[Lungo-Koehn]: 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, chapter 30A, section 18 in the governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place. This meeting of the Medford School Committee will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information, the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the city of Medford website at www.medfordma.org. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to listen or watch the meeting may do so by accessing the meeting link contained herein. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post in the City of Medford or Medford Community Media website an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. The meeting can be viewed through Medford Community Media on Comcast channel 22 and Verizon channel 43 at 6 p.m. Regular meeting of the Medford School Committee will start at 6 p.m. and the meeting will be held remotely. You can log in or call 1-929-205-6099. After you call, please enter meeting ID 917-9616-8291 when prompted. Additionally, questions or comments can be submitted during the meeting by emailing medfordsc at medford.k12.ma.us. Those submitting must include the following information, your first and last name, your Medford Street address, your question or comment. If you could first take the role, member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Yes, member Graham.
[Unidentified]: Here.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz. Here. Member McLaughlin here. Member Mustone? Here. Member Ruseau? Present. Member Van der Kloot?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Van der Kloot? Oh, present. I think she was on mute. She was present. Mayor Lungo-Koehn? Present. Seven present, none absent. Please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And I know we did notice this meeting as five o'clock to six o'clock being the executive session.
[McLaughlin]: Point of information, Mayor, I think you mean six to seven.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Sorry, five o'clock was Committee of the Whole, six to seven is executive session, and by 7 p.m. we should be back out for regular session. So there's a motion to go into executive session. Motion to go into executive session. By Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Van der Kloot.
[McLaughlin]: Roll call, Member, sorry, I'll get into the swing of this, Member Graham.
[Graham]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz? Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone? Yes. Member Ruseau? Yes. Member Van der Kloot? Member Van der Kloot? Yes. Member, I mean, Mayor Langevin-Kern?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. We can now go into executive session, and we thank everybody for their patience while we're there.
[Unidentified]: Thank you all for your patience.
[Lungo-Koehn]: We only went over nine minutes. It is 7.10, we're recording. We are on to approval of the minutes from the January 11th, 2021 school committee meeting. Is there a motion for approval?
[Kreatz]: Motion to approve.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Seconded by member McLaughlin, roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Uh, member Kreatz. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member McLaughlin. Yes. Member Mustone. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Member Van de Kloop. Paula, we can't. Member Van de Kloop. Did she say yes? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I said yes.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you.
[McLaughlin]: We couldn't hear you. I'll leave it off. Okay. And Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven. The affirmatives are in the negative. The minutes are approved. Approval of bills, transfer funds, and approval of payrolls.
[McLaughlin]: Motion to approve.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to approve by member Van der Kloot, seconded by member McLaughlin. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Member Van der Kloot. Yes.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, some of the affirmative, zero in the negative. Bills and transfer of funds have been approved. Report of secretary, if there is one?
[McLaughlin]: No, there is no report of secretary. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Report of committees, number one, rules, policy and equity subcommittee meeting, January 13th, 2021. Member Ruseau, chair, approval of minutes.
[Ruseau]: Yes, thank you, Mayor. On January 13th, Is that the right date? I'm sorry, I just scrolled out of the way. Yes, on January 13, the Rules, Policy and Equity Subcommittee met to begin drafting a list of our reports that reports slash presentations that would be become part of our rules. for an annual list that would be provided that would give the superintendent and her staff the ability to plan ahead more easily and to make it obvious to the public and to new school committee members and existing ones when we actually do things. As a new member, when do we get the report on MCAS? For instance, there's just sort of an endless number of reports and presentations that we get each year. And so we worked on that list. I think we made an incredible good first draft at our next meeting, which I don't have the date in front of me. At our next meeting, we will finalize the, well, assuming that the subcommittee approves it, we will finalize the list and send it up to the full committee for approval. But at this time, we just have minutes from that meeting to approve. So if there's a motion.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval. Motion to approve. Member Graham, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone. Yes. Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Van der Kloot. Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Minutes are approved. Number two, we have special education behavioral health subcommittee meeting, January 21st, 2021. Member McLaughlin, chair, approval of minutes.
[McLaughlin]: Yes, thank you. We met on January 21st for behavioral health. We talked with Stacey Shulman, director of school counseling and behavioral health. Our goal for this year is to address trauma-informed schools and stress and to make recommendations, policy recommendations to the school committee in a presentation in April or May of this year. Stacey Shulman talked about the NAN project, which is a partnership through Elliott Health and Human Services created as a way to talk about mental health and behavioral health and their sort of mentor partnerships for students who have been through some mental health challenges and come out the other side to support students who are currently going through mental health challenges. And there was also talk of a homework survey that Stacey Shulman did a presentation on. There were 781 student respondents to the survey around how many, whether there's a hypothesis that students were feeling that they were having a lot of homework. but that perhaps it's actually a carryover of asynchronous work and so the survey was created to sort of look at that hypothesis and what it did discover was that there was a divide between students and faculty. Students did feel as though they were having more homework and teachers were feeling as though it was the same or as in prior pre-pandemic. So there was some question around clarity for students around what is asynchronous work and what is actually classified as homework. So that discussion will be continued in our next meeting on February 11th. And then the latter half of our meeting was on special education and our question of our policy, our question of practice is how can we facilitate meaningful inclusion, inclusionary friendships for students within school and community? So we've been talking about best buddies programs, sibling support groups and participating in community activities like Metro Recreation. Metro Recreation was on the call as well as many other parents and individuals and teachers. And we talked about inclusive recreation activities and how we can support them, building a volunteer list. So Metro Recreation is looking for volunteers to support students with disabilities and form friendships and support the Recreation Center for Inclusive Recreation, and we're building an Excel spreadsheet around that. If people are interested in supporting that, they can email me at melaniemclaughlin at medford.k12.ma.us, and we can get you on a list to get to Kate Quinn over at the Recreation Center. And then teachers Carla Andre and Michael Skorka at the high school shared with us their Common Ground program, which is really about building horizontal friendships. Those are friendships that are equal footing between students with and without disabilities and how that might be achieved in a thoughtful, meaningful way district-wide. And so that conversation will continue as well on February 11th. So if you are interested in any of those topics, please join us February 11th from 5 to 6.30. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin. Member Graham?
[Graham]: In the minutes there's a reference to the PowerPoint about the homework survey. Can that be shared with the committee?
[McLaughlin]: Sure, I actually we had asked Stacey Shulman. I don't know if she's on the call if she would if she could do that, but I can certainly send an email again to share that it was a good presentation. It was useful information and a lot to be said around defining sort of the terms of the survey. So sure.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin. Motion for approval? Motion. Member Ruseau seconded by Member Van der Kloot. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz? Yes. Member Graham? Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone? Yes. Member Ruseau? Yes. Member Van der Kloot?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative, paper passes. Number seven, we have community participation.
[Van der Kloot]: Mayor?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, yes.
[Van der Kloot]: There is one letter from the public.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Let me just read this and then we'll get right to that letter. Public participation emails, questions or comments can be submitted during the meeting by emailing medfordsc at medford.k12.ma.us. Those submitting must include the following information, your first and last name, your Medford Street address, your question or comment. And it looks like we have one email or a letter.
[Van der Kloot]: So this email, which came in at 3.49 this afternoon, says, hello all. I didn't see it on the posted agenda, but I'm wondering if it is possible to get an update on the status of the formation of a committee to make plans for next steps of the Columbus name change. Thank you. Submitted by Emma Heffron, 18 Curtis Street. If you recall, we actually had a letter last week. We did say that would be on, I thought it was going to be on today's agenda. So perhaps I'd make a motion that we put it on next, at our next meeting's agenda.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to place this on our February 8th, 2021 agenda. by member Van der Kloot, seconded by member Rousseau. Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Actually that is in the minutes that in the last meeting that exact motion was made and approved. So I would just like to ask that somebody take a special note to make sure that really happens. I'm sure it was just an oversight, but it was in the last meeting. We voted exactly to do that for tonight.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yep, yep. Member van de Kloet?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes, I also just wanted to announce that there's a curriculum subcommittee meeting this Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. We'll be discussing the global language program as well as technology. One of our members can't come. So if anybody else can, I'd love to have another member present. If you'd let me know you're available, please, I would most appreciate that.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thanks. You said four to six or six to eight?
[Van der Kloot]: Four to six Wednesday, this Wednesday, the 27th. Okay.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Yes. And also just want to mention that the Medford Special Education Parent Advisory Council is having our presentation Wednesday, February 11th. I think it's at 6 p.m. on dyslexia. So I don't know if that was in the, I don't wanna supersede it, the superintendent's announcement. So I just wanted to mention that when member Van der Kloot was mentioning the other, but we have a motion on the floor.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion by member Van der Kloot, seconded by member Ruseau, roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz? Yes. Member Graham?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham, you are muted, sorry.
[McLaughlin]: Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Ruseau?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Member Van der Kloot? Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion to have the Columbus school name change discussion put on our February 8th meeting has been approved. Number eight, report of superintendent. Superintendent's updates and comments. Dr. Edward-Vincent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Regardless of your political leading, as Maya Angelou stated at then President Obama's inaugural address, it's the dawn of a new day. It was gratifying to see that at this inauguration, which has historically been a day of celebration for our country, was held without any issues. Our democracy move forward to welcome a new president, Mr. Joseph Biden, our first ever female vice president, Kamala Harris, who also is the first African American and South Asian to serve in this role, as well as first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, who is a teacher. I mention this because as a teacher myself, it is my feeling that there are lessons here for all of our students to learn from this leadership change. Most notably is that at the highest seats of government, there are people who look like all of our students now. The next lesson is resilience. Senator Biden first ran for president in 1998 and again in 2008. finally winning the seat in 2020. He never gave up, he persevered. It shows if you are willing to put in the work, you eventually attain your goals. I wanna share that I was honored to take part along with Mayor Lungo-Koehn on a panel at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon. Although this year the event had to be held virtually, it was a wonderful program with a lot of important voices and shared ideas. I would like to thank the Medford Human Rights Commission, the NAACP, the Royal House and Slave Quarters, Arts Medford, and the Director of Human Resources and Diversity, Neil Osborne, for inviting me. On the panel, I participated with the mayor and three of our own CCSR students, Zane Youssef, Amin Nazi, and Liza Lopes, as well as with Mr. Osborne and other community members. What we all heard loud and clear was the need to push, put our words into action in order to make our community a more welcoming place for all. To that end, the Medford Public Schools Racial Equity Task Force garnered the attention from the Boston Globe, local media, and the Patch, highlighting its mission to research, examine, and make recommendations to maintain an anti-racist, equitable, and socially just school district for our students and school community at large. I continue to express how important it is that we develop a strategic and a coordinated approach to address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Medford Public Schools. It is gratifying to know that President Biden instructed federal agencies to prioritize racial equity and review policies that reinforce systemic racism. We all need to work together to make substantive change in our country. This week, on January 27th, it is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and it will mark 75 years since the Allied troops liberated the Auschwitz death camp. The Holocaust The murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators did not occur in a vacuum. It was the product of unchecked hatred and collective silence. While confronting this pandemic, we have seen a rise in hateful and racist ideologies around the world. Let us all work to eradicate this hate in our society and remember what the late Congressman John Lewis once said. We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house. And through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. On a different note, I am pleased to announce that our kindergarten registration has opened today. Last Wednesday, Medford hosted its first Building Bridges to Kindergarten virtual presentation. Special thanks go out to Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Galusi, the Medford Family Network, and kindergarten teacher Maria Michelli, who not only provided important information for parents and guardians, but also answered questions and concerns that parents, guardians, and caregivers had. We appreciate their assistance in welcoming new Mustangs into our district. Our next Building Bridges presentation will be held on Wednesday, February 24th. I also would like to take this moment to commend some of our CCSR students. Andrea Cerebori and Daniel Morganti received a donation of $150 from Wegmans to help CCSR's food pantry, which is located at the Curtis Tufts High School. We appreciate Wegmans as they have always been a wonderful community partner in Medford. and CCSR continues to assist our schools' communities' needs. Thank you, Mustangs. This past month, Melina McGovern, a junior at Medford High School, has been collecting feminine products, general hygiene products, vanity items, and masks for local shelters in the Middlesex County area. The main shelters that these items will be distributed to include the Women's Lunch Place and Massachusetts Homeless. Melina is working in collaboration with the nonprofit organization called Her Drive. Fox 25 News Boston interviewed Melina for a segment that will be on the Wednesday Night News. Another Mustang stepping forward to help those less fortunate. Great job, Melina. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention the remarkable Amanda Gordon, the National Youth Poet Laureate. She clearly stole the show with her poem, The Hill We Climb. Amanda found poetry in third grade and used it as a way to overcome her speech impediment. Thanks to CCSR, Medford was blessed to have Amanda speak to our Andrews and McGlynn eighth grade students in 2019. During the assembly, Amanda recited her own award-winning poetry and performed her own rap lyrics. In the spirit of Amanda Gordon, in my weekly communication this past Friday, I invited students of all grade levels to participate in the Mustang Poetry Contest. All students are welcome to participate in this contest by submitting a poem up to 10 lines on the topic of unity. I ask that students submit their poems to the following email, superintendent at medford.k12.ma.us by February 22nd. A winner will be chosen from both our hybrid cohorts, as well as our remote cohorts. And both will have opportunities to share their poetry at the March 8th school committee meeting. Other submissions will be shared on our website platform. To my happy surprise, in my email on Saturday morning, I received my very first entry in the contest. Believe it or not, this wonderful student who was so eager had to do the assignment, which was voluntary, comes to us from a wonderful first grade classroom. I can already see her achieving high heights. Her name is Shelby Espinola. She's a first grade student in Mrs. Fargo's classroom at the Brooks School. Please indulge me as I share her poem, the very first poem on unity. She wrote this poem for the community. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the leaders. Kamala Harris is the first woman to be the vice president. Joe Biden is going to help our community by taking care of corona. Let's hope they help our world. Great job, Shelby. I cannot wait to read all the poems that will come in between now and February 22nd. But I just had to share Shelby's poem and say, I was so excited and surprised to see that I had someone that eager, willing, and wanting to jump in and do the poem. And I encourage anyone in our Mustang nation who wants to participate, up to 10 lines, do the poem. Thank you. And those are my announcements for today.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. I think we just had Ms. Fargo dancing in excitement for her.
