[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: 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. Item one, approval of amended minutes of April 3rd, 2017. Motion for approval by Ms. Cugno, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? All those opposed? April 3rd meeting?
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay. But I just want to make sure that he realizes that we voted to buy and purchase those. So if the ambulance company doesn't purchase them soon, we need them for this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: They have ordered them. We just don't have a date of delivery yet.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, great. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Approval of the minutes of April 24, 2017. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills. Transfer of funds. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payrolls. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of the secretary.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: There is none.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Report of committees. None. Community participation. Hearing and seeing none. Report of the superintendent, report on Connors Scholarship Program. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Mayor and members of the school committee, you have heard undoubtedly about the Connors Scholarship Program. It was created through the generosity of James and Thelma Connors. You've got the information in front of you. People of modest means or apparently of modest means until the very end when their investments became available to the city and through the work of Attorney John Granara, former Mayor Mike McGlynn, and Stephen Andrew. It was put together into a scholarship program. Amelia Jensen is here, our Director of Guidance, and she is reaching out to students to apply for this program. The details are here, and happy to answer any questions you have. rather than go through it, but it's obviously a very generous activity and we're pleased to have it.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Hi, good evening, Mayor Burke, Superintendent Belson, and members of the school committee. We had a pretty successful turnout for students applying for the scholarship. While we don't know exact final numbers, since we do not collect the scholarship applications, we've had between 50 to 60 students ask Councilors for the recommendation forms to be filled out. So we expect at least 50 or 60 students to apply for the scholarship. It's a wonderful scholarship. Like Mr. Bellson said, there are $33,000 scholarships that could go to Medford students. So we're really hoping that many from Medford High School will be able to be awarded. Excellent.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Disceri? No.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: This is such a wonderful thing. It's like a dream come true for our Medford students. Obviously, we can't express our appreciation to Jim and Thelma Connors, but we certainly owe them a huge debt of thanks for our students. And I appreciate all the people who are working on this to make sure that it is administered correctly and that our students will benefit. I do hope that we receive a list of all the students who receive them.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Thank you very much.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto. I just want to thank your office for taking on this responsibility and getting this information out to our students. I hope it helps a lot of students that normally wouldn't get a high end scholarship because the GPA is very reasonable and it's for the average working hard student and I'm really glad to see that.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: One of the, yeah, I'm sorry.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you for your office and your help.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Oh, you're welcome. One of, um, one of the things that was really exciting about this scholarship is although they'd look at academic record and demonstrated leadership, um, they also look at work experience and any type of hardships that students have overcome and, um, they weigh those things somewhat equally. Um, so some of our students who may have had to take a job to help support family or take care of their siblings, um, aren't going to be ruled out for the scholarship. Excellent.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Amazing. Miss Kurtz. Oh, hi. Thank you, Miss Jensen. This is a great report. I don't want to duplicate what Aaron said, but I was going to say that, you know, I thought it was a really fair grade point average where it ranged from two point three to higher levels, which is good for some students who might not be at the same grade level as others. And it's just a wonderful, generous opportunity. for our students. Thank you very much for the report. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Thank you, Ms. Jensen, to you and to your staff for being involved in this. I hope, though, that as the students are applying for this scholarship, they really understand how they're receiving this money. I think there's a huge lesson here. This is just, it's an incredible story. It really is. And for people that are listening and maybe don't know the whole story, the bottom line is that We had two people in our own city that lived very modestly and have now given, you know, they were over, like, the modest life yields, $4 million. That's a huge lesson. And the lesson I hope that our students get from this and for everyone, actually, that listens is this is why you always treat everybody equally, because you just don't know what happens and what's underneath anything. And to read the story, it was just a fabulous story. I actually shared it a little bit. today with some people that I work with, and they said, I hope the city really promotes this story, because not only what they have done, but also to give the opportunity to all students, because sometimes students don't feel that they could apply for all scholarships. And this is something really tremendous, but I thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It is wonderful. Very good. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to receive in place on file? Motion to receive in place on file. Seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on class of 2017 college university acceptances.
[Roy Belson]: Making a return appearance is Amelia Jensen to tell you about the college acceptances to date. This is still preliminary, but we wanted to give you a sense of what was happening out there for the time being.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yes, so the students inform the guidance department. Their deadline is May 11. And they inform us of all of the places that they were accepted, as well as where they have chosen to go, and their post-secondary plans. So right now, again, this is preliminary numbers, but we've had 220 students report that they have been accepted to over 225 different colleges and universities. And there should be an attachment that lists all of the colleges and universities. I did want to highlight a few because this was an exceptional year. We have had a student get into Brown University, Duke University, Harvard, Tufts University, Wellesley College, Yale University, all of the UMass schools, and many, many state schools. and many more schools that you can look at on the attached sheet. We also have some students who are waitlisted at some pretty good schools, so we're still waiting to hear if they have been accepted. Decision day is May 1st, so students will be making that decision, or should have already made that decision, and again should be letting us know where they're going. So that's where we stand with colleges. Many students also have received scholarships and awards already. We had one student who became a national merit finalist. One student won a Posse scholarship, which is a full-ride scholarship, and this student will be attending Bucknell University. We had a student receive a Fulbright scholarship to Duke University because of soccer, one to Tufts University because of academics, and many more. So again, that's also a list that we will be collecting. Two Medford vocational technical students are currently enrolled in apprenticeship programs at night to become plumbers. So what they're doing is they're already a year ahead of their peers. So they're going to school during the day and at night. So that is also very exceptional. And this was the first year that many students, I believe over 35 students, have chosen alternative post-secondary plans and options for their future. And by this, what I mean is these are students who have below a 2.5 GPA and historically would not have been accepted to a four-year school, so they would have gone to community college or they would have chosen some other route. Instead of that, we were able to offer them other programs and opportunities through the Rockland Earn and Learn program, Year Up, Match Beyond, and many more. And what these programs offer is work experience and scholarships to go to college. And I can go into more detail if you have specific questions on this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you. Ms. Cuno. Thank you. Thank you again, Ms. Jensen, for this report. Again, extremely proud of our students. And I just encourage, I know that we did it last year for the graduation pamphlet, if we could add this on to the graduation pamphlet again. Absolutely. And maybe even a little bit of the, you know, where the students that received a couple of scholarships, just to give an idea. And the reason I say that is that we had had this discussion, I was on the psych council for the high school and the vocational school for many years, and what happened is that our students do get accepted to great schools, but sometimes, because of financial reasons, they choose other schools. I heard people in the audience that were saying, oh, our Medford students are all going to this school or that school. And I'm not saying that one school is better than the other. But they were leaving the graduation just thinking that our students were going to particular schools. And when I, when we approached it, we said it's not fair to the students because parents or relatives that come or people that just come to the graduation or just see where our students end up going doesn't necessarily mean that's where they've only been accepted to. So I think it's very important for the school but also for the students to let people know how hard they've worked and where they've been accepted to.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yes, we definitely plan on putting that on the graduation booklet. I agree. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Just out of curiosity, do you know how many students have been accepted to Tufts University this year?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Seven or nine. Yeah, the last time I heard, I thought it was seven, but it could have, there could be more.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I think there were seven accepted and there were multiple wait lists. Okay, so we're still waiting to hear on this.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Good to know. I really, since we have one of the best colleges in the world here in our city, I really like that partnership with Tufts University. And I know that they look closely at taking both Method and some of those students. So I'm just always curious as to how many get accepted and then how many can afford to go after that. And I know that Tufts can be generous at times with our students, having a daughter who graduated from there. But also because I want to keep that opportunity for our children in our community. I mean, it's a great It's like a world-renowned school now. And it's got people from all over the world coming.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yes. They've been working very well with our department. They reach out to us monthly. They ask for names of students who are on the Honor Society. And they do personal outreach to our students. So they're very good with our population. Thank you. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Has the guidance office been apprised of any students who received substantial scholarships to go to their schools?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Not yet. So they'll fill that information out when they get their graduation caps and gowns, which is mid-May.
