At a glance
Hudson City School District's Board of Education got a clean outside audit and a blunt warning about the district's finances on the same night. The external auditor reported an unmodified opinion with no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies and no areas of non-compliance, and then the superintendent told the board the district spent nearly all of its budget last year, finished with $200,000 left, and allocated over $3 million of savings to build this year's budget. A room full of students, parents and coaches asked the board to approve a student trap shooting club; the superintendent said the board already supports it and the remaining hurdle is collective bargaining and club formation process, not safety. The Montgomery C. Smith principal walked the board through attendance and test score goals, and the board adopted new policies on data privacy, artificial intelligence and computer use. Members also approved the personnel and consent agendas and went into executive session twice to discuss employment history.
Student Council: Model UN Wins and Three New Mirrors
A junior named Liba filled in for Leona as student representative and reported on the student council's December calendar and a strong showing at a regional Model UN conference.
Key points
- Hudson's Model UN team competed at the Capital Region Model UN, where two of its four delegates won best delegate, the highest honor at a conference
- There were 157 delegates and eight committees, meaning eight best delegate awards were given out
- The student council is hosting an alumni panel this Thursday, a cookie decorating party, a seven day spirit week and a Grinch day; family picture day was held the day of the meeting
- Liba asked the board to keep academic teams like Model UN, mock trial and environmental competition in view alongside other activities
- The student council presented a bathroom improvement plan to buildings and grounds and to high school administration, and three mirrors were installed in the girls bathrooms as a result
Audit, Facilities and a New Finance Committee
Three board committees reported. The headline items were corrective action plans responding to the external auditor, a junior high boiler that failed before Thanksgiving, and the return of regular financial reports to board meetings.
Key points
- The audit committee met December 15 to review corrective action plans prepared by the district office in response to the external auditor's findings; those plans were on the night's agenda
- The facilities committee met the day of the meeting, December 16, and reported that a number of energy performance contract items are complete and others are in process
- The capital project is on schedule to get its proposal to the State Education Department, which has to happen before it can go out for proposals
- The greenhouse foundation is poured with drainage and water installed, and the district can buy the greenhouse on state contract, with hopes of having it in place in late spring or summer of 2026
- A boiler problem at the junior high was repaired quickly right before Thanksgiving, avoiding sending students home; it is working stably but complete repairs are scheduled for December 29
- The team is planning cooler and freezer upgrades at Montgomery C. Smith, including removing a non-loadbearing block wall and pouring a new concrete floor to double the size of the coolers
- The finance committee held its inaugural meeting December 1; its chair said it has been almost two years since the board could reliably expect financial reports at monthly meetings, and that budget status, treasurer's and budget transfer reports are back on the agenda
A board member asked when there would be a public presentation about next steps for the capital project. The answer was that there is awareness it needs to happen but no firm date was settled on.
This is a YouTube auto-caption transcript with no speaker labels, so committee reports are attributed by role rather than by name.
Policy Committee and What a FOIL Request Can Cost
The policy committee reported on the student wellness policy and spent most of the discussion on policy 1120, records access, and the two ways New York State allows a district to bill for information requests.
Key points
- Most of the last policy committee meeting went to the student wellness policy, with Lisa McGovern joining to talk it through; the draft goes back to the wellness committee for a final review, then to policy committee in January, then up for a first read
- Members said state law offers two billing models for records requests: a charge per page for copies, or, when the work takes more than two hours, the cost of the lowest paid employee capable of doing it
- Board members said neither model would change much in practice, because the district does not provide photocopies and cannot charge for search time or redaction time
- A lack of clarity remains about whether the 25 cents per copy figure applies to digital copies, since almost all requests are now scanned and emailed; the committee will take it back up next month
- The district's attorney did not think reproduction charges would apply to anything other than physical copies, and said other New York districts are wrestling with the same question
- The facilities committee charter was finalized and placed on the agenda; finalizing it opens that committee to community members, as the board did with policy committee
- A code of conduct subcommittee is forming, with an interest survey already out, aiming for a revised code of conduct by next September
- The 9,000 series hiring policies and a new booster policy are still in progress while the district waits on the state school boards association
President's Report: A Grant Correction and the Superintendent Search
The board president wished families a good break, corrected a grant figure from the previous meeting, and previewed a January working session on the superintendent search.
