[Toni Wray]: which is there for all students. So if there was a situation that any of the students experienced, she would be the resource for all of the students. Um, not just that one.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. Because I know that when the BN director was here last week or two weeks ago, uh, she was saying that the rules have changed and it's very delicate because if it's the teacher who's giving out, let's say the medication, even though, In this, it says that it's almost approved that a teacher could give out the medication.
[Toni Wray]: I'll clarify this. We have a certificate from the Department of Public Health that nurses can train teachers to, we delegate the medication administration. At the high school level, most students are able to self-administer. So we back up the delegation certification with a doctor's order and a parent consent saying, that student is mature enough to self-administer a medication. So it's sort of a two-fold protection that we use in those instances. Where we get concerned is who holds on to the medication, because we all know that there can be issues with that.
[Roy Belson]: Another piece to that is that by contract, teachers may decline to administer certain medications. So they don't have to accept that responsibility if they don't want to.
[Toni Wray]: And there are certain medications that they cannot administer by law. And that would be insulin is one of the best examples of that.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And I guess the other concern for me would be is that I know that one of the options you had stated was that you could have a nurse contracted from where you're going.
[Roy Belson]: Right.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: But the thing is if you're talking about let's say we've had students that have gone across to Europe and they're taking different flights, it doesn't mean necessarily that the nurse will be with them from when they leave here until they get to where their destination is. So that's something I think that we also need to take in consideration and make sure that we do have coverage when we're thinking about this.
[Toni Wray]: And the international flights pose an even more restrictive circumstance because Nobody from the United States can practice out of the country. So we cannot send anybody on one of those trips.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: So then could I just ask, I know that you are still in the middle of trying to get all the information for us. If we could find out from other districts how they're doing it, because I mean, they're sending their students away, not away, but they're going on their trips.
[Toni Wray]: And I have reached out to my Northeast regional consultant. We'll see what information we gather from all the school systems that are in our northeast region for Department of Public Health.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And this is something that's changing now, right? We didn't have this implemented years ago or even up until last year.
[Toni Wray]: And student need, I think that really speaks to student need that has changed. Because in years past, you know, many parents decided not to send their children on those type of field trips if they had a health care issue. But now, you know, more and more students are able to go and parents want them to go.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And I guess my last question is that if there is a child who does need special services, let's say the parent turns around and says that they want to be the chaperone.
[Toni Wray]: By all means, the parent can be the chaperone for the student.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And then we wouldn't have to worry about the nurse? Exactly.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I'd like to make a motion at this point to have the superintendent do a policy and protocol and outline this so that way we have one on for the whole district K through 12 for both out-of-state and in-state travel that extends over the school day, like if it's an overnight trip. Because we also have to think about in-state. So this is a major issue, and I really believe that it needs your time and attention. So I just would like to make that motion that you provide the school committee with the detailed policy procedure and protocol.
[Toni Wray]: May I add something here? Last year at the high school, we set up a task force that looked at and actually edited a lot of our field trip forms and the procedure for that. And it really revolves a lot around communication so that the nurse's office is aware of the list of students going, they can review the list, and they can get all the proper medical forms into, you know, all organized. And that has worked well this year at the high school in making sure that we're meeting the needs of our students. And similar processes are followed at the elementary and middle school level.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: That's why we need it in writing district-wide. We need it on our website, so if there's any question, that parents can look at it, and even teachers can look at it. If they're planning an event or travel with our students, that they can check the policy procedures and guidelines that they need to follow in here too. And I also think then we're very clear, who are the decision makers? Who actually decides whether a nurse is necessary or not? Is it the teacher? Is it the principal? Is it the nurse at that building? Or is it the head nurse? throughout the district. It tends to be a combination of a lot of team members. A lot of people don't know that and that's why we need this. So I'm looking for one of my colleagues to second my motion.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, I would urge the superintendent as he considers this not to choose the third option all students proportionately share in the cost which was what was originally presented to us last week in reference to when the band trip. To me it just felt like that by doing it that way it could make students feel like their trip was more expensive because one of their fellow students needed a nurse. Instead I think that it would be much better for either us for us to decide that on whatever field trip there was a uniform every student puts 25 bucks into the kitty or whatever I mean just so that it was a uniform a cost to help offset the district's cost because option number one is the school system pays for the cost outright and that of course would be my choice but I'm also understanding that it is there's an expense and it could so by having some amount of money, but it would be uniform. So it wouldn't be for just one field trip or the other would be across the board. Every time there's a field trip, every student would have as part of the cost, a small charge.
[Roy Belson]: The only thing I would say is field trips differ in length and time. So if you had a person for an entire week, the cost would be much more extensive than if it were for two days. If the person had some severe issues, the cost of other things might be more substantial.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So the idea of having the kitty, if you would, would be so that money would be thrown into that. to help offset the costs. And it would be proportionate to, let's say it's a, if a, you know, $5 a day or something like that. I'm just speaking off the top of my head. So if it was a five-day field trip to Florida, the kids might put in 25 bucks.
[Roy Belson]: You know, I mean, I just, I think that you do, there's going to be a recognition that you're paying for something. And quite frankly, if you don't have some kind of distributive cost sharing, you're going to have to start denying certain field trips, because you have 10, 15 field trips, and you're going to be paying $2,000 for every one of those. You're going to have a budget line item that you're going to have to fund, or you may have to fund.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right. So exactly. I'm recognizing that, and I'm also proposing a way to help offset it. And I certainly think that we're smart enough to come up with a way to do that.
[Roy Belson]: Well, you know, I take your guidance on, you know, as a group. You know, I personally don't think the third one is a bad one, but that's my opinion, because I think that, you know, the cost of a field trip, you never know when someone's going to need medical help. It could be anybody at any given time.
[Toni Wray]: And if you're paying for a professional nurse to accompany a field trip, then her services would be available to all, not just to Ronnie.
[Roy Belson]: That's a personal opinion, but certainly the committee can make that decision in all honor.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: If I could follow up, are you saying that if there's a field trip, let's suppose we're having two field trips as we are this year going to, or next year, Disney. So on one there's a student who has medical needs and needs a nurse, but on the other one there are no students. So, in that case, what you're saying is that group of kids where the parent is having, where there's medical needs for one student have to share that cost. But that other group of students, just because they happen to have none. So, in my mind, I would rather say, hey, let's develop a policy where everybody kicks something in. Okay? Everybody would benefit if there was a nurse. Everybody would, I mean, I just think it's more equitable and I think it takes away the onus or the burden of a student feeling that they were costing their peers more.
[Roy Belson]: Again, we can take guidance from you and you can tell us what you prefer. You know, I think that, you know, different field trips are going to cost different things anyway. The cost of Disney for the band is going to be one cost and the cost of Disney for the science trip is going to be another cost regardless. But, you know, again, it's your call and, you know, whatever wisdom you want to have us follow, we will.
[Toni Wray]: And so much is dependent on the students attending the trip. I mean, there are instances where students are very, especially at the high school level, are able to manage themselves. And we promote those self-responsibility and self-advocacy with parent and doctor permission.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cugno. Just for a couple of things. I agree with, you know, making sure that we have the protocol, but my concern is that as we're speaking tonight, it doesn't seem like anything is really concrete. So I don't want to just rush into this and put something on our website or have parents know about it if we're not a hundred percent sure. The motion was for the superintendent to draft a policy that we could. Okay. So that was my clarification there. And as far as I think for us to discuss tonight, how to figure this out, is really, there's a lot going on because there are a lot of trips that go on and first of all, whoever is planning it at that moment in time does not have to go out and advertise that there's gonna be a child who's going to be a nurse. It's just like everything else. I mean, if there's a particular trip that this particular trip is now going to have three meals included, it's not dissected because this person here needs a little bit extra, this one here. I think it's really up to the group that's planning it, they don't have to go out and advertise and say, well, gee, we're going to be paying $2,000 more because we need a nurse for X child because it's not fair.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Point of information.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Point of information.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But I just, the point of information is that we just had a field trip presented to us at our last meeting where this issue was brought up. And so, uh, one, maybe it was a general, It was a general idea. OK, I don't know. Yes. I mean, again, I don't know. But I just, you know, the superintendent, I think that the motion is a good one. We've asked him to develop something. I personally have feelings that I wish to express tonight and have done so.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: No, and I just want to finish it off. But that's what I'm saying. I think it's a little bit more involved than just us sitting here tonight. So I definitely agree with the superintendent doing that and making sure that we look at it.
