[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Meeting of the Medford School Committee will now come to order. The secretary will call the roll. Present, seven present, none absent. All please rise and salute our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Approval of the minutes of September 12, 2016. Ms. Van der Kloot. Motion for approval. Motion for approval by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Minutes are approved. Approval of bills transfer of funds.
[Robert Skerry]: Motion for approval.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Approval is granted. Approval of payrolls. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Approval is granted. Report of the secretary. None? Report of committees. Committee of the Whole Minutes, September 12, 2016. There's a motion for approval of the Committee of the Whole Minutes from September 12. Is there a second? Seconded by Ms.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Koretz. Mr. Benedetto. So at that time, we visited the McGlynn School, and I was wondering if we had any dates set to visit any of the other schools.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We will be setting some dates next week. I'll be in touch with each of you to try and coordinate an evening. OK, thank you. You're welcome. Community participation. Cheryl Rodriguez, Roberts School.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Name and address, please. Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez. My address is 281 Park Street. I prepared a statement because I want to make sure that I get everything that I want to say. So my daughter is a third grade student at the Roberts Elementary. I'm an active parent at that school. I appeared before this body in the spring to request funds for our mosaic mural. I helped run some of the enrichment nights at the school and the after school enrichment program for the PTO. So I'm very invested in the school. At the last school committee meeting, there were questions about the classes at the Roberts. And a comment was made that Mr. Johnson distributed his special needs students differently than other schools and no one knew why. So I wanted to explain a little bit and ask for some help from this group. The Roberts Elementary has the highest enrollment of all the elementary schools in our city. It also houses the welcome program for the English language learners, meaning those with no English skills, and our autism program. These are two very large programs, 92 and 75 respectively as of September 16th, but these numbers are constantly changing. To put that into perspective, it is divided equally by grade. We would have 15.3 ELL students per grade and 12.5 autistic children per grade. So 17% ELL and 14% autistic. We also have 51% low income. On September 9th, our total population was reported at 547, but as of September 16th, it had already climbed to 555 and is perhaps even higher now. Conversely, the Brooks Elementary has 449. It was noted at the last meeting that the two middle schools, the one that housed the ELL population was deliberately kept smaller as new students enter the program constantly. The same is true at the Roberts, but we do not have the buffer of being the smallest elementary school or the largest. Our ELL students are taken out of class to receive specialized services to help them to learn English, so they are grouped in the same class in order to accommodate scheduling. Imagine trying to keep five third grade classes on identical schedules to pull ELL students out of each one. Our higher needs autism students are also placed together because some of them share an aid. It was made pretty clear at budget time that there's no appetite on this committee to have an aid in each class. I do think that this process needs a deeper look. My daughter has found herself in the autism inclusion class this year. I understand that there are some in the other classes, but there are higher needs students in her class. The children at the Roberts are the most empathetic children that you will ever meet. But the things my daughter has been exposed to since school started at this class has given me pause. Something must be done for these children. The teacher and aide in this class have been hit, furniture has been thrown, the classroom has been evacuated, and children have been physically restrained on almost a daily basis. Who is benefiting from this? Not the special needs children forced into a mainstream setting that is clearly overwhelming, not the, quote, standard students who are witnessing these events. None of them are receiving an appropriate education, as all learning must cease when one of these episodes begin. But when I tried to discuss the wild stories that my child was coming home with, I hit a wall of privacy issues. If my child, any child, is being exposed to incidences that are traumatic and are violent in nature, the parents need to be notified. Parents should not hear these stories from their children and hear nothing from the school. We want to help our children to process what is happening. We are empathetic to all of the children. All the children in this situation need help. Is this unique to my child's class? I think no. Is this an appropriate setting for any of these children? Absolutely no. It is time that we stop acting as if the population of the Roberts as the same as at the other schools. Our school houses two high needs groups and the largest child population in the city. One of these programs should be shifted to a school with a lower population. If our class sizes were closer to the 15 to 16 mark that some of the elementary schools have, we would be able to have smaller classes for our autistic population. We could easily bring their class size down to eight to 10 with no negative impact on any other classes. But as it stands, in order to try and bring a second grade class total down from the 22 average for the autism emerging class, we were forced to have one class have a total of 24 students. As a comparison, the second grade class at the Brooks has an average of 17.25. My daughter is in grade three, which has five classrooms and an average class size of 19.8. Across town, the Brooks has four third grade classes with an average class size of 17.5. This population difference will only intensify when some of the 800 plus units permanent or under construction for the Roberts and McGlynn Elementary School begin to hold residents. The needs of all the children need to be considered. I care about all of them. I work with them, so I'm floored by the natural and easy way that they take care of each other, and I'm asking the school department to step in and help them. My own daughter is suffering greatly as a result of her exposure in these classes, and