[SPEAKER_11]: Members of the same present. I'm sorry, I was had a question for me. never was released yet. Dr. Walton, myself, and Karen Bass and Dr. Russo. Present. Okay. Everybody should be here. Still a member or so online. I'm here. We just checked the echo while we're waiting for the superintendent, just because I was echoing. Good. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm just going to wait for the superintendent. She's one of the first agenda items. I want to welcome our student representatives, Dominic Bruno and Lauren Serra. Thanks for coming. If you want to speak, just like member Graham or member Krets know, they'll lend you their microphone. We have our consent agenda number five, bills and payrolls, regular school committee meeting minutes from December 19, 2022. Is there a motion on the floor to approve the minutes? Seconded by member Graham. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Consent agenda is approved. We have reports of subcommittees.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor?
[SPEAKER_07]: Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_02]: With somebody online, do we need to roll call everything, all the votes? We can. OK.
[SPEAKER_07]: Just wanted to make sure we were following. Member Ruseau, if you want to roll call the consent agenda, please.
[SPEAKER_09]: Sure. Member Dram.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Hays.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Koretz.
[SPEAKER_11]: Member McLaughlin. Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Mustone.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Ruseau, yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, seven, the affirmative zero and the negative consent agenda is officially approved. We have reports of subcommittees rules and policy subcommittee meeting minutes from December 6, 2022, which were previously tabled.
[SPEAKER_11]: Mayor. Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_09]: Since I don't have them in front of me, my apologies. I can't summarize them. So can I motion to table them again? My apologies.
[SPEAKER_07]: table by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call, please.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Graham?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Hays?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes. Member Kreatz? Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Mustone?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Ruseau, yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes. Some of the affirmative, some of the negative. The report of subcommittee rules and policy subcommittee minutes have been tabled. Number seven, we have reports of the superintendent. The first up is superintendent's updates and comments.
[SPEAKER_11]: Dr. Brice Edward-Vinson. Good evening.
[SPEAKER_16]: Good evening. It is my hope that everyone had the opportunity to spend quality time with their family and friends over the holiday break. We at the Medford Public Schools have been diligently working to bring forth a plan for a new year that provides a renewed sense of safety and a means to highlight the many accomplishments and opportunities provided at Medford High School. Often a tragic situation takes the focus away on what is good. And I feel compelled to state that the Medford Public Schools, in particular Medford High School, has a tremendous amount of good going on daily. As I had stated prior to school break, so many of our students were actively involved in helping others to have a nice holiday season. The Friday before the holiday break, students at Medford High School were decorating gingerbread cookies, playing holiday carol music with their guitars. The senior class of 2023 enjoyed their senior breakfast, complete with their pajamas on. There was a bagpiper strolling in the hallways at the end of the day to bid farewell to one of our teachers. and there were plenty of blow-up characters in the hallways. Seeing all of these things, it definitely made my heart sing that our high school students were able to leave for vacation on a positive note. Our teachers, working with central administration, wanted all of the students to leave for the holiday break with a positive experience, and they truly went above and beyond to make that happen. I thank them all. While it doesn't wash away what has happened, it does allow me to focus on a quote by author Melanie Beatty. The new year stands before us like a chapter in a book waiting to be written. As a community, we must come together in order to write that new chapter. I know that the mayor, the school committee, central administration, our counseling and behavioral health office staff, along with teachers, administrators, and the Medford Police Department had not stopped over the holiday break. Our school community can only achieve peace and greatness if we do so collaboratively. As I announced last Thursday, we produced our 10 point action plan for safety, transparency and accountability at the high school. I plan to discuss that plan more in depth later this evening. However, let me state once again, that our top priority has always been to provide a safe and secure learning environment for all our students and staff. As Mustangs, we know a positive school culture is paramount to providing quality and supportive education. This is our time to move forward together with attitudes and knowledge to help our students reach their academic and personal potentials. Our students, staff, and families require nothing less. On that, I would like to share an important information note. that the Massachusetts Behavioral Health, the helpline is now available, it's live. I wanna thank member McLaughlin for bringing this to our attention. Whether there is a crisis or you are unsure where to turn, Now there is a number that you are able to call or text, and that number is 833-773-2445. Again, that number is 833-773-2445. 773-2445. Additionally, please note that there are 25 designated community behavioral health centers across the state, which can be accessed regardless of your insurance. These centers can be utilized for all behavioral health evaluation and treatment. The center that will assist Medford residents is located at Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street. And their number is 833-222-2030. Again, the number is 833-222-2030. And if people want to look and do research for additional information, you can go to mass.gov slash community behavioral health centers. I'd like to transition and just share a few key updates of things that will be going on in the district this coming week and next week. This week on January 11th, our rec department will be inviting all students with the half day to skate at La Conte Ice Skating Rink for free until two o'clock in the afternoon. Skates are available to rent for $5. So if families are looking for something to do with their students, that is available and we thank the Medford rec department for that. Also, on January 11 CPAC will be hosting their monthly meeting featuring Tom Santacondro on making transition documents easy. That's a Zoom meeting. It's from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11. This Friday, Medford Family Network will be hosting Family Fun Night at the high school gymnasium with knuckle bones and that's going to be from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. at Tufts University on January 15. It's the fifth annual Tufts Classic Cup for both Somerville and Medford High School basketball teams. It's taking place at Cousins Gym. The boys will play at noon, and the girls will follow at 1.30pm. Admission is free, and Tufts is requesting if you are able to donate a non-perishable food item, which will be donated to the Mystic Community Market in Medford and Project Soup in Somerville. Again, donations can be canned food, household cleaning items, feminine hygiene products, baby diapers, and toiletries. On January 16th, there is no school in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration will take place at the West Medford Community Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And that's in partnership with the city of Method, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and the Royal House and Slave Quarters. All are welcome on January 16 at the West Medford Community Center from 11am to 1pm. Also, on January 18, all new families or families that are looking to find out information about kindergarten building bridges to kindergarten, we will be hosting. an in-person information session for parents, guardians, and caregivers at the Medford High School Library from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m., and it will be facilitated by Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Galusi and our Director of Family, Community, and Engagement, Megan Fidler-Carey, and one of our kindergarten teachers, Ms. Maria Michelli. There will be two other opportunities for families, Tuesday, February 28th. Our second session of Building Bridges to Kindergarten will be available by Zoom. And again, Thursday, March 30th, that will be in person at Medford High School Library. Also, a PIC registration office parent information center will be open late until 6.30pm on those days, so parents can get information and register at the same exact time. On January 18, it is also our elementary winter concert, so please come out, it's at 7pm in the Karen theater. Come out and listen to our elementary musicians, it's a great fun to be a great event, and lots of fun for all. Lastly, in closing, I just want to recognize that prior to our next meeting. the Lunar New Year will begin. It starts on January 22nd and it lasts for seven days. It is the year of the rabbit and the rabbit embodies the yin or the passive principle of the universe, which means the new year will bring with it the hope that people will be able to lead a more relaxed and balanced life. I would like to wish our Asian families who celebrate Lunar New Year, a happy and healthy Lunar New Year. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. Next up, we have number two report on world language update, Dr. Vilma Bebo.
[SPEAKER_11]: Bebo.
[SPEAKER_07]: Bebo, sorry. World language coordinator. Welcome. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Good evening. Next slide, please. Next.
[SPEAKER_14]: Thank you for the opportunity to offer you a mid-year update on the world language program and department. The program of study, a series of courses and other educational program offered at Medford High School and Vocational Technical High School will include a new world language course description. The new description will reflect the actual national standards and is divided in three major communicators levels novice grades six eight intermediate grades 1012 and advanced AP courses. Before the course description, there will be four paragraphs to introduce the World Language Program at Medford. The first paragraph is the department mission statement, which states that the Medford Language Program at the Medford Public Schools provides students with the necessary tools to become global citizens and learners committed to understanding and appreciating their own culture, as well as the culture of others. The program strives to empower students by broadening their perspectives, applying their language and presentational skills to real life situations, and nurturing empathy for others. Furthermore, the program is committed to inspiring all students to find joy in language learning and applying their knowledge to other disciplines. As a result, students will develop the skills to be successful in today's job market and feel fully competent and well adjusted in today's diverse world. The second paragraph describes the world language program at Medford and states that world language courses in Medford public schools follow the proficiency model of language instruction reflected in Massachusetts State curriculum frameworks and the national standards for education. Students are presented with grammar and vocabulary in context and are encouraged to express themselves in the target language independently of a text as soon as possible. Awareness of cultural differences and similarities is essential to complete language education. Interdisciplinary teams allow students to use the language they acquire to learn about their world in general. They also demonstrate a more authentic use of the language to communicate important information. The third paragraph describes the world language program at Medford and states that a minimum of two-year iSchool world language courses sequence is recommended for students seeking admission to competitive colleges. Our curriculum does not focus on standardized tests other than the advanced placements exams and the sealable literacy exam. However, students who are completed the Spanish, French, or Italian intermediate honors have been introduced to their full continuum of grammatical concepts in ample vocabulary. In most cases, this prepares students with the skills necessary for success on the SAT subject tests. Colleges express no preference among languages. The fourth paragraph describes the sealable literacy, but for high school students may be eligible to receive the sealable literacy upon graduation. The sealable literacy is an award given by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in recognition of students who have studied and attained a designated level of proficiency in two or more languages, including English by high school graduation. The criteria are a rating of intermediate I or above evaluated via testing, the measures on language skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking, and a score of proficient or above on the high school ELA and CAS. Students fluent in a language not taken at school also qualify to test for the seal of literacy we encourage students to continue their study of language to our high school as multiple years of study will provide the opportunity to this award. After the fourth paragraph, there is a sentence that introduces the various levels of proficiency. The sentence reads, the following is a description of a communicator in the target language when enrolled in a particular course. This is aligned with the American Council for the Teaching of World Language Act. This visual on your left represents the path to second language proficiency. You can see the path starts from novice low to novice mid, novice high, intermediate low, intermediate mid, intermediate high, up to advanced low. In the box, this is an example of a description of the novice low communicator or what students can do at this level. Next, there is an example of intermediate low. Again, what students can do at this level with this communicator. And finally, we have an example of advanced low communicator, or what students can do at this level. Please note that the program of study will reflect all level of proficiency, seven total, novice low, mid, and high, intermediate low, mid, and high, and advanced low. So all stakeholders can refer to them, and we allow more clarification on what students can do with the language in each level. Next, we have an example of a course description which clarifies what students should be able to do at the end of Spanish, for example, Spanish, French, and Italian 2CP. The target level is Novice I, and the prerequisite to take this course is Novice Med. By the end of this course, the students will be one step closer to the intermediate level, which is in the middle of the path to proficiency in high school. And then we have an example of another course description, which clarifies what students should be able to do at the end of Spanish or French in Italian to honors. The target level is intermediate to low, and the prerequisite to take this course is novice high. At the end of this course, students will be one step closer to the intermediate level. Next is an update on the online program. I met with each online educator to discuss the online courses. These are the updates as of December 22nd, 2022, sorry. Online courses are using Google Classroom, which provides weekly posting, alignments, reminders, additional material, and communication to both students and parents and caregivers. Next. There are some additional material platforms the educator are using with their online courses. Note how this additional support aims to develop and support all four essential skills to become proficient in a word language. All of these additional supports, they support either reading, writing, listening, and speaking, or all of the above. The assessment and grading are not aligned among the online courses. It is my goal to align the online curriculum with the in-person to reflect the national standards. The department is currently working on curriculum alignment with the new Massachusetts framework. These are the online educators' feedback. FluentU is a platform to support the online courses. However, most educators find it limited in material access. All educators want to have a meeting time with students and mandate once a week meeting so they can catch up, ask questions, and get help. If students are provided with the time built into their schedule to meet with their teacher once a week, perhaps they could use that time to catch up on some work as well. Parents appear to be satisfied with the online program and appreciate all the information they can get from the educators. The next step is to have a survey from online students and parents. How they feel about the online courses, how satisfied they are with the type of technology and software they are using, how they are learning the skills and knowledge necessary for success in language, how much time they spend in the online courses on a weekly basis, what is the primary reason to opt to be enrolled in the online course, and if there is anything else that they would like to tell us. And finally, I would like to share that I teach an adult Italian class starting this Thursday once a week in the evening at MHS. I am not compensated for it. Instead, this group will donate a scholarship for seniors in the World Language Program. Thank you very much for your time. That's great.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you so much, Ms. Cabot. Any questions from the committee? Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, you have a question member miss stone.
[SPEAKER_17]: Thank you very much for all that information. Is there any conversation about adding another language to the world language department I know in the past people had emailed, both for Chinese Arabic, or even sign language and I didn't know if that was a conversation to expand the languages we offer.
