[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Meeting of the Medford School Committee will now come to order. The secretary will call the roll. Mrs. Cuno?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Present.
[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. Ms. Mastone, there's a motion on the floor for suspension of the rules to give out awards tonight. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Suspension is granted. Report on Humanities Program Awards. Ms. Queza?
[Chiesa]: Good evening. Good evening. We have a few different awards, many events that have taken place for English Language Arts and Social Studies this year, so we'll be calling up some students to receive awards. I'm gonna begin with the Scholastic Writing Awards. If I can ask the students who are receiving those awards to line up over here, I think it will move the process along a lot more smoothly.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much. Okay. Scholastic Writing Awards, if you could line up please on this side. Right over there. Could you just give a brief intro on these? Yes.
[Chiesa]: The Scholastic Writing Awards is an important opportunity for students to be recognized for their creative talents. There are several different categories that students can enter, and I'm very pleased to say that this is the second year we've had middle school students in addition to high school students entering. This program is for students for grades 7 through 12, and all writing pieces are judged on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal voice. At the national level, we do have students who won a gold key and a silver key have the opportunity to submit nationally. And I'm very pleased to say that in addition to all of the state recipients that we'll honor tonight, we also have a silver medal for a student that won the national competition. So she will be called up as well. I want to thank, before we call the students, all the teachers who worked tirelessly to help with the students with the written production. We have Ms. Lou, and we have Mr. Morris, who are here tonight. We also have Mr. Bowen Flynn, Mr. Heinegg. Ms. Zeckman from the middle school, Ms. Stevens. Mr. Heinegg, I said. Mr. Bowen Flynn. and Ms. Sanford, who worked with the students. So if we can call the students up, I think you'll begin first with the National Silver Medal, and then they'll go from there. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: No, that's not first.
[Chiesa]: Let's see. Oh, it's in there. It's fine. We could just go in the order, it's there.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Kylie Roy, Honorable Mention, 2016-17, Scholastic. These are the articles. I'm sorry. Sorry, false alarm. Okay, Roy, where are they?
[Unidentified]: Let's see. Hey, look at you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Georgia Voter Newton, National Scholastic Writing Award, Silver Medal. Anticipation is killing, honey. Congratulations. Yeah, there's only one way in and one way out here. Isabel Bazera, Gold Key Scholastic Writing Award.
[Chiesa]: Congratulations.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Great job. Georgia, Gold Key Scholastic Writing Award. We have another one. Isadora Martin, Gold Key, Scholastic Writing Award. Margaret Tseng, Gold Key, Scholastic Writing Award. Andrea Arruno, Silver Key Scholastic Writing Award. Maria Carmona, Silver Key, Scholastic Writing Award. Excellent. Jessica Dos Santos, Silver Key, Scholastic Writing Award. Jessica. Michael Finn, Silver Key, Scholastic Writing Award. Carla Flores, Silver Key, Scholastic Writing. Emily Gaddy, Silver Key, from Medford Public Schools. I assume this is a middle school? Phaedra Motton, Silver Key, Medford High School. Prabhidhi Rana, Silver Key, Medford Public School. Did I say it right? Takaley? No, not here. Georgia, come on back up. Attending Harvard in the fall. Elizabeth Carey, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Elizabeth? Ching Chen, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. That's two? Oh, you have two. And another one. Congratulations. Antonia Collins, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Stella Eliopoulos, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Excuse me? Antonia, sorry. Is Stella present this evening? No, I don't see her. Nicholas Hollings, honorable mention, Medford High School. C. Keenan, honorable mention, Medford High School.
[Unidentified]: Hello, congratulations.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Elena Kornblit, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Elena. Evan Lau, Honorable Mention, Medford High. Congratulations. Manuel Magayunis. Honorable Mention, Medford Public Schools. Kyle Neese, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Ethan Ngo, Medford High School, Scholastic Writing Award, Honorable Mention. Zachary Pailillo, Scholastic Writing Award, Honorable Mention. Zachary. Lauren Parziale, Honorable Mention, Medford High School. Michaela Rothemell, honorable mention, scholastic writing, medical high. These are the R recipients. Would you like to do a little intro? You can stay there. We'll do you next. Would you like to do a little intro?
[Chiesa]: I think Mrs. Van Aken is going to do the intro for the art award, so I'll call her up if that's okay. Absolutely.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All right.
[vqZ0fsWQ1g0_SPEAKER_20]: Hello. Hello, Your Honor, Mr. Bilson. It's a pleasure to be here, to be able to recognize these young artists for their hard work. The objective of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is to foster the confidence in these young artists, encourage them to broaden their creative horizons, and to give them the opportunity to be recognized for their creative achievements locally, nationally, and statewide. Many of the artworks from this year's award recipients, you don't know this yet, but bring it my way, My students know already, but I would like to put your work on display at the Leadership Awards Night at the high school, which is the 28th of May, if you could get it to me or talk to me somehow. I would love to put it out for everybody to enjoy that evening. This is a powerful glimpse into the lives of these young teenagers. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much. We have Carly Roy, Honorable Mention, Scholastic Art Award.
[Unidentified]: Carly, I know you're here.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Do you hear that? Great last name. Laura Pladowitz, Honorable Mention, 2016-17. Dari Ogbra, Honorable Mention. Georgia Boder-Newton, Honorable Mention. She also played Hillary in the presidential debate at Medford High School that I was lucky enough to attend.
[Unidentified]: So I'll go there as well. Very good.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Kylie Truong, Honorable Mention. Wendy Vong, Honorable Mention. Elyse Turner, Silver Key and Honor Convention. Okay. Buck ball, science fair. All right. We're going to move to the Model United Nations. Is that okay, or would you prefer something? That's fine. That's good? Okay.
[Chiesa]: I can do that. All right. Model United Nations. Can I give a brief overview of it? Yes, of course. Okay. On two different occasions, we had a group of high school and middle school students attend the Invitational Innovative Model United Nations. It was held at Northeastern University. And it's sponsored by the United Nations Association of Greater Boston. This year, the middle school students were challenged to develop a collective approach to international food security, while high school students worked together with students from across the region to address nuclear proliferation. Although the high school has participated in the past, this is the second year we've had the middle school come to form a team as well. This year, our high school students represented China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Cuba, Germany, and Kenya. And the two regional conferences covered topics from maternal health, containment of ISIS, peacekeeping, climate change, free press, and human trafficking. All participating students were exemplary in their performance, and I'm very pleased to say that in addition to their participation, we also won awards for best negotiators and best position papers. I'd like to thank Ms. Dineyu, who led the high school team, who cannot be here tonight, for facilitating that group to the two different events. Our middle school students represented Australia, France, and the United States. The students did a wonderful job as well, and they also won some additional awards, including Best Public Speaker. And for the middle school group, I'd like to thank Mr. DiClemente. I'm not sure if he made it back. He worked diligently with the students after school to prepare them for this event. I'm so proud of both groups. I'm so proud that we were able to do the middle and the high school. And there's a whole list of awards there for you to read.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If we could have everyone line up along this window. Preferably alphabetical, but. First up, Young Ahn, Exemplary Participation, Model UN. Emeline Antunes, Exemplary Participation. Rhiannon Arnold, Exemplary Participation. Rhiannon. You have another one. Best Position Paper. Rhiannon. Kayla Beardsley, Exemplary Participation. Georgia Bowden-Newton, Exemplary Participation. Maria Camona, Exemplary Participation. And Best Negotiator as well. Nice job.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Really? Thanks. Congrats.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Abigail Klein, Exemplary Participation. And Model United Nations Rising Leaders Award, Best Negotiator, and Yale, Yale bound? Are you going to Yale? Yeah. Where are you going to? Quinnipiac. Oh, Quinnipiac bound. Congratulations. Alish Fallon, Exemplary Participation. Christian Gotti, Exemplary Participation. Christian? No? Did I say it wrong?