I'm still finding out what she's witnessed in small pieces. She's confided in my parents, in the parents of some of her friends, and some in my husband and I. The first thing she told me was that she was worried for the children that were having the incidents. The second thing she told me was that she was afraid. No child should be afraid to go to school. Upon hearing that, I started a crusade to help my child and the other children in her class or classes like hers. I spoke to the teacher who directed me to the principal. I spoke to the principal, and other than the incident that required a student to leave by ambulance, he had heard of no other incidences, nor had the school department, nor the special needs department. Why? I suspect it is because nothing will come of reporting it, but despite my reporting it, nothing has come of it yet. The adjustment Councilor at the school has not even spoken to the children about the incident that was reported and happened a week ago. An incident that required an ambulance to remove a student from the school. The parents have not been notified. What is the protocol? What measures are in place to help these autistic children who are suffering or the other students? My daughter is refusing to go back into that classroom. We have been attempting to help her cope with what she has witnessed almost daily. She has been having migraine headaches. She's extremely anxious. This weekend, she had a panic attack thinking about having to go back to class. She reports that her teachers have assured her that they will keep the children safe and they neither need to worry nor be afraid because they will worry and be afraid for them. My daughter's takeaway from that statement is that the incidents will continue, that there will still be danger and that she's just supposed to ignore it. So please help us. I understand that there's privacy issues, but something has to be done. The teachers and Mr. Johnson are doing the best that they can with the tools available to them. They need more tools. They need a smaller population so they can adjust class sizes to accommodate the high needs of our children. We can't only worry about my one child, but I am worried about my child. We need to worry about all of the children. The needs of all the children are not identical.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thanks. Thank you. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So we met with Mrs. Rodriguez this morning. We went over all these things. We've prepared some materials for you and we call upon our special needs director and our assistance room for elementary education to speak to the issues. There is a lot going on. There's a lot going on of response. Occasionally in a given classroom, there's going to be some disruption. You know, A year starts, some youngsters express themselves, and then we respond to it. When information comes to us, that classroom's been visited multiple times by both Diane and by Kathy, and there's some plans in place. So I don't believe it's undoable. I believe the Roberts does have some population issues, but so don't the other schools. If you're at the Columbus, you have the therapeutic learning program. At other schools, you have other programs that are there. Some years, the Brooks has had more people than The Roberts. In some years, the McGlynn has had more people than the Roberts. Population shifts are by geography to some degree. But having said that, let me ask Diane and Kathy to come up and talk a little bit about the specifics that Mrs. Rodriguez has raised. And I want to make it very clear, we're very concerned when things happen. We're not unconcerned. That's not a fair assessment of what goes on. But let them speak.
[Diane Caldwell]: Good evening. So I prepared a quick report for you to read just to let you know about the incidences that did happen at the Roberts Elementary School in that particular third grade classroom. We do have some children who are special needs children and some ELL students in that classroom. Two students that we are aware of exhibited loud and aggressive behaviors that required interventions through the safety care support team. Neither of the students that we are discussing who have these incidences are special education students, and I think I need to make that clear. Prior to the start of school, staff were not aware of any factors that would have helped them anticipate the behaviors of these students. Both of them are linked to community supports, and staff is working to obtain information to expedite an educational evaluation. The third grade teacher has been working very closely with the safety care team to address the needs of these children. Mr. Johnson reviewed the school year mandates during the first weeks of school, such as he discussed de-escalation strategies and staying calm. When the high-intensity behaviors occurred in this classroom, students were evacuated to the safety care team so that the safety care team could triage the situation. The evacuation is framed as academic movement opportunities for the children in the building, in that classroom. More intensive incidences were not witnessed by the children, to my knowledge. The Roberts School does have a lot of support in their building. They have 19 safety care trained staff. They have a full-time BCBA. a .5 school psychologist, and there's a full-time school adjustment Councilor as well in the building. We do need to respect the privacy of the students. We understand that this can be disruptive to the class, and we know that it can lead to disrupting the learning process. After speaking with the teacher, and I have been down to the Roberts School three times since the very first incident, she has assured me that she is on par with whatever she's teaching in English, literacy, math, and reading, and she does give her children homework. We are organizing the following procedures for these children. We're conducting risk threat assessments. We will perform full evaluations of the students. We're looking at creating an abbreviated schedules when the students return. We will discuss and meet with community organizations. We will meet with the parents and we will provide additional support in that classroom if need be. I think Mrs. Rodriguez knows me especially well enough to know that we will get things in place as soon as possible. The teachers, the support staff, the assistant principal and the principal along with Kathy and I have been working diligently since we found out the information. Safety is something that we definitely is first and foremost. because children can't learn unless they feel safe in a classroom. I've discussed this with Ms. Rodriguez, and she knows now that the plan is in place to move forward. Kathy? Is that?