[SPEAKER_14]: Yes, of course, we're always open to have those wonderful conversation. I already had a little teeny tiny conversation with my supervisor, and I'm open to have more in-depth conversation. I would like to survey the district as well, see how parents and students feel about that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_14]: Of course, thank you. Great, thank you. Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_07]: We have number three, report on updated Medford High School's safety plan. Dr. Maurice Edouard-Vincent, superintendent.
[SPEAKER_16]: Good evening again. So this evening, I wanted to share with the committee the key steps that we have taken at Medford High School. The first piece being, this is a black and white version, but this is an updated student guide to the school safety procedures that we have at Medford High School. And so, many of the in light of what ended up transpiring we realized that there were a lot of things that we could do in the immediate to ensure that the school would get right back on track and instill a greater sense of security and safety for all, which is what our primary goal was. I'm going to start with the 10 point action plan, which highlights some of the key initiatives that we did as a district from December through where we are right now with the start of the school year. The first step, and this was in collaboration with the Medford Police Department and working closely with Chief Buckley. We were able to add have an additional school resource officer assigned to the high school. So we now have two full time school resource officers based at Medford High School, providing support and You know, again, right now we have one male and one female school resource officer and Chief Buckley does have a few other officers that have been changed, but at any given point in time we will have two officers. So, a few others have been trained and we may. rotate some of them as time goes on, but we will always have to school resource or school resource officers assigned to the building. So, I was very pleased we were able to work on that over the break, and with our return to school on January 3. Since then, we have had two assigned and Ms. Julia Pottier is our second school resource officer and Mr. Conway has been our school resource officer as well this year. One of the second areas where we made significant changes were related to the bathroom occupancy. At the time of the incident that took place. There was definitely an incredibly large number of students that were in the restroom. I still ask myself how did they fit in there, but there were a significant amount of students that were in the restroom. So one of the things that we did immediately was to look at the structure of the high school, identify the most frequently used restrooms that are there, and to have bathroom monitors. There is signage on the bathrooms right now that say occupancy, no more than two students at a time allowed in the restrooms. I have been administrators, teachers, building monitors the rotation, everyone all hands on deck. And so, when we're doing the bathroom duty or monitoring the students are also self monitoring as they're coming in and coming out, you know students have said oh two people are already inside. I'll wait my turn. and they wait patiently and that bathroom occupancy putting a limit has really helped to make sure that people just use the facility go in and go out. And that has made truly a significant difference since we've been back. A third shift that has happened is in regards to identification. Now we are going to be having all of our students wear their school based IDs. And we know that some identification or school IDs may have been lost. So new IDs were ordered for all students again, and they should be coming in shortly. And we're waiting for the additional lanyards that will be coming in as well. So that is something I happen to have my ID on me, but all the students will be wearing their ID and they will have breakaway lanyards. So that's something that was important for us to be able to do. In terms of supervision in the hallways, In the cafeterias, and in the bathrooms, we do have increased presence increased duty schedules, where we look in staff and administration have filled in those blocks to continue to supervise and monitor what's happening in the hallways what's happening at check in. Students, when they come to school if they are tardy. They now report to the main office. So when they come in, they go up the front stairwell, and they go into the main office and that's where they're processed in the past. We used to welcome students at the individual house offices, C1, C2, and C3. Now we have it in one central location where all students are processed if they are tardy, and then they are able to go to whatever classroom they need, period, that they should be attending. Number four. Ensuring that all students and adults are aware of procedures related to bullying prevention reporting and investigation. student sessions, the first day, the following day when we had come back from school, we had student sessions by ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade. Also within the updated guide, we have active links regarding bullying and what steps And there's an appendix, and it says properly investigating claims of bullying. And they give the page numbers as well, pages 44 to 46, which refers to the hard copy handbook that all students received. In addition to that, step number five, the anonymous reporting system. On January 18th, next week, our students are going to be trained with the see something, say something anonymous reporting tip line, where students will be trained, they'll be able to download the app on their phones if they have it, and it will be anonymous, and they will be able to report something that they're aware of and that it will, again, if people felt intimidated or they were worried about it, this is now an additional measure where they will be able to report it. And it's not only something that could be happening, it could be evidence of seeing inappropriate graffiti or hate speech or other things that shouldn't be taking place. This, again, is an opportunity for students to be able to report anonymously administrators have been trained, and we are continuing to train teachers will receive training so they'll understand how this program works at when this coming Wednesday's professional development session, Michelle men will be rolling out that training. And then students will be trained next week. I believe it's the 18th on how that program works so we're looking forward to that anonymous reporting system. Again, as I mentioned earlier, number six we updated the student handbook. and gave an abbreviated 10 page section, which, you know, gives the key areas where they have either been shifts or adjustments made to the student handbook. For number seven, we're reminding all families and students about all of the counseling support services and in my remarks today. In addition to care solace. I did mention that there is now the Massachusetts behavioral helpline which is available for the entire school community as well. Bullet number eight, which will be part of my next presentation as well. We have hired and are working with the person of Mr. Michael Welch to support our high school administrative team. And really look at the high school in particular focusing on culture, climate, looking at discipline safety for the remainder of this year providing consult and guidance to us. We will be administering parent and student surveys through panorama education. This is, it's a confidential school culture and climate survey, and our high school students. My parents and guardians and some of our school committee members met this week with today's Monday so they met last week with Dr. Cushing, and we're giving additional suggestions in input for things that could possibly be added to the survey so we are continuing to take that feedback. Also to help the school with. emergency communications, we will be working, looking to hire a dedicated communications director who will be able to help us with comprehensive communications district wide. So those are the 10 key points of the action plan of things that have been taking place since school started last week and things that we're going to continue to work on. but I also want to just highlight a few things. First, you can see these are one of the measures that will be going out to students. This blue bathroom pass is for the restrooms and all teachers will be receiving these passes. So as students are in the hallway, if they're going to the restroom, they will have a pass, it will be labeled, with the classroom that they're coming from, so that they're able to go to the restroom, and it's easily identifiable, they can go and return to their classroom. If a student needs to leave the classroom for a different purpose. We are also instituting The red hall pass, and the red hall pass can be a student going to the nurse's office, going to visit a guidance Councilor, possibly, you know, they need to go to the library for something or the main office. So teachers will be given these passes, they will be labeled. And as students are traveling through the hallways, we'll be able to identify why they are in the hallway. Any adult who's monitoring at that point in time will be able to just know that we can give an account for where they are at. We also still have the eHaul Pass system, which is an online system where the students can go online, they can have the app on their phone, and they can use that system as well. and that can be checked by teachers or administrators who are on duty to look at the E-Haul Pass system. So since the event took place, we have had the information system meetings with students where we did discuss the key shifts that were taking place with the guide, but we also had several listening sessions and we are going to continue to provide students with opportunities to share their thoughts, and I can say that I had students come and visit me I met with students in my office I met with students in the library. The mayor also attended one of the listening sessions in the information session for students When school reopened, we also had listening sessions for staff. And we are just continuing to provide those opportunities. I had the opportunity to walk the halls one day last week with member Hays, who was able to kind of see the new system in place. And so I can positively report that there is a noted shift, a noted difference at the high school. The hallways are clear. The hallways are quiet. The bathrooms are orderly. We're not having overcrowding in the bathrooms at all. It's two students at a time. And the feedback has been fairly, fairly positive. One additional shift that I didn't talk about was students who were cutting class. One new thing that we did institute working with the teachers is if a student were to cut a class or not be present the teachers have been using one of our. special platforms called talking points, and they just send a little message to the parents to let them know that a student may not have been in the class. And for that reason, they're notifying them. So these are just some of the slight shifts that have taken place. But I can positively report that it has made a drastic difference just in this short period of time. And I look forward to seeing continued shifts and improvement as we go forward.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. Questions from the committee?
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham? Thank you. I have just a couple questions. So I'm particularly interested in item number two and item number three and item number four on the action plan. And it sounds like there's been an immediate response to put some structures in place to address these topics, which I think is a good thing. But I think my question is, or I guess my question is, who is doing those things? And is it sustainable for them to continue to do those things into the future? And if it's not, what is our plan that those actions actually can be sustainable? And I just, I'm really sensitive to and appreciative of all the people who have put all their hands on deck to address some of these issues that have gone on for too long. But I also am, very aware of the work they're supposed to be doing in there every single day, which probably doesn't include some of the things we're asking them to do right now. And I'm concerned about that sustainability going forward and what the plan is to make sure that that can continue without being massively disruptive to everything else that has to happen in the district.
[SPEAKER_16]: So one of the things that we did when we asked for support and help for all hands on deck. When we asked for the teachers to provide additional support we did include compensation because some of the teachers, it could have been a prep period. So where they would have been preparing during the day. They have volunteered. They've given up that particular period of prep, and they said okay I will be part of monitoring the hallway. So that was something which. bathroom monitoring in the hallway monitoring. That was something that we weren't really doing to that level we had teacher support during lunches, there were teachers who were providing additional lunch support and that's something that happened in the past, but asking for specific support with naming the different areas of the building. So it is something that we're, you know, when the incident initially took place, we really, it was everyone. There were a lot of, almost more adults in the hallway than there were students. As we are getting back into the routine, of going to class once the bell rings and passing period has happened. It hasn't been necessary to keep as large a number because we do have our building monitors that are already in the building. We have two SROs that are just walking and just making sure that things are peaceful. So we do have staff, we have five building monitors right now, and we are still looking to increase that. So at any given time, and we have seven administrators at the high school. So when you add all of those school-based administrators, and that's not talking about our other administrators that are central office-based. So from a sustainability perspective, I don't think we're going to need to have a large number of people You know, all hands on deck I think it's cool we're going to be able to get to a manageable number of staff, supporting the high school. So, you know, that that's what I would say so from a sustainability, we may end up saying we might need, you know, one or two other teachers or someone to help like in the lunches we did add an additional person, and the teachers have graciously, you know, signed up, and, you know, I've, we've been very appreciative of the support, and just looking at what we can do with the staff that we have, and having a reasonable number of additional staff at different points throughout the building.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. And I just want to make sure that it's clear that if you need support from a funding perspective, please tell us what those things are. And I know we're going to come up on budget season really fast. And we can certainly talk about this again as part of the operating budget. But we want to hear from you if there is support or infrastructure that's lacking. The idea that this is sustainable through brute force is fraught for lots of reasons. And I want to make sure that if there are things that we need to do so that we can have a little bit more of an efficient way to do these things, that we are pursuing that. And if that means investments, I think we're all here to support that and tell the community why it's necessary.
[SPEAKER_16]: Definitely. I fully am on board with that as we are continuing to just look at how the high school is, how it's functioning, what's working, what isn't working. And we're continuing to meet today, all of central office and all of the administrative team, including Janet Connors, who's with the building monitors. We sat down and we are meeting, we are talking, we are giving feedback to one another. and just saying okay what else can we do to approve. Mr. Michael Welch was there as well as you know, a listener and observer and just, if so it's it's a group effort. And really, Michelle man was there, looking at what we're doing and how we can continue to improve and tweak. So it is a work in progress but we are not going to shy away from asking for additional resources in key areas. during the budget season.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great. And the other request that I have, this school committee is supposed to review and sign off on handbooks on an annual basis. And I've never done that since I've been here. And I am pretty certain that we've talked about it a couple of times. So I'd like to ask for you to put forward a schedule to us of how you will present those handbooks to us for our review for the upcoming school year. OK. And it would be really great if there was some tracking mechanism when you share those documents with us so we can understand like what does it look like today and what are you proposing the changes are. And you know I think these like we just need to make sure that there's enough time for us to do a good diligent job of that because it's not been done as long as we've been on the committee, so I think that's it's really important that we get into a better. and more consistent annual process to do that.
[SPEAKER_16]: Schedule. Okay. Prior to the end of the school year. We'll do.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll do. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_06]: Member McLaughlin, then Member Hays. Thank you. Thank you for this, for the action plan and for the work that's been done, Dr. Edward-Vincent. And I particularly like the, you know, the graphic and the way that it's laid out very clearly. So thank you for that. I'm curious about the anonymous reporting system. If you could share a little bit more about that, what the infrastructure of that is actually going to look like. Is this a, is this a, technology that we have that we're going to be able to use? Or is it, you know, traditional paper system? Like, what is that actually going to look like? And where's that data going to go? And how will we be kept informed of it?