[Van der Kloot]: Shout out, yes.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, for her students, so that was pretty cool. Appreciate that. Great remarks. Number two, we have COVID-19 public health update and Medford Public School COVID-19 testing summary and update. Nurse supervisor, Ms. Toni Ray, Ms. Marianne O'Connor, our board of health director, and Mr. David Murphy.
[Wray]: Good evening, Medford school community. Marianne O'Connor is not with us this evening, so I will share a few notes from her. Medford does remain in the red zone, but recently we are seeing very encouraging signs. The number of positive daily cases has been decreasing steadily. And today we had the lowest number since November. And our percent positivity rate, which is 5.02%, um, is lower, um, as compared to the last, um, weekly department of public health report. Um, so we are, we are encouraged to start to see this, um, trend moving downward in the Medford public schools. We, um, our positive cases mirrored what was happening in the community. They rose steadily throughout December and early January, and we are starting to see a decline now. In January, we have seen no evidence of in-school transmission. Families are keeping students home when they're ill, and we are very appreciative of that. Our routine surveillance testing resumed prior to the entry of students back into school. And in last week's testing, we identified less than six positive cases. The testing is staffed by the school nurses and the Northeastern student nurses, and it's running smoothly and efficiently. With Friday, we had 1,070 tests that we completed. For the phase one of the vaccination effort by the state, the school nurses have been vaccinated as COVID facing healthcare professionals. The related service providers and behavioral health providers have been vaccinated as non-COVID facing healthcare. Educators have been defined as being in phase two, which vaccinations should commence at some point in mid February through March. And you can obtain the schedule on mass.gov backslash COVID-19 vaccine. Today, the Department of Education on their weekly update reported that the department expects to receive further written information about the vaccine rollout for educators from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Health by the end of the week. As we receive information from the Department of Public Health, we will make this available to all the educators within our system. Thank you.
[Murphy]: Mayor, I was just going to follow up. Last week we shared with the committee our ongoing efforts related to consent forms. There were some questions at that time related to our consent forms by cohort. So we've accumulated that data and do have it by school as well and be circulating that to the committee later in the week. So these numbers are fluid, both because the consent forms continue to come in. And our participation in the program, at least participation as defined by consent forms, continues to rise. With the high school cohorts who have just come into in-person instruction over the last several weeks, that's where we're seeing our percentages of consent forms being the lowest, which would be expected. And we'll continue to push and promote the program so that we continue to increase participation. You'll see that the overall participation rate is in the low 80s, which is what we had reported on a couple of weeks ago. But I would just note that given that these numbers now include the three grade levels who have just come in, as I just referenced, the fact that we're maintaining that percentage is an encouraging sign because it means that we are, relatively speaking, keeping pace. The high school, again, is where we have the lowest percentage of consent forms, but that's to be expected. and we'll continue to work on that over the next several weeks. We are at this point tentatively planning to transition to pool testing next week. I probably would have said that two weeks ago about this week, but we decided to hold off for one more week due to some logistical challenges that we were facing. And so we'll be communicating out to the community and to staff what the implications of that transition means. As we've spoken about in this forum in the past, The primary difference when we switch from individual testing to pool testing is that those in a positive pool will be identified the day after the pool test, and will be directed to go to a testing site for what we call a reflex test, which will be a testing station open in Medford for, I expect it's gonna be three hours a day, at least to start, six days a week, and that will give those in a positive pool the opportunity to be essentially cleared to reenter the school buildings within a short period of time. That's the most important, just in terms of where we're, important data with regard to where we're headed with regards to the testing program going forward. We have, we still have a few details to work out on the pool testing, which is why we haven't communicated en masse on that yet, but hopefully we'll be doing that in the next several days. Happy to answer any questions. Again, this data, I know there were questions about by cohort and by school. You can see it here by cohort. We have it by school and we'll be sharing that with you over the next several days. Again, note that the data is fluid, both because there's some people moving in and out of cohorts and because there are consent forms that are coming in. I'm going to take this off, but happy to reshare it if anyone has questions about it.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you very much. for providing that data. If there's no questions, thank you, Ms. Ray, Mr. Murphy for the update. Mr. Musso.
[Ruseau]: Thank you, sorry. I know so many little tiles, it's hard to see everybody. I just had a question about when we get our communication from the superintendent, which I believe goes up to the public as well, about the number of tests and the number of positives, this is wonderful information. This January, it's always been very, very good. But looking at the number of consented students in the cohorts that was just shown, it just dawned on me that when you say there's been a thousand tests and we've had four positives, for instance, that includes staff. And one of the things I cannot deduce in any way, shape or form is if cohort A is tested, some of them are tested with cohort B, some of them are tested with cohort C, correct? Some of them are Tuesday and some of them are Friday. So I don't know of a thousand tests. I'm not actually concerned that staff aren't getting tested, but if there were 980 students who should have been tested on Friday, were there 980 students that were tested on Friday? Or were there 600 students that were tested? This is a critical piece of information that is completely impossible to deduce from the information that I have at this point.
[Murphy]: Yeah, I think that's true. I don't think that information is contained in here. What I can tell you is that these numbers do fluctuate from week to week, both because the total pool of students who are eligible to be tested is increasing, and because the numbers just have varied from week to week. And that has to do with who is actually coming into school. And there is some variability at the secondary level with regard to student participation. That is a operational issue that we knew was going to occur at the secondary level based on how the testing is scheduled. And it's something that we're going to be looking at over the coming days to try to essentially bridge whatever gap currently exists. Our focus initially was on getting the consent form participation up as high as possible. Our goal is still 100% with regard to that. If you were to back out grades 9, 10, and 11 of this, we're closer than this data would suggest with regard to consent form participation. Our numbers are steady at elementary and middle school because the students are, because of the way in which it's operationalized. At high school, there are different challenges, different schedule, different reality. And so we have to sort of work on that in the coming days and weeks. And we'll be working with the high school team to see how we can perfect that. So that you're correctly identifying a gap that exists there. With respect to the cohort A students, we have frankly gone back and forth a little bit as to whether or not those students should be tested once a week or twice a week. With the reduction in financial cost, at least our team, and I say our team, and frankly, basically, this is information that's coming out of a meeting with just myself and Tony as the head of health services and our partners at Tufts, I expect our position will be that the cohort A students will test or have a test available to them twice a week. It's a marginal cost difference that we've calculated. And those students are in the school environment twice as often as students who are only in, you know, in cohorts B and C. And therefore, I think it's logical that they would have the opportunity to test twice as much. And again, given that we've estimated it's a now, given the pool testing, a marginal budgetary impact, that's what I expect would happen. I think you'll see a bridging of that gap once that occurs. I can tell you that in terms of unique tests, we typically do about 1,000 on Tuesdays and 1,000 on Fridays. And we're about 1,700 or so unique tests a week. So it's made up of staff and students, mostly staff. But the cohort that is testing twice a week is typically a few hundred.
[Ruseau]: Okay, there's just one word, Mr. Murphy, that you used that I think we need to be careful around and available. If I'm a parent sending my kid to school and I have signed that consent form, that parent I am gonna go out on a limb is assuming with an incredibly high level of confidence that their student is getting tested every single time that they are supposed to get tested. And if I found out that, you know, my high school student is going to school and for scheduling and lines and whatever other reason, they've been going all for the last two weeks and have never actually gotten tested. I would, I would actually not send my kid to school the next day. So it can't be available. We need to know that a hundred percent of kids that parents have signed a consent, they've not signed a consent form, meaning like, if you can think about it and get around to it, maybe you should test my kid. They're saying, I'm consenting to this testing and I think it's okay to send my kid into the building. And part of my logic is it's safe for my student because I know that they're getting regular testing and so is everybody else. And so we need to tighten this up so that we have no kids slipping through the cracks. If the cohort A students are available on Tuesdays and Fridays for testing, we have to decide is it going to be that they get tested both days or they have to be tested on one of those days? Because otherwise we can't do any check that they actually got any test at all. And I mean, the idea that there could be students who've been going to school, who've gotten consents and have just never been tested. That is what I hear. It's possible that you have gone to school and consented and you've actually never gotten the test, correct?
[Murphy]: It's possible. I think it's very unlikely. And if it's the case, it's very few. I would say that my choice of the word available is in part because within the high school pool, there are students who have reached the age of majority and therefore can consent themselves. And therefore they can have, we can have them on record as having issued consent and they can choose of their own volition to not test. I think that you are absolutely correct that we have to tighten the operation of the testing at the secondary level to make sure that it is not sort of a strictly on the spectrum of the continuum of voluntary versus compulsory. We have to move toward compulsory because it is an expectation. I think you're right about families and parents expectations and we want to meet those expectations. There are some practical limitations at the high school level that don't exist at the elementary school level. But I think we have to find a way to overcome those limitations.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. And my last thing here, I understand that there are limitations around, especially the high school population and certainly the population that has reached the age of 18. But I think that as a parent, I would want some transparency around that. There were a thousand tests. There were 12 students at the high school who didn't get tested this week. And next week, if three of those students didn't get tested last week, we should say there are 12 students this week who didn't get tested. Who could have gotten tested? Who went to school with your kids? And there were three who haven't been tested for the last two weeks. I mean, it seems like an insane amount of data and it may be challenging, but parents have made, many parents have made an incredibly difficult decision to choose between their education and the mental health consequences of going to school. And some of those people have made those decisions even though they have high risk people in their houses. And they have put themselves at an incredible risk because they think that the risk is mitigated by what we're doing. So we can't have gaps that we find out afterwards. And I realized that the ability to track in-school transmission does depend on a very high level affirmative and confirmative testing is actually happening for the students that are consented. So I appreciate that you recognize this area needs to be tightened up and we'll work on that. Thank you.
[Murphy]: Absolutely, thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Van der Kloothe, Member McLaughlin.