[Kathleen Medaglio]: Yeah, so I'd just like to mention around the enrollment of special education students at the Roberts is consistent with other buildings, and in fact, a couple of the other buildings are a little bit higher. I believe the McGlynn has a few more students than over at the Roberts. but it is consistent across all of the schools all of the elementary schools.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Rodriguez, to inform us of this situation. I guess one of the questions I have is that I appreciate everybody doing this diligently the minute you found out about it, but I guess what goes back to me is the fact of if we have children, whether or not they were in the vicinity or not, rumors start. One story, you know, is a domino effect and becomes a larger story. So I guess for me is why weren't parents informed of not necessarily giving out the information because of confidentiality and things like that, but if the students were talking about this incident that occurred and then they went home and they were telling their parents, why wasn't something like at least sent out saying, you know, we understand what happened, this is what happened, it's not this story, it's not that story, it didn't get into a larger scenario, and I think maybe parents would have been a little bit more confident in the fact that they say, okay, the administration knows about it, the kids are talking about it, but let's see what the story is. And I guess that's my biggest concern. And I know in the past when things have happened, and even though everybody's been really diligent about putting a plan together, it's at that moment that at least we hope that something goes out from the school saying we're very much aware what happened. And maybe even in that letter saying if there's a child who's having a hard time really understanding what's happening, send them and we'll speak to them. Have one of the Councilors speak to them on a one-to-one or something like that just to know that there's the help out there while everything is being placed in a process. And I guess that's really my concern. Anybody who knows us is always talking about the most important thing, whether it's bad, good, or indifferent, is to make sure that we're all on the same page. And that has to come from the top all the way to the bottom, including parents and students. And students, especially if they're afraid and they hear something, even though they weren't there, are going to go home. And the story is going to change. I'm not saying that the child by any means is lying or anything like that, but they're in their panic mode and their emotions are high. So I guess that is my concern. I guess the other concern is that, again, I appreciate Ms. Rodriguez coming and giving us the breakdown, but as a school committee member, I would like to have Mr. Johnson come and speak to us and let us know what's going on in the school with the numbers, what he, you know, what he has planned. And again, this has nothing in reflection to Mr. Johnson. It's just that he is the principal and we need to get the information from him.
[Diane Caldwell]: We can certainly invite Mr. Johnson to the next school committee meeting if you would like that. And to answer your question, um, I agree with you. I think that maybe something should have gone out to parents so that they were aware. Um, I had this discussion with Ms. Rodriguez, um, this evening, uh, or even to have someone go into the classroom to talk to the children who, um, are clearly, uh, upset by something that might've happened and wondering themselves what's going on.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I share my colleague's concern about the lack of notification to the parents to let them know what had occurred at school that day. I have to tell you that I still feel like I'm a little bit in the dark. I understand we very much want to protect the privacy of the students, but just a clarifying question. Am I to understand were these two students fighting with each other?
[Kathleen Medaglio]: No. It was a situation where there were two different students who experienced significant dysregulation during class time, which resulted in a call to the safety care team. So on different days.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And they both happened to be in the same classroom.
[Kathleen Medaglio]: They both just happened to be in the same room, just random placement, and it happened multiple times. So it felt magnified. And I do want to also just mention just a slight correction. When we spoke with the teacher and we spoke with Mr. Johnson and all the other staff at the school, they said none of the students have been restrained. Because I know there was a mention earlier about restraint. So the level of disruption didn't call for that level of intervention. So it was settling things down, counseling, providing whatever support needed to be provided.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay. Did the students on these occasions hit either their classmates or was there any physical?
[Kathleen Medaglio]: No, but I do believe there was a situation where she was thrown. I'm afraid to give too much information, I guess. OK.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I also heard a mention of, and I know we had gotten a call about a student being taken out to the hospital. Was that one of these students who was taken out because this is what was deemed to be needed to, were they physically?