[SPEAKER_16]: So when I went through the training, it's an online platform that is affiliated with the Sandy Hook, see something, say something. And they had us as administrators, after we got trained, they had us do like a mock training where you had to like log in and each person would report in. You'd have like a specialized identification for for administrators, and then it goes to like a reporting system where the information is taken in, and you can follow up with it without knowing So we're aware that some information will be timely, some information might be this happened, or the information may be a little more vague. So there is kind of like another layer, I should say, where there's analysis that takes place. So the students, when they get trained, they will download the app onto their telephones. So it is not... It's not something that you're writing like paper longhand, it's like a digital, it's essentially an app. And when you put the information in the app, it gets logged and then it gets sent to the key individuals who would need to be alerted that something was added to the platform. And depending on the level of seriousness, It will go to like a 911 level or something like that and I don't know if anyone Dr crushing if you want to jump in.
[SPEAKER_11]: Sandy hook line.
[SPEAKER_18]: So first I want to give full credit to Stacey showman and our counseling staff for reaching out seeking out this application so this is a free application through Sandy have promised. And what it does is it essentially filters the incidents as they come in, and those of highest concern will be sent through police dispatch, whereas others will be sent to the school. So if somebody is reporting, you know, let your mind run wild, something very concerning, something very high needs, and that'll trigger an immediate call to the police, as well as a notification of the school as well. if it's something a little bit lower of, you know, bullying or something along those lines, it'll trigger a school response as opposed to a police response. So, it's varied and the training is quite extensive and there's a high bar that San Diego Promise requires school districts to meet in order to attain and utilize this program.
[SPEAKER_07]: And I think if I may just point out, this is just one avenue. If you went to the meetings, they were by grade level on the first day back last week. Each grade level was able to see a picture and the name associated with anybody in the building that could be a trusted adult. And it came to news for me that there is plenty of people that our children, teens can report to, whether that be anonymously or not. And so 12 total mental health professionals in the building six guidance Councilors, principal, three assistants, and the list goes on. And the students were shown every name and picture so that they have an idea of where they are in the building, who they are. And I think one important thing that has changed in the last two weeks is it was going to be a form survey. And between Peter and Joan, I know you're working on it a great deal, the survey. I'm pushing very hard behind the scenes that it not be a form survey, that we have a survey that we develop, take our time, an extra couple of weeks to develop that is gonna fit the needs of our students and our teachers and our families. Then some of the questions are gonna be based off of what we've learned in the listening sessions, in the class meetings. And for an example, it's, do you have a trusted adult in the building that you can go to voice a concern to? And if not, do you want one so that you can connect students directly? And that's just one example. The administration is trying to do this right and be thoughtful, and I appreciate that. I'm pushing for it, and I'm getting good response. So I just wanted to point that out. There are trusted people in the building, plenty of them that our students can go to. This is another means of, I want to be completely anonymous. I'm going to report to this line.
[SPEAKER_18]: Madam Mayor, if I can, to that end, we are also, as many of you know, are right now doing a health curriculum review. We have an extraordinarily talented group of people who have stepped up to the plate. And on this past Wednesday at a meeting, I put the charge to them to think of school safety questions that they might consider. So they're also researching. The team at Panorama is not only using their research team to help us build questions, but they've reached out to their partners throughout other school districts who have faced these challenges to also see what questions we can bring in. So those are three specific avenues. you know, us in the buildings, our HECAT team and Panorama with two avenues internally there, the research team, as well as reaching out to other school districts.
[SPEAKER_06]: Member McLaughlin and member Hays. Thank you. Just to follow up to that. Thank you. That was very helpful. So I'm just wondering, I'm sure that obviously because it's online, there'll be data collection specific to this anonymous line. So there'll be data collection. So there'll be an ability to report how many calls came in or how many, Anonymous reports were made, you know, sort of what sort of, you know, context, they were in generally that sort of thing, which department will be handling the response to that is not going to be stationed showman's department or is it, it'll be a collaboration between the counseling and school leadership.
[SPEAKER_18]: So, and this is that this is going to be at each school. Yeah, and an opportunity at each school for students to access this. And so, you know, we need to make sure that not only that not everything that not every burden falls on our counseling staff that it also is supported by our school leaders as well.
[SPEAKER_06]: Mayor, just one more. Thank you. And if we could think about. Ms. Bone, if we could think about some either PECS images or social stories or something like that, that will support students who don't communicate with words or otherwise that are able to access this line as well. Most students with IEPs have bullying plans in their IEP anyway, but if there could be some support around this line existing, that would be really helpful for those classrooms.
[SPEAKER_07]: Good suggestion.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Member Hays, then Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_19]: Thank you. I just had a few, few questions, some of them might be very quick, hopefully.
[SPEAKER_16]: Do we have a date for the survey yet I, I feel like maybe that was already answered because you said you're taking a little extra time to try to buy the end of January, we would like to administer that Dr. Cushing is working with panorama, and the end of January first week or so of February, we really do.
[SPEAKER_18]: There will be some questions that come directly from panorama that nationally norm nationally metric, but then when we launch our own. We want to make sure that they're collecting the really important data and we're not so worried much about survey metrics in this realm. As you know, but we want to make sure we're collecting really good viable data that's going to help inform our practice moving forward to make the changes students and families expect
[SPEAKER_19]: And then have we put any thought into, and maybe this goes towards resources and what the school committee can do for you, giving this survey on a yearly basis, even twice a year. I looked it up and there's some school systems in the area who seem to be giving this kind of a survey. In fact, I think it was the Panorama company or platform. Just something to think about in the future, just to keep getting this information from students and families. The world is ever-changing. our needs are going to change and it would be nice to have this information on a, maybe an annual, maybe even by, I don't know. I don't know what the costs of it are and what the feasibility would be, but just something to think about because I think, you know, we know that getting the student information was huge for us with this. This was really, um, eyeopening to a lot of people, um, what we needed and what, what was going on. Um, so the more often you can get that kind of information, I think, you know, the better, which also leads to my next question. I was wondering about the listening sessions and kind of how is data being collected from those listening sessions? Because it would be good to know, obviously, to figure out are there certain groups of students who are feeling more uncomfortable than others or certain concerns that crop up for, you know, males versus females, maybe our LGBTQ population, maybe our students of color, are we actually collecting the information in a way that we could look at it in that depth?
[SPEAKER_16]: So, the listening sessions that I attended there, they were made up of like a diverse group of students so we had English learners we do want to, for those that have limited English, we do want to get some translated sessions for them to make sure that they're understanding all of what's being said. But we did have smaller group sessions, and we are going to continue to get feedback from the students. And the things that the students said, some of them were quite comical. They had interesting perspectives on the new rules that are coming down. They're aware of what's happening. But after they said those pieces, honestly, majority of students that I've spoken with and have asked them, you know, how do you feel? They all have talked about definitely feeling safer and feeling like the bathrooms, which used to be an area of, you know, large congregating, large groups of students. Now that there are only two students, they feel like that's kind of like a stress-free experience for them.
[SPEAKER_19]: I just was wondering, as you're doing those listening sessions, someone writing down.
[SPEAKER_16]: Yes, it is being recorded, it is being recorded notes are being taken on the guidance Councilors, Michelle men, the different Councilors who have been present for those as well they have been taking notes and just capturing like the key ideas key themes, some of the students keep, you know, they may be repeating, you know, the same thing over and over again. If that happens, they're not gonna record it over and over again, but it's just noted that this is something that they would like us to definitely pay attention to.
[SPEAKER_19]: And one last request I had, or maybe you're already doing this, for the counseling services and making sure that, or the support services, those phone numbers you gave us, are those being posted on the school website so people have a central place they could go to find those? rather than, you know, trying to remember from the meeting.
[SPEAKER_16]: I should make sure I'm not sure if the slide deck if we had posted that but I can definitely get the informational slide deck or make minor tweaks to it so that parents can also know who's serving in what capacity.
[SPEAKER_19]: And those numbers in the community I was thinking of specifically because those are newer. And the care solace, just if there's a- Oh, those phone numbers.
[SPEAKER_16]: Yes, yes, yes. I can definitely get that in a different format. So people will know these are additional resources that are available for the community. Yes.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. And on that note, Member Hays, I did suggest that a bulletin board be put up somewhere in the high school with every picture of a trusted somebody, all the adults within the school with the names and phone numbers to the hotline and to care solace, things like that. I think that's important to put on the website and post in the school so the students have it too. And then with regards to the listening sessions, I was able to make two out of the four, and I took notes and sent mine over to Ms. Glusi, but I know that the Councilors were taking notes. And I do think it's important that we do form a list of questions that came from those sessions that we weren't able to answer so that we can follow up with our students, whether that's by one formal email in the next week or two, just to let them know they have been heard I know that Dr. Cushing reached out to the first listening session, which was four amazing students who had so much to say. And a big theme of theirs was how to get communication. They don't really love checking email. They're getting too many of them. So Dr. Cushing is going to meet with them and hopefully create a social media platform because that seems to be where they want to get their information. And I said, well, you could be leaders and do it yourself. So a lot of good did come out of the sessions, but I do ask that any questions that weren't able to answer in those four sessions are kind of outlined to the students with some answers.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham. Thank you. Regarding the survey that's going out, how does that square with the RFP that we are in the process of releasing to do something very similar?
[SPEAKER_18]: So the RFP specifically articulates that they need to work with any current panorama data. unless the successful candidate for the RFP can articulate how they will implement that data as well as whatever their own survey might be. I left open room for flexibility that used the panorama, which just so you're aware is about $19,000 a year, and paid for right now out of the hate crimes grant. but then so that there is a window for whoever the successful company is to do the culture and climate work to use either the panorama or to use that in conjunction with whatever survey model they might bring in that's native to their purposes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, thank you. Two other questions. I did see that Desi has a grant opportunity on their website around violence prevention in schools. And I don't know if we are planning to apply for that or if that's a good fit for our needs. But I did see that a couple of community members had mentioned it to me. So I wanted to make sure that we discussed it here.
[SPEAKER_18]: Member Graham, I'm actually meeting with a community member on that grant tomorrow at 11. Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good. And then my last I guess it's a request when you know we talked. It was probably a year ago now and Stacey Shulman was here and I asked her a question around do students know how to access the services that are available to them. And she did say you know, at that time, this was a year ago, that they were finding that the answer was no, not really. That students really did still have, like, were unaware. And I know that you all have been working on that. But the other thing that I am hearing, particularly from parents and students, is that beyond just knowing that those services are available for you to reach out and ask for help, The question I have for Ms. Schulman to consider is how are we identifying people we should be reaching out to and not waiting for students to get to a place or a space or a willingness to come seeking services? So how can we be more proactive with those students who we see in the building who may be struggling for one reason or another to provide some outreach to them and let them proactively know what the options are for them What services are available and that there are like people there to help because I think sometimes as you know with students. Whether they're like willing to go out and seek services for themselves is as individual as like all the students in the building are so. I just want to make sure that there's a mechanism there too among the adults in the building that we can identify students who might need some of that help and find a way to reach students who may not have found the way or the desire to reach us first.
[SPEAKER_16]: So there, there is I what was coming to mind as you were talking. We do have students that have been identified for different reasons. Sometimes it is, they may be a family that has higher needs. potentially they could be homeless and we're making sure that they have additional supports. We also could have students that have, especially in light of students that are skipping class or cutting class, which is something that, you know, we were like, we need to put additional layers in because we kind of had given a little more leeway and we needed to say, no, no, no, no, we need to like, communicate with parents a lot earlier. So parents would just be in the know. So there are students that we're watching. We do have student support teams like an SST for students that for different reasons may start to tick different boxes. And we say, okay, we need to keep our eyes and start providing additional supports. But there are always a few students that could slip through the cracks one way or the other. And so that is why we really are like with the presentation that we had with what the training they're going to have next week. I think we're making a real concerted effort to say like help is available, we have a lot of. You know Councilors and adjustment Councilors and guidance Councilors and school psychologists we have them located in like suites at the high school on every single floor. So that was something that I think was clearly articulated so I didn't think to ask me showman. Has there been a significant uptick. But we do have a lot of supports available and. We want to continue to make sure that those supports are being accessed by the students so we can continue to kind of drill down in those areas.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. Do you want to student rep Dominic. Oh, Bruno.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, I have a quick question in regards to distribution of the surveys. So, do you guys have like a rough idea of when they'll be distributed because I know from experience, and Lauren, we both kind of often find like it difficult to complete the survey because of the influx of students on the network. So oftentimes I end up pretty frustrated, because I'm not able to complete it. So has it been considered possibly doing it by grade, maybe taking away from class time, or maybe each day is a different grade during homeroom, etc.
