A Modest Proposal for HCSD

In January, the Hudson City School District Board of Education began its search for a new Superintendent of Schools, using the same search organization they have used in the past with less than satisfactory results, HYA. Addressing the question of doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome, Mark DePace, school board president, maintained that this time would be different because they would be working with Kaweeda Adams, an HYA associate based in Albany who, according to DePace, was chosen "because of her familiarity with the district." 

At a school board meeting in late January, a woman identifying herself as a "proud graduate of the Hudson City School District" who has worked for the district for the past sixteen years questioned the need to look outside the district for a new superintendent, asserting, "The strongest leaders the district has known came right up through the ranks right here." She cited as examples Neil Howard, who retired in 1995; Jack Howe, who served as superintendent from 2009 to 2012; and Maria Suttmeier, who succeeded Howe and retired in 2022.

Today, Peter Meyer, who was a member of the school board that hired Suttmeier in 2012, sent the following letter to recipients he described as "Friends of Hudson Education." Gossips received the letter and permission to publish it here.

Dear Friends of Hudson Education,

I'm happy to say that as a result of my delay sending this message out, I can include reference to Roger Hannigan Gilson's story in last Friday's Albany Times Union: "Hudson school board faces tough choices amid huge budget gap." 

Unfortunately, Hudson City School District (HCSD, which includes the communities of Hudson, Claverack, Greenport, Stockport, Ghent, and Livingston) was already in crisis: reading and math test scores are among the lowest in the state; graduation rates are embarrassingly low; enrollment numbers are at a historic low (under 1,500 K-12 students); all amid administrative and classroom turmoil caused by having three different superintendents in just the last four years.

As a former board member, parent, longtime resident and education journalist, I am not happy about the HCSD crisis or Gilson's "huge budget gap" story, but, dear friend of education, you should be alternately alarmed, troubled or mad about what's happening at 215 Harry Howard Avenue. Gilson quotes HCSD board member Diana Howard saying, "I'm just in panic mode right now."

In fact, the board of ed has been a bit panicked for the last several years and I am attaching a suggested letter that I encourage all residents, taxpayers, and parents to send to Ms. Howard and her colleagues on the board as soon as possible--to help them get our dear school district back on the tracks.

There is still time for them to do the right thing: stop using tens of thousands of our dollars searching for yet another superintendent when we have one already working for us (i.e. can the consultants); set up a task force to figure out why two-thirds of our kids read below grade level (hint: it ain't the kids'--or their parents'--fault).

We all know it's not easy teaching kids. But we should also know that it's not impossible if we do what our boys basketball team just did: work hard practicing the skills that work to learn and win.

The board can get started today. And it can certainly be mostly done before May if they decide to do it. See the budget timeline here. We don't need another year of chaos. And we don't need another stack of invoices payable to out-of-state consultants.

Please send a version of the attached to to the Board of Education (via email or USPS) as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for your time and concern. The kids will thank you.

Peter Meyer

Founder & Executive Director

School Life Media

The sample letter Meyer mentions can be found here. The information about the superintendent search provided by HCSD can be found here. 

Of Interest

Roger Hannigan Gilson has an article of interest today in the Times Union: "Hudson Valley continues decades long population slide after brief pandemic bump." The article provides this information specifically about Columbia County:

In the northern Hudson Valley, income gains occurred even as population declined, because those moving in tended to earn more than those leaving. In Columbia County, for example, new residents between 2019 and 2021 reported average household incomes of about $166,100, compared to $68,800 for those who moved out--roughly 240% higher.

That gap narrowed in the most recent data. Households moving into Columbia County reported average incomes of $114,885, while those leaving earned $95,936.

It's Confirmed

What Gossips reported on Saturday has been confirmed. The following is a press release just received from Tiffany Martin, mayor's aide.