[Kathleen Medaglio]: So typically when, um, if a student becomes very upset and it's become obvious that the teacher or the classroom staff will have, are having difficulty settling, a situation they call for, it's called the safety care team. So each of our buildings has a team whose job it is. So they have other responsibilities within the building. But when something like this occurs, they come to the aid of their colleagues and they provide additional support to students. In many of those occasions, the school nurse is also involved in the triage of what the student's medical presentation and status is. So occasionally, I suppose it could result in a transport.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay, but in this case there was a transport. So if I had a child in this class, I would have to say that I'd be very concerned because now they've witnessed two different kids have multiple incidents and would probably be concerned that my child would be thinking, what's next? And I'm wondering, again, I realize how dicey it is around confidentiality, but Have people gone in and talked to the kids? Have there been any small groups talking to the kids? It sounded like these kids are going to return to the classroom. And, you know, as a parent, I can certainly understand why Ms. Rodriguez would be concerned about what the plan going forth is.
[Diane Caldwell]: So, yes, it was suggested that somebody go in and speak to the children probably tomorrow, the adjustment Councilor.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay. So that's going to happen. And are both have both kids been out or are they both going to be returning at the same time or do we have any.
[Diane Caldwell]: Both children are out right now but we expect that they will be returning at some point this week.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: OK. So I think the communication issue is key, and I think that the obviously, and I hear you not being particularly definitive, and I understand why, but understanding how this is going to be resolved so that the kids aren't so fearful. Ms. Rodriguez speaks about her own daughter, but I can flash back and understand what it was like to be a parent when something happened in a classroom, and know that kids do carry it with them sometimes. And some kids carry it a lot more than others, and we have to worry about them. So I am a little concerned.
[Kathleen Medaglio]: Actually, I'm a lot concerned. And I understand that, and I agree. I think that also adults, in their effort to protect confidentiality and other just privacy needs, sometimes leave children with an incomplete story, so they fill in the blanks, too. So I agree that that's something that needs to be done.
[Diane Caldwell]: The teacher has been extremely supportive in talking. When I talked to the teacher today, she told me how she supported the children and talked to them and how she would keep them safe and that type of thing. So she's a very empathetic, compassionate woman. I think she'll work with the kids as long, as well as the school adjustment Councilor.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. Mr. Benedetto. Thank you very much. Um, I'm actually a safety care trainer as well because, um, at my school. So I know a lot of it is deescalation in removing the audience or the other children. So that way they aren't traumatized as well as the person who was acting out. So, and I know that Medford Public Schools uses that, and I'm sure that they had the children move, but I'm sure, as you stated, that your child probably witnessed stuff that made them nervous and anxious and a little afraid to go back to school. So, I know that in this report it says more intensive incidences were not witnessed, but That's out of an adult's view of what happened. And each individual adult will deal with different situations. And it will affect them differently. And the same thing happens to children. So we're hearing from parents that their child was affected by situations happening in their classroom. So those parents, one, have to be notified. Two, have to have counseling services to make sure that they feel safe coming back to school. And I'm glad that both those things are happening. The main issue I have, and I had this issue before this incident arose, was the number of students in the classes at the Brooks School. We talked about this when we got the graph. And it's not about the type of children, it's a high number for elementary school. And I felt, I mean, I'm sorry. The Roberts School, sorry I misspoke. but the Robert schools numbers were much, well not, they were higher than any other elementary school when I looked at this and I brought it up. At that point, it was the only school that had 24 students in any class. And I understand that some had 21 because of how Mr. Johnson, which I know why and how he does his class allocations. And I agree with how he does it. Our job here, is really to make sure we're prepared to meet the needs of all the children in our care. That means all the children, children with disabilities, any child that walks through any classroom door, it's our responsibility that they are safe. That's first, that's last, that's always. We're here to educate them, but we have to do that in a safe manner. And I believe that a lower class size might help to ensure that. So I'm gonna ask the superintendent to look at that again, not at this moment, but I want him to go back with his team and really look at what's happening in this school and the population of the needs of the children within this school. And just look at it with clear eyes and observation and really see if this, the, Is the programming specific for the special education students at that school? I know at different schools they have different populations of students. Is there a specific population of students directed towards the Roberts? I know the ELL students are there.