[Roy Belson]: Another factor is that We generally don't know the enrollment of the trip until we get pretty close to the event, because youngsters may change their mind, may not make the commitment. And depending on when the trip is coming and when the cutoff date is, it may be a month before, a couple of months before, whatever it is, or it may be six months before. So we may not know who's on the trip until we actually put the final enrollment on it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I really, I have great respect and understanding of what you're trying to do. I just don't agree that that's the best way to move forward. I understand you just really don't want to have any child singled out or one who's to have to pay more for one child, so that becomes an issue for some people to be able to attend or not attend, which I have great respect for. But I think administratively, it's really difficult to administer. And I really believe that we should take it as it arises. And if this trip has a child that increases the cost, then it affects that trip. I don't want to make every trip more expensive so less people go. So I don't agree. So I just wanted to put my opinion out to the superintendent as he's developing this. I think that the way that he had planned is what I agree with.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So I think the important line is the ADA and the OCR make it clear for equal access. So I would think the ownership is on Medford Public Schools to pay the bill. I don't think it should be on the one child who needs a nurse or all the kids going. I think it's we can find the money to have a nurse on every trip that needs a nurse.
[Roy Belson]: It's a choice you make when you budget as to which things you'll fund. Right. That's a priority. When you fund certain student activities and not others, you've made a choice. So this is a choice you can make. It's in your court. I mean, we'll do whatever we're asked to do. We're just giving you the options that we think are the most practical. And Mrs. Vandekoot's raised another one, and, you know, we can add that to the mix of possible alternatives.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vandekoot? I should hasten to add, though, that if my colleagues were in agreement, I agree 100% with you, Ms. Mistone. Great. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: So, you know, I'm just going to throw one more thing out, if I can, you know, which is, you know, insurance. You know, we had this discussion last year. You know, some people will take the insurance, and some people will not take the insurance. Individually, all of us have flown on an airplane, and sometimes we've taken insurance, and sometimes we've not taken insurance to cover the cost of a trip that might have to change because of circumstances. So as another example, there are variables built into all of these things. Some trips, you know, individuals will ask for other things that others don't need.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right. And insurance is optional, but as a nurse of a child needs a nurse, that's not optional. The child needs a nurse.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, again, mandatory in some cases, we've already made it. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: I would advise the superintendent to prepare a line item for the 2017, 2018 school budget to cover this in the future.
[Roy Belson]: We can do that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor by Mr. Benedetto that the superintendent draft a policy in and out of state and it was seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot and also a line item by Mr. Skerry. On the motion for approval, all those in favor?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Motion to revert to the regular order of business we have before us community participation Miss Judy Lonigan of the Jingle Bell road race would like to discuss the funds raised and the funds to be distributed miss Lonigan And members of the Jingle Bell
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: First of all, I want to say thank you to all of you who are here tonight, who participated in the road race. And I'm here to collect your checks. I want to introduce John Murphy. John Murphy is president of the Members Plus Credit Union. The first three races are Lonergan Insurance and Real Estate Agency sponsored it by ourselves. And this year, Members Plus wanted to come on board with us. So they have participated in the road race. John is really here for the eye candy tonight, because he's going to hand out the checks, and I'm going to call the names. Checks are the candy. Right, that's right. Oh, I have a list here. I mean, Elaine Rocha gave me a list. When we started out, this is our fourth race. When we first started out, we had about 160 runners, and we gave away $12,000. And in four years, we had over 700 runners this year, and we're giving you $32,229.05. This is really due to the hard work that all of you kids did with your parents, your coaches, whatever. And I say to them all the time, we're giving you the fundraiser, it's up to you. to jump on board, sell the raffles, get the sponsors and get the runners. The more that you make on your own, the more money you get out of the pot. I hate that word, but that's how it works is if somebody runs or walks or is a sponsor and does not designate that it's going to a certain team or a school, it goes into a common pot. And then from there, we break it down. The more that the first year we did it, everyone got the same amount. And we realized that one team raised $1,800 and one team raised $50, and they were all getting the same amount. So now we do it on a proportional basis so that it's an incentive to you to raise more money. Let me see. Over the past four years, including this year, we will have given from this race over $82,000 to the school. My last official statement is that once your picture is taken, when you go outside afterwards, we'd like to have the whole group of all your kids in the school committee and the mayor and Mr. Bellson have a group picture so that we can put it in the newspaper. But after you're finished, if you would go outside the quality, um, Mr. Thurberge is going to take everyone's name. So we have them for the newspapers. Okay. Pat's stand up. To expedite this as fast as we can, if you would, all of you that are here to collect checks, if you would kind of go over to the side, and then I'll call the clubs, and then rather than everybody get up. So if we all have an en masse, over to the side. I have a t-shirt Members of the Asian Club, Asian Club, come on forward. Representing the Asian Club is Jodi Lu, who's been a wonderful committee member, and she is in charge of it. Kaylee Thuong, Justin Tsang and Kelly Lamb. Thank you very much. I know, Jody, how much did you get for the checkbook?
[Kathy Kreatz]: So Jody, you can stand here again.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: National Honor Society.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Where's Jody? She's in charge of National Honor.
[Unidentified]: The amount of the National Honor Society is $1,776.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: It goes to prove that the National Honor Society and the Asian Club are small organizations in the school. So it doesn't make any difference how many people belong to a club or a team or whatever, you can make as much money as you want if you just put some effort into it. All right, our next one is the Brooks School. Kara Ahmed, Kara Ahmed. The Brooks School is receiving $1,886. Columbus School, Bob Russo. The Columbus School has raised $1,768. St. Rayfield School, Jackie Gatto and Mark Bedrosian, who's the principal. St. Rayfields will receive $2,624. foreign language, Nelida Lepore is the Councilor, Carlo DeStefani, Mia McGillicuddy, and Jasmine DeMalanga. I know I pronounced that wrong, but best I could do. And they are getting $461.00. Next we have gymnastics. Nicole Fortino, Olivia Ross, and Abby Kline. They are receiving $128.
[Unidentified]: The Andrew School is next, Susan Antwine and Jen Overbrook, and they have their sons with them.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: Andrew's school is receiving $625.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Jump all over me because we're giving them the wrong amount of money.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Step down here for a minute. We're gonna step down and then we'll go to the next one and then I'll come back up again. Oh, I'm sorry, back up again. Your check is $2,148. Wrong year. The check's in the mail.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: Or somewhere.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Andrews. Crew. This is a crew that's coming up now. All right, I have to give credit to Lisa McFarland, who really has worked on the committee and has done a wonderful job. The representatives of the crew are Louisa Barbosa, Lisa McKillop, Tommy Vano, Noville Lambert, Anthony, Anthony, what's your last name? McKillop, okay, I'm sorry. Mike Finn, Emma Swackiel, however you pronounce that, Edson Silveira, Maya Gomez Coltriss, Haley Duff, Cuff, I'm sorry, and Lucas Feldman, and the amount they're getting is $3,383. Their goal was to buy a new boat, so they were almost there with this check.
[Unidentified]: Why don't you girls get in front of that?