[Chiesa]: Samuel Graves, Exemplary Participation.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Anne Best, position paper. Sean Green, exemplary participation. Lucy Hines, exemplary participation. Best Negotiator. Congratulations. UMass Boston Bound. Camilla Hollingsworth, Exemplary Participation. Jordan Iyankiev. Exempt from participation. And best public speaker. Najma Jama, Exemplary Participation. Joshua Jen Renee, Exemplary Participation. Isaiah Jones, Exemplary Participation. Best Public Speaker as well. Carson Kurtz-Rossi, Exemplary Participation. Sophia Leggio, Exemplary Participation. Evan Marks, Exemplary Participation. Abigail McCarthy, Exemplary Participation. Scott McGoldrick, Exemplary Participation. Teagan Mustone, Exemplary Participation. You get to hug her. Iragi Nakira, Exemplary Participation. Yield bone, finally I found the one. Yield bone, congratulations. Tyler and Yang, exemplary participation. Lidia Ryan, Exemplary Participation and Assessment. Best Negotiator. Model UN Rising Leaders. Andrew Sorrow, Exemplary Participation. Simran Singh, Exemplary Participation. And Best Position Paper. Dominic Terranova, exemplary participation. Ryan Thorn, exemplary participation. Best position paper also. Satya Vaut, Exemplary Participation. Satya? Lina Zeyan, Exemplary Participation. Very good. Those are the extras. The next set, what would you like to do? Sure.
[Chiesa]: What's up next? Thank you, Mr. Quinn. Congratulations again. I can go in whatever order you want, so.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK. We have the State Geography B finals. Great. Medford Public Schools. We have Amin Nazi. Amin? No? OK.
[Chiesa]: Can I just tell you a little bit about the Geography Bee? This year for the Geography Bee, Amin, he finished in the top 12 of the Geography Bee. He's in middle school. They take the competition at the school level. Then they have to take a qualifying test to qualify to go to states. and from there, they compete at the state level. Amin only missed one question, and he also chose to take the challenge round, which meant that he actually answered all of the questions from the final round, and he did so correctly. So therefore, in total, he just missed one question. So proud of him, and I guess he's not here tonight, but his teacher, Mr. McCarthy, also worked quite hard with him as well, so congratulations to him.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Congratulations. Shout out to Amin. All-State High School Journalist, would you like to do that? Sure.
[Chiesa]: We have a lot of good things going on in our department, so this is a wonderful night for English and Social Studies. All-State Journalism Staff Award. The Humanities Department is pleased to congratulate one of our students who was named as the first All-State Journalist by the state of Massachusetts. Only five of them in the state of Massachusetts. And she won among students from Wellesley High School and Newton South High School. In order to be considered, students had to enter online portfolios that demonstrated their excellence in writing, their journalism resume, and reflections on their career thus far as a journalist. So you have the name in front of you. We're so proud of her. And congratulations.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Kylie Roy, Allstate High School Journalist. She's also quite the photographer, if anyone's noticing. Yes. Congratulations, Carly. Nice accomplishments. Very proud of you. Kudos. National History Day? Sure.
[Chiesa]: Carly, congratulations. Mr. Ambrose wishes he could be here tonight. National History Day? Okay. The Greater Boston District puts on the National History Day. It takes place in Stona, Massachusetts. Nationally, there are over a half a million students who compete in this historic day. Students are provided with a theme. The theme this year was take a stand. And they can choose from different categories to submit their product. Medford students in Stoneham competed alongside 200 other students from the region. And we want to recognize them tonight. I also want to mention that in June, we're going to have our own National History Day, as we've had in the past few years. You'll all receive invitations. So students who may not have submitted for this contest, which is in early March, all have different products that they completed, so we welcome you to come and you'll get invitations for that. But the students that we're gonna call took the time to get this done early, to do the annotated bibliographies that go with it, quite a lot of work, and we're just so proud of them for competing.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very nice, great job. Antonia Collins, exemplary participation and honorable mention. Jack Egan, Exemplary Participation. Jack? Only one honorable mention. That's very difficult to do. Congratulations. Maya Gomez-Pultas, Exemplary Participation. John N. Tapa, Exemplary Participation.
[Chiesa]: Great job.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Congratulations. Winnie Standeven, Exemplary Participation. Awesome job getting it done early. And an honorable mention. Jessica Tatio, exemplary participation. Christopher Walsh, exemplary participation.
[Chiesa]: Christopher?
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Chiesa]: One more, right? One more? The Holocaust essay? Yes, yes. I'm going to provide you with an Ethics Bowl team update in a minute, but our last award to give to students is The Israel Are Better Holocaust Essay Contest. Now, this is the 10th annual contest, and this is the first time that Medford student has been successful, a freshman, in achieving the award. The contest is coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Facing History and Ourselves, and the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston. The winner tonight, she did a great job with her essay reflecting upon Elie Wiesel's concept of compassion and the impact of its definition. The winner received an educational scholarship of $750, and we're just so proud. I wanna thank again, Miss Liu, this is her student who won the award, and she's been submitting from some time, and I think we were very pleased to have this winner this year, and we should be very proud.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the winner is... Phaedra Martin, second place. Great job. Excellent. Thank you very much for all the students that came up and all the teachers that mentored them throughout this whole process. We are so very lucky to have you in our school system. So thank you all for that segment. And now we're going to move to science. Oh, Ms. Van der Kloot. Congratulations, Phaedra. Hold on.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Congratulations, Phaedra. I noticed that it said that the students' work would be posted on our website with their parents' permission. And I have to say, when it was posted last year, I read every one, and it was great. So I really hope that, parents, you give permission so that we can read your students' work.
[Chiesa]: Thank you for mentioning that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you, Ms. Vanderpoot. Okay. I believe Mr. Cieri is in the audience. There he is. We're going to do the Medford High School Science Fair Awards next.
