[Unidentified]: To order, the secretary will call the rolls.
[Burke]: President, seven present, none absent. All please rise and salute our flag.
[Unidentified]: 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.
[Burke]: Thank you. Approval of the minutes of October 21st, 2019. Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: I believe it was actually held at Medford City Hall.
[Burke]: I'm trying to remember. It was here. It was here, okay. Would you like to make a motion?
[Ruseau]: I'm sorry, motion to amend.
[Burke]: Approved with the amendment.
[Ruseau]: Yes, thank you.
[Burke]: Motion for approval as amended. Is there a second on the floor? Second by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor?
[Ruseau]: Aye.
[Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills, transfer of funds. It's a motion to approve by Ms. Mustone. I don't see the assistant superintendent here, so I'll waive them and email her directly. Very good. There's a motion for approval by Miss Mustone. Is there a second by Mr. Russo? Roll call vote, please.
[SPEAKER_20]: Yes.
[Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. Report of secretary. None. Report of committee. There is an agenda for the rules subcommittee meeting. Ms. Kreatz, chairperson.
[Kreatz]: The rules subcommittee had a meeting this evening at 6.30 p.m. and we met to vote and vote on the member public schools attendance policy. What I can give everybody in their packets, everybody received over the weekend, Some documents, three documents. The first document was the Medford Public Schools attendance policy that is currently on the MAS website. The second document is the attendance policy that we received from the MASC, which is their updated policy dated February 2019. We use this policy as a guideline when updating the Medford Public Schools attendance policy. The MASE attendance policy is adopted by neighboring districts such as Seminole, Winchester, and several other districts. The third document in your packet is the proposed updated member public schools policy. I'm just going to summarize some of the updates that are in the policy that's the last, the third document in your packet. So the school committee had, I'm sorry, not the school committee, the subcommittee had a meeting earlier in, at the end of October, and we went with all the administrators, and we, after that meeting, Paul Russo got in touch with Jim Hardy at the MASC, and he asked the MASC if they could share their attendance policy with us. So Paul got that document from Jim Hardy. We made just a few changes. We added the word caregivers to all the paragraphs throughout the document wherever you see parents, guardians, wherever that's referenced you'll see caregivers as well. We separated the section unexcused absence so it stands out. Additionally the language was updated to show the new verbiage discussed in the subcommittee meeting on 10.1. stating the consequences for unexcused absences are limited to the same day restrictions on participation in extracurricular activities. Lastly, a policy information section was added at the bottom left-hand corner of the document. so we can track the version, date, and approved policy. Going forward, this is something that will appear on all newly updated policies. The document was reviewed by each principal at each school, as well as the superintendent, Dr. Edouard-Vincent, associate superintendent Peter Cushing, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Headmaster DeLeva. We shared this document with everybody, including all the original attendees at the October 1st meeting. So they all received and reviewed the document electronically via Google Docs, and they made suggestions, comments, or updates as needed. So what you're looking at is the proposed updated Medford Public Schools attendance policy. At our subcommittee meeting this evening, there was just one minor update. So if you pull out the, I guess I numbered the pages, so it's the fourth page, I think, in your document. So the last paragraph on the fourth page That last paragraph where it says each principal or designee will notify a student's parent, guardian, caregiver within three, we added the word school during our subcommittee meeting, school days of the student's absence in the event the parent, caregiver has not informed the school's absence. So that was the one minor update. And the attendance policy was I motion to accept to move over to the regular committee tonight. And Mr. Russo seconded. At this time, I'd like to make a motion to approve this document so that we can get this posted on the Medford Public Schools website and then share with the MASC as our new updated policy. so they can put the updated policy on their website.
[Burke]: Chairperson Kreatz, was there a vote in your subcommittee meeting?
[Kreatz]: Oh, yes, there was, yes. And I'm sorry, I didn't say that, yes. That's okay. So there was a vote, and there was none in the affirmative, I'm sorry, two in the affirmative, zero negative, and there was one absent. So it was the motion passed.
[Burke]: Very good.
[Kreatz]: Nice job. Thank you.
[Burke]: There's a motion on the floor for acceptance of the policy as amended. Is there a second? Second by Ms. Vandekloot. Roll call vote, please. Unless there's a discussion. Does anybody? No one's blinking up here. All good. Roll call vote, please. Yes seven in the affirmative zero in the negative motion passes rule is adopted Thank You chairperson and members of the committee did an outstanding job Okay, thank you Okay, at this time we'd like to announce we have two school committee persons elect in the audience. We have Jenny Graham and we have Melanie McLaughlin. If you'd like to come into behind the rail and sit with us, please feel free to. And we just want to congratulate you and wish you the luck in the next two years.
[DiBenedetto]: Welcome.
[Kreatz]: Welcome. Come on over.
[Burke]: At this time, it is community participation. I believe we have the principal of Medford High School, Mr. DeLiva in the audience, who would like to address this body. Oh, let me put you on.
[D'Alleva]: Good evening, everyone. I know I'm coming in on community participation. I just wanted to acknowledge a lot of people, as you guys know, the things that were going on this past weekend regarding our boys' soccer team. And there was a lot of pieces that were involved to get where we got on Saturday. I received two letters, and I just wanted to make it known. One by the Greater Boston League, as you know that we've reformed the Greater Boston League. wrote a letter in support of the Medford High School boys soccer team, and if it's okay, I could just read the letter briefly. MIA Board of Directors, I ask that you receive this letter as a show of support for the Medford High School and their efforts to provide their student-athletes with an equitable opportunity to participate in the Division I North Sectional Boys Soccer Final. To be blunt, the issue that occurred is one that urban schools deal with on a regular basis. Far too often, we have students that arrive at our schools that have experienced trauma and the results of having to leave school. One of our main goals is to recapture these students. In many cases, the trail of documentation is hard to navigate. Some students have been to multiple schools in multiple cities, states, and countries. They are age appropriate, credit appropriate, and fit easily into a specific grade. We feel that this situation has drastically higher rate of occurrence in urban schools. In this case, we feel that the circumstances that are related to the ineligible player are directly related to his life situation. The principals and athletic directors of the Greater Boston League support Medford High School and their efforts that they are taking to rectify the situation. We feel strongly that the decision should be overturned. and the team, as well as the players, should be allowed to participate in the boys' state soccer tournament. Thank you for ensuring the efforts of our student-athletes receive an equitable opportunity to participate. And that was from the Greater Boston League president, Chris Messerangelo, the principal of Malden High School. So I wanted to also put that in record. And we also received a letter from the superintendent of Malden as well, writing to the MIA regarding the situation, which, if it's okay, I could read that letter as well. I'm writing as a school superintendent and former high school principal to urge you to reconsider the decision which was ruled that Medford High School soccer player ineligible. This ruling is unfair and the timing tragically paralyzes the team and the player. The student athlete, an 18-year-old who played two years prior to school dropped out of school became homeless and then re-enrolled in Medford High School as a junior in February of 2019. He was homeless living with a relative and began to recover his lost school credits. This student is 18 and had only been in school in four years and only played two years of soccer. This is nothing in the school's profile which would have raised a cause concerned about his eligibility. There were many causes for concern in his profile as a student of color, homeless, undercredit, and had already dropped out to help support his family. The student-athlete was, as we most likely see in urban districts, a successful re-engaged student. We do this on a daily basis in our urban communities. We as educational leaders seek to give our students every opportunity to succeed, despite the mainly deeply concerning challenges that our students battle, most of which is beyond their control. The MIA is supposed to serve all students in all communities. I've appealed to the MIA in the past as a principal and lead president for help. We felt neglected and left out of our pleas, which were uniquely urban minority majority schools. We've experienced biases and prejudices from the board members during our process. Unfortunately, this incident involving this student athlete has the same familiar ring of injustice and bias. The MIA has an opportunity to rectify the situation. It is time for the MIA to reverse its decision and allow for the Medford High School student-athlete to play and let the Medford continue its season. This time is now. Make the situation right. Thank you. And that's from John Oteri, the superintendent of schools. in Malden, so I would just like to take the community participation time to thank a lot of people, because it had been a very trying day, and I actually want to specifically thank the mayor. There were times that I would even say that I was waffling at some point, because it just was getting to be a little bit overwhelming, basing on rules and things like that, but our mayor was very adamant of pushing for our students to play, and I think that should be recognized here tonight. There's a lot of people, Dr. Peter Cushing, Athletic director Bobby Maloney Just a lot of people at the table just trying to figure out figure out and figure out So I just wanted to personally thank them in front of this committee. So thank you everybody.
[Van der Kloot]: Thank you very much Writers of those letters from the school committee members thanking them for weighing in on behalf of our students I
[Burke]: Also, if I could, the mayor of Cambridge was involved in this, the mayor of Somerville took an active interest in this. We reached out to a lot of different entities over the course of Thursday afternoon when we got the original ruling, and Friday evening when they did their second re-look at the rules. And, you know, rules are great, but sometimes they don't fit. Everybody doesn't fit into that box. And that's when you expect a board of their caliber to make those kinds of decisions. that everyone can live with and not an unfair, unjust decision. And what they did is they just corroborated, collaborated together. And we heard it on the phone when we were on the phone with them. And I must say, I felt so terrible listening to the conversations that were on the other end of that line. And I'm appalled at the MIAA once again. It's not the first time. It probably won't be the last time. But I'm appalled once again at their actions and their ability to not look past black and white on a piece of paper. But we fought. We fought for you kids. I want you to know that. We weren't giving up. We fought the whole time and we said they deserve their day to win or lose on the field because that's the right thing. We put everything behind and we said we're just pushing ahead and we're going to the courts because if MIA can't make the right decision, we're going to go to an unbiased individual to do it. That's what we did. Thank goodness there was a judge that stayed around past closing time on Friday. I want to thank the clerk of courts. for keeping the courtroom open because MIA got us off the phone at 4.35 when the courts closed at 4.30, didn't make a decision, didn't inform us, made a decision, leaked it to the Herald, won. And the clerks that stayed there as well as the judge that stayed there. And so thank them all for doing their job on Friday evening. As you can tell, I'm still heated about it. I'm sorry.
[D'Alleva]: But it couldn't have been done if it wasn't a team effort. And I just wanted to acknowledge the people that really came in and really did their best to, you know, there's a lot of people in a room sometimes.
[Burke]: They did what was right.
[D'Alleva]: Yeah. And the driving force had been, it was always about the students. No matter what, that's what the rule was or whatever it was. It was always about the students. And that was the main thing. And again, I really have to thank the mayor because there were times we were like, What are we going to do here? And the superintendent, of course, as well, I'm sorry.
[Burke]: And regardless of the outcome, they're winners.
[D'Alleva]: Yes, exactly. They are winners in our book. Exactly. So who goes to the boys' volleyball team?