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Joseph's has one. St. Joseph's is receiving, shh. St. Joseph's is receiving $4,475. Oh, and they are. St. Joseph already, where's my list here, they also won the award for the most participants in the race, and they had 138 people won awards. Oh, thank you. And our last one is our second year winning, the most amount of money raised, and that's the Roberts. And the Roberts is, the Roberts, the mothers are Catherine Anderson, Erin Sharon, Carter Sharon, and I don't have the other names, but they all, and the amount that they have raised is, drumroll, drumroll, $6,200. $204.99. I don't know how we got these odd little fives and ninety-nines.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We need the trophy. Keep pushing. We need the trophy. Okay, everybody, this way.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: I just wanted, I just wanted to say on behalf. I just want to say on behalf of members plus credit union and two of my staff, Lana Battles and Justin Lasco. It was our honor to be a part of this great event and we look forward to future years sponsoring this event and helping raise money for the schools. So thank you.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Thank you again to everyone and we hope that those that are watching this school committee meeting will run, walk, participate, and help support the kids next year. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, at this time, we just want to thank the Jingle Bell Run committee. I know there's many of you. It takes a village to put this race on. So I thank you all for participating, sponsoring, walking, running. It was a great day. A lot of Medford people and beyond turned out. So I was really proud that day. And thanks to our DPWI police who kept everybody safe. And I look forward to next year.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: are we going to take a are we going out for a photo yeah
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: You might want to leave your coats up here.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We're now going to take a two minute recess.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: One of those days, I'll call you up. Yeah, come on down, definitely.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm actually not on the right way tonight.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: But normally, I can control my speech. And I can sit down with you.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Uh-huh.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line.
[Unidentified]: We stand in a line.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line. We stand in a line.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Good night, everyone. Thanks for coming down.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto, I'd like to move the suspension to take the financial report next.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor to take the financial report out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: We'll just give them a couple minutes. Let's clear the hall.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Kirsten. We're going to get you out of here before it snows.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I'm sorry about last time. I'm sorry about last time. I'm going to do that. If he doesn't give it to me before I can read it, if he gives it to me that night, I'm always going to.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah, but we'll do it at the beginning of the meeting.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah, I just didn't think.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Item number five, the financial report for the Medford Public School System.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Yes, good evening, mayor, members of the school committee. The financial report as reported for January 9th, 2017.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Can you speak up a little bit more? Okay, sorry. I'll take care of it.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Thank you. So as provided in a summary status, uh, we have reported out again that our, uh, general fund operating budget for FY 17 is 54,333,000 of which to date we have spent approximately 46.93% checks, uh, since August 29th, the start of school for calendar year, all 12 month employees have received 14 paychecks since July 1st. All major positions and replacements have been filled and efforts continue for onboarding district-wide floating substitutes. As previously reported, many of our subaccounts are listed in the general fund without a budget appropriation. Some of this is due to the Department of Ed's specific specified reporting by school, by function, category, and district-wide expenses as they continue to revisit that report and further expand their reporting criteria. We try to stay compliant with that as well as being able to monitor our budget in a timely fashion. I am also the school business officials participating in some roundtable efforts that will be reviewing some of these additional reports so that hopefully we will have a heads up on any changes that will be occurring in upcoming fiscal years. In general we have some conservative projections for encumbrances included in our large area expenditure categories which would include our natural gas, energy, electricity, transportation, special education. Reflected in the summary are updates on some program areas of interest, including our online payments. The FACTS product is our online payment plan for households that encourages online payments for the before and after school programs, our MEAP programs, our preschool, Make Way for Kids, and Kids Corner. Currently Medford Public Schools has 441 active payment plans that are making ongoing payments with fiscal to date collections of $888,548 and the total anticipated collection for fiscal year 17 of $1,000,926,937 across all of our program areas. We continue to look for cashless payment options to further streamline the process and make available systems for families and their tracking purposes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry, point of information.
[Robert Skerry]: Any progress made, Kristen, with getting the vocational school and the high school general store online? that they can accept visa or master charge?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: We have looked into that process, working with City Hall and the Treasury Department, because that would be an entirely new, different bank account system. And monitoring those charges, we are looking at that process moving forward. So our hope is for fiscal year 18. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Are there any other questions?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Okay, thank you. Continuing on the overview, we have our building maintenance and repairs. The high school has sustained some extraordinary urgent repairs this winter due to pipe leaks and bursts that required some major plumbing with the underground lines within our A building. Additional to those were routine maintenance and repairs during the course of the start of school, including at the high school, we had the nurses' suite painted, as well as stairwells, lecture halls, and corridors near the pool. Curtis Tufts, we had painted classrooms on upper level, floor refinishing, and recreation room. At the McGlynn Middle and Elementaries, we had stairwells and common areas painted, as well as filter cartridges replaced in sinks and faucet repairs throughout. At the Columbus, Roberts, and Brooks Elementary, we had the library carpet shampooed and gym floors refinished. Moving on to transportation, we have contracted 18 main bus routes with Eastern Bus Company. We have routes running morning and afternoon, serving all of our public schools, as well as St. Joseph Catholic, St. Raphael, and St. Clement's, as well as Minuteman Vocational. And all of our routes continue to be reviewed for overcrowding, time efficiencies, and making the best and safe stops available for all of our students. Homeless transportation continues to be an unknown expense going through any fiscal year as that group is not known on an annual basis. So we have students that happen to have that situation throughout the year, so we continue to monitor. We do receive reimbursements from the state, but those do not cover all the expenses typically in a fiscal year. So we continue to watch that as well as monitoring the Department of Ed's reimbursement, which approximately has been running about 60% on their homeless transportation. Our utilities, the invoices received as of this reporting date were through November. Obviously, our more expensive heating months have not been incurred or materialized as of yet, but we have a comparison that we did from prior fiscal year, FY 15 and 16, and we did have our natural gas expense was $61,730 for that same time frame. currently we have $68,888. So the amount of therms used was similar in quantity. The cost was slightly elevated, roughly $7,158 over the prior year. Some increases would come from changes within a supply and distribution fees, and that is on an annual basis as energy is a commodity and those different costs are ever-changing. Our electric charges from comparative year FY16, July through November. was $468,562, and currently that same time frame was $468,012. So we have been notified that the Great Eastern Electric Supply Agreement has been in effect starting January 1st, and both city and school departments will see a slight increase in per kilowatt fees, which is based on an energy compliance that they have implemented. So as invoices are paid, we will be reviewing and monitoring those line items, liquidating where we can, but being conservative in our estimate through the next few months, which typically are the highest heating months of a fiscal year. The next category we have covered is special education, and the FY17 out-of-district tuition is projected to be $3.4 million, which is slightly lower than budgeted. However, this category is another volatile area, as statuses can change at any point during the school year. So we continue to monitor those and keep up to date as much as possible. The three components to the funding of the out-of-district tuition were $1.2 million from the general fund appropriations, $1 million from the IDEA grant, and $1.2 million in circuit breaker reimbursement. So the overall, the special ed transportation is currently encumbered at $1,030,000, which is higher than budgeted at $950,000 across multiple vendors. However, this, again, is a volatile and unknown component. So we continue to monitor those expenses. And as we can, we liquidate. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Point of information through you to Kristen.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Point of information. Yes.
[Robert Skerry]: The special ed transportation count roughly is $80,000 over budget. Have there been any transfers made into that to cover the costs?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: There have not been any transfers requested or made at this time. Again, we encumber based on what we anticipate. However, that may not materialize, so we could be liquidating orders. So we haven't yet requested a formal budget transfer.
[Robert Skerry]: I just want to make sure there's enough money in that account to pay our vendors.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Yes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, I think this actually is for the superintendent. As a school committee member, I was not aware that we had sustained urgent repairs due to pipe leaks at the high school and bursts. Was that over the holiday break or was that in December when we, on that one cold snap we had?