[Rocco Cieri]: Good evening, everyone. 48 Medford High School students participated in the annual Science Fair at Medford High School this year. From our event, a select number of students move on to regional and state events. These events go from March all the way to May. In fact, last week or I think it was last Saturday, not this past Saturday, it was the very final event, which was the state fair. So there are a large number of events that students pass through in order to qualify for each level. At the regional fair, there are two students that placed in the top 26. Those students moved on to the state fair, and they placed there as well this past week, so we're really excited to be able to present our awards tonight. to all the students that won an award at our fair, and to recognize those students that participated in the regional and state fair.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Excellent. Would the science fair recipients like to line up, just to make it a little easier for you? Albert Farrar, Freshman-Sophomore Panel, 2017, first place. Darwin Do, Freshman-Sophomore Panel, second place. Ethan Medeiros, freshman, sophomore panel, second place. Lauren Brown, freshman, sophomore, third place. Tiago Andre, freshman, sophomore, honorable mention. Tiago? Winnie Standovin, freshman, sophomore panel, honorable mention. Congratulations. Jessica Taddeo, freshman, sophomore panel, honorable mention. Joseph Farah, junior senior panel, first place. Valentina Luma, second place, junior senior panel. Congratulations. Good job. Thank you. Bernifka St. Jean, junior senior panel, second place. Congratulations. Senior. Senior. Carson Kurtz-Rossi, junior senior panel, third place. Laura Schmidt, Junior Senior Panel, third place, Laura. Scott Ren Jonathan, Junior Senior Panel, Honorable Mention. Leora Ferrari, Junior Senior, Honorable Mention. Thank you.
[Rocco Cieri]: Thank you very much. I do want to mention that the Farrer brothers, Albert and Joseph both continued on to the regional and the state fair and were placed in both. So thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Next up we have the butt ball tournament winners. You'll see a theme happen here.
[Carolyn Joy]: Good evening, Miss Joy. Good evening. we're very proud of this group of students that we bring before you tonight and you've seen some familiar faces that tells you a little bit of how well-rounded these students are. They competed this year at the 2017 Greater New England Regional Bot Ball Tournament at the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Saturday, April 29th. The team, under the advisership of mathematics teacher Ms. Barbara Chen, with the support from, my day, Technology of Medford, proudly brought back four awards to the district. First, they scored a second-place overall trophy. Secondly, a Spirit of Botball trophy, a seeding third-place certificate, and double elimination third-place certificate. The team finished second overall out of 18 teams, and this is over all of New England. The overall winners for the ball are determined by their double elimination rank, seedling round scores online, and on-site documentation scores. In the seeding, The teams run their robots unopposed in an attempt to score the most points possible. In double elimination, the robots from two different teams compete on the game table simultaneously in an effort to score as many points as possible, but also to keep their opponent from scoring. In the category of judges' choice trophies, the judges singled out Medford's team for the Spirit of Ball Ball award. So we would like to congratulate the team members for their hard work, determination, and perseverance. They were here many, many long nights. And Ms. Barbara Chen for her leadership and oversight, and parents, guardians, and community members for their support.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Our first recipient is Ms. Barbara Chen, advisor. Nice job. Would you like to say a few words? Would you like to speak? Either one.
[R49wqTZ5YIg_SPEAKER_00]: I'm so proud of the team. The students work very, very hard. They take a lot of determination and and also persevere, and also they have to make a lot of decisions on their own because adults are not supposed to be involved in the competition. And so they have to decide which strategy to use, whose strategy to use, okay? So they have a lot of time to work as a team. So this is time for them to develop, work together, collaboratively, and they enjoy working together.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Matthew Avella, Outstanding Performance at the 2017 Quad Fall Tournament. Benjamin Candy, Outstanding Performance. Joseph Ara, Outstanding Performance.
[Roy Belson]: Congratulations, Joseph.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: He looks a little different. Maria Gailback, outstanding performance. Scott McGoldrick, outstanding performance. Congratulations. I don't know where he is. Scott Ranjanathan, outstanding performance. Thank you. Charles DePalma, outstanding performance.
[Unidentified]: Congratulations.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Darwin Doe, Outstanding Performance. Ethan Medeiros, Outstanding Performance. Emily Tan, Outstanding Performance. Gabriel Crowell, Outstanding Performance. Albert Farah, Outstanding Performance. Congrats. Margaret Tseng, outstanding performance. Marcinus Van Schor, Ph.D., in recognition of support of the 2016-2017 MHS robotics team. Is Mr. Van Schor here? Ms. Joy? Ms. Vivian Shore? No? She's not here? Very good. Congratulations. Absolutely. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Dear members of the school committee, ladies and gentlemen, as you look around, you see the incredible achievements of our young people. But also very important, two things that I want to highlight. One, the diversity of our student body and the achievements of this diversity. And I think that's one of the factors that makes Medford so great and a great place to grow up, because you get to grow up and experience a lot of different cultures and work together. And the second key thing is that all of these achievements come through collaboration, working together with your teachers, working with each other, working as a team. And that's the secret to success in almost anything. Very few people do anything alone by themselves without good help. And so congratulations to all of you, to your parents. They've collaborated with you. You've collaborated with them. You've collaborated with each other. And you make Medford very proud of the way you represent us, both as a diverse community and as a community that cares about its people. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And we have to send a thank you to the parents, of course. Without their support, some of these things would not come to fruition. So thank you parents out there and everyone who has raised a child. Now we'll revert to the regular order of business. Is there a motion by Ms. Mustone? I believe that's it. Is someone seconded? All those in favor? All those opposed? Yeah. Approval of the minutes of May 1st, 2017. Approval by Ms. Disceri, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Congrats. Approval of bills, transfer of funds. Motion for approval by Ms. Disceri, seconded by Ms. DiBenedetto. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, on page 3 of 13, there's an amount of $2,188.17 for Frank D'Alessaro. It says, student activities. That seemed like a lot for a student. Page 13? 3 of 13. 3 of 13. Mr. Delosio is in charge of the Mustang Mall.
[Roy Belson]: And so undoubtedly, this is reimbursement for product that he had to buy on behalf of that activity.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. I had a couple others, Mr. Bellson, if you don't mind. On page 6 of 13, under Method High miscellaneous charges, it's woodwind and brass wind, $2,125. Is that for equipment for our high school band, or it just says miscellaneous charges, it's not like directed to a department or anything? It said page six. Page six of 13, three quarts, it's about eight pounds.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Woodwind and brass wind, Method High miscellaneous charges.
[Roy Belson]: That's undoubtedly to support the woodwind orchestra activities.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, it just seemed unusual to have a miscellaneous charge of that amount. On account.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vanderclue, point of information? Yes, as a secretary, when I signed the bills, I remember signing that and looking at it specifically. I have to tell you because it's two weeks ago, I don't remember what it was, but I specifically looked at it and checked it because I, too, was like the way that it was categorized seemed funny, but it made
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Once I saw what it was it was it made it perfect sense, okay?
[Roy Belson]: In relation to that I was just wondering if we sold any of the pieces as well Saturday we actually everything was sold at auction and I believe that Free discount free, you know the auctioneer's price which is 10% that they brought in about $20,000. I
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Great, so we'll get a report on that.
[Roy Belson]: We'll get a report on that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Happening this Saturday, so I need a little more time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And then my last question is the last two items on the list on page 13 of 13. And it's professional technical services educational, and there's a person's name with the amount of like $2,500 total.
[Roy Belson]: Trying to, where is this again?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: The last two line items.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The last two items, last page. Xenia? Thank you.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: On page what?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: The last page 13 of 13. Last two items listed. The last two.
[Roy Belson]: I'll just have to look that up when I get back to the office.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It's a weird number, 112. It's like a grand capital account.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah, I was just curious. Yeah, I'd just like to, before I, yeah.