[Robert Skerry]: OK, great. Yeah.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Ms. van de Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: No, I just, it's always nice to see the list. It's particularly nice to see that we've got a student accepted into Yale this year, because that's a very difficult school to have an acceptance. So I was particularly happy to see that a Medford student had made it to Yale.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah, I think it's been a while since that's happened. Very good. There's a motion to receive and place on file by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cunha. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jensen. Report on opiate prevention grant. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So I think we all realize that the opiate issue is becoming very, very substantial. It has been very substantial. The Massachusetts amount of opiate exceeds the national aperture. So for opiate deaths and the like. And it affects marriages, it affects jobs, families, neighborhoods, and all kinds of things out there that are not good. So through the work of Tony and Rachel, we have another grant. And I'll let them explain it because I think it's a really good item for us right now.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Ms. Bento?
[Toni Wray]: Good evening, Mayor Burke, Superintendent, and school committee members. Rachel and I are here to talk about the Youth Opioid Prevention Grant. This grant was funded by a settlement with CVS and Walgreen over fraudulent practices around opioid prescriptions. And Attorney General Maura Healey used $500,000 to fund the program, and they were looking for programs that would address the opioid addiction and dependence. programs that would be sustainable. So we're very happy to announce that we were awarded $18,000 for our programs here to augment the many different things we've been doing. But we're really focusing now on building skills, as Rachel will talk about, with our younger elementary students.
[Rachel Perry]: All right, so we're looking to use the grant funding kind of a four-prong approach. First, education of our students. education of our faculty, education of our parents, and education of our community. The first thing we're looking to do is purchase more Michigan model kits. At this point, we have kits at the elementary schools, but they are shared between the teachers. By using this money, we can purchase one kit for every teacher so that they all have all of their own kits, all of their own information. We'd also like to provide yearly parent education forums about substance use and prevention, We'd also like to do faculty training on identification of substance use, risky behaviors, and preventative strategies. That would be a yearly training that we would offer. Increasing community awareness by having resources for education and student support actually posted on our school website, our health website, that will help people in the community that are looking for information. And then strengthening our partnerships with community organizations. the youth soccer leagues, the youth basketball leagues, working with their coaches to actually teach them some of the information within the Michigan model so they can share it with their athletes and with their parents as well. We will be assessing the program as well. We're going to actually start to look at the survey results for the communities that care survey so we can make a comparison 2017 and 2019 to see what we have done, see if it has made a difference within the survey results. And we'll also be assessing each program. We'll have surveys after each program is done to kind of assess how it went and where we're going from there. And then we'll also be doing pre and post assessments of the Michigan model.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Excellent work. Thank you. Thank you so much.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. Thank you very much. $18,000 towards educational services regarding drug addiction in any way, shape, or form. There's money coming in, and we don't I'm really happy to see that they've allocated funds throughout the community, and we were recipient of such a large sum. I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about working with Penny from the city side, because she's an amazing, and her department is amazing.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: They do work very closely now.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So she might have some ideas.
[Toni Wray]: Penny sat on the planning board when we wrote this grant. Great. So we were able to listen to her, feedback about it and she was very helpful for us in putting together the application. They also funded our parent forum with Dr. Ruth Poteet that we had a couple weeks ago. So we were very pleased to be able to do that for our community.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: My other only suggestion is as far as the community piece, we have a group in the community, Method Against Addiction, and it's really well run and well developed and they really have the hands on what's happening in that community. So I would reach out to that group as well. I mean, they're phenomenal and they're very receptive and very helpful. And my last piece is for the parents. I know that Cheryl just received an award from the- Citizen of the Year. Citizen of the Year. And I've attended her, I've been to her group to observe what goes on there. And it's for the parents. of people who are addicted. And everybody thinks it's the older. It could also be students within our district. And just get that perspective as well. So you're getting both the school, the city side, the great program, Method Against Addiction, which brings people together, make them feel like a family. And you're also getting adults that are struggling with, how do I cope with this? type of thing. So we could really, you know, unite as one with, I know it's only 18,000, but that's, that's a good amount of money. And it's just some different ideas. Cause if you do an outreach, speak to the people that you're going to outreach to, the parents, the people in the citizen street, et cetera. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I just want to add a couple of comments that I just heard at the start. It's way beyond a start. We've been spending a lot of money, a lot of commitment to this topic from a city perspective. And I know that Penny and her team, there's quite a few that are part of her team now, and they do outreach, they do coaching, they connect people with beds if need be to get them in for treatment, and the post. So there's a lot going on. I know you've been working closely with them as it is, so keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. Good grant.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: One more thing. Oh, sorry. Can she just finish? So I also, uh, about two years ago, the governor had, um, people come out to the community and I went to a few of the meetings, um, they were in Somerville and they were trying to figure out what the state needed to do as a team and they, They were talking about mandates for schools and stuff and I rose my hand and I was like, are they going to be funded mandates or are they going to be burdened to the cities? And I was assured that of course they would be funded mandates. But I haven't seen those mandates yet. And I was wondering if the superintendent had gotten any mandates yet from. Funded mandates. Or unfunded.
[Roy Belson]: The word fun is not really a good way to begin the word funded.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Or even unfunded. Are there any new mandates within the school district?
[Roy Belson]: There will be several.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: But they haven't come out yet. The governor was doing.