[Roy Belson]: The A building area has had ongoing issues for a long period of time. And we went in there to diagnostically try to fix a few things, and we found that every time we fixed something, it got a little worse and a little bit worse. So we decided to go in there and really just do a good job and try to clean it up. So, you know, it isn't a big urgency thing, but it's an expense. It's the kind of thing we can fix. It requires things, I think, going forward. It should be part of the capital plan thinking as we go, but it's definitely an item that you know, taking a few dollars out of our repair budget this year.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So at this point, is that area repaired?
[Roy Belson]: Well, it's repaired at this point in time, but you know, I think we may spring another leap. Who knows, as the winter season's coming, it's very hard to know, you know, whether that's going to happen, but we've repaired it to the point that we need to right now.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Has any section had to be closed down?
[Roy Belson]: No.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: If I may follow up with that, just in terms of the phrasing, extraordinary repairs, that is a Department of Ed category classification. So it's not necessarily something that was identified in your normal budget process. This was something that occurred that needed to be repaired. So in that terminology, that's where I use that extraordinary repair. Does that mean it's a $10,000 job? could be higher than $10,000. Extraordinary Maintenance has a cap of $150,000 per fiscal year. Where does it start? Where does it start? Yeah. In terms of dollars?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Dollars.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Whatever's needed for the project.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah, I'm just thinking what's a minor versus an extraordinary repair. So that's what I was asking. OK, thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. the piping, it says here that we had sustained extra repairs. So if we've already had them, how much do we spend on those repairs and how much more do we need to spend? Let's be clear. Let's put the dollar amounts out here.
[Roy Belson]: Well, I'm not sure, you know, everything has an exact dollar amount yet because there's still some work going on, but I think we're in excess of $25,000 at this point in time. And that how much more we have to spend will depend on what actually takes place. What I said a few moments ago, I think is accurate, is that we're now doing an assessment to determine, you know, how much of this needs to go into a full capital plan. We think that a building is an area that probably is going to need a lot of attention because, I don't know if you know the piping structure, but you know the flooring is terrazzo tile? Okay. You've got to go into the terrazzo tile and go down under into the tunnel. That alone is an expense, and that alone is a major activity, and then go down and in. To replace that piping is almost like ripping up a straight Winthrop street, taking out the thing, and then putting a pipe in. So I think in the long run, going into the capital plan, we're going to want to replace those pipes, because I think they're going to keep happening from now on.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And you'll be providing us a report?
[Roy Belson]: I think that's the way we're going to look at it. I think we're making this as more of a capital look.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Do you have a time frame on providing us a report of future expenses regarding?
[Roy Belson]: Well, I think the capital plan will start to roll out in the next couple of months.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, and will there be any other expenses in the interim, other than the $25,000 we just spent? Well, there could be.
[Roy Belson]: There could be. We're in January. Okay. And on a given day, you could walk in and, you know, we could have another pipeline.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: We did last year, for example, you remember up in B building, in the second floor, there were several pipes that broke. Right. This is going to happen. I mean, this is part of, you know, the cold winter and also part of the structure of that building where some of the stuff is a little bit older. So part of our capital planning will be to look at these weak areas and try to strengthen them.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So just for clarification, if there is an item that costs a lot of money, if you could put the dollar amount in this report, like the piping, the unexpected piping was approximately $25,000 to repair. That's just general information that I'd like it more detailed. That would be great. Also, as we're talking about schools and maintenance, we had the pleasure of going to an event at the Andrews School, and we noticed that in their gymnasium, their bleachers were broken, and they look somewhat unsafe, and they don't pull them out because of that. And there were a few other issues in that building as well. My colleague was with me. Him and I walked through since we were there for a meeting. There was some light out in one of the gyms, music room or something, right? That had been recently replaced and they still can't seem to get it working and I'm sure we spent a lot of money on it. So these are some maintenance items I'd like you to look at.
[Roy Belson]: I'll refer that to Mr. DeLaver and get a report.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Also, while we're speaking to that, we did start our tours of the buildings and I would like to, at some point, continue those. and make time in that a priority with budget time coming up. We need to see as a committee where we want to focus our maintenance funding, and having our eyes and walking the grounds really makes a difference. So I'm requesting that that continue. And as far as, oh, I'm sorry.
[Robert Skerry]: One of the classrooms, Roy, that faces the river, They get the sun, and it's so bad in the afternoon that the teacher had to put up a temporary, yeah, a temporary top to be able to work off the blue board. They have a rounded window. I wonder if we could get a shade for that window and figure out somehow how to cut the sun.
[Roy Belson]: Which room is it, do you know?
[Robert Skerry]: It's on the third floor.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Someone with a nice window. It's a circular window.
[Robert Skerry]: And the clock in the gymnasium hasn't worked for several months.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I think throughout the district, the clocks need to be synced at some point or somehow. Oh yeah, and the school board doesn't work. The school board doesn't work at all. Just a few things that while we were there, we just happened to notice, and that's why it's important for us to continue that, sorry. My other question regarding the budget was on page two of 13, under permanent part-time Medford High School mentors. We budgeted an appropriated $2,500. The expenditures have been $34,663.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Yes, that's not an accurate statement of what the mentor expense is. We have identified some job codes through the payroll system that have not matched up to the actual general ledger codes. So those will be corrected moving forward.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. So there isn't, like, this job created that was spending all this money on. No. No. Okay. All right. Also, you know, as staffing needs change, if there's any need, any additional staff added throughout the school district. I'd like a list of that in a report with the financial report on the quarterly basis. Just a list of new people added in their salaries and when they were added and the reasoning for it. So that's a request to go along with this financial report. Now, I know this has nothing to do with our new director. It's directly to you. I requested and actually, The whole school committee voted to have the community schools budget presented. We haven't seen one in over seven months, maybe eight or nine. I know I requested it, and it was supposed to be here today, and I know there have been a lot of changes both on the city side and the school side, so I have patience. I'm trying to be patient, but I'm reminding you I'm expecting it soon, and when it comes,
[Roy Belson]: Well, so let me just answer it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: Reconciliation at the City Hall has to take place. We don't have the full reconciliation yet. I'm not going to give you a report that I don't have a reconciliation yet. We think from our internal documents that we're fine. But until, what do you call it, the money is moved properly, you know, I can't give you a reconciliation against the city's chart of accounts. So, we'll do that, and if necessary, we'll provide you our report, you know, with a disclaimer at the end of it.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: For the iSchools? for basically all the revolving. So we're currently in the audit process as well.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So this school committee requested it done on a quarterly basis. So what I would suggest in the future, and this is a suggestion, is that you provide the school part with that disclosure. And then when we get the state, so we're not waiting eight months before we get a quarterly report.
[Roy Belson]: I think going forward it will be easier simply because we've got a new operation down the hall and up here. Once that's cleaned up one time and set, then we can do that with more confidence going forward every quarter. Right now, you know, there's stuff that's still moving.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So the last time I requested it, we shot for January, and that was November, early November. So could I have an approximate date so that way I follow up with you again?
[Roy Belson]: When the auditors are done, I'll be happy to give you a date.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: In the next few meetings?
