[D'Alleva]: Hello, good evening. Hello everyone. Hopefully you are joining us live. As discussed at the school committee meeting and other communications, tonight is a night to have a forum with our class of 2021. to discuss events, to discuss some concerns, to discuss things that are working. As you can see here, there are multiple administrators here as well as class advisors and a class officer. We encourage you to put comments in that we will try to answer as we go through tonight. We also have questions that were given to us previously through info at medford.k12.ma.us. that we will try to answer. If we're not jumped on it right away, please make sure you put it in the comments for us to review. So we will wait and we will try to answer any questions that come up on comments so that we can address what you're looking for. Oh, hi, Gabby. Gabby's a class officer as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I don't see any comments yet, so let's try to... So, Mr. DeLeva, can we just do some quick introductions, if I can put out there to the audience there, that we have Lacey Intapa, who is the Senior Class Vice President, Class 2021, and Gabby Yamamoto, who is the Senior Class Secretary. Also, the co-advisors, the extraordinarily hardworking Riley Jones and Cheryl Giordano. And of course, you know me, you know Mr. Fallon, Mr. DeLeva, Of course, Dr. Cushing, our assistant superintendent and our assistant director principal vocational school, Ms. Fitzpatrick. So just a quick shout out and recognition to our hardworking team, in particular the students who have really been stepping up so far.
[D'Alleva]: Thank you. So probably a good thing, because again, I don't see comments, but a lot of things have been about events. So maybe we talk a little bit. start off with events and then if there's anything regarding other aspects of the high school or the vocational school we can definitely try that. So does somebody want to take it away and just do a little bit of an overview of things that we were talking about regarding events?
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm happy to get that started.
[D'Alleva]: Great, thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: So I know some of you will know me. I'm Cheryl Giordano. I'm a teacher at the high school. I've been with the class since our freshman year and we are really blessed with a group of students who are creative and out of the box thinkers. So I think that while this year will be very different. I think we don't We couldn't ask for anything more from a group of kids to be able to do this. So we're very pleased with some of the ideas that they've come up with. I just want to give you an overview that we're thinking already about some events for the fall, things that are outdoors, socially distanced. We might need to limit numbers a little bit to be in compliance with the Medford public health guidelines. So we want to try and offer multiple smaller events so that students might not be able to go to everything, but they can go to something. That is kind of our goal there. I know there have been lots of questions and comments about prom or some sort of senior dance. And I do want to let you know that we are thinking about that. We've been talking about it with Mr. Black and Mr. Patrick. That is definitely on our mind. May is also a long time away, right? So what will happen in May is what's going to happen in May, but we will do something. Whatever we can hobble together under the circumstances we find ourselves in, we will do something to help these wonderful students mark the end of what has been a very long journey for them in terms of getting a public education. So I wanted to throw it now to our two students who are here. They've come up as part of the team with some wonderful ideas for the fall. So Lacey or Gabby, would one of you like to talk about a couple of the ideas for this fall?
[SPEAKER_07]: Um, yeah, I can talk about a couple of ideas we've gone through. So, something that was requested a lot was a senior sunrise. Which we are really excited about hopefully starting a new tradition at the high school. And so basically, we're all going to get together 1 morning. In November, a Saturday morning, and we are going to watch the sunrise together. Um, just as a nice. beginning of the year event that we can all do together. And we have also started planning a drive-in. So we are hoping to show a movie at the high school and have people in the parking lot just to have together.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, to add on. With the senior sunrise, we're hoping to also have another event at the end of the year, which would be a senior sunset to kind of celebrate the seniors in their senior year, you know, rising and then leaving. Also with the drive-in, we have a tentative date for the day, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, that's going to be probably held within the high school parking lot. And we're also, it's going to be a free event, but we're going to also be selling concessions.
[D'Alleva]: So I'll jump in there because there's a question about NHS induction. Our goal is to follow the guidelines and have this event occur, again, as long as we're just in compliance with what happens. The tough part will be, excuse me, is determining the venue, depending on what the current theater has the ability to do, or we put it in a different area within the building. but we are looking to host events, certain events that we know we can be in compliance for. I think you're muted there, Mr. Gluck.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Leib. So good evening parents and everyone else watching, students. We appreciate your presence here and thank you for bringing this forward as something that you were looking forward to. having with us. I think I just sort of want to speak in broad terms. I feel like I want to give a lot of credit to every single person who is doing something to make the school year work in some way. And that is everybody in some part and to some extent. Figuring out how to make this work with the new set of circumstances, obviously much credit to anyone involved with advancing senior activities, whether it's at school level or whether there's caring parents who coalesce together to try to find some way to make this work. You know, so I think that, you know, one thing to just put out to the group is that a lot of work has happened, will continue happening. And I hope tonight we can just shape some of the direction that people really would like to see happening. If I can just jump in on some of the questions so far. So, you know, a student question from Aiden just regarding senior events in the winter, considering it will be cold outside. You know, I think to myself, there's some friends of ours who are from, you know, Calgary, who, uh, you know, laugh at us when we talk about indoor dining closing, cause it's too cold. You know, I think we need to, we need to be creative and resilient and maybe there's some way to do some fun events outside, even if it is a little bit chilly. You know, we luck out and get a balmy night, but, you know, we think to ourselves, what can work, what can be safe and, uh, plan it, plan a makeup night. If it's a little tough, um, you know, the weather's truly bad. Um, but you know, just like Lacey was saying, looking forward and Gabby was saying, looking forward to things where we can do a socially distant. because that's truly, you know, I think right now what we have to work with, you know, we can't expect otherwise.