[Roy Belson]: They're starting to emerge right now. Because I think the biggest thing you have to understand is a lot of things coming out, but they're always underfunded. You know what I mean? So there's a few dollars put to them, but then there's not enough to really carry them out. You'll see some of the budget report that we're going to talk about.
[Toni Wray]: Right. And I mean, one of them recently was the expert screening that the training was funded for. Um, but we were able to conduct the screening at no cost to the district, just using our resources that we have in the health services and guidance counseling, um, departments.
[SPEAKER_07]: Very good. Ms. Van der Kloot. I just want to thank you both for writing the grant. I wanted to, since you mentioned her,
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: that I know Mrs. Kreatz and myself were able to attend Dr. Ruth Pote's talk, which was just exceptional. Everybody in the audience who, and I've talked to people since, have said it was one of the best things that they've attended. I hope that at some point we might be able to bring her back again. She truly was, it was a wonderful event and I'm so glad that I was able to attend.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Ms. Kreatz. I wanted to mention that I went to the forum, you know, with Paula and I, and it was just amazing. And she was a great, great speaker. And everybody was so engaged. It was wonderful. This is a great grant. It's just terrific. And I love how there's going to be more parent forums and more facility training, increased community awareness. And I just wanted to make sure, because I know when the original grant was written, the expenses added up to $20,000. So I wanted to make sure that there was going to be enough funding available, or if you had to add something to the budget this year, so that you could continue with the new teacher training and prevention, the presentations. I wasn't sure if, you know, was this like kind of a little bit of an estimate, or do you think you'll find out?
[Toni Wray]: No, this is the grant, the total that we will receive. But we looked through, and we were able to slim down on some administrative costs. Because I just want to make sure that you get to put through everything that you want to put through because it's so wonderful. The most important piece of it, the Michigan model kits we kept because that really starts building the foundation at the kindergarten level.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I just want to say again, as my colleagues have said, thank you for your hard work and for getting us this grant. I know that you have collaborated with different organizations. I'm just curious in knowing, I know that the city council has their meetings once a month with the police chief and the police department, and they're going from one community, well, one part of our city to another. And I was just curious if If it was something that you guys have ever attended, maybe just to get the word out of when you're going to have a parent meeting?
[Toni Wray]: Yeah. We attended and did a presentation a couple of years ago at a city council meeting. I also attend a monthly National Alliance of Mental Illness meeting that is held at the police station. So we share a lot of ideas at that monthly meeting. Stacey Shulman also attends with me from the school side.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: This wasn't necessarily just to show it to the city council, but where they're having their meetings in the different sections of the city. I know your schedules are, you know, they're piled as it is, but just to like, you don't have to stay there the whole night, but just to get the word out, maybe when they do have their meetings of giving them the information of what you're working on, maybe the next time you are having a parent meeting, or when you're scheduling a yearly meeting, just to, even if you could bring a flyer, or just give it to the chief and have him bring it to those meetings, just to get the word out again.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The police chief has been having community meetings the first Wednesday of every month, ongoing for years and years and years. What he's done differently now is he's actually going into the neighborhoods to host them. So people, a little more localized, but I believe it's Wednesday night at 6 at the senior center.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: This week it's going to be tomorrow night. Senior center at 6, Wednesday. Wednesday. Today's Tuesday. Sorry. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All right, a motion to receive this report and place on file by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Recommendation to approve school committee meeting schedule for the school year 17-18. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: It's in front of you. It's a standard schedule.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It's a motion on the floor for approval, seconded by Ms. Mustone. Roll call. Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. Motion passes. Recommendation to reject school choice for year 17-18. Motion for approval by Ms. Vanden Heuvel, seconded by Ms. Cuno. Roll call. Roll call vote, please. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. Report on TechEdge technology study. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So this report we commissioned earlier this year to get us a robust look at our network and all the infrastructure that's necessary to support the expanded use of technology in the schools. And what you have is, I think, a very thorough report. It gives us some pathways to pursue and strengthen our capacities to use technology efficiently. It also enables us to access our tier two funding in support of upgrades. These reports, as I mentioned, are very technical and extensive. But they're provided to you so that you can take your time to go through them and perhaps develop a deeper understanding of the complexity it will take to integrate technology into our programs in the public schools. The recommendations provide several key steps that we can take without a burdensome cost. Some of these things are just doable. We just have to do them. And still, it's important for us to recognize that there are heavy requirements of testing, state reporting, electronic data management. Communication requires we have finely tuned, robust, and reliable capacity to meet our obligations. And also, well, it's not part of this report, some staffing that has to be done so that we can maintain these systems the way we need to. This is not a one-time thing. We'll do it. It'll be with us for a while in terms of the infrastructure, but there'll be many upgrades that will always be required as more things are added and more people are trying to do things and more devices are played with. But this is a very, very good investment. So I recommend, first of all, that you would read the executive summaries because that gives you enough of a background to understand what's being involved. Additionally, you'll find some materials that talk about the category two E-rate funding estimates. And under this program, we can access $398,100 of federal funds with a $265,000, $400 match. We're currently soliciting bids and completing E-rate applications. We will seek capital funding to meet this infrastructure need in the weeks ahead. It's clear that other things need to be done in terms of devices and equipment, but that's not part of this particular activity. If we don't do it this year, I have a feeling some of this stuff may not be available to school systems or libraries next year because of some of the domestic cutbacks that are being considered in Washington. So I'd like to act on this now. I'd like to let you know that we're working actively on this. Christine is working closely. uh, on the financial part and on the technical part as well with Steve Kelly of tech edge and, uh, look forward to moving this forward. Happy to take any questions and Christine's here as well.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, that I had, um, an opportunity to review this report in detail and I did look at all of the, uh, findings and although there was much that I didn't understand as, as a novice in this area, there were other parts that just make common sense as they were talking about, you know, areas where all of a sudden it would get too crowded, if you would, and somehow or another it just seemed one of the most comprehensive and clearly it's something we need to move ahead on. Is the next appropriate step to have a committee of the whole to review this?
[Roy Belson]: Well, we can do that if you want. Do we need to? We certainly, you know, want to move forward because, you know, we want to be able to file our applications and and take advantage of bids that are out there. But if you want to come into the hall, we can schedule it. We do are going to have a very busy schedule in the month of May and early June because of a number of things, including school council reports and the like, but happy to schedule it if this is what you want to do.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Personally, I'm comfortable with just moving at authorizing the administration to move ahead.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If my colleagues are, we would still have to come back for a formal vote in any case and then send it for an appropriation paper to the city council.