[Roy Belson]: Sure, I'll have to look that up when I get back.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Just like sometimes, a little information and knowledge, that's all. Sure, I understand. I have no problem with approving the bills and hearing back from the superintendent about that item.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the second, motion for approval. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payroll. Motion for approval, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of secretary.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: There is none.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Report of committees. Committee of the whole, May 10, 2017. Mr. Superintendent. Oh, it's right here.
[Roy Belson]: Madam members of the committee, this is the committee of the whole that we held last Wednesday on the school councils. It's here. Rather than read it in totality, If anyone has any particular questions, there's anything in it, you can certainly respond to it, but I think it's self-explanatory and we'll just enter into the record with your approval.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. I know at this meeting we had a very productive meeting and we met with all the principals as well as some teaching staff and it was really good insight as to what's going on at each building and how they use the funds that they were allocated this year and what their needs are for next year and I appreciate the manner in which it's all presented. But at that meeting we were supposed to have a secondary agenda item. And it's not listed in the minutes, and it wasn't presented at that night, the PTO information. So I would like it added to the minutes because we had moved that report to the subcommittee meeting, and then it didn't happen at subcommittee meeting. So I want it noted that it didn't happen there. So if you could amend these notes and bring them back to us at our next meeting for approval, I'd be happy with moving forward. It's still under request of report. I know but I want it noted that it was discussed this evening and that it was supposed to be discussed and brought up at that subcommittee meeting and it wasn't.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion as amended for the Committee of the Whole report. All those in favor?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: In reference to our Committee of the Whole meeting and through you to the superintendent, after going through thoroughly in these reports for many years, Mr. Superintendent, it seems that, uh, this school year, there was a, uh, an under, uh, amount of parent involvement and community reps. And I was wondering if we could instill in our principals to kindly build up the, uh, parents that, uh, advised them during the, uh, the year. And if we could get some, yeah, if we could get some more, uh, uh, commitment from the community to, uh, work on these school plans and, uh, hopefully, keep up the good work that we're doing. I realize it's tough, but I really think there should be a fair amount of parent participation in these meetings during the year when they present their findings to us.
[Roy Belson]: So I just would comment on that. The parents participated in the council development. The attendance at the presentation on Wednesday evening was dependent on the school itself. and several parents were there and were introduced. One school did not have anyone there specifically, except one member who's actually a member of the school committee. But other than that, each school did introduce people, and there are like seven members on a council, so it isn't like there's 50 people on a council.
[Robert Skerry]: But I hear what you're saying, and certainly we'll... I just feel that there should be more parent input if we're going to foster transparency.
[Roy Belson]: It's in the report. I would hope that the councils would actually consult with the parents more completely, but it's a seven-member council. So, you know, theoretically, the report reflects them. The high school and the voc have students on it, but the other especially parents and community members.
[Robert Skerry]: Just as one community member, I'd like to see more parent involvement in their kids' education.
[Roy Belson]: Okay.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno, then Ms. Van der Kloot. Yeah, just a point of information on the site councils. Some of the schools actually, if I'm not mistaken, I don't know if it was all the elementary schools, it's been a while, but I do know that at the beginning of the year, they have some type of almost, I don't want to say an election, but they do have, the letters that go out to the parents, asking if they are interested in joining, and then if they do get too many parents, because I guess the bylaws does say that there's supposed to be a certain amount on the site councils, that that's when it is brought into some type of an election or a voting system in each school. Over the years, I have been involved. And so I know that that's how it's worked. I know that that's how it's worked in the middle schools and in the high school vocational side. I do want to mention that this year, the last actually couple of years, the high school and the vocational side. have had a lot more parent participation than we've ever had from both sides over the years. Unfortunately, depending on people's schedules, too, everybody's busy, that we have not had as many from the vocational side on the high school side. So that was just point of information. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I noticed at the end of the minutes of the meeting that there were various different items that were discussed. And one, we had spent considerable time at an earlier meeting, which was broadcasts on TV publicly, so I just want to read it for the record. Meeting with Attorney General clarified the B-1, B-2 enforcement issue. Schools are not an agent of the federal government for the enforcement of immigration law. Therefore, our schools do not have to remove any existing B-1, B-2 students. This was a concern among many of the members, if all the members of the school committee, so I'm just glad to see that that was resolved. Also, as a question on... see that there was discussion to allow direct appointment of fine arts director and the technology director by the superintendent. And I want to ask the superintendent if he's made those appointments yet.
[Roy Belson]: The appointment letters are now in process and probably will go out either this week or the beginning of next.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: OK.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much. Community participation. Is there anyone wishing to speak this evening? Anyone? Did we make a motion to accept these?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: We did a motion, yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Reports of the superintendent. Pre-budget report, English Language Arts. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: We call upon our director of English Language Arts and Humanities, Dr. Nicole Chiesa. Dr. Chiesa.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Good evening again.
[Chiesa]: Is it possible to give the Ethics Bowl update prior to going into the pre-budget report? Okay. I wanted to update you all on the Ethics Bowl competition that occurred in North Carolina during the weekend of April 8th. Thanks to the generosity of the Medford School Committee, our Medford High School Ethics Bowl traveled to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. When they were there, they participated in the 2017 National High School Ethics Bowl competition, along with 24 other schools. They won two rounds unanimously. They lost a third round just by one point. And when they tally up the points to make it to the final round, they just fell short just a little bit. Their poise, their character, and their skill was unprecedented. And I want to thank Mr. Esner, who led that group, and Ms. Parsons, who chaperoned the group as well. I'm very proud to say that the Medford Ethics Bowl team finished in the top 10 in the nation. And that is impressive beyond me. And so thank you for your generosity in supporting the students. It was a wonderful trip, and we all greatly appreciate it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And a few of the students that came up this evening were whispering in the superintendent in my ear that they had placed in the top 10. So they're very, very proud of that accomplishment. That's wonderful.
[Chiesa]: And we didn't have certificates tonight because we had honored them in the past, but I certainly want to make sure you had an update on that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much.
[Chiesa]: Thank you. OK. So the English Language Arts budget. The English Language Arts is dedicated to supporting all our teachers in the district. Our curriculum is aligned to the 2011 Massachusetts English Language Arts curriculum framework. At the elementary level, our instructional materials include Journeys 2014 and additional trade books. At the middle and high school level, we have Houghton Mifflin anthologies. periodicals, and fictional and non-fictional texts. There are 29 teachers total in the middle school and high school. And seven teachers at the Andrews, seven at the McGlynn, 13 at the high school, and two at the vocational school. And one teacher, we have a, and two, excuse me, two at the vocational school. This year in terms of funding, We were able to purchase some additional Amazon Kindle Fires, which we have identified as being a great investment in terms of keeping the quality of the text compared to using it on the Kindle. We purchased some additional Journeys materials due to some rising numbers in the classrooms at the various grade levels. Appropriated budget funding also supported the purchase of instructional materials at the middle and high school including periodicals, and additional informational and fictional texts were purchased in order to allow for continuity among the grade levels. Accomplishments for this year included continued implementation of over 100 e-readers at the high school and middle school level. We continued to do some mock MCAS testing at the elementary and middle school to help comfort students as they prepare for this new format in the exam. We refined some different assessments based on curriculum needs and demands. We stayed current with some recent changes that have just occurred to the 2011 ELA framework. You saw many of the authentic learning opportunities tonight that we achieved great success with. This year in terms of requesting for funding, I'm asking for an additional funds to purchase Study Island. for the middle school. And that would be supporting for the RTI piece at the middle school level for English. And I'm also asking for additional materials to support Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention at the elementary level. Not sure if anyone has any questions, but thank you for your time for that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to receive and place on file this report. Is there any? Seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Chiesa]: Thank you. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: One question, Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. When we were talking last week with some of the principals, there was a strong request for RTI staff. Is this $17,000? What would that go towards?