[D'Alleva]: I think we could also think about things, and I know it's tough, but I mean, rentals of certain tents, space heaters, I mean, those are ideas that are outside of the box that, you know, need to be a little bit different. I mean, in my thought process, you know, we could definitely decorate the parking lot better than know, the way it's looked in the past for just parking cars or things up on the field. I think this is a time for us to be creative as best that we can and think a little bit outside than our norm.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll just also throw in that this gives us the opportunity to also take advantage of the cold, right? Like First blizzard comes there's no reason why we can't have small pockets of seniors meeting at local parks around the city to have no man building contest right but then like feeds into a virtual piece so like. I think that yes, cold outside is an element we have to consider, but I don't think it has to mean that we can do nothing. It just means that we have to get, like people are saying, more creative and use that cold to help spur on ideas.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: And just to add to that, I think also with the students, much credit to them, they've been creative and coming up with new ideas and new things to start. you know, ideas of putting events in different areas of Bedford so that each kind of group of students feels like something happens in their own part of the city. And so we're definitely gonna keep trying to be as creative, like Cheryl said, as possible and opening it up to, you know, community and student, you know, ideas and requests as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I- I think- Oh, go ahead. Sorry.
[SPEAKER_06]: This year has also proven that we can do things virtually, and there's nothing wrong with doing things virtually. People should always keep their eye on the senior class Instagram. We're always running events. We're always trying to get people together without getting together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I speak to the senior 60 hour requirement? I would like to follow up on that question with Stacey Shulman, our director of guidance and clinical services, just to make sure we know what's going on with that. I think there has to be some flexibility there. There's really no doubt about that, especially if kids were interfered with the pandemic and we're looking to do some service, that is something where I think there's just going to require some amount of flexibility and accommodation. So I'll plan to update the senior community when I know more there.
[D'Alleva]: Right, and to follow up too, it's something that we just don't wanna waive right away. I think, as Mr. Blau said, it's more of flexibility and accommodation. And again, another thing of thinking outside of the box, where I just don't wanna just right away take it away. It is within our graduation requirements. I think last year, we knew that some students were never gonna be able because we just were never sure what was gonna happen. So we had to kind of think about waiving that requirement. But this being a full year, I just wanna make sure that we're thinking and not just taking that off the table. So I think, yes, as Mr. Blauck said, following up with Mrs. Shulman, I think as an admin team, we're going to have to sit down together and kind of make a determination. Maybe the hours are lessened. Regarding that I saw someone do something with getting supplies to our school and donating, and that was more of a CCSR project, but that doesn't mean that that's limited to just the CCSR. Students can do, you know, individual things. I mean, even if, like you're saying, you're hosting a virtual story reading for students, you know, those are younger students, you know, those are things that, you know, we get to think outside the box. So we will definitely, you know, inform you regarding that requirement, but we definitely want to kind of not make sure we take it off the table right away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone's asked about clubs and activities. So our game plan for that is that Mr. Fallon and Mr. DeLeva will be coordinating a master list of clubs and activities that we will publish to the school community. Some clubs have already launched. The important thing is just to systematize that around exactly how things are launching, how do you get contact information, where are things meeting, whether they're virtual, if we're going to do in-person, what would be the safety measures and protocols there. So that's something again that we, you know, I don't want to make excuses, but there's a lot of things that are happening now and clubs and activities are something that we've, you know, more recently in the past two weeks or so, I've been coordinating to prepare some sort of master document. That's just to help Emma with her question.
[D'Alleva]: And we do have some clubs that are currently running. like the Asian Club is currently running, the Anime Club is currently running, the Gay-Straight Alliance is currently doing events. So we do have small pockets of clubs that are going through, but I think as what Mr. Blount said, that we make sure that our master list is out there for you, so you're aware. I know that some club members reach out to other club members, and so that's how that's known. I try to post things out too from emails. I know the students get an email from me every morning and it started off as like who's absent but now it's turned into a let me give you some information kind of thing. So I always encourage students to check their morning emails just to get that information as well.
[Alice Beth Fitzpatrick]: Um, there was, since people may have joined, it's been about 10 minutes in, um, Dave did, Mr. Blount did a great job giving some introductions for us earlier, but maybe we can go around from the top clockwise, maybe starting with Ms. Giordano and take a moment to, um, just reintroduce everybody.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, um, I am Cheryl Giordano. Uh, I am one of the faculty advisors for the class of 2021. Um, and I am an English teacher at the high school.
[D'Alleva]: Oh, am I at the top here? I just want to make sure. Yeah, I think you're next, Mr. DeLava. I'm Paul DeLava. I'm principal of the Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School. I'm glad to have this forum with everybody.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hi, I'm Lacey Intoppa. I am the senior class vice president, and I'm new to the council this year, but I'm really excited about getting this year going.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I am Riley Jones. I am a history teacher and co-advisor with Sheryl this year. I'm really excited to work with these students because they've been absolutely wonderful and very hardworking.
[Alice Beth Fitzpatrick]: Hi, I'm Alice Beth Fitzpatrick. I'm the assistant principal and director of the career and technical education at the vocational school. And so my crew are the juniors and seniors who are CTE students. Those are the ones who will report to me. I'm really happy to be here to support the senior class, and I miss you guys. So I hope you're all doing well and staying healthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, Dave Block, assistant principal for high school students, grades 11 and 12.
[SPEAKER_06]: Hi, I'm Gabby. I'm the senior class secretary. I've been secretary for the last four years.
[Fallon]: Hi seniors, Mr. Chad Fallon, proud principal of Medford Vocational Technical High School, glad to see you tonight.
[D'Alleva]: Dr. Cushing, you're muted.