[Roy Belson]: As soon as the auditors are done, I'll be happy to give you a date.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK, thank you very much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You want to see it roll over the account, correct? Were you waiting for her to roll it over?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: That was one piece of it. There were some additional pieces in terms of revenue.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Can you call me tomorrow and let me know? Yes.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Also, I just had one more question about the community schools. I just had a question, are all registrations going through the online programming that we have currently set up, similar to the after school program and all that? We're not collecting checks up in a hallway for people to use our building, right? We're actually having people sign up online, and we're renting the facility. Or they're registering, even if it's free or voluntary. If they're using our building, they're doing the online registration, and we can track who's in and out of our building at all times, because that program was set up last July. That's a question both to you and the superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So there are still some people who do not go online and give us checks. I mean, they walk in the door and they want to go swimming, and they give us a check or something like that. But for the most part, most people are using the online system. But there are some, as far as vendors go, they're using an online system with us. But the reality is that some people still walk in the door and hand us a check.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: No, no, I'm not even talking about the payment piece. I want them to register, even if it's a contribution or it's a charity and we're letting them in our building. I want it so we can say at the end of the year, okay, these are how many hours of charity time we've given. the McGlynn School Gym or the auditorium up at the high school. I want data and be able to ask you and say, OK, how much is the community using this school? What are we doing with it? How much are we making from it? How much money is going back to the maintenance and repair and upgrades or an after school program? So we did it mostly to track who's in our building. And then it's for our own good, too, to know who's in there, because we're responsible for them while they're there.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: If I may, so that's a two part answer in terms of identifying and streamlining the process. We have an online calendar that is maintained by our community services and they document every activity that is happening and occurring within our building. Subsequently, the entities are then invoiced and or they are active through the MCC payment online. So there's two pieces to that response in that Yes, we are tracking it within a new system. The calendars are being updated as the service and the entities are requesting participation. So it is key that all of that is documented so that we know on any given time when the pool is being used, when the different locations are being utilized so that there's not a double booking situation. So those are taking place, and we are able to pull a report on a calendar basis and identify the charges, so forth.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I'm really happy to hear that, and I encourage even community members that request to use the building and it's donated to them for that time, that it go through the system and we can put a zero payment, so that way we can track who we're donating to as well.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That's internal for the community schools, not through the user.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Right, no, and I understand that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. OK.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I wanted to go back to the discussion about the Andrews. At the time we were doing the walkthroughs, Kathy Kreatz, my fellow school committee member and I, went to the Andrews. And we submitted to the superintendent a list, including the bleachers, the clock, the things that you guys mentioned. And also at that point, because I don't remember, I'd gone to some other schools too, some of those very same things, the bleachers, were on multiple. So I'm thinking that that's part of the capital plan, because that's when we already talked about some of those things. I think we sort of got to the point where we were going together, and then the superintendent said, because it was difficult to bring us all together, go. And Kathy and I just both happened to do that school. Great.
[Unidentified]: OK, is there a motion on the floor? Oh, Ms.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Preston. I have just a couple of questions. Christine, I just wanted to thank you for getting back to me about the bus and the overcrowding. Can you let me know, is it still, is there still a lot of overcrowding on bus 14 departing to high school in the afternoon?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: What we have seen is on bad weather days that there seems to be an influx of students attempting to ride that bus that don't normally ride. So we have worked with faculty to monitor that bus in the afternoons to ensure that it's just the routine riders that are getting on.
[Kathy Kreatz]: All right. Thanks. And also, we were looking, me and I were looking at this report, and on page 3, could you let us know what is the after school pupil transportation encumbrance, the 26,040? What does that relate to? We were just curious. I don't know if you know what that is.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: So that would be some transportation costs that are associated with an open PO currently. So I would need to take a look. It's a contract service account. So it would be any type of additional transportation could be programming that they have ongoing, but the encumbrance for that would be through a purchase order.
[Roy Belson]: Primarily, that's the middle school bus in the afternoon. No, the two or three days that you've asked for. Right.
[Kathy Kreatz]: The after school. But then why is it not budgeted?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You encumber when you know what the amount is for the contract.
[Kathy Kreatz]: And then as you build, you take away from the encumbrance.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So if you look next month, that number should go down maybe $3,000 or something. You encumber it through the end of the year because you have a contract in place for that bus.
[Roy Belson]: you anticipate a cost, you put that amount in there to say that that money is pretty much committed. And as you pay it down, you liquidate the amount that's been paid out so that the encumbrance decreases. But sometimes the liquidation is slower than the actual expenditure.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Expenditure comes mostly everything else under encumbrance zero. If things don't get liquidated, all the other line items.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So why does this one, they set up a purchase?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: The other lines are salary accounts and those hit based on actual payroll processing, and they're automatically charged up. This is actually a contract with Eastern Bus, and so the total between the expenditure and the encumbrance is close to the $40,000. So the bills arrive usually a month and a half in arrears. So at this point of reporting, it would have included up through the November billing cycle.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to accept the report, place on file, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Thank you so much. Also, just a quick note, it does look like it's getting very, um, really bad outside. So I know there's some people in the audience that may travel some lengths to get home. So if we could just try to exercise. Okay.
[Roy Belson]: I'm sorry. item out of order.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion to take item number four report on school food service program out of order. Ms. Patterson. Thank you.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: So again it was requested for a review and reports of the food service program for the upcoming year and any anticipation for meal price changes. After we had conducted the review year-to-date and the district-wide fiscal expenses and revenues, we did identify that it is a very tight operating budget. The food service program is specific, unique. It falls under the federal guidelines by the USDA and the National School Lunch Program, also under CFR 7, Section 210. With regard to this particular account, we really cannot operate anything but a positive balance. So as we look and identify what we're currently charging for meals, what the pricing of the actual food costs, labor, just for example, our average meal cost for a breakfast without the labor is upward of $1.25 per meal. We are charging $1.10 at all schools. For the lunch programs, as the food service and lunch preparation guidelines have changed, there are much more restrictive nutritional components that have to be met, ensuring that fruits and vegetables are offered every day, substantially increasing offerings of the whole grain foods, only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties, limiting the calories and serving sizes, as well as reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium within all of the menu items. So those do incur additional food costs in terms of what vendors are preparing, what they're charging. We try to do bulk ordering and do cost savings where we can. the drive continues to be escalated food costs. An average lunch cost per meal is upward of $2.45, and currently we are charging $2.75 at elementary and $3 at the middle high. Additionally, part of the requirements for the National School Lunch Program is a mandatory professional development and ongoing service training for all of the food service staff. So no longer are we able to just send those folks home on a half day. They need to stay on site and have their own training, their own PD, which also is additional costs, but it's required. It's a mandatory requirement under the law. As of the December 2016 month and reporting, we did share a synopsis of our enrollment, which we had identified as 4,496 students with a free and reduced count of 2,103, averaging 46.77 district wide. So again, included with the summary was the breakdown by each school. and overall district-wide. Now the importance of these figures not only for food service but also for e-rate reimbursement for all of the components that we're eligible for funding. So it really is important that we continue to educate our families and inform them of the services available and as they are utilizing those that are available through the state, they automatically become eligible for free lunch. And with that, we increase our enrollment, we increase our reimbursement, we increase the participation, which is a win-win for the school departments and for the families as well. So currently the 2017 reimbursement rate for a free lunch that the federal government issues back is $3.24. A reduced lunch is $2.84, and the state reimburses .06, the six-cent rule, for each meal. For the breakfast, we do qualify for severe needs, so we get $2.04. For the reduced breakfast, we get $1.74. For the paid breakfast, we get .29 cents. So for the December 2016 claim, our gross amount for reimbursement was $77,753. Now from that, the state will reduce any commodity invoices that they send out to the district. So each schools are eligible for getting commodity, meat items, different available items that the state provides a list for, and we're able to take advantage of it at the lowest cost possible. And they will automatically dock our reimbursement claim. So even though it looks as though we get just straight reimbursement, they do come back and they charge off for commodity invoices. So in terms of our school lunch reimbursement program, those amounts have increased coming back to the district. The cost for paid students must at least mirror the federal guidelines. So it is necessary and we're requesting to increase the prices for two reasons in fiscal year 18, which is to remain compliant and consistent with federal guidelines so that we don't jeopardize our reimbursement. And two, for the anticipated increase in food food costs and pending labor contract negotiation impacts. So it's also important to note that any changes affect the paid portion of our student population and the district will continue to educate and inform families at various opportunities that service plans are available that could qualify them for those free and reduced meals. So that's one really important factor that we continue to look at. And I think it was important to provide this information early in the school year so that we have the discussion and it's identified that, you know, we're going to maintain the costs in this fiscal year, but we really do need to look at the changes for fiscal year 18. And the recommendation that we have provided is for the breakfast opportunity of $1.50 per breakfast at each location. For the elementary lunches, increasing that to $3 per meal, and at the middle and high to $3.25. This will get us closer in line with our reimbursement rate, and it will also provide new opportunities to engage and have potentials for some hot meal options at the breakfast and getting, uh, taking advantage of additional resources as, as we're able to serve more meals.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Thank you for the report. It's great. Um, so if we didn't raise our prices, would we still meet the minimum?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: We will be operating very close to a breakeven scenario and that's without any labor. OK.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: My only question reason for that question is I know that we're regulated to charge a certain amount and bring in a certain amount. And that's why I asked for this report. But also I checked online. I saw the pricing and I really like that you kept it only 25 cents for breakfast increase 25 cents for lunch and 25 cents for the high school. Like just just 25 cents increase. It's not a huge amount. and it's not three years from now and we're way behind and we have to raise it $2 a meal. But I did look on a few of our neighboring communities and how much they're charging. So Malden currently is charging $1 for breakfast, $2.55 for lunch and $2.78 for the middle high school. Somerville has all free breakfast throughout their community and they charge $2.75 for lunch. Everett is now, there's two prices for breakfast. It's either 125, I think, for the very young grades, and then 150 for the rest of the community. They're currently at 275 for lunch, same as us, and $3. So they're exactly where we are right now, and we're in line with a neighboring. Some of them, these are their prices for next year as well. It's on their websites. I did a quick query. this afternoon to just really compare where we are and where not. You know, it's always really difficult to raise prices on families because every day when you're packing up $3 for lunch and an extra buck 50 for breakfast, it's a lot to pull out of your wallet every morning. And I'm very cautious about doing this, but I want to make sure that, you know, we stay within the federal guidelines and get as much money back to the community to feed all of our students in an appropriate, and we're required to do that as well. So, you know, it's a hard call. I mean, $0.25, I think, is very reasonable. But at the same time, it's always difficult to raise this. I don't think it is.
