[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Approval of the minutes of January 22nd, 2018. Motion to approve. There's a motion for approval by Ms. DiVenedetto, seconded by Ms. Vendiclute. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills transfer of funds. Motion to approve. Motion for approval by Ms. DiVenedetto, seconded by Mr. Rousseau. Roll call vote, please.
[Unidentified]: Mrs. DiVenedetto? Yes. Mrs. Kreatz?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. Motion passes. Approval of payrolls. Motion for approval by Ms. DiBenedetto, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call vote, please. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. Report of secretary.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Members, what my weekly responsibilities are as secretary. Since January 10, 2018, I've been going into the finance department at city hall every Wednesday afternoon to review and sign approximately 15 to 20 batches Each batch consists of a cover letter, which contains vendor numbers, names, addresses, and amounts. There are receipts and invoice backup attached to each batch packet. I go through each vendor line to ensure all the receipts, invoices are provided. I audit the names, addresses, and amounts for accuracy. The process typically takes between 2 to 3 hours each week. If questions arise while auditing, I email the Director of Finance, Christine Patterson, to ask for clarification. Once the batch is finally approved, I sign off for the school committee on the cover letter and the warrant runs the same week on Friday so that each vendor will receive a check for their services. At the bottom of this report is a chart of the first three billing codes so that my colleagues can reference while reviewing the payroll and transfers of the spreadsheet. You'll notice that 010 is budget major, 890 is student activities, 112 is state grants, 113 is federal grants, 114 is revolving accounts, 115 is trust. So please note, if you have any questions about specific vendor items, I would be happy to address. However, I'd most likely need to email the finance department, you know, once we hear the inquiry, so that we can pull the paperwork at City Hall to, you know, to clarify your questions, because I can't bring the batches out of City Hall. And, you know, I've gone through them, but I don't, you know, kind of remember exactly week to week what items specifically, but I have an idea, and I've approved everything. So I hope you find this report helpful. Thank you very much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much, Ms.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Kritz, Madam Secretary.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good, handy little cheat sheet to have on the board. Are there any questions from the members? No? Okay. Is there a motion to receive and place this on file by Mr. Giro, seconded by Ms. The underclude. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Oh, good idea.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Always thinking.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yep, that's a good idea. Thank you very much, Mr. Benedetto, for the tip. Report of committees, building and ground subcommittee minutes, January 29, 2018.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: We are going to make a motion at the end of this meeting, so I don't know if I should just fill the report then or do it now?
[Kathy Kreatz]: You could highlight the report.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Okay. So for those of you who were not at our last meeting, Cheryl Rodriguez, a mother from the Roberts, had come to explain to us that she was applying for a CPA. Community Preservation Act grant for the Roberts Playground surface area, which is very torn up. It would fall under both recreation and open space of the CPA. The other two categories are affordable housing and historical site. So she was looking for us to support her in her round two of the application. She made it through the first round. Cheryl's here. I'm not making sure everything I'm saying is right. So it was moved to our subcommittee where we, the three of us, it was, Kathy, myself, and Erin, and that we recommend that the school committee allows her to move forward with looking for these CPA funds for the Roberts.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much. Is there a motion to accept this report and place it on file? Yes. So moved by Ms. Vanden Heuvel, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The report is adopted. Other report of committee rules, subcommittee minutes, January 31, 2018. Ms. Kreatz, chairperson. Yes.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Okay, so the Medford School Committee Subcommittee on the Rules was called to order by Chairperson Kathy Kreatz at 715 in the Superintendent's Conference Room at Medford High School. Members Michael Ruggiero, Paul Russo were in attendance. Attendees included Superintendent Roy Belson, Deputy Superintendent Beverly Nelson. Others included Bob Russo, Ingrid Moncadia, Christina McGourty, Melissa Melwatt, Jenny Graham, Jane Wright, Gail Trainor, Tony Vento, Patricia Haas, Robin Irving, Claire Flaherty, Michelle Cicillo, Gareth McFarley, and Melanie McLaughlin. We all rose to salute the flag. Chairperson stated the purpose of the meeting was twofold, review failed trip policy, review oversight guidelines for PTO, PTG, and 5013 organizations that support our public schools. Superintendent Balson explained that the subcommittee's work resulted from discussions and questions raised at our regular school committee meeting on January 22nd He then asked Deputy Superintendent Beverly Nelson to lead a discussion of the field trip policy and forms. Copies of the relevant forms were distributed. Deputy Superintendent Nelson explained the need for revised policy and forms emanated from multiple discussions at the school committee meetings around key issues such as insurance, medical coverage, inclusivity, and curriculum alignment. The goal was to produce clear and consistent policy with streamlined forms. The policy was developed with substantial input. Key revisions were included. Change in the order of sign-off. Sequence of approval. Nurse to be notified when student listing is ascertained. Cost to be estimated until full student participation is determined. Teachers Robin Irving and Patty Haas spoke about their confusion as it related to the new forms. They stressed their commitment to inclusivity. They were concerned about the curriculum director sign off. The superintendent exclaimed that it was new and the department director was unsure of the approval requirement in the sequence. He explained that the curriculum director needed to ensure an alignment with curriculum. A field trip is an alternative classroom and it must be of value. It must be a substitute for a day of classroom instruction. After alignment is determined, then participation listing must be checked out for appropriate supports, accommodations, consistent with student needs. It's a two-step process. Health Supervisor Tony Vento exclaimed that Massachusetts is not a compact state and our nurses cannot supervise out-of-state trips. Also, the administration of medications by persons needs physician's approval. It was explained that if there were specialized costs, it might be necessary to revise the per-pupil assessment Also, if a trip was canceled for appropriate reasons, then insurance refunds should be incorporated into the planning. Melanie McLaughlin, parent of CPAC chairperson, raised various ADA issues and possible need for SPED sign-off. She was concerned if students were eliminated for academic reasons, also for disciplinary reasons. It was explained that special ed students were in attendance, then special ed teachers and staff would be on the trip. Also, the school had the right to exclude participation for valid academic and disciplinary reasons, as long as they were legitimate, non-discriminating reasons. Student participation was shared, responsibility between home and school. Member Ruggiero suggested that the ADA comment be added to the form. As a result of the discussions, will be made to the forms in the following, ADA reference checklist, change in the order of the sign-off, nurse notification rather than approval, estimated costs rather than actual process will be better explained. The subcommittee then began the discussion of oversight regulations proposal by the superintendent. Member Ruseau felt that October 1 would be better than September 1st for submission of the materials. There were pros and cons to the date changes, but it was not decided. The discussion centered primarily on the tone of the regulations. Most were concerned that they sounded too negative and heavy. Also, there was a good give and take on why they were needed. The superintendent felt that greater coordination would not impinge on the autonomy of various groups, but could lead to greater resources and better coordination with the school budget. There was concern about economic equality among the schools. Jen Graham volunteered to rework the regulations into a more friendly listing. The subcommittee agreed to hold any vote in absence until the new language could be reviewed. On the motion, Mr. Russo seconded by Mr. Ruggiero, the meeting was adjourned at 9.30. So I will follow up with Superintendent Belson, and when we have the revisions, I could call another subcommittee meeting as a follow-up.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much. Mr. Benedetto?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. So I had gotten some calls about the possibility of the process taking too long. Did the teachers and the parents at that meeting feel like the process would be quicker now that you've met and made some revisions?
[Kathy Kreatz]: That's my feeling. I think that would be my understanding. So if you look at the back of our packets, Erin, there is a, at the very back, there's a recommendation to the approval of the field trip policy and there's a checklist. So what the, you know, what the teachers will do is they'll follow the checklist and they'll have their forms. and they can bring them, you know, working with the checklist to the appropriate person. And so at the bottom, it's, there's been a revision where the signature will be, the order of the signature is the principal or assistant principal in the curricular curriculum and the notification to the nurse. So there's not, at the very bottom, there's only approval for you know, the principal and the curriculum director, and then notification going to the nurse. You know, there is different forms for the day trip and for the overnight trip, yeah. Okay, Beverly, yeah. Nelson?