[Roy Belson]: Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion? Mr. Benedetto. Thank you very much.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So this is the recommendation that we have to move forward. And if we move forward with this, we would need to receive $265,400 match. And we would get close to $400,000. That's right. Right. I also would like to know what we're budgeting in addition to this on an annual basis to make sure that we're also making a commitment on a line item in our budget as well. Because this, like we did the $3 million bond a few years ago for technology and then we had a few slow years and then we're asking for more. What I'd like to see is a commitment to technology throughout our system throughout every year so that way we don't, you know, when these opportunities arise, it's for bonus stuff, not the everyday stuff. Do you understand what I'm saying, superintendent?
[Roy Belson]: So what our plans are internally, of course, we're still refining them somewhat because we still have to figure out how much money is available to us operationally. But we will plan to buy devices with a regular budget in addition to some of the other things we've typically done, because in order to use the network, you have to have more devices. Probably a lot of Chromebooks. You'll see this in the school council reports. People are asking for these things. We need them for testing. We need them for reporting. There are a few other devices we will need. But the infrastructure is something that we can bond. And the infrastructure is something that we can get E-rate money for. And that's what we need to really go after right now, because that's money that we wouldn't typically put in an operating budget. So yes, you'll see substantial dollars put to this, plus there's also some staff needs. And we're going to have to try and put that in place and work that around as well.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Okay. Just point of clarification. I want to make sure that I'm understanding this. So the 265.4, that comes out of, that will come out of the capital plan money. That does not touch the budget.
[Roy Belson]: That's the plan. Christine, did you want to come up and comment on any of these things? Cause it's financial stuff that she's working closely with.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Thank you. Yes, just also a clarification that we are in the process of reviewing the major procurements that are involved with the E-Rate Priority 2 funding. So it's a substantial process of which we have a federal deadline of May 11th. So timing is of great importance in this particular case to make sure that we can maximize their major matching funding piece. What we have on our procurement are the infrastructure switches, the major firewalls, and all of the wireless access points throughout the entire district. So we are looking at analyzing the best case scenarios that we can utilize the funds and or maximize what the contribution will be. So some of our bids are coming in, well, they were much better than they had been projected out from a rough calculation. The competitive process is definitely very good in terms of getting best pricing. We are seeing that based on the quantities that are needed and the level of extensions and infrastructure renovations that we're looking at do cause a couple of overages in certain categories. So we are still in the process of having that final analysis done. We're getting clarifications back from the vendors as well. So although this is an estimated figure, I would advise that we do not hang our hat on this exact number at this point in time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: When is the application due?
[Kirsteen Patterson]: May 11th. May 11th in terms of what we would be identifying as our project in terms of going forward with the funding.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Not funding approval.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Correct. It is not a commitment to actual the purchasing and procurement process, but it is saying that to the federal government. Yes, we are identifying that this is a priority and we anticipate in fiscal year 18 to provide X, Y, Z amount for this purpose.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: So when would the deadline be after this? Like if we have May 11th, we have, okay, everything goes through. This is us just basically saying that we are interested in this. This is what we want to do. When is the deadline? Because I just want to make sure we have plenty of time to come back to the board here and take the vote the proper way and make sure that you have enough time to get all the information you need. But if I'm not mistaken, we also have to go to the city council. So I just don't want to have another fiasco at the last, not, not that we're doing it. I'm just saying, I don't want to hear another fiasco.
[Roy Belson]: Well, let's, let's go over this now. Okay. The federal government, we put this report in, we put an E-rate, you know, a funding request in every year, the general E-rate. This is tier two. Tier one, we generally get 50 to $60,000. It's changed a little bit because of the, change from telecommunications to other things. But generally, that's independent of this, okay? Tier 2 is a special infrastructure type funding that's designed to give us more robust capability. We'll put this in on May 11th, and then we've got to wait for the federal government to actually formally approve it, okay? But, you know, if we don't put it in on May 11th, and we don't put this in, we won't be eligible to ask for the money later on. So the actual spending process will take place after we have a more, more of a discussion on the details.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Which is fine. And I totally understand that. I'm just trying to figure out how much time though we have from May 11th to the actual time that we have to hold patent until we hear back from the federal government.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We could go in with an estimate to the council to get the bulk. We could do that if we wanted to just secure it. Correct.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: A little earlier than later. Correct. So that we could actually have the work and service done. identified and ready to go forward.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Yes. If I'm not mistaken, it has to be done also before the budget is, oh no, because there's nothing to do with it. I apologize for that.
[Roy Belson]: You just want to get an authorization to move forward if you can, because otherwise you lose the opportunity to access it. And I'm willing to bet, not willing to bet, but I think it's a pretty good bet that this funding will start to disappear with the next federal budget. And I think if we don't act, we won't have this opportunity.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Mustone. On page 16 from the back, I think it's the easiest way to see it from the back page 16 from the back.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So in under traffic to and from different schools, I'd list our schools and devices. Those are handheld devices. So we have high school, three 11 Andrews, two 39 Brooks, 95 Columbus, 82 McGlynn, six 93 and Roberts 99. So what accounts for such a drastic difference in the number of devices at schools?
[Roy Belson]: People using. It's used. Some places will be more technologically involved than other places.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right, but we've always heard that the Andrews was like our IT school to go to, but this is Sabbath and McGlynn.
[Roy Belson]: McGlynn is two schools in one, remember?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So even if we cut it in half, it still seems like it's substantially more.
[Roy Belson]: Well, just the way it is. I mean, some places use technology.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: That was the traffic for a snapshot in time. That's not in totality. So it was a day of monitoring. So not all of your devices would be on in one particular day. Not all of them would be captured for every single school. So I don't think that that's a clear delineation that that's the number of devices period in each of those schools. It's what was captured on the activity for the log that they were monitoring the traffic across the Internet connections.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Is anyone else shocked, though? I'm assuming that we took a snapshot at about the same time at each school, right? People work—they probably worked 7 to 3 in school hours. So, as a parent who's now worried about kids and their device usage at school as well as home, it seems So the percentage-wise goes from 1% to 67%. That seems like a red flag. And I'm not an IT person, so I don't know what I'm missing.
[Roy Belson]: Again, we're talking about a snapshot in time. We're talking about an attempt to find out the capacity of the network to handle traffic. And it was done on a few days here and there. It can't be done every day, because obviously we'd be paying a lot of money for a study that would happen every day. And it just happens this is what's coming through. So it gives us an idea of what traffic would look like on maybe a normal day, but maybe it doesn't totally reflect every day.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It looks really low for the most part, besides the McGlynn. Something's missing. Point of information, Ms. Pugno.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: happen that day, but it could be a possibility.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But even the high school 7% looks tremendously low.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Could we talk to the TechEdge people?