[Chiesa]: Additional materials for the program. There are quite a bit of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. We have them, but a lot of them are consumables. For example, there's a write-in reader where in the paragraph it's highlighted for the child. and the child can go in and underline. So those are the consumables for the Tier 2 and Tier 3. I'm not talking staffing in that request.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. So there was a request for that, and there was a lot of talk about the need for that. And I'd like your opinion on that.
[Chiesa]: In terms of staffing for intervention? Yeah. I think that first, we want to look at the logistics of the schedule. And I've already engaged after that meeting. received some of the feedback from that meeting. I already spoke with some principals just in terms of organizing the schedule, and I talked briefly with Ms. Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent Caldwell, about that, which we'll engage more in. I think it's logistically, in terms of time, if you can logistically put an RTI block in there, but the teachers do have the intervention tools, and we have the program in place with the existing interventions, that's the need for the additional cost. I don't feel a need for additional staffing at this time. I'd like to see how it works with the logistics. We do it at the Andrews a lot in terms of scheduling that RTI block. To me, that's step one in terms of getting that in.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Does that answer your question? what was helpful to me is that there were some teachers present and they explained that they do on their own time, early morning, lunch time, and I know teachers do that in general, and I know that not all teachers can do that because of their home situations, they might not have that ability. You know, young children, different reasons that they can't, and I just want to make sure that, you know, kids that need tier two and tier three, they need more than the materials, and some children, you know, You know, we, what my goal here is to growth in MCAF scoring. And I really believe that having people, you know, work with those kids that are so close to moving to the next level, that if we do have services in place that our schools will grow. And that's, that's the community goal. Not only the school committee goal or administrative goal or teacher goal. You know, that's a community goal. So I just want to make sure that if that's the need, in order to make that growth happen, that we meet that need for the Tier 2 and Tier 3 children. Sometimes, I know the superintendent talks a lot about differentiating instruction, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. But we're at a point now that we really need to make strides and want to make strides in growth with our schools. And if this is the step necessary, I really would like to look at that before we close this budget, so that way we can appropriate the correct funding for it. So any time that you have to look at this prior to budget, I would like to hear from you and the administrative team. You guys are the experts, but I also heard from the front lines already. So I'm going to take that very seriously as well.
[Chiesa]: If I may mention too, some of the tier two interventions that I'm referencing really give a targeted pre-assessment to figure out where the child is struggling in the reading. Is it fluency? Is it comprehension? These materials can then help hone in on the child's need and the grouping and where they need that help. But I have looked at it and I will look at it again. Right now I feel like logistically we need to look at how the schedules align and go from there. And I want to say thank you for all your support on that too. Thank you. Thank you.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I understand in ELA, our scores are a little higher than they are in the math. So, you know, I'm going to ask the same questions about math because district wide, our math scores are good, but like there's room for growth in any situation. So I know ELA, it might be a little different than it is the situation and the scenario with the math. So thank you. And I look forward to hearing more from you before the budget about, um, what you really think that we need to do. And I just really want you to speak to some of the people on the front. I know you do on a daily basis.
[Chiesa]: Yeah, I followed up with a few after that meeting as well, and I will continue to do so. Thank you. Thanks.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[Chiesa]: Thank you for the time, Mayor Burke.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You're welcome. We've already received and placed that on file. Now the Social Studies Pre-Budget Report.
[Chiesa]: Me again. You'll be done with me soon. The Social Studies Department is committed to providing all students with the academic and problem-solving skills essential for personal development, citizenship, and lifelong learning. We have 27.5 teachers combined in the middle and high school. That would be six teachers at the Andrews Middle School, six teachers at the McGlynn Middle School, 14.5 at the high school, and one at the vocational school. With the generous support of the school committee in terms of funding for last year, we were able to purchase some additional eighth grade social studies textbooks, brand new for them. We also purchased some additional online subscriptions for teachers because we find every day with social studies things are changing and the online subscriptions make a lot of sense in terms of keeping us current with what's going on in the world. Appropriated budget funding also supported the purchase of instructional materials at the middle and high school level and we had some additional replacement textbooks. In addition to that, we purchased managing licenses for the Chromebooks in order to ease any technology issues so we could look at it as a whole through the technology department. And we also purchased some additional carts for the security of the Chromebooks. This is for the Global Scholars Program, which is offered at the seventh grade level. Funding also supported numerous authentic learning opportunities, which is so powerful for these students, including the Model United Nations that you saw tonight, We have the Royal House visits coming up for grade five and some other authentic opportunities as well. And of course we had some periodicals that were purchased for the middle and high school level. In terms of accomplishments for this year, I want to point out that we've had a significant increase in our senior year offerings. In the past few years we've had four senior classes that were either created or reinstated at the high school level that are fully, that are not filled to capacity, they're not bursting at the seams, but they're very popular in choice for students. That includes our honors economics class, we brought back our AP comparative government class, and so it's quite strong showing at the high school level. In addition, We also continued as another accomplishment to really support the Global Scholars Program, including a field trip to the Museum of Science this year, which was wonderful for the seventh grade students. We've had a significant increase in community partnerships over the last year, including participating in our Veterans Day that you had a report on in the fall, Day on the Hill, National History Day at the middle and high school level, that Model United Nations that we just honored students for, Law Day, Student Government Day. It's a great experience for many different students at many different grade levels, which is important. We continue to do full integration of grades 9 and 10 at the high school and vocational classes. And we continued with our inclusion, full inclusion at the co-teaching classes for the high school and vocational. This year, for additional funding, I am requesting $16,000 in additional funding for our grade 11 U.S. history textbooks. And the funding would also support an advanced placement human geography class that we are offering at the high school next year. And that's it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Does the human geography course, will it be in place of one of the other AP courses or its addition to?
[Chiesa]: We don't think it will be in place. It might. We have to see where the numbers lie with the course requests. I can tell you right now we have 45 students that have already requested it, and our other senior classes still look quite strong in terms of participation. So we're not pulling away that I can see from anything. Of course, if a child asks for AP Human Geography and honors econ, and for some reason the schedule was the same period, which we try to avoid, obviously, that would be the only way it would pull. But no, this is just additional interest. That's great. Thank you. Yeah, it's fabulous. It's been great. Excellent.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Is there a motion on the floor to receive and place on file by Ms. Cuno? Second. Seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much tonight. Thank you so much for this evening. Great job, by the way. Great job leading this department. Thank you.
[Chiesa]: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Departments. All right. OK, report on summer programs 2017, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Call upon our deputy superintendent to present this report.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Nelson. Good evening.