[Van der Kloot]: We received a letter from a member of the public. This is from Leticia Roca. Hello, my name is Leticia Roca of 3610 Mystic Valley Parkway. I have the following questions regarding the public health updates. One, where exactly can we find updated data about the number of staff members and students that have tested positive across the different schools? Is this on the school website? This was talked about multiple times during these meetings, but I've yet to see this information divulged consistently online in an accessible manner. Two, Tufts students are returning to campus. Will you continue to calculate the Medford positivity rate without Tufts tests? And where will this updated information be publicized consistently? And then three, has it been officially established that families have the option for remote only learning for the rest of this school year until June? If yes, where can we find this official statement by the MPS administration? Regards, Leticia.
[Lungo-Koehn]: I can take number two. The state will still calculate our positivity rate, including Tufts data that they release every Thursday. The data on the website, I'm not sure exactly who's putting that on on a weekly basis, but... Yeah, I think the answer is the number one and three is yes and yes.
[Murphy]: The remote option is for the remainder of the school year and it is on the website. If you go to the main page, there's a tab there. I believe it is up to date. I'd like to not navigate the website on live TV, because the last time I did that, it didn't work out well, but I will certainly double check it and make sure that it's where we want it to be. Great.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you so much, Mr. Murphy.
[Murphy]: Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member McLaughlin?
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Mr. Murphy, during the testing for COVID test, don't we as parents get results from our children's tests within 24 hours, a notification of their results so that we would therefore know whether they were tested or not? And if we don't get the results, then we can assume that they had not been tested?
[Murphy]: Yes, hopefully it's much less than 24 hours. And it typically is, but yes.
[McLaughlin]: Right, so that was confusing for me. So then we do know who is and who is not getting tested.
[Murphy]: Yes, and even absent the parent data we have that we can generate that. I mean, that's how I know it's about 1700 unique tests per day, I'm sorry, per week.
[Lungo-Koehn]: And you would think that almost everybody that is signed up to get tested is getting tested, so.
[Murphy]: And I know that there's the biggest gap is at high school, which is again, not a surprise. not a reflection on the high school's community's lack of commitment, but is absolutely indicative of the need to tighten how we're administering at the high school level. It is the nature of sort of the different age groups is part of the issue. So it is, the schedule presents a sort of a second challenge and a very significant one, but I don't want there to be any impression that because it's harder to reach a higher percentage at the high school, that somehow we are acquiescing and saying, well, guess 65% will have to be good enough or whatever the case may be. I would just say that we have more experience, frankly, doing this at the elementary and middle school level than we do at the high school because we've just only had the cohorts in for about a week or so. But we have to bridge the gap. I will say that, and I'll just add to that point really quickly. I'm sorry, I don't mean to belabor this, but it's where we have the greatest risk in many respects because of the independent nature of teenagers' lives. And so the urgency is there, and I know it's shared by the high school team, and we're going to work to make sure that we position the school to bridge that gap. Thank you. Ms.
[Wray]: Ray? I just wanted to add one more thing. The only other situation where parents will not receive test results is if a test is determined to be what's called TNP, or test not performed. I have a list of those every week. I email every single parent or staff member who receives a TNP value. Usually that occurs because the specimen doesn't have enough, there's not enough specimen to test, or by some chance the little swab was put in incorrectly into the vacutainer. So parents are notified of that and advised that if their child is not feeling ill, they may come to school and test at the next regularly scheduled testing date. We run about 20, TNPs every testing period.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Ms. Ray. On to number three, we have report on freshman orientation and the return of hybrid students grade 9 through 11. Principal Paul DeLeva and Principal Chad Fallon.
[D'Alleva]: I don't know if I see Chad, but anyway, thank you for having me, school committee. just want to review regarding what we did for in-person. As you know, the high school was one of the last schools to get into our in-person learning within the building itself. And before I get started, I do want to thank a few people. Definitely want to thank the building admin team, Mr. Chad Fallon, Mr. David Blauk, Ms. Gail Trainor, Ms. Fitzpatrick, Ms. Charose Walker, we constantly meet twice a week to make sure that things are being upheld or what changes need to be made, especially with having people that came into the building. There's always things, what we had in theory doesn't always work out in practice. So things that might occur that we need to readjust, We tend to review that every twice a week, once on Monday and once on Friday as well. So I'm going to share my screen here and basically go over a presentation that you should have received as well. So in order to to go over things to make sure that we could have a good transition. One thing that we did as a building admin team. We had two family forums on January 12, they were from 630 to 730. Mr. Rose Walker really hosted the grade nine while Mr. Chad Fallon and myself were in support. of that presentation. Meanwhile, Mr. David Blau, Ms. Alice Bessford-Patrick, and Ms. Treanor were overseeing the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade forums as well. Both same presentation, but we definitely wanted to give more of a in-depth for our ninth grade as they had never been into the building. Let's see. So as we said, this was a zoom presentation and when we reviewed we almost had a total of 100 participation participants in each forum that would be the ninth grade forum, as well as the 10th grade forum so about 100 each so we're talking about 200 people that attended and obviously we did this over zoom. The next day was one of our most important days because as we were bringing people in, we realized we needed to have a freshman orientation. This was sort of discussed when the dynamic learning plan came out. We had to wait for the opportunity to actually have students in the building. So having our freshman orientation, what we did was we did four groups alpha split based on cohort B. And as you can see there, we also had optional days for cohort D. We wanted to make sure, even though there were students that were remote, that they could participate in our orientation. Same with cohort A. Even though cohort A had been within the building prior to this, we also wanted them to have the same kind of orientation that other students were having. So it was a long day. Normally, we tend to do a half day, you know, everyone in the building, if you remember, prior to school starting. And our idea of the format was that, you know, we started off in the theater, Seats were marked. We made sure that everyone was social distance, so we had a small group of students each time. We definitely discussed our expectations, which I'll review again, and what our COVID protocols would be within the high school. And then the most important part was to make sure that students in small group tours could find their classes, because knowing that they were coming into the school the next day, we wanted to give them an idea of, you know, where to go, because they would have walked into the building without having any knowledge whatsoever. That day prior to orientation, we mailed home schedules. And if you look at the little arrow there, it also noted their cohorts. This was also posted on their school brains. We wanted to make sure that everyone had an updated schedule with room numbers. Prior to when we had posted out schedules, we didn't put room numbers because we were all remote. So we mailed these out physically, but we also made sure we sent out messages of where to locate that in their school brains portal. So as you can see here, and if you look carefully, you see Ms. Walker doing our presentation to our ninth graders. Again, this was one of the groups of the four groups that were there. We also had staff members that volunteered their time. It was, you know, very good that we had people that could answer questions for our freshmen as they were going through their tours and making sure everybody was social distance as we were walking through the building. So, you know, a highly successful rate of having students come into small groups at four times during the day. And we also wanted to make sure that they left with a map. This is our Mustang map that was basically given to every student. It was developed by the CCSR when I first came here. It's one of the better maps. There's a couple of editing parts that needed there, but it was enough that we made sure that every student knew which area of the building was what. And so these are the topics that we covered at both the family forums and the freshman orientation. One thing was important to know exactly who is what cohort, understanding that cohort A comes four days a week. Cohort B was based off of an alpha split from A through K. cohort C, again, last name L through Z. Wednesday, everybody was remote, and cohort D, students were remote every day. With this slide itself, I wanted to make sure that people also understand that our cohorts are still fluid. There are some certain circumstances, so even though it says alpha split, there are some circumstances that families have contacted assistant principals and myself of making a switch. Sometimes it happens to be a sibling preference. So even though your alpha split is A through K, you know, you might have a sibling preference or someone with a different last name that needs to be aligned. So we move those students over to what's beneficial to families. A reminder of everyone of how we started. So cohorts C started that Thursday, Friday on the 14th and the 15th. Cohort B, unfortunately, not unfortunately, but because due to the holiday, they had to start on Tuesday, 1-19. And that we were having alternate weeks for CTE week for shops. So we wanted to make sure that that was listed as well for every student. I wanted to make sure people had an idea of who's who in the building I know they they virtually saw us but wanted to make sure that they knew who I was who Mr. Fallon was who their assistant principals are so they had support within the building and to kind of put a face to a name, especially in for freshman orientation everybody was present. So it's good for them to see who we are so they could definitely know who to go to for assistance and what we look like. Even though we're unmasked in these pictures, at least our profiles were able to be shown as best we could. You know, one another thing we brought up was technology for in person learning and matter of fact if you look there. The highlighted part or the bolded part is having school issue Chromebooks, especially with our Wi Fi. We're noting that students that are bringing in. devices that are their own or having difficulty connecting to the Wi-Fi, even though we have areas of remote, it doesn't really matter where the area is. It's not really a signal problem. It's more of that home device has a difficulty connecting to the school network or puts you on a limited device. So if you're on a Zoom, it kind of gets kind of difficult to stay connected or you're going to kind of constantly have to reconnect as well. So we're working on definitely making sure that our school-issued Chromebooks are getting out to all our students. We're using our library as well as a way of getting that need. Contacting is a point way of making sure that you can get a device. We tell all our students to bring their chargers. Even though we don't have a lot of charging stations, we are trying to find areas within the building. Chad Fallon and the electrical crew have been working on doing some charging stations in the cafeteria. for during lunch. We do know that Zoom tends to take a lot of juice out. So hopefully, you know, most people get it done, but it is able to get done. So one of our statements that we do preach all the time is to make sure your device is charged overnight. So you're bringing it in fully charged. Regarding building info, as we know we have no lockers if you were to walk in the building we've actually zip tied them shut with with not to make sure that, you know, these are areas where we're not leaving materials that could possibly potentially spread are the sorry the virus. So we do ask to not bring extra items outside of basically what you need for your class. You know, we do know that book bags can get kind of heavy. So we want to make sure that you're bringing your essentials. We do have no water bubblers. If you walk around, they're all taped off. So we are encouraging everyone to bring a big bottle of water if needed. Our bathroom signs are listed. Most bathrooms are one person at a time, although in the science area, We are allowing two people at a time as that room is cleared. And we're trying to stress not to remove your mask while you're in the bathroom. We discussed a little bit regarding the MBTA, again, because that is the main source of transportation. One thing that we've noted is that we're sort of bound by MBTA, just being that we utilize their service to drop students off and take students home through the high school. And the MBTA has their own set of rules regarding pickups and how many people they're going to put on a bus. We have noted that if students are going to be tardy and it's due to a bus, that's no fault of theirs. So we want to make sure that they're checking in with their assistant principal when they come into the building so that we can make sure we adjust and notify staff that the reason why students might be late. Again, no fault of their own. We are going to do our monthly bus passes. As a matter of fact, in February, the first week of February, that whole week, we'll be offering bus passes to be purchased. It'll be in the foyer. The main foyer where between the EL department area and the library, just right outside there, that's where the students are going to be able to purchase their monthly bus passes. We also have students that are coming to school driving. Again, we ask that students please register their cars like we've done in the past. Again, we can use this for tracing in certain things. We also want people to also stay COVID safe. Riders should be masked. I know it's hard. I know people want to carpool. We're kind of encouraging not to have that. But if you are carpooling, you're following the rules within what the governor set down that everyone's wearing a mask within the car as they're coming to school. Just to note some building entrances and actually that's a picture of our floors if you notice the one way stickers in the morning. Our main high school entrance which is in the foyer. The vocational main entrance, which utilizes specialized transportation as well. And we've opened up our West courtyard library doors normally we used to have. Students walk in into door 17. This time what we're doing is we're opening up all the library doors. So there's free access and less touching of a door coming in. There's hand sanitizers at each area. And then students can head to their breakfast and they can head to the areas where they're close to first period. Again, always making sure that we're keeping social distancing, we're not trying to crowd. And again, their hand sanitizers, hand washing areas within each class. And we ask that we do that before and after when it comes to breakfast or lunch. As stated, we still have a free breakfast and lunch for all students, which is completely awesome, I would say, for this year. I mean, if there's some good things that happen with COVID, we're ensuring that everyone is getting fed. So we do have a 7 to 740 breakfast program. The reason why it's that early, I mean, we try to limit time as best we can, but we also know that the MBTA buses tend to drop students off a little bit earlier than usual. So we want to make sure that students can definitely get their food and maintain their social distance. Again, lunch is from 10.50 to 11.20. The way that we have that utilized, there are multiple locations where students can eat, but our pickup