Mayor Ferris is pleased to announce he will be appointing Sara Black--a research scholar and Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute--to the Planning Board. A Ph.D. in Geography, Sara conducted work funded by the National Science Foundation at the University of Georgia on gentrification and the Hudson Valley political economy. She moved to Hudson in 2012 to work in agriculture, followed by various positions in the service and retail industries. Since 2019, Sara has been active in local affordable housing initiatives. She contributed qualitative and quantitative research to Hudson’s successful $1M Anti-Displacement Learning Network grant (2019-2020), served as the Administrative Coordinator for the Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency (2021-2024), developed cooperative governance and finance models for Hudson Dots (2024), and served as the Treasurer of the Board of Commissioners for the Hudson Housing Authority (2025-2026). In addition to teaching, she works part-time as the Administrative Director for Sweet Freedom Farm. She is the proud aunt of a Montgomery C. Smith kindergartener (and one soon-to-be preschooler).

The Mayor thanks Gaby Hoffmann for her service to the Planning Board and commitment to the Hudson community.

Happening Later This Month

The History Room's current exhibit at the Hudson Area Library, The Patriots of Hudson in the Revolutionary War, continues through June 30. On Tuesday, April 28, the library is offering a workshop for teachers based on the exhibition. The workshop takes place in person at the library, 51 North Fifth Street, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. A light dinner will be provided, and 3.0 credits are available through the Greater Capital Region Teachers Center.   

To learn more about the workshop and to register, use the QR code on the poster above. Click on the image to enlarge.

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Last week was pretty slow, as meetings go. Not so this week. 

• On Monday, April 6, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 2:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at 1 City Centre, Suite 301, and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
• Also on Monday, April 6, the Common Council Safety Committee (Police and Fire) meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely. 
• On Tuesday, April 7, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
• On Wednesday, April 8, the Housing Trust Fund Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
• On Thursday, April 9, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda for the meeting is as yet available, but it is likely that the proposed amendment to clarify Section 325-17.1 of the city code will be discussed. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

• Also on Thursday, April 9, The Olana Partnership presents the webinar Where to Start: Frederic Edwin Church's Early Career in Wider Contexts. For more information and to register, click here.

• On Friday, April 10, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

Ear to the Ground

Gossips has heard that Mayor Joe Ferris is appointing Sara Black to replace Gabrielle Hoffmann on the Planning Board. Black currently sits on the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, having been appointed to that board by Mayor Kamal Johnson in June 2025. 

According to Gossips' sources, Black intends to step down from the HHA Board to take the position on the Planning Board, apparently to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest. Still it seems more than a little inappropriate for someone from the HHA Board to serve on the Planning Board at this point in time, given that HHA's ambitious proposal for redevelopment is currently the most significant project before the Planning Board. HHA and Mountco, their development partner, have been bemoaning what they perceive as a delay in the plan site review caused by the number of new members of the Planning Board. It would seem to be quite a coup for them to have one of their allies on the Planning Board to get the board up to speed and to fight their corner. 

Sara Black at a recent HHA Board meeting

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

Bon Appetit recently published a list of "The Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings This Spring." There are eight restaurants on the list, in such places as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, St. Paul, Washington, D.C., and, you guessed it, Hudson.

The Hudson restaurant featured is Pez, "a contemporary Mexican spot from Efrén Hernández," which is coming to Rivertown Lodge. Bon Appetit says this about the new restaurant:

The menu at Pez focuses on sustainable East Coast seafood presented in three sections: frio, vegetables, and caliente. Hernández is pulling out all the stops with raw bar dishes like a Jonah crab tostada with chicatana chintextle (a smoked chile spread from Oaxaca), plus hot plates like grilled dayboat scallops with smoky chipotle and seaweed butter, or a whole dry-aged Atlantic mackerel with salsa serrano and housemade sourdough flour tortillas.

Pez is expected to open sometime in May.

Correcting the Record

On March 20, Spenser Walsh reported about the Common Council Legal Committee meeting which took place on March 12. The report was mostly about the proposed amendment to clarify Section 325-17.1 of the city code. The article contained misinformation, which is explained by Donna Streitz today on imby.com: "Again? Correcting the record on Colarusso's dock." 

Dust created by Colarusso's dock operations

How Much Do You Know About Olana?

Test your knowledge of all things Olana at a special trivia night celebrating Frederic Church's 200th birthday year. 