[Burke]: Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Item one, superintendent's update and comments.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So I, too, was going to take a little bit of time to talk about our boys' soccer, because that was kind of top of mind for the past few days. And I want to just share some of my reflections and thoughts with you and tell you what's happening in the wonderful Medford Public Schools. So as you heard from Headmaster DeLeva, the wonderful letters of support that we received, these are a few reflections. So a tremendous team that this community was happy to support for their great athletic achievements, but also for the upstanding way they carried themselves all year. We talk a lot about the importance of the Mustang Way, while these players exemplified it every time they took the field. They never dropped the ball. We did as the adults. So I truly felt that they should not have to pay the price for a no malice clerical error on our part. Despite working for two long days pleading our case to both the MIAA and the MIAC, they denied our Mustangs the opportunity to play. Mayor Burke, Athletic Director Bobby Maloney, Headmaster DeLeva, and many members of my team, we felt that this was an unfair decision for our students and took the MIAA to court to fight. It was the right thing to do. The court found in Medford's favor and the game was played on Saturday night. A very evenly matched game, if I say so myself. The Mustangs left it all on the field. I also say hats off to Lincoln Sudbury. They were not victorious, our Mustangs, but they were victorious in our hearts for never giving up. Mustang Country made up three quarters of the crowd, and Medford represented strongly. I felt like I was at a World Cup event, although I wasn't Lynn. The atmosphere was electric. Mustang Country chanted and cheered throughout the whole match. The MIAA stated that they felt badly that a clerical error had brought them to this decision, but that rules were made to be followed. I do agree. However, sometimes before a rule is applied, extenuating circumstances should be taken into account. In this case, I wonder if Medford's team was afforded fair consideration for all of the circumstances we presented. Sometimes the answer to every question may not be a yes or a no, but instead it might be maybe, or let's look more completely into this issue. At times we might ask to relook at an issue so that every individual feels that their predicament was heard. Well, what I can say this evening, We are so truly, truly appreciative of all the support Medford received from Mayor Burke, from the School Committee, from the City Council, the GBL League, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, Cambridge Mayor, Malden Public Schools Superintendent John Oteri, whose letter was read to you just a moment ago by Headmaster DeLeva. I want you to know Superintendent John O'Teary stood by my side and Dr. Peter Cushing the whole entire game, cheering on Medford Mustangs. I want to thank the 5,786 people and counting, family, friends, neighbors, and supporters of the Mustang boys soccer team who signed the change.org on petition for them to be able to play. The entire community was Medford strong and rallied behind our students. Lastly, we must thank our school committee attorney, Howard Greenspan, and our attorney who fought the MIAA for the students to be able to play, attorney John J. Jack McGlynn, Jr., and his law firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. Attorney McGlynn represented us strongly and successfully, and so I'm so grateful that we were able to play on Saturday and give it our best shot. So I just wanted to share those remarks with you regarding our soccer extravaganza the past few days. But as I transition from that, I wanna just let you know or share with you what else is happening in Medford, and there's a lot happening in Medford, so I wanna just try to go through these other updates so you're just aware. First thing, this coming Thursday, there's a very important traffic notice. Eversource is closing South Street. And this impacts us and it impacts our school buses. So everyone needs to know school bus route 13 and route 12, Maple Street at South Street. Students will not be able to use that stop anymore. Students are going to walk down to Winthrop at South Street near Goldilocks Bagels. to board the bus in the morning. And in the afternoon, they'll be dropped off at that same spot, Winthrop Street at South Street, very close to the Goldilocks Bagels. Another route, any other route using Winthrop Street will have to use Route 16 to get to the middle and elementary schools. So as you know, Route 16 has a lot of congestion, so it's going to be a longer commute, and we'll have to figure out the times, but I just want to, you know, prepare everyone in advance that the street is closing, so we have to be prepared for that. On the high school level, we have had a few technology glitches. We got a few emails and some questions about what's happening with technology. So we are actively working on fixing our technology at the high school in particular. The system, there are multiple systems going on to the device. Everyone is traveling with a mobile device and all of those devices logging on to our one system. It's also sometimes overwhelming our system. So we are working on a fix for that. So I just want you to know we are aware and we are working and meeting collaboratively to come up with solutions to help our technology challenges at the high school. Transitioning again, middle school winter sports. Just so you know, those of us who love our athletic events, after a very competitive fall season, middle school sports, winter season is starting. Boys and girls basketball tryouts were held last week, and they're going to begin their season the week of December 9th. Also, last week, Medford CPAC group and the Medford Family Network co-hosted a presentation supporting students with food allergies in schools. I was pleased to attend this important informational session at the Andrews Middle School. Over 50 people were in attendance to hear Dr. Michael Kistner of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and Dr. Jennifer Labovodich of Boston Children's Hospital, who discussed strategies so all of us are aware of student allergy issues. The doctors also stressed the need for supportive classroom environments and having strong emergency care plans in place. For those who are interested but may have missed the presentation, it is available on the school blog. And I'd like to recognize assistant superintendent Dr. Cushing and school committee members Van der Kloot and Kreatz were also in attendance at that presentation last week. Also, we had Jumpstart Read for the Record. That was held last week at the Columbus School. The book that everyone read was Thank You, Omu. This year, Jumpstart celebrated its 14th anniversary of Read for the Record. I know Dr. Kathy Kaye was very appreciative that Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Christine Patterson, McGlynn Middle School Principal Nick Tucci, and Director of English Language Arts and Humanity Dr. Nicole Chiesa, Director of Medford Family Network Marie Cassidy, and school committee members Kathy Krutz and Mia Mastone participated in reading the books to students. Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign highlights the importance of building literacy and language skills for every child. We have good news again in Mustang country. A new graduate, a student who just graduated in June 2019, my first official graduating class. Well, this freshman is already making a tremendous, tremendous mark in the world. His name is Connor McFarlane, a 2019 high school graduate. He won first place first place in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Innovation Challenge. Connor, a chemical engineering student, developed the improved insulin delivery. It's called an IID. An IID is an improved insulin delivery system for all insulin dependent diabetics that reduces pain, plastic waste, the amount of supplies needed to carry, and the amount of time spent managing the disease, allowing for more freedom for the patient. His project was awarded first place and audience choice for a prize of $1,250. I just want to say congratulations, Connor. We Mustangs are so proud of you. We also had a groundbreaking or a partial groundbreaking held for our new cosmetology salon. at the Medford Vocational Technical High School. Last year, in a coordinated effort between the Medford School Committee member, Mia Mastone, City Solicitor, Mark Rumley, and Vocational Principal, Chad Fallon, Medford alumnus, Charles Hoff, explored the opportunity to donate a gift to the school in memory of his mother. Principal Fallon shared with Mr. Hoff his vision to relocate the cosmetology program, which is currently located in the lower level of the school and not necessarily really accessible for everyone to the main level of the vocational school. We feel that it will allow a more direct access point and ample parking for clients, as well as people who would like to visit the salon, visit our bistro, our restaurant, and our automotive technology program. So that project, you'll hear about it again later today, but the hope is that it will be completed in the spring of 2020, around May. So we're excited about that. And there will be a formal ribbon cutting in May of 2020. Sandy Hook Promise presentation. The Medford Public Schools partnered with Sandy Hook Promise through a grant funded by the Attorney General's office to provide mental health training, suicide prevention, and school-based violence prevention programs to keep our students safe. The presentation, Start with Hello, was held last week at both the Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools as well as the high school. The Attorney General's Office and Sandy Hook Promise will collaborate with the Medford Public Schools to train educators and students over the course of the next two years in the three Know the Signs programs, which will teach youth and adults how to identify, assess, and intervene before a young person hurts themselves or others. Special thanks to Stacey Shulman for applying for this important grant. And as I come to an end, very close, I wanna recognize our fine arts department. Those of you who love the arts, we all do. They have announced their winter concert schedule. Everything will be taking place at the high school. Everyone is invited. December 4th, high school chorus, senior string ensemble, and Robert's Hand Chimes. December 5th, high school orchestra. December 12th, middle school strings. That one says at the McGlynn School. January 21st, grade five strings, Troublemakers chorus and Roberts hand chimes, and January 22nd, high school band and middle school band. We'll continue to give reminders, but just for people to know, Winter Fine Arts Department has the winter concert schedule available. Also, our high school band will be selling Christmas trees and reefs in the high school parking lot as a fundraiser to help prepare for our trip 2020 to Pearl Harbor, which is going to be a very costly trip for our band to go all the way to Hawaii. So please, that is going to start the weekend of November 29th, right after Thanksgiving weekend, so I do hope that you are able to support that. Lastly, our Medford Family Network is hosting a coat drive throughout this entire month. Please, if anyone has gently worn clothing, coats or jackets that they wanna donate to the Medford Family Network, please bring it to the high school. Your donations would be greatly appreciated. I thank you for listening, and I wish you all an early, happy Thanksgiving.
[Burke]: Thank you.
[Ruseau]: Mr.. Russo Thank you for that report. I just had a quick Question about two questions one the South Street closure Do we have a how long that's gonna last?
[Edouard-Vincent]: I don't have the official timetable. I do know that it's closing officially on the 21st, and we will definitely be in close communication with Eversource. Again, sometimes when they dig or whatever they do, they find other challenges. Like on Winthrop Street. But we definitely have been communicating. We've been in early communication with the bus company. and just wanting to let people know that this is happening and there will be additional
[Ruseau]: So it's not a week.
[Burke]: We can get an estimate of the timeline and email everyone and get it out to your groups.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. And then I just wanted for clarification, since I know this, but I just wanted to make sure everybody else did. When you were talking about the technology at the high school, you were specifically talking about the internet connections. Exactly, yes. You didn't mention the word internet, and I just wanted to make sure that got included. Yes, yes, yes.
[Edouard-Vincent]: It was about the internet connections where our system's been crashing. So we've been working on that, we've been meeting and we have some, we'll be able to present out on that sometime next month to give you a more robust update on what's happening with technology. But just to let everyone know that we are definitely aware of the Internet challenges.
[Ruseau]: Thank you.
[DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Ms. DiBenedetto. Thank you. To follow up about South Street, can we make sure that an auto call is sent? So especially with how cold it's been, we don't want to accidentally have any children waiting out there for the bus. We can definitely do that. And just maybe to everyone, because kids might take a bus home to that area to walk to a grandparent's or a caregiver's House, not just the kids that necessarily are living right in that area.
[Edouard-Vincent]: And we can definitely, if it's not already up on the blog, we'll definitely get it up as well.
[Burke]: And the Catholic schools that we service. Thank you.
[DiBenedetto]: Definitely. And just, I don't know if we're gonna discuss it now, but there has been some emails and letters of concerns of bus crowding, but we can wait till further in this meeting, but especially middle school buses being overcrowded at the end of the day, going home now that some clubs have ended. So I don't know if you could look into that and get us an update.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can do that.
[DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Okay. Thank you. Item number two, report on CCSR. Michael Skorka and Mr. Richard Trotta.