[Roy Belson]: Yeah. We can get some comment on that, and they'll follow me.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Because then on page 8 from the beginning, finding one, that we're paying internet connection at the high school and at the McGlen. And I know that I have heard at the Andrews, it's very slow, their connection a lot of days. So why isn't a finding for the Andrews as well? I guess it would have been helpful to have a Tech Edge person here. So we can bring them in.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That might be easier. Bring them to a school committee meeting versus a committee in the hall.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Yeah, that'd be great. We can do that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to table the report until Tech Edge can come in. Okay.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: They already did without us.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Christine, do you want a formal vote to submit? Maybe it's a good idea.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Yes.
[Unidentified]: So that we can move forward with the federal deadline.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to submit a formal request to the federal government? So moved. So moved by Ms. Vanden Heuvel, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. Roll call. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. Thank you, Kirsten. Pre-budget report, building and grounds.
[Roy Belson]: So, John, where are you?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Now appearing on our stage, John.
[Roy Belson]: You know, buildings and grounds obviously is a big area for us. And, um, you have a lot of interest in this and I just want to comment before John talks about his specifics. But, uh, as I told you in a prior meeting that it's my intent to augment the building repair of mine by 200,000, which would then be distributed among the schools for the various projects that we've all been talking about. Because quite frankly, the budget that we have will get used up for, general maintenance and it will be used up for things that, you know, go boom in the night. So this would give us some flexibility in doing some of the repairs. Now the major piece for the high school, we want to see where the SOI takes us, you know, and there's some other aspects of the high school which John will address, but the SOI is what we submitted to the MSBA and see where that goes because obviously if we get money from them, you know, that's going to be a a lot bigger amount than we would be able to fund ourselves internally. So there's a lot going on, but I wanted to have a chance to take a look at some of the things moving through this area. And John, you have your copy of your report? Okay. So why don't you talk a little bit about what's in your report and I'll be happy to augment it as we go. Mr. Benedetto.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Galston, the $200,000 that you're adding to the budget this year, is that going to be annually from this point on?
[Roy Belson]: Well, I don't know. I mean, we have to sit down and have that discussion. I mean, you know, I think that, particular line item should grow, whether it should grow $200,000, $300,000, or $150,000 is something we can look at. It also depends to some degree on what else we can get funding for. So I think the concept is to put a few more dollars in this thing so we can address very specific topics that you have an interest in. And we can do it with assurance rather than have to wait to see how many things go bum in the night, which we have to deal with emergency funding. Like we did got a couple of pipes like this year and be here before and so on so forth So it would give us more flexibility, but how much that really depends on you know the projects we identify and where we go with it Mr. McLaughlin good evening mayor Burke superintendent Dawson committee so our district is 1.1 to 1.2 million square feet
[Mr. McLaughlin]: And we're busy. We're very busy at all times. We take, uh, we take a lot of work orders, um, a lot of requests. And, um, this year we were busy at Medford high school with, uh, a building pipe replacement, which was, um, something that we had hoped to take on with the capital plan, but it just, uh, so happened that we, we had to make the repairs and, um, Mayor Burke has come up with the money to replace the front doors up in Medford High School and door 31, that's the pool door, which is gonna be a big improvement, especially where we have the new studio vestibule and matching everything up. And I think we're gonna look into probably some signage too for the main entrance of Medford High School, because I think that sometimes it can be a little confusing for people when they do come to the entrance. So I think that the signage is something I think that we can probably work with the vocational school to get something done that would be appropriate. And everybody's had a chance to read the report. If there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Mustone.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: And I also want to thank Carolyn Montello, a mom from the Brooks, who had reached out to me with some great ideas about how to improve the facade of the high school, and we had the opportunity to meet with John and the mayor at different times, and Mr. Belson. So one concern was the pool door that whacks you when you walk in, and the staircase about trying to make that look better. And you had mentioned that you would try to get a quote for us?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yes. Well, I've been in discussions with Superintendent Belson, and we're trying to come up with a plan. I have received a couple of quotes. So it'll just be a decision process whether we decide to move forward on it. I will recommend that we do. And then maybe if we do, we can have in-house staff make some of the floor repairs that need to be made. But I do wanna get a couple more opinions or a couple more quotes and then see where we can go from there.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Would it be going over the asbestos?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: No, I think we've talked about the possibility of doing that, but at this point in time, it may just be better off to abate that area. The first quote that came in, it wasn't as much as I thought it was going to be, truthfully. So we'll hash it out and we'll discuss it. Hopefully, if it works out, maybe it'll be a good summer project. We'll have to close the entrance down for a few days and work with it. And then, like I said, I think we can have our in-house staff take over after they complete.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: The other was the community school entrance. When you're walking in, the blue paint and the rebar was showing in the wall. It's been fixed. And scaffolding.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: It needs to be painted, but it's been fixed. But the scaffolding.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So scaffolding, can that be done for the light fixtures that are broken in the ceiling?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: The construction kids are going to do it for us. I'm hoping that they have it set up before the end of school. But either way, we'll have it set up for the summer. Director Riccio's kids are going to set it up for us, and then we'll go up. And I'm hoping that maybe we can do some painting, too, in the ceiling, as well as take down the fans and do a couple of other things, yeah.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Should I, Carolyn, if you're watching, text me what else I'm forgetting.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You have to video that, John.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Thank you, John.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, I know that she did have a request about the baseboard up around the gymnastics area. And I had it tested. So we can remove it ourselves. So we don't have to worry about any problems with it. It's non-asbestos.