[Cushing]: Hi, my name is Dr. Cushing. I'm the assistant superintendent for secondary. I'm actually, despite not being able to unmute the microphone there, I am behind the scenes primarily tonight to help run and orchestrate this. Um, really, really, really, um, excited to have this forum. We will do more forums, uh, as, as next week rolls around for other parents, uh, in the lower grades. Um, I do see a question here. Um, and is there a timeframe for when the HVAC systems will be repaired so our seniors can return to school? It's a great question. Um, in the past several weeks, there has been a significant amount of repairs that have been done to our outside schools. Uh, and we are now turned, uh, all of our contractors on to the high school. Uh, and that's been going on for some time. Um, some of the repairs are easy as in, um, cleaning out coils that have been built in with a lot of. Um, I guess look and gook, uh, for lack of a more technical technical term, um, which limits their functionality. Um, some repairs are actually. replacing motors and other repairs are replacing entire units. So the situation is significant and we are working diligently to make this happen. As a former high school principal and someone who's dedicated the last 19 years of my life, as have the other educators here, and I'm not sure how long for all of them, but we're all about the same age, so I'm gonna say about the same time. We want nothing more than to have your students back High school, I think, even having been a middle school principal, I think high school is like the awesome part. And I just, it's the culmination, it's the opportunity for so much. And we wanna make sure that your students, your children have these experiences and make sure that they're back in school learning in person as much as possible. We know our teachers want that. We know that our parents want that. Um, and I firmly believe that we're going to continue to build a robust opportunity for students, um, to, um, we're going to be getting kids back in as quickly as possible. So, um, and the next question is, will the vocational students be returning to the high school before the other seniors? Um, we are going to be working hard to get those shops up and running so that you guys have appropriate air exchange. and that we will be successful. If I don't answer any of your specific questions, please feel free to email info at medford.k12.ma.us or you can email directly at pcushing at medford. I'm also happy to speak on the phone as I've spoken to dozens of parents over the last several weeks and have those one-on-one personal conversations. It is our priority to get kids in school and keep them in school. So with that I'm gonna step in the background and let the students this I just have one question Gabby, what is your cat's name? All right, awesome, so I'm just gonna on my mind so thank you and have a great day
[D'Alleva]: Mr. Fallon, I did notice some questions about shop hours.
[Fallon]: So yeah, Zach, I see you there. Mr. Zach Anderson, hope you're well. Thanks for your question. So what we're working on is like Dr. Cushing said, I have air reports actually in front of me right now that we received today. We're working on which programs can open. We're working on some offsite opportunities. So if you guys just hang tight, I know it's been a long run, but within the next few weeks, There's going to be some plans, some phased-in plans that are going to be shared with the community as soon as it's safe to do so. So I hear you. Ours, in terms of requirements for us, we're going to do everything we can to get you ready for your next step after high school. Ours, with regard to the state and what's required for CTE students, of course, have been modified. And I have been in contact with the state, so I don't want anyone to worry about that in terms of your competency attainment. We're going to get you there. Thank you.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to just go back a little bit. I noticed Celia had made a comment about PTO. And I just wanted to let them know that we're going to be reaching out. We'd love to meet and talk. And as advisors, we definitely want to touch base with them. So we'd love to hear their ideas and whatever. We know that that's a great partnership. So we'll definitely be reaching out soon.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I just want to build onto that because I think like you bring up a great point that that our seniors are going to need things this year. We would love every senior to have a t-shirt or a hoodie regardless of financial situation and we know this year that we're going to have a lot more students struggling in that area. We want students to be able to participate as much as we can and so we're trying to do things as cheaply as possible on our end. So for everyone be watching emails and I'm a Bedford resident, so I'm on some of the Medford groups, like we're gonna be looking maybe if you have this weird piece of equipment that we're trying to get. Somebody said something about snowshoeing in the fells, and I think that's lovely. We need snowshoes for that to happen, right? So just be paying attention because the more we can reach out to the community for your support, the better we can help each other and really give these kids kind of the best opportunity to all of them. And so that is just one of the things that we're thinking out. So we're going to be looking at those particular partnerships and reaching out. So stay tuned.
[D'Alleva]: I'm sorry. Go ahead.
[Alice Beth Fitzpatrick]: I was just going to jump to the SAT testing question. I was just going to say the other day, the guidance team did a great job managing the first SAT in person in the building. It was really well organized and orchestrated and lots of provisions were taken into account. And so I'm hopeful that everybody was successful with their testing day. But I'm sure that the guidance team will be sending out more information if we're able to do that again. I mean, everything does depend on how our city continues to stay safe and to stay able to offer things like that. But the guidance team will be reaching out. I'm going to pass it back up to Mr. Lee if he has something to add on that.
[D'Alleva]: So thank you and and and miss miss Patrick definitely explained it as best as I could as well I think the one thing that we are is we are talking about doing another date But what you people have to realize is when you're an SAT testing site You also have the opportunity of outside people coming into the building. So within what we had done is It was really specific to Medford High School students. So we're trying to make sure that we get permission again from the SAT College Board that we can do that, you know, just making sure that it's Medford because that's something that, you know, there are so many emails I get from people from Malden and Somerville that signed up as a testing site to come to Medford and, you know, the normal dates have been shut down. So we do want to try to do it again. It's just going to take a little planning with the college board, but it's something that it's definitely a discussion that we're trying to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: May I speak just quickly? There's some questions about homework. And the quantity and the amount. There's two things I want to say I mean one is that obviously we want to make sure that whatever we're doing this year academic wise is sustainable, and is going to, you know, is going to be something that holds for for months and months because you know it's a long year we're only about 20% through it, you know, it's a long year. And of course, we don't want kids to be so overwhelmed that they're falling apart, that that's never anybody's intention. I've heard from a few parents about this sort of concern. I do wanna emphasize, I don't think tonight is the night to really come to the conclusion on those. I think that collecting a body of concerns and taking those to the curriculum directors and some lead teachers in those departments and having some good conversations about what's expected at their level. I don't think we can answer those capably tonight. Although I do appreciate knowing and I've heard, Parents know it. I've heard from a good number of parents around those concerns around screen time and the number of hours in front of a screen and assignments and that sort of thing. But I need to also respect where teachers are coming from and where their curriculum directors are guiding them and directing them. So I would say those are ones to table and potentially bring forward in either a different forum or a different setting. Um, so, you know, I just want to put that out there to the community that you acknowledge those questions, but, uh, you know, let's, um, I'd like to focus tonight a little more on activities and ways to support your senior experience, if that makes sense. And if anyone would like to add to that, you know, please feel free.
