Sunday, February 9, 2020

Open Seats on the Board of Education

Hudsonians can get passionate about the Hudson Youth Department, which provides after-school and summer activities for the kids who choose to participate, but when it comes to the Hudson City School District, which has the principal responsibility for educating the children of Hudson, most people seem indifferent. They may complain about poor standardized text scores and the heavy burden the HCSD budget ($49.8 million for 2019-2020) places on property owners, but, despite that, members of the public rarely show up for school board meetings, and few people vote to approve the budget and elect members of the Board of Education.

That being said, HCSD has put out the word that the terms of two current members of the school board--Carrie Otty, who is now the president of the board, and Sage Carter--will expire on June 30, 2020, and is asking for interested people to run for those positions. The following are HCSD's requirements for serving on the school board:
  • Must have a primary residence within the Hudson City School District
  • Must be at least 18 years old
  • Must be a registered voter
  • Must obtain at least 100 signatures on the nominating petition (supporters who sign the petition must also be residents in the school district)
These are the responsibilities of school board members, as defined by HCSD:
  • Creating a shared vision for the future of education at HCSD
  • Setting the direction of the school district to achieve high student performance
  • Creating strategic partnerships with community stakeholders
  • Budget development and adoption
  • Policy development and adoption
Nominating petitions are available now. To obtain petition forms, contact Leslie Coons by phone--518 828-4360, ext. 2100--or by email. Petitions must be filed by Thursday, April 30, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. The budget vote and school district election take place on May 19, 2020.

Serving on the school board is an unpaid position, and members are elected to three-year terms. The board members elected in May will serve from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023. 
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK

1 comment:

  1. We have all watched the school budget go in one direction up & up.Is there to much attention paid to sports and after school programs? .When students can +,-,×, & ÷ , read & comprehend a basic sentence ,then we have problem .Is it the faculty, the state, or just the unwillingness of the students to learn.Hudson needs board members with vision.

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