stations are mostly in cafeteria three and cafeteria two. We've been stating every day and making announcements that if you are going to eat in cafeteria two and cafeteria one, you're to pick up your food in CAF 2, and if you're gonna eat in CAF 3, and we also have our bleachers labeled in the gymnasium, that you would pick up your lunch in CAF 3 so that we don't have a bottleneck. It's one of the things that we also realized on the first day regarding making sure everybody was safe, and I think the multiple areas definitely helped out within the next days. This is just a basic daily schedule of the day. If you notice the first bell is at 740 as it normally is. What's different here is that we're asking students to report to their period one class. That's where they will hear their announcements and that's where they'll take attendance. And we take attendance by period so that we can determine who's present in the building physically, who's present remote in their class, because there are students that are accessing the same class remotely, absent in the building, and absent remotely as well. We do this for every period, and then at the end of the day, we compile that attendance to make the determination for the daily attendance. We ask for classroom assignments and remote teachers. So we ask for people to look in their schedule for room assignments. We do daily notices for any room changes that might happen throughout the days. For example, we might have a student, not a student, excuse me, a teacher that is sick, not due to COVID, but might be taking a sick day. So we have to make sure that there's an area within the remote, reverse remote for those students to go. So we notify them. during that area, and we assign them to separate spaces. As of right now, what we've been doing is we've been utilizing the CAF3. We've been utilizing Lecture Hall 3 and currently Lecture Hall 2 to make sure that everyone is maintained social distance while connecting remotely. The one thing I will definitely say that's important is the headphones. I've gotten a few emails regarding things being louder The headphones are going to be key as best we can. We know that it's not easy to access remotely a teacher while you're in the building, but having those headphones do the noise reduction as best as possible. Dismissal, again, we try to make sure that we're doing a six feet. We try to tell students to use a door that they are closest with. I know sometimes that takes a little bit around. So for example, if you're in the C2 area and you're closest to the cafeteria, you would want to exit through the community schools exit. Some students that are close to the C area, they exit through the library doors. Some students exit through the front foyer or the vocational area. We try to keep things as open as possible so that people are spread out and can go to their areas for dismissal. One thing we definitely wanted to note is our guidance team. Our guidance team has definitely been helpful with schedules and definitely guidance through the building as well. So guiding our students in certain areas, even supporting of having difficult times, We want to make sure that, again, that everyone had a face to the name, because, again, being remote and then being in the building, there's been discussions. There's definitely been people connecting. But having a physical conversation or knowing who that person is was important for us to make sure we noted throughout our presentations. One thing that we definitely asked in our presentations in freshman orientation, we asked that people contacted their assistant principal. if they weren't feeling well. So for example, if a student wasn't feeling well and they woke up, we ask that we contact the assistant principal. We know we wanna contact the nurses as well, but for us to be notified so that we know exactly who's staying home, is it going to be remote? Again, as Mr. Murphy said, our cohorts are sort of fluid right now. Some students are opting to continue to be in cohort D even though they were intended to be in cohort C. So those conversations with your assistant principal help us kind of isolate the numbers that we need. Again, we want to make sure that everyone's getting the learning experience that they want. So your assistant principal basically is very key in order for that and the assistant principal and the nurse will be in contact as well. I just want to make sure everyone was noting our nursing staff who have been phenomenal throughout this year, especially with the COVID testing, as well as doing their due days and their contact tracing. So people understood who they were and what they've done. Definitely gone above and beyond this year. And it's very appreciative and noted from the high school administration. Again, if you go through the high school and if you notice too, we have our little TV set that's right at the foyer and our LED lights, we are stressing our school protocols regarding what we should be doing throughout the day. The independence of high school can be very challenging sometimes, especially when moving from class to class. Our administration has basically been outside, you know, reminding students to say, you know, arms length apart, is six feet as best as possible. It's very hard though, socially, I can understand that, but it's something that we work on and we preach. So we always are constantly doing these reminders, especially in the morning announcements. I thought it was cute that just to show exactly what a mask could be as you're going through the day. We also wanted to note that our rooms are disinfected every day. Each room is supplied with hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray, paper towels, disposable masks. And then a protocol that we've been using is, again, teacher will spray the desk, student will grab a paper towel and wipe down the desk, the paper towel is thrown into the barrel, and then students will use hand sanitizer after the class is completed. And usually at the end of this as well I always say thanks for everyone's patience and support if everyone understands or any messages you've gotten from me. I've always asked for forgiveness and flexibility as this is new for everybody, but I have to admit, it's been wonderful having students in the building. It's been great. seeing them throughout the day and saying hello to them. You know, being in the building when we were in a sort of a bear state really made it very difficult. The school is really having people in person and with the push of the central administration and again the building admin team and I also want to thank the teachers as we had good dialogue back and forth regarding what works, what doesn't work so that we can make it work. It all couldn't have been done unless everybody was involved. So thank you everyone and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I also just wanted to say that Principal Chad Fallon is also on the line and I didn't know if Principal Fallon, you wanted to just say something specifically regarding activities that's happening in the vocational world to make sure that everyone can hear what was happening on that as well.
[Fallon]: Sure. Thank you. Happy New Year, everybody. All 15 of our programs are open. The presentation that Paul shared with you was the same presentation we used at our parent forum. So we're all following the same protocol. We have our health assisting students are still at Lawrence Memorial Hospital because of that. onsite experience has been good, so they're still enjoying that. Our electricians and laborers are out at our Habitat site in Andover, and a salon will be opening within the next few weeks. We're moving up this week. Teachers are doing great. You know, the blended instruction is working. It's tough to be teaching students in person and virtually, but they're doing it. They're doing an amazing job. We're working on a few glitches, but we're getting through it. Everyone's okay. We have pushed up the Freshman Exploratory Program so that everyone's going to be in their final placement by February 4th, so that everyone has some ample time to actually be in person in their CDE program if they are choosing an in-person model. Anybody has any questions, I'm here on the call if you need me. Nice to see you all.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Mr. Fallon. Thank you, Mr. DeLeva. Very thorough presentation. Number four, we have report on Tufts University free course offering for high school student, Dr. Peter Cushing and principal Paul DeLava.
[Cushing]: Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the school committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present this tremendous opportunity that Tufts University is providing to some of our students and some students at Somerville High School as well. In December of 2020, the director of the Tufts University Office of Government and Community Relations Rocco DiRico contacted Medford Public Schools and offered two of our students to take classes at the university free of charge. It provides the students that have financial need the ability to take this course for college credit while providing them also a prestigious opportunity on their application. There are a couple of qualifications that they would like us to adhere to first. Students should be a junior or senior in good academic standing as deemed by the school, demonstrate academic ability and maturity to participate in college-level work, and with the necessary proficiency in English as determined by the principal or the designee. A high school transcript needs to be provided, demonstrate their interest in taking a class at Tufts in the form of a letter or an essay, And it should indicate at least one class the student has an interest in taking so they'd need to review their, the Tufts University transcript and then also to demonstrate a financial need for the scholarship. I'd like to turn it over now to Principal DeLava to talk about the students selected for this opportunity.
[D'Alleva]: Thank you and hello again. I just to reiterate to what Dr. Cushman said, obviously, within our school system we also had to generate interest that had occurred, and students had the ability to write their essays. and present them, we had them present them to their assistant principals. So our junior and senior assistant principals are Ms. Alice Beth Fitzpatrick on the vocational side, as well as Mr. Blauch on the high school side, and that's for 11th and 12th grade, as we did some restructuring this year to make sure every student was covered. So they were able to review the essays, and then basically the finalists were brought forth to me. And then using the guidelines that Dr. Cushion had stated from the Tufts perspective, we were able to present our student, which I'm happy to tell you her name is Liza Lopes, who was actually at with Dr. Vincent this Monday. She's a CCSR student. She's a student that is definitely in a good academic standing and we wanted to make sure that she had this opportunity to take the course at Tufts. The one thing about her essay, which is actually wonderful, is that due to some financial and lack of interest, there was a course actually that we ended up having to not run. This year, which was economics, believe it or not, and Liza had stated in her essay that that was the course that she wants to take at Tufts so I was very, very, very happy that that that's something that she's able to do. And she's ready to start in the spring semester. And again, this all happened so fast prior to the break, but I'm very happy that we were able to definitely determine our student for the spring semester, and she's very excited to get going. So congratulations, Liza, and wanted it to be noted by the school committee. So thank you.
[Van der Kloot]: Member Van der Kloot. Thank you. First, I want to thank you, Mr. DeLiva, for your presentation and Mr. Fallon. In regards specifically to the Tufts, were there quite a number of students who were interested?
[D'Alleva]: I wouldn't say that there was a lot. And I think, I don't wanna say due to COVID, but I think it's kind of the same, do I wanna take on something more? So I don't know if the issue, I can't figure out exactly what the issue is, but I could say just on the general feel when we put it out there, I think there are some students that are just focused on their academia at the high school and taking an extra step wasn't something that they were interested at this time.
[Van der Kloot]: The only thing I wondered is if there was a second student who was particularly interested, and I don't know whether that's the case, but whether we could go back to Tufts and say, hey, we've got another student who's really interested. And if that were being, I'm all hypothetical here, but if there was any thought that there was another student who was a close call, I would certainly encourage you to say, could we go back and ask? because there is a certain flexibility too with perhaps making a class of another extra student. I see Dr. Cushing has his hand up.
[D'Alleva]: Right. I should have probably said this as well. We do have a summer course as well that Tufts is offering. Oh, that's great. So within that piece of what you're stating, that's sort of the logic that we're heading towards as well, towards the summer course, which then alleviates that, you know, I want to focus on my academia at Medford High School, you now have a little bit more time as well. So using that and reopening up the application process, I think is something that we're going to end up doing for the summer.
[Van der Kloot]: Well, it's great. One can only always want more though. So thank you very much. Thank you. Dr. Cushing?
[Cushing]: So this program came about, I mean, this is a phenomenal opportunity by Tufts and really we cannot say enough about our Tufts University partners and how well they support the Metro Public Schools in so many ways. There was a rather short run up to this first course being offered. And I think also that tight timeline might have limited students, their ability to write an essay, their ability to really get something in, that might've been a hindrance. I think moving forward, we'll have a fiercely competitive process. Not that this wasn't, but I think we will have a fiercely robust process to make sure this happens and is well-publicized. We had a very tight window moving in this first step.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to also state that I was really appreciative of this great opportunity that came. The timeframe was very, very tight, but I was just grateful that we were able to get this great opportunity out to one of our students and that a student who shows that they have, you know, a strong desire to be pushed and to be able to, provided they do well with the coursework, they'll be able to apply it to their college transcripts or, you know, have one extra elective class that they can take. So that'll be a savings to a family as well. So I just wanted to thank Tufts for that. And I agree with you, Member Van der Kloot. We can always try to see if we can squeeze in. Start with one, go to two and get up to three or up to five students. That would be wonderful for our students. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Mr. DeLava?
[D'Alleva]: So just to piggyback too, I think what's unique about this program too is it's students in need as well. And I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, but that is a criteria, not by us, but by Tufts is looking to give opportunities for students that normally wouldn't have this kind of opportunity as well. So just the fact that we're, we're looking at all aspects of a student and making sure that they're getting the best that they possibly can get. That was really something that Mr. DeRico had definitely, that rang home when he met with us. So I wanted to make sure that that's how the process is basically working as well.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Great, thank you so much. And thank you to Tufts University. five recommendation to approve revised job description for re-engagement specialists, Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent and Mr. David Murphy.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so we're really excited this evening to talk to you about this re-envisioned position of a re-engagement specialist and through much discussion and really thinking about taking something that in the past may have had a more negative connotation and changing it so that it's a proactive connotation and really saying we would like this person to be a re-engagement specialist, helping us re-engage with students that may for whatever reason, life challenges, or maybe on the path to wanting to drop out of school to think twice and be able to have a specialist, a liaison, be able to help us close that gap and keep all of our students in school and on task. So I want to just pass it on to my colleague, Mr. Murphy, and let him give a little bit more context about this re-engagement specialist.