[SPEAKER_18]: That's a great question. Thank you, Dom. That's something that we were hoping that the network upgrades would be able to handle it. But if that's still an issue, while we were planning to do it on an extended advisory, we will definitely make alternate plans so that we can have all students complete it. I do want to let everybody know, this was brought up by the student reps to me in one of our meetings, that it is 100% anonymous. So the students don't have to worry about there was a concern about like, Oh, if we're honest or anything like that, the survey is run through panorama, a hundred percent anonymous. Um, and it can be done two ways. It can be done with just a link that students can access or panorama can drive it specifically to students, email addresses, and they will not share that, that discernible information with us. By doing it the second way, we're able to capture demographics. We're doing it the first way of just an open link to our students. We would not be able to capture those demographics. And I think that getting good demographic information at this point is something that we need to consider. So just FYI, but it is 100% anonymous.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. I think that concludes our questions. I don't know if somebody from, oh, member Hays.
[SPEAKER_19]: I had a question, not so much about what's been put in place for the safety procedures, but just thinking about the incident, the stabbing incident, and the response to it that day. Just wondering if you as a team have met to talk about the response itself, looking at what went well, maybe what didn't go so well, kind of that debriefing. Have you had a meeting like that yet? Are you planning to do a meeting?
[SPEAKER_16]: We're going to do an after action review we have not done the formal after action review regarding that. I mean we we've met. And as I said like today's debrief has been more on where we are right now but for us to go back and go through all of that. And when we do that, not only as our team, I would like to have. chief and his members of his team that were there, members of fire team that were there, so that I could really hear from all stakeholders that were involved while we were in the middle of the crisis. So we have not set that up, but we do plan on doing that before this month is out. We're going to do it during the month of January.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_16]: You're welcome.
[SPEAKER_07]: If there's no further questions, I don't know if I can make a motion if you want to take the chair. Member Graham, or if somebody would make a motion that we just get an update on this 10-point action plan at the February 27th or the March 6th meeting. I'm happy to make a motion that we get an update on this at our February 27th meeting. Motion to get an update on the 10-point action plan on February 27th by Member Graham, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call.
[SPEAKER_11]: Member Graham. Yes. Member Hays? Yes. Member Kreatz? Yes. Member McLaughlin? Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Mustone? Member Ruseau, yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[SPEAKER_07]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion is passed. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor?
[SPEAKER_07]: Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_02]: Before we move on, I didn't know if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to speak on this topic. Yes. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hello, Nicole Branley. So I just have a couple of questions. I did reach out to the committee, thanking them for putting this all together because I do think pointing out the positives. is as important as pointing out things that would need to be worked on. So I do appreciate all of this. Assigning the school resource officer in the mayor's communication on December 23rd, you had mentioned that there would be two officers, a female officer and an officer of color. So I'm just curious if there's gonna be a third officer or what happened with that?
[SPEAKER_07]: Four trained officers, two will be in the building. at most times until unless there's an issue in the police department where they someone needs to get pulled. Okay, for trained fully, fully. Yeah. And if one gets promoted, our plans are to try to keep it at four. So that can always be two in the building. So two in our building, but for at the department per se, for a fully trained, hopefully, like one had to go out on leave. There's four fully trained officers. And then zero bro is still to the middle schools. He is still at the middle schools in the high schools. Okay, awesome.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. And then for the implementing clear consistent protocols for student identification, check in and hallway presence. What happens when they don't? Like, what are some of the consequences?
[SPEAKER_16]: When you're saying when they don't, can you, I didn't hear the first part of the question.
[SPEAKER_04]: So if they don't have their identification, once identifications are passed out, what if they don't have it? Is there a consequence to that?
[SPEAKER_16]: Yeah, so if a student forgets, there's not a consequence.
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's gonna be.
[SPEAKER_16]: Yeah, so we're gonna have a temporary pass for them, a temporary ID, and each student will be given a lanyard, a breakaway lanyard, and the breakaway lanyards will be colored based on the lunch that they have so that's another added security measure. So we'll have blue lanyards and gray lanyards and you'll be able to identify if the students in first lunch or second lunch, and for students that have schedules that change, they'll be given a different colored lanyard. So if a student were to just rush out the house and forget their ID, they would have a temporary ID for that day. But we are, we have ordered all new IDs for the students because we knew some of them may have thrown their original ones away or just misplaced them.
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely. And then you had touched upon just the cutting of the classes. So teachers are going to be using the talking point app if a student. What was the procedure before.
[SPEAKER_16]: So, there had to be like for offenses, like they were they were given a larger runway. And so it was on the fourth offense that. When the administration was notified, then the assistant principals would be following up with the students and so we've now had it if there's a cut on the first offense. The teacher can send a talking points message. to the parents to notify the parents that, you know, Johnny wasn't in math class today or we missed his presence, but there are some students that may be in the guidance office so there's there's a little gray area for some students but for those students were cutting class.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_16]: So now they're much much. There's greater scrutiny and sometimes parents might even end up getting two or three messages in a day if their child decided to not stay in class.
[SPEAKER_04]: For a period.
[SPEAKER_16]: It's by the period that we've been doing that.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then so what is the follow up to that? Is it still four offenses? That it's followed up by the AP?
[SPEAKER_16]: So depending on each student once it goes into the talking points it's notifying the fam notifying the parents, and then there will be opportunities for you know to have, we would still like to have conversations with the students about like why did you skip. You know humanities or why did you skip this particular class, so there will be some opportunities for that but then clearly. Once you hit a certain threshold there, there will be detention there Saturday detention there's like progressive discipline that will end up taking place but parents will just be notified. Earlier, so that parents can partner with us and say hey. I got a message today you were in math class I don't expect to get that message tomorrow. So that's what we're also hoping. And so, when I met with administrators today after school. One of the administrators said that they only received five. alerts today for students that weren't where they needed to be. So the improvement, it's like huge. It's really significant.
[SPEAKER_04]: So is the talking point just going to the parent, right?
[SPEAKER_16]: Yes, the talking point is just like the parent receives a text.
[SPEAKER_04]: I have it, yep, yep, yep. And then, so is that also going to the AP too? Is it happening simultaneously? No, the talking points message to my knowledge- What I'm saying is the AP being told that today, when you said Johnny, so Johnny didn't show up, his mom was notified, but was the assistant principal notified so that those four are still being counted towards the discipline
[SPEAKER_16]: in house, I want to say that it has to be logged into school brains. And I don't know, I might ask for that's correct. Once it's logged in school brains, then that's when the administrators both parks.
[SPEAKER_04]: Correct. The answer is yes. Okay, mom, you know this now.
[SPEAKER_16]: you know, they log it in school brains, and then that's when the administrator will get.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, just want to make sure that so the teacher is responsible to make sure both parties know now.
[SPEAKER_16]: Once it's entered into school brains, the administrative all the administrators who work with the students can see that.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay, perfect. On that note, if I may. Yes, really, if you're done with that question. During the class meetings, it was not clear on what the discipline would be, other than the first would be reported to your parent and potentially the assistant principal. And the students in the listening sessions actually said, because it's going to be based per student. But in the listening sessions, the students actually that came to the listening sessions wanted stricter discipline to be known by the student body. And of course, if there is a special situation of a child in an IEP, then you would treat them on a case by case basis. So I do ask that the administration does work on a plan that's tight, that the student body would understand. They weren't happy their parents were going to be called to be notified, which is fine. But they didn't want to even said, I feel like I might be discriminated against because it's a case by case basis. So I do it. ask the administration to have a team meeting on this to identify what the levels of discipline will be to then follow up with the student body. And of course, if there's a special situation, then that will be handled accordingly. But I think that's important. I think you're on the right track. It should be report home every single time, but then discipline comes into play depending on how many times a class is cut. I'm glad it's working. But I think we need to just tighten it up and firm that up and let parents, caregivers, teachers, students know, because it will happen less and less if they know what the consequences are. Absolutely. It has to be a team effort between home and school.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that maybe parents feeling even a little disconnected from that, because I know that when my child goes to school and I'm sure many parents feel the same way. Well, I'm expecting them to be in English right now. You know, and then, you know, obviously when an emergency is happening at the school and you know that emergency response teams are there, you're thinking, okay, my child must be in math right now, not in a bathroom hanging out or in a hallway that no one's, you know, might be looking at regularly. So I think that it's important that parents know where your child is during the day. And I've said this, I think I've reached out to many of you saying that, you know, if there was just even a natural disaster, if you don't know where these students are, if they're supposed to be 30, you know, 30 kids in a class, and eight have walking around, three didn't show up. That's a lot of responsibility for the teacher to say, I don't know where 11 kids are. So I think that that's great. So I just have one more question. And I think it was from member Hays. I'm curious when you did this new walkthrough, did you see a difference? Have you walked through prior?
[SPEAKER_19]: And did you see on separate walks or a lot, but, um, it was a pretty, it was a brief walkthrough, but yet there. Well, first of all, the hallways were very quiet. And there were, you know, a student who came out was going somewhere and you know, the superintendent asked them where they were going and they were prepared with their response. They knew they were going to have to respond. Um, we did get to talk to some staff, um, who were on, I think they're on their lunch break actually. Um, and they seemed very enthusiastic about the rules, the new procedures in place and said, you know, that they did have a few students who kind of grumbled about it. And they said to them, you know, this is the way it is at most high schools. So that we're not different. This is important. And he said, for the most part, this one staff person said, the students were responding well to it. Great. Good. Yeah. So far, so good. OK. Good. Thank you, guys.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you, Ms. Braley. Name and address for the record, please. The third button. There we go.
[SPEAKER_13]: Number eight, you said there was a gentleman, Michael Welch. So I think it's important to, so is he being, is it voluntary or is he being paid? He's being paid. So it's also important that, as a taxpayer, that, how did you find Mr. Welch?
[SPEAKER_16]: I, I notified the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents, and I spoke with me SS and I asked them for a recommendation of a retired superintendent or retired administrator, who would like to come and be a neutral consult to come and look at Medford High School, and look at our systems our structures and see where we are to help us. turn things around to get it to where we want it to be to ensure safety and stability at the high school because sometimes when you're, I keep thinking of the for breeze commercial that you can become nose blind to something, because you're just used to it. And so by bringing in someone who's neutral who has not been in the district, They can come in and say, oh, this is something that I see. This is a best practice. Keep maintaining this particular thing. And oh, this is something where you can make an adjustment. And it'll work much better or much more smoother. So that's what it was.
[SPEAKER_13]: My only concern was because his name rang a bell because he was just, I'm sure you would know, he was involved in a civil rights lawsuit. last August through the school that I'm lost. So I was just curious how this all came together. Is that correct? Yeah. So I'm just curious because I just remember the equity process that company that some of the employees that were with them. I'm just curious how we, we came about choosing him as a taxpayer. And if he's going to be involved in our schools,
[SPEAKER_16]: Yes, he is. And he's highly recommended by Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. So that's where I got my consult. And I've been very pleased with his support thus far in helping us to give us feedback and help us to just gather our information and really put our best foot forward. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Mr. Gilead. We have a number four recommendation to approve district consultant contract, Dr. Maurice Edouard-Vincent superintendent.