Key points
- The president corrected information from the last meeting: the 21st Century and LEAP grants had been discussed together but are two separate grants
- 21st Century is only around $180,000 a year, which the president said explains the decrease in the amount of money for the outside audit
- The HYA contract for the superintendent search was on the night's agenda, and the president said a January working session would be set to kick off the process
- The president suggested following the Robert's Rules practice of one question at a time, going around the board, to keep an equity of voice during presentations
External Audit: Clean Opinion, Very Little Cushion
The external auditor presented the 2024-25 financial audit. The district received an unmodified opinion, but the auditor noted it spent nearly all of its budget and suggested adding two new reserves.
Key points
- The district received an unmodified opinion with no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies and no areas of non-compliance
- The auditor summarized assets of almost $17.3 million compared with $4.3 million in liabilities, and almost $13 million of fund balance and reserves
- Unassigned fund balance is over $6 million, which the auditor said puts the district over the 4% mark and leaves room to fund other reserves
- Revenues came in over expenditures by over a million dollars, helped by charges for services, use of money and property, and property taxes coming in above budget
- On the spending side the district used 99.5% of its budget, compared with 97.5 and 97.6 in the two prior years; the auditor said 94 to 97 is the range you want to be in
- The school lunch program ran an operating loss of almost $60,000 but is self sufficient, needing no general fund support, and still holds over $500,000 in fund equity
- Federal programs totaled 2.5 million and state programs 1.3 million, with federal slightly down because ARP COVID money ended in September of 2024; the debt service fund holds over $865,000 that can offset principal and interest payments
- The auditor recommended the district consider adding a capital reserve for its next project and an insurance reserve for claims not covered by policies
The auditor's summary of assets and liabilities runs together in the captions, and the surname is captioned three different ways across the meeting, so only the first name is used here. The figures above are written as the transcript states them.
Montgomery C. Smith: Attendance, Interventions and Test Scores
The Montgomery C. Smith principal presented the elementary school's goals and the work behind them, and took questions on why students are chronically absent and why one grade outperformed the others.
Key points
- The school is identified as a TSI school, targeted support and improvement, for two populations: Hispanic and multi-racial students
- Building goals are to decrease chronic absenteeism by 5% and increase math and ELA scores by 5%, and to align instruction to standards using data; the attendance target translates to adding 35 students who are consistently present
- An attendance team including the attendance monitor, psychologists, school social workers and the assistant principal meets weekly, and the school has created about 17 family support plans, done wake up calls and knocked on doors
- The school changed its benchmark testing from FastBridge to a new assessment (the captions render its name as NWA) after students scoring around the 50th percentile on FastBridge were scoring ones on state tests
- Teachers document tier two and tier three interventions, and the daily schedule includes a multi-tiered system of supports period and a separate tier two period
- Asked about root causes of absence, the principal cited transportation problems, alarms not going off, families taking vacations, and third graders on Snapchat at 1:30 in the morning; he noted DSS support for educational neglect is voluntary in Columbia County and the school partners with Promise and the Hudson department of youth
- A board member asked why last year's third graders outperformed the other grades by 14 points; the principal said that cohort had uninterrupted schooling while the fourth grade group had the most interruptions
- Asked about year over year attendance, the principal said the school has held roughly flat for two years, with fewer students in the red, and offered to send exact building numbers to the superintendent in the new year
Executive Session, Personnel Approvals and Two Tenures
The board took an early executive session to discuss employment history, then returned and approved the personnel agenda, congratulated two staff members on tenure, and welcomed a new hire.
Key points
- The board voted to enter executive session at 6:53 p.m. to discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons, and voted to exit at 7:19 p.m.
- The board approved personnel agenda items A1 through 6 and B1 through 6 on a motion, a second and a voice vote
- Members congratulated Mr. Campbell and Miss Silox on their tenure approvals
- The board welcomed Marcus, the district's new computer service specialist, who was born and raised in Connecticut, moved to the Hudson Valley in 2024 and holds an associate's degree in science for cyber security
- His introduction noted he builds and maintains computers, runs a home lab and does web design and programming
The transcript carries no captions between the motion to enter executive session at 55:00 and the motion to exit at 81:02, about 26 minutes. That is a closed session, so nothing public is missing, but the recording captures none of what was discussed.