[Roy Belson]: So there are a couple of things we've just got to keep in mind. First of all, we have to stay compliant with the fact the federal government will give us a certain amount of money per student on free and reduced. If we ask our paid students to pay less, federal government's comeback is that we are subsidizing students who are not eligible for a free or reduced meal. So we have to at least meet that in order to stay in compliance, because otherwise the government's saying, well, we're paying you for students who can afford to pay for it. That's one piece. The second piece that we've got to keep in mind is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has got a new administration in Washington. Recent signals are they're looking to make cuts in agencies like USDA. If they're making cuts in USDA, that could reduce the subsidies coming back to states, could reduce the commodities and the like, and we could get through the back door for less availabilities to us. So we've got to keep that in mind too. And three, we are in the process, we've had some discussions about negotiating with our cafeteria workers and what we've planned for them. modest as it is, will impact this as well. And if we don't plan for that, we will drive our program off the, you know, off the balance sheet. So there's several things going on and you know, no one likes to see price increases, but on the other hand, we're trying to be realistic.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And, um, the reason I requested it specifically is cause we don't want to pit people very hard, like with a large increase. And that's what happened a few years ago. when we hadn't been addressed in a few years. And I'd rather see a consistent review of this program to make sure we're in compliance and to make sure that we're not hitting people's pockets too deeply. I mean, no matter what you do, I mean, 50 cents a day is still 250 a week. And if you have multiple children, it's expensive and it's just not easy today to keep up with everything.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah, I just wanted to, I think the breakfast actually would be going up 40 cents per day. Is that correct? Is it $1.10 to $1.50? So $2 a week times how many weeks are there in a school year?
[Roy Belson]: 30, 36, 36 times five is 180 days. Yeah.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So 30, 40 weeks, general 36, you know, times two bucks, 72 bucks in the year just for the breakfast increase. So it's certainly with multiple kids adds up. if your student is having breakfast at school. I think at this point, it's appropriate. You're not asking us to take any action tonight, is that correct? You can if you want.
[Roy Belson]: I mean, we're not against you taking action tonight. We think it's real. But if you need more time to think about it.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Do you want to lay it on the table? If I may follow up with just a little more data, in terms of the breakfast participation, it is half of what our lunch program is. So our families are not taking advantage of the breakfast program as much. It would be a great opportunity to encourage that so that we could offer some hot meal options and really engage in that. Additionally, with the SUP program, the Community Eligibility Program, which our community towns that are able to take advantage of that, that is upwards of over 70% low-income, free and reduced capacity. So where it seems beneficial, it's almost a double-edged sword because you really have a true significant disadvantaged group where it's beneficial for all in one capacity. However, there's a lot to get to that. My hope is to continue to encourage and educate families on the services that are out there available, whereby it automatically qualifies them for a free lunch, and there's not the need to fill out an additional application. So that is my push as school nutrition advisor over the food service department, and that's something that I advocate, and I'm very strong about feeding our kids.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor?
[Robert Skerry]: I'll move the paper.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion for approval of the paper. Is there a second? A motion for approval of the right structure. Is there a second on the floor?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Second.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Seconded by Mr. Benedetto. Ms. Van der Kloot, did you wish to speak?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I do. I'm not asking for a subcommittee meeting on the rate hike. However, I am asking, it was traditional that we met somewhere along the line during the school year with the school lunch people, and it seems like it's been a long time since we've done that. I don't know whether at some point or another there used to be an advisory committee or whatever. Does any of that exist anymore?
[Roy Belson]: We can certainly do it. I mean, you know, I think it's, it's always informative to learn about all the things going on, but from a financial standpoint, this report was developed in conjunction with them.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Again, I'm not asking on it from a financial level.
[Roy Belson]: I'm just learning about nutrition and learning about what's going on. Sure. We can always send it. It's been a long time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor. Seconded by Mr. Benedetto. Roll call vote.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. Cunha.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. DiBenedetto? Yes. Mrs. Kretsch? Yes. Mrs. Mustone? Yes. Mr. Skerry? Yes. Mrs. Van der Kloot? Yes. Mayor Burke?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. The grade structure is adopted for fiscal 18. Thank you. Thank you. OK. Also, while we're in suspension, item six, recommendation to approve science department enrichment trip. Mr. Seery. Good evening.
[Rocco Cieri]: Good evening. I'm here this evening to request approval for the science sponsored field trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in February 2018. This trip was taken last year. With the great success, we're hoping to run a similar program in February. Obviously there are other outside pending concerns that the committee will decide upon, but the application. And the breakdown of the cost and sort of a summary of what the proposal is for the next year has been provided in the packet. And I'm simply here to answer questions if you have any.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to approve. The health policy that will be drafted, obviously, fiscally. This is for 18, February of 18.
[Rocco Cieri]: Yes, February of 2018. Motion to approve.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to approve by Ms. Vanden Heuvel, seconded by Mr. Skerry. Roll call.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I had one question. Can I be a chaperone? That's a great verb.
[Rocco Cieri]: Mrs. Cunha? I'm sure she'll need some help there. Yes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. DiBenedetto? Yes. Mrs. Kreatz? Yes. Mrs. Mustone? Yes. Mr. Skerry? Yes. Mrs. Vanderquist? Yes. Mayor Burke?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Abiding in the affirmative, zero in the negative, motion passes.
[Rocco Cieri]: Thank you and have a great night.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You too. Be safe on item one report on building bridges to kindergarten.
[Roy Belson]: Mr. Superintendent calling upon our assistant superintendent to deliver this report.
