HCSD's Board of Education and New Superintendent Need to "Read the Room"

An Opinion Piece by Ken Sheffer

April 13, 2022

If you start from the now well-proven premise that everything the Hudson City School District and its Board of Education has tried for the past ten years to improve Hudson’s schools has not worked to lift our kids out of this learning spiral they are in, then you really don’t need to worry too much about the new insanely expensive budget the District is throwing at you (except whether you can afford it). This seasonal ritual is, like everything they do, a complicated but effective carnival trick. And who knew that first impressions could be so brutal? The newly appointed Superintendent, Dr. Lisamarie Spindler, sold herself to the HCSD Board and the public as an expert in budgeting and finance. Boy, was she right—in the wrong way. She has somehow found the courage to ask the Hudson District taxpayer for $1.8 million dollars more this year than last year’s record, budget-busting total, for a whopping amount of $54,125,024 (versus last year’s $52,244,404) . . . once again asking you to empty your empty pockets into the District’s failed system. Dr. Spindler also led us to believe that she was less “tone deaf” than her predecessor. Wrong again. So, although we wish Dr. Spindler the best, it might have been a wise move for her do more with less and ask for no tax increase . . . and let us see what magic she can perform with her own hands, mind, tools, and ideas. Does the Superintendent not drive to work or buy groceries? Who would have thought that we might have to choose between filling up our car for a road trip or pay more school taxes? But the choice is now brutally here. At any rate, the new Superintendent has put herself on a slippery tightrope by asking stressed out and tapped out taxpayers (that she does not know) for more money for something the community around her knows is not working. But Dr. Spindler is not the only one at fault here. There are others.

I was actually going to wait a bit longer to issue my annual review of the budget and workings of the Hudson City School District and its Board of Education (I usually wait till all the other districts come in with their numbers), but I was inspired (actually, extremely agitated) by something I saw on the City of Hudson website a few days ago and could not get it out of my mind. It was the April 10, 2022, “Open Letter” Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson sent to “Hudson.” In his self-congratulatory letter describing his accomplishments and challenges during the first 100 days of his second term, the Mayor NEVER ONCE mentioned the words “schools” or “education,” let alone “learning” or “kids.” If the Mayor represents anyone as a priority, wouldn’t it be Hudson’s kids? If it is indeed a Mayor-branded “All Hands On Deck” approach to the vitality and future of Hudson, it boggles the mind that the Mayor of Hudson does not see the anvil hanging over Hudson’s head and future—its failed education system. And more importantly, since the education system depends on the money of the adult citizens of Hudson school community and the Mayor is presumably THE community leader, it is unacceptable that he had nothing to say about the School District and education and the total failure it is for his most vulnerable citizens. Hudson can only succeed if the schools succeed, if its students succeed. Almost nothing else matters. The Mayor will rise and fall on the fate of his kids. That is the way of small cities and towns and its politicians. Last year, in this column, I asked about City Hall outrage over Hudson’s colossally failing academic assessments and I asked that the Common Council re-establish its historically powerful school committee. Nothing happened. Certainly, a collapsed educational system would obviously be a focus for any city leader, let alone the city Mayor. This Mayor stands on great moral authority based on his “no increased taxation” policy for Hudson. So, he should use this authority as clout. And clout is meant to be used. I understand fully that there is a clear separation of city and school, but there is a link the Mayor can use . . . it’s called Harry Howard Avenue. The Mayor should take a drive out that road and ask some tough questions and help stop the insanity. Hudson’s academic ship is sinking and taking kids and taxpayers along with it. (Put a life raft in your trunk, Mr. Mayor.) But just ask just one question of the Board of Education and new Superintendent when you meet them, “How on earth did you decide to raise school taxes by $1.8 million at a time like this? READ THE ROOM!” Their answer will only enrage you, I’m sure. Not to worry though. After that meeting, take a deep breath, drive back to City Hall, rewrite that letter to Hudson, go talk to some of the kids, show them the way, and tell them they can count on you. It is time for this kind of an intervention. (BTW, kudos again for not raising Hudson’s taxes in tough times.)

