HUDSON–Student trips to Europe, an Excellence award and a recommended inventory tracking policy dominated the Hudson City School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, April 22. All seven board members attended the meeting.
Over spring break, Hudson High School conducted two student trips to Europe. One group went to Italy, the other to Madrid and Paris. Superintendent Maria Suttmeier and student representative William Glasser both participated in the second trip and spoke about it at the meeting. They described it as a wonderful experience. Ms. Suttmeier indicated her pride in the district for offering the opportunity, saying, “I had to wait half a century to see other cultures. These kids get them in high school.”
In Spain, where students spent time with host families, Mr. Glasser stayed with a family in which the parents did not speak English. “You find you know the language a lot more than you think you do, when you’re forced to speak it,” he said.
The cross-cultural interaction continues. Ms. Suttmeier said that five exchange students from Spain will arrive Sunday.
Also at the meeting, the supervisor announced that the district had received another Utica National School Safety Excellence Award. The district has the award for several consecutive years.
The District’s Coordinator of School Improvement, April Prestipino, said that earlier that day an auditor from the state Education Department came to review how the District used federal Title I grants. Although the official report on the audit results can take a few weeks to prepare, the auditor announced what he would recommend that the district establish a procurement and inventory tracking policy. Objectives of this policy would include making sure that Title I materials get to the teachers and classrooms the designated to use them.
Title I federal grants are for Academic Intervention Services (AIS) to help students who might otherwise fall behind. The funds are to help these students keep up, even if they do not need special education.
District Business Executive Robert Yusko said that the district already has a purchasing policy to follow purchased inventory once it arrives.
The next board meeting is Monday, May 12 at the Hudson High School Library, at 7 p.m. This meeting will include the public hearing on the proposed 2014-15 school district budget, which will go before voters May 20.