[SPEAKER_16]: Thank you, Mayor. I would like to ask Mr. retired superintendent Mr. Welch to come forward as well. Michael Welch, thank you. Mr. Welch comes highly recommended from MASS he has come to support us and conduct interviews observe provide feedback expertise. He has over brings over 15 years of principal experience at both Newton South and Framingham High School, large high schools within the Commonwealth, and just completed nine years as superintendent in dead and public schools. So Mr. Welch, would you like to speak please? Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you and thank you Madam Mayor for having me here this evening and it's been my pleasure to be a part of. Getting to know the Medford Public Schools, as the superintendent mentioned, she and I did not know each other prior to a week ago. My intended retirement date was December 23rd. So I got a call, I believe it was on December 21st, asking if I'd be interested in speaking with the superintendent. And I went home and my wife thought I was nuts. She expects me to be sitting on the couch right now. And for me, I felt very compelled by the situation that you were in. As a high school principal and framing him a very, very large 2200 student suburban but urban high school, I had a student stabbed on the front steps of the school and he came in the school and I caught him as he was collapsing. And after that the med flight helicopter landed on the football field in front of the school during dismissal while 37 buses were trying to leave. So I've been where the district is. It's a very, very difficult place to be. And there's a desire in situations like this to make very quick reactions to situations to immediately change everything about the way the school functions to prevent that from ever happening again. The challenge is it's not that easy. There are many, many reasons that contribute to why things happen, not all that you can control, but that you have to understand. And I see my role right now. I've spent the last few days having intensive interviews with folks both at the central office and with the leadership team, with the principals, with the assistant principals, with the folks that are overseeing the central office to make sure you need to understand what's going on before you can propose any sort of recommendation, because a quick fix invariably is not going to do it. So my goal is to make sure that we're prioritizing school safety and security. I'm another set of eyes. I've worked in seven different secondary schools in five different public school districts over the past 34 years. I'm just going to provide recommendations. I have no magic wand. I have no ability to make decisions. I am simply here to provide my recommendation and I'm here at the request of the superintendent and on her good graces, and I've been tremendously impressed with the work that I've seen so far. It's a cavernous facility, and there are so many different pieces that go into this. There are things like the building structure of the size, the square footage, how it's situated. It's three floors. It's huge. It's cavernous. There are many different programs that are a part of the school. What sort of security is in place? Do we have school cameras do we have building monitors do we have duties for teachers, what sort of processes and procedures are people following what are the routines that have been a part of the culture and climate of the building, what kind of staffing do we have what sort of personnel are we looking at what do we need, what do we have that maybe isn't working what is working. And is that based on personality and talent or is it based on structure. It's not clear to me at all where we are with that, what kind of schedules do we have, how is the drop off and pick up going, where do kids go, who are their best contacts who do they trust what sort of student voice is involved with making the school run. How do we communicate? How do we communicate with homes? How do we communicate with students? How do we communicate with staff? How do we organize all of that? And the routines and structure are all interconnected. So again, I am here at the request of the superintendent. I'm perfectly happy to go home on the couch again. But for me, this is a tremendous, intriguing situation that is exactly in my wheelhouse of what I've dealt with. And again, if you go home and Google my name to the speaker's comments, there are many instances that I've been involved in as a school superintendent, which were very hard decisions. And often those aren't met necessarily with unanimous applause. But sometimes the right thing to do is the hard thing to do. And I think that we may be in one of those instances now. I don't know enough about the way the Medford Public Schools works and who is involved and where things are. But my intention is if you should prefer to have me here, I will be more than happy to give you my recommendations moving forward. And my expectation is, should you choose to move forward, is to meet individually with every one of you. My goal as a superintendent in Dedham was to meet with every high school senior in their senior year before they graduated to make sure I understood what kids' experiences were. And I'd like to be able to do that with all of you and make sure that all of these are ingredients that are critical to where we go as a district. So with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham. Thank you. I just had some questions or some suggestions to make the contract a little bit more clear. Um, so in the, um, in the contract, it talks about your final report. Um, I want a couple of things about that final report. I would like it to explicitly. Um, request that you will, in addition to making recommendations that you will provide us your recommendation on the timeline and the implementation plan that it would take to actually do the things that you're going to outline, because. I'm a consultant myself. And if you just give somebody a report and they put it on a shelf, they've wasted, they've wasted their money, and I want to make sure that we are reacting to what you're saying we're prioritizing those expenditures if there are any. And that we have the community has a marker of like what this timeline is because you're right like there's a lot of there's a lot of urgency in the immediate. Moments that gets reacted to, but none of it is sustainable. That, like the immediate response is just like inherently never going to be sustainable and so in order. for the climate and the culture of the building and our school to change like that sustainability has to come like to priority for us and so I'd like to see that be an explicit part of. the deliverable. The other thing I would ask about the final deliverable is that the language state that you will also provide us a draft and provide us individually opportunity to give you feedback before the final report is just issued to us. Because I think we will want to know and we'll have questions. And again, I don't want to just get a report that could have really been actionable for us, but it left something out that we think is really important. And then I think the other. I know. So, I guess I just wanted to sort of like describe the changes that I'm looking for and find out like how you want to proceed. I think the other question that I had is this has an end date of February 28th and my question for you is whether all of this can reasonably and realistically be done by February 28th because II think, you know, these kinds of things take time. And there's, you know, everybody's doing their day job, everybody's operating the school and all these things. So just the pure access to the people that you need, I think my question to you, and I totally defer to your judgment, is whether February 28 is the right date, or if there needs to be some sort of flexibility, like clause in the contract that allows that to continue, if necessary. So those, those are like the three things that I would either suggest I'm happy to make a motion. I just didn't know if you are looking for us to approve this contract or just make the changes. So more question to you about how you want to proceed.
[SPEAKER_16]: No, I was just jotting down some notes based on what you were saying. So I can definitely go back to the contract to make those revisions and then send it back to you, the committee, to see if I can highlight the areas so you can see if I captured what it was that you were saying properly. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. I would also like to ask if it can be included that there'll be interpretation services provided to that you're doing, if you haven't already thought of this, obviously, but that it's explicit that you will be having these focus groups or some of the discussions with individuals who may need interpretation services and that that will be provided. And that not only that it may happen, but that it will happen. Dr. Eby?
[SPEAKER_16]: Yes, I can definitely do that. We can schedule it, it's, it's part of getting feedback from parents and the community and students so we will include all stakeholders mask question from the chair.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, do you have more questions. I just think the first paragraph is, is somewhat lacking. And maybe some of the additions that Member Graham suggested will cut it, but I just feel like review of policies and procedures and also review of past practice of how we heard a lot over the last several weeks, just bullying complaints that were not followed up on, racism in a classroom that was not followed up on. So I think it's great that to have somebody to speak to all administrative staff, especially our central administration, who seems to know, along with our superintendent, the day-to-day and what's gone on over the last several years. I think it's important that the school committee is part of those discussions or at least gets an interview as well. But accountability, follow-up, how are we handling progressive discipline and review of policies and procedures are also very important. And then I guess my question is, how did we come to, I think along the same lines, how did we come to the February 28th date and that amount of money? Was there any discussions of additional funding? Just because I think we're going to go through the RFP process and do a culture and climate study. We just hired somebody for communications. So we have a lot. And my follow up question would be, how are we going to pay? you know, we're gonna be using ESSER money or how we're gonna pay for all this. So is this what the terms have been, the $25,500 for two full months? Has that always been on the table?
[SPEAKER_16]: So with the two months, we came up with the two month timeframe to see how long we thought it would take for Mr. Welch to be able to gather all the information that we had and we did not want it to be something that was going to be, you know, so spread out that you weren't able to do something actionable. So I definitely am willing to be flexible with the amount of time and extend the time and we could... Sorry to interrupt.
[SPEAKER_07]: That's not my question. I'd rather not extend the time in the contract if it was up to just me. I'm just asking, how did we come up with the two months? Is that two months, the 25,000, what we've always been discussed, which has always been discussed, or how did we get to that figure?
[SPEAKER_11]: in that time frame.
[SPEAKER_16]: So that's the, that's the amount based on the consultant fee based on the two months of work. So that's how we got to that number saying how long did we think it would take. And we were, we would be using SR funding and. But again, I'm open. I would have gone longer, but I didn't wanna go overboard also knowing that we needed information, we needed the guidance. MASS, he was the first one that was recommended. So that's what helped to make the decision for me.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you very much. Member Hays, Member McLaughlin, Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_19]: I'm just wondering what the consultant thinks. I mean, I think I would assume you had conversations about the scope of work and what you felt was a reasonable time. Do you have any input that you want to give it to this conversation or if I may, madam chair?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we had a considerable conversation and again, looking at how to frame the scope of work. I want to make sure that it's thorough because I don't want to have a misinterpretation on any one person. You typically, as a consultant, you're looking for three different sources of information to confirm independently what you're believing, and I wanna make sure I have time for that, but at the same time, these are taxpayer dollars. I understand that everything has to be justified, and I'm gonna work very hard to be able to provide this as quickly as possible, yet at the same time, I'm not sure if this is adequate or more than necessary. Frankly, my goal is to try to complete the bulk of the work in a consistent and constrained timeframe that was mentioned here, and then that would allow for plenty of time in the rest of the school year to be looking at implementation strategies moving forward. So the short answer, I'm not sure if it's enough, but I believe it will be.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Member McLaughlin, then Member Graham. Thank you, and just to the point of the consultation and the focus groups as well, I think that a lot of times we're framing some of the, instances, and particularly in the last few that we've seen, obviously, as student on student, but it's clear, obviously, I know that you understand as a superintendent, the bullying statute and the laws around that, that it could be anybody. And you'll share that and you'll explore that with the focus groups?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, absolutely. And again, part of this is me learning all of these different players and all of the different pieces, all of the different cultures, the collective bargaining agreements, the constraints that are in the system. There are so many different pieces to this, but my expectation is to work very hard and do this in a expeditious manner so it doesn't just drag out forever, because I want to be able to provide significant value for what you're asking for.
[SPEAKER_07]: Member Graham and then Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was going to make a motion to approve as amended, but maybe we should let Member Ruseau speak first. Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you very much. I have a question about number six, intellectual property. I read it as the written reports essentially are ours, but I'm just wondering about interview notes, for instance, like, will those be ours? I don't know that I like yes or no, because if the answer is yes, I feel like that will limit what people are willing to say if they know that it can just all be read. On the other hand, what happens to that information if it is not given to us is my question.
[SPEAKER_11]: We can check with our legal team, Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't have the correct answer myself.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, but sorry. I guess what I mean, but I do think that Mr. Welch will, like, does he plan to keep these things? Does he have a data retention policy? Like, you know, if you're interviewing people and you want some real honest responses, it's good for people to know the life cycle of what they tell you. And so that's really my question and concern is people need to know that if there's notes being written, and then anybody can do a public records request and read what I said, or anybody in the administration or anybody else could read said in an interview, I think that changes the kinds of responses you're going to get. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham. I'd like to make a motion to approve this as amended with the following amendments. One is that the recommendations explicitly include an implementation plan and a timeline, and that school committee feedback will be incorporated before the final report is delivered. And in addition to that, the intellectual property Section will be amended to explicitly state that interview notes will not be shared with the district. They will be destroyed within 60 days after the conclusion of the contract, but that the final report will provide a summary of interviews for posterity. I think that's a way, because I don't think you should share your interview notes with us. I don't think you'll get the kind of feedback that we need you to have in order to provide us good solid feedback. So I think it makes sense to be explicit about the destruction of those notes and that instead, and in lieu of like turning over all of those work notes that you would just provide a summary as part of that appendix to the report.
[SPEAKER_07]: Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_06]: I'd like to make a amendment to the motion or proposed amendment to the motion that all subgroups will be included and interpretation services will be provided for any subgroups needed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for that. Forgot that one.
[SPEAKER_07]: And if I could, from the chair, otherwise I could take the floor, just that we also include review of policies and procedures, past practices of things like the bullying and the racism, that accountability be looked into follow-up progressive discipline.
[SPEAKER_08]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_07]: Motion to approve as amended. Motion to approve as amended by Member Graham, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call vote.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Graham?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Hays?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Kreatz?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Mestone? Member Ruseau Yes, Mayor logo. Your microphone is not on there.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Dr. Well, motion passes some MSBA status and fiscal year 23 budget Mr. David Murphy assistant superintendent of finance and operations. Mr. Murphy.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you, Mayor.