Then it is the BOE membership and the election process itself. Take a close look at last year’s Board seat election results and it will tell you everything. (I would suggest that Dr. Spindler take a close look as well.) While the District’s budget is climbing like a Bezos rocket, voter turnout has become Amtrak-like—no one shows up. Of the 11,169 registered voters in the District, only 566 people voted, or stunningly, .05936648 percent of that number (HCSD data here folks). In Hudson, the “YES” vote was 152 and the “NO” vote was 119. The massive budget almost went down in well-deserved flames. The total outcome was 352 “YES” votes and 214 “NO” votes. This alone was a mandate to send in some adults to get this mess straightened out. Instead, two write-in candidates nominated themselves for election to the Board of Education. One garnered 82 votes while the other received 80 votes. (Surely there should be a base number you must reach to qualify to oversee a $55 million dollar budget and the futures of all the kids in the area.) Anyway, random write-in votes (mostly in protest) tallied 83—more than either winning write-in candidate.

Finally, I want to talk briefly about New York State government oversight over its public schools. It’s brief because . . . there is none. There aren’t enough people or resources to keep an eye on anything, so the State leaves it to the Districts to supervise themselves, and I think we all know how that goes. All the forms, all the mandated issues and deadlines are the same, year in, year out. If you hire the right consultants, as the HCSD has done, and you just put in the right buzz words, you escape scrutiny. And then there is the issue that was raised this week in Gossips . . . it is all just too confusing. I follow every meeting, every document, every spreadsheet, and every audit, and I can tell you that the system is built to confuse. (If you do decide to peek inside, ask President Biden if he will lend you his aviators before you look.) The Board does not want ANYONE to really know their work so they create numbers and words and a cult that highlights and masters confusion. They know, I know, that after a while, EVERYONE gives up trying to look inside. The problem this time is that we were sold a “bill of hope” with the new Superintendent. She seemed to have the right approach and the “cure”—a way to make us proud to pay our school taxes. What did it take to convince the new school leader to support such a massive budget increase in her first few months on the job? Does she know that no one can afford this tax hike? Does she understand the variety of economic factors in the Hudson area? The budget increase is so huge and unreal that I can only conclude that Dr. Spindler is confused too.

So now, let’s talk about how we got here, AGAIN! Over the past 12 months the BOE has met 26 times, hired a new Superintendent, chosen a new Board President, and lost a key Board member, Sage Carter. It has also had to deal with kids and parents as they re-emerge into life, and this has certainly not been easy for anyone, including the teachers. Student absenteeism is at an all-time high as are disciplinary issues. And, if you factor in staff hiring problems along with the predictable “academic lag” for the kids, there are challenges galore. The District used to just suffer from failing grades—now it risks failing almost entirely as an institution. This has to be prevented.

During these 26 Board meetings, the District has magically become the beneficiary of about $5 million in Federal aid, massively increased State aid, and gigantic increases in local aid. As I have said before, it is raining money on the HCSD. While at the same time, it has over this period, in 12 just months, lost 6.47 percent of its student body while somehow raising the cost per pupil over these 12 months from $26,114 to $29,469 per student! (They project having a total of 1,562 enrolled students this coming school year.) How is this possible? So, let’s see. The budget goes up, while enrollment falls through the floor. (BTW, all these numbers are in their State-mandated “School Funding Transparency” reports.)

The District’s “ask” for 2022-2023 of $54,125,024 represents an increase over last year’s budget by a wide margin—$1,880,620, or a 3.6 percent increase. This, despite the State giving the District a record increase of aid this year of $806,990 for this year (with more to come it appears). The District gets 52 percent of its money directly from the checks you send the school system each year. So, let me ask you: Do you feel like a majority shareholder in this enterprise? Do you even know what they do or who they are?