[Kathleen Medaglio]: Well, each of our elementary schools house a strand of special education services. So the answer to that is yes. But again, I just want to emphasize that this situation, none of the students involved were special education students. That's good to know. And the class, this particular classroom has 20 students enrolled in the classroom.
[Diane Caldwell]: And we do have an additional teacher. We made sure we had five classes. So there is only 20 students in each of the classes.
[Kathleen Medaglio]: And the classroom is staffed with a full-time paraprofessional. So this was an unusual sort of situation that no one anticipated, that everyone has responded to, will continue to respond to this situation. We will add additional staff if needed, and we will address the concern regarding notification of parents and ensuring that parents know that counseling is available to their children should their children require such a support.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. I think that's great, but I would really rather be proactive than reactive, especially in this situation. So, um, even a meeting a night with the superintendent to the school or to the children affected or whoever needs to be there may be warranted just to, to come and tell them what our plans are. So make sure that everybody is on the same page and that they're notified face to face and parents have a chance to voice any and all concerns. I think hearing them might help us to develop what's best going to work because they're the ones who are dropping off their children and not care every day. Um, so, um, are there a greater number of calls for safety care team at one school more so than another? Do we have those stats?
[Kathleen Medaglio]: Um, there is, but not this school.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Just, just the information so we can decide whether we need to put more funding, more staff, what we need to do that. I'm not trying to, you know, know specifics about students, but we need to know specifics about programs. And if we're allocating enough staff and money to a situation and really don't want to go away from here and then something else happened, if that's even more involved or any, you know, situation, because we didn't act. So with that in mind, I'm asking the superintendent at this point to look at the class sizes again at the Brooks and the staffing and I mean the Columbus, the Roberts. Sorry, I'm having one of those nights at the Roberts and really look at it with an objective eye and keeping in mind the needs of the students in the population of the students, not only their, their, um, all their needs, you know, 51%, um, low income, how many ELL students and, you know, special needs are in each room. I really want to see that information looked at, you know, with an objective eye. And I'm sure you've looked at it once, but I'm asking you to look at it again. I want to ensure the safety of all the students. And if things need to be shifted, let's not do it because that's where we've always done it. Let's do what's right and move things or fix things or add another class or decrease the size for this year. If we're seeing, you know, there are trends, just like with PARC or MCAS, you see one class does a little bit below one year, you look in the next year and see if they're doing a little bit below the next year, well maybe that class needs a little more academic. So maybe this class needs a little bit more hands-on. We need to look at trends and see if it will happen last year, if it's happening again this year, and look for those patterns so we can meet the needs of these students in the parents. Thank you. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Madam Mayor, I'd just like to say I echo the concerns of my colleagues and knowing that the Roberts is a tight-knit community, I'm somewhat dismayed that the parents weren't contacted, you know, so that this incident could have been explained to them. We've always worked on the premise of the home and school work in unison and we're not fulfilling our part of the bargain if we don't contact people in a timely manner towards what's happening. I would suggest that the So through you to the superintendent, if possible, we could possibly have a meeting with the parents, meet with Mr. Johnson and the team to, you know, allay the fears of the children. I don't want any child going to school, you know, under a cloud of the not knowing what's going to happen next. And I just think it would behoove us to, you know, work on this situation. Although it's an isolated incident, I think we should repair it as quickly as possible. And by that, I would strongly suggest that the administration do alert the parents in that class, you know, in general, as to what happened. And if they or their children have any questions, they should have a person they could contact. Or we could have an evening where the parents that are concerned, that have fears for their children, could come in and they could be dismayed because, once again, the Robertsons are a tight-knit community. And over the weekend, we've heard two or three versions of the story. And I would rather see one concrete piece go out to the parents to allay their fears.