[Murphy]: Sure, so I'll just expand briefly upon what the superintendent said, and certainly would look forward to answering any questions as I would other, I know other members of the team will as well. The district, as all districts are, is obligated to employ an individual who serves as a supervisor of student attendance. This is a position that in past iterations would be referred to as a truancy officer. As the superintendent stated, it was the leadership team's view and certainly our perspective that many in the community felt similar, that we want this position to move away from the type of punitive perspective in which students should be punished for failing to comply with the rules and regulations of school and move toward a more affirming perspective in which we recognize that when students become disengaged from school, It is often due to circumstances that are beyond their control. And it is always under conditions that we as district and school leaders need to take into account and try to bring students and families back into school communities and making sure that they are well situated where they can be successful as students and ultimately as graduates. So the modifications to the posting that has been up on the district's job postings for some time, frankly, predating my arrivals. I don't exactly know when this vacancy occurred, but it's something that we put a lot of thought into over the last several months, received a lot of feedback, and we feel as though the position as described in the job description that has been proposed to you will hopefully attract a candidate pool, although we will certainly review the candidates that have applied under the old job description as well that are consistent with the priorities, principles, and values that are embodied in the proposed job description. So again, happy to answer any questions about it. There is some ambiguity, frankly, in the description as to whether this would be a part-time or full-time role. In most districts, this is a part-time role. We are open, sort of open-minded about that and want to see what the candidate pool and what the budgetary capacity is. before making a determination as to whether this would be part-time or full-time. Obviously, that determination will affect the core functions, or at least the overall job duties to some extent. But the core functions and the role in the organization would be similar, frankly, whether it's a full-time or part-time. It would just be an expanded portfolio in supporting school leaders and other administrators and teachers in reengaging students, if it were to be full-time. So we're going to sort of defer on that one. with your indulgence and then just with regard to putting the posting up and making sure that we're advertising the position correctly though, that is why we would seek the committee's endorsement tonight.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I greatly appreciate this new job description and the orientation towards not treating our students as if there's something wrong with them. And, you know, just the general approach of the district is definitely going in the right direction. And I'm very, very proud of that job posting. It says a lot, frankly, about where we are going. And so I motion for approval of the change.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member van de Kloot, then member Graham.
[Van der Kloot]: I also appreciated the job description and the intent behind it. I would second the motion.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Grimm?
[Graham]: Sorry, I generally am sort of in the same place. I just had a couple of questions or thoughts. My first question is, I didn't see anything in the essential duties that talks about this individual needing to be able to sort of connect students and families to services available in the network around them. And I did a little bit of quick poking around at some other similar job descriptions. And that stood out to me as something that when you're talking about re-engagement of a student who is sort of not where we want them to be, that we all sort of recognize it's probably not their fault, there's something else going on, but like we have to sort of step, I think we have to be able to step in and find some ways to fix the stuff going on or try to address or try to connect them to the people who can help them address the thing that is going on. So I would love to see us add that to the essential duties that that person can be expected to sort of help with that like support net in terms of connecting people. And we've talked before about like, is their family signed up for free reduced lunch? Like what are all the things that they require in order to sort of get on a more sustainable path forward to graduation? So I think that would be a really meaningful addition to the list. And then the other thing that jumped out at me is in the credentials. I would like to see us remove criminal justice and law enforcement as a thing we're specifically calling out that we're looking for a degree in. So I don't think it means we couldn't embrace a candidate that has a degree in criminal justice, but given how progressive this is otherwise, I don't think we're gaining anything by calling that out except scrutiny about whether this is just window dressing. And I don't believe it is. So perhaps there's a way for us to remove that before we post the job. And then my other question was whether you have talked at all about what role, if any, this individual plays as we think about implementing our out-of-school suspension policy, and is there connectivity there or not? That just didn't jump out at me one way or the other.
[Murphy]: Those are all three. great points there. If it's okay, if I could just quickly respond to what I think. So typically, when the district is making minor revisions to job descriptions to just be consistent with responsibilities, we don't bring every single one of those to the school committee, I can't imagine you would want us to bring every single one of those to the school committee. So I think the suggestions that Ms. Kravitz made, particularly the first one with respect to making sure that there's the capacity to avail themselves or the district of services that are available through the government, nonprofit partners, and so on and so forth. I don't think there's any question that the job description would be enhanced by adding a bullet point to that effect. With respect to the criminal justice piece, this is a, at least it should be, and I don't have it in front of me this second, but this should be essentially a, the attempt is to sort of minimize the emphasis on criminal justice for the reasons that you, or criminal justice credentials for the reasons that you are stating. I will have to defer to the committee, frankly, as to whether it should be fully excised, because while I do think it should be minimized, there are many individuals who have worked in various aspects of the criminal justice system, whose credentials and frankly, whose priorities and values very much would align with what we're trying to do. elements of, and certainly individuals who have worked in criminal justice field and law enforcement who very much have a restorative orientation when it comes to particularly working with children. So I think I'm just in front of the superintendent, the school committee, I don't have an opinion on whether that should be listed or not. I do think it is something that when we are looking at people, candidates, it is likely to me that there will be good candidates coming out of those fields. And I don't think we want to, I think, well, I think that into some respect, the sort of target audience is the community to make sure that we're accurately expressing our values as an organization. The other target audience is the prospective candidate pool. And I don't want to do anything to diminish that. And I think that's just something we'd want to take into account. And with respect to the, the sort of direction that the district is going with regards to student discipline, I would say absolutely that this is a position that we'll be working closely with principals and other administrators to ensure that the values that were represented in the committee's previous discussion related to restorative practices is reflected in this individual and in this role once it's built.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member, I feel like somebody else had their hand up, but I see Member Ruseau right now. Member Ruseau.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. Member Graham's excellent analysis of this. I've read this twice, and I didn't see any of those things, and I agree with them all. I think the criminal justice law enforcement piece of the credentials. I certainly see Mr. Murphy's point about making sure that we get a pool of people who, you know, the interviewers will, of course, be able to get in much greater detail about any of these, you know, somebody who has a social worker, psychology, counseling or education degree that doesn't make them the right candidate. And they could have those degrees and a law enforcement candidate. a law enforcement degree. I think that the part of the sentence that member Graham said was actually most compelling to me was the concern for window dressing. And it is not unreasonable to read these credentials and see that listed there and put it up against the rest of the job description. And when you read the rest of the job description, it actually does sort of feel like a bit of a surprise that somebody from law enforcement would be a right candidate. Now I understand as Mr. Murphy said that, you know, there are plenty of people in law enforcement who come from with a restorative justice approach and obviously we want them to apply and be part of the candidate pool. But I do feel like I would support removing that because Partially because of the feeling of, is this just window dressing? But more because up against the rest of the job description, it sort of feels out of place. At least from the general sense of, you know, what law enforcement means, which means different things to different people. But I think law enforcement to most people does not include what the job description lists. So that's why I would support removing that.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I'm amenable to removing it because we also say or other related fields. So we can definitely remove that, add the additional bullet point about the support network. And absolutely, we will definitely be having whoever this re-engagement specialist is, working very closely with Ms. Stacey Shulman and other administrators to be able to say, you know, these are the appropriate supporting resources, whether it's counseling or other things like that, working together with the team. It would be, you know, just taking a new angle and really trying to look at this work from a proactive lens.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Is there a motion for approval as amended? Motion to approve as amended. By member Van der Kloot, seconded by? Second. Member Graham, roll call? Member Kreatz? Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Graham?
[Graham]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Member Van der Kloot? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Paper passes.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Number six, we have recommendation to approve superintendent goals for school year 2020-2021. Dr. Maurice Edward-Vincent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Just going to screen share my school goals, my superintendent goals for school year 2021. Just one moment, please. Good evening. I am pleased to present to you my goals for this school year 2020-2021. So my district improvement goal, I want to preface by just saying that, again, with the arrival of the pandemic a year ago, Medford Public Schools as a district, we needed to pivot quickly and prepare to meet the challenges created by the pandemic. So in preparation for planning for the 2020-2021 school year, these preparations have been coordinated according to three key goals, our guiding pillars of safety, equity, and consistency. Our first goal under safety Our goal was to implement a district-wide reopening plan that met the guidelines from Massachusetts Department of Public Health and provided in-person learning opportunities for all students pre-K-12 who selected that option. Some of the key actions that took place that were aligned to safety We created a staggered hybrid plan to better adapt to safety protocols in each building. For phase one, we targeted our most vulnerable students in the buildings four days a week. Phase two, staggered hybrid for all students in grades pre-K to 12. We adopted building safety checklists to address our safety protocols and building readiness. Launching an in-school COVID testing program in collaboration with Tufts University, Armstrong Ambulance, for all of our students and staff at the beginning of the school year. We are in the process of providing Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 rapid testing administered by school nurses. We established protocols and procedures for contact tracing for staff and students who test positive with COVID-19. And we developed an MOA with all collective bargaining units regarding reopening working conditions. All of those fell under the umbrella of safety. Under the category of equity, to provide all students with access to district opportunities to ensure individual student success. We provide all students with one-to-one devices in order for them to participate in the online learning. at home and at school. For some of our families that were most vulnerable, we provided home internet access points to students that needed it. Implementing improved hiring practices with diversity as a high consideration. We prioritized our most vulnerable students. We offered professional development that increases educators and administrators' cultural competency and fosters an anti-racist approach to education. To review current curriculum K-12 to ensure a balanced representation of diverse backgrounds and abilities. Established a racial equity task force. and to have support structures to assist with social emotional learning needs in responses to trauma in students. Under the umbrella of consistency, We wanted to prepare students, prepare our principals and other district leaders for remote and hybrid instruction by developing a common language and adopting common practices that ensure that all remote and hybrid students have access to high quality instruction. to develop a dynamic framework to adopt new models of learning for both in-person, hybrid, and remote. Create a document that details expectations for teachers, students, and families. Establish a remote academy at the elementary level. Design equitable, hybrid, and remote schedules. Establish structures for synchronous learning and asynchronous lessons. Update curriculum pacing guides. Provide professional development programs on remote teaching. Provide teachers with devices to better teach remotely and in person. MacBooks, microphones, and webcams. improve internet bandwidth issues in school buildings, and upgrade Zoom license for better teacher access. My student learning goal, again, with the continued focus of elementary mathematics, improve elementary achievement outcomes in mathematics by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of math. My key actions support the development and implementation of an effective elementary math program. Conduct virtual math learning walks district-wide with a modified protocol to include the five core actions in math, one to two times a year. Ensuring consistent implementation of envisions 2015, which is the current curriculum that we are using, and the modified math pacing guides for the remainder of school year, 20 to 21. Maintain our partnership with Lesley University. And under our student learning goal, I want to just note the benchmark. that due to the pandemic, no MCAS assessment was given during the spring of 2020. Neither were any in-district end-of-the-year assessments administered at the elementary level. Therefore, I will take the math end-of-year benchmark data from this school year and identify specific areas of need for our elementary students. This analysis will take place during the summer to inform school year 21-22. Furthermore, due to the pandemic, hard accurate data has been difficult to obtain because it has been interrupted twice. This year, although students will be taking an MCAS assessment, It is scheduled to be a modified MCAS assessment and it may be administered. We are not sure if that guidance will change. And so that was why I wanted to make this recommendation to use our math end of year benchmark data. as a key piece of information to inform us where our students currently are. Lastly, for a professional practice goal, under NISP, the New Superintendent Induction Program, I am currently in my third year of the induction program. In addition to participating in all the monthly Zoom sessions, Due to the pandemic, there are no in-person sessions. I do attend the monthly Zoom sessions. We also, the NISP has started affinity group sessions. So I am attending affinity group sessions, which discuss issues of equity. So I am now attending two meetings a month, completing all requested assignments, I'm continuing to work in collaboration with my coach, Carla Bair, and the outcome of the NSUP program would be to finalize the district strategic plan, because it is now currently still in its draft state. And those are my goals for school year 2020-2021.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Dr. Edouard-Vincent, it's not a goal for this year necessarily, but to start conversations with regards to bringing our kids back to school at a more normal pace in September. Has that been just discussed and should it be part of your goals as far as working with all unions to try to get back to a normal schedule come September?