I have some idea who they are. Once again, when I was not in COVID lockdown, I attended BOE meetings as I could. (Meetings are not made virtual or viewable digitally, so you have to show up, unlike 90 percent of other New York districts.) As usual, there was no one else at any of the meetings I attended, and there was ZERO interest from the Board in listening to (let alone answering) my questions. (I challenge anyone to go to a BOE meeting and not leave in a rage.) In case you are not familiar with their system, you are allowed to speak for 3 minutes (they have an official timer), and they do not have to speak or utter a word in reply. This is a rule of choice (the Board members can waive the limitation), but is allowed by law. It is humiliating experience but NOT a waste of time to show up. That is how they play the game, and I am ready to play, so bring it on. I will go every time I can. But to label their “Public Forum” system as “community relations” is a lie. They have no interest in engaging in dialogue with the local community. For example, once again this year, in four “Community Budget Workshops” held on February 15, March 1, March 15 and April 5, not ONE member of the “non-school community” or public showed up. And once again, school officials spent the budget presentation time asking THEMSELVES questions. (It makes you wonder what they have left to talk about at work.) Once in a while, someone wanders into a BOE meeting full of energy to find out the “true” story. Not this time. The unattended “Community Workshops” for this budget have been non-events, and the leaders of the BOE and the Superintendent should take this as a warning that the floor has permanently and dangerously fallen out from under them.

At the Board meetings I attended, I signed up for the Public Forums. As usual the BOE did not disappoint. One interaction went like this. The District is intent on using Federal funds to upgrade the MC Smith gym. I think it is a good idea and said so at the time, but I could not get an answer on the overall cost and approval process. I was told that the District had to get the numbers into the State “within a week,” but as I pointed out there were no Board meetings scheduled before that deadline. Stunned faces. The budget request for the gym was about $400,000 and needed to be approved by the Board president and others before it went to the State. I asked how this would be accomplished and was told, “We’ll do it over the phone.” I asked if they understood that such a meeting needed to have minutes to be legal . . . no one said a word. (Can you imagine what other business is done over the phone?) At another meeting, I asked if the results of a “Public Survey on Hiring a New Superintendent” would be made available to the public and was told that no one on the Board knew that answer.  I reiterated that it was a PUBLIC survey. Still, no answer.

Finally, to put down a marker, at the Board meeting on September 7, 2021, after asking some other questions, I recommended that “the Board get ahead of the next inevitable tax increase NOW while it had the chance.” I said that reducing the overall school budget and tax burden would be the best idea for the community. I wanted to warn them and I did.

So, for those who have asked, the school budgeting system generally goes like this. In the fall of each year, the District is mandated to submit to the State a “Funding Transparency Report.” In the Spring, just prior to the budget’s approval by the BOE, it is mandated to submit a “Property Tax Report Card.” The report card is ostensibly linked to the State’s tax cap limits but actually both documents are nearly identical. This year they also have had to submit reports for the spending of the massive Federal aid they are receiving (ARP funds, American Rescue Plan funds.) These ARP reports are just duplicates of the other two reports except they lay out, in broad strokes, how they are going to spend the Federal millions they have received. The ARP report went in to the State at the end of 2021 and was approved by the State in early 2022. As well, the District must follow a State-mandated budget process that includes “outreach to the community,” but it never really happens. The next you will hear from them will be when someone wants your vote to be on the Board, or when they want you to show up to say “YES” on their insane budget.

This year, so far, they have produced the following documents for public consumption at their “Community Workshops”:

• The District Fiscal Profile—February 15, 2022
• District Budget Priorities—March 1, 2022
• District Budget Scenarios—March 15, 2022
• The Superintendent’s Recommended Budget—April 5, 2022

Next you will see these details in the local media and then they will mail you a budget flyer to your home. That is their structured, hands-off approach to dealing with you. 

