Hudson City School District · Board of Education · Transcript

Hudson City School District Board of Education, Regular Meeting

Tuesday, August 25, 2026 · 40:28

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  1. 7:10Yeah.
  2. 7:121 through 16.
  3. 7:14Hello. Thank you all for being here. I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance
  4. 7:24to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
  5. 7:41Leslie, roll call, please. Mark Deace
  6. 7:52here.
  7. 7:52Amanda Grubler
  8. 7:53here.
  9. 7:54Diana Howard
  10. 7:56here.
  11. 7:56Matthew Marer
  12. 7:57here.
  13. 7:58Lou Zap
  14. 7:59here.
  15. 7:59Mike Sabella
  16. 8:00here.
  17. 8:03I'd like to make a motion to accept the agenda as presented.
  18. 8:07Second.
  19. 8:08All in favor. And we have our board reports audit committee.
  20. 8:15Uh the audit committee has not met uh since our last meeting. Uh however, I've I'm aware that the audit is moving about a pace. Um and uh haven't heard any issues of uh timeline yet.
  21. 8:31Oh,
  22. 8:33hello.
  23. 8:35Um the audit committee has not met since our last meeting, but the uh I'm aware that the audit the annual external audit is uh on schedule.
  24. 8:45Uh facilities. All right. So, for uh we had a facilities meeting last night. It was determined that I am the chair of the facilities committee. Um the update on the pool, it's been drained and cleaned for minor repairs. They started filling it up and there was a some damage on one of the swim lane uh eyebolts was broken. So, they had to drain it down a little bit more to repair that. the they're working to have it open by the 1st of September, but that's dependent on the boiler installation
  25. 9:20here at the high school, and they have two different options now to heat the pool going forward. Uh the EPC project, the the boilers are set here at the high school. They're waiting for the cogen delivery, but the the new piping, that's one of the new options to heat the pool, has been installed. Um the lighting at both of the schools uh has been completely finished. So there's LEDs in both buildings. Uh there's a new rooftop unit being it's it's ordered and it's on its way for installation for the main office. On the Capitol project,
  26. 10:00the four roofs at the 97 wing have been stripped. Two of the four have been reshingled. So, they're thinking a completion date will be the 10th of September. Um, the modular storage building one, which was the building over on the corner by the turf field, that's been demoed. The modular building 2 demo is either going to be today or tomorrow. That's the one over on the softball road. Uh, and then they're mobilizing for the new storage building and salt shed to be installed. Uh upcoming work is the demo here in the
  27. 10:37auditorium that's going to take place in October and the seats are in production and they're working on determining the lights options for the aisles with um I guess there's a whole different variety of lighting options for yellows and whites and whatever they're trying to work through what they want to choose for that on the exterior master plan. That's something that uh the facilities committee would like to submit to the board for review to see uh what the process would be to accept that. Um the MCS clock tower that that work has been
  28. 11:13completed. The clock tower is now fully functional. The cooler and freezer upgrades at the elementary school, they're they're completed and they actually installed an epoxy floor this past week. Uh something that came up was talking about the the rental policy. They they'd like to have the rental for school um facilities to be reviewed and updated potentially. The last revision of this was on um June of 2020. So that you know there's some concern about low rates and um take they'd like to take a look at that in the facilities and then pass that along to policy as as necessary.
  29. 11:55Um on the outdoor classroom there's there's no update on that currently. Um and with the smart schools uh grant they had a second vendor meeting and then one of the two provided price quotes. So, they're going to get the addendum to the board uh based on the pricing to hopefully have everything implemented by May. Um the only other thing that we had to report was that the September meeting has been uh cancelled and then we'll meet again on October 19th. That's it.
  30. 12:31Thanks so much, Lou. uh finance committee
  31. 12:36uh finance committee has not met and will be scheduling uh a meeting
  32. 12:43uh to be the same day as the policy committee
  33. 12:48policy
  34. 12:48policy um so we are determining policy committee dates for the year still it will either be the Tuesday before or the Tuesday after so either the first or the third Tuesday of the month is I am I getting that right whatever week before, one week after
  35. 13:05um uh to be determined. There were a couple moving factors there in terms of availability of folks. Um so we will launch our meeting and reup in September. Um one update that came up as a question was around the attendance policy. Um we began talking about the attendance policy in our June meeting right before um the like reoption sort of moment. um and recognize that there is some like disconnect right now between what's in the attendance policy versus what's happening in practice and a need for more input from staff around how to really like revamp the attendance policy and have it come to life for our kids to improve our attendance rates. Um that is one of the policies that's required to be readopted, right? So what got adopted
  36. 13:47in July is the attendance policy asis. Um, and we recognize then that some work it will happen on that early in the fall to be able to just enhance and add to that and make sure that we're uh putting all of the things that we do for our kids in place into that policy.
