On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, the Hendrick Hudson School District will be choosing trustees for the two open seats on the Board of Education. On Wednesday, April 29, the district held a candidate forum at the Hendrick Hudson Free Library for the three new candidates and two incumbents vying for the vacant slots.
Hendrick Hudson High School students Aarti Rajasekar and Victoria Szostak, both juniors at the school, moderated the candidate forum for an audience of over 45 community members in the room, with 92 remote viewers watching the YouTube livestream. The forum went live at 7 p.m. with an introduction from Jenean Eichenholtz, member of the PTA Advocacy Committee, and wrapped up after all questions were addressed and candidates delivered their closing remarks at around 8:40 p.m.
With the approval of the district superintendent (Michael Tromblee) and the high school principal (Lisa Martino Alves), the PTA Advocacy Committee engages students to participate as a means of promoting student engagement and real world experiences (two pillars of the district’s strategic plan).
The PTA advocacy committee received a total of 85 questions from 21 individuals for the forum. Volunteers serving on a question committee read and reviewed each question submitted by the community, and, in determining the final questions, did their best to identify those that would elicit the most meaningful responses and provide the best information possible to the audience of potential voters. To ensure fairness to all candidates, some questions were combined and some were revised for clarity. No questions from the audience in attendance at the forum were permitted and those whose questions were not addressed were encouraged to reach out to the candidates between now and the May 19 vote.
The five candidates are Tomica Dietrich (current Board Vice President), Antoinette Pio, Devys Rivera, Daniel Saleem, and Amelia Silverman (current Board President). The district website’s Board Candidates page has a rundown of their respective platforms provided by each candidate.
At the forum, the five candidates offered opening statements, answered the questions from the community submission, then gave their closing remarks. The key topics of the evening were the role of a Board of Education trustee; managing the budget in the long term as the district faces a tax levy; and working with the community and administration to maintain and make improvements to the curriculum. The forum was live streamed in its entirety and the recording is archived and available for viewing on the Stream HHCSD YouTube Channel.
The Hendrick Hudson Central School District is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees, including a president and vice president selected by the board each July. The incumbent board members (with their term years) who will be working alongside the two new trustees starting July 1 are Alexis Bernard (2025 – 2028), Cori Boudin (2024 – 2027), Allison Hoobin (2025 – 2028), Erica Mills (2025 – 2028) and Lauren Stanco (2024 – 2027). A Student Ex-Officio board member will also serve a one-year term July 1 2026 – June 30th, 2027.
The vote will take place on Tuesday, May 19, at Frank G. Lindsey Elementary School from 7 a.m-9 p.m.
If you have not yet registered to vote, you can do it in person by seeing Carmen Koch, District Clerk, at the School District Administration Building, 61 Trolley Road, Montrose, between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., up to five days before the election. You are also able to check your registration status by calling the District Clerk at (914) 257-5112. For complete details on voting in this election and all other local, state, and national elections, see the district website.
Contact information for each candidate was provided at the event.
Tomica Dietrich > [email protected]
Antoinette Pio > [email protected]
Devys Rivera > [email protected]
Daniel Saleem > [email protected]
Amelia Silverman > [email protected]