[SPEAKER_12]: Good evening, members of the school committee. As the mayor said, I'm going to be providing you with a two-part update this evening. The first is a continuation of a discussion that we had several times throughout calendar year 2022 related to the district's statement of interest as submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. In April of 2022 for a project focused on our flagship school Medford High School, and then I will be providing really our first. budget update since the adoption of the FY 23 budget. And as you know, in lieu of the quarterly updates that I've typically provided to you, we've discussed on many, many occasions, the development of our collective bargaining agreements, which as you know, is the main driver of our operational budget. I'm turning first to the MSBA. As the committee is aware, our statement of interest into the Medford High School project advanced initially to the sort of unofficial stage of the senior study visit with representatives from the MSBA visiting Medford High School, touring Medford High School along with school officials and the mayor, representatives from the city. That occurred in October of 2022. The next step in that process would have been, and we had hoped that it would be an invitation into the feasibility phase of their of their pipeline. Unfortunately, we learned in. early December that we would not be advancing into that next phase for this year. And as I said to the committee when communicating about that, while that is obviously disappointing and not what we had hoped when we submitted our statement of interest in April of 2022 for a project, the scope of which had not been determined. The messaging that came from the MSBA, I think, was generally encouraging. And I'm making that statement publicly both because it's accurate and I can walk through to some degree of specificity why I think it was encouraging, but also because one of the things that we experienced as a leadership team, and I imagine members of the committee did as well, that in the preparation of that statement of interest, which is for those who have been following along with the sort of blow by blow, I don't remember back to April. statement of interest is essentially an application to what the MSBA refers to as their core project program. And so that's a program that goes beyond the limited scope of windows, boilers, and roofs that the accelerated repair program focuses on and is potentially a much broader project, a much more in-depth project, leading either to the extensive rehabilitation of the building or potentially a new building. So we applied for the core program in April. We advanced to essentially the top 50%. They had about somewhere between 45 and 50 applications. Again, they refer to those as SOIs or statements of interest. There were 25 projects across the Commonwealth that received the senior study visit. We were one of those 25. Ultimately, the MSBA invited excuse me, 10 projects, 10 statements of interest from different districts across the state into the feasibility period. The way they break the system down is into tiers of the applications down into tiers. And we know that we were in this the second tier which put us somewhere in the top 14 that's about us and I frankly I don't really know whether that may be slightly more specificity than I'm supposed to provide to you, but for purposes of retaining a degree of hope that. This is something that we can continue to advocate for. And as the MSBA explicitly recommended resubmit our statement of interest next year. On average, they've accepted about 17 projects so in a in what would be considered a typical year with the typical budgetary allocation of projects. we would have made it within that threshold, at least as was reported back to us. And so it's been, it was, I think we submitted a strong statement of interest. I think that was, that assertion is substantiated by the feedback that we received from the MSBA and the strong encouragement that we received to resubmit. When the eligibility period reopens, which will happen within the next couple of weeks, It will close in mid-April, and then the process will start again, and they will go through their step-by-step process. And the hope is that we will receive a senior study visit in calendar year 2023. So that's where we are with regard to that. Just very briefly, the reason that we're reporting on this publicly is one of the experiences that our team had in preparing the statement of interest was pushing back on what amounts to either inaccurate information or misinformation in some cases. And so the suggestion that somehow due to previous, excuse me, characterizations or responses from the MSBA, that the district's fate with respect to this type of application or project is already determined. I can say that that was very clearly not the case in our conversations with MSBA. And I think it would, I think it would be very important for the for the for the school committee and ultimately for the municipal council as well to to strongly strongly consider reapplying to the core program. This this time around, because obviously variables change and other conditions and other districts can deteriorate so we there are no guarantees there's no question about that but generally speaking. we were in a pretty strong position. And I'll just say one last anecdote. One of the pieces of guidance that we received was that while there may be nothing specific that we should change within our SOI this year, they did make it very clear that we should supplement that with additional information. And I think while safety was a component of our application, given the extensive conversations we have had and have been referenced tonight about the inherent challenges that the infrastructure in our high school present. Those are all things that we can look to magnify to a greater degree as we supplement the SOI and hopefully it's resubmission. So that's where we are with respect to the MSBA. And if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham. Thank you. I have two questions, a couple questions. From the time that the MSBA accepts somebody into a feasibility study to the time where there's a shovel in the ground, how many years is that?
[SPEAKER_12]: It's certainly measured in years, but how many years really depends on the specifics, to some degree, specific choices that communities make. It obviously would depend on the scope of the project, the level of need. And I would imagine in certain years, depending on just the level of funding that's available. But I think the closest I can say to answering that question is that it's definitely measured in years. And my second question- Just to be clear, it's not measured in decades. And myself, which I say that I say that sort of half joking, but the one thing I would say is we're talking about a 50 year challenge, right? These buildings are meant to last 50 years. Ours has sort of lasted 50 years. Some would say that maybe it hasn't completely lasted, but it still stands. Kids will be there tomorrow. It's been in existence for 50 years. So I don't know whether or not we're going to get to the next step. next year, and we're going to start that clock of what could be two years, what could be three years, what could be four years. But I know that when we're talking about challenges that are measured in decades, the fact that we're as close as we are now for something that could be measured in years, I think is encouraging.
[SPEAKER_02]: I agree, but I also look at all the students who are going to graduate from Medford High in its current state, including probably every kid in our middle schools right now. And I'm not feeling terribly encouraged by that. So I think that's the challenge. And I think my question is, what else can we do as a community so that we are not looking at an entire generation of students either graduating from the current high school in its current state or surviving like a construction project essentially. I can we do?
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I think I think that's a fair question. But I'm in order to respond. I want to be clear. I'm responding not as the representative of the district who has had extensive conversations with the MSBA, but as an individual who sat where you did in a community who faced very similar issues and this year opened a, um, uh, what I think could be described as a fairly stunning new flagship school this fall. And I think the things that you have to think about is, frankly, and I say this with all due respect to every elected official in the community here and in other bodies, there needs to be evidence of unity, there needs to be evidence of political will, and there needs to be a scarcity of evidence of political squabbling. And I say that because for every community, this is a difficult decision to grapple with. It is an expensive decision to grapple with. And it is one that people who genuinely care about students and the interests of education will feel differently about in terms of the specifics of the plan that ultimately moves forward. And despite those differences, I believe there is a significant amount of evidence that the communities that are successful in this plight are the ones that are able to, when they disagree, to disagree respectfully and to ultimately move forward with as united a front as the community can so that the agencies that are making these types of determinations, as in whether they shall allocate funding for municipalities across the Commonwealth, they have to have a degree of confidence that this is a project that will be successful. And I think the way to instill that confidence is to demonstrate that we as a Medford community are prepared to accept and to spend wisely other communities' money, which is ultimately what needs to happen in these projects.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. I'd like to make a motion that we prepare to resubmit a statement of interest in this upcoming round.
[SPEAKER_11]: Second.
[SPEAKER_09]: Mayor, I'd like to make an amendment.
[SPEAKER_11]: Member Ruseau?
[SPEAKER_09]: I'd like to amend that to say that this will be done within 30 days, because my understanding is the process has changed for the upcoming submission that we will have to do. So we cannot use the existing submission verbatim.
[SPEAKER_12]: I would clarify that, Mr. Rousseau, if I could. So the eligibility period, which typically runs somewhere between three and four months, is, and I assume this is public now, and it hasn't changed since I was told this by the MSBA, but they're moving the timeline up. They're not actually shortening the timeline. And so my recommendation would be that the actual submission occur in April, so that if there are other critical infrastructure failures or things that we identify, we can make sure that they are included in the portion of the statement of interest that we supplement for last time. I don't want to submit something in February and then have a pipe burst in March and have that be the thing that would have been the tiebreaker. Also, they won't look at anything until April, so there's no downside to submitting until the end.
[SPEAKER_07]: And you need a city council vote. So that can be done prior to April so we can. And thankfully, you're going to be hopefully helping us do the, this again for a second time, the right way. So we would assume that we're going to follow the process and be ahead of the game to be ready to say in April.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, but even that I think you, you won't know neither you nor the council can vote until you actually have like the. package. So I don't think we can put this in. I don't think I think we'd be ill advised to put it in before April, but we certainly don't want to put it in later than that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we good. Can we amend it to say April 1, apply by April 1.
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know of an upside of applying before the deadline. I do think though, you could direct the administration to provide periodic updates leading up to the submission.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think the thing that I'm reacting to is there was sort of a hustle last year at the very end to coordinate all the bodies who needed to vote. And I want to make sure that doesn't happen again, especially like when you come up to April, you're talking about a school vacation week. You're talking about a change in like operations, both for the school committee and the city council. So I just, I do want us to be done before we're sort of chaotically trying to make sure that votes can be taken in time for the deadline.
[SPEAKER_12]: Maybe laying out a very specific timeline that provides for those votes, understanding that the actual final content will not be fully fleshed out until the very end.
[SPEAKER_02]: The motion to submit another statement of interest with periodic updates to this committee and submission in April. And then we'll maybe get a timeline.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah. With a specific timeline. A motion for approval by Member Graham, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call vote, please.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Hays.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Kreatz.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Mustone.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Lundquist.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero the negative. The motion passes.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you for that.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so if we could may I just ask one more question about MSBA.
[SPEAKER_07]: Member Graham. Oh my god, what's my question?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, given this, and we actually heard tonight from our students about network access. We talk about this rather incessantly about our high school complex and how challenging it is to communicate inside the building. I would also like to make a motion that the administration provides us a recommendation and a plan to fix that problem in a permanent way. in our existing building structure because we cannot afford to wait an entire generation of students before we have working internet in our high school building.
[SPEAKER_11]: Second.
[SPEAKER_06]: Member McLaughlin. Is there a timeline for that or an indication of what that will involve in terms of workload?
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't have a timeline in mind because I'm not the one that can decide on the workload. I think we need a recommendation. I would expect it to happen before budget time, but I am open to what the administration needs to be able to do that. I just want us to stop having to talk about poor internet in the building. It's a curriculum issue. It's embarrassing. It's 2022. I know we're trying to make the best 2023, sorry. I know we're trying to do the best we can with a very, very old building, but I think we have to find a way to get this right. And we need to do it quickly. We can't wait anymore.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. Motion by Member Graham, seconded by Member Ruseau. Roll call vote, please.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Graham?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Hays?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Kritz?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member so yes, Mayor Lungo cared.
[SPEAKER_07]: 7 the affirmative, 0 the negative, motion passes. Member Mustone, yes, 7-0. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_12]: So the second part of tonight's update is an update on the FY23 budget. And as I mentioned at the outset of our discussion this evening, typically this is something that the administration would be providing you an update on on a quarterly basis. As the committee knows, since the beginning of our fiscal year, up to and including the present, we've been engaged in collective bargaining negotiations with multiple bargaining units. And as you've heard me say on many occasions, both during the budget development period as well as during our labor updates, that is essentially the primary driver of our budget. In some ways, you've had many budget updates up until this point. But for multiple reasons, I wanted to make sure that I provided you with some information tonight with respect to where we are halfway through FY23. And through various ways, I'm sure you'll receive additional updates in the coming months. So first, just as a reminder, our operating budget for FY23 is approximately $69.3 million. Of that approximately. These numbers I should probably should have in front of me right now but approximately a $42 million are driven by personnel costs that's individual employment agreements at will employees, as well as members of our 10 bargaining units. That $69.3 million number does not include money that is expenditures that are specifically funded by our ESSER budget. Our ESSER budget is the COVID-related funds allocated through the state from the federal government, of which there have been three phases of about $700,000 that was initially allocated to the district and expended, the $700,000 being what we refer to as ESSER I. about $2.1 million, excuse me, $1.4 million was from ESSER II and about $5.2 million is the largest bucket that is considered ESSER III. There is eligibility requirements for ESSER expenditures. We've discussed those in the past in a context related to our bargaining as well. And currently, these funds will expire at various points in a staggered way, ending in the fall of 2025. And so that requires a certain degree of planning and has required a certain degree of planning. And some of our recently completed collective bargaining agreements have the potential to have an impact on those funding sources, which is just a piece of information that you'll have to keep in mind as you plan for the coming fiscal year, as well as the one beyond that. Again, I said the primary drivers are is our personnel costs. You'll recall that in the spring of 2022 in preparation for FY 23. We were very transparent about the fact that we were budgeting for a 2% cost of living adjustment for all employees across the board. As you know, our teachers bargaining unit which that agreement was approved by this body and ratified by the union on. December 19. That is, it is the largest single driver of our budget, and that settlement for cost of living adjustment landed at 2.5%. That is about a somewhere between the $200 and $250,000 expense or liability that was not specifically planned for in the FY23 budget. Now, that being said, as is always the case in every budget, every fiscal year, there are fluctuations and there is fluidity within various expenses. Currently, when we look at our financial position, and with the understanding that our FY 22 retroactive payments are going to be charged to what is essentially our surplus from FY 22, at this time, it does not appear as though we would need to seek a supplemental appropriation from the municipality to finish the fiscal year. That's not to say that our financial position is so strong that we were anticipating a massive surplus. That's not the case. But when we look at six of the 10 collective bargaining agreements having now been resolved and where we are with regard to a spend rate coming into halfway to the net, really having passed the halfway point in the fiscal year, it would appear as though that we are, our trajectory is such that we will finish somewhere within the, 200 to $400,000 surplus that is generally where we want the sort of landing spot to be in a given fiscal year. Now, we're only six months in. There are any number of variables that can change between now and then. And so we'll continue to monitor that. In each of the last two fiscal years, we've slowed spending and put in partial freezes by early March. My guess is that that will be the case again this year. Again, that's not an indication necessarily of a massive problem, but it's an indication of our desire to avoid a massive problem when the fiscal year comes to a close. A few sort of notes, again, at the halfway point, you'll remember that we had negotiated a new contract with Rico, our vendor for copy machines and printers. That's a pretty significant vendor agreement that the district has, and the lease expired at the end of FY22. There was a significant delay in the delivery of the new infrastructure that's part of this new agreement, which is yielding about a $50,000 savings so. that's that's not necessarily the largest savings throughout the the entire budget but it's it's sort of an example of why when certain expenses come up throughout the throughout the year. we're generally able to manage and to respond to those. In addition, our IDEA and circuit breaker allocations came in at a $329,000 increase over last year. We had anticipated a $750,000 increase in out-of-district tuitions and specialized transportation costs. And that was included in our allocation. So that's generally landed about where we would have expected it to. Obviously, you said many times, personnel being the largest driver. When I briefed you in September, I believe there were something like 11 paraprofessional vacancies and somewhere a handful of teacher vacancies. Currently, there are a number of long-term substitutes that are in place in certain teaching positions, but only two true vacancies and approximately five true paraprofessional vacancies. all of which we're in the process of trying to close those gaps.