[Diane Caldwell]: Good evening everyone. I'm trying to be responsive to your request to have our Bridges to Kindergarten earlier than we've had it in the past few years. So we have backed it up almost two months to March. So Medford Public Schools would like to invite parents to our Building Bridges to Kindergarten information nights. Children who will be five years old by August 31st can register at the Parent Information Center at Medford High School. Registration begins on Monday, March 6th, and the Parent Information Center is open Monday through Friday from 7.30 a.m. until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There will be extended hours on two evenings this year instead of just one until 6.30 p.m. So we're going to have three informational nights. Usually we have two, but because we're starting early, I'm thinking we'll have two at Medford High School, and then I rotate through the elementary schools, and this year, it's going to be at the Columbus Elementary School. It will be in the Medford High School Library from seven to eight on March 7th and on April 12th, and then on Thursday, May 4th, from seven to eight, at the Columbus Elementary School cafeteria. We always have requests for childcare, and if people need some interpreters, they're available as well. At the high school, you would contact Marie Cassidy, and the request should be submitted at least a week beforehand. These letters, or something similar to this letter, will be going out to all of our parents shortly. These meetings will provide families with an overview of kindergarten. Ms. Maria Marcelli, who is a Brooks School kindergarten teacher for almost 20 years, shows a PowerPoint demonstration of our little kiddos in school, in kindergarten classrooms, and it shows what the centers look like. She discusses the various content areas and we assist parents in navigating through their first year. You can always tell the very nervous parents because they have a multitude of questions and usually it revolves around how do they go to the bathroom and how do they get snack and is there somebody there to help them with that. So parents will be able to register their children at any time after March 6th. I know we give specific dates and specific weeks, but we're open all through the summer as well. You can go during April vacation on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 18th and 19th from 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Parents can also call Ms. Ibrahim to make an appointment or email her. Sometimes it's easier to set up an appointment with Ms. Ibrahim at the Parent Information Center. Shelly Gross will be there from our early childhood to inform parents about the before and after school programming that we have, busing, and any early childhood development questions. We always leave at least a half an hour to 45 minutes for questions for our parents. And the parents will be receiving letters and more information following. Attached to your information is a flyer that's going to go out. to all of our families. We're in the process now of putting together packets for our kindergarten families and hopefully we get them started with early registration.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Is there a motion? Can I just make one suggestion? Could the parent information sent to phone number be on this? Absolutely. So this paper is what we get. Declan will be going to kindergarten.
[Diane Caldwell]: So the parent, I can put the telephone number on this definitely.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: I think that would help.
[Diane Caldwell]: The letter that goes out will also have contact information.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: I didn't know if they just got this fire. The parents, right? So there is a letter that goes with this file?
[Diane Caldwell]: There is a letter that goes with this as well. I'll make sure it's on this. Sure.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. On the motion to receive and place on file by Ms. Mustone, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Okay. We have a report of committees which correlate to our item for old business, which was on our last school committee agenda. We had a recommendation to formally approve the Medford High School, Medford Vocational Technical High School merger into one local education state code, LEA code, as you said during our meetings. And if we could also take the committee of the whole report from last week. We had Dr. Perrella and Dr. Riccio did a presentation last week describing the fundamental reasons for merging this LEA number and it has a host of benefits to us including some efficiencies, the ability to have one database for all students so that grading and scheduling can be done in one spot as opposed to people having to shift from one program into another. So there was a motion at our committee, the whole, that we adopt the merger of the two into the one LE number. And is there a motion to accept the committee report as presented?
[Robert Skerry]: Motion to accept the committee report. And I just have one caveat. It's the third time we've received this. And just, you know, I don't like to tell stories out of school, but every year there's always a complaint that there's never enough paper to go around at the end of the year. Yeah, but we start printing on two sides. I offered a motion some years ago, Mr. Superintendent, once in a while it's done, but I think in the nature of efficiency and transparency, a lot of these, This information we received could be printed on both sides.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Good point. Mr. Skerry. Well, how did they agree with you? There's a motion to receive the committee report during that committee, the whole second seconded by all those in favor. All those opposed.
[Robert Skerry]: Roll call.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Roll call.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. Cugno. Yes. Mrs. DiBenedetto. Yes. Mrs. Kreatz. Yes. Mrs. Mustone. Yes. Mr. Skerry. Yes. Mrs. Vander Vliet. Yes. Mayor Burke.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. I'm in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion to accept the committee report as filed is so adopted. I'm now on the recommendation to formally approve the merger into one local education state code by Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Mayor, just before we take that vote, just through you to the superintendent, Before the end of the school year and the budget hits us, could we please have a overview of what's going to happen and if there's going to be any shift in personnel or what it's going to cost?
[Roy Belson]: Cost analysis. We'll put that as part of the budget.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It should be efficiencies gained from it.
[Roy Belson]: It could be some efficiencies.
[Robert Skerry]: But I hope we would see something long before the budget.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay.
[Robert Skerry]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good roll call vote on the formal acceptance of the combined LEA number for both schools.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. Cugno? Yes. Mrs. DiBenedetto? Yes. Mrs. Kreatz? Yes. Mrs. Mustone? Yes. Mr. Scurry? Yes. Mrs. Van der Kloot? Yes. Mayor Burke?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. And thank you to Dr. Riccio and Perella for that informative session last week. Lastly, on reports, is the report on state fiscal year 2018 budget challenges. Mr. Superintendent?
[Robert Skerry]: Accept the report and place it on file.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is the motion to accept the report and place it on file?