[Edouard-Vincent]: We definitely, at the central office level, working with the leadership team, have already begun the preliminary conversations. We would like to replicate, not identically, but a very similar fashion to engage community stakeholders and families, all administrators, teachers about preparing for school year 21, 22. That is definitely something that will be, and as we do that work, we will continue to look at safety, equity, and consistency. And with the fact that the vaccine phase two between February and March, educators having the opportunity to be vaccinated. I think that that is a great, you know, relief. We don't know yet what the data is going to be for students. And so we're still trying to, you know, find out what that will look like. I, you know, I have heard that You know, maybe it will be students 12 and over that may be able to be vaccinated, but we're just not sure yet with all of the different phases. We probably will not be hearing information yet about student vaccinations until we get closer to the summer. But that is definitely work that we are committed to doing. doing collaboratively and transparently with the committee and you know with the community.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Thank you Dr. Edouard-Vincent for presenting these goals and I'm eager to you know look more toward the equity and aspect and some of the... items that you mentioned. I'm wondering, I know that we have it on the agenda to vote on these goals tonight. And I'm wondering if it would be acceptable to you and to my colleagues if we might digest this and vote on them at the next meeting. I feel like, you know, with it being 10 of nine and this sort of being the end of the meeting, it's a little bit, it's a lot to sort of digest right at this point. So I would respectfully ask if we might be able to vote on these for the next session.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Okay. We can entertain that motion, maybe after the questions. Sounds like a good idea. Member Graham.
[Graham]: Um. Thanks for this. Um as I'm digesting this, I guess I have a couple of thoughts rolling through my mind. So you know, for all intents and purposes, practically over. So it's a little bit awkward to be talking about goals now because whatever they might be, there's very little time to actually execute on them unless you've already done the things. And then it looks like we're just saying yes to the things you've already done. So the timing of this conversation is a little bit weird. So I do think that a lot of the things that have take in just an enormous amount of time from a district-wide planning perspective belong in that first category, but I would like to see us think about what are our objectives to be contained in this school year that will allow us to be more prepared than we were in August, September of last year for the next school year. So I would like to see something added that is forward-looking that is yet to be accomplished and I'm not suggesting that we've sort of checked the box and everything that's already there, because I know it's sort of a constant evolution, no shortage of work, but I do think we should think about something there. And then I think the other thing that is sort of rattling around in my head is when I think about math, I just have some real questions about The continued viability of this being our district wide goal our district wide goal, I mean when I think about where we're at right now, like we have an elementary school math curriculum that. we're considering replacing that you know by by lots of accounts doesn't work. And yet, we're expecting the results to change in some significant fashion and I just don't think that's possible like there's, there's just not enough gain to eat out of the system without foundational support that aligns with where we're trying to go. We have this like, we've always used MCAS as an assessment tool to sort of quantify this. And I think the point of this goal is that it is quantifiable and that's gonna be challenging in general this year because of where we're at. And then I think about literacy and I think about the fact that we have been doing assessment in the literacy space for like last year and then continuing into this year. It doesn't have the sort of energy or wrapped up in it that MCAS does. So people have very strong feelings about the MCAS this year. So even if it goes, what the data will tell us, I think is up for question and debate. But those early literacy assessments, like I've not heard people recoiling against the literacy assessments that we're doing for some of our youngest learners. And I do think about, you know, when we talk about district-wide effectiveness, when we talk about students that need support from the district, not just in those early days, but in an ongoing fashion, is math the reason they need support or is it literacy that is sort of at the base of our struggle? So I guess having said all that, it is the end of January and sort of changing gears in terms of focus is problematic to be doing at this point in the year, but I just can't see myself being super supportive of continuing to go after math MCAS scores, knowing that the foundation is sort of not where it needs to be to help get us there, and knowing that we have this like sort of pressing need from a literacy perspective. So I'm also in favor of not voting on this tonight because I feel pretty conflicted about where this is versus sort of where I would like to see us be.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So the only piece I want to say in response to that is, especially when you're looking at data, there was clearly a gap between mathematics and literacy. It's not that I am prioritizing one content area over another, but in order to see if growth is happening, you need to be able to stick with something. From the time of looking at math instruction from year one, when the rounds were happening, using the core actions, and trying to stay with the work that we've done. We have the data of the rooms that we have visited. Even though now we're on these COVID conditions, the modified pacing guides, using a protocol that was in place, looking at the same content, that there is some data in terms of the progress and work that was happening. by looking at the data, even though it's different data, it at least I'm able to link it and connect it to what was being done in the previous years. Literacy is definitely also a priority. It's not that we're not prioritizing literacy, But all the work that has happened thus far, the primary focus had been to reshift what was happening in mathematics. And we were able to see changes instructionally and see that the needle was beginning to move. And the needle was moving in terms of mathematics instruction. I could see myself, even though I said I want to look at the mathematics data at this year to help inform what's going to be happening in school year 21, 22, the goals for school year 21, 22, that could be a clear, a cleaner opportunity to say, we're gonna do a shift and do a instructional shift at that point in time. But I just feel the investment and the amount of time that has gone into mathematics, I need to continue seeing that work through. And even though we're on the covert schedule instruction is still happening. And I need to be able to look at where that data lands. At the end of this year, where do we land, because in order to make a data informed decision. you have to be able to have something to look at and where we were in the past. So again, where I clearly stated it's two years that were interrupted of interrupted data, data sets. I am no longer gonna be able to use the MCAS per se because even the MCAS that will be administered this year is going to be modified. At least that's the information we were receiving that it will not be what was given in the past. So it's a different assessment, but from an in-house internal perspective, we can look at our own internal data and use that as a jumping off point to further inform the instructional moves that we need to make as a district.
[Graham]: Yeah, and as I said, I recognize that it's practically February and now is a really unfair time to shift the goals. So I get that. And I think it's just more like a general frustration that we're sort of in this situation where we don't actually have the ability to have a real goals discussion because we can't. But having said that, I do think you know, when we talk about some of the things that are happening between now and the end of the year, really thinking about how will we assess the impact of these last two years on our students so that next year we're prepared to sort of take action is something I would like to see there. And I cannot fathom any support I would have for not prioritizing literacy as part of your goals starting next year at minimum. So I just I, okay, if there's more than one goal, but I don't think we can bypass literacy for too much longer for lots of reasons. So, and I think if we really think about like how kids are gonna get left behind in all of this, I'm really worried about those young learners and the, you know, teaching literacy two days a week and over Zoom. And it's just incredibly, It's incredibly hard and I would totally defer to you all on what those measures are and metrics are and sort of where we're at, but that's sort of what my thinking is right now, but I do support us revisiting this next time.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you very much. And I do agree with the other members that have spoken about the check. I actually had to say, wait, which year are we doing these for? It's awkward to talk about goals for a year that is more than half over. But so, you know, in the last goal setting that we had, which was before times, so I can't even remember when that was. You know, I had indicated that we, I thought while math was very important, I thought literacy should be the primary goal. I'm reminded, I keep a short list of 10 things to try to remember in my meetings. And one of them is Campbell's law, that what you measure is what will gain the focus of those being measured. We can say we have multiple number one priorities, but if we're only looking and measuring on one of them, then we really only have one. And so I would urge the superintendent to consider that when we do the goals for the 2021-2022 school year, I know I will be pushing as well for literacy and like anything, none of this is free. I'm assuming if we didn't need anything at all for the district, then we'd have 100% of the kids reading at grade level by third grade and we wouldn't be talking about it. when we are discussing the budget, I realize it's a bit of a weird thing. Like we haven't set the goals for the next year. So budgeting for goals that we may set, and you may agree to later on, it sounds a little precarious. And I'm not sure the people who set up the new goal system actually thought that through. you know, I think that if there are going to be substantial costs to measurable increases in literacy, that it's best to not lose an entire year where we set the goals for July one, and you don't have any of the resources you need to implement them until the following year, because that's not going to make it possible to meet your goals. So I would just urge you to, I don't know who would be doing this, but to actually think about some of that when doing the budget. And I'm not a literacy specialist, I have no idea what kinds of costs are involved with training and additional professional development and any materials and specialists and all that other stuff. But it is a concern I have that if we set any goal for literacy next year, that is it even going to be attainable if there's no money to do any of it? I also support taking this paper and moving it to the next meeting so we can digest it. Thank you.
[Van der Kloot]: Member van de Kloot? Yes, I just think it's important to mention, since two of my colleagues mentioned that we're sort of late into the year of setting these goals, Is saying that we're so yay late because there's a pandemic and the superintendents was working as many of us noted Earlier around the clock for such a long time. And so so hard. So I just wanted to thank her for all the work that she's done at this point. And while I certainly support looking at the goals for another week and revisiting them, I just think it's really, really important to acknowledge all the incredible work the superintendent and her team has done.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, member van de Kloot. Member Kreatz.
[Kreatz]: I just wanted to ditto on what Ms. Van der Kloot said, and I just want to thank the superintendent and her administrative team for all their hard work all year. And I will say, if my colleagues want to hold off on approving this until next week, I support giving it the extra week so that they can have some more time to review this.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Kreatz. If I just may ask one question, too. I know on was the first page. You mentioned professional development opportunities, and I know they've been enhanced. I just want to see if there's any polling of teachers or surveys that are done or could be done to just further enhance that. I know it's part of your goal, so how do we make sure we're getting the right PD for our teachers to move the district forward?
[Edouard-Vincent]: When PD takes place, even last week's professional development, the teachers normally have an opportunity to give a feedback form, but I can definitely work on trying to create additional opportunities to get feedback.
[Lungo-Koehn]: That'd be great. Thank you. Yes, because I hear a lot of people that love the PD, and then you hear from teachers saying, this is the same thing. I've taken this. multiple times. I'm not learning anything. So we would just want to make sure we're providing the opportunities to our teachers and the best we can. So survey or getting input from the teachers is just a great avenue that would be a good goal for either the end of the year or sometime a survey beginning of the school year next year. Just wanted to throw that out there. So member McLaughlin, is there a motion to table until the next meeting?
[McLaughlin]: There is motion to table the superintendent's proposed goals for the 2021 school year until our February 8th meeting.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Great, seconded by member Rousseau, roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Graham, I mean member Kreatz.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Graham.
[Graham]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Yes.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. 70 affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper is tabled until February 8th. Next up, we have old business. I don't believe there is any. And number 10, we have communications. First, we have new business. This is offered by member Ruseau. Given that attendance is a required first step in educating our students and given that excessive focus on attendance can lead to ill students and staff coming into school when they are contagious and with the potential to harm other students, staff and families, the attendance policy will be sent to the rules policy and equity subcommittee for review and update. as needed to ensure that it prohibits awards or recognitions of any kind being conferred within Medford Public Schools for perfect attendance. Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you, Mayor. This has actually been on my list long before the pandemic and suddenly is particularly relevant. You know, there are, you know, families who will have a parent going through chemotherapy. They send their kids to school. And again, this is pre-pandemic. The problem is, of course, much worse now. And, you know, the kids will go to school and, you know, they will be interacting with family, with students, and sometimes even staff that are clearly too ill to be in school. Obviously addressing the staff Difficulties around that is outside of really the purview of the school committee, I think that that's really too complicated, but I know I when I was growing up, there was incredible pride in perfect attendance and of course. I didn't think anything of it. I certainly wasn't one of those students with perfect attendance, but it really becomes very logical that rewarding perfect attendance means incenting people to come to school sick. And coming to school because you have the sniffles on the surface doesn't matter. And of course, I don't mean the sniffles, but coming to school ill may not seem terrible until you consider that you may be giving something to another student or a staff member who's gonna go home and cause a parent who has no immune system to die. So I think we need to make sure there is no rewards and no incenting perfect attendance in any way, shape or form throughout the district. So that's why I put this on here and that's that.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. A motion for, oh, member Kreatz.
