
- Energia issued a request for proposals about a year ago; Johnson Controls was selected and was authorized in the spring to carry out the comprehensive energy audit
- The project consists of 15 energy conservation measures across district buildings
- The state requires a simple payback under 18 years without building aid, and the presenters said this project falls just under that
- The project cost is just under $8 million, which the presenter also stated as $7.9 million, and it is projected to produce over $3.8 million of positive cash flow over the term
- Annual savings are projected at just over $430,000, at a New York State building aid ratio of 68.5, which the presenter described as the district's 58.5 plus the additional 10% voters approved
- The presenters said rebates and incentives come through a state FlexTech program and through National Grid
The presentation slides are not in the transcript. Every number here is one a presenter spoke. Where the captions garbled a figure, it is left out.
New Boilers, a Solar Buyout and the Project Timeline
John Sanborn said the heart of the project is replacing a 1969 boiler plant, funded in part by buying the district out of its solar lease. Kieran Moran walked through the year one cash flow and the schedule that would run construction into 2027.
Key points
- The biggest piece of the scope is the heating system in this building, a steam plant the presenter said is original to the 1969 building and at the end of its useful life, to be replaced with high efficiency hot water condensing boilers and co-generation units
- The district's solar array is in year eight of a power purchase agreement, and the project would use a discounted buyout clause to convert it to district ownership, ending a lease payment of about $140,000 a year
- The project includes a full replacement of the solar inverters, which are now eight years old. Asked about panel lifespan, Sanborn said panels are warrantied for 25 years and degrade about 2% a year
- The remaining lower cost measures total about $1.7 million and are projected to save over $187,000 a year, a 9.3 year simple payback
- Moran said the cash flow was run at a 4.25% interest rate and at the 68.5% aid ratio, with a year one lease payment of $727,000 running 15 years, offset by energy savings, operations and maintenance savings, state aid and $26,000 in guaranteed rebates
- The district's attorneys have redlined the contract; permits would be filed with the state from October through April, and the district's fiscal advisers would then run a lease purchase request for proposals
- Board members asked the presenters to define simple payback and the acronym ECM, energy conservation measure, and they did
The presenters said they would return to the September 16 meeting to seek board approval to execute a contract with Johnson Controls, after which design, financing and construction would follow. No vote was taken at this meeting.
A Clay Target Club for Hudson Students
A presenter introduced as a former teacher with experience starting school trap teams asked the board to let students form a Hudson Bluehawk clay target club, partnered with the Hudson Fish and Game Club. He explained the sport, its safety rules and how school teams compete.
Key points
- In trap shooting, athletes use shotguns to break ceramic discs launched from a machine at 40 miles an hour, shooting from five stations with a goal of 25 out of 25
- The presenter said about 174 high schools in New York State have a clay target club, and named area schools including Taconic Hills, Maple Hill, Athens and Greenville as having teams or forming them
- The Hudson Fish and Game Club, on Route 66 about a mile from the Chrysler Jeep dealership, would host the team, with range safety officer John Sheldon helping run it
- A range safety officer keeps score and enforces the rules, hearing protection and safety glasses are required, and the league's ratio is about one coach for every 10 athletes
- The presenter said there have been zero reported injuries in the sport since 2001
- School teams compete virtually, shooting at their home clubs and uploading scores to the league, with an in person state tournament in Syracuse each June where every spring season athlete shoots 100 targets
- The league allows athletes 12 and up, and the presenter said the club is open to boys, girls and students with disabilities, with no bench warmers
The captions pick up this item partway through the introduction, so the main presenter's name is not in the transcript and this page does not supply one. He was introduced as a former teacher at another district with experience helping school districts organize a trap team.
Gun Safety, Equipment and Who Pays
Board members asked how the firearms are handled, what the safety training covers and what the club would cost the district. The presenters said the club owns the equipment and would carry the startup costs, and asked only for permission to use the school's name.
Key points
- Asked how guns are procured and stored, John Sheldon said the shotguns and ammunition are kept in a safe at the club, that the club has everything students need to start, and that no weapons would be allowed on school property
- Students would take the New York State hunter safety course, which Sheldon said he teaches and which ends in a 50 question test, or an online course followed by a two hour in person session with a certified league official
- Sheldon said a beginner always shoots with an adult range officer standing directly beside them until they are proficient
- Sheldon said the club would pay initial registration fees and cover birds and shells to start, using money left from last year's grant and a club youth fund, and that he can apply for a Columbia Green grant of up to $5,000 for equipment
- A board member said the district would have to check with its insurance carrier, noting many other schools run affiliated programs
- The presenter asked for permission to use the school's name and to build student interest, acknowledging that a stipend for an advisor might not be possible this year, and said shirts and promotion would carry some cost
- The club offered open trap on Friday nights at 6 and a Saturday morning session at 10 for any student, parent, board member or administrator who wants to try it
The board asked questions and the president thanked the presenters, calling it an opportunity for students. No motion was made and no vote was taken on the club.
Committee Reports, a Resignation and Executive Session
The audit, facilities and policy committees reported, then the president recognized Calvin Lewis, who has resigned from the board. The board went into an early executive session on potential litigation and the employment history of a particular person or persons.
Key points
- The audit committee met August 6 at 10 a.m., elected its chair for the year, reviewed business office plans with BOCES staff who are assisting, and heard a status update on the 2024-25 audit, which is in process
- The facilities committee has a meeting scheduled for Friday, with some question about whether members can attend
- The policy committee reviewed applications from community members who want to join the committee and will share the final membership soon
- The policy committee worked on update 8310, the workplace violence policy, to reflect the district's reporting process, and policy 1120 on school district records, to reflect state school boards association updates and the current staffing model
- The president said the New York State School Boards Association will provide updated policies over the next few years, including some that have not been updated in over 20 years
- The president recognized Calvin Lewis, who announced his resignation from the board and is taking the helm of the Hudson Youth Department, thanking him for his service and for what the president called his thoughtful insight and care
- The president said the board is also working on organizing a special election on the sale of the John L. Edwards property
- The board voted to enter executive session to discuss potential litigation and the employment history of a particular person or persons, moving to the band room
The captions record nothing between 55:53 and 77:12, while the board was in executive session. Whatever was discussed there is not in this record. The transcript also states the motion to enter executive session as 8:53 p.m. and the motion to exit as 7:18 p.m., which cannot both be right, so this page does not print the entry time.
Personnel Agenda and Four New Staff
Back in public session, the board approved the personnel agenda and then met four staff members joining the district this year, each welcomed with applause as their bio was read.
Key points
- The board voted to exit executive session at 7:18 p.m.
- The board approved personnel agenda items A1 through A7 and B1 through B4 on a voice vote
- A new teacher joins for her first full time year after a year as a substitute across several buildings, with a 2024 bachelor's degree in early childhood education and a master's degree in progress
- A second grade teacher at M.C. Smith joins in his second year of teaching, having grown up in Red Hook and previously taught fourth grade and worked with the local nonprofit Kite's Nest
- A third new hire holds a bachelor's in graphic design and a master's in students with disabilities prek through 12, and came to teaching through work as a substitute and teaching assistant
- A long term substitute joins with a master's degree in science and teaching and certification for birth through grade six, after two years teaching fifth grade in Elmira
- The bios were read by the administrator presenting them, who noted his script had gone missing just before the meeting
The captions garble the new staff members' names badly enough that printing them would risk getting them wrong, so this page describes each by role and background instead.
Superintendent's Report: Opening Day and the Phone Ban
No one had signed up for the first public comment period, so the board moved to Dr. Bailey's report. He covered summer school, orientation, a new communications hire and the state's new ban on phones in schools.
Key points
- The clerk reported that nobody signed up for the first public forum
- Dr. Bailey said summer school at the high school ended last week and Regents exams began the day of the meeting, and thanked the staff who worked the summer
- He described visiting kindergarten orientation and Camp Invention running in the elementary building at the same time
- A new communications person, coordinated through BOCES and in district three days a week, starts Monday, coming in with public relations experience from the business world
- He said one of the year's initiatives is to make district communications more about the people who live, work and learn here, closer to three feet than 30,000 feet
- On New York's new ban on internet ready devices in schools, elementary students are expected to keep phones in teacher designated storage, a cubby or a locker, and high school students in their lockers, with principals sending a second message to families through ParentSquare the next day
- He said the ban is a state mandate rather than a district decision, that the district will not push enforcement onto classroom teachers, and that there will be bumps as school opens
- He thanked Tyler and the facilities crew for the condition of the buildings, including an employee who stopped him to check he was not a criminal, and marked a departing staff member's last meeting before a move to Florida
The captions spell the departing staff member's name two different ways, so this page does not print it.
Timelines for a Public Vote and Hiring Between Meetings
Dr. Bailey laid out what state law requires before the district can put anything to a public vote, and asked the board to consider letting him appoint staff between meetings in emergencies. He also asked for a special meeting the following week to get hires in place before opening day.
Key points
- The clerk's research found the district must begin the process at least 45 days before a public vote, with notice published in local papers four times over seven weeks, which the superintendent said works out to 49 days and can start later if a paper publishes weekly
- He said the earliest a vote could realistically happen is the end of October, and November to be safe, and noted the district owns its own voting machines, which still need programming and materials
- The president added that a separate 90 day clock runs from Calvin Lewis's resignation if the seat is to be filled by special election
- The superintendent circulated a resolution, not for a vote that night, that would let him appoint people between board meetings now that the board meets once a month, saying an unexpected resignation the day after a meeting otherwise cannot be filled until the board reconvenes
- He said hard to fill positions such as Spanish and agriculture are so scarce that a qualified candidate has to be hired on the spot
- A board member asked that emergency be defined more clearly in the resolution to limit overuse, and the superintendent agreed
- He asked the board for a short special meeting the following week to appoint personnel before September 2, and members discussed Thursday the 28th at 5:00 or 5:15 p.m., with one attending virtually. The president said he believed they could get a quorum, and no vote was taken to set it.