[Trotter]: Excuse me, hello. Hello. Richard Trotta. Welcome back to school committee. And I'm gonna say happy Thanksgiving to the school committee, the new school committee before I forget that. And welcome to the new members. We did our annual report a while ago. We passed them out this week. It's 100 pages long, so I only read 25 pages. And the new members, we'll get those to you so you can see what the report says. So, what's gonna happen, I'm gonna give a brief comment about the overview and then Michael will talk about the students and their projects and then we'll be all done and take questions also. So, first of all, Michael and I want to thank the school committee and central office for continuing to report the support that you've given us over the years. We wouldn't be able to do this without your help and so we thank you and look forward to continuing. Today I got an interesting email from Cummings Foundation. We applied for a sustaining grant for 10 years of $250,000 approximately. We didn't get it yet, but we passed the first step. We're in the finalists for that grant. So we won't know until spring, but hopefully before budget. So this concept began a long time ago with Roy Bellison. Basically, the program is a way of including social-emotional learning and leadership in the schools after school, because it doesn't interfere with the school day. The drawback, of course, we don't get every student, but we still have quite a few students. In fact, this year, up to over 500 students, K through 12. It began in 2015 and 16, and I did it the first year alone, and I did some odds and ends. I didn't have a lot of money left from the Bloomberg grant, and so it was just a number of activities that weren't really that powerful. But the next year, we got the Cummings Foundation grant, and also at the same time, I met this gentleman named Michael Skorka, who's sitting next to me. He was the key to getting the students dramatically involved in the program. We started with 18 students at the high school, and now we have 150 this year. So that was in three years, we've gone from 18 to 150 students at the high school. And district-wide, we went from 18 students to 500. So it's been a dramatic increase in participation. Now, let me go on my notes. So, in essence, I'm going to state the mission in very simple terms. It's to develop student leaders who work to make the community and the world a better place to live. I want to make a note, too, that the students do a lot of work to help other people, but the person who gains the most, I really believe, are the students doing the projects, because they become leaders, and you'll see that when they speak, and you also, if you've been to any of our project fairs or events, you'll see the students take a lead, and they complete these projects. The projects are year-long, so it's not just a small project. It's pretty complex sometimes. Sometimes they have to raise money. Sometimes they have to go to the city council or school committee. Sometimes they have to plan out with parents and community and do projects with non-profits. And they raise money. Some students have raised as much as $4,000 last year for the monument to the enslaved people. The most important activity that we believe that's critical is the student work. We have other things we do. We have speakers. We had the poet laureate, Richard Blanco, a few weeks ago. This past week we had Amanda Gorman, who's the youth poet laureate for the country. We've had some speakers come into the schools, like the McGlynn in the high school. We've done some professional development. We've had some mini grants. We've had resources. But by far and away, the most important thing we do, the most powerful thing we do, is work with students to help them help us. And Michael will talk about the students, but I just want to mention the format. There is a structure to this. The structure is called project-based learning, where students on their own, with the help of the, they pick their own projects, but the advisors help them implement a project. So they have to plan it. They have to implement it. They have to cooperate. They have to communicate. So the project is really a powerful tool for learning. I was always a fan of that as an educator, and now we can actually put into effect in this program. So when they're completing with their projects, they have such a sense of satisfaction. And it's actually been proven that it's a natural high, that endorphins actually are released when they complete a project. So it might be a counterweight to some negative addictions by having a positive addiction. And also, there are things called ACEs, which are Adverse Childhood Experiences. There's been research on that that correlates with problems growing up in school and living a life. And this activity is a counterweight for that. It's a positive way of directing the students to a positive thing to help counterbalance the negative that they've gone through. And students who come into this program don't just come in for the projects. They come in for a social aspect, to be with other students, They also come because they got a chance to work with the community and they actually have a place to go. We don't have any requirements whatsoever. There's no athletics, there's no grades. It's strictly you wanna be with us and you wanna help make the world a better place. So I think I've said too much already. What I'd like to do now is we'll wait for questions till after Michael speaks and the students, then we can do some questions. And in the meantime, my great partner, Michael Skorka.
[Skorka]: Thanks, Rich. Rich actually said a lot of what I already have prepared for you tonight, but I just want to reiterate one thing that Rich said. We started with 18 students at the high school, and fast forward four years, we have 150 students at the high school. This, as Rich said, the structure works. The students are excited about doing projects even after school is over. This program proves that. They want to help people. They want to be involved in their community. They want to make a difference. I have students in my room at 7 o'clock in the morning all the way until 4 at night that are just literally, they are craving that, that drive to help other people. And I'm seeing that not only at the high school, but also at the elementary schools and the middle schools. We have, as Rich said, over just about 500 students in the district that are participating in the program. And when I meet with the advisors, we meet monthly to just brainstorm ideas, support one another, talk about fundraisers, talk about how we can support the students, better support them. And all of them have told me that this is one of the best experiences they've ever had, to be able to do this work with these students. And it's enriching, and we're essentially empowering students to make the world a better place. And these skills, they're not only, like Rich said, they're not only learning, they're not only benefiting because they're helping other people, but they're learning life skills. High school students, I just had a student who was nervous to make a phone call to a local business because they don't make a lot of phone calls, and so we had to walk through what that looked like, walk through what a formal email looks like. Those life skills that they're gonna be able to take with them after they graduate from high school are super important. So I'm gonna reiterate also, I'd like to thank every one of you. Many of you were here when this program was merely a concept, and you supported us from the very beginning, and look where we are now. So from the bottom of our hearts, Thank you so much, and thank you to Central Administration who has supported us. It's been a wild ride in a really awesome way, and I can't wait to see what we do next. You'll hear from three student groups tonight who will express not only what the CCSR means to them, but also talk a little bit about their projects. So without further ado, first up is Maria Rocha.
[Rocha]: Hello, my name is Maria Rocha and I am the founder and coordinator of the CCSR Tufts QuestBridge Chapter Resource and Mentoring Program. We are mentoring 40 plus first generation and low income high school students in skills such as professional development and college readiness in innovative ways such as bi-weekly email newsletters and the opportunity to get their questions answered by real college students who are part of our mentor team through Google Forms. And now, one of our mentors would like to share a few words about the importance of our program.
[6kKbcFkpEqA_SPEAKER_07]: Hi, everyone. I'm Leticia Rocha. I am a senior at Tufts University. I was president of the Tufts Quest chapter for two years, and I'm now a member of the mentoring team. We work to foster community among first-generation low-income students at Tufts. And while we do a lot for them during their time at Tufts, the actual road to college is incredibly difficult. And it is crucial that we provide resources for first-generation and low-income high school students in order to get them into higher education and close the achievement gap. Thank you.
[Rocha]: Now I'd like to introduce Mark Allen and Kishana Paul, who are going to talk about the Haitian Flag Day celebration.
[pwujfdBbKq4_SPEAKER_04]: Well, to understand where we're going, I must make a quick look back at last year. Last year, we took the passion that many Haitian students felt at our school, and we made the first district-wide Haitian Flag Day assembly and celebration. So last year, We had a Haitian flag day assembly where we portrayed our culture and we represented many aspects and the dance, the music. And afterwards we also, we also went to the elementary school and middle schools in the morning to share a bit of that passion and talk with the kids, inspire them so they can be proud of their identity and self. So I'd like to pass it to Kishana to tell us where we're going.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right. So after we had our assembly, we had a celebration after school. So we had parents and local businesses bring in food. Some was donated to us, and everybody experienced Haitian food. We had a DJ, which everyone was dancing, and everybody enjoyed. And this year, we hope to make it bigger and include more students from Medford High. So that's more diverse, and everybody gets to learn about the Haitian culture, not just the Haitians from Medford High in general.
[Unidentified]: Very nice.
[SPEAKER_03]: Great job.
[pwujfdBbKq4_SPEAKER_04]: Now, I'd like to call some other amazing CCSR members, Jacqueline Madigan and Emily McDade.
[SPEAKER_10]: Hello, good evening. My name is Jacqueline Madigan, and I'm currently a senior at Medford High School. I have been a member of CCSR for two years, and last year I became a project portfolio manager with Emily McDade. Emily and I are responsible for assisting Mr. Skorka in the creation of the project portfolios for every school in the district, as well as the mid-year and annual reports, which we report to the Cummings Foundation that are so kind to provide us with things that we need. Currently I am training two sophomores to take on the role after Emily and I graduate. I love my role within the CCSR because I get the opportunity to work with and, more importantly, be amazed by varying passions of the different students and their longing to change the world. CCSR has taught me the importance of pursuing my passions, being vocal in my beliefs, and collaborating with my peers. Working with others to create change under a common goal is extremely powerful and very motivating. And to me, that is what makes the CCSR program invaluable to any other program. These life skills are fundamental in working towards change and have allowed me to build a strong foundation for college. I plan to take what Mr. Skorka and the CCR program has taught me and use it to continue my love of community service in college, and for that I am very grateful.
[SPEAKER_08]: Hello everybody, my name is Emily McDade and I'm also a senior at Medford High School. As Jackie mentioned, Jackie and I are the portfolio managers which we create the annual and mid-year reports. This year I am also working with Jackie on Common Ground. Common Ground is a reverse inclusion classroom. that allows high school students to form connections with students within the ACCESS program. The ACCESS program is a program within Medford High School that allows students with significant disabilities. The goal was to incorporate students in common ground with classroom activities to feel included within the Medford High School community. Ava Heinegg, who is not here tonight, Jackie and I worked alongside Ms. Andre to create an environment in which the students could participate and feel welcome. Some of the different activities included recognizing the uniquenesses of each individual and team building. We hope to eventually make common ground available to all students throughout the day, not only just one period a day, so that the students in the access program are more involved in the community and gain relationships that will continue outside of the classroom. On behalf of CCSR, we would like to thank everyone for listening to us tonight.
[Skorka]: So I am so excited to be able to work with these students. And like I said, 150. Last year at the high school, we had 58 projects. And we're already up to 80 projects at the high school alone, which is incredible. And I know that the work that they're doing is really making a difference. This program really does have an impact on the world and in our community. Rich, I don't know if you want to say one more thing.
[Trotter]: I just want one more informational thing that we actually now incorporated the key club in our group. They're going to work with us and help us and we're going to help them so that there's a unified force, so to speak, to do projects and help out the rest of the community. Do we have any questions?
[Burke]: I think just, well, another shout out to the Cummings Foundation, the Crystal Campbell Betterment.
[Trotter]: Continue the rest of the Betterment.
[Burke]: Community Betterment Project. Community Benefit Project.
[Trotter]: I knew there were others. And of course, the Bloomberg Foundation that started the organization. We're hoping that he remembers that, too.
[Van der Kloot]: First, I'll start at the top. I want to thank you, Michael and Rich, for coming tonight and for updating us. Of course, we know what a positive thing this is. And as I've been sitting here and reading some of the other projects that happened at the elementary level, something else occurred to me. So first, at the elementary level, I happened to look in my book and one was teal pumpkin awareness for letting the community know more about the teal pumpkins means on Halloween, that there are non-food items available in case kids have allergies. And another one, you know, more books for little free libraries. We see the little free libraries popping up, but not enough kids books. So that was another one. And all of a sudden, as I was thinking about this, I was thinking, because of course, we know what fantastic high school projects we've had and how wonderful you just represented yourself. But when I go to the music concerts, one of the things I'm always struck about is how when people, students get up at that spring concert, They often thank the music teachers because it is the music teachers who have continuity from the elementary to the middle to the high school. And what we've now managed to build with the CCSR is that there's a continuity. of ideals going from the elementary to the middle to the high school and soon because of this while the time the kids get to the high school of course we'll always be welcoming more new high school students but we'll also be building the space that will come up And that's an incredibly powerful thing. So I'm very appreciative of the success that we've had and the building that we've done over the years. I did just want to mention to Marie, I read an article, I believe it was the Boston Globe, just a week or so ago, talking about how difficult it was that while our students from less Students perhaps who come from families who were their first time college students, while they might get into college, it's difficult for them to stay into college and they're not necessarily prepared for all of the challenges. And laying that base now for them to be able to talk to college students is just wonderful. All of the projects we heard tonight were wonderful and I can't wait to hear about all the other ones that will be happening from all the levels. Thank you so much. Ms.
[Burke]: Kreatz.
[Kreatz]: Oh, hi. Thank you very much for the presentation. It's one of my favorite presentations, and the annual report is beautiful. I just want to thank the students for the great job and the great work they did. The pictures are beautiful, the articles, just perfect. All the projects presented tonight were fantastic, and I did what Paulette says, I look forward to all the upcoming events and just going to all the presentations and it's just so wonderful and the kids are so excited and it's so exciting that they're starting in elementary and then going to middle. I can't imagine the upcoming years what we're going to see in the upper grades because these children are starting younger now and it's their idea, their vision. their voice, and you know, I just heard so many students at the presentations last year, they speak so well, and their leadership skills, and they're great speakers, public speakers, better than me sometimes, so I'm really impressed with the students and all the presentations, and thank you all so much.
