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Hudson board sets compact guiding principles for school-boundary redraw, schedules community meetings

Hudson School Board · December 16, 2025
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Summary

The Hudson School Board agreed to concise guiding principles for elementary boundary changes — prioritizing shorter bus rides, minimizing student moves and avoiding island pockets — and directed staff and consultant MGT to present boundary models to the public in January.

The Hudson School Board on Tuesday agreed on a set of concise guiding principles to steer the district's elementary boundary reset and instructed staff to share those principles with consultant MGT ahead of two community meetings in January. Board members emphasized minimizing student moves, keeping neighborhoods together and balancing transportation efficiency with budget constraints.

Nick, the district administrator leading the effort, told the board the purpose is to “have shared guiding principles” so consultants and staff have clear guardrails when drafting boundaries. The board split into small groups during the work session to draft short, values-driven statements across seven areas including transportation, minimizing impact, natural boundaries, avoiding islands, neighborhood considerations, capacity/utilization and special populations. Board members flagged a desire for boundaries that last 10–12 years and for scenarios that account for known enrollment variations and current development plans.

Board members pressed staff for a simple building-by-building grid showing ideal section counts and capacity so they can evaluate how displaced students would fit into the district's four remaining elementaries once preliminary boundaries are drawn. Staff agreed to supply matrices showing class-size guidelines (K–2 target 18–22, grades 3–5 target 22–27) and three boundary-model scenarios for public review.

The board also discussed transportation trade-offs: small groups recommended a target of 45 minutes maximum each way on the bus, while leaders cautioned that shortening ride times may increase route costs and added that final route efficiency will be determined by busing software once boundaries are fixed.

Next steps: MGT is expected to provide preliminary boundary looks to staff by early January for an internal check, present to the community on the 13th, and return with revised models on later January meetings. Staff said the consultant will deliver a final recommendation for board consideration in February. The board asked staff to publish the guiding-principle language and technical appendices online before the community presentations.