[Beverly Nelson]: Good evening. We've been busy organizing our summer programs, and we have a full complement of programs. Some of them, as you know, are tuition-based. Some of them are supported by grants, and some of them are supported by regular budgets. We thank the school committee for those particular programs. Again, many of the programs are academic, some are recreational, and some are a combination of both. And we're really servicing all grades from pre-K through grade 12. The dates and times of the programs vary. School does end on the 22nd, so most of the programs will start that next Monday, which is June 26th. And just about all of them are ended by the end of August. or the third week in August. We are currently in the process of arranging to staff our programs, identifying students who should attend, and arranging outreach to families on the various programs. You have a summary of each of the programs. The Summer Fund Program is pretty much as it's been in past years to service elementary students. It begins on the 26th. It ends on August 18th. and it's for students in grades K through 6. It's a full day. It begins at 7.30 a.m. and ends at 4.30 p.m. Families sign up by the week, and the cost is $145 per week, and it includes breakfast every day and pizza on Fridays. Regular summer school, this is for students who have failed a subject, grades 6 through 12, who have to make up the subject in order to advance to the next grades. And this year, we're doing things a little differently. The programs all start on June 26 and end on August 8, which is consistent with the 30-day school committee requirement. And all the programs are at Medford High School. And again, student tuition supports the programs. Students pay $250 a course if they're Medford students. And we do have a number of outside students who are paying a little bit more, $300 per course. If you recall, last year we conducted a pilot. And that pilot was to offer online courses for all of the makeup science courses. Well, that proved to be very successful for many reasons. It was engaging. Students had kind of a different approach to their learning, which was kind of welcomed after, you know, a year of regular instruction. The other thing that this did, we were able to offer more science courses. So we actually had students from other communities that didn't have these courses coming to Medford. So that helped to generate a little bit more money. And the other very big plus is that, you know, officially summer school has an ending date. And there are students who sometimes just need a little extra time. This provided them with the time because we allowed those students, because they could work at their own pace, to have a few more weeks in August to complete. And as the supervisors of summer school were telling me as we were debriefing, this led to several more students actually making it over the bar because they had that extra time. So given on that experience and given on the fact that the school system has made a commitment to online learning, we've purchased a subscription with Admentum, which is online courses. And currently, we have seniors who are doing credit recovery using this. We have other students who are just taking supplemental courses. And we decided that all of summer school will be online. Again, we're going to have facilitators for each subject area. What they're doing is they're looking at the course that's the package course, and they're making any modifications to make sure it aligns completely with our own courses. And again, we will be running our summer school online for those grades. The only exception is grades 6 and 7 because, again, in debriefing about what happened last year, the summer school coordinators, Jill Sawyer and David Blau, said that the 6th and 7th graders taking, you know, all that academic instruction was really very difficult for them, and they really needed a different model. So for 6th and 7th graders, they will still be at the high school, but they'll have, you know, kind of a different section of the high school. And they will have regular instruction because we felt that age group maybe couldn't handle complete online instruction. And then what we plan to do is to have kind of a break in the middle and offer some kind of an activity that is an enrichment activity. And we're kind of making our decisions now on what that will be. I think we might do a little bit of social-emotional. One week, we'll actually bring them into the vocational setting and let them know more about vocational education. We'll probably have some recreational things. They can run around and blow off some steam. And that will be in the middle part because many of these youngsters have to stay for both the English and math. So that's our plan. We're hoping that, you know, this is a big improvement on what happened last year. And again, that's what we will be doing for regular summer school. Other programs, and we have several other programs, our English Language Learner Summer Program will service newcomers for the most part, elementary, middle, and high school students. This program will be at the McGlynn. We've contained our programs to the high school, the McGlynn, and the Roberts. And I know that already I've given John McLaughlin the schedule so he can begin the cleaning, so we're kind of, you know, working that so all the buildings, even though they're being used during the summer, will be properly cleaned when students return in August. Again, you can see the schedule for those EL programs. And again, they are very helpful for these youngsters who really need to have that continuity of language acquisition throughout the summer months. Last year and this year, we're having our middle school computer science camp. It's really run through the grant that Molly Layden has throughout the school year. It's for one week, and these are middle school students that have been involved in this project, where they're basically learning about apps and actually designing apps. It's very exciting for the students and very engaging. The Medford Vocational Technical School Exploratory Program, again, for middle school students. This was successful last year. It's a two-week program, and students are coming in. Learning about vocational education, they'll decide, I'm not quite sure exactly which shops are going to be open for them to use, but they will actually develop a product to take home with them at the end of the experience. So that's another program that's worked out very well, so we wanted to continue that. High School 101. Again, this program started when we had our academic support grant. And it was so successful that once the grant dried up, the school committee decided to support it through regular budget. And it's been a wonderful program because what we do here is we have our students who are entering grade nine who have been identified as students who maybe need a little bit of an extra push and a little bit of extra help in, you know, getting into grade nine in terms of finishing their summer work. All eighth grade students have English and mathematics summer work. And we have found that, you know, when they get to school, some of them just haven't done this work. So we want to make sure that they're there, not, you know, kind of getting off to a bad start. So what we do is we bring them in three days in August, the last week before school begins. They have teachers there who are helping them to finish this work. And they do academic work for three days. They also have a chance to meet many of the high school administrators because all the administrators are back at this time. And they get tours of the building. And then we finish that program with day four, which is the regular ninth grade orientation. So these students actually have kind of three extra days where they're getting acclimated to the high school, finishing up their summer work. And again, we have a very high attendance rate. for the kids that are invited to participate. So that is very exciting as well. A full complement of special education programs, some of them will be at the high school, some of them will be at the Roberts. We have all of our nursing staff in place for the students that need any kind of help with health issues. And again, you can see the dates and the special education programs are generally developed from the students IEPs. So these are students who really need summer services to satisfy the requirements of their IEPs. So that's about it. A lot of things going on, very busy, and we'll be all set to begin right after school gets out. Questions?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cunha. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Nelson, for the report. We do have a lot going on, I guess, this summer, huh? So I just want to go over some of the summer school things. It's $250 for a method student, $300 for outside students, but Is that for all students, even if they're taking the online courses?
[Beverly Nelson]: These are students that have to make up courses, and so everybody pays the tuition fee.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay, whether they're taking it online or not.
[Beverly Nelson]: Correct.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: The other thing is is that do we have a breakdown over the years or an idea of how many students for each of these courses? Like how many students do we get back for let's say high school 101, the students entering grade nine? From what I understand, you don't have to have a particular grade in that.
[Beverly Nelson]: It's open to anyone. No, it's not open to everybody because we couldn't accommodate everybody. What it is is the teachers are currently, okay, when we had the grant, under the guidelines of the grant, the students that were invited to come to High School 101, we had to look at their MCAS scores, and they had a certain level, relatively, you know, either warning or needs improvement. Those students were invited. Now we no longer are under the grant, we don't have the guidelines, so what we are asking teachers to do is for the teachers to identify students that they think need this extra help. Okay, students that they've had in class all year, who maybe don't finish their homework, or maybe haven't gotten you know, a wonderful grade, maybe they're, you know, again, students who just need to have their hands held a little bit and walk through. Because it's very, you know, the ninth grade teachers expect the students have this work done. And when the kids arrive day one and all of a sudden they don't have that work, it's not a great start, okay? You don't want them to start behind. So this has been very successful in making sure those students show up day one, having done the work that's expected of them, And again, teachers are, the eighth grade teachers are identifying who we should invite. We usually have about 40 students in the past. And again, the ones that are invited, for the most part, they come. They come.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And you were saying that using the online classes last year, it seemed like it was more successful. How many students did we have?