[D'Alleva]: Yeah, I just, I'm going to follow up there. Um, and as Mr. Block said, I've received the same amount of probably your phone calls and discussions as well. And I do have a meeting with the directors. I know there's pacing guides, you know, there's things that, that. some certain courses require more moving at an accelerated pace. And unfortunately that's causing. The other part to remember is everybody's remote. So it's not easy for us to communicate with one another when we're in the building and you have a group of students and you know that you have the same student as the other student as an educator and you're not realizing how much is being given from one class to another class to another class to another class. So it's something that we are bringing up with the curriculum directors and the pacing guides. But as I think Mr. Block said, it's going to take a little bit of time and we can't give a definite answer tonight, but it is on our radar. So I think the one thing I want to make sure that we put out there is that we are talking about it as a building admin team and as a curriculum admin team.
[Cushing]: So I want to just jump in here for a question that Zach and Michael were asking. That's what we call fake news. There was no matter found in the air. So I just wanted to address that because I don't want that type of question to go unanswered and people to think that we're trying to dodge it. The reality is, is that the air in the schools is totally fine. There's just not movement of it in some places. And you'll get problems when you bring students and adults back in if there's not movement of air. And then just on a normal level, carbon dioxide will build up, those types of things. And then we're in the middle of a pandemic. So we want to have at least a minimum of a four in all learning spaces and make sure that we can do that. And for Zach and Michael, the folder with all the All of the reports have been posted to the Medford Public Schools Facebook page. So you can go with that. You can find them there and happy to do it. I'm going to put up a question now about Adopt a Senior and banners with senior photos on them. I know we discussed that last year. So you guys can take it away.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll jump on that. Adopt a Senior was outstanding last year. Much credit to the organizers of that and Celia who posed that was one organizer. Outstanding, that to me is a definite. The idea of setting up a Class of 2021 Facebook page is a definite in my view. Setting up senior banners, other ways to put recognition out to students, all things that I think are doable, they're outstanding, they're obviously safe in terms of COVID. It looks like from Kelly's comment here that there are so many people who are looking to support us in some way or another. And that's just, earnestly, that's just so appreciated. These were things I thought went perfect last year, when it was a lot harder to do anything. We're talking April, May, you know, in the spring. So I'd say there's some that are just definites in my mind. I appreciate, you know, the reminders about them.
[D'Alleva]: And Mrs. Catallo has reached out to me too, and indirectly, we might need, the inflatable drive-in movie screen right now, because I think that's something that we definitely could utilize. I know the PTO when I was at the Andrews had worked on something like that as well. So I'll just put that out there right now that I'm looking for the big screen, inflatable big screen that we could all watch a movie outside either on the field or in the parking lot. Great.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: And the senior barbecue is one of the like traditional senior events for the end of the year. So that's definitely something just like, you know, as we know about prom, you know, may look different, but it's definitely something that's on our radar. So we certainly are thinking about and have already, you know, had conversations about that for sure. So thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps the advisors would like to speak. I'm sorry, the officers who are on board with us tonight, if you've got any viewpoints around things you'd like to see. I know we mentioned the sunrise and the sunset activity. Excellent. First, I've heard of that idea, but I'm in love with it already. So if you have some viewpoints or priorities, Lacey or Gabby, you'd like to share or help answer some questions.
[SPEAKER_07]: Going back to the senior t-shirts and the senior sweatshirts, we actually do have our design contest up. I wanted to bring that up just to get more entries. It closes, I believe it's November 2nd, correct me if I'm wrong. So I think that's a really good way to get involved and just giving the seniors back, just something back, I guess.
[SPEAKER_00]: Great, wonderful.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, we also have some other events that we're trying to plan throughout the year. Right now we're collaborating with the CCSR and the NHS to try and do something like the coffeehouse outside at the end of the year, depending on what the regulations look like. We thought that might be just a fun way to get all the clubs together. have that nice event that so many theater kids, especially drama kids, music kids, are missing out on any opportunity to perform. We're also talking about what prom might look like, like getting food trucks or getting a photographer because just show up and take pictures and get a nice professional photo that you can post online, which is honestly what a lot of people want out of prom in the first place. We've also talked about holding different events in the field, like a silent dance was one that we were thinking about with headphones and spaced out with chalk and whatnot. So yeah, we definitely would like support. We've been reaching out to the community on the Facebook and whatnot. Anything people want to offer is something that we'd accept.