[Beverly Nelson]: I don't mean to barge in, but let me just try to streamline what we did here. We didn't change the policy. The policy was approved by the school committee, so that was standing. The confusion, some of it was on basically three forms. And the checklist, again, we made that one addition that was recommended that is under prior to planning the trip, the first bullet, review the district, the teacher should review the district field trip policy, and we added, I think it was at the suggestion of Mr. Rousseau, review the ADA regulations, which is part of our policy. So basically, the teacher is reading the policy. I'm sorry, Mr. Agerio. It's been a long day. Basically, the teacher will read the whole policy, we hope, before they begin. They'll see all of this within the policy anyways, but we did add it because, again, as Mr. Agerio said, it was something that should be out there at the very outset. The second form that caused a little bit of confusion was the local day trip, field trip approval form. And what I did is I simply circled what we have changed in the new language. So again, if you go to the bottom, there was some confusion about who should sign first, the curriculum director or the principal. So a curriculum director, the teacher may give it to the curriculum director first, the curriculum director doesn't see the principal's signature, And again, there's some confusion. So we simply added to clarify that both signatures are required in the order that they are presented. Field trips start with the principal. Principal has to be aware of anything going in and out of their building, his or her building, and they have to, again, start the process. The other confusion was that doing day trips, there were teachers that thought the nurse had to sign off, that she knew all the kids going at the time of the planning, of the field trip. Now we know that that's not a reality because you put a field trip out and kids sign up for it and you really don't know. What we were really getting at according to what Tony Dento explained is the nurse needs some notification. So we took the nurse, again I didn't put the original form here, but it was a sign off by the principal, curriculum director and nurse, the approval. We took the nurse out of the approval section and we created a new section called notification. So the nurse, the teacher would make sure that the nurse is notified that a month from now, there's going to be a field trip to the Museum of Science. And then when you have all the students who sign up, then the nurse will go through the lists and the medical issues that may have to be addressed. So that clarified that portion of it with regard to the signatures. With regard to the overnight trips, again, the items that we adjusted are circled. And again, once everyone's comfortable with all of this, we will post it to the website in the new forms without things being circled, obviously. But one of the things that was a problem is that when the overnight trips were going to be planned, they really didn't know the cost, okay, exactly. The cost is gonna really vary according to the number of students that sign up. So for example, if a trip is going to Italy and you have to hire one bus, if you have 30 students, the cost might be a little bit less than if you have 20 students, because, again, you have to hire the same boss, the same vendor. So, again, we ask that the teacher simply estimate, based on past experience, what do they think that cost will be. The other changes were pretty much similar to what we did on the day trip. Again, we asked the signatures to be in the order that they're listed, so it starts with the principal or headmaster, curriculum director, superintendent if it's one of the trips that have to be approved by the school committee. And then the nurse was taken out of the approval column, because once again, when you plan for a trip like to Italy, you oftentimes plan a year ahead. You do not know all the students who are gonna be going, but the nurse needs to be notified that perhaps in those few months they have to go through this list with the teacher. So those were pretty much the changes. I think they clarified some of the things that people were questioning. With everything new, it takes a while for people to get used to doing things. And I think, again, we reviewed all of this once the committee approved the policy with our administrators. But it does bear another review. We have a meeting on Tuesday with administrators. And I will certainly go over this as well as inform them on the changes that we made to the forms. And then everything will be posted. But the policy was not changed. It was just these forms to clarify a little bit. what was causing some people some concerns. So I take any questions, if you have any questions.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Follow up, Mr. Benedetto, on that question?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Well, it's part of that. The part that was concerning to me is, how do you have a list of student attendees when you haven't gotten approval and sent out to the parents, do you want to sign your children up? So on the day trips, it says, please attach a list of student attendees. So if all of seventh or eighth grade is going, are teachers able to get a list of every student in that grade level and attach it to this? Are they able to do that, number one? And number two, just because they're invited, that's not the list of who's going until you send home the permission slips to parents. So that seems premature to me to have that on there in encumbrance on the teachers at that point.
[Beverly Nelson]: I believe in our discussion what we were targeting here is the perspective students that you are going to invite. So for example, if a teacher is taking his or her class, it would be my class in general. Because you're right, we don't know who's going to opt not to go and who's going to, you know, again, just want to be in attendance.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So can we clarify that piece so that list of classrooms attending, individual students' names delivered to the nurse one week before, or grade level or some generalization so they're not thinking that they have to have the exact list.
[Unidentified]: For the approval.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah, I think that's confusing. And it's not on the overnight one. The overnight one does not have that. It just says estimated number of students. So we could just change that to estimated number of students and then provide the list a week before because it's noted down the bottom to provide a list to the nurse a week before.
[Beverly Nelson]: The only difference is that the local day trips usually look to a particular class, a teacher's class, to take on the trip, where oftentimes the overnight trips, like trips abroad, it's open more to students of the entire, let's say, junior and senior class. So I can see what you say about list the attach of students. Maybe if we put language, this is on the local day trips, please attach students you are at, let's see, please attach the classes that you plan to take, something like that, without names. So if we add that, okay.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Or estimated, even if they know it's estimated and that the final count has to be presented to either the principal, vice principal, or assistant principal, or nurse one week prior. So that way they have that time and they'll have the exact names by then. and be able to provide that. Because if they're doing, like if the second grade all goes to the, you know, the top school fair, or apple picking in kindergarten, or whatever that they do, that some teacher might not have the list of every student in every other classroom.
[Beverly Nelson]: Not when they're planning. And then we thought, well, do we do a form for preliminary planning? I know at the request of the school committee, we wanted to streamline as much as possible. If we can do it with the language in one form, so much the better. So we can make that adjustment.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Beverly Nelson]: Because I see what you're getting at there.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you very much.
[Beverly Nelson]: You're welcome.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I'd like to see it when it's done.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: OK. OK.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, I just had a question. I understand that two teachers were present, teachers Robin Irving and Patty Haas had come forward and spoke about a field trip. I think it was to the Museum of Science, which didn't end up taking place. Or did it end up taking place? No.
[Beverly Nelson]: Not. But again, I think. they can regroup with this once. There was some misunderstanding because in that situation, and I'm meeting again at the request of Ms. Irving and Ms. Haas. I'm meeting them on Thursday of this week to clarify that. Because what happened, it went to two curriculum directors. And the curriculum directors were really confused as to who should sign. It went to the math director and the science There was a lot of confusion over that.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I just want to make sure that the kids get to go on the field trip. I understand it's a traditional field trip, and the kids are going to the Museum of Science. And I just want to make sure that because of this timing with the paperwork, that they're not held back. And if there's a cost differential that was caused by this, that we look deep into our budget and see if we can help make that go away.
[Beverly Nelson]: OK. Again, I will be meeting with them Thursday.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, it was a motion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK. Mr. Belson.
[Roy Belson]: There are two items. There's the committee report.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm sorry.
[Roy Belson]: There's the committee report, which was read, and then there's the action item on the old business. So we should look at the old business item, and that's what you're voting, not the committee report you're accepting for information. So we just have to make a distinction. So if you're going to make a reference, you have to look at this. The second thing is, is that you may know that Medford alumni Michael Bloomberg gave $50 million to the Science Museum. I have a funny feeling we won't have to cost it for our children.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All righty. Mr. Ruggiero.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Yeah, one quick question here. I believe it was Miss Irving, one of the teachers, mentioned that new teachers had trouble finding the forms or knowing where the forms were located. Is there gonna be any training provided to new teachers as they come in, like a packet with this information in particular?
[Beverly Nelson]: Well, again, principals, when things happen during the school year, we ask, obviously, that the principals give the information to all teachers, including new staff. Teacher orientation, we do have a week of that for new staff at the beginning of the year, and they get a lot of information, and again, we leave a lot for the principal, because we don't want to scare people away that first week, because we need those teachers to come back with those kids. So again, we really ask the principals. Now, again, when things are new, sometimes it takes a couple of times to go over them. These forms are on the website, the old forms. They'll be revised. Teachers have access to them. I'm looking to see, make sure they're placed properly on the website, too. So they really should be under the section Teachers Information. So teachers have that. But again, we are, again, reviewing this with the administrators next week at their regular meetings, and I will emphasize the fact that we've made the adjustments after we make the final ones, and then we'll move forward. And it sometimes takes, this is all new. Schools prior to this, I tried to explain the other evening, every school had its own protocol for field trip approval, and it was very confusing to parents with kids in different schools And it was the committee that really wanted to bring some uniformity to this. So that's why all of this started. And when you do something that's as big a project, and Gail Trainor and Tony Vento deserve really all the credit for this. They worked two years. And we had administrators review it over and over again. And as you see, every time you review something, there's always something additional you can tweak. So we've worked with that. So again, there's been a lot of thought put into this. I think it's a great policy. And if we can get the forms down to where they need to be, it'll be great forms as well.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Mr. Russo? Oh, sorry. I didn't know my English.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You're OK? All righty.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Mustone? In the minutes, Michael, Member Ruggiero, suggested that the ADA be added to the form. So I see on the checklist, it says review the district trip policy and ADA regulations. So then will part of their package also add the actual list of ADA? I don't know the ADA regulations myself.
[Beverly Nelson]: They're a part of all of our documents. And if you go to the field trip policy, it's very clearly stated, we went over the language with Kathy Medaglia to make sure that it covered all of the concerns about that. It's very clearly in the policy.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: But I'm saying when a teacher takes this, the way to do it, the AD English isn't going to be part of this package. They have to go to the website and look up the AD regulations?
[Beverly Nelson]: Well, the policy speaks to that. In other words, the first thing the teacher is supposed to do is read the policy, OK? The exact regulations, they're in the very first page of that policy. But the exact regulations, they're not listed, Kathy, because it was too...
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right, but I'm saying if you have a checklist and all the forms that you need are part of this package, wouldn't the ADA regulations make sense just to have them part of this package so you don't have to go to a computer to look up the regulations?