  37. 14:04I just I'm going to just ask you a real quick question. uh is this downtime a sort of a good time to think about how we're going to reach out to parents also because we don't have the same
  38. 14:15around um I think in our first policy meeting of the year we can decide how we like how many more members we want to add but yes that's a really good point is um re-upping commitment from community members for policy this year yes
  39. 14:31because my only thought is if we wait until October and then we talk about in October and then
  40. 14:36yep
  41. 14:36then November and then it's holiday.
  42. 14:39I think we can I think if we talk about it in the September meeting, we can get folks in by October if we can.
  43. 14:48Yeah, I don't know that there's a way to do it faster than that at this point.
  44. 14:53But I think that talking about it maybe gives people an idea that maybe they want to be ready for joining or whatever is coming.
  45. 15:01Anyone interested in joining policy,
  46. 15:04start thinking about it. Yes,
  47. 15:06we should have at least two seats open.
  48. 15:12Correct.
  49. 15:13Uh it depends how many seats we want. There was a range last year. Um but yes, there are two two spots where people didn't stay through the year last year for a variety of reasons that are open. Yes.
  50. 15:28All right. Um, and uh, speaking of open seats, we, as everybody knows, have a vacancy on the board. We currently have four letters of interest. Um, thank you to those who have, uh, already submitted their letters. Encourage anybody else interested to submit a letter by 5:00 PM on September 11th. Uh tomorrow afternoon we will be having a board retreat to talk about communication goals and a presentation schedule for the year. Uh and we'll be sure to um have further conversation about all those items in public on September 15th.
  51. 16:11Mark, uh, one thing, if someone is interested in a board, um, just if you are interested, please follow the guidelines and submit your letter with the questions that are proposed.
  52. 16:22Yeah, I agree. Um, it' be great to have some parody and make sure we're comparing apples to apples. Um, at this time we do have a need for an early executive de executive session uh for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons and contract negotiations with a collective bargaining unit. Make a motion to enter executive session at 6:10 p.m.
  53. 16:48Second. All in favor and we'll be out as quickly as we can. Thank you all for your patience. Uh make a motion to exit executive session at 6:24 p.m.
  54. 30:51Second.
  55. 30:51All in favor? And uh make a motion to accept the resolution for the superintendent authority to appoint.
  56. 31:02Second.
  57. 31:03All in favor? and make a motion to accept personnel agenda items A 1- six and B 1 through 15.
  58. 31:17Second. All in favor?
  59. 31:22I move that we approve uh personnel agenda item B16.
  60. 31:30Second.
  61. 31:31All in favor? and I will recuse myself. Brings us to public participation. Leslie, did anybody sign up to speak?
  62. 31:48It's okay. Don't worry about it.
  63. 31:49Here we go.
  64. 31:51We have our superintendence report.
  65. 31:54Good evening. Couple of things to share tonight. Um, I want to start with some thank yous to our 12-month staff who have been diligently working throughout the summer to get ready. We are getting close to September 8th, which is our first day with faculty and staff, and then uh September 9th, our first day with students. So, just a sincere thank you to everyone here that's getting everything ready for our faculty, staff, and students. Um, another thank you, but this is to a broader community. Um, I've
  66. 32:20been working with our communication specialist, Daniela, to get some different pieces of information out over the summer. Part of that is allowing people to ask questions of me as the new superintendent. So you may have seen sometime last week she posted on social media ask the superintendent and people were able to submit questions. We got about a couple dozen I would say maybe around 30 questions in total. Some of them similar. So we've been going through and kind of chucking them into themes and are working on recording some
  67. 32:49um answers to those questions. So we did one yesterday which will be published sometime next week. So be on the lookout for that. Um, and then we'll continue to work through some of the different questions and record some answers to them and hope to have uh several of those out throughout next week. Um, so if you still have a question and you'd like to submit one, you're welcome to do so. Um, want to mention code of conduct that has been talked about here at the board table um for some time. We've been
  68. 33:17working on the communications that will go out. So, by the end of this week, a communication will go out to faculty and staff about the updates to the code of conduct. Um, and then before the start of school, a similar communication, but tailored to parents and families and students, um, will also be going out. So, be on the lookout for those communications as well. And then, uh, one other topic under the the category of communication, as Lou shared earlier, a lot of different pieces happening in our facilities. So
  69. 33:48there's the capital project, there's the EPC or the energy performance contract. Um there's the smart schools. So a lot of different work happening throughout the next year with our facilities. So we are also working on a specific page of our website that will outline those different projects and the status of each one. And monthly we'll be sharing out throughout the year um updates, pictures, information about those different projects. So, those are really great facilities upgrades to our our campus. So, I think it's important that we share them and also allow an opportunity for people if they have questions about what's going on um to certainly ask.