[Roy Belson]: Just to give you a little quick update on this because the governor will be speaking tomorrow night And there will be releases of the state budget His proposed budget and then the process will begin and so just to keep you informed as to what goes on because this is a What happens at the state level obviously impacts us. So the governor is going to be speaking tomorrow night. Somewhere in the next little while, you will get some more details on that presentation. But on January 13th, the Senate, the House, and the governor agreed on a revenue distribution, which is 3.9%, or approximately $1.02 billion more into next year from taxation and other revenues from the state. This is what we call a consensus budget guideline to help them produce budgets in each chamber. The thing you have to understand is that you can project 3.9% increase. Last year they projected 4.3. But to get to that number, they probably have to increase the revenue by even more. And we'll guess that to about 5.5%. something along that kind of line, because there are tax cuts. There are other things that are one-time revenues that we used that won't be used again. So even though they project that, they're now going to have to resolve what they've lost from revenue from the previous year or what they will lose with programs that maybe need more money. So in our budget, for example, as salaries go up, you know, that factors into the increase in what we need to come up with. It's not just revenue. So there are at least six major factors you need to pay attention to going through. One is how much money the FY 2017 budget was dependent upon as temporary and one-time revenues that won't be available in fiscal 2018. How much temporary money did they use? Two, what accounts were underfunded in 2017? Things that they short-funded and they have to provide a supplemental to. And they may need more money in 2018. What is the actual cost of providing current service levels in fiscal 18? Not more, current service levels. What will be the actual growth in revenues for fiscal 2018? Will there be new sources of sustainable revenue, not just one-time revenue? You know, for example, And if marijuana or other things like that were out there, there's money coming in, there's gambling issues, there's things like that that may generate hotel revenues, meal tax. As things come in, we have to watch all of that stuff to see exactly what goes into the state coffers. What new initiatives, projects will be approved? They want to do something they've never done before. All of a sudden, that's a new program that has to be funded. Or maybe it won't be funded, and it'll be sent down to us to fund, placing new demands on the budget. What previously funded items will be dropped or diminished? What will be the impact of a new administration in Washington? What states will gain or lose resource or policy changes? Medicaid, Medicare. the way it's funded, the way it's done, health care. All these things are going to have to be phased in. The governor's already talking about making some serious changes in health care, you were probably there, which could alter it. The GIC numbers are coming to us now, and they're looking for more deductibles and other factors, premium increases that will affect teachers and possibly affect, and other employees, and possibly affect what we have to budget for our percentage. So all those things have to come into from a state budget, so we're looking at this stuff now. It'll be at the center of our concerns, but any adverse state effect on the municipal budget as well, things that affect the municipal side of the budget, has an impact on us. The mayor's got one whole budget to look at. We want what we want, he's gonna look at the whole city. And that could be something that impacts us as well. Chapter 70 allocations. The governor was talking about $95 million. He thinks that's new money. That, to us, is no new money. That's like $20. Last year, we got $55. And it's well below what the foundation-level budget review committees were proposing. So that's not doing us much good unless it gets better on the foundation level. We are a hold-harmless district. Because of where we are, we're going to get a certain amount of money that we got last year, plus minimum aid, which could be anywhere from $20 to $55. That's the way it works. There may be some other pockets, but, for example, last year, you know, you were concerned about the kindergarten money not coming in. Other things that may not come in, other budgets that could get sliced, we have to pay attention to. The sped circuit breaker is now being discussed. There's a legislative briefing on February 2nd or 3rd. I forget which date it is exactly right now that I'll attend. I'm part of that coalition. We typically get 75% above the threshold of four times foundation. But four times foundation goes up every year, so that means our eligibility gets shortchanged a little bit. If they don't give us 75%, That affects what we can put into the pie for special needs, extraordinary tuitions. So all those things are, you know, part of our calculus. Charter school reimbursements have been underfunded for a number of years now. They didn't increase last year. There won't be any major increase in the number of charter schools, but there will be some more charter schools because the state board is going to be discussing them in the next couple of weeks at their board meeting. And the more you have, The more pupils that you have statewide, the more the distribution takes place. And if you only have the same pot of money, it gets spread out. So we'll have to see where that takes that. We brought youngsters back to Medford last year, and we paid more. So it's a tricky formula. It's got to be what? Out-of-district transportation costs for non-resident students to Minutemen. The reimbursement level came down again this year. Hopefully it'll be sustained, but if that gets knocked out of the budget, it could be $20,000, $30,000 out of our pocket. Homeless funding has always been underfunded. The various grant programs, including early childhood, kindergarten, academic support, vocational education, and substance abuse prevention, the new opiate bill, it's not funded as far as I can see. I don't know who's funding that, but we all have responsibilities on it. And will there be any new mandated programs that emerge from legislative deliberations? So this is a snapshot of some of the challenges ahead. I want you to be aware of it. We don't know, you know, all the facts right now, but this is the stuff that we'll process every week, every day. I get newsletters and materials, speak to people. It's the kind of stuff I have to do on a regular basis to see what's likely to happen or not likely to happen. superintendents, teachers, unions, all kinds of people will be in there lobbying to keep money at a certain level or to get more money. But they'll all be clashing with each other. And the hard question is, is that what can happen that's new if the revenue growth is only at a certain level and one time revenues are either not available. We always hear about the rainy day fund. No one likes to dip into that unless they absolutely have to. Um, we don't know what capital gains will do for, you know, revenue into the city, I mean into state rather, all that's there. And we also don't know what Washington will change in the next year and what it might affect. Although I think they're on a one year delay, it doesn't seem much change in some things through this year, but the year after it could have some impact on us. So there's a lot of factors for us to pay attention to, but I want to get you in the water and start you talking about it as we move forward.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The numbers should start to circulate out. We're expecting the cherry shoots, possibly midweek, and that kind of spells out the governor's idea of what we'll be getting. And then we wait for the house ways and means, really, is what we use for the budget to set our budget numbers. So they'll all be coming in stride.
[Roy Belson]: And there are other funds, too. Now, we've talked about it. There are funds that come from special sources, bond bills and the like. So, for example, in our vocational, you've seen money come to us from certain grants. Some of those things are independent of this budget. Some of the things will be dependent on this budget. So... Very good. Thank you for the report.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is the motion to receive in place on file by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor?
[Roy Belson]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? The motion carries. We do have... We have some new business. New business, school committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee send its best wishes to former Medford High School headmaster, Salvatore Todaro, on the occasion of its 80th birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Todaro. School committee resolution. Oh, I'm sorry. Motion for approval of that resolution.
[Roy Belson]: All those in favor? Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed?
[Roy Belson]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion carries. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Charles Driscoll. Mr. Driscoll was a Medford High School boys hockey coach for many years. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Camille Lucci. Mrs. Lucci was the wife of the late Tony Lucci, owner of Medford Sporting Goods. The Luccis were generous supporters of the students in Medford for many years. Mrs. Lucci was the mother of former elementary teacher Debbie Ryan. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Katina Tina Houlihan. Mrs. Houlihan was the former secretary to Fire Chief McCabe and also the secretary of the Davenport Elementary School for many years. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Mary Gabrelas. Mrs. Gabrelas was the mother of Medford Public School teacher Wendy Anderson. Mary was also an active supporter of the Medford Public Schools for many years. And lastly, offered by Mr. Skerry, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Dominic Vincenzo. Mr. Vincenzo was active in civic affairs in Medford Youth Soccer, as well as the owner of Domenico's Cafe at Wellington Circle for many years. All please rise and take a moment of silence on the passing of these Medford residents. We have one announcement. I just want to make sure that we get this clear.
[Roy Belson]: The committee of the whole meeting is Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, on the notice, we put Tuesday the 25th. It's Wednesday. Wednesday.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Tuesday the 25th, but we have the proper date.
[Roy Belson]: Wednesday.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The committee of the whole to discuss inclusion with Medford's special education path will be 6.30 in the superintendent's conference room at Medford High School on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 6.30. And lastly, as you may be aware, this is public school week. So we have a proclamation we'd like to circulate to the members of the school committee. I could read it really quickly if you so choose. Whereas all children in the City of Medford should have access to the highest quality education possible. And whereas the City of Medford recognizes the important role that an effective education plays in preparing all students in Medford to be successful adults. And whereas quality education is critically important to the economic vitality of the City of Medford. And whereas the City of Medford is home to quality public schools for our children. Whereas public education not only helps to diversify our economy but also enhances the vibrancy of our community. Whereas the City of Medford has many high-quality teaching professionals who are committed to educating our children, and whereas public schools are celebrated across the country by millions of students, parents, educators, schools, and organizations to raise awareness of the need for effective public schools. Now, therefore, we, the Medford School Committee, Medford, Massachusetts, do hereby recognize January 22nd to the 28th, 2017, as the City of Medford Public Schools Week and call this observance to the attention of all our citizens. Is there a motion for approval? Motion for approval. By the whole school committee, motion for approval. All those in favor?
[Roy Belson]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? The motion passes and we'll pass this around.
[Roy Belson]: One more announcement.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: One more announcement, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: OK, so on Sunday, the 27th, there's community conversations in the afternoon in front of Caron Theater, right? The 29th. 29th.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: 29th. 29th?
[Roy Belson]: Yes, Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon. I'll get the dates. 29th on Sunday afternoon, so it's from 2 to 4. So it's an important activity. I also want to tell you that we'll put on the web, the students created a beautiful video on Martin Luther King Day. And I want to put that up there so you can look for that. It's a great tribute to them and their work and the way they express themselves.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And also tomorrow night, we are starting forums to meet your city hall. It'll be at the library tomorrow night at 6 o'clock. And the finance group will be leading the discussion. And that includes the assessor, the auditor, the treasurer, as well as procurement officer. So if you have some time tomorrow night, Wednesday night, I'm sorry. We're really confusing tomorrow and Wednesday. It's Wednesday night at 6 at the library. We'll be at 6. So it's the same? We're 6.30 at the high school. And I just want to look up Sunday's location Motion to adjourn all those
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