[SPEAKER_10]: And that's pretty much where we are. So with that, I'm happy to take your questions.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Mr. Murphy. I don't think there are any questions. I'm going to go to presentations of the public.
[SPEAKER_12]: In that case, let me just say thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_12]: It's been fun.
[SPEAKER_07]: No continued business. We do have one item for new business offered by Member Hays, Member McLaughlin, and Member Mustone. resolution for district-wide appropriate notification of student incident reports, whereas behavior, accident, and discipline incident reports related to students and student contact are created and retained at each of the district schools, whereas incident reports including individual student names are placed on file for referral by administration and may be used in future meetings and or litigation, be it resolved families and caregivers receive copies of any incident report regarding their student within 24 hours of incidents, The further resolved information about access to incident reports is included in our student handbook, district policy, and our public facing website. Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. I mean, I think it speaks for itself. And I would like to make a motion for it to pass. I think it's important that families and caregivers are included in incident reports and understand the nature of them and that they exist and are part of a student's files. And so they should have copies of them whenever their student's names are on them.
[SPEAKER_07]: Motion by Member McLaughlin, Dr. Edwardson.
[SPEAKER_16]: So in regards to this resolution, the fourth statement about within 24 hours of the incident, I would like to request that an amendment be made because not in all circumstances or in all situations, depending on the nature, of what has transpired, especially if it's something that could be involving police involvement. If it's an ongoing police investigation or situation that is. of a very difficult matter. So I would like to have that where you say within 24 hours of an incident, or when reasonably possible, because it is not always possible to receive an incident report within 24 hours. of something taking place. And that is also just to protect the district, and to, to make sure that we're not giving out information because we've also received incident reports with other students names listed. and sometimes inaccurate information has been given. And so we do need time to be able to also conduct investigations and make sure that what's being listed in the incident report is accurate information.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. Member McLaughlin? Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. I'm okay with that as long as we have, but not exceeding time, whatever, know, I'll defer to you folks on what you think is reasonable for that. I just think that leaving it open ended leaves that, you know, it could be that they, you know, it could be forever before someone gets an incident report. And I'm not, I guess I should be maybe a little bit more explicit about the incident reports, or at least the ones that that I've seen. I'm not talking about, you know, a full incident report, like a police incident report, I'm talking about the slips of paper that I've seen that, you know, district uses your student was involved, you know, so and so was involved in an incident. you know, this was reported to the principal, the principal has the paper, you know, they keep that or what have you. So that sort of incident report, not a full on like criminal, you know, police report incident investigation, but rather your student was involved. I can understand though, in some instances where you're needing to suss out that information about which students were involved. And so I can appreciate the timeframe that you're speaking to. So I'm okay with saying when reasonable 24 hours of incident or when reasonably possible, I think you said, but no longer than, what would you say is reasonable?
[SPEAKER_11]: Two weeks.
[SPEAKER_16]: I think that would be reasonable because that would give us time to conduct an investigation. But in terms of trying to submit the incident reports the paper ones that you're talking about within a reasonable amount of time. Again, I just wanted to make sure that that caveat was there because. Some situations are something that it's very simple and then there are others that are deeply complicated.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, I'm fine with that amendment for the motion on the floor I remember a lot when I believe member Ruseau has his hand up and I'm going to take our residents.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Ruseau. Thank you. Yeah, I guess I was, I'm a little uncomfortable until I know what we mean by incident reports. I'm looking at the bullying incident report on our website, which is a pretty amazing looking form. But the person writing this is going to be including information about more than one student. And I don't want the staff to be trying to craft incident reports so that they can plan for the eventual release of reports to various people. But then I also don't want these incident reports to have to be going through a big, an entire redaction process. So I guess this slip of paper that member McLaughlin mentioned, I'm not familiar with them. So if there's a specific name for those and that's what everybody's comfortable with, can we call them that because incident report I mean, if we have a policy saying something about incident reports, well then the bullying incident report is literally called bullying incident report form. And I want people to be, the staff or whoever's filling it out to be able to just be free to write the incident report and not be worried about the potential end points of what they're writing, because it's gonna make it just hard to understand. It's just gonna be a mess. So I don't know what the, if there's a name for those incident reports, I think that'd be good to have that specified.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I think it's the initial incident report that goes in the file. So it's just, and again, I've seen them both for families that I've been working with and others that the information is not specific. The principals and assistant principals have been doing this for a long time and they understand how they're written and certainly, any parent has access to their child's file at any time and any request, they may not know that there are these in their file. So they would see them then as well. So I know that principals and assistant principals and others are aware that these need to be specific to the student and the student's files. And that has been the experience in terms of what I've seen when supporting families and districts. So I would say initial incident report, and I would say that they are written in such a way that other students are not identified for that particular family who's receiving the incident reports in their home.
[SPEAKER_07]: So the- Thank you very much. Initial incident report, yes. Motion for approval as amended. Do you wanna go first?
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so just in our situation alone, I just wanted to- I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, I said you cut the line. Oh, that I know. I think I created the line. No, I'm just kidding. So just FYI for a member who's still at home. So our daughter had filled out what is called Medford High School, Medford Vocation Technical High School Incident Report Forms. So in her situation, a threat, you know, whatever was going on at the time. Went to her as a principal, an incident report was written with the assistant principal. It is called the Method High Incident Report. There is some for students. There are some for faculty and staff. There's an incident report form for administrative response. And obviously, if there's anything that you think is different, you know what I mean? Like, tell me if you think that there's something different that I'm not saying, to correct me. You know what, that's all I'm saying. just to correct me, so there is incident report form, the administrative response, there's the incident report form for faculty and staff statements, there is the incident report for students, and also Joanne might also know the stat on this, and I believe if I'm correct that if there are three incident reports, then you can file a police report. That's a no harassment order, three incidents of harassment. Right, but then you can also file a police report too. So there's different reports at the high school. One, Officer Conway takes care of, which would be the police report. And then there's also reports that the high school fills out when your child comes to the school with a complaint or worry or a threat or whatever else is going on. But there are some that students fill out. There's some for the staff. And then there's some that I have here that say administrative response, but they are also redacted. So if you request them, they, they are redacted. Cause obviously if a student is talking about another student, they're going to say, you know, me and Melanie or whatever. Um, so they do need to be redacted before they're getting to anybody else.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay. So this one's about the initial report. Initial. Yeah. And I usually think it's the administrative report. So it's not necessarily the inner workings of the investigation and who's doing what it's what. is taken from the building principle leadership perspective, that they know that this incident occurred and that is recorded and has, you know, goes into a child's file or is collected, you know, in a number of, you know, if there's more than one, there might be a collection of them. But to be really clear, I would like to be really clear, Mayor, this is not just specific to bullying.
[SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_06]: So I want to make sure that folks understand that, that if there's an incident where your, you know, your child gets cut, Right, like they're doing something and they maybe have a, normally you'll get a report home from a nurse, a phone call from a nurse or something like that, but there will also be an incident report.
[SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[SPEAKER_06]: And I think that should come home so that families know that because maybe you get the phone call, maybe you don't get the phone call, but you're there. So having that as a record, I think is really important.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes. And we've noticed that too, not always notified. So I think that that definitely has to be part of it. And I think to a student signing something with their signature, definitely is important that a parent gets told about that right away. Absolutely. So that was not always, at least in a situation that I'm very familiar with, that did not happen. So just FYI. All right, thank you. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Name and address of the record.
[SPEAKER_07]: One second, just press the button.
[SPEAKER_05]: Little person. Where's the button? That's it, you're on. Okay. Hi, I'm Angela Sasso, 8 Medicine Street. So I had a couple of questions. So first I would like to say I'm glad to see the improvement in the bullying protocols, but I do have a question. So the Sandy Hook response app, So a student can do that anonymously. If it's a 911, I get it, it goes to the police. But if it's an incident, a bullying incident, where does that go? At the school level, who does that go to?
[SPEAKER_16]: It will go to the administrators of the school.
[SPEAKER_05]: The central staff or the principal, who does it go to?
[SPEAKER_16]: It will go to central staff, I believe. The principal, assistant principals,
[SPEAKER_05]: It should, okay. So then what does the principal do with it? And central staff is the school leaders? Okay. And what is the timeline? So, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, sure.
[SPEAKER_18]: So central staff is school district leadership. Building leadership is principal and assistant principals.
[SPEAKER_11]: So we'll go to the principal.
[SPEAKER_18]: Yeah. the report by policy, which is actually going to be reviewed by the Rules Policy Committee and started to do that process already. The Medford policy says building principle.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, so maybe you shouldn't go anywhere, Peter. So when the building principle gets the initial report, so you don't, you have to investigate that report now. So you have to deem whether that's bullying or harassment are, right? Am I right? Okay. Correct. Okay. So what's the timeline on that?
[SPEAKER_18]: A report should be generated and finalized probably within 10 days.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_18]: Should properly investigate to make sure, I mean, immediately, the principal should work with the system principals to identify the parties involved, isolate various individuals, call them individually so that you can have individual conversations so that there isn't a group mentality and you don't taint anything along those lines. Which, I mean, from my conversations with you over the years, we've worked very diligently, and in the emails I've provided you, the things that have changed specifically over the past several years.
[SPEAKER_05]: So if it is bullying, what happens then if you deem it? So you do an investigation, a student's being bullied.
[SPEAKER_18]: So, and it needs to be under state law, three specific separate instances.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it has to be three instances.
[SPEAKER_18]: So by different, not by different people, state law is clear on that. It needs to be the individual.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_18]: So trust me as a former school leader was a very painful thing.
[SPEAKER_07]: Peter, can you address the chair? Yeah. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_18]: The comment from the gallery was, or from Ms. Sarasota was that that it could be multiple people. That's not true. It's individuals, not multiple people, which as a former school leader was a painful process to go through, standing before a judicial body and being told, no, this isn't bullying because it wasn't one individual person.
[SPEAKER_05]: So if, I keep getting down like this. So if a student, so you get one incident, what happens? in that incident? Is it you work with the students to the bully to not do it? Like what happens?
[SPEAKER_18]: So there should be a school response to support and to go through with Councilors, assistant principals and others. I will say that I don't know necessarily that this is on the agenda. So I think it might be better served as a rules policy, but I am happy to answer at the chair and the committees. I mean, I'm just, I would say the first instance, you definitely want to make sure that you're documenting, um, you know, that letters being issued, uh, outlining that, uh, this could end up in front of juvenile justice, juvenile court, uh, things along those lines. And, uh, then the second one should come with more progressive discipline, more notification, bring the family. And then the third is, uh, under Massachusetts statute, as Madam Mayor mentioned, uh, that's where criminal harassment comes There is no other mechanism except for criminal harassment.
[SPEAKER_05]: Two last things, sorry, I know I'm being long. So each student, so the person who report is, reports the incident and the aggressor. Does an incident report go in both of their files? Because in my case, I had nothing in my daughter's file. So I'm glad to see that that's a change. And my last thing is when these incident reports initially go in and then there's an investigation, where are they going? Are they going into a database so that everybody can see what's going on? Because in my case, there were many, many people involved and I had to keep repeating the story, which was fine. I think that it would be helpful for central staff, principals, teachers, directors to have a place to go to see this information. Is that happening?
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor? Member Graham? Could I just make a suggestion? I think Ms. Sasso's questions are really good ones. They're ones we're actively talking about at the Rules and Policy Subcommittee because we are looking at the entire policy. We've had one meeting. There's another meeting that needs to be scheduled upcoming. And I think what I would love is if you were, if we sent you a copy of the current policy, if you can identify for us, even if you can't come to the meeting, where those places are that in your instance, you did not see evidence of those things. Because I think there's two things that can happen, right? We can change the policy if the policy is not working for students. And the other thing that we can do through rules and policy subcommittee is get to the like, I'm looking for the right word, the like efficacy of the response consistent with the policy, right? So there's two components. There's does the policy exist in a way that's suitable? And then there's, are we doing it? Or are we not? So I think your comments and your questions are really good ones. are not like explicitly on the agenda because we're not talking about bullying on the agenda. But I think there is a place for that. And I would love to hear your comments. And I know I probably owe you a phone call from before the holidays. So I think that's the right place for your comments. And specifically, I think the question that I have is, is our policy the problem? Or is the efficacy of the response the problem? And the solution is different. depending on which of those things it is. I'm happy to help. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. One minute. So member McLaughlin. Yeah. Thank you. And I, I agree. We need you at, um, you know, the, or at least your feedback at the meeting. And I just wanted to clarify, um, to the chair. I know member Graham was saying one of the things that the rules and policy, um, subcommittee can do is change policy. And I know that's not what she meant. we can make recommendations for changes of policy. And then that will become before the whole body and then the whole body votes on whether the changes can occur based on the recommendations that we make. So that's sort of the part of the process. But I think that to her point around the, you know, what are the issues, the policy or the efficacy and the way that it's sort of been played out is really important. And I think that we can add this to, we will add it when we report out from the subcommittee. it to the agenda. And then that's another opportunity to give feedback when it's at the reported out from the subcommittee to the whole agenda, because I think there's some other things that could be addressed.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Mr. name and address for the record on the motion 2023-01.