Public Comment: A Trap Team Waiting on a Letter
Most of public comment came from students, parents and coaches asking the board to approve a school trap shooting club before the spring season. A resident also returned to questions asked since last April about budgeted staff positions.
Key points
- Joe, a high school special education teacher, said he has been organizing the Hudson Bluehawk Clay Target Club since September, that about 10 students are involved, and that an October 18 open house drew 40 people with demonstrations from the Maple Hill and Taconic Hills teams
- He said a team handbook is written, that he and John Sheldon are certified coaches through the USA Clay Target League, and that the club cannot fundraise or register without a letter of approval from the superintendent; registration for the spring 2026 high school trap season starts in February
- John Sheldon, a board member of the Hudson Fish and Game Club, said he is offering a free two day hunter safety course on January 31 and February 1, guns on Saturday and bow on Sunday, open to school and club participants with lunch provided
- Colton, a student on the team, told the board the group shoots almost every Friday or Sunday and that a score of 25 straight is what they are all working toward
- Jennifer Daly, a 1994 graduate of Hudson High and an educator for 26 years, spoke on behalf of her daughter and argued trap shooting builds concentration, discipline and community and is open to students regardless of gender or athletic ability
- A board member said he visited a practice in 20 degree weather and was impressed by the organization; members agreed in discussion that club participation should carry the same school attendance expectation as interscholastic sports
- Nikki asked again how many positions budgeted last year were actually filled; the superintendent said one instructional staff position was not rehired because of a reduction in student population in that discipline, and that he did not believe there were reductions in the teaching assistant, administrative, clerical or custodial units
- Board members said there has been no process linking the posting, board approval and budgeting of positions, which is why the questions have been hard to answer, and noted that a position being eliminated appeared on that night's agenda as a public board action
In the back and forth about last year's budget, the superintendent said he had heard the proposal referred to 18 staff members, and a voice in the exchange said the number went down after that to around eight. The transcript does not make clear who said which figure, and no decision was recorded.
Superintendent's Report: The Budget Margin Is Too Thin
The superintendent explained what is holding up the trap club, previewed how the district will publish state test scores, and described a budget process that will go line by line after a year that left almost no cushion.
Key points
- On the trap club, the superintendent said the board has expressed full support and the hold up is process: the new club belongs in a collective bargaining agreement, and attorneys and the insurance company required a handbook reflecting the clay target association, which the organizer provided
- The remaining step is meeting with that bargaining unit to create the possibility for the club to exist, then bringing the charter back to the board for creation of the club
- State 3 through 8 and Regents scores are out and publicly available on the state education website; the district plans to publish them more widely because people need to know where growth is starting from, and the superintendent said the scores are not where anyone wants them
- Designations coming out of embargo have the elementary school and the junior high as TSI, targeted, and the high school as local, meaning no plan has to be submitted for it
- The superintendent said the district spent 99.7% of what he thought was about $56 million, finishing with $200,000 left, and called that terrifying because the district is not allowed to overspend; he said a school ordinarily finishes with two to five percent left
- He said the district allocated over $3 million of its savings to build this year's budget above the revenue it generates, and spent 97.8% the year before
- The Stronger Connections Grant, a little over a million dollars funding after school programs, tutoring and some staff salaries, rolls off at the end of this year and the district does not believe it will be reinstated
- Budget development has started with building principals and department heads, and will look line by line rather than rolling the budget over at a flat percentage; coming presentations will cover reserves, unassigned fund balance, PILOT agreements and when construction bonds roll off
The external auditor said earlier in the meeting that the district spent 99.5% of its budget. The superintendent, recalling that presentation, said 99.7%. Both figures appear in the transcript and neither has been adjusted here.
A board member pushed back on the discussion of test scores, saying three quarters of the district's students are currently scoring ones and twos, that the board needs to name that, and that those students can and should be expected to close the gaps.
Consent Agenda, Board Goals and Planning the Rest of the Year
The board approved its consent agenda with one item pulled and one added, revised its goals for the year, and spent a long stretch deciding what presentations and data it wants at future meetings.