[Unidentified]: Oh, great. Thank you.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: We can work on that, too. You know, it does depend on time. Now, I did request a carpenter, but he has been around for a long time, so he does get time off in the summer, and the summer is a short window, so if he could ever, he's been around for 30 years, he does a great job, and if there's ever a time, maybe we can get him some help, that would be good. That would be great. Yeah.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: How many carpenters did you used to have?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: I've been up to high school for 30 years. There was probably four or five of them, I think, in 1987 when I came on. He does a good job. He does a real good job. Mary Jo, our secretary, she does a fantastic job. We're very lucky. We have some really good people.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you. Just for clarification, when you're talking about the pool door, you're talking about the door that actually goes up, the entrance to the pool upstairs? Yes, the pool entrance.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No, no, no, from the outside.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yeah, door 31. That's the outside door that you go along the ramp and go in. Oh, okay.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: That's the door. Okay. That's, that's the door I want. Okay.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yeah.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And so, and when you were talking about the floor, were you talking about that carpet that was there for a while?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: We took it out because it was starting to get a little bit beat up. So, um, now we're just talking about removing the tile and then we'll put brand new tile down and it's put some pitches hung up inside there and some paint. So that would be the nice finishing touch at this point.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: OK. And the other thing I want to ask is, when you were doing this report, have you had a list, or maybe I want to call it a wish list, but over the years we've all had the opportunity as a committee and singly to go to all the schools and see what needs to be done, what maintenance needs to be done, what needs to be upgraded. And I was just curious in knowing, when you wrote the report, did you have the wish list from the schools?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: From the other schools, I haven't really talked enough to the principals to really find out if they have anything in the wish list. Now, I know that we did have a discussion on the bleachers in the various schools. And we did have Frank go out, and I did submit a report that we're in pretty good shape in most of the schools. but over the summer, again, it might be a good time to maybe have a company come out and replace some of the nuts and bolts that are making the bleachers come in and out and work and things like that.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Well, I mean, over the years, it's basically been two just to make sure like, you know, the bathrooms are back up to date because there were a lot of things that were missing when we had walked through the playgrounds. I know that's something that we've all looked at.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, we did. And now we've been, that would be probably, you know, a capital, capital wish list or improvement, even some of the paving that needs to be done in some of the parking lots and things like that, it probably would fall more under the capital in the area.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And just the regular maintenance that we've needed in general, like keeping up with the paint, keeping up with the ceilings, keeping up with, you know, all of it.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, we are, you know, we're working towards it. Like I said, I've been very lucky to be able to use the Department of Corrections And they've helped us out at the Curtis Tufts. They were at the Brooks earlier this year. I have some plans, hopefully this summer, to bring them down to the Roberts because they had some requests. And then we'll move them, you know, if we can get them, the longer we can get them, obviously the better. So we can keep moving around in the buildings, doing common areas, doing classrooms, doing anything. And it's the same thing with the flooring. Some of the flooring needs to be looked at again in the different classrooms. There may be some tiles popping up. But it's just part of our everyday kind of routine that we make our way around town and try to keep it honest, I guess you could say.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: OK. And what about the contractors that we have at the high school for the cleaning?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Prospect contractors. Yeah, they've been doing a good job. They've been very good.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: They're the ones that we still have?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Yeah. they were the ones that we hired this year. They were new. We had a empire before. Now prospect was awarded the, um, the bid after we did an extensive interview process, the superintendent, um, there was a few of us there and, um, they've been doing a pretty good job there. Uh, they're resourceful. They, they answer the phone, they take care of our needs, you know, when we need them for extra, uh, issues and you know that sometimes you have your regular everyday issue. Maybe something was missed or something, something else. And they're really good about responding to everything. I haven't had a problem with them at all. I couldn't, couldn't say that, you know, they haven't been good.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you, Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. John, first of all, I want to shout out to you and to Alicia Hunt on the new lighting at the Curtis Tough School.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Alicia does a fabulous job.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: That was requested a few years ago and that took a lot of work to get the grant and get the money and all the work that's been done at that school. Don't forget to bring the prisoners back and finish the paint job there.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, we'll get them back in there again and I think we're we're going to try to knock off a couple of more of the floors down there this summer. Uh, we did make a, uh, we did make a change, a personnel change down at that building. So, um, I think he, he's done a very good job.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I know that they were talking about relocating some office space and do you have any updates on that? Like where the kitchen is and the cabinets of, yeah, well it's like,
[Mr. McLaughlin]: We're gonna have to get back down there again. You know what I mean? Maybe we'll talk about it. You know, it's it's funny.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Maybe it could be a program like the kitchen area.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Like I said, we'll see what we can do. You know, you get me that carpenter?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Well, that's my point. Not only do we need the carpenter, we could also use a vocational if they plan it as a project. So maybe we could start now talking to the director of... Yeah, absolutely. And maybe have that be a work project that throughout the city and have our own children learning right there and interacting with the other students that go to that school at the same time.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: I really, whatever we could do, that'd be, that'd be fantastic. I mean, um, so building has come a long way in the last year or so. And, um, well, you know, we'll keep plugging away.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I, I support a hundred percent your request for an additional carpenter. There's a lot of buildings. and a lot of maintenance and our buildings are aging every year. So, and as the superintendent has committed funds to maintaining and upkeeping and grading, I as committee member are gonna support your requests that you have asked for in this budget request. I also wanted to ask you, you listed that at the Andrews Middle School, you're in need of a floor scupper. Do you know how much that is?
[Mr. McLaughlin]: 6,000 or so in that vicinity, maybe even a little less. We purchased one this past year for the Roberts, so.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Good to know. Just because I had no idea, like, a cost value of that. So you need a carpenter and $6,000 in addition to the $200,000 that the superintendent is going to add to the light items.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Sure, we'll take whatever we need.
[Roy Belson]: Whatever it is, you'll get a chance to vote on it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah.
[Roy Belson]: Okay.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah. Very good. Thank you, John, for all your work.
[Robert Skerry]: John, John, is there any chance of, uh, getting the auto body shop on your list of places to be painted? The, the ceiling is really, really tough and I guess they want to replace the floor, but they don't want to do anything with the floor until the ceiling gets done because they want the place to be a showcase, but it hasn't been painted. The walls have been painted. They look great. A lot of work has been done there, but, The ceiling in the auto body shop is just, it's time.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: Well, I can look into it. Like I said, it would probably be, you know, that would probably have to be sprayed. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I can certainly get a price and find out, you know, I know that the DOC wouldn't be something that they would do, you know, spraying and stuff.
[Robert Skerry]: You just take a look at it when you get a chance. see if we can put our heads together and come up with a solution.
[Mr. McLaughlin]: We use a guy to paint around the school sometimes and he's pretty reasonable. He's done some work in the vocational school. So I can, I can, um, I can call him up and see if you get a price.
[Robert Skerry]: Yeah. The very least. Good. Yeah. Thank you.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Um, I think mayor Burke, this is actually a question for you. Earlier this year we started out by putting together, items that we thought were part of a capital improvement plan, including the edging along at the middle school complex, all of that edging along the roads that were sidewalk, which were a concern. And I think also the playgrounds. But I haven't, we're really sort of talking about individual projects again and not the capital improvement plan. Where are we on that?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We have pretty much nailed down the city side of things. We're waiting to have another committee of the whole to finalize the school side of everything. But as far as freedom way goes, I'm having the engineering department looking at seeing if we can create it as a public way because then it's applicable for check to 90 funding. So I have a Cassandra could lead us working on that as we speak because if we can get that, then we could get that whole. road done. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And would a project like, I mean, again, we've, we've sort of had ongoing concerns ultimately about the play surfaces and the playgrounds. And I know that much work was done and there were patches and whatever, but you know, it's still out there as a project, which we, we need to take a look at.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So finishing up fine tuning pretty soon.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yep.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. We have a citizen. Name and address for the record, please.
[McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Good evening everyone. Um, I was actually at the, um, city council meeting about the capital improvement in the SOI and we were kind of, there were some things being bantered back and forth. My question is, uh, in the capital improvement program, is there an opportunity to usurp some of that money? for maintenance for an extended amount of time. create some sort of a bucket of money, if you will, for this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, the superintendent's fine-tuning the plan for the school side. And once we get that, then we'll develop the dollars that are needed. And then we'll try to put together the puzzle of money to pay for it.