[Trotter]: Thank you. Just so you know, that the McGlynn Elementary has over 60 students?
[Skorka]: The McGlynn Elementary, 66, yeah, I think.
[Trotter]: Elementary students at one school.
[Skorka]: Yeah. And Ms. Kreatz also, and for everyone, the project fair at the high school is scheduled for April 30th, if you wanna put it in your calendars. I will also be disseminating the information for the project fairs for the other schools when I have that information, probably sometime in January. And Curtis Tufts is also part of this program, just to be very clear. They are participating in the program. The principal, I think she's a new principal, is on board, and we've been in contact, and we're working together to do some projects with her 15 or so students there.
[DiBenedetto]: Great. Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. My question is more about funding. This program is now so important to our community, our school community, as well as our community as a whole. If for any reason this grant doesn't come through, we need to make sure that there's a plan B. I'm sure my colleagues, as the year continues, will help you in the budget if that wasn't to come about. And somehow some way, but are there is there a plan B other than the Cummings are we reaching out to? Mr. Bloomberg again, what are we doing?
[Trotter]: Yeah, one of the things that I do When Michael's working with students is I'm doing outreach all the time whether it's promoting the program Trying to get other districts to buy into it are raising money. I We have some connections, we have some things going on. We're not going to stop doing that. There are other grants, and if it doesn't happen, we'll know before budget so we can think about that. But right now, we won't find out until May, but I think the budget's done in June, so we should be okay. But I'm confident we'll find more money and more support as we go on, The program is becoming more well-known, and I've gone to the conferences, the superintendents' conference, the school committee conference, and I've met people, and I think people are starting to see what we're about at other districts and other funders. And I haven't given up on Bloomberg yet, either.
[DiBenedetto]: And what costs are involved? Like, what do you need each year to be able to run this program? I mean, if we put it out there and people are listening and they hear these children, there might be a donor out there that is listening right now or at some point and hear what you need and be able to step up and help us. So if anybody's listening, we could use checks for CCSR.
[Trotter]: Yeah, the biggest item are the stipends for all the advisors and teachers. Because we have so many now. We have about a dozen. So that's the biggest budget. The other things are speakers, sometimes field trips, supplies, printing supplies. We do print things. So we kind of focused on that. We took some money away from other things to make sure that we have enough money for the advisors and the teachers and some mini grants. That's the bulk of our budget.
[DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Thank you. School committee elect McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I just wanted to tell you, I think you're such a jewel in Medford's crown. I think that you really stand out, especially in terms of how inclusive you are. of children that are often marginalized, and you are always thoughtful in that sense. So as a mother of a child with a disability, I especially appreciate your Common Ground project, and also your mention of the Curtis Tufts program, and anything that we can do to continue that work, we're happy to support. Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Thank you so much.
[Burke]: Thank you very much. That was a wonderful presentation. I'm in honor of all of you. You do an amazing job. So professional, so articulate, and just a great job. Keep it up. Carry it outside of Medford and come home with it.
[Trotter]: Thank you, Mayor.
[Burke]: You're welcome. Congratulations. Is there a motion to accept this report and place it on file, Mr. Russo? Seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Item three, recommendation to approve student representatives to the school committee. Mr. DeLava. Ah. We got a surprise.
[D'Alleva]: Mark has a double role today. Surprise. I'd like to introduce Mark Allen, Our senior class officers, Mark is the senior class president and Isabel is the senior class secretary. Both students are enrolled in our AP and honors classes as well. And we feel that each would have a great voice representing Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School. So we'd like to introduce them as your student representative. As you know, one will be at one meeting and one will be at another meeting. So we can allow them to also get their homework done as well. So having the two is present. But they're here tonight to answer any of your questions. So feel free to ask them anything you'd like.
[Burke]: Well, if I could, from the chair, always feel free to interject. As you've probably watched over the years, we've had some outstanding school students that have represented you, and they have jumped in often with strong voices. So feel free to do that. You're always welcome to have a few words and say whatever's on your mind.
[Unidentified]: Thank you very much.
[Burke]: OK, both of you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Ms. Vandekloot.
[Van der Kloot]: is that you'll come and sit over there in that chair, and you can ask us any questions that you want. You can participate. And if you have any questions before a meeting, we'd be happy to, you know, please reach out to us. Your voice is extremely important, and I am so glad we are finally getting this student voice back. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Burke]: And Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: just wanted to echo what Mayor Burke had said because we have often after these meetings remarked that, no disrespect to any of the excellent people that work for us, but often the commentary from the students was some of the most important part of the discussion. So it may be hard to recognize that at first, but please don't hold back.
[Burke]: You see things through a different lens than us, so we welcome it. Very good. Thank you. We'll see you coming January?
[pwujfdBbKq4_SPEAKER_04]: We're going really soon. Yeah. Yeah. We're working on it.
[SPEAKER_20]: Two weeks.
[Burke]: Awesome. You'll see one of us soon. Well, I look forward to it. All right. Thank you, guys. Congratulations. Have a great Thanksgiving. Good evening. Is there a recommendation to approve the two student representatives by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Kreatz? All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Congratulations formally. Item number four, recognition of Dr. Jeanne Hollenbeck, AOTA roster of fellows. Ms. Caldwell.
[Caldwell]: So we always celebrate our kids and I'm the first one to get up and celebrate our students because we are. Kiddos.
[Burke]: You know, you always say kiddos.
[Caldwell]: Kiddos. I do say kiddos all the time. So, but tonight is something different. So tonight I am very, very proud to congratulate Dr. Jan Hollenbeck for the honor of being chosen to receive the American Occupational Therapy Association roster of fellows at the 2020 Annual Conference and Expo in Boston. I'd like to introduce to you Dr. Jan Hollenbeck. So I'll just read to you a little bit about what this entails. The AOTA Roster of Fellows recognizes occupational therapist members of AOTA who through their knowledge, expertise, leadership, advocacy, and or guidance have made a significant contribution over time to the profession with a measured impact on consumers, of occupational services and or members of the association. So we congratulate you for your recognition. We are very proud and happy that she works for Medford Public Schools. How long have you been with us? A long time?
[SPEAKER_13]: 25 years.
[Burke]: We also have a proclamation for you. I'll read it and then if you want to come up and get it. Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Dr. Jeanne Hollenbeck for being honored by the American Occupational Therapy Association to receive the AOTA Roster of Fellows signed by myself, Dr. Maurice-Edouard Vinson, and all the school committee members. So congratulations. Thank you. You get to go up and get your award now. Congratulations. Thank you. Wonderful accomplishment. Would you like to say a few words?
[SPEAKER_20]: If you'd like to.
[SPEAKER_13]: I appreciate the recognition, I really do. I've been in Medford Public Schools for a very long time, starting as a contracted occupational therapist and then convincing George Scollins, I don't know if folks remember him, and Superintendent Belson to hire me so I could create a department in Medford Public Schools and stop having all these kind of different contracting agencies that was it was a little bit inconsistent. So they allowed me to grow and develop and part of that was the growth and development I did in my profession in general. So stepping into a leadership role in Medford allowed me to step, it was kind of the beginning of the trajectory for me to do the things I've done for my professional organization at a national and state level. So I'm really appreciative of Medford Public Schools and allowing me to kind of advance and develop in this role and beyond. Thank you.
[Burke]: Congratulations. Item five, recommendation to approve donation for library makerspace. Ms. Layden is present with us this evening. Good evening.
[UKy15P8nAPo_SPEAKER_10]: Good evening. I'm pleased to let you know that we received a $10,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to build a maker space in our high school library. It is hopefully the first of our endeavor to put a makerspace in all our libraries, but our first one is the high school. And I'll read you the exact paragraph that was funded, so I'm clear on that one. The maker program of the Medford High School, Medford Vocational and Technical High School, will create a shared STEAM makerspace to be used by core academic subjects and CTE programs to enable academic and career preparation connections. So this is part of a STEM initiative through the Verizon Foundation. So they want to fund ideas and concepts that help crossover between CTE and academic subjects with a STEM focus, and so we were well aligned for that. Students and teachers in multiple programs and courses will use the Makerspace to plan, design, create, and synthesize projects using interdisciplinary project-based learning to solve and engage STEAM activities. It's about $10,000 which is broken out into professional development, training, stipends for teachers and students to do training, $5,000 for materials and supplies, curriculum, and information about the project, project dissemination. We actually already have some furniture that has come in from the Furniture Trust that will help use that space in a way that will move from Rich Trotta's old office to our high school library maker space. And it will include high tech and low tech. We're looking at putting in a 3D printer. We're putting in a green screen and some video equipment so that we can do some video casting. We're looking at die cutter. We're looking at tools to take things apart and put things together. So it's a little bit of a lot of things to start that makerspace initiative.
[Burke]: Very nice. Congratulations. Thank you. This requires a vote. I'll recommend that this gift be accepted by school committee for a formal vote required under Mass General Law, Chapter 44, Section 53A. $10,000 grant donation from Verizon Foundation. Motion for approval? Do you wish to speak on this? Ms. Kreatz.
[Kreatz]: Yes, I just had one question. Oh, Molly, I was just, I was curious about, so the stipend student, like the student stipend, what would the students be doing? Like, I was just curious about that.
[UKy15P8nAPo_SPEAKER_10]: So the students could be doing training for other students. The students can be running after school activities. They can be running activities during their free periods. It can be things that can be done for student to teacher, student to student.
[Kreatz]: Okay, okay, great, that's great, thank you.
[Burke]: Very good, thank you, Ms. Kreatz. Ms. DiBenedetto.
[DiBenedetto]: Thank you. How did this money come about? Did you apply for a grant? I applied for a grant. So I just wanted to say thank you very much on behalf of the students and the community, the school community, to take that initiative on and apply for grants that help our students should be recognized because that's very important in tough times. And this gives children an opportunity to work with their hands and their minds. And that's a great benefit that you've just offered all of our children. Thank you very much.
[Burke]: And Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Van der Kloot]: I just want to say the exact same thing. So thank you, Molly.
[Burke]: Thank you, Ms. Layden. Very good. Is there a motion by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Mr. Rousseau to accept this gift?
[SPEAKER_20]: Roll call vote, please.
[Burke]: 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. Motion passes. Congratulations, Molly. There's a recommendation to approve the donation from the Hoff family for the cosmetology space. Mr. Fallon is with us this evening and we previously heard from the superintendent who mentioned this project.
[Fallon]: Welcome. Good evening. Hello again. Hi. Spoke about it a few weeks ago. Tonight's just a formal acceptance of the money. Mr. Hoff donated $100,000 to the cosmetology program. Tonight I'm seeking your approval for acceptance of the funds.
[Burke]: Motion for approval by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Ms. Kreatz, I think I heard over there. Okay, and this is a $100,000 grant.
[Fallon]: Gift.
[Burke]: Gift from Mr. Hoff.
[Fallon]: Correct.
[Burke]: In memory of his mom.
[Fallon]: Yes.
[DiBenedetto]: Very nice. Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I just wanted people to know that the current cosmetology is going to remain open while you're building the new area. Is that correct?
[Fallon]: Correct. The new salon will be up and running in the fall, you know, for the fall school year, but we'll have the new space open hopefully by the spring. We'll have the ribbon cutting in the spring, but everything will still stay operational.
[DiBenedetto]: Right. So just so the community does know that during construction and during the movement, that they can still go and get treatments and services in the spa currently.
[SPEAKER_20]: Yes.