  70. 34:27And then different category to share out on is just staffing. So, as we get close to the start of the school year, this is obviously a conversation that has been an important one for myself and the administrator administrative team to look at our staffing and any open positions. And there's also been some some questions from the community about, you know, what positions are we filling and are we filling positions that were cut. So, I want to walk through some of them specifically just so people have the information. Um, and again, this is an area that we're going to push out some information hopefully tomorrow um on social media in response to some questions we got. So, specifically, um
  71. 35:04there was a social worker that resigned. So, some of the postings that we've had recently are from staff and faculty that um decided to take an opportunity with another district or another agency. So, we um then had openings here at Hudson. So, one example of that is a social worker um that resigned from Hudson that left that spot vacant. In working with the administrators, we had conversation about posting for a social worker. But we also looked at an a different alternative which was looking at our staff in the social work and school psychologist area. Um and because we had
  72. 35:39a school psychologist position that had been reduced and somebody um actually lost their job as a result of that, we made the decision to to instead of posting for a social worker, we posted for a school psychologist and that allowed us to recall a person that had previously been laid off. So just the conversation around well why are we hiring a school psychologist when we laid somebody off in this case it's because somebody resigned and that allowed some shifting to happen and then recall that person back
  73. 36:08different situation is one of our ELLL English language learners teachers um this falls into the category of as the administrators looked at the student needs for this coming school year and put together schedules for that those students and for those teachers we did find in this area that while a position had been reduced in the spring, in order to meet all the required services for those students, we actually had to bring a position back in that area. So, this is another one where somebody was able to be recalled because they had lost their position in the spring. They were able to be reinvited back to Hudson and
  74. 36:43fortunately they accepted that position. Um, you'll also see another posting for ELLL which is for a vacancy from a leave. So, somebody that is here in an appointment or an inapp appointed position is on a leave for the coming year. So, we need to fill that spot, but it's just a a leave position, not an actual full position. Um, so I'm not going to go through all of them, but just wanted to explain some of the nuances that come up with as we have people that potentially resign for other opportunities. um we're filling those positions, but then we also have some situations where looking at the immediate needs of the students for this coming school year need to make adjustments and are doing so. So, I just
  75. 37:23thought it was important to to touch base on that tonight.
  76. 37:26Todd, can I interrupt you for one second? Just on that same note,
  77. 37:29um have you reached out to some people that were on the call back list and they didn't want to come back?
  78. 37:35We did. Yes, we've had some that had since accepted positions in other districts and did not take the opportunity to come back to Hudson.
  79. 37:43Thanks.
  80. 37:44You're welcome.
  81. 37:47All right. Thank you.
  82. 37:49Thank you for those updates. Any other questions? Okay. Um I would like to make a motion to add uh item Y. Thank you. add item Y to the consent agenda. Um, contract agreement with the food service personnel. So, make a motion to add uh item Y.
  83. 38:17Second.
  84. 38:17All in favor.
  85. 38:25Oh, you did. Okay. So, it's already on there.
  86. 38:27So, it's X.
  87. 38:27Okay. Perfect. So, then no Y.
  88. 38:31Just X.
  89. 38:33It's not X on ours. to refresh it.
  90. 38:38It's M. It's M. Okay. Thank you, Leslie.
  91. 38:44So, she just did a swap. So, then I make a motion to accept personnel agenda items A through X.
  92. 38:52Consent.
  93. 38:53Consent. Sorry. Make a motion to accept consent agenda items A through X.
  94. 38:58Second.
  95. 38:58All in favor? Uh, we have our second public forum. Anybody like to sign up?
  96. 39:09Board discussion. Anybody else have anything they'd like to add or chat about? Well, uh, brings us to important dates. Following meetings are scheduled. Policy committee meeting TBD in September in the high school library. There is no facilities committee meeting in September. Correct. Say that again. I'm sorry.
  97. 39:35There is no facilities committing in September.
  98. 39:37No. No.
  99. 39:37Uh Tuesday, September 15th, uh regular board of education meeting 6 p.m. in the high school in the auditorium. Uh TBD policy in October. Monday, October 19th, facilities committee meeting 5:30 p.m. in the district conference room. Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, regular board of education meeting, 6 pm in the high school library. Uh at this time we do have a need for a second executive session for the purposes of reviewing the employment history of a particular person or persons. Make a motion to enter executive session at 6:34 p.m.
  100. 40:20Second.
  101. 40:20All in favor. There'll be no further business after this executive session. Thank you all for being here and enjoy the rest of your summer.
  102. 40:28Thank you.

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