[McKillop]: One suggestion or one idea might be where you had done a tremendous job collecting taxes on property that did not have taxes collected on. I think it was over $2.8, $2.9 million this year. That may not happen every single year, but is there a possibility where we could actually take some of that instead of putting it into the general fund and applying that to the maintenance of the schools? Because to be honest with you, I feel bad for John. I think he needs two carpenters. I have an 11,000 square foot building and I could never do what he does with one person. It's just a suggestion, but there has to be something to take these schools to a different level because I remember I was here when we built the middle schools and we were kind of fighting, you know, we're taking them out of the neighborhoods and putting them into a general area. It wasn't about the schools that I was fighting. It was about the maintenance. Cause we were complaining that the older schools were not habitable. They make great condos now, but they're not habitable for schools. So here we are now 15, 20 years, however many years it was. And I made the same point, you know, now some of these schools need some dramatic maintenance. So you can get $10 million in capital improvement, but if you don't have a maintenance plan, you're going to be back in the same boat 10 and 15 years from now. So you need to create a plan for this. And that has to be something that has to be discussed and scrutinized and scrutinized, because that money is money that's not going to be wasted, but is certainly going to be spent unwisely 5, 10, 15 years from now. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the pre-budget report as reported? So moved by Mr. Benner, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Report on state proposed budget for the fiscal year 18, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So this is a good opportunity for me to wrap a few things together and also talk about some of the things that just came up. The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed its initial version of the FY 2018 state budget last Tuesday, April 25th. The House version will now go to the State Senate for their deliberations, ways and means, and then the floor. And we would expect the Senate version to emerge sometime in late May. Since there will be differences between the two legislative bodies, there will be a joint conference committee consisting of three members from each chamber. And they'll try to reconcile their differences and then go to the full body in each chamber to get an up or down vote. They can't make changes once it comes out of conference committee. Then the changes, once it comes out from the full legislature, will go to the governor. The governor undoubtedly will veto some line items. The legislature historically will override most of his vetoes, give or take a few here and there. and the state budget should be completed sometime by the end of June. However, we have to start doing our budgets well in advance of that, so we start to look at what the House and the Senate will do, because typically there are pretty good guidelines as to what will happen. But we don't know. The Senate tends to be a little bit more financially generous than the House, although items vary from area to area. For the first time, the initial budget from the House exceeds $40 billion. It's actually less than what the governor proposed, slightly, but it still exceeds $40 billion to support the various line items and any new programs and services. But most of the new money goes to mass health, pensions, and a modest increase in local aid.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Limited.
[Roy Belson]: Very limited. Okay. We'll go into some of that in a way, but 40% of the budget typically or more right now is mass health. So it gives you an idea of, you know, it may be $40 billion, but so much of it is eaten up by certain entitlements that, uh, there isn't a lot of discretionary funding. So the main limitation on the budget is the availability of money, uh, to support the various line items. any new programs and services, just like we're talking about right now. How much money is going to be available to do all the things that you think should be done? Most of the new money, as I say, goes for certain items. During FY 2016, the state found the budget was initially short $455 million. And this year, revenue, as the end of March, is running $220 million below estimates. April receipt should be higher. April is usually a very good month. The beginning of the month was good. But until we get the final figures, we don't know. But typically, we should be able to close a good portion of that gap. But closing that gap doesn't give us any surplus, doesn't give any excess. It just gives us a gap close. And there's no guarantee that how much money will come in, actually, in June, in May and June. Originally, the projection for this year was a 3.1% growth factor at the state level. And through March, it's 1.7%. Gives you an idea. And that's nationally, too. 2% growth is sort of like, you know, a hallmark. A study by the Federal Reserve explained that while Massachusetts unemployment was down, there was a significant drop in wages and hours worked. And that means that the overall personal income was lower. Spending was higher, most notably in the health sector. Additionally, a sales tax on merchandise was affected by increased online buying, for which there is no tax. Furthermore, it's impossible that the income tax rate will drop again because of the automatic trigger built into the state. The drop in the income tax cost the Commonwealth more of a billion dollars a year since that trigger was put in place. There appears to be no appetite for increased taxation Although there may be some proposal out of the Senate, as Senate President Rosenberg seems to put this forward a little bit. Although tax proposals have to emanate from the House first. Lastly, we can expect some cutbacks from Washington on domestic spending, including various education items. So the following items are things to think about in the house budget. And again, they haven't printed the whole house budget, so I can't get every nickel and dime figured out a hundred percent, but I've gone behind the numbers as much as I can. Chapter 70 is $30 per pupil in the house budget. Last year it was $55 per pupil. The governor's proposing $20 per pupil. That's approximately $145,000. Unrestricted municipal aid is up statewide by 40 million, but when it's distributed, it isn't that much. The special education circuit breaker was level funded in the house budget. It could be short somewhere between 10 and $15 million for full funding. And as more students qualify, there's a greater demand on this account. We're projecting less funding in fiscal 2017. We're in there in 2016. We've already given you some of those numbers in the last financial report. And there could be a further reduction in fiscal 2018. And that's for extraordinary special ed costs. So you have to pay attention to that. Charter school funding is level funded. We expect the statewide entitlement to be $60 million below need, maybe more, depending on how much expansion. Depending on the number of students who opt for charter schools, we could see an increase in our local cost, although I think we've leveled pretty well and we're bringing people back. But we also know that Washington is very heavy on pro-choice with Secretary DeVos, and we'll see what comes out of there for the choice issues in support of charter schools. Homeless transportation is level funded, 50% of what we think entitlement would be, if that. No funding, new funding came back for kindergarten. We lost $143,000 last year, and there's nothing in that line item this year. Out of district, non-resident transportation is cut. Could lose about $30,000 in that particular line item. And there's no new funding for technology that we've seen outside of what I presented this evening. We will be able to get some significant federal dollars, as I explained. The Department of Public Health funding should be reasonably stable. That funds a nurse and some of the work that's done on health prevention. Early childhood funding through the grant account is expected to lose 30% of current level as priorities shift from programs to workforce development support. In other words, increasing the salaries of people in the nonprofit sector and providing additional training for them because they're well underfunded. And it's certainly a worthy priority But they didn't say we'll do both. They said we'll take the money from the programs and move it over there. So there's a little bit more there, but it's not clear. So we just got through talking a little bit about maintenance and things of that type. There's a finite pot of gold out there. And you just can't say we'll just do everything. We'll try to provide you with options across the board so you can select. And hopefully, we'll continue to search out new sources of funding like we have with the vocational school and other things and opiate prevention to augment what we have. But the general distributions coming from the state place a tremendous burden on the locality. The cost of health care keeps going up. We just don't know, you know, where it's coming. We don't know what Washington's going to do and what's going to happen to that situation yet. It goes back and forth. And there are a lot of other factors that have to come into play. So we also have to carry at least a 2.5% increase in salary negotiations, which isn't outrageous, but it's money. And then you also have step increases that people who are starting, the young teachers move up the steps, that's on top of the 2.5. So there's a lot of factors. It would be easy for me to get up and say, sure, tell me whatever you want me to fix, tell me whatever you want me to do, go add this, add that. It's not that simple and you know it. You know, what it is is that we have to lay it all out and decide what's most important to us and move forward with that. I think there's a lot of great things going on in this community and go a lot of great things going on in the school system. Should be very proud of the work you've done. Very proud of the administration and city hall supporting us. However, you know, there will be some limitations and we'll have to make some tough choices, forced choices. So the budget process is beginning at the state house. We'll keep watching the Senate. We'll go up and lobby, you know, for other things. We'll talk to people about things. We'll look for additional grants, look for additional revenue. We've recaptured some revenue through the minute man activity, the revenue coming in through the vocational school, but still it's going to be spread out. So just wanted to give you a quick snapshot of the state budget so far. We'll keep you posted and we'll keep talking budget as we go forward and try to set priorities.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Stone. Mr. Bellson, can you just explain the out-of-district non-resident transportation could lose about $30,000. So who does that transport?