[DiBenedetto]: Which when I broke my arm, I took advantage of a few years ago and brought my mom and my sister and everybody got something different meals here. Um, everything, and it was helpful because I had that broken arm, so I appreciated it then. So everybody in the community should really utilize these programs that they have up there. I don't know how many customers they're getting right now, but it's a great option. You can get your oil changed, your hair and nails done, or any other cosmetology thing that they offer, and then go to lunch and pick up your car and you're ready to go. It's a great way to spend the day. It might take you a little longer to get your hair cut or done, than at your regular spa, but it's really, it's really a great, great program. And just wanted to let everybody know to go to utilize it even while we're relocating.
[Fallon]: Thank you. Thank you for your support.
[Van der Kloot]: Yes, I just want to make sure that a letter is sent on behalf of the school committee to Mr. Hoff and family for their, at this time, thanking them for the incredibly generous donation.
[Burke]: For all of these accepted gifts.
[Fallon]: Agreed.
[Burke]: Very good. There's a motion on the floor. Roll call vote, please. Ms. Mustone. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, motion passes. Thank you very much. Next, recommendation to approve Safer Schools and Communities Local Equipment and Technology Grant Award. Mr. Cushing.
[Cushing]: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Here this evening in place of Assistant Superintendent Christine Patterson, who wrote and applied for this grant. It was a maximum award possibility of $80,000. Medford Public Schools was awarded $38,502. It was a competitive grant, therefore requires your approval. The funds will be primarily used to update and modernize the district's communication systems. specifically radio communication between buildings, having repeaters improved at the high school, as well as I believe in McGlynn, but then also a standard radio district-wide for the appropriate personnel to be able to use, and then easy communication, switching between channels for central office when situations arise, as well as connecting to the Medford Fire and Medford Police.
[Burke]: Very good, Mr. Cushing. Mr. Aguero.
[Ruggiero]: Thank you so much for this report, and it's great that we're seeing the cash. I'm just curious, are we going to also be using this funding to improve the intercom system, or is that going to be?
[Cushing]: So that would be, that is not going to be part of this. The radios do take up the overwhelming majority of these funds.
[Ruggiero]: And so would teachers that are in the rooms that don't have intercom access, would they be given a radio, or?
[Cushing]: No, but I know that Mr. McLaughlin is actually working right now on making sure that those things are remedied. I know that Mr. DeLabor has worked extensively to identify the rooms that are lacking in the intercoms, and that he does have a plan in place that if there's a situation, to have those people notified, as was discussed recently.
[Ruseau]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Very good, thank you. Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: Yes, thank you very much. I did talk to Assistant Superintendent Patterson, and I just wanted to, in case anybody watching is checking out the Safer Schools and Community Initiatives website. One of the categories for which the money can be spent is for active shooter training, but I have received confirmation that that is not what we're using it for. And if anybody's afterwards looking and going, wait a minute, there's no concern that that's what this is for.
[Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I just want to mention that I'm grateful that Assistant Superintendent Christine Patterson put in the grant for this, because this is money that certainly can be used and will be very practical. So my thanks to her, and I'm glad we're going to be able to go forward with upgrading some of our equipment. Very good.
[Cushing]: I would like to also just make sure that we recognize Mr. McLaughlin for his work on this and to really make sure that he was part of this as well.
[Kreatz]: Ms. Kurtz. Thank you, Mr. Cushing, and thank Christine Patterson and Mr. McLaughlin. This is great news. I just wanted to know, it says on the back, please note your official start date will be the date that your return contract is signed and dated and will terminate on December 31st. Does that mean, like, do all the funds have to be spent by December 31st? Or is it, you know, I guess you have to accept, sign the contract by, that was like on, I guess on the letter.
[Cushing]: So I believe from the meetings that we've had that it's to accept. Just to accept it. Just to accept. But I know that we are also moving forward, that we do have quotes in hand, and that the plan is to move forward to have this project done as quickly as possible. So I wouldn't be surprised, given the speed that we're moving, to see this project well on its way by the first of the year.
[Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much. Is there a motion for approval of this grant? By Mr. Russo, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. Roll call vote, please. Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, and the motion passes. Thank you. Spend wisely. Item 8, report on after-school program. Ms. Fidler-Curry? Hello. How are you?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: I'm doing well, thank you. How are you? Thank you so much for the opportunity. So you all have my report. I hope you had a chance to read it. I first wanted to say, in the after-school programs, we've been spending a lot of time this month, obviously, thinking about gratitude. So everywhere, you know, in all the different classes with all the different groups, we're thinking about what that word means and the different things we're grateful for. So I'm really excited to have a really public opportunity to say, voice what I'm grateful for. And it's, of course, my wonderful staff. We have representatives, support and representatives here today. Our families that we work with, the kids, of course. And now that it's my second year, I feel a little more comfortable figuring out who's who. So I've had some excellent conversations and support with the director of special ed, and of course my go-to, the associate superintendent, Diane Caldwell. I've worked with the Medford Police Department this year, Rachel Perry from the Phys Ed Department. So we're really getting a bunch of the systems together, and the communication is getting a lot better. And I just want to say how grateful I am for that this year. It's made a big difference. But you saw from the report, it hasn't made all the difference. We're not where we'd all like us to be. Staffing continues to be just an unbelievable struggle. And just like it was last year, I would say maybe even more so this year. It's a problem that's not unique to Medford. I continue to sit, I'm now co-chair of the network of extended day directors and I just had a meeting last Friday and every one of us was going around, around, around talking about wait lists, talking about our challenges with staffing. And it's not only recruiting and attracting staff to interview, it's keeping staff, I mean I think It has to, what we talked about is it has to do with this good economy. There are so many other options for people. But then I found that that's a double-edged sword because that means our families need us even more because, you know, both parents might be working, so now they need childcare even more so, which, anyway, I'm not going to complain. I'm going to stick to gratitude and talk about all of the positives that we have. Again, like the staff that we have, everybody is stretched thin. I mean, just like teachers, so we're all educators, and in the same way that our teachers and guidance staff and everybody who works in our school department from, you know, all of us wear more hats than we signed on to wear, my staff is doing exactly that. People who gave me two days when they applied are now working three and four because they know how badly we need it. So I'm very grateful but you know I'm working every day to try and figure out how we can figure that out. So the good news is we've we've been able to add a few more students. That's not I'm trying to think about how to to I'm not as much of a data person as I'd like to be. I'm working on getting there but I'm trying to figure out how to present it in a way that talks about full time spots. So like a five day a week is one spot but that might That spot might accommodate two children depending on the needs of families if there's somebody who comes two days a week or three days a week. So luckily we've been able to accommodate more children this year without creating more spots because we don't have enough staff to create more spots. So it's good news that we can help more families but but we're at the same place. So I hope you had a chance to read the little italics about our waitlist. So the waitlist does seem alarmingly huge. The total is 70 students still on a waitlist across the district. But please know that that's not. 70 students who have been waiting since April. That's a very dynamic list. It's constantly changing with, you know, as we can place students on or people find other things. And, you know, I just added someone yesterday and I just took someone else off the list today. So it's a moving number. That's not 70 families who have been, you know, wondering what they're going to do. And then I guess there's nothing.
[Burke]: Can I ask just a quick question? Do families notify you if they find an alternate location?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: They don't always notify me. So I do reach out at the beginning of every month. I've been trying to reach out mostly just so for our own data and information. I reach out to families even when I don't have a spot to say just in the interest of keeping our records accurate. Are you still interested in the spot? And so I've gotten some updates that way. Usually they say, yes, please keep me on the list. I'm still interested in the spot. Even when they've found alternative programs, they'd rather be in the schools.
[Burke]: Very good. Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I really appreciate this, without having to even ask for it, because you know I was going to. One of the things about the wait lists, though, that I've heard And I was just trying to brainstorm around how we can, um, so when, when people find out there's a big wait list, for instance, at the Brooks, um, it's fairly well accepted that you can fill out this paperwork, but you're never getting a spot. Um, and that may or may not be actual true, but that seems to be the, um, the belief. And so, you know, one of my problems with the wait list numbers is people who don't fill out the paperwork to join a wait list that you'll never get through, that doesn't give us any sense of the real need. And so, I mean, we can do this in subcommittee, of course, but I mean, I think there are ways to, you know, keep how big the wait lists are secret, making people fill out these forms, so we can get a real sense as a committee Is the wait list 70, understanding the dynamic you just explained, or is it really 350? Because we can't ever budget and plan long term without knowing. I mean, because planning for an additional 70 is really a very different activity than planning for the need to build a building to house that many more people. So I think it would be good to try and find a way to shut down this. I'm not going to fill all that paperwork just to find, because I know I'm not going to get a spot. Because without that paperwork, we're never going to be able to understand the size of the problem. A question about your before school. You said when possible students are given a choice between quiet play or gym time. What does that mean.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: That just means if our if our program is too small and like at the at the McGlynn it's a very small but it's the smallest program. Actually McGlynn and and Columbus are pretty equal right. They they don't like if we have the two teachers it depends where the space is. So at the Columbus we can have half the students go in the gym and half stay in the Italian room is where they use it and do quiet time activities. And we have our two teachers that are close by but we don't want to split them in different parts of the building. So I think it's when you know where the teachers sit because they need to be close to each other to help each other out. So we have to at least two with every group and a group as you know is 26 students. We keep our ratios by the state recommendations or which are 1 to 13. I talked a lot last year about the ratios we like to keep it 1 to 10 because you know in after school we have fewer outside support like it during a school day. You've got loads of different loads of other adults in the building that can help you. We don't have as many adults in the building to help us in the after school so we keep our ratios even smaller 1 to 10. But the recommendation by the state is 1 to 13. So that's what we use for all of our programs. So if we'd like to have at least two adults.
[Kreatz]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Very good. Thank you. Ms. Kurtz.
[Kreatz]: Hi. Thank you very much for the report. And I had an opportunity to go to the Brooks Elementary and volunteer at the after school program a couple weeks ago. And I had a great time. And I was really impressed with how well the program, it's so well structured. organized and very safe. There was a teacher aide, has a walkie talkie. The teacher has a walkie talkie. Everybody's communicating via walkie. It was so, it was like really incredible to participate in. And I got to go to the outside activity time, homework time, story time, we did some arts and crafts. It was just a wonderful, you know, I had a wonderful experience. The only concern I had is, you know, I know there's a wait list, and the concern I have is, you know, if we were to fill those spots, like let's say overnight we filled, we got five new teachers, where would those students go? That's something that I observed was that there's a lack of space. for the after school program. So like they don't have access to the whole school. So there's limited classrooms that they can go to. So I'm looking at the wait list and I don't know where those students would go. Like if we could put them in tomorrow, I don't know where those books, you know, where the 35 students would go. I mean if we got five teachers and, you know, everybody's going to be in a classroom. Where would they go? I'm just thinking, is there a plan to increase the space? Even one of the teachers I was talking to said, maybe a mobile classroom. I mean, I don't know if that's an idea because it would be a little bit chaotic in the gym with everybody in the gym. And there was just those little setups. I know I've seen them sometimes in CCD class where they can have the dividers, but I'm just curious, is anybody looking into a plan for spacing, because the numbers are growing dramatically, for the Brooks especially. Yeah.
[Caldwell]: Obviously, this is a discussion we've had. Yeah, I know. We have had this discussion. Can you build us another school? It is difficult, and space is difficult. And of course, the principals have always been very good. in helping us out, and Suzanne is great.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: I meant to actually list them on my gratitude list, the principals.
[Caldwell]: Yeah, they're great. And while we're doing gratitude, this one here gets a lot of gratitude from me. I value her as much as anybody, because she's in the classrooms. Right before she's running into my office, she says, I have to go be psych coordinated today, or I have to be the group leader. So thank you for what you do. So yes, space is a problem. There are classrooms that we can use. We just have to do, we have to look at the kids and, you know, parsing them out to grade one, grade two. Sometimes we have K1s, K2. I know that Dale Siavadi is here, and she's been with the after school program at the Brooks for many, many years. But I think the first thing we have to do is solve the, you know, trying to get more personnel in. Because once we can do that, then we'll figure out the space piece.
[Kreatz]: And I just, I know there's a lot of high school students that, you know, that would be interested. And I just happen to know that the pay that they're, you know, that they're paid is lower than the minimum wage. And, you know, I think that maybe if we, we could attract more high school students. Oh, okay, so maybe it is minimum wage. No, I thought, I was told that it was 11.
[Caldwell]: So it's my understanding we are going to go to minimum wage if we haven't done that already.
[Kreatz]: Or maybe, maybe, was it higher than, like was it maybe more than minimum wage and maybe did the rate go down?
[Burke]: Minimum wage is going to 13 in January. So if they are not there, you have to comply by January.
[Kreatz]: By January. So even these high school students will be going up. So that might just be some confusion. But there was another concern that was brought up that the high school students can only work until 530 instead of the 6 o'clock hour. And I just didn't know if there was a reason why, like a rule that we have to follow.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: That was a leadership choice that I made because by 530 we we don't need as many staff members because most people there's so much so many kids have been picked up. So that was the mom in me that came and said that's an easy way to save the program. You know a couple of dollars. But also make sure that students get home in time to get homework and dinner and family time in because they come to us right after school. and they still have to get their homework done. And so, you know, when I interview the students, I make a big deal to say, you're a high school student first. And that's what's great about this job, is that I'm going to recognize you as a high school student first, not part of my bottom line first. That's what makes this job stand out from, you know, a Wegmans or a different job that a high school student might get, is, you know, we're looking out for your grades first. But, so that was the 530 reason.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: But I'm delighted and that was one of the things I wanted to say that we do have a total this year of 27 high school students that work with us. So you know either for a couple of days on it depending on the sports seasons of course because again they're a high school student first and I want them to have the complete as a mom and as somebody who loved high school have the complete high school experience. But definitely start building your resume, start building your professional network, and start saving some money. So I'm happy to be able to do that.
[Burke]: Mr. Giro.
[Ruggiero]: Thank you so much for the report. So first, how many open staffing positions do we have currently?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: For this section right here. I knew that question was coming, and I was trying to calculate how to answer it. And there's no good way to answer it, because I would have to have more information. I would have to know. What's the competency and experience of the staff member that we're talking about? And what are the needs of the 13 students that that staff member will be? Because we've got, you know, we're a public school, so we take the children from the public schools that come with a variety of different needs. Plus, it's the end of the day, so some of those needs, you know, whether documented needs or just fatigue needs are elevated in the after school. So sometimes there are students that require more than the 1 to 13 ratio that we've got in place. So if you ask me how many I need, it's not off to say so many more than you'd see on paper.
[Ruggiero]: So it's not just 70 divided by 13? Absolutely not.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: And I could pick out some of my staff that I could say, if I had 20 Alexas, then I can tell you exactly how many I need. But there are the staff who just don't have the drive, passion, or experience, or whatever. Loads of them are very reliable, but they don't necessarily have the behavior management that we need. Or some of them are excellent and have the behavioral management, but they've got other things going on in their life. So they end up calling out sick a lot, or calling out
[Caldwell]: And sometimes we get college students, which are great, but then they change the semester, so their schedule changes, so then we're down again. Right.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: So, you know, I wanted to be really transparent and have that answer, but there's just no honest way to answer that question.
[Ruggiero]: So if someone comes, they get a job? Is that how it's—if they pass all the Cori checks?
[Caldwell]: Well, we look at their competency. We don't just hire anybody who's breathing and coming in through the doors.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: But we have definitely taken people that, you know, in an ideal world we might not have taken because we do have enough competent people that we can team them up with to say, you know, we know you're going to be kind to the kids. And so the most important thing about for after school is safety. That's the number one priority, right? And then the number two for me is relationships and social emotional well-being. I think the number two for parents is homework. I've looked into that. Number one is safety for parents and number two is homework, but relationships is the big one. So if somebody comes in and they're not great behavior management and they're not great, they don't have a huge background in education, but they're great with kids, then they could still
[Ruggiero]: So in terms of volunteers, because I noticed on the back page it talked about middle school volunteers and such. Have you talked to any people in the senior center or any seniors to come down or perhaps we could do a tax deferment program?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: I interviewed two people from the tax deferment program. I reached out to that office. And one was, one was great. She was, she was signed up. She was actually going to work with us, work for, but then she stopped and said, you know what, I retired for a reason. I've changed my mind. I'm not, I'm not going to take this job. So we have, I have asked them, I asked if we could be the site for the tax deferment and she couldn't find anybody that wanted to come.
[Ruggiero]: So are parents, are parents asked to be volunteers as well?
[Caldwell]: It's tricky.
[Ruggiero]: Well, I mean, I would imagine, so let's say, for example, you are one of these parents that's on a waiting list right now, and so you have to do the calculation. Someone says, well, you come in one day a week, and that'll cover your waiting list spot. That seems like a reasonable request, or we could say the certain ratio of so many days volunteering guarantees a position.
[Caldwell]: To make it more of like a co-op thing?
[Ruggiero]: Yeah.
[Caldwell]: At one point, we did try something like that. Then we found that sometimes parents would begin with us and say, yeah, sure, I'll do that. Then the children move into the program, and then all of a sudden they can't be the person that we want them to be. But we wouldn't tell the child that they can't leave the program. So it doesn't always work to our benefit.
[Ruggiero]: Well, I mean, I understand that this idea that co-op might not work, but it'd be interesting. When was the last time a letter was sent to parents saying that there's a need? If you do happen to have a couple of days that are free, it'd be great if you could help out with the program. Has any of the outreach been done to the PTOs or to the parents?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: No, I've sent, in my correspondence to our families, our after-school families, I've let them know that we're hiring, and if they've got anybody that they could recommend it to, I've done that, sort of in that way.
[Ruggiero]: It might surprise you if it perhaps, I mean, make a suggestion. I don't want to criticize the program. I know you do a lot of good work, but perhaps it would be helpful. to let parents know that if they could put in a little bit more time, especially to the PTOs, if you happen to have one or two evenings a week free, it would be helpful, and then we could start servicing more children, not perhaps with a promise, but just letting people know, you know, if we get more help, we're going to get more help. The second line of questioning I had to do with the paragraph that talked about tuition, are there any children who are, cannot receive, They can't be a part of the program because they don't have the money.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Not that we've experienced. We haven't had any families come to us saying, I just can't afford it anymore.
[Ruggiero]: And so, because I guess I'm referring to, unfortunately we know that there's a wait list for vouchers at the state level for parents that qualify, and new state regulations have made the staff requirements reporting process extremely cumbersome. Could you speak to that a little bit? Because it really does sound like there are parents that are trying to participate in the program, waited a long time to be, and then they just sort of got bumped because they couldn't, the state voucher system changed. Has that happened?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Well, I know that Voucher actually did let a lot of people back on. They put a big dent in their own wait lists. They did open it up to a lot of people. So this is, my paragraph's actually a little bit outdated. That just happened, I learned that at NEDS, at the Network of Extended Day. We continue to, we have 14 families on vouchers in our program, and we haven't had any more come to us with vouchers. So I don't I don't know if there's a way that I can find out how many Medford families are on the voucher wait list because it's confidential. They wouldn't have to tell me any specifics.
[Ruggiero]: I wonder if I could call... It's possible you could just hand them a mailer and say, could you please send this to people on the list, letting them know that... Because I guess my concern with the program is threefold. First, I want to echo what Member Ruseau said. I mean, talking to many parents, they just don't bother applying because why climb a mountain that you're not even going to be able to get to the top of? So there's that issue. And parents that would like to participate in the program, they find themselves just finding other options. It's not worth the hassle and maybe the issues. But I'm also worried that there are families that need this support, and we're not getting it. I mean, I guess they come in two flavors. After school, you have students that are there that their parents want them to participate and they need a little help. And then there's parents that kind of need their kids to be there for them to work that second job to put bread on the table. So I just want to make sure that we're reaching out to those families.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Yeah. I'll see if I can find out from Child Care Choices, that's our voucher partner, to see if they can tell me how many Medford families are on the wait list. Because that'll give us a much better sense of if there are families in need that we don't even know exist.
[Ruggiero]: Right. And I understand that there might be information that you're not privy to but I mean I just say look I'll make you a Xerox. Here's a bunch of pages handed out to your members because I mean it seems like you know my family we also use after school services but we can find options. There are other families that you know single moms that just don't have that option.
[Burke]: Right. Thank you. Miss Mustone.
[Mustone]: Megan, you probably want to sit down after all these questions.
[Burke]: Oh, that's all right.
[Mustone]: The process to apply, I know that, I guess, a year and a half ago, people showed up at the office and waited and see if you were lucky enough to be first in line. How did it go this past sign up?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: That was it. No, so April 1 is the sign up for the next year.
[Mustone]: Oh, so this is the first time to try. So what is the plan for the new system?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: So the plan is so far, and I have to work with the principals on this one, We are having the sign ups at the individual schools. OK. And I think they'll be on different days so that I can be present at them and answer questions. Dale doesn't know this yet but I'm going to try and get our site coordinators to go to those sign ups. OK. So actually I mentioned that we had that at our leadership meeting because the site coordinator has the most answers about the program for the families when they sign up. And that way first of all I said number two is relationships. That's the important part. So when you're in this. six o'clock in the morning line to the office at the high school that has nothing to do with where your kids are, the people that are gonna be working with your kids, there's no relationship building happening there. Where I feel like if the families are going to the school where this program is happening and meeting staff from the program.
[Mustone]: It will still be the first come first serve, like who's ever sleeps over outside the Columbus school or?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Well, so I mean, I know we've talked about lottery and we've looked into that, so I've spoken to NEDS, I've brought it up and everybody's got all version of horror stories and advice and things. So, I mean, I'm happy to try anything that I'm told to try. But I will, I mean, I can actually, why don't, I'm happy to put together some sort of best of from what I've learned from the network to say what lottery questions, you know, trials and tribulations they've experienced. But I mean, I'm with you because I just feel like there's no fair, equitable answer. And equity is the number one priority.
[Mustone]: Do you have a question which has come up now at least for two years? Is this your third year? No, second. Second year. OK. So maybe it's only come up. Well, I think it came up before you were appointed. The budget. So we've heard that everyone pays in a system, but you don't get to see what the program brings in. And then you do pay for the snacks and the crafts. So are you now able to see your whole spreadsheet?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: I don't have access to any, um, any of the online paperwork, but I keep now, now that I've been here longer, I keep my own spreadsheets. So I'm, you know, I'm keeping track of what bills we're putting out and what, what we're spending.
[Mustone]: Right. What made me think of it was because the wage is going to go up. So that's going to be a bump in your wages or your salary line item. And then will that, is that already planned for uncovered for, with what you bring in in tuition?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: I'm sure that will be covered in a future meeting with the superintendents. OK.
[Burke]: Very good. Thank you. Mr. Benedetto. I just wanted to go back and make sure that all employees are at least making their own way.
[DiBenedetto]: I have to. In order to get people to take these jobs, we have to offer at least minimum wage, just like every other employer in the state. And it would be very upsetting if we continued and did not at least offer that. So that's my first thing.