[q-Y9QUDQ70c_SPEAKER_08]: So let me just mention that at the start of every school year, all of the schools go through a series of mandated trainings. One of those trainings does relate to 504, accessibility, civil rights. I mean, there's a listing of probably maybe 12 different mandated trainings that staff participate in, all within the first month of school.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It's an accessibility requirement.
[q-Y9QUDQ70c_SPEAKER_08]: It's just that when you plan a trip, when you plan a lesson in the classroom, you have to make it accessible for all students. That's the requirement.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So that's fundamental.
[q-Y9QUDQ70c_SPEAKER_08]: Correct.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: First rule of thumb, make sure the place you're going to is accessible. It's accessible, that the student can access the trip. from anyone.
[SPEAKER_14]: Great, but it's just everything else is included except just the list of the ADA regulations.
[Roy Belson]: If you were to include the ADA regulations, you have to give them a book. And they're not going to read the whole book. The basic premise is it's accessible, transportation is accessible, the location is accessible and supports are provided, accommodations if required. Three basic principles.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Russo.
[Paul Ruseau]: So this form that we're holding is a piece of paper. It's actually a link on the website already, or will be.
[Beverly Nelson]: They're up there now in the old form. Okay. But once we had our discussion tonight, we make any further, approve any further edits, then they'll be all up there. The policy's up there, and then the forms are up there as well. But we will repost them, maybe put them in a couple of places on the website. I did look around there and I thought perhaps it could be under another section, as well as where it currently was. So we'll work on that once we have it finalized.
[Paul Ruseau]: And is the entire policy, like the next item on the list of links or above it or near it, or do you have to go someplace else on the website?
[Beverly Nelson]: It's all together.
[Paul Ruseau]: It's all together.
[Beverly Nelson]: The policy and the forms. OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to accept this report and place it on file with the recommendations that are included in it? Motion for Mr. Rusciro, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes. Thank you. Community participation. With us tonight we have Miss Judy Lonigan, who's representing the Jingle Bell Road Race Funds Committee. And they have some really good news tonight. As you know, every year they hold a road race in the month of, I think it was November? It was actually November, I think. And the schools participate and they raise funds for their given school. So all the dollars they raise for walkers and runners end up coming back to the school system via all the hard work of the committee. And we have with us tonight, Ms. Lonigan, who'd like to come up to the podium.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Ms. Lonergan, how are you? Good, how are you? Good, thanks. I'd like to also introduce John Murphy, who is the co-sponsor with Lonergan Insurance and Real Estate, and John is the president of Members Plus Credit Union. So we are going to present these checks, and we have two trophies there for the school that had the most walker runners and the one that raised the most money. So we do have a group of involves with checks in them, we don't think there's a representative here. So if there is at the end, would you just come forward so we can give it to you? If not, I will give them to Mrs. Chiesa, who will in turn give them out to the coaches and the teams in schools that got them. I would just like to say that we are donating. Members Plus and Lonergan Insurance and Real Estate pay all the expenses for the race. Any money that the schools raise, the kids raise by running or walking or getting sponsors or selling chances or however they do it, they get 100% back to them. And then all those runners and walkers who do not state a school or a team goes into a pot and that pot is distributed on a percentage basis. The person who works the hardest gets the most money. out of that until we get down to zero. I don't do it. I don't have anything to do with it. My name's not on anything. But we do have wonderful people who work with us and do this. This year we will be presenting $31,698.85. So that brings us to a total, I think, this is our fifth year and I think it brings us to a total of about $200,000. We just give you, we give you the activity. It's up to you, your teams, your clubs, your schools to raise the money because whatever you raise is 100% back to you. We pay for the The race facilitator, we pay for the t-shirts, we pay for whatever expenses are incurred so that you all get it back. So the first one I'm calling on is Jen Overbrook and Hunter and Liam and who else is here from the Andrew School? Susan, I'm sorry, Susan Power.
[Unidentified]: I forgot to write it down, Susie.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: At the end, I'd like everybody to stand outside on the steps so we can take a picture of the whole group with their checks and everybody who participated. And the second group is the Asian Club, Kylie Truong. The next one is the Brooks School, Frank O'Leary. Next we have the Columbus School, Bob Russo. Now, this is a crew for the crew. We have Maya Gomez, Peter DiPlacido, Aidan Donovan, Aaron Alapiti, I think I've got that right, Julia Evers, John Entarpa, Luisa Barbosa, Jason Vo, Leonidas Pianisic, and Maya Gomez.
[Kathy Kreatz]: They work hard.
[Unidentified]: They always work hard. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good job. Good job.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: foreign language, Mia McGillicuddy and Laura Pladowitz. Nelida Lepore is the instructor or coordinator of this club. Thank you, Nelida. Next is the McGlynn Middle School, and Miss Jody Lou, who's the assistant principal, will accept for them.
[Unidentified]: Congratulations, Ms. Lowe.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Thank you.
[Kathy Kreatz]: This is the first year. I'd like to say Judy, first year, but not our last.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Come on, you can say it right here.
[SPEAKER_04]: OK. This is the first year from the McKinnon School, but certainly not the last. All right.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: I'll get it. I'll get it.
[SPEAKER_04]: We have her.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: Who's number? Oh, no, no, no.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: The next one is the Medford Vocational Tech High School. Jill Sawyer is accepted. The Robert School is Melissa Maywalk and Erin Sharon.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Justin, could you bring up the first place trophies?
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Both of them, yeah. We have fun but not so much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hi, how are you? Thank you, senior. Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_04]: Where's Angela? She's there. Is she taking a picture?
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Get in the picture. First, please. All right, John, you can get in the background. That's the most fun. Is that most money? Most money.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: The most money raised was at the Roberts School, and that was, they raised, well, plus the proceeds that we kicked in, so they got a total of $6,935.97. They raised on their own $5,596.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: The next one is St. Joseph's School. Wendy McClellan, Nicole Zulo, Allison DeSalmia, Heath Bennett and Harry Bennett. I'd like to just say that Harry and Heath are the Bennett brothers who have made homemade balm for children in cancer. And Harry, Heath, which one? Heath or Harry? Harry, did you just get a big award? Come here and tell them what you got.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I just received
[SPEAKER_20]: I just received the Prudential Spirit Awards, the award, middle school, for Massachusetts.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: I thought he had it right off the tip of his tongue. They've also been commendated by Children's Hospital for all the work that they do, that their mother does with them, hand in step. St. Raphael School is the principal of the school, Mr. Bedrosian.
[TWpH9s-16mQ_SPEAKER_07]: Oh, I'm sorry. St. Rayfield's had the most runners with 112.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: And before I give out the last one, I just want to make sure to remind you, we don't want to disturb this meeting all night, if you all just go out on the stairs so we can take a group picture. And the last one to receive that is here tonight, is there anyone here who did not receive their check? They can go to the principal's office, the superintendent's office, and Mrs. Case will give you the checks tomorrow. Swimming, Mary Judge, who's the coach.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much.
[Mn4KS2yu_8U_SPEAKER_26]: Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And we also want to thank a lot of city employees also donated their time, DPW, the police department, so they're a partner in this whole great race and we look forward to its future. Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Judy, we have other reports to give out tonight.
[Roy Belson]: I'm going to call up Tony Sickney, our director of fine arts, to tell us about these music awards that have honored our students for their terrific participation.
[Tony Szykniej]: Thank you. We were very excited this year that all four of our high school students who auditioned for the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Northeast District Festival made it. And that's really, really something special. There are over 60 communities in our district. It includes all the surrounding communities, Belmont, Lexington, Arlington, Winchester, Melrose, it goes as far east as Marblehead and Rockport, up north past North Andover and further up. And over 60 communities, we had 1,127 students auditioned, and fewer than 40% of the kids who did audition were accepted to the festival. and usually it's a bittersweet event because some people make it and we're excited and then I have to give the bad news to some of the students who didn't get in but this year we were four for four so all four of our students got in. So the auditions were in November and they were And the concert itself was actually fairly recently in Wakefield at the Galvin Middle School in January. Fantastic concert that I attended. And the four students who made it were, in the orchestra, Ficello, Justin Tsang, and Leo Pancik. String bass, Jared Ingersoll. Arden Ingersoll. I'm sorry, Arden Ingersoll. And Jared, I always consider his dad as part of the group. And for the band, Christopher Walsh on mallet percussion. And out of this group, Arden, out of all the bass players, came in number one. And he has first cheer. And Justin just missed first year at cellist. He is second year at cellist, but he made it. And Arden and Justin will be performing since they qualified to audition for Allstate. They also auditioned for Allstate and were accepted. So they'll be playing at Symphony Hall on March 3rd.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We do have certificates. The Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Justin Tseng, 2018 MMEA Northeast District Orchestra, 2018 MMEA All-State Orchestra on behalf of the entire school committee.
[Unidentified]: Congratulations, Justin. Thank you very much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Leonidas Panchik. Arden Ingesol, congrats. Christopher Walsh. Thank you, Mr. Zinkman. Thank you.
[Tony Szykniej]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We're so very lucky in Medford to have such a rich music program, a great fine arts department, and we're very, very lucky. And these kids show the hard work that goes into it and the years, the years of effort and practice and dedication. So congratulations. Is there a motion to accept this report and place it on file? Moved. Seconded by Ms. DiBenedetto. Next up, report on DECA participation. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So we're very versatile as a school system. You just saw all the music awards. Now we're talking about marketing. We're talking about sales. We're talking about the economy. We've got our vocational director, our associate director, and our teacher of marketing, DECA, Frank Owisi, here to present some awards on DECA. the achievements that the students have made in their competition. Come on up.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Come on team.
[Unidentified]: Come on. Come on.
[3N-X2ResFqI_SPEAKER_02]: So I'd like to Thank everyone for acknowledging our state qualifiers for the DECA Career Development Conference coming up. And for those of you that don't know me, I'm Frank D'Aloisio, and I teach the marketing and the entrepreneurship curriculum here at Medford. And for those of you that are unfamiliar with DECA, I'm told 30 years ago there was a DECA chapter here. And I brought the program back in two years ago. And I use this program because it is an extension of my classroom. Now DECA does three things. It provides an academic opportunity for the kids to compete against the smartest kids in the state. It allows them to apply the knowledge that we give them in the classroom and their real skills as far as presentation and communication. So there's two other things before I have the kids introduce themselves to you that you won't see tonight, but I think is important. When the kids introduce themselves, they're all competing in an individual event. What you won't see is two of the kids that learned a tough lesson about competing last year in a team. So they took it upon themselves to compete individually, and here they are going to states. The second thing you won't see today is we have four qualifiers. But with the bridging of the two schools, three high school kids approached me this year that I had freshman year. And the back end is an elective. And they said, Mr. D, we've got to get this on our resume. We're juniors now. They saw the success we had in California last year. So the bridging is taking place, slowly but surely. But we now have an opportunity with DECA for both schools. So DECA provides the opportunity. It's a resume builder. And lastly, it's a character development. So I'm just gonna let my kids introduce themselves to you very quickly and tell you what they do. Thank you.
[Howard]: Hi, my name is Rosalie Howard, and I'm a senior in the business program. And my DECA project was, it was a thing in entrepreneurship, and it was called Innovation Plan, so I had to come up with an idea. And I came up with a toy to help hearing and impaired children. Because my cousin is totally deaf, he can't hear anything, so it always amazed me how there's no toys out there for him. So my whole toy is a six by six cube and it has removable sides and it will have like our letter A and it will have the letters the sign under it and once it's going to be like removable pieces like a puzzle and then once they pull it out it will have a magnetic piece in the back that will only match up with that piece and it will go in and when it goes in it will vibrate and light up to let them know they got it right. So they'll learn how to sign with
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The Met for Public Schools is proud to recognize Rosalie Howard, first place, Entrepreneurship Innovation Competition. Congratulations, Rosalie.
[Hunter]: Hi. Hi. My name is Hunter Tagnarelli. I competed in sports, entertainment, and marketing. Basically, I'm a junior at the Medical Vocational Technical High School in the business program. For me, my first role play was based on the economy and how to increase ticket sales or how to increase TV marketing and advertisement and stuff like that. Yeah, that's about it for that. I can't really follow rules or anything. I didn't make a revolutionary device or anything. But I want to say thanks to my parents, though, for taking this little morning and everything. Yeah. Thanks to Mr. D for putting me in the right category, right? Put me in the right thing. He taught me about how to market myself and how to be a salesperson. So yeah, thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very nice. We're proud to recognize Hunta Tognarelli, first place, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Competition.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, my name is Marcinetto. I'm a junior at Metro Volk Vocational Technical High School, and I competed in quick serve restaurant management, where I had to help a restaurant get its sales back up through promotion, and I placed second place throughout that, and I would like to thank Mr. D for helping me place in the right category, because I am the first in my family to ever do something like this, and my first year at Metro Volk, and I would like to thank Mr. D.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Marcio Neto, second place, quick serve restaurant management. Congratulations.
[Richard Warren]: Hi, my name is Richard Horn, and I'm a junior in the business program. And in my event, I had to play a role as a catering manager. So I had to cater for 750 people over a three-day period with seven different meals. And then also, I had to take a hundred test, a hundred question test for marketing.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Richard Holland, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling. Nice job, Richard. Thank you, Mr. D. Well, clearly you can see the confidence level in these young people, and it goes to a fabulous team at the Metro Vocational Technical High School.
[Roy Belson]: So if you get asked, is there anything going on at the Medford Public Schools, you have some remarkable stories tonight. Remarkable stories tonight.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to receive this report and place it on file? Moved by Mr. Agiro, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. OK, report on kindergarten registration. Mr. Superintendent?
[Roy Belson]: So every year, as you know, we have kindergartners who register for the Medford Public Schools. And we begin in March. We have building bridges to help parents understand the kindergarten program. You've got all the materials in front of you. And we're just doing this to announce it taking place. And if you want to attend and see how it goes, it's a great event. And it helps people better understand how kindergarten works in the Medford Public Schools. So without further ado, I think that's answers it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is this March 5th?
[Roy Belson]: Maria's got a question.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: March 5th.
[Roy Belson]: March 5th.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Mustone. Yes. So, in the past, people have suggested we have these at the elementary schools, the Columbus, Brooks, Roberts, and McGlynn, because parents do not have the opportunity if they have, if they come kindergarten to ever go in the schools. So two of them at the high school, which is great, but I'm just wondering if maybe next year we could have one at each of the elementary so the family can see the school their child will be attending.
[Roy Belson]: So part of that is the fact that some of them will exercise choice options. And for some reasons, they're also involved in that. But we could probably arrange a, let's say, a program that ties it together. So once a choice is made, there's an open house or activity at the school. That might give us the best of both worlds. OK?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And also, I just wanted to ask on behalf of Ms. Melanie McLaughlin, is CPAC information given during these open houses? Yes.
[Roy Belson]: Kathy passes that out all the time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much. Mr. Russo.
[Paul Ruseau]: On the page two of this, there is a reference that the lottery system is used if demand exceeds space. But I just have a question. When there's a sibling already in the school, that is a priority. Siblings have priority. OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That's part of our racial balance plan.
[Paul Ruseau]: OK.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Ruggiero?
[Michael Ruggiero]: This is part of my ignorance. I don't have a little one in kindergarten yet. But I was curious, do we have like a welcome binder for parents that are coming into the schools?
[Roy Belson]: They have that material through the Building Bridges Program? Okay, so I'll ask you questions I can look at I'll get you more specifics is actually what they do So the registration will begin on March 5th 2018
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: let's see, at the Parent Information Center from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. There's also extended hours on Wednesday, March 7th, and Tuesday, April 10th, and they will go from 3 to 6.30 p.m. And over April vacation, the Tuesday through, and Wednesday, April 17th and 18th, 8 a.m. to noon. This is all at the Parent Information Center at Medford High School, which is, if you go in the front lobby, you can't help but see the sign for Parent Info, it's right there. So your motion to receive this and place it on file. Moved by Ms. Mostone, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor?
[Unidentified]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes. Update report on enrollments with information on 100 unit school-age students. So this is basically a report that details the enrollment numbers we have in some of our larger housing developments, whether they be rental or owned. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So as the mayor points out, you asked that we look at housing units or complexes at 100. The last time we did it was 150. So this is that in-between group, and there were four of them there that we looked at. And this gives you a breakout. It doesn't substantially affect our enrollment in any way. We still have plenty of capacity, and this gives you an update in general enrollment in the public schools.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mister Benedetto. Thank you very much. So thank you for the report, Mr. Superintendent. I wish we had the report that you initially gave us on the 150 so we could see the differences in the numbers. Also, an issue that I brought up, I believe, when we initially got this report, is this just school age children or do we know how many younger children are in those buildings so that way we can plan for future moment? So just so we can see what areas are where we are.
[Roy Belson]: We don't have access to that, so we can't really tell you that for sure. And oftentimes, the numbers of people coming and going, if they take an apartment for a short period of time, they leave before the child becomes school age. But if the pattern is consistent with what we're seeing, it's probably not that many people. They're not set up for large families, and so as a result, we don't see an impact.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So the 120 student increase, is that because we went from buildings that were 150 down to buildings that included to 100, or is that an increase in the amount of students?
[Roy Belson]: Remember the report we gave you was a September report, and naturally young people come in during the fall months. So this is really just the growth that would typically take place in the beginning of the school year.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Total enrollment, not just from these buildings. Do we have a breakdown of the differences from the January 150? It's in this report.
[Roy Belson]: If you take a look, it's broken by school. You can see it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So this included 48 Forest Street, which has been on our books for decades, 3920 Mystic Valley Parkway, 100 Station Landing, 39th Street, which has zero students, and 12 to 28 9th Street, both condominium developments that have been in the city of Medford for, I Maybe more. So those new ones were 27, 28 students from those developments.
[Roy Belson]: So if you take a look on the back page, you can see, for example, if you look at 48 Forest Street, where Forest Street is generally in the Roberts District. Okay. So as a result, you can, you can read, if you look at the thing, if you look at Mystic Valley Parkway, you're looking at the McGlynn primarily. If you're looking at station landing, you're probably looking at somewhere between the Roberts and the, um, and the McGlynn. Uh, 9th Street, again, the Roberts. And so that gives you an idea of where the, where the distribution is.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So for clarification, um, these are the additional ones. From the report you gave us in September.
[Roy Belson]: No, these people were included in your numbers before, but they weren't broken out because they weren't by 100 units. You asked to find out whether or not there were young people in the 100 unit departments, and this is the breakout that's there. OK?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: All right. I'll just pull those reports. If I have any questions, I'll contact you directly.
[Roy Belson]: If you have any questions, we'll send you the other report.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Is there a motion to receive and place this report on file? By Mrs. Kreatz and seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? The motion passes. Report on vocational school student enrollment by shop area. So another- Mrs. Kreatz requested this, I think? Yes.
[Roy Belson]: So this is another, you know, report that you would ask for. Is Chad and Jill still here? No.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: moment of 21 plus students. They are two teachers except for media production TV. So they have 35 total enrollment. with one teacher. I'm just wondering, are they looking for another teacher for that?
[Roy Belson]: Well, remember, the media program is infancy this year. Right. So what you see is, you see the youngsters, you know, coming up. If we find that that requires that.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Okay, but right now it's fine.
[Roy Belson]: But at this point in time, you know, if they're not there 100% of the time, because the freshman numbers make up, you know, the largest portion of that. Because the freshmen are there and then the upperclassmen are only there one week on, one week off. Okay. The numbers really depend on the type of SHOP program that it is and also, you know, whether they're an A-Week, B-Week, and the freshman numbers of the first column. Now, as I indicate in the report, 40 to 60 percent of the freshman numbers will probably stay with it.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: Okay, so that number will come down, but the next class will come in.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right.
[Roy Belson]: So, we expect that the vocational CTE enrollments will increase. But they'll still be within margins that we can work with. If we need a second teacher, we'll go there. If we don't need a second teacher, we'll pull it back. The one thing I did note, that auto collision is very, very low. And it's a distinct possibility we'll either suspend that enrollment for going forward in the future and look at that area possibly for another type of shot. But we'll see how that goes. Let's see what happens as we move forward.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And would students have choice at one of the regional?
[Roy Belson]: The regional that we most typically use doesn't have that program, so that's a good thing.
[Unidentified]: But others do. Yeah.
[Roy Belson]: Others do. They might. I doubt it, considering the fact that if they wanted it, they would have signed up for it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Kurtz. I just want to make sure, you know, seeing the numbers, and they're very impressive, the breakdown of the new freshman class, you know, going into the program. So I wanted to make sure that We budget for the increase in the enrollment for all the new programs to make sure that we have enough books, tools, supplies, and seating for all the students. I did hear that there's a lot of students that might not have some things that they need. So I just wanted to put it out there for the budget time that we might need to increase the budget.
[Roy Belson]: So budget discussion. Mr. Ruggiero.
[Michael Ruggiero]: I'm looking over the list of trades here. I noticed that there was no Information about plumbing. I know we don't have a plumbing department here We send most of those kids to the miniman is it just there's just not as much interest in our community I think there could be some interest in the program one of the things that we were talking about although I can't
[Roy Belson]: say this for sure, is that if we recaptured a space such as the auto-collision space, we might convert that into something else. The one caveat of that particular space is it's right on top of the media center. We wouldn't want the banging going on in that center. We'd go with the flow a little bit. Did I say that? We'd probably move it to a different area near the HVAC and move something else into that area.
[Michael Ruggiero]: How many students do we have right now? They're at the Minuteman for the plumbing program? Is that correct?
[Roy Belson]: Minuteman has about seven students right now. Essex Aggie has four. They're an agriculture school that we don't have the capacity to serve. We expect that the Minuteman number is going to drop down in half, if not more, next year. And little by little, we won't have anybody at Minuteman, I would think. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to receive this report and place it on file? So moved by Ms. Kreatz, seconded by Mr. Ruggiero. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on free reduced lunch applications, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So we're going to call upon our Director of Finance and Administration to explain this report.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Thank you, members of the committee. As provided in the summary document, this is just informational so that you know the activity for this fiscal year based on our enrollment, which we currently have 4,377 students, and an overall free and reduced count of 1,905, which represents 43.52% of our overall population. The attachment provided identifies by school those participation rates. And I think it's noteworthy to indicate Where we are processing fewer applications, we are still getting a high level of participation due to the virtual gateway that is a direct certification. So families that are receiving special services within TANF or SNAP are automatically qualified and there is no requirement for an application at that point. And again, previously, reported if they, an application does not necessarily equate to a free or reduced capacity. It's based on eligibility that's subject to the federal guidelines each year, and it's established at the federal level. So where we have a decent percentage, again, we're still processing over 400, and those continue on throughout the year. are qualified for free, they get free for the entire year. If they are reduced and there's a situation that occurs, they are always welcome to establish another application. And we encourage that. So at this time, this is the free and reduced category for the district.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Are there any questions? Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you so much for this report. It's very informative. Do we have any numbers, and it may not be you, maybe our headmaster that's in the back of the room, do we know that how many of our high school students that qualify for free and reduced lunch also take advantage of lower application rates for colleges as well as free SATs? Do we have those numbers? Because I just want to make sure that those families that are entitled to those benefits know about them and are actually taking part in that program. Because if they qualify for free or reduced lunch, they also qualify for those programs.
[Kirsteen Patterson]: Right. So the free and reduced qualification offers several benefits where there's no fees charged and things of that sort. With regard to do I know that count, that's outside the scope of the lunch program. So I don't have that figure.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Perella?
[John Perella]: Good evening, everyone. I don't have those numbers either at this point, but I do know that the guidance department works in conjunction with the food services to provide that information to students as well as the colleges, because it is something that we focus on in the application process.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So to the superintendent, could we check those numbers just to make sure that we are getting the word out to those families and those parents of these options, and who's taking advantage of them? And if we're not, then what we need to do better to really let people know that. So I'm requesting that report to be added to the reports requested list on the back of our agenda for the superintendent to get back.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Are they informed of the benefits that go along with this?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I would like the data. I'm sure that we know how many of our high school students are getting free SATs and free or reduced college applications. And I want to compare that to the free and reduced lunch, and to see if there's a gap there, and if there is a gap, what next steps we would take. So I need the data first.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion that we receive a report that compares those receiving free or reduced pricing for college applications, SATs, versus free and reduced lunch. All those in favor? Oh, is there a second, actually? Seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mayor Burke. Is there a motion to receive and place this report on file? By Mr. Russo, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion has it. Report on state budget fiscal year 2019.
[Roy Belson]: So I've provided you a report on the state budget as it currently stands. Now, House 2 is the governor's proposal. The governor's proposal, with no disrespect to the governor, is generally dead on arrival in the legislature almost immediately because the legislature has its own view of what they want to do. Although, many elements in the governor's budget will be sustained by the legislature as well. And there are any number of things that have to go through. But we won't really get a final budget out of the state until June. We'll get a very good idea of where the House and the Senate are going with it. Primarily the Senate and the House, you know, when they get through the conference committee, probably in early June. Probably get a pretty good idea as to what's taking place. But we won't get a real vote on it until we're into June. But we work on estimates and we, a lot of these things are ideas and they're trends. But I want to go over some of them because they have an impact on us. And they also have an impact on what might happen at the federal level. and what might happen with regard to the new tax laws that may or may not take place, and also, in fact, the new tax law that's been passed by the federal government. So let's go over a couple of things so you're aware of it, because this informs our budget planning process. It also informs our lobbying efforts at the state level, as we talk to people and ask for certain supplementals and other budgets to be upgraded as we move forward through the budget process. So the process begins every year with a consensus budget revenue estimate, which is agreed upon by the governor and the House and Senate leadership. Now, that estimate this year went up about 3.5%. Now, that's nowhere near enough for all the things that people ask for, but that's where they're going right now. And the budget itself proposed a 2.6 increase to the budget of 40.9 million. The main source of education funding is Chapter 70. Chapter 70 is done by formula. It's done by student population, by need, and all those other factors. Based on that, we are a budget, our school, city, that is above foundation. Most cities are, although there are a number of cities that are not. If you're above foundation, you get minimum aid. The governor's proposal is $20 per pupil, which is a robust $93,000, which goes nowhere very quickly. Before we even think about it, $93,000 is out the window. The Senate and the House tend to increase that either by $5 to $10 a year. which still doesn't do that much for us, but it's still a little bit better. So we'll be lobbying the House and the Senate to increase that particular amount. Now, the overall increase to Chapter 70 is $104.9 million. That's for 321 operating school districts. You can see that's not a lot of money going out. And you can imagine the big cities Boston, Worcester, Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River, New Bedford, places like that, with high need, get the bulk of those increases. If we move on a little bit, unrestricted local aid, which is not education aid, goes to the city, and that's up by 425,970. Don't clap yet. Don't clap yet. You see the next line tells you that before you're through, When you take away the assessments and you get a sheet here, we lose $17,000 in change. So we're getting $17,000 in change less based on the ins and outs of the cherry sheet, which is included here, the estimated cherry sheet and the governor's thing. So it's tricky. You might think you're getting your way. When you hear people say you're getting all this money, you're not. What you're getting is you're getting a balance between assessments and revenue. Now that doesn't include things like, you know, meals tax and things like that. And that's, that's a different ball game altogether, but direct aid to the city and to the schools. Um, we net loss of 17,000. Um, two major concerns in the governor's proposed budget that I want to mention is the underfunding of the charter school reimbursements. It's probably somewhere in the vicinity, of $70 million less across the commonwealth than the formula or the entitlement formula would otherwise provide. So when people still rail against charter schools and enrollment in charter schools, it's because it's underfunded. I have no problem with kids who want to go to charter school, go, but if you have an entitlement formula funded closer to the entitlement in every year, that hasn't increased for the last four or five years, that assessment. So that's something to pay attention to. And the other factor is the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker is for extraordinary special needs costs. The way the circuit breaker works is that four times foundation, which in this instance is probably about $44,000. Kathy, roughly? Yeah, someplace in there. It used to be $28,000. After you hit $44,000 on a placement, The state allegedly will give us 75% back on the remaining budget. So let's say the cost of this private school is $100,000. Based on that, the $56,000 delta would then be eligible for 75%. However, they funded it at 65% in this budget, which means that at this particular point in time, Medford will be short somewhere around $155,000. By the way, going back to the charter school thing, the reimbursement's about $400,000 lower than it should be to Medford, based on the actual formula. So it gives you an idea that, you know, we have entitlement formulas, but they don't get funded. Probably the saddest words in budget preparation is subject to appropriation. They pass a law, you have an entitlement, and then it's subject to appropriation. If the appropriation doesn't keep pace with the entitlement or the formula, you don't get what you think you're going to get. So that's always a tricky factor. There are multiple other variables that must be considered when planning a budget for fiscal 2019. Uncertainty in the federal budget, impacting grants of Medicaid distributions to state, city, and schools. We don't know what's going to happen. The costs of health care, always going up right now. The cost of negotiated salaries. We're in collective bargaining right now. Whatever we negotiate has to be accounted for. The impact of possible reduction in the sales tax through the initiative petition. There's an initiative petition that could make its way to the ballot if it does. It could be a reduction in the sales tax. And then there's the fair share tax, which is sometimes known as the millionaire's tax. If that were to go through, the estimate is that somewhere, the state might get $2 billion. But how it gets distributed back to the cities and towns will depend on the formula that's used. And when, okay? And then of course there's the increase in other service costs, whether it be transportation, energy or any of those things all have to be factored into budget planning. So this is intended to give you a little bit of a appetizer as to how we have to look at the budget as we go forward for next year. Obviously, it's very important that we work very hard to secure our current and potential revenue. A lot of our budget is based on revenue. And we need to be aggressive about that. We have some good possibilities, but they have to be developed aggressively. to maintain and enhance them so our educational programs and services don't get cut by reductions in aid. The House and Senate will be preparing their budgets. The House begins in April, the Senate begins in May, typically, and the conference committee sometime towards the end of May, early June. And we typically do budget, full budget in June. We do pre-budgets as we go forward. In the next couple of months, you'll start seeing pre-budgets come out as the department heads and principals and school Councilors will come forward and tell you what they think their needs are. And we'll have to listen to that. We'll also be in collective bargaining discussions as to what we intend to do with our various unions. So this is a quick synopsis of the budget. I've also given you a couple of other articles to read in the back that you might find interesting with regard to budgets. They come from local publications. It's one of them state leaders are facing trickiest budget cycle in recent years. And there's another one back here that deals with the budget as well. So let me see if I can give you the title of that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So the net hit from charter schools to us is an increased $439,000 in the first round of the governor's budget. above what we're paying already. So we paid 5.1 was our assessment for the current year, 5.1 million. I've scheduled to go up to almost 5.5 million next year. With the offset, as Roy just mentioned, we got reimbursed 566,000 in fiscal 18 for the cherry sheets, and it's projected to go down to 504,000. So hit on both sides of that one.
[Roy Belson]: So the challenges that the city faces, you know, in funding schools and other city services is really characterized by this type of funding.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Azuro.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Thank you very much for putting this report together. Mr. Nelson. Um, for people to successfully, uh, petition their government, they need to understand the issues. And I'm concerned about some of the points that you brought up here. I would think it'd be really good for the community if we could put together a little presentation of how the state budget affects our local schools. Basically, what you've done here is very informative, but it'd be nice if we could perhaps do it through the community relations subcommittee, something that could be advertised and taught. Because I don't think most people understand that we're going to be facing cuts. And I think the people need to understand. So at least if they want to petition their government representatives, they'll be able to.
[Roy Belson]: why don't we put it on an agenda for like community relations subcommittee meeting, which we can, and then possibly use our new media, you know, put it out there on the webpage and let people know the challenges the city faces. I mean, that's really, it's true of our virtually every city in town in the Commonwealth right now. And the good news is that Medford does do a lot of things locally to, to generate revenue, but it's a challenge more and more. The idea when two and a half came in was, is that the state would step in and pick up.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Not always the case. So when did you say that the budget negotiations would be happening in the House and Senate? Did you say May and April?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, no, they'll be starting sooner than that. March. They'll start their hearings.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Okay. So maybe we could move it to the agenda for the community relations. We can start working with it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Russo first.
[Paul Ruseau]: Um, is it possible? I know inflation isn't really known until it's already in history, you know, until it's the past. But, you know, I mean, $400,000 going up to 405, everybody gets excited, but that's actually a reduction. Is there any way for numbers to be presented with a projected inflation adjusted, what it really will be? And I'm not sure if that's even a thing, projected inflation adjusted. I mean, I feel like you can always do that historically and say, you know, McCope was this much then and it is this much now. You know, whenever I see these numbers, I just feel like even if they go in the right way, even if they did, that is actually not the right direction necessarily. And so I don't, I mean, I don't even know if that's a thing to do. a future budget's projected inflation adjusted value. I mean, is that a thing?
[Roy Belson]: We've intended to give people, you know, the inflation index numbers, you know, consumer price index, the other things. You give them an idea, but it really depends on what you're talking about, what the cost of a particular good and service is. Some things are inflationary, some things are deflationary. So, you know, you have to really look at the item itself because the totality contains both inflationary and deflationary items. So it's not easy to just simply put a simple number, but you can give people an idea. Give people an idea.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion to receive this report? Oh, Ms. Mostone.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: I'm just interested. With charter schools, I feel like Mystic Valley was the one that I always heard about, probably when Quinn was starting school. Then I heard about Prospect Hill, and now there's Pioneer. Is there any other ones that I'm missing that Medford residents go to?
[Roy Belson]: There's some Cambridge activities. Some people have gone to Advanced Science, a little bit further, Marlborough. There are a few that's better, but the big ones, Mystic Valley, Prospect Hill, and Cambridge are probably the biggest ones. OK. We can give you a listing of those at this point. Again, let's just start off by saying, because I know it's a sensitive topic, is that not necessarily against charter schools per se, it's the funding formula that needs to be sustained. I mean, if you're going to say, well, this is going to happen, then it's got to happen. Otherwise, it's just really just taking people down the road, and communities have to bear the cost. The state doesn't want to take on the structural deficit, so they pass it on to the community. That number, that $80 million, hasn't gone up in years.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to receive this report and place it on file?
[Michael Ruggiero]: Yes. You could.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You could make that motion.
[Michael Ruggiero]: I'd like to make a motion to approve this issue and also think about ways that we can make the budget a little bit more accessible, a little bit more being sexy. We can talk about sexy budgets.
[Roy Belson]: Is there a second?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: I'll second, yes.
[Unidentified]: Mr. Stone? Sure. I love being sexy.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion that this report be sent down to the subcommittee. On the motion. All those in favor? Aye. Motion has it. I think you've got me in the lost of words. Do it without laughing. OK. Negotiation of legal matters? None? None? old business, which really isn't that old, but recommendation to approve Roberts Elementary community preservation grant submission. As you heard earlier, there was a report by the subcommittee, and within that report, the subcommittee made a recommendation that the full body adopt and accept and sign on to the application for the Roberts School for a new rubber surfacing in their playground. I know the superintendent mentioned there's other schools that have this issue, but certainly We can get ourselves into that queue. There's a recommendation on the floor from the subcommittee. There's a motion for approval by Ms. Van der Kloot. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I just want to be clear what next steps are for Ms. Rodriguez who's bringing this forward to the CPA. So she had some further information. She sent us an email today. So I'd like to ask her to come to the podium and speak and give us an update of where she is at with moving this forward and also to offer to go to that meeting with her. Any funds for the school and getting the beginning of our school playgrounds redone is important to all of us as this committee to make sure We have up-to-date facilities for our children to play on a daily basis. I also wanted to ask the mayor if there was any other city funds coming down the pipeline towards this particular item.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Rodriguez.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, Cheryl Rodriguez, 281 Park Street. So yeah, I went to the subcommittee meeting last week, and Mr. John McLaughlin from the Buildings and Grounds had given us an estimate. I ended up reaching out to that person. During the course of the meeting, it was suggested by Mr. Belson that perhaps rubber tiles would be better. I spoke to him on the phone, and the rubber tiles are far more durable. They'll last us probably close to 20 years. They require zero maintenance. If we get the pour in place, if we want it to last about 12 years, we would need to invest about $10,000 five to seven years in to reseal it. And it's cheaper to actually get the rubber tiles. The estimate was around $85,000 as opposed to $92,000, so it would save money. The playground apparatus doesn't need to come out, and as was discussed, the playground apparatus is right now in very good shape compared to the to the surfacing. The man also suggested, I believe his name was Travis, that we could lower the cost of the estimate by having a landscaping company, or maybe we had people within the city that would be able to take out the old rubber surfacing. Their estimate for that was $25,000. He said that was because he had high-level professionals that do the playgrounds coming in to do that, and it was something that he said could be done with a shovel that a landscaper would know how to do. And they would probably give us an estimate of $10,000 to $12,000. Possibly we could even get that lower if we had a resource in the community or someone that we could reach out to. If the substone is in good shape, that $10,000 that was put in for that could go down or be eliminated. So the goal for us right now is to try to make our application as lean as possible, show as much community support as we can, which would include things like getting workers in the community to help us out. And if the city was able, if there is a line item coming up in our budget for other playground services, if we combined more than one estimate, we would save additional $1 to $2 per square foot, which just for the Roberts playground would be anywhere from $5,400 to $11,000. So it could make a significant difference. I'm hoping that someone in the committee or the mayor is interested in helping work towards this application. I am, again, just a a parent volunteer, trying to do the best that I can. I'm hoping that the Roberts can serve as the model and the first step, and we can get the other schools in place. I know that the other schools do need this done as well. Very good. And the meeting, I'm sorry. The meeting is, we're meeting with the commission for the community preservation on February 13th. Our meeting is at 7.30. It's an open meeting, but we don't have a room. It's here at City Hall.
[Roy Belson]: So just to cover that, I appreciate that Cheryl's done some research, but we need to be very careful of a few things. When people come in and give estimates, remember, we're a public entity. We have to go through a bid process. We have to pay prevailing wage. We have all number of things that we can't skirt around that maybe a contractor might say, you could do it for this, you could do it for that. We also have to concern ourselves about liability, things that are put together by people who mean well, but maybe are not professional. might actually get it done, but there might be something that goes wrong. And if it goes wrong, we could be liable. So the suggestions are good ones. We'll look into them, but there's no silver bullet on these things. Uh, people give us estimates all the time, some high, some low, but there are some other factors we have to pay attention to when we do procurement. So I just want to make sure everybody understands it's not just a simple thing. And when we have do things, even with the best intentions, we run into liability issues if they're not properly put together. So thanks for the ideas. Let's look into them, but let's be careful.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Um, uh, Mr. Wilson, do we know, is there a great issue or cause I have some farm equipment. I possibly could bring it to here. I could, if I'll, if I, all I need is a trailer and I could bring my some farm equipment. I have like a bulldozer. Do you guys need grading work done or,
[Roy Belson]: You've got to be very careful because if you put this interlocking rubber on top of what you've got, you've got to make sure that what's below it is properly set up. If you have the best intentions and you do certain things, you may undercut the ability to put these things. There may be a shortcut or two that may seem plausible at this point in time. I would want to make sure that it's done right because we're talking safety. You also have to make sure that the diameter of the rubber is at the proper thickness for the height of the structure. So that, I don't know what you quoted on the diameter of the rubber, but the rubber has to be a certain thickness in order to absorb shock. you know, that might take place. And we have some structures that are higher and some that are lower. All this should be thought through professionally, because the first time something goes wrong, there'll be some sharp lawyer out there who will take us down the street.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So between Mr. McLaughlin and our parks department, they both have had some experience with rubberized Courts and turf etc. So we can work together on that.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: It was it was a seven foot fall height Which was the exact same as the estimate that mr. McLaughlin had presented for the park.
[Roy Belson]: Okay, well, you know, let's go over together. Let's go, you know No, but it doesn't have to be done by hand.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: It can't be done by farm equipment He said it has to be done by shovels because we don't want to destroy the substone So that was why the estimate was so high from them. Yeah, it's manual labor manual labor. Thank you. I
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I just wanted to thank Cheryl for all the work that she's done on this and for bringing this again to our attention. This has been something that we talked about the last time. We've done some patching. But it clearly is something, it's an expensive project when we go citywide to all of the schools. And I certainly appreciate her work on this to try to see if some funding could be gotten for it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So this meeting is next week. So I'm just wondering how Cheryl is going to bring forward to the CPA what's necessary without meeting with the superintendent or bringing that data forward to them to continue the application. So is there any chance that we can meet this week and go over things so she has something from the school district to present to the CPA?
[Roy Belson]: We'll have to sign off on it. We sign off and send a letter of support.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: You will do that? You'll sign off?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We'll take a vote tonight.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. And so she might need more information and data to present to them in order to qualify for the CPA monies. That's where I'm not clear.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: What date is your final application due? I think it's March 2. March 2.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And what do you need for Tuesday night?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So a letter from the school committee saying that we were so they want to sign off on all the applications that are that have to do with our land our property. So some participants have sent in submissions. for parks and for schools, and they haven't come to the proper body to get approval to submit the idea. So that's what Ms. Rodriguez is doing tonight. She wants our approval in order to move forward with the process. Yes.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: And they're going to ask me for an update on where we are.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yep.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: That's it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So you want to make a motion for approval?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: I move that the School Committee approve submission of the Robbins Elementary Playground Proposal to the City Preservation Commission.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Second. Roll call vote. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Next item, recommendation to approve revised field trip forms. We obviously spoke about this in quite detail earlier with our committee paper. I think you got the idea on some of the questions in addition to maybe what came out during the subcommittee meeting. And you'll submit the final form, well, the almost final form back to us just as an informational item. And if there's any questions, we'll speak to you directly. Do you need a formal vote? You'd like a formal vote for approval subject to the changes that were recommended in the subcommittee meeting. Motion for approval by Mr. Russo, seconded by Mr. Agiro. Roll call vote. She's going to incorporate them and submit us. This is the field trip form, just the form, not the policy. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The forum is approved subject to the changes that have been discussed. Okay, new business. School committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Grace Perella. Mrs. Perella was a stepmother of Medford High School headmaster John Perella. John, I'm very sorry for your loss. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of David Train. Mr. Train was the husband of retired teacher Mary Ellen Train. And be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Phyllis Bagnola. Mrs. Bagnola was the mother of graphic arts teacher Louis Bagnola. All please rise for a moment of silence. We have lights blinking. No, no, you're good. Mr. Russo.
[Paul Ruseau]: Yes. I'm not really sure if we can talk about it tonight, but it became clear that we had never discussed as a committee or as a subcommittee on the superintendent search when we could release the survey that we had approved as a committee.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But I believe the survey was submitted to Mr. Kuchar and it's completed. He was attempting to translate it into different languages. That's what we were waiting on.
[Roy Belson]: Paul Texera is working on different languages. But there's no reason why the English language one can't begin to be disseminated.
[Paul Ruseau]: And I did talk to Paul on Friday. And he said he would have those by Wednesday of this week. So once he's completed that and I can put up the other languages, I've been working with Mr. Kuchar to complete the SurveyMonkey. The English language version is completed. And I just didn't want to. start putting it out there. We needed to approve that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No, no, we don't.
[Paul Ruseau]: We can put it up.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We had approved the survey. Okay.
[Roy Belson]: When it's ready, we'll put it up as soon as it's ready to go. Great. We'll see. We're going to see Glenn this week anyway. Glenn's in Washington today, but he'll be back on this for the middle of the week.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. the committee members so that the community is aware that those choices have been made and who's on the committee and when their first meeting is and explain how the other members of the committee, what their role is so that we're all clear what our role is.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay, so the members of the search committee from the school committee, in addition to myself, is Mr. Paul Russo and Ms. Paulette Van de Gloot. We have as an alternate Ms. Kathy Kreatz, should the need arise. Parents, we have Joanne Bell, Jenny Graham, Melanie McLaughlin, who's representing CPAC as well, Alexis Rodriguez, Alex, Jane Wright, Doug Bowen Flynn, oh, I'm sorry, to teachers now, Douglas Bowen Flynn, Sarah Grant, Joseph Platti, and we have Jodi Lu as our administrator. For students, Justin Zhang. and our diversity director, Neil Osborne. So it's a very broad group. I tried to look at not only the schools, but the interests that were behind the candidates. It was really hard. We got almost 70 applications. And I tried to make sure that every school was represented in one or two capacities, if possible, as well as just diversity, if possible. I mean, obviously, I'm looking at names. So I don't know who some of these parents are. But I tried to incorporate that element as well, male, female, et cetera. So I think it's going to be a very broad committee and it will be doing a lot of work. There's a first meeting is Wednesday night, which is just a training seminar put on by Mr. Kuchar. Am I pronouncing that right? Kuchar? Kuchar. And that's more just to go over that it is the meetings start out in public session and then they go into executive session. And just a reinforcement that everyone that serves on this committee, executive session has to be followed. If word gets out on who candidates are or the discussions that are taking place, that person will be removed from this committee if people find out that's sanctity of the executive session until it is determined the candidates that are going to be recommended to the full body. I also put in an email to all of you today that should you have any questions that you would like the three of us to incorporate into our preliminary process here, certainly submit them to me and we will incorporate them as well. So we want to make sure that your thoughts are being incorporated, although it can't be more than three based on public law to keep it into executive session. And also Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Mr. Kuchar will be holding focus groups the following week. I believe that is the 15th of March, of February. And I can go through some of the key dates that we've established for our timetable. So February 7th is the search committee orientation. February 15th, focus groups for parents, guardians, and to anyone else really. And he'll also be going to the various schools to talk to teachers, administrators, to determine what do they think about this whole process and how would they like to see it played out. At the orientation, Mr. Kuchar is going to tell the committee basically certain questions that they can ask and certain questions that they're not allowed to ask, such as discriminatory questions. And also ask the members to try and figure out what questions they would like to ask. And those questions should be submitted to me by February 25th. I can give you all a copy of the timeline. February 28th is the actual application due date for those interested in applying to be a superintendent in the city of Medford. And then on March 1st, Mr. Kuchar and his team will be reviewing all of the applications and actually submitting to the search committee His recommendations, a rating system of the applicants, and that's just a recommendation. The search committee itself will determine if we want to follow with his recommendations and or include anyone else in the interview process. Interviews are scheduled the week of March 10th to the 20th with hopefully recommendations to the school committee of the finalists by March 21st. So it's a very aggressive timeline. Everyone that filled out a form made note if they were available or not. In some cases, some people weren't considered because they weren't going to be available during key pieces of this whole puzzle. So unfortunately, it had to be limited. To be controllable, really, to have 20 members of a search committee would have been an extraordinary amount of time with questions. And we just probably would not have gotten anything done. Keep it as lean as possible. I added an additional parent just so that all the schools are reflected. And that's it. Ms. VanderKloop.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I'm just a little concerned that we're doing the focus groups. And are there dates and times set up? I mean, how are parents going to know about that?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Kuchar's working with the superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So Glenn is coming back from Washington. He wasn't sure how many nights we wanted to go with focus groups. He had set aside the 15th. or initially, but he's available on the 13th and the 14th. So when he comes back tomorrow, I'll have a discussion with him as to whether he thinks we can do two a night or two, you know, or, or three a night if it necessary or needs a couple of days to do it. Two a night? Well, you have, you know, an hour for one group, an hour for another group. You are an hour and a half for one group, an hour and a half for another group.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay. Um, and like for teachers, are they during the day?
[Roy Belson]: Could be. Could be.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: He's going to be around for a couple of days.
[Roy Belson]: But Glenn's going to be around. So we need to set up a time as to when it's convenient for people who are in certain categories to meet. Like you'd meet with certain administrators after school. You could meet with teachers after school. I just need time to talk to Glenn. I spoke to him today when he was in Washington as a conference.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Sure. I guess I'm particularly interested in the ones that open to the community members and to parents. That's probably going to be the 15th. That's the evening of the 15th.
[Roy Belson]: That's the 15th. Okay. And we'll, we have to sit down and find out what he thinks is, you know, and you'll probably get that answer on Wednesday. Uh, what he thinks is an appropriate number of people to be in a focus group. Cause obviously you don't need a hundred people in a room and won't, it won't give people a chance to talk, but you know, we're representative group and we have to think what that is.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Um, next week is, is the 15th. So that's very short notice for people to make arrangements for child care or whatever to be able to go to these focus groups. So is there a timeline for when you're really going to tie this down? Are you doing a reverse informational call to every parent in the district, like a snow day call? Is it going to be on our website? How are we advertising this? I really want input from the community for this, and I really don't want them to think that we didn't give them sufficient time to be ready for it, especially because the end of that week is school vacation week. So I just want to make sure that this doesn't put all of our time on the ground.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So tomorrow the dates will be finalized. We know it's the 15th.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK, great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And we'll have a blog entry. We'll have a press release. We can do reverse calls to all the schools. We can get the word out like that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Um, but Roy wants to work with Mr. Kucha just to make sure the time we had 7 p.m. It could be earlier, which would allow for maybe a dual session to happen.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Are we going to have any opportunity for people to come before us and make statements at a school committee meeting?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Any public hearing prior to our interviews? We'll get the results from the survey. We'll get the results from the focus group.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: No, no. As part of people, well, a focus group is one way of having discussion. A public hearing is another. So right now, you're sort of thinking about the public hearing. I mean, the focus group says all encompass. And the survey. OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The survey you worked on.
[Roy Belson]: So I know that the applications have gone out to superintendents and assistant superintendents and other administrators across the state because I got one. Just kidding.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Did you apply? Oh, you got to apply.
[Roy Belson]: A statement of her most interest.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: She might apply. Mr. Russo.
[Paul Ruseau]: I just want to be clear, and maybe we can't answer this without Glenn, Mr. Kuchar, but I mean, the focus group is not just anybody and everybody shows up and gets to just like a stadium full of people. That's not a focus group. That's not a focus group. So even if 100 people want to come to a focus group, it's 7 o'clock on the 15th. Well, they can show up, but there's not going to be 100 people there.
[Roy Belson]: So a focus group of the administrators will be a collection of administrators. A focus group of teachers will be a collection of teachers representing all levels. The community is a little tougher, and I want to take some guidance from Glenn as to how we set it up elsewhere and how we've got representation probably from each school, from some of the other areas that have interest. Obviously, you can't have everybody in the room at the same time, or it won't be much of a discussion. Everybody will get half a comment, and it'll be over. OK?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But then you have, when you go to- And people can submit written comments, of course.
[Roy Belson]: Right. And then when you go to the larger arena, when people have public interviews, meet the candidates, you will have opportunities for people to interact with you and give you feedback. This is a process. You're going to get increasing amounts of feedback, and I'm sure you'll Once names come out, you'll start to hear from people coming out anyway.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. And one item of importance that he did mention last week before he went away was that it's all confidential. The candidates, people that apply, it's a confidential process. But if a candidate tells someone in the public venue that they are applying, then all bets are off for that candidate. becomes a public candidate, so it's tricky. So I'm sure he's going to go over all the rules Wednesday night for the committee itself.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Just a couple.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Ruggiero.
[Michael Ruggiero]: Is it possible we could project a movie or provide, obviously not child care, but entertainment for kids, for parents that are not able to find babysitting on that night? I mean, I know from personal experience from knocking on doors, people would like to participate. They're just not able to because they have little ones.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm not sure what he's... He wants to know if childcare could be provided. Maybe the kids, the family... Project a movie, have some popcorn.
[Roy Belson]: We can talk to... Childcare for what event though?
[Michael Ruggiero]: For the focus group, for the night of the focus group.
[Roy Belson]: We can try and get that. We can try and get that.
[Michael Ruggiero]: I'd really appreciate that.
[Roy Belson]: Just a couple of other things if I can. Thursday night, taping, 7 o'clock at the theater. Okay, just so you're aware of that. And next week, we're going to start earlier. I've sent you out an email. I'll get a posting on that.
[Unidentified]: Community of the Hall.
[Roy Belson]: Community of the Hall. And it'll be across the hall. At 6? I'd like to do it at like 6.15. You know what I mean?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: What time is that?
[Roy Belson]: 6.15, Monday night. 6.15. So we can go over some things that are associated with the selection process so that we've got some guidance, and then we can move that forward, too.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Committee of the whole will be here.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah across the hall. We'll do it here. We have to book 201 201 and the other pieces is that I've Suggested that in order to give us self-sufficient time that our regular meeting started 730, so we don't feel rushed You know if we want to take a few extra minutes to go over things. I think it's important that You don't feel like you're under fire to end the discussion if you need an extra 15 minutes. I
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? Just to be clear, school committee members that are not on the committee should not be attending the focus groups or the applique, because then it would be.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I would suggest not.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. We just wanted to be clear for everyone that we should just stay back and wait for them to present to us the finalists. And at that point, if we don't like them all, we can ask you to do it again. All right. Ms.
[Unidentified]: Kreatz.
[Kathy Kreatz]: I should attend the training. I think you can attend the training. The training would be wise. And then going forward, you wouldn't. But at least you're trained. Just the training on Wednesday. All right.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion to adjourn? Moved by Ms. Millstone, seconded by Mr. Ruggiero.
[Roy Belson]: Almost a record.
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