[D'Alleva]: Can I ask the officers to give us a little bit of a student perspective during school or remote schooling, just to hear your thoughts about it. I know that's kind of putting you on the spot, but I think it's important for everybody to hear, you know, it's not just about the teachers. It's not just about ourselves. It's about you guys too, and how you feel, um, public school is working, or maybe not working. I'm hoping working better, but not working. So just to get your perspective, because I know you guys represent students as well. So just like to hear some thoughts.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, online schooling is honestly very difficult. Personally, I'm really grateful that I can learn virtually. I'm a pretty hands on learner. I thrive in science classes, so like lacking labs and physical stuff has been really hard for me. I've been getting really tired at the end of the day. But it's really the safest option that we have right now. And I think a lot of us are trying to understand that, and that's what keeps us motivated. But I think teachers have done a really good job. They're staying on top of things. We're reaching out. The guidance team has also done a really great job of reaching out. I know personally, with my college applications and stuff, and each teacher just is kind of catering to their students, which is really appreciated on our behalf.
[SPEAKER_06]: Um, yeah, I mean I'm not gonna lie and say it's been easy, because it's not been it's not been easy on anyone. But, you know, like, personally I'm a person who's very involved in all my extracurriculars, and it's been kind of awful to not be able to do any of them I mean we don't have been we don't have deer we don't have drama we don't have. A lot of the things that we would normally be doing around this time, and it's saddening, but it's also, you know, we got to do what the senior class has always done best, which is adapt. We're a class of many firsts. You know, our freshman year, we're the class that started marching for our lives, which is crazy because that seems like eons ago. And, you know, we have to do what Medford High does best, just adapt and learn and get better.
[D'Alleva]: Wait, I'm sorry. There's a question about the Mustang mall, Mr. Fowler. And I don't know if you want to tackle that one or that's all right.
[Fallon]: I don't see it. I'm sorry. I'm watching here too.
[D'Alleva]: So what about the Mustang Mall? Is that open? Is there a way those items can be sold to our students?
[Fallon]: So actually, the programming and web development students and the business marketing students are working on an e-commerce site for the Mustang Mall. I don't know that it's going to, I mean, it's in the works now. So I would say I'll be posting some information about that soon so that you can order things online. But we are going to make things available for sure. So stand by for that.
[D'Alleva]: I'll answer, go into Stephan Langstroth's question about if we're going to remain online for the foreseeable future is the reason why the school day can't start a little later. You know, that makes sense. but there are so many constituents that are involved in that kind of determination, not just students, but teachers. And there was a lot that kind of went together to make the schedule. And it wasn't just Mr. DeLava says that we are starting school at 745 and that's it. There was a lot of discussion that happened within teachers with the intent of us coming back. And I think that's where the focus had been because the two schedules have to be aligned when we do come back. But, Stephan, what I will say is that I think we could reevaluate depending on what we know the timeframe is. But it needs to be like everybody at the table. I'm talking teachers, administrators, students, and we're all on the same page. And then the other part I wanted to bring up, and Gabby, you brought this up as well, it's kind of, where I'm sad is, and Lacey, you know this too, I love watching the performances, fall, spring. And, you know, I think that's something that, you know, we need to try to find alternatively, because that's a club that's currently not running, right? If you think about it, because we don't have the fall festival, we just need to kind of figure out how to get that going as well. And maybe it's some kind of virtue. I mean, I know it's weird, but like, We have some capabilities to do tapings and things like that. You know, something that maybe we do it and it's more of a TV show than it is a TV special, right? You know, like when they do the Sound of Music Live or something like that. So something to think about for the future as well, because I do feel, one thing I feel is that you want to try to answer to everybody's strengths or things that they enjoy and things that they love. just because I got some clubs running right now doesn't mean I don't want to have the other clubs running too. So something to think about down the line.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to just jump in and respond to Marina's question about the powder puff game and it just sort of the types of activities in general that, you know, if we're going to plan for in-person activities, you know, I think the reality that we all know is that there are, there are safe activities and there are activities that are risky. And, you know, of course our priority will always be to keep our kids safe. And, you know, if we're looking at something that can happen in person, where distancing can be ensured, where people can gather in a way that we know really without a great amount of doubt is going to be okay. I'm wary of the sporting, anything involving sporting. And again, this is something that so many of us miss in so many ways because we've had to modify it or just simply give it up in terms of athletics. But if I look at something like a hike in the fells where there's distancing ensured, okay, that seems more like a doable. you know, there's other things that are going to be tougher. Um, so, you know, I, I really, what I really appreciate and admire is that the way that so many parents and kids have creatively come up with ideas that can somehow still be safe, but you can still be together in person and have fun. And I think that's just a broad theme that everybody needs to keep thinking on and sort of riffing on when they, uh, when they bring forward these ideas. And one last thing I'll put forward just for this group here is that, you know, one area of improvement that, you know, I think that we need to make sure happens in our school, is a type of communication that is consistent and informative. And I know things have been happening, but if we can sort of systematize that communication so that you're well-informed, either through a Facebook page or post from the senior class, class 2021, students are informed through the Google Classroom, and that there's just sort of a multi-pronged way to get the word out. So I just say in broad themes, keep the ideas coming, and we'll keep the communication methods as consistent and as robust as we can. I can speak to college too. So seniors are actually afforded three excused absences per the student handbook. You have three excused absences to visit colleges. We have found over the years that it's best to let parents and families and students decide when they would be able to do that. And if you have a college visit or other sort of career pursuit visit, if you want to please bring that information forward to me or Ms. Fitzpatrick, if you're a CTE student, and just let us know that you need a day so that you can, you need a Dix U so that you can make a visit. You know, you have a three per the student handbook. If you find you need more, please, you know, don't hesitate to reach out to us for a discussion about, you know, how that might look. But just to answer Ms. Graves question, yes, we can definitely accommodate that.
