The Hudson City School District has published the names of the three candidates who have filed petitions to run for the two open seats on the Board of Education. They are Michael Zibella, who is currently on the board, Lou Zapp, and Royce "Rip" Noblin.
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| Michael Zibella |
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| Lou Zapp |
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| Royce "Rip" Noblin |
The following comment was submitted by email from Susan Troy:
ReplyDeleteI just read the bios of the three School Board Candidates.
The word "literacy" and the term "literacy rates" appeared exactly zero times.
None of these guys mention one word about academics! Not every kid will become a star quarterback for a big league franchise. Most of the students currently enrolled will end up in dead end jobs as Ai becomes more and more effective in replacing low skill jobs.
ReplyDeleteThis comment from Susan Troy was submitted by email:
ReplyDeleteSo we know that the HCSD Administration, the HCSD School Board, the union leadership and the rank and file all read TGOR, along with the pricey public relations firm's staff that all of the taxpayers have to pay, but none of the taxpayers got to interview, let alone approve, but I digress.
So they all read TGOR, yet not a single one of them will provide the current literacy rates, by grade, on this blog. None of the three candidates will come on this blog and present their specific plans for raising those literacy rates. (All those practices and games and travel games must not allow for the time it would take to post here. Huh. How will they be able to make the School Board meetings?). I'd be happy, more like delighted, if just one of the three candidates publicly acknowledged the majority of kids can't read at grade level.
Here are some other numbers I think taxpayers should be provided, as opposed to making us FOIL them: the number of homeless kids in the district. Not asking for names. Asking for the total number of homeless kids. I think big picture stuff is good to know.
You gotta admit the silence - the unified-can't-break-us-silence- is actually impressive. One wonders if even a single administrator or School Board Member, or teacher, or aide, or coach, or any other HCSD employee understands that the "everybody keep your heads down, don't say anything, just hunker down until the vote is over" strategy is really so disrespectful, so arrogant. So not helping the kids you all purport to care so much about.
Sports are everything, forgot being able to read or write. Forget about music,dance,art. Forget about graduating or even completing 8th grade. Yes, let's hear it for a school board that cares nothing about kids futures
ReplyDeleteThese candidates need to state their PLANS for getting the students out of the BOTTOM FOURTH QUARTILE in the nation. I don't care that you ran a successful real estate company or that you have kids in the school system.
ReplyDeleteREAL PLANS, what are they, candidates? Do your homework now, instead of getting the job then figuring out you have no clue.
I would suggest that each proposed member be invited to send G their thoughts on academics, specifically reading, writing and math.
ReplyDeleteThis comment from Susan Troy was submitted by email:
ReplyDeletePerhaps our HCSD employees require an invitation, an actual ask, to provide their employers with answers, so here we go:
Dr. Brian Bailey; Derek Reardon; Philip Campbell; Kenneth Baer; Dr. Lauren Pupecki; Mark Brenneman; Carrie Patch; Jill Hanley; Daniel Connor:
Please provide the current literacy rates, by grade. Please provide today's specific plans to acknowledge, address, and improve those literacy rates. And then please provide next month's, and September of 2026's specific plans to acknowledge, address, and improve those literacy rates.
Finally, elections are akin to job performance reviews in the private sector: you sit across from your boss(es), and together, take a hard look at the past year: the good, the bad, the ugly. The profit makers, and the losses. The successful innovations and the major screw ups. And then you either get a raise or a bonus, or both; you get a written warning with specifics; or you get fired. But as an employee, you're required to explain yourself; to plead your case. You don't get to hide behind, say, a Board of Seven Random People, who apparently, legally, are only required to look at you for three minutes and pretend to listen, but never verbally respond. (They don't respond in writing, either.)
So while the other conversations under these two posts about economics and whatever else, have been entertaining reading - and a shoutout to the poster who used the term "latte class" - I think we all are looking for the same thing: very specific data points that the HCSD is holding hostage. Data points we all need prior to the Performance Review on Tuesday, May 19th.
Can they collectively stonewall us until then? Will one or two or three people break ranks and respond? THAT will be interesting to watch.
Susan Troy submitted this comment by email:
ReplyDeleteTypical Friday afternoons in May, between lunch and dismissal, must be very, very busy for our HCSD Interim Superintendent, and all of the Principals and Assistant Principals and Associate Principals. Carole was kind enough to post my Email yesterday at 12:09PM - during lunch!! - where I directly asked Dr. Brian Bailey; Derek Reardon; Philip Campbell; Kenneth Baer; Dr. Lauren Pupecki; Mark Brenneman; Carrie Patch; Jill Hanley; and Daniel Connor, to provide the most up to date literacy rates, by grade, and not one single taxpayer paid employee responded.
I'm assuming that specific data is either in hard copy form in a folder on their desks - gosh I'd hope it would be in a bright red folder representing the critical nature of the data; or more likely, it's in digital form, in a digital folder on all nine of these folks' computers, but also in a digital folder on the computers of all nine assistants to these folks. So minimally, I'm thinking at least eighteen taxpayer paid employees had easy access to the literacy rates by grade, yesterday between lunch and dismissal. So again, a typical Friday afternoon in May, must be very, very busy between lunch and dismissal.
But now they can stop looking, because Jonathan Spampinato posted, over on the Unfiltered Hudson, NY Community Board, the following two posts:
"Statewide Rankings: HCSD was ranked 918th out of 1,008 school districts in New York for the most recent measured period."
"Math Proficiency: HCSD averages roughly 28% - 34%. By comparison, the New York State public school averaged reached 57% in the 2024 - 2025 cycle.
Reading (ELA) Proficiency: HCSD averaged 32% - 34%, while the statewide average was approximately 53% for the same period."
Now, if these numbers are incorrect, I'm assuming that one of the, minimally, eighteen HCSD employees, or any one of the seven HCSD Board of Education members, will come on this blog, whom they all read, and correct me. I'm hoping they come on this blog and correct me.
While TGOR is a vital community forum, the feel good public relations campaign is being executed over on the Unfiltered Hudson, New York Community Board. It is strategic. It employs what I guess are people considered to be "community leaders" or "community influencers". There are YouTube videos, and of course the Bluehawk Nation tagline. That community board reaches way more HCSD taxpayers and voters. That is where the pushback to the feel-good-I-love-Hudson-I'm-part-of-Bluehawk-Nation-echo chamber has to happen. So good for Mr. Spampinato to push back by providing actual numbers. Real data.
As for those folks who read stories about Hudson and are moved to tears, really, the tears should be for the kids who don't graduate from HCSD at all, and by default, go out into the real world with zero skills to survive, and for the members of Bluehawk Nation who might graduate, but read at a sixth or seventh grade level, and can't get a job that pays enough to live on without DSS subsidies. Let's reserve the tears for those kids.
And for the taxpayers who already paid taxes to educate these kids and didn't, and now pay taxes to help those kids survive.
The job performance review for the Hudson City School District is coming up quickly: Tuesday, May 19th.