[Roy Belson]: So just if I can comment on that for a minute. A situation happens. People are responding to it. Let's not escalate it up and get more people feeling like there's something tragic going on. There isn't. Some years, A place like the Columbus had the therapeutic learning program. Some people used to call it the behavior management program. And some of those youngsters had some serious issues, and they were making noise. And some people said, well, gee, we're going to move those people. We deal with it. We work with it. We will contact parents. We'll meet with people. We'll do what we have to do to allay the fears of students. But let's not escalate it at this point in time. Let's deal with it. This is a situation that occurred in a single classroom at a point in time at the beginning of the year, the two students who weren't on the radar, who aren't IEP students. So let's find out, we'll do the diligence, we'll look at the makeup of the classes and make some recommendations. Let's keep it calm and let's be surgical about it rather than try to raise and elevate concerns where they may not exist. Some people may be more anxious than others. So let's let, we'll talk to people about it. We'll talk to people about it. But we did meet with Mrs. Rodriguez as she's coming to the mic again. We did meet with her today. We talked with her today. We will talk to other people, but let's do it surgically. Let's do it, you know, directly that way rather than try to expand it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Stone is next in queue.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Um, I want to thank Cheryl for being here and for bringing those numbers. And the other part that we haven't even begun to address is the EL students, which I know my four year old takes speech therapy at the Roberts and his class that he was in last year was downsized because they needed that for EL students. So I think I don't have the education on special ed law, so I don't feel comfortable talking about that piece. But for EL students, I think at one point in our, pre-budget meetings, the director of EL had said possibly moving the older grades of EL students from the Roberts to another school. Because that, Cheryl, you know the numbers better than I. What was the number of EL students at the Roberts?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: The last number I heard was 92.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right. So I think that's something that I feel more comfortable that's something that we could work on to have the older grades of EL. I just am very uncomfortable talking about the special ed kids in their own lives, so.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Just to reply to that, the only problem with doing that is that we have ELL students then who have been at the Roberts for the younger grades who have friendships, who are comfortable there, and now we're, you know,
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: No, because then they're pulled into regular ed, so they're not in the EL. So if they came in, correct me if I'm wrong. Point of information, Ms. Mustone. Oh, sorry. Ms. Develson, correct me if I'm wrong. If they're in EL in first and second grade, then they, I mean, Teagan's best friend was in EL first and second grade, and then she was in a regular ed class. She wasn't in the EL program. So then she was in the class with them third, fourth, and fifth.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah, but they would be moved out of that comfort. But anyway, it's almost secondary. Mr. Superintendent, I just have to say I disagree respectfully with you a little bit. I don't think that the urge here is to up it. I do think that all the school committee members heard that events happened last week and parents weren't notified. We're into a new week and we're looking back and parent notification when there were incidents in the classroom that were of this serious, I believe should have happened in a much more timely manner. So because it didn't, it's harder to feel great faith that everything will go forward in the best possible way. Because for many of us, that's a stumbling block that we're hearing. So I would like to make a motion. I heard you saying you made a motion. I didn't hear it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I have three motions right now.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Three motions.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Maybe I could read them right now.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Benedetto, motion review the allocation of all of the students in this third grade class. Ms. Cugno, that Mr. Johnson appear at the next school committee meeting to address us on this topic. And Mr. Skerry, that Mr. Johnson and the team meet with parents ASAP.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay. Well, my motion must be slightly different. I just want to make sure that this isn't falling through the cracks for us. So I'd like to make a motion to make sure that we receive a report at our next school committee meeting and at our meeting after that, so that we have some ongoing understanding of what's going on.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Very good. Ms. Cugno? Yes, I'd like to basically reiterate what my colleague Paula just said. I don't think, with all due respect, it's not the fact that we're trying to hype it or make it into a different story. I think it's just the fact, again, of something happening a week ago, or I don't know at this point if it was a week ago or two weeks ago, and putting myself in those shoes. And I think that's something that we all have to think of, too, is that as we speak, we're always saying, special needs, and they have their confidentiality. And even though we do have confidentiality for all students that come to our district, I think parents need to understand that when we're talking about confidentiality, we're talking about all students and not just the students that are in a particular group, because I think that is, again, extremely important. And again, it's just basically the fact of I get everything that's happened, but I think it was just the fear of listening to your child come home with different, you know, it happens to everyone. It happens to whether you're young or even adults. One person says one thing, and then another one adds on, and another one adds on. And as a parent, you're home, you really don't know what's going on in the school itself because you weren't there, and now you have all these different stories. So again, I mean, something should have come out from the school saying what had happened and I guess my other thing too is that this is a very isolated situation with two students that happen to be in the same classroom. Since it's already happened, is it possible or is it something to think about maybe trying to separate these two students? That's in the works. Okay, so thank you. That's all I needed to know. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Final comments, Mr. Benedetto. Yes. I want to second all the motions except for mine and move forward to put them on record.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And there's a second. Would you like me to reread them or we all were on the same page with them? Motion for approval on all of the emotions made, including a report update, be added to our school committee agenda. All those in favor. Aye. All those opposed.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Motion passes. Thank you very much. OK, I just wanted to clarify something about the incidences. The latest and largest incident was last Monday. It occurred in the cafeteria. There were several incidences before and after, and we never got notified of any of them. So the reason that I came forward and started speaking to people was because of the larger incident that had happened in the cafeteria. But as I went through and spoke to the principal, and I spoke to Diane Caldwell, and I spoke to someone in the special needs department, And I spoke to Mr. Belson and no one had heard of any of the incidents other than the one that had happened in the cafeteria. So that's really concerning to me that these issues, maybe they don't know how to report them, who to report them, because these issues hadn't gone beyond the classroom or the safety team. No one else was aware of these instances, which is why I'm saying we really need to look at what's going on for the protocol and what we should do.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That will be dealt with. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay, well, tonight, really quick on that, Mr. Johnson is going to appear before us in the next meeting. I would also like for him to have heads up on all the situations that Ms. Rodriguez brought here, only because I don't want him to come here next week or two weeks, whatever, and say, gee, I'm not aware of it, I'll come back to you. I want to make it very fruitful. Okay.