[Beverly Nelson]: I'd have to get you the exact numbers. It's any student that had to take a science makeup class. did it online. And I'd have to get from David or Jill the exact numbers of those students. But again, things that happen, you know, when you try something out, you expect certain things. But then sometimes there are extra things that are very good things that happen. And I think one of the things that David and Jill were very excited about is that the students who would have had to end on that day in August when the last day of school took place and maybe would have failed, were allowed to continue on on their own, and they were successful by having another two weeks where they could just work on this course. And that's something we didn't really count on, but you know what, that's a great thing. So summer school doesn't have to officially end when the teachers walk away from the students. The students can still continue on and can be successful. So we were very happy with that. What was the feedback from the students? From what I hear, they liked doing it online. We don't just leave them by themselves in a room. I mean, there are teachers, facilitators there that they can ask questions. We also make sure that somebody in technology is around in case something breaks down. We're hoping to use, we're hoping to keep the classes because when we had just the science, we put them in the labs. But now that we're going to have all the courses online, we're going to use regular classrooms with Chromebooks. And again, we're kind of making sure that everything's going to work. We're working with the technology department to make sure If we have 100 kids online at one time, it's going to be successful. So we're trying to flush all that out so there are no problems.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And as far as the assignments itself, are they assigned homework at the end of the day on these?
[Beverly Nelson]: From what I understand, they can accelerate at their own pace. I mean, they have to physically be at the high school to satisfy the requirement of being on site for those hours. But my understanding is pretty much self-paced. Bernadette, you've worked with this too, and you can correct me if I'm giving misinformation, but they're pretty much self-paced and they're like in modules. So actually, you and I might be taking the same course, sitting side by side, but you could be doing something very different. Maybe you're well ahead of me and I'm just struggling to do something else. So my understanding is that's how it works. And Bernadette, if you want to add anything.
[Bernadette Ricciardelli]: I just want to add that a student could log on at home, so if a student wanted to do more work. But we do need to stay true to the requirement of the number of hours that they need to have in the classroom. It's what's a balancing act. We don't want them to go too far ahead and then come to school with nothing to do. So at least in the beginning, they will be encouraged to do the work within the classroom. And then if they need it, certainly they'll be able to log on at home.
[Beverly Nelson]: Because my concern... One additional thing, too, about the program, Edmentum, is that there are other things, like Bernadette said, what if we have that student who finishes the second day, I'm done with the course, very unlikely, but who knows. We also have, there are other courses that are very helpful, like there's a course called Study Skills. So some of these students could benefit from taking an online course on study skills. So if we see that happening, we can intervene with some other
[Ann Marie Cugno]: products some other programs within this material that we've purchased that can be useful to these kids too because we just don't want them sitting there obviously Right and the other my other concern is I don't want children who don't have the accessibility of having laptops and computers at home even feeling worse because now if you know other people do have that accessibility And I just don't want them coming to school and feeling like they're failing because now they're falling behind. So I guess my question is, too, is after a certain hour that they're done, if students want to stay and go to the library and work a little bit extra because they don't have laptops or anything, do they have that accessibility?
[Beverly Nelson]: Right now, no. We'd have to, you know, obviously look into that. That's a suggestion I can make to David and Jill. If they can get staff to stay a little bit extra, that would be great. Again, we will monitor, you know, what kids are doing in terms of. The expectation is that they're doing this work in the hours that they're supposed to be in summer school. But there are always kids who just feel, you know, we like that. You don't want to stop somebody from going home and pursuing something. So we don't want to discourage that. So we'll try to find a way to work around it and maybe offer an extra hour in the library that they can come to. I'll speak to David about that.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. And you, last question was, is that you have, um, you have introductory physics, chemistry, and biology online. Are those the same courses that are going to be provided this year? Are you going to add more?
[Beverly Nelson]: I think those are the three that were identified by Mrs. Cieri as what the kids needed to make up.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. Thank you so much. Ms.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Mustone, I was just wondering about the English language learner summer program. So out of the newcomers at the Roberts and the newcomers at middle school and the newcomers at the high school, what percent would you say take advantage of it? Because that, I think, is a great program.
[Beverly Nelson]: I'd have to check with Mrs. Trotter on that. It is free, so free always encourages people to come.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: In lunch and transportation, I would think you could get a hundred percent.
[Beverly Nelson]: Yeah, because she has the grant. That's a Title III grant. Okay. I mean, it's unfortunate that, you know, some of the programs we can offer transportation, some we can offer food, but it really is dependent upon if we have grant funding for that. So I can check with her to see how many kids actually who are invited. Those students are pretty motivated, though. They tend to go to most things they're invited to.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: And then on the special ed program, the last part is there's approximately 142 students requiring the various services. Do all 142 take advantage of these programs?
[Beverly Nelson]: Well, again, this is part of what they're supposed to be doing on their IEPs. I believe they get a pretty good attendance rate on that because The parents want the kids to have the services during the summer.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: So can I make a motion if Kathy could tell us what percent comes and if Trotter could tell us what percent comes to the... Sure. Just maybe if they're not 100%, maybe there's a way to outreach more to get more people to them. Okay.
[Beverly Nelson]: So I will get the data on that.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Thank you very much.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: You're welcome.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I just wanted to ask about the summer school program in terms of tuition. For students who are on free or reduced lunch, you know, potentially if they fail two subjects, it's $500. Do we have a reduced cost for students who are clearly economically disadvantaged?
[Beverly Nelson]: We work with families who have special circumstances. I know that. Sometimes it's a payment plan, so they don't have to do all of the tuition up front. And I know there are times that we're very forgiving if the circumstances are such. But we take it on an individual case. To say that everyone gets free and reduced lunch, gets reduction in tuition is not what we're currently doing. But we do obviously take that into consideration. Okay, as long as I know that there's- We don't turn people away who need it.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay, thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. My question is actually directed towards the mayor and it's in regard to the summer Recreation book if that is when to print today.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Oh, that's our summer recreation has a litany of programming You know sports camps some of the programs that you have we have similar camps that are gonna be had and music camps There's quite a bit that's gonna be in the catalog and it went to print today So we're hoping to have it next week. And where will they be available be distributing through the schools will be doing backpacks and it'll also be online and
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Will there any be up at the library just in case people are down there. Okay, great. Thank you Yes
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Whenever we discuss the summer fund program, I think I ought to give kudos to Ann Marie Cuno, our colleague, who really got it off the ground. So, just want to mention that.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Very good.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Krebs. Thank you. Thank you for the report. I just wanted to mention we were at the West Medford Community Center the other day, and they're having a summer camp as well. It's ten weeks, June 26th to September 1st. 8 AM to 6 PM, middle school, 6 to 8, and it's $1.75 a week. And you only pay for the weeks you need. So I just wanted to mention it. And if anybody's interested, there's still spaces limited, but there's still space available.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you. And they have a continuing after school program?