[D'Alleva]: And just to kind of follow up on that too, with the attendance part of it, you know, attendance is kind of unique this year. If you think about it, we do a lot of figuring out which students are present by the end of the day, where before everything was done at the beginning of the day. So we have to see like which students basically attend classes or how many classes that they attend remotely to determine whether they're here for the full day. And the point I'm making here is when we know that you're going to take a day to go to college, we can inform teachers so that they're aware that that student's not going to be present during this school day. So letting your assistant principal know allows us to also give the information remotely to our teachers so they're aware. So they're not just saying, oh, this one's missing class today. They're aware that they're going to college. The only thing that maybe we used to ask for, and I want to make sure that we still do, is just some kind of verification but it's hard right virtually like if you're going to a virtual open house you might not be able to get that documentation so um you know in the past we've asked for like just a quick letter from the college that hey susie or johnny we're here for the day doing a college visit and that allowed us to uh excuse the absence at that time miss grace was was i think referencing the c3 day
[SPEAKER_00]: that we had for the past few years. And, you know, that was something that worked well in that we had juniors and many sophomores taking the PSAT. So what I want to offer out to, you know, Ms. Graves, anyone else interested, is that possibly we look into that in January when we host a PSAT, you know, as that being a possible release day. I think that's going to need a little bit of planning, but that had traditionally been in October during the traditional sort of pre-pandemic October PSAT. But I think, I believe that day is in January, and I can follow up on that, and you'll see whether we can dedicate a day. Thank you.
[D'Alleva]: I just want to sort of answer the lunch question. What I would ask is that if you look in the old bell schedule, the lunch period, the issue is there used to be two lunches, right? So we had a first lunch and a second lunch. I will tell you that our lunch is pretty much aligned with first lunch. It's not too far off. than what we normally had for first lunch. The difference this year is if students do come into the building, you're going to have everybody taking one lunch. We're not going to have two lunches because we don't want to have two big groups congregating. So having the different cohorts basically allows us to have one lunch. And again, with the remote schedule and the hybrid schedule, those two things have to be aligned. So everybody's going to have to have lunch at the same time, including the teachers themselves. So we want to make sure that we're staying aligned. So we were not too far off of what first lunch normally was.
[SPEAKER_04]: As a teacher who has historically taken first lunch the last four years, lunch this year is actually 14 minutes later for me than it normally is. So I'm like living the lunch dream here. But it is early in the morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to speak to the yearbook question. Uh, there was from an email about how senior pixels would be organized and put in the yearbook. Um, I think that is a question to refer out to Mr. Ambrose and his yearbook staff, you know, see if there is any way to gather some, uh, let's say some pictures that students had taken or some things that, uh, you know, came out, you know, on the field. You know, I mean, of course, uh, there, if there wasn't a group picture taken during the sporting time, my first thought is there, is there another way to bring that together as another way to get the faces, get the pictures in. You know, what I do know is that the yearbook staff is up and running and working very hard, you know, and like with anything, they're trying to collect as much as they can in as traditional a fashion as they can. You know, I mean, but there's going to, you know, there's naturally going to be some things that, you know, get away from certain groups, especially if the particular thing ended. But I hold out hope, you know, their publishing deadlines aren't until the spring. So, you know, if I can refer those questions out to him just to, you know, broadly speaking, we make sure we get everybody in there and everything that happened in there, you know, as we always do, and, you know, make it a knockout yearbook like it always is.
[Alice Beth Fitzpatrick]: Also, just to follow up on the yearbook, if there are any of my CTE seniors who are interested in helping with the CTE pages in particular, I'd be really happy to connect with you and try to like work on those designs, that would be fantastic.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: Also, I'd like to say that I've already been contacted by two separate Yearbook staff members to kind of get our input and ask, you know, what any, you know, events. So it seems like they've got a really solid staff that's really aware and they're working really hard. They've already put out announcements to the class about, you know, just any kind of quarantine pictures and things like that as well. So Yearbook is gonna look a little different, I think, but but they're working really hard behind the scenes for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a brief conversation with Mr. Maloney yesterday about a couple of things and one of those was around looking at February as a potential return time for some sporting activity. I don't know for sure what the dates are, what the MIA is telling us. That could be something that we refer out to him or if we see if Dr. Cushing has any insights on those. Um, but of course, you know, it was, it was great to have, um, what the amount of athletic opportunities that we did have, um, was, was truly wonderful. And I'm glad that many kids got to take part in that.
[D'Alleva]: And the other thing to add in there too, is we have opened up winter, um, registration. Uh, we don't like, like, um, Mr. Block had said, we. don't know what's going to happen, but we want to make sure the registration does happen. Because if we do get to go ahead on certain things, we want to make sure that our athletes are registered and ready to go, even when it comes to physicals and things of that nature. So that registration is currently open. If you look at the high school page, and some people saying they're not getting all the updates, When you go to the high school page you have to go to high school news And then every post that that I tend to send out as an email also is posted there as well So that's a place where you can grant gather information as well and you can actually subscribe it's an RSS feed so anytime I post you could set your email up to get that post as well if that's one way you want to get communication as well. I do know that communication has been something that's been brought up as well regarding emails and try to send more robocalls along those emails as well just to to follow up but my suggestion here is as well if you know you are not receiving an email it is very very important that you contact the main office because obviously there's an issue Ran a report with one of my emails if I think it was the SAT email I noticed that some people are blocked and that could be a for any reason like the messenger that we send out has like unsubscribe buttons to it and that kind of causes issues and you could accidentally hit that on your phone and not be able to get another email because it's considered blocked so if you are running to any issues regarding connecting and please, please, please reach out to the main office so that we are aware and we can do our best to kind of address that. We've also talked about sending out a form. Ms. Fitzpatrick can definitely bring that up because that's something that she came up with as an idea as a building admin team of sending out a form for parents so that we can get updated information, contact information. So be on the lookout for that. That's something that we're working on as well.