[SPEAKER_10]: Richard Orlando, Winford way Bedford.
[SPEAKER_15]: Just want to make a few comments. I was thinking today about whole situation, and I thought about what's meant for public school system, what its purpose is, and it's really about creating a safe environment that we can deliver excellence in education. I look forward, and I suspect you do as well as everybody in the community, would love to see the conversation begin to focus on education, but obviously school safety is the focus right now. So just on the current high school problem, just to There were a few questions on what has changed. So I spoke to a teacher last Friday. I will not provide the person's name, but he said it was a student, a girl student in the corridor at not the appropriate time class was going on. And he just indicated she needed to get to her class. Her response to him was expletive deleted you. the school expletive deleted. Hmm, interesting. He then described a situation in the bathroom, six boys in the bathroom. A monitor went in there, said, you need to dispel, get outside. Only one left. The person went, got a resource officer, and they gave the resource officer a bunch of lip as well. So I guess I would ask the school committee Did you know about these infractions to the recently changed policies? I suspect you're probably either not gonna answer or you're gonna say no. Have the students been identified? Not names, but do you even know who those students were that did that?
[SPEAKER_07]: We haven't been told of any incidents from the school committee. I don't know if I can speak for all of us.
[SPEAKER_06]: Are the students- Excuse me, may I? Just for a moment. Thank you. We have a motion on the floor, number one, that I'd like to move the question in a moment. Number two, while we work to set policy, we do not get informed of the day-to-day happenings of the school in the disciplinary process, as we talked about previously. There's a law called FERPA, which is, if you know HIPAA, right? You go to the doctor, you know HIPAA, right? Even no matter if I was your wife, Mr. Orlando, and I called the doctor and I said, He needs a doctor's appointment, and I want to know whether he went to the doctor's appointment or not. They can't tell me. It doesn't matter. So it's the same for FERPA. We cannot. It's the federal law. So we don't have that.
[SPEAKER_15]: I understand that.
[SPEAKER_06]: OK.
[SPEAKER_07]: So you're moving the question.
[SPEAKER_15]: My point is.
[SPEAKER_07]: Move the question. Is there a second?
[SPEAKER_06]: Second to the motion.
[SPEAKER_07]: As amended. Second as amended by Member Graham. We could take a roll on this, unless anybody wants to suspend the rules to talk off subject. Can we finish the motion first, and then we can hear from Mr. Orlando? Do you want to suspend the rules to hear? I would like to get the motion finished first, and then we can decide what we want. Motion for approval as amended. Roll call. Would you like the motion? Come on up.
[SPEAKER_11]: This is about the motion. Yes. This is about the resolution. The resolution, yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yes. With respect to the resolution, as I understand it, and I'm not in any way commenting on the conversation since the resolution was introduced, but I think the administration's questions on the resolution come down to the point that was being discussed here a few minutes ago, that with all of the different forms that are used in the variety of incidents that occur, without a very firm definition, There's a few different scenarios, and none of them are particularly favorable. One is administrators start drafting forms not to expedite resolution of the situations that the forms are meant to capture and respond to, but in anticipation of their disclosure. That will create an operational challenge. I take the objective, the underlying objective of the resolution to be that we want to make sure that we are communicating clearly and thoroughly with families of students who are involved in incidents. I think our recommendation would be to expeditiously, because I think we all understand the urgency behind these issues, develop and define a particular form that is specifically designed to serve the objective of this resolution, which is to provide documented information, documentation, to the families of the students that are involved, and to do so in accordance with a timeline, but to try to take the forms that were referenced earlier, that each of which have a specific purpose, some of which is about data reporting to the state, others are to communicate quickly amongst administrators so that they have an accurate summary of everything that occurred so that additional investigatory steps can take place. I think it would be imprudent to try to advance the very admirable objective of trying to provide transparency to families through the forms that were created to serve other purposes. So I would recommend, I think the subcommittee is probably the better place to develop that, but I also think the administration could develop the type of form meant to do what you're asking, submit it to the committee and expeditiously as quickly as possible. And for that to be the form that has to be transmitted to families within a set time period. I think that would be wiser than trying to apply the transparency goal to forms that are meant for other purposes.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I'm willing to make an amendment to the motion that, you know, either for the next school committee meeting or the one after that, that a form be presented to us that would be part of that for, you know, that would be the identified form that we're talking about this initial incident report. I am not willing to so I'm willing to make that amendment. I am reluctant to refer it to committee because this has been referred to committee and has sat in committee for over a year. So I would ask my colleagues to consider an amendment that we allow the school committee, the school administration to present us with a form by the superintendent what do you feel comfortable with the January, January 23, the January 23. meeting.
[SPEAKER_12]: Just to be clear, because I want to make sure I feel like we're on the same page. I just want to confirm that. So it might be the case that there's pieces of information that would exist in other forms.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: Some of which may ultimately need to be turned over, you know, depending on what their record status is, but that the purpose of this form is to inform the parents of an incident that their child was involved in. And anyone involved in generating or drafting would have to understand that this is going to whatever student is involved in this, it's going to their family. And so all other privacy considerations would have to be taken into account.
[SPEAKER_06]: May I, ma'am? Yes, that's correct. And also for additional information beyond that, one would hope that the school and the families will build a relationship to have further conversation. and that that would therefore encourage relationship so that the process moves more smoothly. And that also parents know through, you know, procedural safeguards and other means that they have access to their child's file at any point, you know, that they can request the student's file. We know that. So I would say, yes, that's exactly what it is to inform the families and encourage communication both ways.
[SPEAKER_12]: And the last point I would just make is that that seems Reasonable. Yeah, it's terms, as I said, a very admirable objective transparency is important. It is part of, as you say, how we build those relationships. I think developing this sort of idea and advancing that objective in real time right now. You know, there could be other pieces that we're not thinking about. So I think you I can't commit to this personally, but I think You at your next meeting, you'll have the opportunity to sort of hear what the administration's thinking is on this potentially see a draft form and hear any particular problems with this plan that may have been identified in the, in the, you know, in the two weeks that have, you know, that will be playing out quickly. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_07]: So motion motion as amended. Thanks. Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor, can I just ask, are you speaking about incident reports? Because if they want to say something about incident reports, I think we should hear them before we vote. Yes. OK. Did you want to say something about incident reports? I know you're in line. OK. Thank you. OK. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Roll call, please. Member Graham. Yes. Member Hays. Yes. Member Krantz. Yes. Member McLaughlin. Yes. Member Mesto. Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: Members, no yes, Mayor Longo, Karen.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. The motion passes. Now is there suspension of the rules to let a resident speak?
[SPEAKER_06]: You can you can share ocean to allow it I would make a motion to suspend the rules to allow a resident to speak under the typical time that each resident has allotted to speak, please.
[SPEAKER_07]: Your name and address, you have three minutes.
[SPEAKER_15]: Okay, we have to vote.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, that's right. Sorry. Sorry about that. Motion for approval by member McLaughlin seconded by second member Graham roll call please.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[SPEAKER_09]: So yes, we are local correct.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, some of the affirmative zero and the negative.
[SPEAKER_02]: Please. One more, one more, one more second. Sorry. Mayor, can we just, I just want to be clear, what you're about to speak about is not on the agenda. And that means we can't respond to you. And it, it does not, it does not mean we don't want to, it means we can't. So we welcome your feedback, just know that I'm not going to speak. That's because I take the law seriously. This is the law.
[SPEAKER_15]: And thank you. We still have the issues going on at the high school. So I would just ask, not a question, but The real underlying issue is the student behavior, the expected behaviors by the students, what policies, consequences, disciplinary actions have been outlined by the school committee to revert some of the ones they put in place that somewhat created this problem. You can, I won't go into them, you can list a whole in order of severity, going from just disrupting a class to a physical, violent action, all the way through, there's probably a dozen of them you can list. And for each of those, having a consequence and a disciplinary action is what's going to start to change the behavior, not just restricting where kids can hang out. You need to have both or you're not going to have success. Without those corrections policies, it's going to be marginal what you get in terms of the action plan. So I would just ask you to look at the policies, revisit those and tie in disciplinary actions. Mrs. Brandl asked a question, what happens if a student doesn't have their badge? There wasn't an answer. And those are the kinds of things, as simple as that, because that's the way you're going to identify the offending student. So those things need to be thought through. It's basically establishing a culture of acceptable behavior by the student body. And then where they are becomes less of an issue because they know they have to be respectful. They have rules and there are consequences. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Name and address of the record, please. Hi, my name is Lisa Macaron. I'm a former 50 year resident of Medford. I sold my house in early October because of the following problems I had encountered in the past year prompted me to sell my house as quickly as possible to evade the next school year. And I can explain in some detail some of the reasons why I sold my house. My daughter was constantly bullied. She'd call me crying. She was hiding in the bathroom because girls would, you know, follow her in there and be on a mission and bully her in the bathroom. There were papers were filed on some incidences, some incidences I did not report because she was scared of the consequences or how the children would react towards her because the bullying would be that much worse. My daughter was also called a racist and a homophobic because she had a police bag hung in her bedroom. And she was just doing a little TikTok dance. And because it was in the background of her bedroom, she was called those names. And that was shared all over social media. This had affected her emotionally, socially. She missed a ton of school. She, you know, is in therapy because of all this. She was also one time, was at a park with friends. This was an incident that happened outside of school, but these same bullies were at her school last year. And she was innocently sitting at a picnic table at a park. And one of the bullies came and pulled her from behind and pulled her off the picnic table, started punching her in the neck and in the head. I filed a police report and they told me that they would notify the school to make them aware of this situation of this student. The bullying continued in school, walking in the halls, calling her, verbally abusing her, made her want to call me or go to the nurse's office and be dismissed. It was a constant battle. I couldn't, the first week of school, freshman year, was okay. My house was already on the market and I couldn't wait, honestly, to get out of here because She was suffering so much. I have to say, since I moved 18 miles away, she is happier. She suffers from non-epileptic seizures. She has not had any non-epileptic seizures since we have moved. Those seizures were caused from stress and anxiety. My daughter now is no longer scared to go to school or have a fear of being in the bathroom anymore. That speaks volumes right there. She's in a happy place. I just hope that Medford could be in that same place soon.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you for sharing. Mayor. Member Ruseau. Yes, somebody has a hand up. Jessica, name and address of the record. Hi, Jessica Haley, 4 Lock Road.
[SPEAKER_20]: I'm very sorry to the mom that was just up there. My heart breaks for you and your daughter. I listened tonight and I heard all the things that is gonna happen up at the high school to change kids behaviors. The one thing that I did not hear is what happens to the children if those behaviors do not change? And what are the consequences for the kids? Because if the kids know that, okay, you're not supposed to be in the halls, you're not supposed to be in the bathrooms, you can't do this, you can't do that, they need to know what happens to them if they do go in the hallways and they don't have their passes. If they are all in the bathroom together, if they're not listening to the teachers and the principals, they have to know that there's gonna be a consequence to their actions. And that is something I have not heard anyone state of what the consequences are going to be. So that's something that as a parent, I would like to know. And I'm sure many others would too. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you, Jessica. Reports requested. I don't believe there are. Motion to revert back to the regular order of business. Motion to revert. Seconded by Matt McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. Reports requested. We have condolences. A number 12. The Medford. We have condolences. Yep. The Medford School Committee expresses its sincere condolences to the family of Carolyn M. So geez, who was a teaching assistant and administrator for shore collaborative. The Medford school committee expresses its sincere condolences to the family of Cornelius L. Neil O'Brien, who served over 30 years as a custodian for the public schools. The Medford school committee expresses its sincere condolences. The family of Gail hunt mother-in-law or bros in hunt, the administrative assistants, the athletics department. The benefit school committee expresses its sincere condolences to the family of Richard M. Mangan, uncle of Christopher Mangan, the security monitor at the Roberts Elementary School. We all may rise for a moment of silence. Our next meeting will be on January 23, 2023 at the Alden Memorial Chambers at 6pm, Medford City Hall, in addition to Zoom. The motion to adjourn by Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Hays.