[Burke]: We have to by law. It's required.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: OK. So I really wish Christine Patterson were here to answer that question. I'll say that our starting rate for the assistant group leaders, our starting rate is $14 an hour. The high school staff is a Christine Patterson question.
[DiBenedetto]: So you're telling me it's not. Okay, so I'd like that update at our next meeting and the explanation as to what we're paying and what the rule is, and if not, what our moral obligation is as an employer in this community. So I would request that through the superintendent, please. Thank you. Thank you for putting this all together in the year and a half, almost two years that you've been here. I know you hit the ground running. I know you had a whole program to build. I know Diane Caldwell was doing this program prior to you as well as her other jobs and I thank her for all those years of that. But the reason we can't expand is because we have someone in your position that does care about not only the students but the staff and the school. and take pride in all pieces of it. So I applaud you for your job. I also do agree with my colleagues that there are more people on the wait list than you think. These are the people who have signed on to the wait list, and I know personal family members who have not even applied because they feel like it would take too long. But I don't agree with everything. I don't agree with keeping it secret. I agree with telling everybody what a great program it is, and everybody has a chance to get in there in April, and that just because you're in there now doesn't guarantee your seat forever and that you should take a chance and apply. And maybe recommend people that they know to become employed within the school. Celebrate some of the programs. Highlight them on our online. Highlight them in our paper. Show that Medford is here working for working class families. That we do provide great care for our students after school. That we are in need of more people to staff these because the more we talk about it and celebrate it, the more people who have retired might want to do two days a week and come back. Celebrate some of those things and do it like a PR outreach. Yeah, and just make people excited like the CCSR kids. get them down to do projects in the afternoon and commit to that. We do have one CCR project. She's coming to teach music to our little guys. Awesome. Right. So there's 150 kids from Medford High School that do volunteer work. And I know you've exhausted very, very many ways of hiring people. I might have thrown you a few myself. But I commend the work that you do for our students. And I just ask that we, moving forward, make sure that all our people are paid well. and we celebrate them. Also, you should know what the income is. You should know that whole budget. I know it's not, it's a separate entity. I think having that information, finding out if there is extra money there to lure people in, to keep people for longer is an important piece. So I also ask this committee, to ask the superintendent to have the assistant superintendent provide us with the budget and where we are now and what we've spent so far this year on this program, what has come in, what has gone out, what we're paying for, an updated budget on this, as well as I think our school committee is due for a budget analysis. complete budget analysis where we are so far in our school budget, so I, you know, I request that that be done. Yeah, I know, but I think that's coming, but in addition to that, add this piece to it. Thank you. that they need every day to learn. And that homework is also being done so parents don't have to do it at your class.
[Burke]: Right. Ms. Van Kloot. Thank you.
[Van der Kloot]: So I want to say my colleagues have done a wonderful job of covering the basis. I want to go a little bit further, though. Erwin, with yours, I would like to make a motion that we receive a financial report about the after school program. Specifically, I want to know what income comes out, what our expenses are. I want to know what staff are paid. I want it to be as thorough and clear so that the committee really understands what we're doing. In the past, I believe that some of the money that we took in was used for other expenses in the district. I think we need to take a look at that. I'm concerned because obviously staffing is an issue. And we mentioned the high school rate. And, you know, I totally understand. You said you have $14 for an assistant group leader. Well, you know, anybody can go to Whole Foods now and start at $15. And this is not a position which comes with benefits. And so it may be a position that even though we may be competitive with other after school programs, the fact of the matter is that if maybe we have to be better than competitive, maybe we have to be the best. My little grandson goes to after school care in another state. And when I worried about availability and asked my daughter, are you going to get in? Is he going to get it? She said, Mom, every parent is guaranteed. to have after-school care. And that's where we need to be. It shouldn't be an issue. It should be every parent. And at the same time, we need our staff. And, you know, my experience and my past with some after-school is it can be pretty tough. And I was impressed. Like my colleague Kathy, I went to go visit the after-school program, and I was amazed at how calmly and efficiently and caringly it was run. And I was really proud. to see how wonderful our staff members were. But I'm concerned if they're stretched, if all of a sudden they have to cover two classrooms if they have to cover more because someone's out sick or someone has left. One of the questions we have to raise is we don't need to want to be going every single year to start out at the beginning of the year being understaffed. So is there incentives that we can put in to keep people with us so that it's not just, you know, a short-term job but in fact something that people will commit themselves to? You know, you pay different money. At the hospital, there are certain jobs where when you're on the more difficult shifts, you get more money. If you're not getting benefits for a shift for a job like this, then I think you need to factor that in into the hourly pay raise. And I think the time has come that we really need to look at the finances to understand this. So I think I appreciate your report very much, Megan. I think this is step one. I'm asking for step two.
[Burke]: Thank you. Mr. Russo. We're still talking about the paper before us. We can call the vote at the end of the paper discussion.
[Ruseau]: I just want to clarify that I certainly don't want to keep the program secret. I just think that to incentivize people to actually fill out the paperwork. it is absolutely necessary that they not be told that you can fill out the paperwork, you'll be number 92 on the list. There's no rational person filling out paperwork if they're told that. The person who is standing in front of the person filling it out needs to be ignorant of the size of the wait list, because we are all capable of saying, you know, I know you look kind of like a busy person. Can't tell you what the list is, but you can communicate it anyways. But that was just a point of clarification. I just wanted to quickly bring up the lottery. I had heard the word equity come up a couple times. I will certainly agree that there is no perfect and equitable solution. There are, however, less equitable solutions. And the current solution is absolutely about as unequitable as we could have it. It benefits people who are free to take the day off, like me. And anybody who has a job that doesn't work well for the time when it comes time to sign up, too bad. And who is that going to be? It is going to be people that need the services more than anybody else. So I agree that finding a perfect solution is probably outside of the realm of possibility. But I would say that the current solution of who first come first serve is the worst option. I see you mentioned your strategic plan and I'm not sure if we would have a time, like should we have a subcommittee?
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Well, so I'm glad you just brought that because something somebody said reminded me that that's the part I forgot to tell you. So I started putting together just thoughts about what Dr. Vinson calls the bench. So I've been thinking about my bench and thinking about how we can, you know, build leadership from within. But I was coming up with really kind of obvious things and they were all things that I could say the yeah, but next to it, like, you know, try and advertise farther and wider. Yeah, but we've advertised about as far and wide as humanly possible. So Ms. Caldwell told me to put together to reach out to the staff because the staff has loads of great ideas. So I just put it out to the staff to ask about putting together a strategic planning committee made up of staff and ask them if we could have you know to make sure that we've got representatives from all over. So we've got someone from each site. We've got veteran new group leaders assistant group leaders a high school staff member that we've got representation from all over the program to see what their ideas are because of course just like you know all of this they're the ones doing the actual work that will have the best ideas for how to Improve the program. So I reached out to everybody and I'm gathering right now a bunch of people have showed an interest so I think the hardest part is that it's not going to be the you know, the 90 staff members that we have all in a room together trying to come up with a strategic plan, but Yeah, I'll keep you updated on how that goes because I'm really excited about it And I would just ask I mean recommend obviously since I won't be in that that That you don't
[Ruseau]: start from the perspective of what we can and can't afford, because I think short-circuiting strategic plans and visions based on, you know, the box we're living in keeps us in our box. So, thank you.
[Burke]: Thank you. Mr. Ruggiero, did you wish?
[Ruggiero]: Suggestion to the amendment to the motion, I would like to have a cost-benefit analysis of what it would have cost to do complete enrollment. It's not impossible. Other districts have done it. It's going to cost us more money. It's possible. I would like to know how much it costs, because I think it's an opportunity for our community to step above and beyond what other communities in our region do, but also recognize that other school districts in America are able to pull this off. I think we can too. So I would like to know, I would like to suggest that in addition to understanding where we are now, I would like an actual assessment of what this would cost us to have full enrollment, or if any kid has a need to have an after school program, we can address that need.
[Burke]: Is that a motion?
[Ruggiero]: Yeah, it's an amendment or it'll be a separate motion if she doesn't want to.
[Burke]: Is there a second? There's a second on the floor.
[Ruggiero]: Okay, that's fine.
[Burke]: Okay, Ms. McLaughlin, did you, oh, sorry, Mr. Russo. She's not, she wasn't, it's okay, they hadn't hit the button yet.
[Ruseau]: Oh, okay.
[Burke]: I just didn't thought they would.
[Ruseau]: I would just, I certainly absolutely would support this universal after school. I just would say that that analysis, I imagine, would take six to nine months at least. And what Paulette's asking for, I think we could have at the next meeting. So I just think that From a scope perspective, I'm a little concerned about the change in that motion, because I was looking forward to that versus... It can be an A and a B motion, separate motions.
[Burke]: Okay.
[Ruseau]: Thank you.
[Burke]: Very good. Ms. McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Thanks for the report. Very informative. I'm wondering just also in terms of equity and also being new, obviously, how accommodations are made for And say, for example, a student who is an English learner or a student who has a disability that wants to participate in the after school program.
[Megan Fidler-Carey]: So we make accommodations as best we can. We work closely with the school day staff to find out what we can about the students and what information the school day staff thinks we need to know about the students, like what works, what you know, tips. We ask families if we can share the 504. My understanding is that as Medford Public Schools employees, that's one of the great things is we skip the FERPA confidentiality, but we still ask, just out of respect for the families, if we can look at 504 NIEP plans. But, again, my staff are not professional educators, but they're not all certified educators. I think it's dangerous to just hand off the IEPs, so we work closely with the school day staff and the adjustment Councilors in the special ed department to help us navigate those IEPs and tell us what it should look like in the after school program. Where I can or where I've been able to, we've gotten trainings. So on some of the professional development days, some of my staff members went to a couple of the different professional developments that were offered. And it's really case by case. We just look at it, find out from the... I send the full roster to the principals and vice principals at the beginning of the year to say which students do we need to kind of be briefed on. So that's where we get ahead and then make sure to create relationships with the families. That's where we've had success so far.
[Burke]: Thank you. All set? Thank you. There are two motions on the floor. The first, motion A, complete financial analysis of the program offered by Ms. Vandekloot, seconded by Ms. DiVenedetto. All those in favor? All those opposed? This is just to get to the financial analysis. This doesn't impact wages or anything else. You're just asking for a report back. Yeah. All those in favor? Asking what the wages are, not changing them. Correct. Yep. No. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Item B, a cost-benefit analysis of universal after-school care. By Mr. Giro, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion granted. Thank you very much. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. Motion to accept the report and place it on file. Seconded by Mr. Russo. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on math learning walks. Oh, I'm sorry. A very
[Edouard-Vincent]: a very brief presentation to share with the committee. This year we have continued to expand our learning walks. And I think the video, the video will kind of put into pictures what I could say through words. The one thing that is different this year than what occurred from last year is that we have scaled it up. It's not only the four elementary schools, but it's all the middle schools and the high schools, including the Curtis Tufts. And so, Dr. Cushing, are you able to push play? Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Also this year, we had the pleasure of having school committee members join us. So you'll see some of your colleagues there. We had all administrators participate in at least one, if not two, learning walks district-wide. That was at Curtis Tufts School. An important part of the learning walk process is the debrief, which takes place at the end of every learning walk. So throughout these videos, clips, you're seeing several administrators around a table debriefing, discussing the core actions, and talking about next steps for each school. All learning walks included students that were L's and students with disabilities. So we were focusing on subgroups as well.
[SPEAKER_20]: That was an ordering list.