[Cushing]: So I just wanted to jump in. We have the plan is for Medford to continue with the athletics. We're gonna have to be in continuous consultation with Marian O'Connor, our director of health for the city of Medford. And we wanna make sure though that we're giving our student athletes that opportunity to participate, to get that energy out, to do those types of things. But we also, right now, the governor shut down the rinks across the state, which is really unfortunate, especially since Medford has its own hockey rink that it can access at any point. But our plan is to continue to move forward with the workouts. I see a parent just put that question in. I'll pop it up on the screen. And we really want to make sure that our student athletes are able to have these opportunities. If Medford were to go in the red or anything along those lines, I shouldn't say were, but as we are, it's something that I think we need to be very cognizant of and make sure that we can. To answer Aiden McLaughlin's question as to whether or not fall sports will ever happen for the seniors, are they getting pushed back to the spring right now? And I'm not sure how this happens having played football myself growing up and into college. Uh, right now fall sports is scheduled to start on February 22nd. Uh, now having grown up in new England, a lot of times the ground is still frozen and there's this white stuff that tends to accumulate at certain points. Um, that is difficult to run cross country, play soccer, football, um, uh, you know, other sports. Um, I don't know if the marching band, uh, is going to be marching through snow, but, um, we're going to try to figure it out. And, uh, we don't have an answer for you on that, but, uh, our, our goal is to make. You has to allow for you to have as many opportunities as possible for these traditional senior year events. Um, so I'm going to step out again, but I did want to just answer those sports questions as I've been working with the athletic director. to make sure that we can make those things happen. And if we can't have competitive sports, then at least continue the conditioning, at least continue having students connected to adults for good positive relationships. And thank you.
[D'Alleva]: I just- Advisors, I do see a point of that. It's October 29th, and they're wondering what events we have. coming up, so I was wondering if you could jump on that.
[SPEAKER_04]: So I'll just point out that we have already put out two virtual events on Instagram. So there was the senior t-shirt contest, which Lacy mentioned. We also put up a pumpkin carving contest. The senior sunrise is currently tentatively scheduled for November 24th, or excuse me, 21st, which is after a lot of the early admission college dates So the students were thinking that would be a nice moment to like kind of stop and pause and come together as a lot of them have been working hard on college admissions, we know. And then the movie night is also tentatively scheduled for November, I think it's the 25th. It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which is a half day for the students. So, and it has traditionally been, and I'm assuming this year will be like a real half day. So not like an asynchronous half day where like the school day will end at noon. And then that will give us time to kind of come together and set that up. And students can come before going off to their holiday events with their families. So those are the tentative dates that we have right now. And as the students have mentioned, brainstorming lots of other ideas, I saw a comment earlier about, can we start the traditional senior stuff earlier than May? Trust me, I've been working with these seniors for four or this class for four years. They will fill any moments they can find with an activity. They have no problems. And a lot of the comments you guys have been giving us are great ideas and we will throw them around. So there's certainly a lot of stuff to get going.
[X875ms8gt_4_SPEAKER_01]: And I think it was mentioned before the idea that we're working in collaboration or they're seeking to work in collaboration with things like the CCSR and the National Honor Society. And so I think there's a possibility that they'll be running like events where we'll be helping out or the students will be working with other groups. So those things will definitely be happening. They are very good at coming up with ideas.
[SPEAKER_06]: We also talked about doing small events that we did last year with fundraising. We don't necessarily need fundraising this year, but we thought it might be a good opportunity to support Medford small businesses to have those days where you order at a certain restaurant and you're all separate, but at least you're all eating the same food with your friends.
[D'Alleva]: I wanted to address there was a discussion about guidance and senior and college applications. One thing that I know that we're trying to do with our guidance Councilors is every Wednesday we have this a half hour advisory period. So the past The past Wednesday, we actually had our freshmen, because our freshmen never really had their guidance overview. So we made sure that during that period, that advisory period, that the guidance Councilors were available. They met with all of them in one big group, and then they put them into breakout groups for the individual Councilors that were with them. That's something that we're also trying to do with the seniors as well when it comes to college applications. I think that takes planning though and making sure that the breakouts in but I just want to make sure that people understand that we are doing our best to make sure that. You know, there's attention to college applications. We do know that that's this is around the time and we know there's early decisions that are trying to be made. We just sent out an email regarding how to upload letters of recommendation through Naviance just to remind people on how to do that process as well so You know, again, in a remote setting, it's just, you know, trying to talk. I try to do as much communication as I can with the staff. It's a lot easier when we're face-to-face and we're having these conversations, but those things are happening. Lacey, you did mention, by the way, that you were, your guidance Councilor had reached out to you, so I just didn't know how that experience was, if you wanted to just kind of update us.