- He listed opening events, ninth grade orientation Thursday at 5:30, sixth grade orientation 9 to 12 on the 26th and 27th, a kindergarten welcome on the 27th at 5:30, new teacher orientation Tuesday, conference days September 2 and 3 and students starting September 4, and said he could not find a calendar on the district website and would fix that
Consensus Agenda, Safety Plan and Policy 1120
The board split its consensus agenda to handle one item separately, approved the revised district-wide safety plan, and held a first reading of the district records policy.
Key points
- One member asked to pull item D, and the board approved consensus agenda items A through C and E through M on a voice vote
- Item D was then taken up and approved separately, with one member recusing himself citing a conflict of interest
- The revised district-wide safety plan came back with the more specific names and dates the board asked for at its August 5 meeting
- An administrator told the board the district and building level safety plans are a state mandate that must be in place before September 1, that the plan is a living document, and that it can be changed any time staffing changes or a weakness turns up
- The board approved the draft 2025-26 district-wide safety plan and authorized the final plan to be uploaded to the state business portal
- The board held a first reading of policy 1120 and its regulations and exhibits, a revision to the district records policy
- The revision names the board clerk as records manager in place of a different central office staff member, reflecting the role she has been filling, with the stated aim of meeting records requests promptly and making them easier to track
- The president said the policy can be discussed again at the September 9 policy committee and will be back on the agenda September 16
What to Do With the Vacant Board Seat
The president walked the board through three ways to handle Calvin Lewis's empty seat and asked each member for their thinking. Members were divided between appointing someone and folding a board race into the special election already planned this fall, and no vote was taken.
Key points
- Under policy 2150 the board has the power to fill a vacancy but is not required to. An appointment takes a majority of the remaining board, which the president said means four members, and in the past the board has taken letters of interest from the community
- State education law also allows a special election within 90 days of the vacancy, which the president said would mean holding it by November 3, one day before the general election, so he suggested the last week in October to avoid confusion over ballots and polling places
- The district already plans a fall special election on the sale of the John L. Edwards property. The president said that was factored into negotiations with the developer, Penrose, including a larger earnest payment to compensate for holding the vote off cycle
- Candidates in a special election would still need a nominating petition packet, due by law 20 days before the election, or could run as write ins, with packets available in early September
- Whoever fills the seat would hold it until the May 2026 election if appointed, or until June 30, 2026 if elected, and could seek re-election in May
- Leaving the seat empty was dismissed quickly: members said it makes a quorum harder and leaves an even number that can split three to three. Diana Howard said appointing somebody is the most logical option given how much else is going on, and Maureen Sheridan said anyone interested could simply send a letter of interest
- Amanda Grubler, joining remotely, sent a comment read aloud saying she favors a special election because the superintendent transition makes it important to open the seat to community members who want to support it. Matthew Mackerer said he is inclined to put it to voters but noted the complexity of signatures, dates and the nearby general election
- The president said he is attracted to an election, saying that in his time on the board two appointments were made to fill vacancies and that the lack of transparency around that process is one of many factors in the erosion of trust in the board
The president said the board would gather more information from the clerk's research and from Virginia Benedict, whom they were meeting with shortly, and make a final decision at the special meeting planned for the following week.
Amanda Grubler spoke again over the remote connection near the end of this discussion, and the captions catch only fragments, so her second comment is not summarized here.
Public Comment, Upcoming Dates and a Second Executive Session
One resident spoke, urging the board to seat the next highest vote getter from May and repeating an unanswered question about unfilled retirements. The president read out upcoming dates, and the board went back into executive session.
Key points
- The president reminded speakers that they get three minutes and that comments about district personnel or students are not allowed
- A resident who gave her first name as Nikki said almost everyone she has talked to in the community thinks the board should seat the next person from the May vote, Mr. Zibella, who she said has attended since that vote
- She repeated a question she said is still unanswered, which jobs will not be filled when people retire. The president said Dr. Bailey has been here a little over a week and that it is at the top of his list
- A board member thanked the facilities staff for fixing the broken clock in the meeting room, saying the parts are obsolete and the crew made the parts themselves
- The president listed upcoming dates: the facilities committee August 22 from 4 to 5, the school supply giveaway August 23 from 10:30 to 12:30 in the high school cafeteria sponsored by the Pioneer Charitable Foundation and Stewart's Shops, the policy committee September 9 at 5, the facilities committee September 16 from 4 to 5, and the regular board meeting September 16 at 6 in the high school auditorium
- The board voted to enter a second executive session at 8:00 p.m. on real estate transactions, the employment history of a particular person or persons, and potential litigation, and appointed Dr. Bailey clerk pro tem
- The president said there would be no further business after that executive session
The transcript ends as the board goes into its second executive session, which is where the public part of the meeting ended. The resident's surname is garbled two different ways in the captions, so only her 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.
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.