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 4, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., you can join The Olana Partnership staff for a rousing game of trivia. Bring a team or play on your own. Winners and runners-up will receive a special Olana prize pack. To register for Church 200 Spring Trivia Night, click here.

The State of the HCSD Budget

It's been a few weeks since Gossips posted about the Hudson City School District budget being proposed for 2026-2027, but it seems since then things have gone from bad to worse. In a few weeks. the proposed budget has gone from $61.4 million to $63.1 million. Roger Hannigan Gilson tells the story in today's Times Union: "Hudson school board faces tough choices amid huge budget gap." The following is quoted from that article:

Without cuts, spending is expected to rise about 7.8% for the 2026-2027 school year, a figure that would require a large increase in school taxes and for the district to spend a significant amount of its unassigned fund balance--excess money that is supposed to serve as a rainy day fund.

But the situation is worse than that. Even if the school board were to approve a budget that would raise taxes by the maximum allowable amount this year--5.8%--and spend the maximum allowable amount of the unassigned fund balance, the district would be $2.58 short, or more than 4% of the total proposed budget of $63.1 million.

Gilson reports that Mark DePace, president of the Board of Education, asked the district to prepare plans for cutting $2.5 to $4.5 million from the proposed budget, "allowing for different options with tax increases and using the unassigned fund balance," before the next board meeting, which takes place on April 14.

Looking Ahead to Summer

Registration for Oakdale Summer Camp 2026 is now underway. The program runs for six weeks, from July 6 to August 14. To register a child for summer camp, click here. The deadline for registering is May 31.

At the Common Council Services Committee meeting this evening, Youth Director Calvin Lewis reported that 71 campers have already registered for the summer camp program. More than 30 applications have been received for jobs as camp counselors, and almost 20 applications have been received for jobs as lifeguards.

Photo: cityofhudsonyouth.org

In Case You Missed It Yesterday

The Hudson Wail spoofs the New York Times.

Webinar on Frederic Church

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Church. Next week, as part of its bicentennial observance, The Olana Partnership is hosting Where to Start: Frederic Church's Early Career in Wider Contexts, a webinar with Joseph Mizhakiiyaasige Zordan, Ph.D. candidate in History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University and contributor to the forthcoming publication Frederic Church: Global Artist. 

The presentation will reexamine the role of local, national, and familial mentors in establishing Church's artistic career, particularly through his painting Hooker and Company, which is in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum on Hartford, Connecticut. The webinar will be moderated by Erin Monroe, Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Wadsworth.

The webinar takes place on Thursday, April 9, at 6:00 p.m. For more information and to register, click here.

What's Happening with CMH

Columbia Memorial Health traces its roots back to 1887, when Hudson Hospital was first established in a house at the corner of North Fifth and Washington streets. In 1900, the hospital moved to its first building on Prospect Avenue.

Today, the hospital is the city's, indeed the county's, largest employer, and we all rest a little easier knowing that there is a hospital in our city, close by, only minutes away. But, after nearly 140 years, the future of Hudson's hospital seems unclear.

In 2014, the hospital announced plans to enter into a "strategic alliance" with Albany Medical Center. In 2015, the relationship between the two institutions was described as AMC being the "parent" of CMH. Around that time, too, the H in CMH came to stand for "Health" instead of "Hospital." By 2022, it was clear Columbia Memorial was one of four hospitals in the Albany Med Health System, and new signage introduced in 2023 made that relationship clear.

A plan is currently being pursued to change the hospital's designation from "rural hospital" to "critical access hospital" and to reduce the number of medical beds to 25. The plan is being presented as a necessary step to ensure the survival of the hospital. At the same time, CMH is adding 23 beds in its inpatient psychiatric unit, more than doubling its capacity. 

Members of the hospital workers union, 1199 SEIU, take issue with the plans, which they say would reduce the services provided at CMH by 80 percent. They have been trying without success to meet with members of the hospital administration. 

Today at 4:00 p.m., members of the union plan to attend the annual friends event of the Healthcare Consortium, hoping to make contact and state their case. The meeting takes place at Hudson Hall and is open to the public. It might be a good way to get some insight into just what's happening at an institution we all count on to be there when we need it.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK