[Burke]: Present, seven present, none absent, all please rise and salute our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First item, approval of the minutes of December 17, 2018. Motion to approve on the floor by Mr. Russo, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills, transfer of funds. Ms. DiPenedeto. This is a pattern.
[DiBenedetto]: It's been a pattern for a while. I didn't flag it, so if I had a question, I'll come back to it. Sorry. Motion to approve.
[Burke]: On the motion to approve, is there a second? Mr. Ruggiero. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payrolls.
[SPEAKER_14]: Motion to approve.
[Burke]: Motion to approve by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Mustone. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of the secretary.
[SPEAKER_14]: Motion to approve.
[Burke]: Motion to approve on the floor.
[Kreatz]: Sorry. Oh, OK. I wanted to say Happy New Year, and I put a copy of the report in everybody's packets. and there was a couple of invoices that I signed for that were related to heating, so I wanted to share that information with you because our last meeting, we had some concerns and we had somebody from community here speaking about the heating, and so I guess there's still some ongoing invoices that haven't been signed for yet that will be coming up over the next several weeks. One of them was signed for this particular session was Gone Green Electric, and the work was done at Medford High School, There was an issue with the air handling unit in the gym, and it had to be repaired. The technician troubleshooted the air handler, rewired the motor, and it confirmed with John McLaughlin that he is now working in the gym. There were two invoices for E&E Systems. The technician found that there was some issues with the hot water coil. It was bypassed. you know, it was just interfering with the heating, pretty much, it's really technical. So Annie actually did the work and it was, this is going to service the B building, second floor, and the air handler operates along with the pneumonic controller heat exchanger to provide air and airflow to the B building, second floor. And I just want to thank John McLaughlin, I reached out to him to ask him some questions about these invoices. And that's about it.
[Burke]: Very good. There's a motion on the floor for approval of the secretary's report. Is there a second? Mr. Russo. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Also just want to take note that Jasper Suh is present, our school committee representative. If we could enter him into the records, please. Report of committees.
[Kreatz]: We just want to take something out of order, Mayor Burke.
[Burke]: Just the next couple. That would be great. Report of committees. Hearing and seeing none. Community participation. Hearing and seeing none. Ms. Kreatz, motion?
[Kreatz]: Yes. We would like to move the resolution that's at the very end, and it's the resolution for the MassDOT Safe Routes to School application for the Roberts Elementary School.
[Burke]: On the motion to take the paper out of order. Is there a second on the floor to take it out of order? I'm going to include all those in favor. Aye. All those opposed? The paper is Right before us, school committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee hereby approve a letter of support for pedestrian improvements near the Roberts Elementary School, Walk Medford, through the MassDOT Safe Routes to School grant. There's a motion on the floor to approve. As we know, parents, I believe, is there a parent?
[Unidentified]: Sara is here. Sara, come on forward.
[Burke]: Sara McGiven.
[s-4VJY_TglE_SPEAKER_01]: Your name and address for the record, please. Sarah McGivern, Madison Motion Coordinator, Board of Health, and 63 Watervale Road. So as a lot of you know, the Roberts School is applying for the Safe Roads to School Grant to get up to a million dollars of pedestrian improvements within a two-mile radius around the school. There'll be, hopefully, two spots on Fells Way and then one on Salem Street at Hadley Place.
[Burke]: Walk Boston did a safety audit as well just a few weeks ago to look at that area as well. So it's getting intense scrutiny for sure. And we've been very successful. As you know, the Brooks received this grant. It's in the planning processes. MassDOT pretty much takes over the whole process once it's approved. And they've become the leader of it. So they are working towards the Brooks School completion as well. But this would be a wonderful thing if we were able to get this grant. So the motion is to go on record officially. There is a paper in your packet that is a copy of the letter. We're going to circulate it after we take the vote and get signatures on it. All right. There's a motion on the floor for approval by Ms. Kreatz, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. Roll call vote, please.
[Kreatz]: Mrs. DiBenedetto. Mrs. Kreatz, yes. Mrs. Mustone. Yes. Mr. Ruggiero. Yes. Mr. Russo. Yes. Mrs. Van de Koop. Yes.
[Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes and I will sign and circulate. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Is a motion on the floor to refer to the regular order of business by Mr. Russo. Is there a second? Yes. On the second, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. We are now back on the agenda, which is the superintendent's update and comments. Madam Superintendent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Happy New Year. While the majority of the past few weeks in metropolitan schools have been, most of us have been on holiday break, many families were assisted by different students and groups from our school community. And prior, this was an oversight that I did not have an opportunity to mention a little earlier, but it's a highlight that I think is important and worthy of sharing with the team. The Lure Club, Glue Glue, at Medford High School, this club was formed from Miss Nyland's French class students. They were motivated by CCSR, our Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility program to make a difference in the world. With the support of Ms. Nyland, the club created Thanksgiving baskets that went to Medford High School families. The students collected the foods and donations from peers, teachers, and many businesses in Medford in order to make baskets for homeless families in our schools. And they were able to provide Thanksgiving dinner to over 15 Medford High School families, and so we're very proud of the students' accomplishments, and I wanted to say that it was an oversight that I didn't recognize them last time, but I wanted to extend a special thank you to Club Lurgluglu for their work in Miss Nyland's students. I also wanted to recognize Nuha Eliazid. She is a CCSR student as well as a sophomore at Medford High School. And as part of her project over the holiday break, she conducted a toy drive at the Franciscan Children's Hospital, where over 50 toys were collected and delivered to the hospital, and the hospital was very grateful. So I just wanted to recognize her for, again, making a difference in the lives of children that are sick and at the hospital. So thank you for that. Medford High School's transitional program. The students and staff at Project Transition at Medford High School, hosted a holiday gathering along with Malden High School's transitional program. And according to Ms. Huther, a teacher in the program, our access program, she explained that getting these groups of students together was one of the best social opportunities the students have ever had. It provided the students the ability to network outside of their world. Truly, this is what our program is all about. A special thanks to Headmaster Paul DeLeva for his assistance in helping to make it happen for our students at Medford High School and Malden High School. So we were very happy about that event. Also, I'd like to acknowledge our Medford High School's AP in Honors Calculus class. Prior to vacation, Dismissal, students in Ms. Chen's class completed projects on related rates of change and optimization. Students were asked to choose a real-life application problem and then create a three-dimensional physical model. This is one way for students to engage in learning as well as deepen their understanding of mathematics. Using appropriate materials, students produced shadow boxes for the purpose of communicating the mathematical problem and its calculus solution to the audience. In addition to the shadow box, the students had to submit a typed manuscript that described their work. On the project due date, students were given opportunities to engage in an evaluation process. They spent time looking at one another's projects and graded them based on creativity, clarity, and explanation, and the overall presentation. These presentations are very informative And there are photos that are posted on the blog. So please, if you have an opportunity, go to the blog to look at that work. But just excellent work that's happening with our AP and honors calculus students. I also wanted to say over the last time that we met, we had a wonderful ceremony here when our new police chief, John Buckley, was sworn in. It was a fabulous ceremony. and he was sworn into office on Wednesday, December 19, and I was honored to join him here, be here with him and many other dignitaries, his family, fellow department heads, and our wonderful band, the Medford High School String Ensemble, I should say, under the direction of our finance director, Tony Zigny, provided the musical selections for the ceremony. Chief Buckley stated that he plans to continue Medford's community policing initiatives that had begun under Chief Sacco, and he also pledged to reach out to Medford's richly diverse community. We in the Medford Public Schools welcome him aboard and are eager to collaborate with him. Another great partner is Tufts University, and Tufts University will once again be hosting the Tufts Classic at Cousins Gym, Sunday, January 20th. both Medford High School boys and girls basketball teams will be playing the Somerville High School boys and girls basketball teams. Each winner will take home the Tufts Cup. The girls games open the tournament at 12.30 and the boys games will follow at 2 o'clock. There is no admission fee. Instead, Tufts University is collecting perishable food items for Medford and Somerville food pantries. So I hope some of you are able to come out and really support that wonderful event. That date is Sunday, January 20th at 12.30 and 2. Cousins Gym. Lesley University, as I continue to work with our partner, Lesley, it's part of the work that I've been doing with my entry plan and also part of the entry plan is looking at our data as a district. And as we had talked about earlier, math was an identified area that we wanted to work on. And so when you hear me talking about Lesley, the focus really is to address how we performed at the elementary levels. In particular, we're having a particular focus on elementary math, to try to increase outcomes for all students. And since we last met, I had the opportunity to go to Lesley University, and I met with Patricia Cren de Galarce, who is our lead partner on the educational side. And in addition to that, I got to meet with the Board of Trustee member, Art Bartich, who is one of the authors of an early childhood math book, a co-author, and supports the what-if math. And I also had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Rohan Kandargi from MIT. He's a K-12 administrator who works for the Office of Government and Community Relations. He also was very interested in continuing to partner with Medford and with Leslie and looking at opportunities to see how we can continue to make meaningful math partnerships. The conversations that I had with Art Bardage, we're looking at early childhood mathematics and different ways to make math become alive at the youngest levels so that it carries all the way through to the high school levels and in meeting with Patricia, Dr. Galarza, Brenda Galarza. We are in the process of scheduling our second math learning rounds, instructional rounds, and we are going to be scheduling those for the end of January. And we are intending on going a little deeper this time as we go to each school. And so I had the opportunity to also meet many professors at the university. who are interested in continuing to collaborate with us, whether it's conducting learning walks and looking at instruction, or providing support in professional development fashion. So that work is still continuing. On our facilities front, the Karen Theater, the heating coil was replaced over a break. so it is now fixed in the Karen Theater. And building grounds, we are still working and making progress on the gymnasium, but I just wanted to put that forward as well. Lastly, I had the opportunity to look at instruction with Mr. Headmaster Paul DeLeva, and we spent some time, we went to Access Classrooms today, and really got to see wonderful work. The students are so excited to be learning and having us there as guests. We also spent some time on the vocational side of the house and went into carpentry, got to see a beautiful table being sanded by a student. I wish I could have displayed a picture. And the students in our carpentry are getting ready to work on a project where they're going to be constructing bed frames for refugee children. And it's through the Boston Cares Foundation. And so in Medford, we are doing great things to make a difference in the lives of our own community, but also in the lives of the greater community. And so they have not started that project yet, but the wood has been delivered. And so I will definitely keep you posted on the progress that they make there. I got to spend time in Meadowfab. Students shared with me some of their beautiful creations. I saw some steel roses that were made by the students. Beautiful. And they're really excited about the work that's happening there. So I want to continue to just be in classrooms, look at instruction at all levels. It's not always mathematics, but just promoting what's best for the district. And so that's my report for today.
[Burke]: Thank you so much, Madam Superintendent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Benedetto.
[DiBenedetto]: Just to let the superintendent know, the Carpentries Shop at the Medford High School for years has made bed frames for homeless families because when a homeless family gets housing, They cannot move in until they have a bed for every child. And when you're homeless and you're just starting out, you have nothing to fill that. So our students have always built beds for people in our community in need. And I think there was a spotlight on them a few years ago about it. It's just a wonderful, one of the wonderful programs that our vocational students reach out to and help people throughout the state of Massachusetts. I actually was telling a group that was looking to donate money to reach out to Chad Fallon to talk to them about maybe buying the mattresses if the kids could make the beds and really get people in housing quickly. So I'm glad to see that they're continuing that. Thank you.
[Burke]: Very good. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Is there a motion to receive this report? Motion on file by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Ms. Mostone. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Item 2, informational report on vaping and cannabis. Dr. Randy Schuster.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I'm very excited to have Dr. Randy Schuster come to present to us this evening. She did come in December to present to our administrative team. And there were many, many rave reviews. And so I want you to be able to participate in the wealth of knowledge that will be shared by her this evening. Thank you, Dr. Schuster.
[R-JcMFRQo7E_SPEAKER_27]: Thanks for having me. Welcome, Doctor. Thank you for having me. Don't set the standards too high.
[Burke]: While things are being set up, we all know that vaping has become a hidden talent of some youngsters and adults, and it's really important that we catch hold of this and make sure that the students realize that it's not acceptable to be doing this in schools or anywhere else inside our buildings, and similar to smoking. It's very similar to smoking, and it's not acceptable behavior. And so we've been working quite adamantly, along with Dr. Schuster, with our Board of Health, Team Medford, on trying to really educate those about what's in the vaping materials that they're consuming. So I know this will be a very informative presentation. While they're setting up, would someone like to make a motion to take a paper out of order, items five and six? On the motion to take papers five and six out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Item five, recommendation to approve leaders environmental donation of $125. There's a motion for approval of this gift of $125. I'm looking for the paper in my pocket. Mr. Benedetto. Thank you.
[DiBenedetto]: Could we send a letter of thank you?
[Burke]: Absolutely. I think that was a wonderful thing. Possibly in the back of the paper. There's a motion to accept this Leaders Environmental, $125 for education. In appreciation, this is from the president of the company, Luders. In appreciation of all the clients we are privileged to service in Medford, we would like to make this donation to the Medford School Department. Leaders Environmental is a lawn, tree, and shrub care company specializing in science-based, environmentally sound approaches and attentive customer service. There is a motion on the floor for approval. Is there a second? seconded by Mr. Giro. Roll call vote please. Yes. 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. Item 6, recommendation to approve statute for joint city school director of security position. If I could from the chair, as you realize in the budget, we placed a placeholder basically for this position. And it's shared jointly between the schools and the city. And they will oversee security for all of our public buildings. And there is a general law, Mr. Howard Greenspan brought to our attention that we need to actually adopt this. We have posted the job. Interviews are scheduled to begin next week. So we're hopeful to get someone on board very quickly so that they can implement a lot of the changes from the Safe Haven report, et cetera. So are there any questions? Ms.
[Van der Kloot]: Vandekloot? Could you let us know what the projected salary range is? Yes. We can send you a copy of the job description. We'll put it in about 90. OK. And where would the person be housed?
[Burke]: Right now, we're anticipating them being at City Hall. We'll set them up in an office, and then we will figure out if it's a better location. But we want to have them right at City Hall for the time being. OK. Thank you. I think Mr. Russo had a question. Yeah? Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: I'm busily eating three-year-old gummies. They're not very good. Will there be any additional staff for this person? I mean, the secretary?
[Burke]: Not right now, no. They will be relying on our office, basically, to support them.
[Ruseau]: Great, thank you.
[Burke]: And more or less working with the police department, building and grounds, Mr. McLaughlin, and all of our principals, et cetera, to really get the lay of the land. look at some of the study the work that's already been done we've received that grant for after shooter grant which the police department is administering and they did an assessment of city hall library as well as the council on aging and we're going to implement some changes based upon what they found and then this person would ultimately be the one that could coordinate all the activities stay on top of cameras and make sure that they're all being checked on a more frequent basis and things of that nature. So we anticipate that this person will be on the road quite a bit, and we look forward to having an extra set of hands in this regard. It's a very important topic.
[DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. So I'd like to know who will actually hire and oversee this person since they're joint between the school and the city side.
[Burke]: It's joint funded. It would be an appointment of myself. But we do have, I think Christine is sitting in.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Christine Patterson will be sitting in on interviews.
[Burke]: We'll be sitting in on the interviews. So the way that I handle most interviews, the team does the interviewing and then they put forth a few recommendations and then determine based on that we do And so, we're going to have to look at the quarries and whatnot, depending upon the job specs.
[DiBenedetto]: And my other question is, will the school security staff then report to this person?
[Burke]: We haven't worked out that logistic yet. OK. But we believe that they will have a dotted line to them right now.
[DiBenedetto]: OK.
[Mustone]: Could I ask, would it have been possible, or is it too late, that could a police officer have been assigned to this,
[Burke]: It's more comprehensive than that. And we looked at all different avenues. And it made sense to have it a standalone independent of all the other bodies that are working out there.
[Mustone]: OK.
[Burke]: So they can really see things through a fresh set of eyes.
[Burke]: Thank you. Ms. Van de Kloop.
[Van der Kloot]: Are there any open interviews that school committee members could attend?
[Burke]: This is really administrative. the appointment process. It's not a school committee appointment. So it would be closed until we get to the final. They'll make recommendations, and then that's usually closed in two weeks. So it's administrative. It's not a, it's different than appointments. Mr. Russo, I should just keep all your mics on. Sorry, I was trying to just get things done while we were waiting.
[Ruseau]: So I just wanted to be sure that, you know, you mentioned the active shooter training that the other parts of the city, but we have not approved active shooter Alice training. No, no, no, no, no.
[Burke]: But you will have a person that will be educated to come in and talk to you about it.
[Ruseau]: That's great.
[Burke]: Or other options.
[Ruseau]: OK, good. Yes. Didn't want that to slip under the covers.
[Burke]: No, no.
[Ruseau]: Thank you.
[Burke]: And the police department has been a huge support system for us in all security measures. So they will continue to be.
[Ruggiero]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Mr. Gero.
[Ruggiero]: Just a question on the chain of command here. this new person will be reporting directly to you and will act independently. So what will the sort of relationship be between this person and the superintendent?
[Burke]: They will work very closely. So there'd be a dotted line to the superintendent also, because we're basically direct reports, municipal versus school. So they would be working just as closely with the school department as the city, probably more so, I would imagine, at the beginning. OK, thank you.
[Kreatz]: Hey. I ran out of scripts again.
[Mustone]: Nitty gritty. But I think because I was surprised when I saw it on the agenda, and we haven't really had a conversation about it since maybe May. Right. Yeah, May. And it probably just fell off my radar. Could it be a possible one-year contract? I mean, just thinking of personnel and how often we talk about the budget and the cost of personnel and the cost of every union, and just to add another person on, whereas I think I'd rather a position for more math coaches. And I understand it's split between the city and the school, but could it be a one-year job to see if they're just implementing what we get from Safe Havens? It's kind of...
[Burke]: But then it's ongoing when you look at our buildings. And there's a lot that goes into it that isn't really being looked at right now. And I obviously can't get into specific measures here. But there are a lot of things that need to be tightened up. And it's ongoing in the maintenance of the equipment that you install and whatnot. OK.
[Mustone]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor to accept statute at Mass General Law, Chapter 71, Section 37M, which basically is to? provide for joint services for the purpose of shared security direct to position.
[SPEAKER_06]: Motion to approve.
[Burke]: There's a motion to approve by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Benedetto? Yes. Ms. Kreatz? Yes. Ms. Estrella?
[Mustone]: No.
[Kreatz]: Yes. Mrs. Van De Koop? Yes.
[Burke]: May I vote? Yes. A vote of six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you. Is there a motion to revert to the regular order of business by Ms. Vandeclude, seconded by Mr. Russo? All those in favor? All those opposed? We are now back with item number two, informational report on vaping and cannabis. Dr. Randy Schuster.
[R-JcMFRQo7E_SPEAKER_27]: Good evening. Sorry about the technological difficulties. Thank you for having me. So just by way of introduction, it's OK. My name is Randy Schuster. I'm an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. I'm a neuropsychologist. My area of expertise is in the impact of early drug exposure on the developing brain, particularly as it intersects with academic performance and emotional well-being. Where I've been spending the last probably 10 years of my research has been by way of adolescent marijuana use, which is about as hot button of an issue as it comes right now. So what I was tasked with is in the next 10 to 15 minutes, giving you guys a broad picture overview of where we stand with the science, and then I will turn it over to the experts behind me in terms of how we're gonna implement this and how we're addressing this at Medford. I have more slides than we will get through, This is audience participation encouraged, so please ask questions. A lot of these are really more just talking points and ways for us to just kind of start thinking out loud about an area that we really don't, unfortunately, have a lot of research on, but policy is moving very quickly ahead with, and we will see this in full steam in Medford in the next year. OK, I will touch a little bit on, I'll spend the majority of the time talking about marijuana because that's where I spend most of my academic time. I have some slides at the end about vaping as well, nicotine vaping as well. But to get us started, let's play a game. This is not optional. Everyone has to participate.
[Funaiole]: Which of these are marijuana?
[Burke]: All of the above. All of the above.
[R-JcMFRQo7E_SPEAKER_27]: You guys all passed. These are all cannabis products. And what I hope this slide really illustrates for you is we are in the Wild West with respect to marijuana research. The majority of research that's been published to date on marijuana has come from the 70s, 80s, a little bit in the 90s. And I guarantee you. Most of these products were not available then. So the science that we have is really on, not to be glib, but on yesterday's weed. It is not on what our kids are typically being exposed to right now. So a few things that also that I think just kind of highlight the scope of this issue and really how little we know. So these are the most recent reports from the National Institute on Health with respect to current rates of high school marijuana use. So in the past year, over one in three 12th grade students have used marijuana. Past year, not ever in use. What you'll see in this middle figure here, that as tobacco rates are sharply declining, we've done a phenomenal job from a public health standpoint in nearly eradicating cigarette use in youth. You do not see a similar trend line with marijuana use. This is in the past month that one in five 12th grade students have used marijuana in the past month. So from a public health standpoint, would be considered current marijuana users. This is missing its heading here, but this is in daily use. So about 6% of 12th grade students report using marijuana every single day. I don't think these rates of use are all that surprising when we think about the current legal landscape around marijuana use. Excuse me, I'm getting over a cold. So as of current, there are 10 states, including the District of Columbia, that allow the most expansive laws around marijuana legalization. So they permit not only legal use for medical purposes, but also legal use for recreational purposes. So in 2016, Massachusetts also adopted, voted in favor of question four, which allows for the legal sales of recreational marijuana use. What you'll see in this panel to the right are the 351. Yeah, right. municipalities across Massachusetts, and it's separated by those that have implemented a full-on ban of recreational sales in Massachusetts, those that have a moratorium on sales, and those that have no regulations or no stipulations about whether or not that the town can allow for recreational sales. Question four was written fundamentally differently than what was passed in, let's say, Colorado or Washington, which require opt-in for recreational sales of recreational marijuana. In Massachusetts, by law, towns have to opt out of having recreational sales. So Medford, I think I got this arrow pretty close to right. does not have a moratorium or a ban.
[Burke]: We had a moratorium. Had? And I believe it expired.
[R-JcMFRQo7E_SPEAKER_27]: OK. So now, and Mary Ann will give a more updated stance on where we are on this, I believe three, four. Three. Minimum of three minimum of three shops will be opening in Medford.