At long last, one of the large trees on the paved path between the student track and Matteawan Road came down during the violent winds on Monday evening. After most storms involving heavy winds, thick branches from these trees fall onto the path. The branches are moved periodically throughout the day. This tree broke at its base, completely covering the path that students take to school each morning, crushed the fence beneath it, and spilled into the road.

Beacon’s Highway Department responded to the scene to remove the tree on Tuesday morning, blocking school traffic from going down Matteawan Road so that the tree could be carted away in trucks branch by branch, thus causing vehicular confusion at the intersection of Matteawan and Verplanck for parents, grandparents and students driving to school. This is one of the most heavily trafficked areas in Beacon at that hour, as resident vehicles are en route to school, as well as trucks from the Highway and Water Departments to begin their days.

At the intersection of Matteawan and Verplanck, a Highway Department employee parked and directed traffic to turn around to find another way to school. The other way to school, aside from going down Rte 52 to come through the Fishkill Corrections Facility, would be to come down Wilkes Street along the baseball fields of Memorial Park, pop out at Matteawan where the road was closed, and take a right to continue on to the middle and high schools.

The trees are rooted on the track-side of the fence. ALBB is awaiting confirmation on whose property they are on - school or city.

On January 7th, 2026, the City of Beacon terminated one of the Highway Department employees who is also a professional tree trimmer, according to the Letter of Termination he received that ALBB has seen. This former employee had his own tree trimming business. He was terminated the day after filing a complaint on January 6th, 2026, which included multiple citations of harassment and retaliation he said he experienced while working for the City of Beacon, according to the complaint that ALBB has seen.

One of his examples was an incident that took place while removing a rotten tree at Green Street Park, where he said he voiced concern that the Highway Department crew responding to the job “did not have proper equipment to safely handle the job,” according to the complaint filing. While his complaint stated that he did not refuse to do the job, he said in his complaint that he was reprimanded later that day by his department head after vocalizing his concerns.

Central Hudson cited 250 damage locations they are responding to in their quest to restore power to those who lost it.