[Roy Belson]: OK, that's the Minuteman bus. OK. So in another year from now, we won't have a bus going to Minuteman. We're going to try and get a smaller vehicle, which may cost less. But if I lose the reimbursement for non-resident last year, two years ago, it was almost $3 million. Then it went down to half of that. And this year in the House budget, it's $250,000 for that line item.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So how many students are at Minuteman right now?
[Roy Belson]: This year, there's about 16 students. Next year, I would expect eight.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Oh, they could fit in my van. I'll take them in my van.
[Roy Belson]: You could do it.
[Unidentified]: I'll get you licensed.
[Roy Belson]: So, you know, hey, listen, if you can't go one way, we'll must own the other way. How's that? OK? Very good. Thank you. You're welcome. What else?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent, for your report. You touched on possible federal impacts, and of course that picture is not clear to us at this time. However, today the National School Boards Association did send out an alert because of the concern about the legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and the impact on Medicaid funding for public school students. If passed at this point, it would limit Medicaid funding and it says the impact the ability of students with disabilities and students in poverty to receive critical necessary health services in public schools. The legislation will require schools to compete for limited Medicaid funding and result in the institution of arbitrary caps and how much Medicaid reimbursements are made to public schools. Again this would be another area where I know that money comes back to the city but it's another place where we would find a loss.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It impacts the pie.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: It impacts the pie. They urge us to call our House of Representatives people. Of course, we understand where they already sit in our state. However, I did want to bring it to your attention.
[Roy Belson]: No, it's definitely an issue. Just so you know, the Medicaid funding is generated by students who are eligible through disabilities and the like. The money comes back. Short Collaborative is our broker, if you will, it comes back through it, but it goes into the city treasury. And as the mayor points out, it adds to the total pie that's then available for redistribution to the schools, to the city and other things. So it's factored into the overall who gets what kind of thing. You know, there's some people that say they wanted to come to them, but quite frankly, it's the same pot of gold we just simply work with. But it could be $400,000, $500,000 that we could lose. And the state could lose that much more because they're dependent on it as well. And that could drive the cost of health care right through the roof, which will also impact our employees as they have to pay more for health insurance and the like. And of course, that would bring them to the bargaining table, because next year, while we're covered for next year, bargaining for the successor contracts will start all over again. And as they lose money in terms of the health care costs and things of that type, they're going to be looking for something to make it up in salary. So all this stuff has triggers that are going to be thought about, planned. We've got to understand what it means. When we commence something going forward, we've got to realize it might have ripple effect multiple years down the road. It's not just, you know, any one year. It's that year, maybe, but then there's more going on down the road. And as it, as it stands now, we're, you know, we're using a lot of generated revenue to support our operations. Some point in time that generated revenue will hit a wall. We can only make so much at any given time. So there's all kinds of issues, but Washington, you know, is a, is a real black hole. You really don't know a lot of the programs. Title two is a, 150,000 go into salaries. That could disappear, you know, for class size reduction. Other programs like that for supplies, materials, bilingual, you know, money could come down. And as you can see, our population is significantly growing in that area. I think, you know, I think the issue of, and I know it's unpopular, the millionaire's tax is out there someplace, whether that actually goes through in a year from now certainly would be helpful. to the revenue pie, but then again, if that money gets generated, who will get it? The issue of any money generated through the marijuana bill, sales taxes, other things like that, all up in the air. There's a whole group out there that want to cut the sales tax. You don't want to bring it back down again. So there's a lot of discussions that are going on right now. You know, we've got to balance it all. So, you know, I love it when people come up and say, we need this and need that. And I, you know, and I really respect that because they're telling, they're advocating for what they want and that you should. But then our job becomes how to balance it out, how to, how to do as much as we can and fairly apportionate to the things that, you know, they're important to us.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. I just wanted to touch base on what my colleague was talking about, because I do mass health billing for the school I work at. And that's actually for speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy. That's refunding for those services that we provide students. And instead of them going back to their doctor's office or outpatient visits, we do them in the schools. And we have those people in the schools so that they can not the children that specifically need it, but they're in the school, so they help all children. And when we don't receive those fundings, we're less likely to have funds to employ those type of people in our school systems. And it does matter. So I don't think people realize it when you're just talking about funding being cut, unless you tell them how it affects our children every day, and the development and growth that people make early in their lives with OT, with speech, and the abundance of how quickly they learn and no longer need those services because they get them well. And if you treat well and treat early is how I look at things, and then you don't have to treat later, you know, because you have the skills. You have mastered some of those skills, so you no longer need those services. But I just wanted it to be relatable. It matters to our children. It matters not only in dollars to our city, but it matters to services among our children, and that's what we're here for.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Is there a motion to accept this report and place it on file? So moved. Seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Negotiations and legal matters, none? On the back, we have school committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee expresses sincere condolences to the family of Irene Hagee. Mrs. Hagee was the mother of Carolyn Hagee, former administrative assistant to the superintendent and secretary to the school committee. And we have another item in the addendum. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee expresses sincere condolences to the family of Ahmed Azizi. Mr. Azizi was a former Medford Public Schools custodian. If you could all please rise for a moment of silence. Motion to adjourn. Ms. Van der Kloot.
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