[Roy Belson]: No question in my mind they don't know about it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, if I could, from the chair, I want to give some accolades out to Cache, who ran a fabulous event this past Saturday. It was the Mystic River Celebration. It was a family-friendly event. Many of the parents and children I saw were there all afternoon with great music, great dance, great activities for the kids. So it was just a really beautiful event. And I want to congratulate Laurel Siegel, Laura Beratin, the Medford Arts Council, Allie Fisk, and their major donor, Brookline Bank, for pulling off an amazing event that I hope everybody got to come to. And if you didn't, make sure to put it on your calendar for next year. It's a fabulous day. So kudos to Caché for pulling that off.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. VanderKloot. To mention that, I think that it's appropriate also to mention the wonderful celebration for the dedication of the Crystal Campbell Peace Garden and to thank everybody in your office who was responsible to make it such a wonderful event, because it truly was great, and I know how much the people enjoyed it and appreciated it, and I felt very blessed to have been able to attend.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much, Paula. It was a beautiful afternoon. I think if we all heard one common theme, it was peace, and it was faith, and it was what gets you through the day, basically, and the things that these people endured is just horrendous, but there is a place now for people to reflect, and meet, and talk, and look to the future. So it was a very proud day for the city of Medford. My staff did an amazing job, as did others in City Hall, DPW, the state. I mean, all hands were on deck for this event. So it was quite a nice afternoon. Thank you. And we have a special commendation for a lovely lady that is leaving our school district, so I'd like to ask Ms. Padviglia to step forward. I'd like to say that we have had this woman in our school system for the last 35 years, but it's only been two years, three months, four days, and she has accomplished so much in such a little amount of time. You're just an amazing woman. You've brought some ingenious ideas to our school system, and you've certainly automated and made us a more productive system. This doesn't even reflect how we all feel about you. You know we adore you. But it's congratulations that Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Patricia Bailey for outstanding service as the director of administration and finance, signed by all of us. So we wish you the best in Minnesota? Yeah, Michigan. Michigan. And we know that you all make another very proud.
[Roy Belson]: So that she doesn't forget what's really important in life. While you're watching those pitiful lions fight.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Stay in touch. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I know we've been trying.
