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Diata Diata denied fee waiver for school property use
Little League gets usage fees waived
By Andrew Amelinckx and John Mason
HUDSON — Who gets to use school district property for free and who has to pay was a hot issue at the recent Hudson City School District Board of Education meeting.
Both the Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater and the Hudson Little League applied to have their fees waived for using the district’s property. In the case of the theater group, the answer was “no,” but for the ballplayers, it was a “yes.”
Diata Diata has been performing at the middle school for the last 11 years.
The cofounders of the group are Pamela Badila and her husband, Andre Badila. They had been in the audience earlier and asked the board to consider the waver.
According to the discussion that ensued, the group hadn’t fully filled out the request form, which, according to Meyer, was not the case.
“This is simply not true,” he said. “Last year, board members leveled the same charge and it was discovered not to be true. This year was the same. We all had copies of the waiver application and it was complete.”
The Hudson Little League had failed to fill out the application fully, according to several board members and Facilities Manager George Keeler.
The two votes raised the ire of Meyer who said the board was being “inconsistent” by waiving the fees for one and not the other.
“Considering the enormous generosity of this family to the children of our school district over the years, I think the vote not to waive the fees for the Badila family’s performance at the Middle School was a shame,” said Meyer. “But considering that the board then voted to waive the fees for the Little League, which has funds and whose application was incomplete, I think the vote against the Badilas was a real disappointment.”
Voting against the Badilas’ request were board Chairwoman Mary Daly, Patricia Abitabile, Peter Rost and Jeff Otty. Siding with Meyer and the Badilas were Jack Mabb and Emil Meister.
Daly, Abitabile and Rost stuck to their guns and voted against the Little League application because of its incomplete application; Otty joined Meyer, Mabb and Meister to vote in favor of the Little League’s request.
A member of the audience, Elizabeth Fout, speaking during the second public comment period, told the board she was “disgusted” with them for not waiving the fees for a multi-cultural group that was donating their time and energy for the students’ benefit.
Daly explained her two votes in one sentence: “I’m not in favor of any of the waivers.”
She went on to elaborate: “It should be up to the administration to say who uses the buildings.” The Badilas, Daly said, are “more than welcome to come back to the board and resubmit,” and pointed out that there’s a budget meeting tonight.
Otty told the Register-Star that the Badilas’ application was not complete and not turned in in a timely manner. The Little League application was “fine,” he said.
“Some of those questions have been answered, but they left the meeting before we had a chance to question them on discrepancies in the application,” Otty said. In addition, he said, the Badilas didn’t have the required insurance, while the Little League has a blanket policy that covers them every year.
Daly said the school is insured for the Diata Diata performance, but not for the rehearsals.
“Our attorney said without the insurance form, the rehearsal is not a good idea,” she said.
This is the first year Diata Diata has not been with the Youth Department; this year they are under the umbrella of the Hudson Area Association Library. But the library’s insurance company wouldn’t cover the rehearsals.
“That policy would cost me hundreds of dollars,” Pamela Badila said. She said she’s talking with Superintendent Jack Howe, who’s trying to work things out with the insurance company.
Andre Badila is originally from the Congo and his wife is from New York state. Both were members of African dance groups when they met in Paris. He was with the First National Ballet of the Congo, which he cofounded. She was with Le Grand Ballet d’Afrique Noir.
“We asked them to recognize what we do over the years,” Pamela Badila told the Register-Star Sunday. “We produce a free, multigenerational, multi-ethnic, theme-based concert theater.”
Children and parents from schools around the county, including Hawthorne Valley School and home-schoolers, participate, she said, and learn fairness and cooperation from working on the play.
“We weren’t able to use the school to rehearse at all this year,” she said. “We’ve rehearsed since March at the Hudson Opera House. The opera house has been a very supportive sponsor — they let us use the space for free. We offer [the play] for free — why is there an issue about a waiver of the building use fee?”
By Andrew Amelinckx and John Mason
HUDSON — Who gets to use school district property for free and who has to pay was a hot issue at the recent Hudson City School District Board of Education meeting.
Both the Diata Diata International Folkloric Theater and the Hudson Little League applied to have their fees waived for using the district’s property. In the case of the theater group, the answer was “no,” but for the ballplayers, it was a “yes.”
Diata Diata has been performing at the middle school for the last 11 years.
The cofounders of the group are Pamela Badila and her husband, Andre Badila. They had been in the audience earlier and asked the board to consider the waver.
According to the discussion that ensued, the group hadn’t fully filled out the request form, which, according to Meyer, was not the case.
“This is simply not true,” he said. “Last year, board members leveled the same charge and it was discovered not to be true. This year was the same. We all had copies of the waiver application and it was complete.”
The Hudson Little League had failed to fill out the application fully, according to several board members and Facilities Manager George Keeler.
The two votes raised the ire of Meyer who said the board was being “inconsistent” by waiving the fees for one and not the other.
“Considering the enormous generosity of this family to the children of our school district over the years, I think the vote not to waive the fees for the Badila family’s performance at the Middle School was a shame,” said Meyer. “But considering that the board then voted to waive the fees for the Little League, which has funds and whose application was incomplete, I think the vote against the Badilas was a real disappointment.”
Voting against the Badilas’ request were board Chairwoman Mary Daly, Patricia Abitabile, Peter Rost and Jeff Otty. Siding with Meyer and the Badilas were Jack Mabb and Emil Meister.
Daly, Abitabile and Rost stuck to their guns and voted against the Little League application because of its incomplete application; Otty joined Meyer, Mabb and Meister to vote in favor of the Little League’s request.
A member of the audience, Elizabeth Fout, speaking during the second public comment period, told the board she was “disgusted” with them for not waiving the fees for a multi-cultural group that was donating their time and energy for the students’ benefit.
Daly explained her two votes in one sentence: “I’m not in favor of any of the waivers.”
She went on to elaborate: “It should be up to the administration to say who uses the buildings.” The Badilas, Daly said, are “more than welcome to come back to the board and resubmit,” and pointed out that there’s a budget meeting tonight.
Otty told the Register-Star that the Badilas’ application was not complete and not turned in in a timely manner. The Little League application was “fine,” he said.
“Some of those questions have been answered, but they left the meeting before we had a chance to question them on discrepancies in the application,” Otty said. In addition, he said, the Badilas didn’t have the required insurance, while the Little League has a blanket policy that covers them every year.
Daly said the school is insured for the Diata Diata performance, but not for the rehearsals.
“Our attorney said without the insurance form, the rehearsal is not a good idea,” she said.
This is the first year Diata Diata has not been with the Youth Department; this year they are under the umbrella of the Hudson Area Association Library. But the library’s insurance company wouldn’t cover the rehearsals.
“That policy would cost me hundreds of dollars,” Pamela Badila said. She said she’s talking with Superintendent Jack Howe, who’s trying to work things out with the insurance company.
Andre Badila is originally from the Congo and his wife is from New York state. Both were members of African dance groups when they met in Paris. He was with the First National Ballet of the Congo, which he cofounded. She was with Le Grand Ballet d’Afrique Noir.
“We asked them to recognize what we do over the years,” Pamela Badila told the Register-Star Sunday. “We produce a free, multigenerational, multi-ethnic, theme-based concert theater.”
Children and parents from schools around the county, including Hawthorne Valley School and home-schoolers, participate, she said, and learn fairness and cooperation from working on the play.
“We weren’t able to use the school to rehearse at all this year,” she said. “We’ve rehearsed since March at the Hudson Opera House. The opera house has been a very supportive sponsor — they let us use the space for free. We offer [the play] for free — why is there an issue about a waiver of the building use fee?”
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