[Kreatz]: Yes. I just wanted to say thank you for the resolution, Mr. Russo. And I just wanted to just express my thoughts that I'm not in favor of prohibiting perfect attendance. I'll vote to move it forward to the rules and equity subcommittee for a future discussion. And I hope that during the discussion that the subcommittee can determine some way to recognize students who have worked to obtain that perfect attendance. I know that, you know, you've mentioned that students are coming to school sick and that might not be all students and or all staff. So I just, you know, I hope that during the meeting, the subcommittee meeting, there can be a discussion about, you know, recognizing students in another way. Maybe if there was excused absences, they wouldn't be counted against the student and it might not be a certificate, but just some way to recognize students. I know that this carries forward to the career and college world. I know at my work, we have a perfect attendance award. I take it seriously. If I'm sick, I'm not going to go in just because I want to get the perfect attendance award. So I don't think it's necessarily every student is going in and infecting other students, but I hope it's a good discussion at the subcommittee meeting.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Kreatz. Dr. Edward-Vincent.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that I think I understand the thinking behind why we shouldn't recognize students who may have perfect attendance. But I want to give my own personal story that I was a student that didn't get sick. very easily. I think I must have had a strong immune system. And I never got sick from kindergarten to eighth grade. And my parents took pride in knowing that one of my siblings had seven years of perfect attendance. We didn't go to school sick or try to get other people sick, but I'm also thinking about for those students that are able to go to school, for those parents that are able to say, you know, I may be going to work, but the one thing I'm gonna do is, you know, make sure you're ready to go to school and be successful in school. I happen to really like school a lot. And so I stayed in education. But there are some people who may have difficulty in school. They may have difficulty learning, but they actually like going to school. And so they might not get other, they might not get an academic recognition. You know, they may not make the honor roll, but they may be able to be recognized for having perfect attendance. And so I'm just saying that I don't want it to be, for people to interpret it, that it's punitive if you're in school 180 days and you only get to go to school, you miss one day, so you don't get recognized. But for those kids that are able to do it, and not knowing what their home situation is, that could be something that motivates them to say, I might not get recognized for having all A's and B's, but at least I can be recognized for being at school and being a contributing member of the class and get recognized that way. So I just wanted to present that it doesn't have to be negative to recognize someone who has perfect attendance. And I just remember, you know, when they would say put your hat on or put your scarf scarf on, you know, you got to stay healthy, that it was like I was being responsible trying to stay healthy. And I just kind of feel like I wouldn't want to, I know it's something that I received, but I wouldn't want to take it away from other children as a district to say that we cannot recognize students who do have perfect attendance. I mean, if someone is sick, the teachers will definitely send them to the nurse, nurse's office and say, you know, you're really sick. You shouldn't be in school or call to have someone pick them up. But I'm saying for kids that aren't sick, um, that I just I just am asking the committee to think by taking away or saying that Medford Public Schools no longer acknowledges someone who has perfect attendance when you know that student may have worked really hard and didn't get sick very easily, and they made it through the year, and their teacher is there encouraging them and saying, wow, you did a great job. Are you going to really be here every day of the school year? And there are some kids in every classroom. There might be two or three. There could be five every year that never miss a day, even when the teacher takes a personal day. They never miss a day. And I just wouldn't want to take something where I think it builds, if you're able to do it, it builds something in you about work ethic, about you're a student, that's your job, come to school every day if you can and do your best, whatever your best may be, and you can acknowledge them and encourage them and say, you can do it, you can do it. And if they do get sick, we understand you get sick, you don't come to school. But I just feel to say that we're never going to recognize kids for perfect attendance anymore. I just kind of feel like that's going to be quite sad.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. Thank you to Member Ruseau and to Superintendent and to my colleagues. I actually am, you know, as tired as I am, I'm actually really enjoying this conversation. I think it's a nice, healthy conversation to be having, to be listening to other perspectives about sort of even perfectionism and sort of, you know, lack of and all of the all of these other aspects. And it had me thinking even earlier, and I didn't speak up then, but this seems like an opportunity to do so now is thinking about, again, the concept of ableism. And so, you know, so much of what we do as a district is often centered around as well, you know, not just perfect attendance, but, you know, spelling bees and reading contests and poetry contest and, you know, just all sorts of things that people who are fiercely competitive and all of those things, and I think we really need to be thinking outside of the box about how all of our children are feeling valued and receiving accolades for any number of things, whether it's perfect attendance or, you know, I would love to see the poetry competition be in either another language, I was saying, or, you know, somebody using a a device who doesn't communicate with words or you know just really thinking outside of the box on how we're doing these things so I think this is important and I don't think it's either or I think it's both and which is something I've been saying a lot of lately I think it's how do we figure out how to make the student who maybe has nothing else but the ability to come into school every single day because that's their safe place and they've been able to do it for 180 years and they really like being there and they get that award and it's the only little you know, plaque that they have at home and that they're sharing or whatever. And it's something really substantive to them. Or maybe it's, you know, we don't know all these different scenarios. But I think how we are thinking outside the box is really where I want to see our district going and how we're thinking about how are we really valuing every child in these situations. And, you know, not just perfect attendance and not just spelling bees or reading contests, like, how can we think about all of the children in these cases. And so I appreciate Member Ruseau and Superintendent and Um, and my colleagues for doing that. So, um, thank you.
[Graham]: Is there already a second on this?
[Lungo-Koehn]: There's no second on this. So move the paper. Um, second.
[Van der Kloot]: Can you restate the motion in our paper?
[Lungo-Koehn]: given that attendance is a required first step in educating our students and given that excessive focus on attendance can lead to ill students and staff coming to school when they are contagious with the potential to harm other students, staff, and families, the attendance policy will be sent to the rules, policy, and equity subcommittee for review and update as needed to ensure that it prohibits awards or recognitions of any kind being conferred within the Medford Public School for perfect attendance.
[McLaughlin]: Okay, so the motion is to move it to subcommittee, correct? Yes. Okay, thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Can I just amend it to also, I mean, I think there's a middle ground here to maybe set a prohibit just to review the policy and see if we can come up with some middle ground here, I think. prohibit doesn't send it to subcommittee to discuss it. But we're also voting with all due respect. We're also voting to discuss prohibiting it. And I think I know member Kreatz has an issue with that. So, and I, you know, listened clearly when the superintendent gave her points as well as member Kreatz. So I see that side as well. Um, member Kreatz, the member McLaughlin, the member Rousseau.
[Kreatz]: Um, yeah, so I'm opposed to prohibiting perfect attendance. You know, so if that is the, the resolution to send it to the rules and policy subcommittee so that it can be worked out to remove perfect attendance from the policies in attendance, then, you know, I won't be able to support the resolution as it is written.
[Lungo-Koehn]: That's why, yeah, I was kind of making a motion to amend so that all things can be discussed as it relates to perfect attendance. Member McLaughlin, then member Ruseau.
[McLaughlin]: Yes, thank you. I had assumed, I didn't think that it was strictly saying that we were only able to talk about prohibiting. I thought the discussion was about whether to prohibit, which would then naturally have a discussion of whether not to prohibit. So I would like- That's not what it does.
[Lungo-Koehn]: So somebody not watching the meeting would believe that if you vote yes, you are voting to prohibit perfect attendance. Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I don't really have much interest in having another meeting to discuss whether or not we should do nothing. anything that's softer than this is to do nothing. So I think that the committee wants to vote it down, they should vote it down. I don't, the purpose of this is to protect the families and other students of our students from the incenting of students to go to school sick. Let's just call it what it is. Okay. I mean, I Don't know how many times in 2019, I had to talk to a parent multiple times because her husband had no immune system because he was on chemo and the students were going to our schools and there were teachers and there were other students who were clearly too ill. And all you educators, are you telling me you've not been to schools and classrooms where there are clearly sick kids who are just powering through whether it's because they don't want to be home because it's not safe or because they're hungry or they want a perfect attendance, whatever thousand reasons why kids go to school. I was one of those kids. I went to school under, I mean, I didn't have perfect attendance, but school was the only place I got to eat during the school year. So I went to school because I was hungry. And if I had been sick, I would have gone to school too. I don't remember whether I went to school sick or not. And I did that because what mattered was me. student. But the idea that we would add an incentive to pull in kids to school so they could get a piece of paper at the end of the year, even if that meant we might kill another kid's parent. And I saw the smile on her Dr. Edouard-Vincent. But, you know, every one of us knew a kid in school who was more proud of the fact that they had perfect attendance than if their parent had been a Nobel laureate. We all knew those kids and maybe some of us were those kids. But the pride in getting to school every day is, first of all, is often just a reflection of having a stable home. of having what you need or maybe not, maybe it's the only safe space, but let's talk about who's not getting to school. How many kids on IEPs, and maybe we should have a motion for that, how many kids on IEPs have perfect attendance in a school year? I would bet real money is close to 0%. So is this really about attendance or is this about rewarding those kids that are lucky already? And the impact of rewarding them is that they might get other people sick who then can't come to school themselves. I just don't see any value in this piece of paper. By the way, when we get out into the real world, Not a fricking employer in the world cares that you had perfect attendance in high school or in elementary or middle school. So I think it's kids loving school and wanting to go to school every day. That's a goal. And Dr. Edouard-Vincent spoke about the fact that she loved school. She didn't want to miss school. And that's beautiful. That's wonderful. And that's what we should, all the kids should have. But incenting somebody to come, if you were a senior in high school and had never missed a single day of school, And then you came down with the flu. You'd have dragged your ass to school and you know it. We all know that's what would have happened. So I think that we should just vote this down and say, I'm sorry to the parents who might get flu from their kid at school and just, just that's what it is. I don't wanna go to subcommittee to talk about whether we're not going to do something. Either we are going to agree that we think that this shouldn't be rewarded, this behavior that we are instilling, or we have lots of other work to do, we don't need to do this.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, we have member Stone, member McLaughlin, and Dr. Edouard-Vincent, and then member Van der Kloot.
[Mustone]: I was gonna say, I've been to four high school graduations since coming on the committee. And I believe it's only one time that a student was recognized. And I have to say, I was more impressed with that student than the other awards given, because I don't think it's a matter of kids being sick. Because I think I would say 99%, when my kids stay home, they're not sick. They just want to have a day to stay home. So I don't think we can assume that kids are sick who are perfect attendants. And I do think it's something that the community respects of these students, their dedication. I hear everything you're saying, Paul. But I do think we need to hear from the parents of the students, because we're not hearing everyone's voice about this. We're hearing, I think, a lot of the cons of it, I guess. And I mean, I've only seen it once in four years. So I don't think kids are struggling through the flu to make it to school. I think between just having good, I guess, good immune system and a good dedication to school that they're there. I think that it was really something commendable. I think the high school community really thought that student was deserving of it because I just, for my own kids, I know that 99% of the time they're not going to school because they're sick. Um, and so I think I am with the mayor with, I think a conversation is still an important thing with the whole community at the rules and regulations about it so we can hear from other parents.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Mustone. Member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. It's good to hear from all our colleagues. I would add, you know, that also I don't think that we can assume that, you know, there's a couple of assumptions I feel like are being stated that I'm not sure that I would assume that, you know, kids who have perfect attendance are lucky already. As I said, I think I certainly knew kids who it was their safe space and that's where they went and they certainly weren't lucky. And I also don't think we can assume that all privileged, you know, people have perfect attendance or that not having perfect attendance award is going to stop people who are sick from coming to school. I mean, I think a lot of these sort of conclusions, I'm not really understanding, which I think is another reason to have a conversation where I can understand better and we can have a healthy conversation. I don't think referring something to subcommittee means that we're talking about doing nothing. I think it means that we're exploring conversations and different opinions and really trying to understand each other's opinions. And to the point regarding IEPs, Mayor, I would say, I would agree that probably a lot of students on IEPs do not have perfect attendance, which is again, another reason for my discussion earlier around ableism and what kind of awards are we offering for children with IEPs. And not having perfect attendance, Again, would not stop kids who are sick from coming to school I think. And also I don't think that it's a zero sum game I don't think that by saying a child who's coming into school with perfect attendance is thereby risking the death of an adult or a child in our school I think that's a really. dramatic statement and one that I would like to explore more in subcommittee. So I would support moving this to subcommittee for a further healthy discussion with community members and colleagues. But I would not be able to support not having a discussion, a healthy discussion, to review as a whole, not just one side of the argument. So thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Dr. Edouard-Vincent and Member Van der Kloot.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I feel that the other members who spoke were just presenting similar thoughts that I was going to say, so I will pass. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Okay. Member van de Kloot.