[Roy Belson]: We bought a bracelet so that she will find whoever she is.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We've been trying really, really hard. And just one other item, if you don't mind me taking it out of order. I'll give up. Would someone make a motion that we take item? Thank you, Mr. Skerry. Motion to suspend the rules to take paper number eight of the reports out of order. It's a report on complete streets. I hope that the community is aware that the city of Medford was awarded $400,000 for complete streets projects within our community. This was part of a community compact that we signed with the governor's office and the lieutenant governor, which allowed us to basically get $90,000 worth of grant money in order to do studies of our streets. With that money, MAPC coordinated a team of traffic engineers and traffic advisors to come out and look at a lot of the issues that we are aware of and then to rank them based upon need. Once we accomplished that, we had to put together a policy to submit to the state. Once they approved, we were eligible for some extra points on our application. We were awarded the full amount that you could for this process, which was $400,000. The number one item on our list was the traffic walk in front of the Brooks School. We realized that the width of that area is just a tremendous amount of space and it's a safety hazard. And as recent as, I think, a week or so ago, A child was grazed, but it could have been much worse. It wasn't because of the width, it was a glare issue, but in any event, it's a very wide crosswalk. So the people at the tool design, which was our traffic consultants, they went through and they looked at it and they made a host of recommendations for this project, including rapid flash beacons, which is basically if you were going to cross, you press the button blinks go off on both sides, curb bump outs so that you're basically tightening the street, and a host of other signage and striping. But in the interim, we're also going to be painting High Street because it is a very wide street going all the way down with cars being allowed to park in certain segments of it. So we will be doing some immediate changes to the street to try and tighten it up a little bit and slow down the cars. We know cars are an issue. The chief has guaranteed that he's going to have more enforcement on that street, and he will be addressing it. But we had six items that were approved, one including Salem Street. We're doing a traffic study in the Salem Street, Haines Square area. Medford Square, we're tightening up the area in front of River Street. We're going to make that a tighter walkway as well. And there's a host of others in South Madrid in front of Tufts Pool. We know we have a very dangerous crossing section there as well. So if you look up in the website, you can see the list of items that we're doing along with some analysis. But we're just really proud to announce this. And we're also going to be looking at lowering the speed limits, which the state passed in August that the cities now have the authority to lower. the street mileage on roads before we couldn't touch state roads like Route 60, 16, 38. And now they have passed that. We are able to. So we're very pleased about that. We've tried it in the past and they've come down and taken down our signs. So we will be intensifying this process.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I'm particularly happy to hear about the part which deals with the Brooks School. There was a group of parents from the Brooks who have met with former Mayor Mike McGlynn, brought their concerns. This has been an ongoing issue for some time, and it's very good to see that there is a resolution.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: This intensifies this complete street. This funding source really does exemplify. Is there a time line to be spent by June 30th? So we have an engineer looking at the, when you do curb cuts, you have to have the proper radius and all of that. So someone actually has to spec out the plans that have to go on the street. So we'll be specking that out over the next month. Money's in hand right now. And then we'll be putting it out to bid to start as soon as winter's over, as soon as we're able to get in the ground, and then it'll be done probably by April, May.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: That's great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The long-term plan. The short-term striping, we're gonna be getting on that very shortly.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And while we are under suspension, could I ask that we also address the addendum that we received this evening regarding the recommendation to accept a gift from Urban Sheds of Medford? Yes, certainly.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Oh, I'm sorry. Mister Benedetto. Thank you so much. And I'm really glad that this is in place. This is perfect timing, especially with the events that happened recently, um, and that we're going to put, um, um, some issues in some corrections in place immediately and not wait for this to be completed. That was a concern for me. Um, so with this brought up, a memory of an update, I need an update from the crossing guard on the Fellsway. Did we ever, you know, figure that out with?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We, we had a meeting Thursday with a lot of the team from city hall, as well as some of the parents that were involved in the Brooke school. And this issue was brought to our attention at that meeting. And we also had Senator Jalen and rep Garbally, who was going to speak to rep Donato. It's his district. And they were going to look into the DCR issues, because that's a DCR road, to see if they could, number one, get a crossing guard down at two locations on the Fellsway. So they were going to take that in their bailiwick, and they were going to address that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, great. Because we've been trying for that crossing guard for about a year now, and we've been asking about updates. I know we've reached out to the DCR repeatedly, and that we really weren't getting anywhere. before something happens there, I would like that addressed. And I'm glad that Rep Donato will be handling that because I think he'll do an excellent job and look forward. Superintendent, could you please give us an update at our next meeting on that? So I'm making a motion to have a report. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'll make a motion to send to Rep Donato and Senator Jalen a request for a traffic guard at the crosswalk on the Fellsway between Salem Street and Fulton Street. I believe that's the correct. Yes.
[Roy Belson]: There are, there've been several requests made. This is not a new request. And, and representative Donato has, uh, run into a stone wall with a DCR. But if we get multiple, um, reps requesting it, perhaps that we'll get a little bit more steam on it, but it's been difficult because this is not a new request that we've been making this request. When St. Francis closed DCR determined it wasn't necessary, but, we think it's necessary and we just have to keep banging your way at it. But that was part of the meeting the other day.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So thank you on that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But we're going to make that a motion to our state delegation on that motion. All those in favor. All those opposed. Motion is passed. Ms. Cretz, did you wish to say?
[Kathy Kreatz]: I, um, I had written down the same exact question about the fellows way. Cause that was what we were talking about last school year. Yeah. So, I mean, everything Aaron mentioned was exactly what I had written down and this is a great program and I'm so glad that we got that funding. It's just terrific with all the crosswalks, so dangerous. I just want to know, Stephanie, do you know like in the square also where you cross over where Colleen Brigham's is?
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