Key points
- A repair reserve item was removed from the agenda because the business official had not yet received quotes and did not want to leave the amount open-ended
- The district holds about $600,000 in a repair reserve; the superintendent said money spent from it that is not preceded by a public hearing must be repaid to the reserve, and the district has asked its attorney whether an emergency expense has any flexibility
- The board pulled consent item E for a separate vote and added a hand carried item Y, an amendment to the agreement for the executive director of human resources; it approved items A through D and F through Y, then approved item E separately with one member recusing for a conflict of interest
- Revised board goals were reviewed: the curriculum review goal now identifies priority areas and defines core responsibilities for a new executive director whose title was corrected during the meeting to curriculum and instruction, and the participation goal changed from one event a month to eight events during the school year
- The board will vote on the goals at the next meeting after those two changes are made
- Members asked for a capital project presentation, for regular short data updates on attendance and benchmark testing rather than long building presentations, and for tracking of course and Regents passing rates against high school graduation goals
- Members also asked to hear from the director of special education on compliance, to track tenure status, to see the three year district technology plan in the spring, to get the ESSA grants presentation and survey on the calendar, and to revisit Panorama culture and climate survey data
- A review of the New York State academic test results was proposed for January, on the reasoning that it leaves two to three months before this year's state tests
The superintendent gave a dollar figure for the emergency boiler repair that may have to be repaid to the repair reserve, but the captions render it as '30 $40,000', so the amount cannot be stated here.
Policies Adopted: Data Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Use
The board took second readings on three sets of policies and adopted all of them, and sent two others back for another reading.
Key points
- The board adopted policy 8635 on data protection, privacy and security along with 8635R, 8635E1 and 8635E2, which include the parents bill of rights for student data privacy and a third party supplemental agreement
- The board adopted policy 8636 on artificial intelligence, a new policy this year worked on by a subgroup of the policy committee several months ago, covering responsible use of AI
- The board adopted policy 4526 on computer use and instruction along with 4526R and 4526E, with attorney updates that modernize language, replacing references to CDs and floppy disks and changing terms like mobile computer and mobile web
- Members said the computer use changes clean up language without changing what can or cannot happen with computer use and instruction
- The facilities committee charter will come back for another reading once the board settles how it should be numbered, a question members plan to put to the state school boards association
- Policy 6830 on expense reimbursement will also come back for an additional reading; a member said the lawyer's language may have overcomplicated a process the committee had simplified for staff, and will work with the business official to restore the clearer version
Closing Comments, January Dates and a Second Executive Session
A second public forum brought praise for two students, a retired teacher's history of hunter education in the building, and thanks from a Tech Valley senior. The board then read January meeting dates into the record and went back into executive session.
Key points
- Shannon told the board Liba had been too humble earlier: she was one of the two Hudson delegates who won best delegate, and has done Model UN since her freshman year, starting at Harvard; Shannon also praised Colton, a sophomore, for advocating publicly for his club
- A retired science teacher, back at a board meeting for the first time in 13 years and speaking for a grandson joining the trap team, said she was hired in 1993 and taught a 10 hour hunter education course in the building for about 10 years before it fell out of favor
- Hafsa, a senior at Tech Valley High School, thanked the board for four years of that placement and described finishing a project with a business partner from Accenture connecting benefits to beneficiaries
- In board discussion, members described visiting the trap club over Thanksgiving weekend, attending the Festival of Wreaths, a Montgomery C. Smith principal's award assembly with a Harringtons workshop where students built toolboxes, and holiday concerts from first grade through junior high
- The superintendent asked to discuss substitute pay rates at the next meeting and said he would bring a written proposal, clarifying what the district pays substitutes who work fewer than 90 days and more than 90 days, certified and uncertified
- Meeting dates were read into the record: finance committee Monday the 5th, communications advisory committee the 6th, code of conduct the 12th followed by another finance committee meeting, policy committee the 13th, and the next board meeting the 20th with a facilities meeting immediately before
- The board voted to enter a second executive session at 8:31 p.m. to discuss the employment history of a particular person or persons, with no further business to follow
The board president first said the January board of education meeting was January 16 at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium, and other voices corrected the date during the exchange. The date was restated as the 20th, with a facilities meeting immediately before. The captions garble parts of that back and forth.
Near the end of board discussion, between roughly 150:09 and 151:31, several answers are missing from the transcript, including the explanation of how Harringtons became involved in the student workshop, whether the project cost the district anything, and how the students responded. The captions also pick up only at 03:10, after the meeting had been called to order.
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.