It’s also important to be realistic about the May 17 vote on who to put on that seven-member Board. Of the seven seats, five are open or at least up for renewal. (Sage Carter ended her run on the Board prematurely for personal reasons.) Willette Jones, the new Board President, has earned her stripes, takes the job seriously and should be re-elected to the Board. Chuck Parmentier must also decide whether to run again. Chuck is a senior State Government official and would be a good leader. I do not know Mark DePace or Lakia Walker. Fortunately, Lucy Segar remains on the Board. She is a devoted professional and would be a good Board leader.  But it would be best to have, at a minimum, three new members. But I caution you, do not lend your vote easily. The place is a mess. The District had its best chance ever (when Lakia Walker was appointed as a new member on January 18, 2022) to scoop up Hudson’s education superstar, Peter Meyer, but things did not work out, and Peter withdrew his name, as I understand it. That is unfortunate. Peter is a former Board member and could run that show by himself. He should be recruited now.

The district also needs to cut loose some of its legacy problems:

• Its “external auditor,” Raymond G. Preusser, CPA, PC, needs to be let go. Their “audits” are entirely word salads that describe in legitimate accounting terms the fund-shuffling that goes on night and day in the District. While they offer their audits as “approvals,” they do not take stands on all things they see. That is obvious. Their reports are painful and contain sanitized information given them by the District. A third party needs to be brought in.
• I have no idea what the real relationship is between the District and The Columbia Paper, but it needs to be killed off or at least made transparent. Here is the Columbia Paper’s frontpage headline from their March 25, 2022, issue on the massive school budget, “Hudson Hears Lowdown on Slightly Bigger Budget.”  Really?? Slightly Bigger??
• The district should release to the public its new contract with Dr. Spindler
• The Board should do away with the three-minute rule at Board meetings and also make the Board meetings virtual and interactive, permanently.
• The Board should, as it has promised, name a “Community Advisory Committee.”
• The HCSD should tell voters NOW what the “Contingency Budget” is this year (the amount you automatically approve if the main budget fails). What is it? Where is it?  How is it being decided? Would the Board commit NOW to a complete revote if the main budget fails? (They refused to do so last year.)

As students and teachers resume their respective educational roles, they need heroes and mentors and role models and cheerleaders there to greet them. They need someone to light a path, to secure a way forward. They need to know that whatever comes next, they are being looked after by people of quality and accomplishment and compassion. Simply put, it is not worth putting those kids back into the same dynamic they were in two years ago when things were also very bad. What if we all committed to giving the kids and the teachers a new day and a new way? What if the kids and the teachers knew that the community supported them and were willing to pay for a quality education for them. How different would it be if there was community-wide pride in the school system and kids? What if everyone pitched in, including the Mayor? 

The HCSD’s Board of Education has been dysfunctional and greedy for too long and have spoiled this mood. Let’s say “NO” to going back to the bad old normal. It is time to say “NO” with conviction and send this ridiculous budget packing. New beginnings can only come with this District if we finally, once and for all, just tell them, “NO WAY. We don’t have an extra $1.8 million dollars to give you.”

In closing, let me again address the issue raised in Gossips about understanding (or not) the workings of the District. After four years of trying to get to the bottom of their nonsense, I still cannot explain their behavior in full. So, just start slow, don’t rely on third-party analysis or websites, go straight to the real documents, and just do your homework. Stay on top of the mountain of papers they produce, or you will get lost quickly. If you do, you will find it worthwhile. And if you want to ask me questions, please feel free to contact me. I’ll give it my best.

It is a complete shame and disgrace that this school district has more money in its hands than at any point in its history, yet it is still punishing us with this massive tax increase. This money grab, in difficult times, won’t be forgotten soon. And it tells you all you need to know about its operations and the reasons it consistently fails to establish an academic growth environment for the kids. Deep down, all of us want to have faith and pride in this school district. It has to start with the community putting its foot down in May. We can take it from there. In a February 4, 2016, article in The Columbia Paper (relative to the school budget of that year) written by Parry Teasdale, entitled “Hudson Needs Help,” Teasdale opines wisely, “The job of the school district is to educate the children . . . period.” Nuff said. Vote “NO.”