[Kathy Kreatz]: Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Is there a motion on the floor to receive and place on file? Ms. Van der Kloot has a question.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: No, I just noticed that in the form, it says that the summer fund program runs 7.30 PM to 4.30 PM. It just needs to be corrected.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Just in the report.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Thanks.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Eagle eyes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Very good.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Backwards. Back to the future. There's a motion for approval offered by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor?
[Unidentified]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Papers received and placed on file. And our final report on English language learners newcomers program redistribution. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So one of the discussions we've had recently is the concentration of students who are ELL in any one elementary school. And the newcomers program has historically been at the Roberts, but the numbers have become very substantial. And one of the discussions that we had was how can we spread them out, redistribute them a little bit more. In earlier discussions, we talked about splitting, let's say, grades 1 and 2 at one school and 3, 4, and 5 at another. And so this particular report tells you that next year it's our plan to send grades 1 and 2 to the Brooks School for two reasons. One, it will redistribute the newcomers program, not all ELL students, but the newcomers program. And also, it will create more of a balance between the two schools because the population at the Brooks is lower than the population at the Roberts. Put the two together, they'll come up with a similar population and the diversity level at the Brooks will increase substantially and that will be helpful as well. So that's our goal, that's what we're doing and we plan to move ahead unless there's an objection.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Do you have any questions, miss? No? You're good?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Very good. Mr. Benedetto. I think this is a great idea, Mr. Superintendent. There has been significant parent presence at some of our meetings worried about the class size and where space was available at our schools. And I really believe that this is a really good way to look at this. And we can watch it closely next year and make any other adjustments. All that I ask is if it does cause hardships to individual families, that you take that into account and work with those families and make sure that the transition works well for those families. And if there's great hardship of separating siblings, you keep that in mind when placement is necessary.
[Roy Belson]: I think it's very important for us to maybe make a statement at this point in time. We talked about this the other night at the middle schools. We can't make everybody happy all the time. There's going to be decisions that are going to be made that are going to require people to accept certain kinds of things for distribution purposes. Now this year we'll do it with the elementary, but as we go into next year we're going to have to take a very strong look at the middle school and redistribute students because otherwise one school will be very heavy with certain types of students who require certain services. Other schools will be less populated and have other challenges. So people ask for certain things. We do our best to accommodate them. From time to time, we have to make a decision, and not everybody's going to be happy with that decision, but that's the nature of trying to be fair to everybody. And sometimes in transition, there are a few people that feel like we didn't consider their particular situation, but we'll try to consider as many situations as we can.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Very good. Ms. Van der Kloot. I think my biggest concern is sometimes older students are in charge of looking after younger siblings. And by splitting the families between two schools, which I certainly understand why we're moving in that direction, that could create some issues. And that's the place that I'm most concerned about. And there may be some interesting and creative solutions to that for families, but I think that we just need to be very, very well aware of. And most importantly is the information to the families so we're aware of any, you know, real problems ahead of time.
[Roy Belson]: One of the things we'll do after tonight is we'll actually reach out to the families that will be affected by school transitions this week. and start to let them know what our plans are. And then we do have after school programs and other things like that that we can work out some arrangements for people who have particular needs that really are under stress. But we've got to be very careful that we don't just assume that everybody is going to get everything that they want because if we do that, we give ourselves an unbearable goal, an unattainable goal. So from time to time, you make a decision. You do it in the vast majority of people involved. You try to work on the edges with the people that may be affected adversely.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Could you address what happens in third grade when they've finished, let's say, a second grade newcomer?
[Roy Belson]: Hopefully by third grade they're no longer a newcomer.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Correct.
[Roy Belson]: So they can go back to their school of origin or their geographical school.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And they'll have a preference in that transfer?
[Roy Belson]: Right. They would go back to their school of origin. So the goal is to get them out of the newcomers program as soon as possible. A couple years should do it. And that would hope that they wouldn't have to go to the Roberts. They could go back to the School of Archer.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK? Very good. All set? Mm-hmm. Ms. Cugno.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: That was my question.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You good? All righty. Is there a motion to receive and place on file? Mr. Skerry made the motion. Is there a second by Ms. Van der Kloot? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Roy Belson]: Mayor, just a couple of announcements.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm taking those no negotiating legal matters. No. We have one item of new business. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Reverend Edward Doughty. Father Ed was the pastor of the Collaboration of St. Francis and St. Joseph Churches in Medford. If you could all please rise for a moment of silence on the passing of Reverend Father Doughty. and a couple of announcements.
[Roy Belson]: So on Wednesday evening last, you asked me for some dates, and I gave you the wrong dates a couple of days later.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah, graduation.
[Roy Belson]: And I just wanted to say what I wanted to see was just how attentive you are to what I send out. And Kathy was the only one who picked it up, so sorry about that. The rest of you just weren't paying attention. No, I'm just kidding. So I've given you corrected dates. June 6 is the Curtis Tufts graduation, 1130 at the Irish American. 11, now 11 o'clock? Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: This says 11.30.
[Roy Belson]: It's now 11 o'clock.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay. 11 o'clock, okay.
[Roy Belson]: I was looking at, what is it?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: 11 o'clock. If you get there half an hour later, you'll be there in time for the food. Okay. The M Club banquet is on June 6th in the evening and graduation is on the 7th. Okay? A couple of other things, we have a meeting this Wednesday evening to interview ELL candidates. I have at least three candidates, good candidates for you to see, possibly a fourth by tomorrow. We'll make sure we check out a couple of references. And that's Wednesday starting at 7. We've reserved the 22nd and the 25th for additional meetings, possibly for community schools or for other situations, and also possibly to interview the candidates for the vocational director's principal's job. I'm still going through applications, talking to references. There's some things happening out there in that type of community, the vocational director's community, that may portend for us to postpone that and move it a little bit further out to get all the candidates that I want to have in the pool. But we'll see that. I'll know that better in the next week or so. In addition to that, I think that you should know that the Senate is coming out with its Ways and Means budget tomorrow. That gives us a better idea of what the Senate is proposing versus what the House is proposing and what we might be looking at for state funding and budgets. We're still looking at federal dollars as they get sifted around when reports from the federal government. So all those things have an impact on you, and I just want to make sure you're aware of it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you for those updates, Superintendent Felsen, through Madam Maber.
[Roy Belson]: Don't say that word.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I know. I'm picking up your habit. So we haven't discussed, as the chairperson of the school committee, we haven't discussed the superintendent's review, his annual review. So I'm requesting that you start that process through you for the superintendent's annual review. so we can have that before the end of our session, before summer break. So I would like to move forward on making sure that we do our due diligence as a committee and do his annual review. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Cugno, did you have a comment?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Yes. I just want to know if we have any dates of the budget itself. Not yet. All righty.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to adjourn.
|
total time: 34.93 minutes total words: 1522  |
total time: 3.0 minutes total words: 297  |
total time: 7.41 minutes total words: 648  |
total time: 8.31 minutes total words: 896  |
|
total time: 0.96 minutes total words: 89  |
total time: 3.16 minutes total words: 293  |
total time: 0.45 minutes total words: 66  |
total time: 0.73 minutes total words: 85  |