[SPEAKER_07]: Uh, yeah, so, um, I'm sorry. Um, so we had previously met with guidance before covet hit. I know I got to just where I lie in the alphabet with my guidance Councilor with my last name. But, um. There were earlier meetings regarding college and guidance Councilor started reaching out to the students that said that they were interested in early action. So, I. I know during my elective period, I had a meeting with my guidance Councilor lasted about an hour. We went through the checklist that we typically go through when it is an in person meeting. So I think that guidance is doing a pretty good job. But if they haven't reached out, I'm sure that you can reach out to your guidance Councilor. I've emailed my guidance Councilor so many times. Thank you, Ms. Horne, by the way. But they are here for you, I'm sure. Just if you haven't heard, reach out if you are in need.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be happy to speak to graduation. We talk about a hill to die on. That's my hill to die. And we, it, I, it, it's something I just, I feel so strongly has to happen. And when we were very close last year, we don't need to get into it. Um, but we were very close last year. We had a great plan. It was endorsed by the city. Um, we had so many meetings. Other communities were doing it at a time when, uh, you know, it was much more touch and go with COVID. Um, so that's something, you know, you have my sincere pledge. Everybody in this space feels the same way. I know that. Um, and, uh, you know, we have to work out a great number of details that that's, it's a long way out, but it also is not a long way out. Um, in that we need to start thinking and planning sooner than later. So, you know, I think that's something that's, that's, that's ever on our minds. Um, we want to have a traditional experience. You know, I will say right now, it is not something that we want to be a virtual experience. Um, that's one thing where we look and say, what's the way to, you know, to manage the risk and have something that is going to be in person. Again, it's October, we don't have a graduation plan laid out at the moment, but it is in our hearts to make that happen. And, you know, and again, you have my sincere pledge that that's that's a big one for me. That's my hill.
[D'Alleva]: And I'll second what Mr. Blount said, because as we tried with class of 2020, there's a lot of effort that went into how close we were to having that experience. And I want to kind of reiterate exactly what he said, that this is something that we're dedicated to, that we're not saying we're giving up. And just going right to virtual, we're going to try everything we possibly can to have a live graduation experience. of course, that's always dependent on, you know, rules and things that go on throughout the community, and that the Board of Health approves. We were very close last time, and we would definitely, we will try our hardest to get to where we were.
[Cushing]: So I want to third that, and I have to say that It was extraordinarily sad that we weren't able to have high school graduation. High school graduation, as I kind of mentioned earlier with high school, high school graduation is the pinnacle. There are so many students, you know, who are very strong academically and it's a crowning achievement. And then there are some students who struggle, who, you know, the community of the high school and the community of teachers throughout their career have rallied around them to really help them, to support them. coaches, parents, friends, whoever. And it's a crowning achievement for so many kids for so many different reasons. And I really hope that we're able to honor not only the class of 2021 in person, but that we can even consider something for the class of 2020. My niece was a college graduate last year and their beautiful graduation at her college was just canceled and done virtually in her backyard. I hope not only Medford, but I hope that other institutions will consider this. I did wanna pop in on one question that Felice Bailey asked. I'm actually gonna, I accidentally, a question came in and I clicked and the answer came out from her son. So good job, Colin. But I wanted to answer her question. And so her question is cohort A has had two positive cases within a week in building B, which is the safest. What building were the SATs taken in? So there are a lot of factors that go into how someone gets this virus. And, you know, we are doing diligent work to keep students separated in the building, to maintain six feet of space. When seniors come in, it is going to be extraordinarily important that you maintain physical distancing. that you keep your masks on, that you frequently wash your hands or sanitize. I think you'll be amazed at the amount of sanitizers that are up in the building, pretty much everywhere. You can't look into a space or down a hallway without seeing a sanitizer. I would say that what we really need to do is make sure that that work is done by our students and our staff. So one thing that we can't control, and this recently happened in Marblehead and many other communities across the state, we can't control the behaviors of students outside of school. And we can't make students stay away from one another, we can't make students not gather. And we need to make sure that as much as possible, you're following Dr. Fauci's rules, that it's the mask, sanitizing, and physical distancing. Um, so, you know, we do have good air movement in building B at this point. Um, so it's, it's just one of those things. The, the SATs were taken on the first floor of C building. Um, I, myself with Mrs. Schulman, we went down and we measured six feet of space from all the desks. Uh, then we also moved in, uh, our HEPA filters to the spaces so that there were HEPA filters in every room, um, moving the air. Uh, so I just wanted to step in and. give an answer to that question and then hand it back to the group.
[D'Alleva]: So I know it's about 845. So I think I'm going to answer this last question. And then, um, I know that we'll probably plan on having more forums like this, um, you know, in the coming weeks as we get closer to certain things and certain events. But one thing that was brought up was April break by Stephen Langsher. I think what happened last year with April break, again, everything was so new. We didn't know what was going to happen. So there was things that needed to be adjusted because the school year, I mean, we all were kind of everyone knows March 13th, right? That's the date. So we weren't aware if we were coming back or coming back and who had done what for work. This year, the district calendar is posted on the homepage and all the breaks that are listed are listed. So for example, you know, this next Tuesday, which is election day, that is a day off from school for teachers and students. So that's in the calendar and good to go. Veterans Day next week, that's a day off. the following week. I'm sorry after November. That's a day off. That's in the calendar. So we are honoring the breaks that are currently in the calendar. So I personally want to thank first our advisors, our students, the vocational school, Dr. Cushing for taking the time to be part of this forum. Um, as was mentioned as well is we will try to, you know, whatever questions we didn't get to, we'll review and we'll try to kind of do an FAQ kind of thing. Um, but I wanted to say, I appreciate everybody being part of this. And again, this is a great environment where we can address things as best we can and, um, virtually. And, um, I look forward to hearing more and doing more of these kinds of, uh, forums. So thank you everyone.
[Cushing]: Thank you everyone. I want to give a quick shout out to everyone. Thank you so much. The students on here were phenomenal as were the class advisors. and we will be putting together that FAQ for early to middle of next week. Feel free to continue to send your questions to info at medford.k12.ma.us. I have been forwarding them to all of the adults on the call, and I have no problem forwarding to the young adults as well so that everyone can see them, but they will be there for you to see and to have answered. We're going to end the broadcast now. And I really look forward to a day soon when I can say it's a great day to be a Mustang. I haven't said it because let's be honest, it's a really challenging day to be a teacher, a student and all of that. And, you know, hopefully we can start getting positive and start really getting our kids back in the building. So thank you very much.