[6kKbcFkpEqA_SPEAKER_07]: They were ordering number zero.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were kind of doing that in the fourth grade class.
[D'Alleva]: We were making a revival of a different lens, I had to ask.
[SPEAKER_20]: Give me a rating. Thank you.
[Burke]: Thank you, Mr. Russo. Very good. Is there anything else on?
[Edouard-Vincent]: So essentially, I hope, even though it was a very short video clip, the intention was to show how we as a district are scaling up our instructional eye, that we're taking instruction very seriously, that all administrators, principals, assistant principals, Headmasters, not only were administrators participating in their own respective school, but every principal or headmaster participated in a different school as well. So the conversation that was happening, the pushing, the professional pushing and pulling on one another, looking at instruction, we continue to focus on Mathematics as an area that we're paying very close attention to it. And again, as I said before, we included special education administrators. Mr. Paul Textera, our EL administrator. Mr. Rocco Cieri, all administrators, irregardless of what your content was, participated. in a learning walk, contributing towards our intentionality on instruction, improving teaching and learning for all of our students.
[Burke]: Thank you very much. Motion to accept this report and place it on file by Ms. Kurtz, second by Mr. Ruggiero. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on superintendent's goals, Dr. Maurice-Edouard-Vincent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So my final report today is on my goals for 1920. I wanted to use the video for you to see the instructional work that is happening in the school. We've been working, a cross-functional group of us, under district improvement goals. We've been working on our strategic plan, looking at what is happening academically and really trying to connect that. So, right now we're in the process of synthesizing our district priority goals, which have been in place, to develop a targeted multi-year plan to guide all of our work. our partnerships, etc., anything that is school-related, always remembering to keep that laser-like focus on instruction. The cross-functional team has already convened. We've been working collaboratively. We are in the midst of really trying to finalize and provide additional data on our strategic plan based on the goals that we've been working on in the past. So that will be more to come. We would like to present that next month to the committee. Our district-wide focus on instruction, as last year we started the learning walk protocol within the district, which was a new practice. This year, if you look at that, we are asking, or what we've done already, is increase that scope to include all secondary schools, so it's the entire district that is participating in learning walks, looking at mathematics instruction, using common language, the five core actions, to ground our conversations and again expanding it to all administrators so that everyone has skin in the game, everyone is invested in the work that's happening instructionally. Our student learning goal I am on page two right now. Our student learning goal, again, math being the content area that as a district we are working on making improvements. If you recall a year ago, I spoke about a very ambitious goal of trying to see a 10% improvement at the elementary level. At the bottom of page two, I specifically targeted grades three through five. Last year we were at 40.6% of students that were meeting or exceeding state expectations according to the MCAS. So we moved from 40.6 to 43.3%. which was an increase of approximately 6.7%. However, I had hoped to see an increase of 10%, which is very aggressive, but nonetheless, I had hoped we would have hit the target of 45%. So we did not make that target this first year. So once again, I am putting another aggressive target of an additional 10%. So I would like to see us hit a target of 47.6% next year at the elementary level. Again, I feel that that is a reasonable goal to see another 10% increase. And I want to, although we weren't able to make 10% last year, it was 6.7%. I still feel that we have to have a standard of something that we are moving towards and so I'm keeping that goal of 10% and just wanting to see that needle move every single year. So my student learning goal is to continue to see noted improvement at the elementary level in mathematics. My professional practice goal continues to be the work that I'm doing with the new superintendents induction program where I travel almost on a monthly basis to Marlboro. I'm part of a cohort of 40 superintendents. that are participating in DESE designed professional development for superintendents. And so this is our professional practice goal that they are continuing to provide the professional development and guidance for the work that we're doing. So my professional practice goal, I'm in year two. I have one more year with the NISP training as the formal professional practice goal. So I wanted to get this into your hands for you to have access to it and see what it is that I'm working on and what I hope to achieve during this school year, 19-20. Thank you.
[Burke]: Are you requesting a motion to accept your goals?
[Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I am requesting a motion to accept my goals.
[Burke]: Mr. Russo, did you have a question on this or no? I did. I didn't know if you did.
[Ruseau]: Yes, I did. Thank you. I definitely appreciate this. I was at the school committee conference all of last week after the election, and I talked with numerous people about superintendent goals because of the new superintendent evaluation system, which is a vast improvement. And one of the things that sort of struck me was that it felt like our goals were kind you decided on what the goals were and I know we met last year about them and I don't think it didn't, I think it worked fine last year because it felt like we didn't really have a set of goals to hand you. But what I heard from a lot of other people at the school committee conference was really that The goals were not the superintendents picked their goals and we just agree that those are the goals. It was that there are goals that we give you in sort of that employee boss relationship. The employee doesn't get to decide. Here's what I think my goals are and the boss just says, two thumbs up. And so, you know, I certainly understand that we agreed to this last year, and this was something we were very new about, new to us, or at least new to me. But I feel like I just want to make it clear that, like, in the spring of this coming year, I expect that the school committee will be getting together to tell you Working with you. It's not like we're just gonna like sit in a room and then let you know What the new Stern student learning goal will be for 2020? 2021 and that it's not necessarily going to be the same thing and I I don't want it to be that You know in in the spring as we get ready for the end of the school year, you just tell us this is what you think the new goal should be because I certainly have pretty strong opinions on what I think the new goal should be in the next school year. And I'm fine with this one even though I didn't agree with the whole committee last year about what it is. I just sort of wanted to get that out there that in the spring, we need to do this before the end of the school year because you can't start working on a goal in the fall. if you don't even know what it is. So I don't know the right timing for that, but I do think we want to make sure to keep this on the radar, because this is the two-year goals, and the two years is coming up.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So I just want to comment that the goals from last year were guided through NISPP based on the data that was available. Because when I started, the MCAS data had already come out. So through the coursework that I'm taking with NISPP, when they looked also at the data and said, this is where you are. Math, again, was one of the goals. NISPP was the one that said year one for superintendents is the entry plan because the entry plan is a year-long process. Some of the work that you see here, this being year two, this is part of the curriculum or coursework that we're doing with NISP as well. And so, um, when I had said the 10% last year, I was encouraged by Dr. Bair, Carla Bair, who said, go for something, um, aggressive, even if you don't achieve it. So I'm definitely open to, you know, next year or at the end of this school year to change, um, the goals. But I want you to know that I've, you know, this wasn't, I just didn't wake up and just do it. It was part of the curriculum that we're kind of following and the coursework that we're taking through NSSEP.
[Ruseau]: Yeah, and this is certainly, I'm not suggesting this was a surprise to me or anything like that. It's just that, you know. The process of deciding on what the very small set of goals will be going forward hopefully will be more collaborative. I mean you were new and we didn't have goals from the previous superintendent so it wasn't like we had anything to go on but just going forward. I don't want us to be next fall. not having a set of goals that we've agreed and approved, because my biggest concern about goals is, this is how we are supposed to, with the new superintendent evaluation system, this is how we actually are going to be reviewing you, evaluating you. The old system, which was absolutely horrific, and I only got to experience once so far, was honestly was a joke. I mean, this one is simple and clear and you will, actually be able to be evaluated on very simple things that are written down here. So, I want to make sure we can evaluate you honestly and fairly. So, that's all. Thank you.
[Van der Kloot]: Yes, like my colleague, I've thought about this, and what he just said was sort of on key, that these, this plan is really for the purposes of evaluating the superintendent. But I think many of the school committee members, and I know that as we just went through this election, many of us said, we need a strategic plan for the district. And that wasn't limited to, I mean, this is very focused. I believe that we need to take a look at the district and set a strategic plan, and maybe we should call it the school committee strategic plan as opposed to the superintendent's strategic plan, to take a look at all the factors and say, where do we want to be in three years, in five years? What is our projection? And that's a different type of strategic plan than this evaluation piece, which is obviously moving us forward and specifically geared to mathematics instruction. So I'm sure that with my colleagues we'll be doing that and we should be talking about what type of meetings we want to set up. I don't think that those kind of discussions work within a regular school committee meeting. I think it would be more important to take a look at a different venue and to really lay out some time and see what the vision is. So I'll certainly, and I know that many other of my colleagues we're thinking that way as well.
[Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion on the floor to accept these goals that the superintendent has laid out for the remainder of this year? Motion by Mr. Benedetto. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Kreatz. Roll call vote please. Yes. Seven in the affirmative. Zero in the negative. Motion passes. New business. School committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Richard Aliberdi. Mr. Aliberdi was the husband of former school committee member Mary McQueenie Aliberdi. Also be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Bishop Francis Irwin. Bishop Irwin was the brother of former Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, Ann Irwin. We also have one, express its sincere condolences to the family of Gene Richard Citrano, Sr. Mr. Citrano was the father of Andrew's math teacher, Gene Richard Citrano, Jr. Could we all please rise for a moment of silence on the passing of these individuals? Mr. Russo.
[Ruseau]: Let's make a few motions, mostly to send things to subcommittees. If that's OK.
[Burke]: Make motions now.
[Ruseau]: In new business. Is this not the new business section?
[Burke]: Normally, new business would be on the agenda. And then the motion would be sent somewhere so that everyone has an opportunity to know what the topic is.
[Ruseau]: OK. Is that a Medford School Committee policy? No.
[Burke]: OK. Can we suspend the rules so that we can hear our colleagues' motions? Open meeting law to me, it's open meeting law. If you want to object to my ruling, feel free.
[Ruseau]: Well, I don't want to object to your ruling.
[Burke]: It's an open meeting law. Generally, you have things on the agenda written clearly so the public knows what you're going to talk about. So if they want to be here to talk about it, they have ample opportunity to. That's the purpose of open meeting law.
[Ruseau]: Okay.
[Burke]: That's all. You just have to put it on.
[Ruseau]: When I was at the school committee conference, I went to a double session on parliamentary procedures and that was explicitly explained as that under new business, it only had to be things that the chair was aware of being on there, which did kind of, wasn't a front to open meeting law in my mind as well. But I'm a little, just bear with me for a moment. You know, the three things I was thinking I wanted to send to subcommittee, having people show up where the whole discussion is, I'd like to send something to subcommittee, there's no discussion.
[Burke]: Well, you could write it that way.
[Ruseau]: Discussions in the subcommittee.
[Burke]: You could make your motion in that form that I'd like to offer this topic be sent to the subcommittee on rules or whatever it is. So you could put it in there so it's clear that that's your purpose.
[Ruseau]: Okay. I can do that.
[Burke]: Or it could go to subcommittee right out. Subcommittee can have a meeting on any topic and they post the meeting, the topic, and then people can come to that.
[Ruseau]: That's an option too. We don't have to send it from the floor.
[Burke]: Right. It can go there, start there, and the work could be done there, and then it comes to the floor.
[Ruseau]: Okay.
[Burke]: Either way.
[Ruseau]: Sorry. Well, you'll have to wait until you see the agenda. Now you're all going to be busy with these. All right, thank you.
[Burke]: OK. There's a motion to adjourn.
[Van der Kloot]: No, no, no. So I wanted to, we had a legal matter today. And I thought that we would be going into an executive session, but.
[Burke]: I can state that there was no change.
[Van der Kloot]: OK.
[Burke]: We're talking about soccer.
[Van der Kloot]: No.
[Burke]: What are we talking about? I don't believe we Okay their motion to go into executive session to discuss legal matters there is second second roll call vote, please Yes Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. We will enter executive session to discuss legal matters. We will adjourn. We can do it in here. Just a few of you have to leave. We'll just shut the cameras off.
[Unidentified]: We'll get the cameras shut off and we will adjourn.
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