[Van der Kloot]: Yes, so member Rousseau, I'm a little torn here because I can actually see both sides. However, I don't think that you're correct in saying there's, we're only gonna send it to subcommittee if I'm going to get my way. The whole point of a subcommittee discussion should be an opportunity to get more input, not only from perhaps parents, but also from our educators. The high school graduation has been mentioned multiple times and you know I used to have a really hard time with it because I was like, Jesus, there's a lot of kids in this audience who, you know, they got the flu or they broke their arm or something happened and they couldn't go to school and now. But, you know, again, maybe they're They're finding satisfaction in some other ways, and there may have been kids and I certainly remember, I mean one year there was a year where there was only one kid, but one year there was like five or six and it was amazing that all those kids had really been able to go. It is called out at the high school, and it's always by the audience really appreciated and I've always felt kind of funny because I do feel kind of funny about it because I share your concerns about does it does it motivate kids but you know I never knew we gave that award until I went to the high school graduation. So I don't know how many kids know. My kids never talked about it and said, oh boy, I'm not going to get the perfect attendance award because they never, you know, it just wasn't part of their thinking. But anyway, so I totally supported going to subcommittee for the purposes of discussion and input. And I think that, you know, part of it is to be open-minded and listen to other people. And that's what I would be wanting to do.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Van der Kloot. Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I appreciate the conversation. I'd like to make an amendment to my motion to change the language where it says to review and update as needed to ensure that it prohibits awards or recognitions. I'd like to change that to review and update as needed award, just get rid of the to ensure that it prohibits to just say update as needed awards and recognitions. Yeah, within mother member public schools for perfect attendance. And then in addition, I would add the language that the superintendent will provide three years of data on perfect attendance for K to 12 and it will be disambiguated by the DESI special categories, not including this year. I don't think this year is particularly meaningful for attendance.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval by member Ruseau, seconded by member Graham still. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Graham. Yes. Yes. Number cracks. Yes. Number McLaughlin. Yes. Member of my stone. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Number Van der Kloot. Yes. Mayor logo.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Kern Yes, seven. The affirmative Number two, the Rules Policy and Equity Subcommittee shall draft a new policy on field trips that includes the following. The superintendent or designee will provide a report to this committee no later than 30 days after the completion of every field trip or at the next school committee meeting, whichever is later. The report will include the number of students that participated, the number of students that were eligible to participate, and the breakdown of selected populations per DESE categories for each of these groups, those that participated and those that did not, for any field trip that did not include eligible students. Offered by member Ruseau.
[McLaughlin]: Second. Thank you, mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm tired, sorry.
[Ruseau]: That's okay. I just wanted to quickly give a very, very brief background on this. So that last sentence I think is particularly confusing as I read it. even though I wrote it and read it many times before I submitted it. For any field trip that did not include all eligible students, what I mean there is, if the third grade all left and went to the Royal House, they all went, then we don't need this report. But if the French club goes to France, every eligible student is every person who's enrolled the French club, and we would need this report. And I don't, this says the superintendent or her designee, and of course, my assumption is the superintendent will actually have a form and the people doing the field trip will fill it out. That will probably have to go to Ms. Miles, who will be able to pull out data that says, all right, here's the categories for the students that went, here's the categories for the students that could have gone, because we really need to get a much more clearer picture of what I think many of us sort of at a gut level understand and know who goes on field trips and who doesn't. But I think that the data is absolutely necessary to be able to have a conversation with the community about funding all of these things through the tax base rather than through just the lucky families that can afford all this stuff. So that's the, purpose of this. And I recognize that it is not a, you know, it's not a two minute activity and it is not super lightweight, but the students that are not receiving a free public education deserve to receive one. And I think this is how we can get us there. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member McLaughlin and Dr. Edouard-Vincent.
[McLaughlin]: Yes, thank you. This is something that's been an issue that I've been concerned with for some time and I just want to thank members so for bringing it forward but also want to ensure, for example, the example, the example that was used a moment ago that you know when you say if it's a field trip for third graders. and all third graders go, you don't need to disaggregate the data. I just want to have a qualifier on that to say, you know, that we are being inclusive, of course, with regards to accessibility, so that this means all classrooms, all students, if every student in the third grade, you know, had gone, then that's one thing. But if there's any subset of the students that aren't going, that we know that and, and, and, you know, what, if any reason, there might be. So just the disaggregation part is of particular importance to me. So I want to make sure that we say disaggregation by subgroups or something to that effect, if you don't mind. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Great point, Member McLaughlin. Dr. Edwarda Vincent, then Dr. Cushing.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so I just, for clarification purposes, when I read that particular resolution, I was thinking about it from the lens of Were you asking if students were being excluded for whatever reason? But like, if it's something about the major field trips, like the New York trip that the middle schoolers normally would go on, or traveling overseas, because I just was thinking the practicality of adding a presentation after every single field trip that would end up being a significant amount of additional school committee reports. But if you're saying like a major trip that requires either a significant amount of money that students might not be able to participate in, I'm just trying to make sure I'm properly understanding the resolution as you intended, Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: May I respond?
[Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Ruseau]: I think we can dig into the graphic details in the meeting and the subcommittee, because this just sends it to the subcommittee. But I will just say that I certainly don't think it is just the big ones. I think the small ones matter very much too to the students that didn't get to go. And the students may not be going for simple matters of, we didn't translate a permission slip or something. I mean, but finding those situations and closing the gap affects those students directly. But as for whether, I would never expect a presentation. And frankly, I think that this would just go on the agenda as a report for your information. I don't expect this to become part of our agenda per se. But I think if we get a report one week and it shows that 12% of eligible students went and we look at the disaggregation and we go, whoa, something's totally wrong here. you know, we may want to make it a conversation at another meeting, but I don't, I don't envision that this is like, you know, there are lots of field trips in a normal year. I don't, I don't envision us having conversations on a regular basis. I would think once a year, we would want to sit down and really put the data together and figure out how to say to the community in a, in a, in a loud data-driven voice that says, no, we don't have the resources we need to give our kids a fair a free public education, and this is what it means. This is what it's actually meaning to the students. And I think having that data is the only way to say that other than sounding like I'm being hyperbolic or I'm being too radical or any other kind of thing that if we have hard data that is just numbers, I think that is incredibly important. And I hope, of course, that we don't have to do this for all eternity. The goal is that this becomes not an issue. So thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Dr. Cushing, did you still want to?
[Cushing]: I did. I'll save my concerns for the subcommittee.
[Lungo-Koehn]: I just have one example too. I remember at least a year ago, my daughter went on a field trip and it was $35 to go to a play through, I think, the McGlynn Middle School. And I remember asking her, Did everybody go? Could everybody afford the ticket? And she said, yeah, I think almost everybody went. There was some boys that didn't want to go. And in my head thinking, I hope they really didn't want to go. And it wasn't just that they couldn't afford it. some of the France and New York trips, you want that data too, but you also want the data on like the $35 ticket where, so if it's $2 to go to the zoo or $0 to go to the zoo, it's a lot different than a $35 ticket that some families might not be able to afford. So hopefully we can have the teachers know about this plan to get the data so it's a little less work on the admin and we can just kind of collect it and have it emailed to us or put on the agenda as an update, quick update. I think it's good value here. So motion for approval as amended by Member McLaughlin. Member Kreatz has her hand up. Sorry, Member Kreatz, I didn't see you.
[Kreatz]: Yep. So I just wanted to know and just to clarify. So this resolution is to send it to the rules and equity policy subcommittee to work out the details about the reports, because I'm just thinking that is this going to take. a lot of, you know, extra work on the administrative side, getting those reports ready, or are those reports going to be easily, you know, kind of, you know, extracted via a data, you know, extract, or I'm just not sure how this, because it seems like every field trip to get all that data in all those reports, you know.
[Ruseau]: Member Ruseau, then Member McLaughlin. Thank you. Yeah, I think we'll work that out in the subcommittee, member Kreatz, because I think that is very, very important and why I didn't just come forward with the resolution. I think that's why I sent it to the subcommittee, because we need to understand our data system capabilities. The recommendation that may come out of the subcommittee is that it's just impossible with our current data systems. And I do consider that a possibility. really hope it's not the answer, but I fully hold that as an actual possibility that we actually can't do it. I hope we can, but we will work those out and make sure we have all the right people in the subcommittee meeting to understand, you know, the workflow for, for field trips also needs to really, you know, there's not one workflow. We have workflows for out of state. We have workflows for in state. And then, you know, there may be workflows that are outside of the normal workflows. So yeah, we'll work that out. I don't envision this to be a 20 minute meeting for sure.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Yeah, I just was going to second member Rousseau's comment for member credits that I think that, you know, again, it's another issue of putting systems in place and having it, you know, be an hopefully easily done task with a with a, you know, pre created form. So we will definitely be discussing those things. We certainly don't want to give more work to folks, we really just want to be able to disaggregate the data and make sure that everybody's having an equal opportunity.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yep, in a way that our principals can collect the data efficiently and have enough time to do it. So there's a motion on the floor.
[McLaughlin]: Mayor, Member Graham has her hand up.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Oh, sorry, okay. Member Graham.
[Graham]: Just as a point of information, at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were having issues around canceling field trips, we referred something to the rules policy and equity subcommittee to revisit how we procure insurance for large field trips, and whether those practices are in alignment with what we would want to see in these circumstances where we've had we had to pursue refunds. So you remember we had to get attorney Greenspan to engage and you know get students money back. So I just wanted to make a reminder that that it was out in the ether and that perhaps if we're going to talk about field trips we can dedicate a meeting to that and that can also resurface. as an important conversation.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I'll add that to my list. I don't think I had it on my list.
[Graham]: Perfect.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, motion for approval by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz, I'm so glad nobody told me I was on mute. Member Graham? Yes. Member McLaughlin? Yes. Member Mustone? Yes. Member Ruseau? Yes. Member Van der Kloot?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Mayor?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative, paper passes. Whereas Medford Public Schools is committed to accessibility and inclusion for all. Be it resolved, Medford Public Schools will include closed captioning on all recorded public school committee meetings offered by Melanie McLaughlin.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you. I just think it's important that we have accessibility, first and foremost, both for the obvious reasons and for the symbolic reasons. And so I put this motion forward in that vein. I ask for a second.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval by Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Ruseau. Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Member Kreatz? Yes. Member Graham?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member McLaughlin? Yes. Member Mustone?
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Member Van der Kloot?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven affirmative, zero negative. Paper passes.
[McLaughlin]: Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Ruseau.
[Ruseau]: Thank you. I just want to congratulate Member McLaughlin on the fastest turnaround of a motion becoming actually implemented, since I think this is our first meeting where that's actually a feature now. I laughed when I saw that.
[McLaughlin]: Member Ruseau. Thank you.
[Lungo-Koehn]: We have two condolences So the first is the Medford School Committee offers its sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Eugene J. McGillicuddy, husband of former administrative assistant to the assistant superintendents, Maureen McGillicuddy, father of Sean McGillicuddy, a social studies teacher at the McGlynn Middle School, and the father-in-law of custodian, John Byrne, and also the Medford School Committee extends sincere condolences to the family of Jose Maria Villa, father of Caroline Vida, a math teacher at Medford High School. If we all may take a moment of silence. Thank you. And I apologize for miss, it's spelled two different ways on the second condolence. My apologies.
[McLaughlin]: Motion to adjourn.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to adjourn by member McLaughlin, seconded by member, we got a double there. We got our Van der Kloot, Graham.
[Van der Kloot]: Whatever.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Roll call.
[McLaughlin]: Roll call, member Kreatz.
[Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[McLaughlin]: Member Graham. Yes. Member McLaughlin, yes. Member Mustone, yes. Member Ruseau, yes. Member Van der Kloot, yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn, yes.
[Lungo-Koehn]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative.
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