AI-generated transcript of Jenny Graham

[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelly. Shelly is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.

[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and change maker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.

[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. Hey, thank you for joining us today. If you could just start by introducing yourself, like your name, your pronouns, and just a bit about who you are for today's conversation.

[Jenny Graham]: Sure. My name is Jenny Graham. I use she, her pronouns, and I am the vice chair of the school committee, and this is my fourth year on the school committee.

[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. So before we get into hearing more about your work on the school committee, we just want to ask you the same question that we ask everybody on the podcast, which we have asked you before, but a long time ago, which is what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?

[Jenny Graham]: enjoying Ford Tavern, which is new, but it's really funny. My, my daughter is in eighth grade and her class was part of the podcast that you all did back in December. And for whatever reason, she and my husband were listening to some of your podcasts as a result of that. And they found the podcast that we did back two years ago and they They laughed at me because they said, all the restaurants that you talked about, we go to all the time, but you left out Bistro 5. And Bistro 5 is like sort of a special place for us because we actually started going to Bistro 5 before we moved to Medford. And it was one of the, we had a friend at the time who lived in Medford and took us there and we really enjoyed it. And it was like one of the things that when we were making a decision to move to Medford that we thought about, we were like, Oh, we can be closer to Bistro 5. We have been going to Bistro 5 for many years, even since, you know, before we moved to Medford and we love it there anytime we are able to sneak, sneak in there for a date night or, or whatever. And I think, I don't know what my favorite thing is there. eat everything that they have, but it will say they sold me on the fact that beets are good. And now I will eat beets anywhere, but I was really resistant to that for a long time and beets were a lot of change.

[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, yeah. I feel like it's like one of those restaurants where you're like, my parents are going to take me. Like knowing you're younger, like, oh, you're like a special occasions. I don't know what to do with it either, but it's, it is always a great meal when we go there for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So we, we saw you in speak at the state of the city address this past week. And so we wanted to sort of give you a chance to kind of maybe highlight some of the things you brought up there, but then we have a couple of just sort of things that we're interested in hearing about too. So I don't know if you wanted to start or if you wanted us to start with some of our question.

[Jenny Graham]: I can maybe give like a brief summary of like what I talked about if that would help. So. In my speech, I tried to highlight some of the good work that we're doing from a curriculum perspective, really across all of our grades K-12. I talked a bit about the McGlynn Playground Project, which is, you know, we're in the process of doing that and it's super exciting. And then we did talk, I did talk a fair bit about the challenges that we've had going on at the high school over the last four or five months or so, and really beyond, and the work that we've done to try to move forward in a real way to replace the high school. And I think the other thing that I did talk about was where we are with all of our various 11 unions and the contracts that we've settled along the way. So that, those were, I think the main topics that I talked about. So happy to answer any questions you have about any of those.

[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. No, I think the tone of the evening was pretty positive, right? Being able to highlight some of the positive things, which is always a nice way to be able to hear all that information. I think there were two big things that we talked about a little bit on the podcast or reflected about this year that I wouldn't say they weren't positive. I think it sounds like the teacher contracts and in a positive place, but I wonder if you if there's any like reflection that you'd share sort of like you having completed that process and looking towards the next one sort of maybe what you what you're taking away and then maybe what you hope for for the next process.

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. You know, one thing that happened in the late moments of the teacher contract was that the contract settled for four years instead of three. So what that means is we are not going to need to go back to the table early next school year, that there's in fact, there's a fourth year of that contract. And so the timeline shifted a bit, I think over from where we thought we would be. And I think that's a good thing because these negotiations are hard, and I think everybody comes to the table with the best of intentions, but everybody is coming to the table to share their, like their particular perspective and finding that common ground. is a lot of work, it's exhausting, and the implementation of the things that happen in the contract take time. So I am really grateful that we do not have to do this again next year, because I want there to be some time to do the implementation, and more importantly, to I think, try to create better relationships between our teachers and our administrators and the school committee, because I think we all do have the same interests. I just don't think we're yet at the best possible place we could be in terms of how we work together to do certain things. And that's not criticism really of anybody, but it's more just sort of where we are as a district. And, and like everything in our district, like these, these dynamics, like they, they were built over decades, right? And we, they don't change overnight, even if there's, you know, new leadership, which we have relatively new leaders. She's been good for four years, but even, even at that, like these, these big organizations don't change overnight, particularly when they're operating on slim budget where making changes is, is even harder because you're trying to use the same resources that have full day jobs to do those changes. So if I think forward and I've said, and I've always said this, I would really like to see us move towards an interest-based bargaining approach or a more open bargaining approach. I think one of the things that happens in negotiations is that there's, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. And I think as you saw in the community, various parties sort of take to their airwaves, I'll say, to, to tell their story and how that happens and the reactions that the community has based on what they're hearing. It's almost unfair to ask the community to, to form an opinion when then the flow of information is silent for so long. And then all of a sudden there's a lot of information out there. And, you know, I had so many people say to me, like, One person saying this and the other person saying this and like both of those things be true. And I think, you know, there is truth all around the table, always, but I think for people who are really interested in, in understanding the details. I think it would be in the best interest of our kids to. sort of force that more collaborative interest-based bargaining type model into our negotiations in the future. So I would look forward to that. I think that is in itself a huge change that we would have to have the time and care to be able to make.

[Chelli Keshavan]: You make a really salient point that sort of reconcil- reconciliation and healing takes time and consistency and collective investment. Just out of genuine curiosity, do you have sort of thoughts on what mechanisms to kind of push for that might look like? And you were mentioning sort of admin and teachers and school committee and do you have thoughts around like just first steps or first connections, et cetera? Yeah. I mean, I think.

[Jenny Graham]: In terms of what happens next, I think the superintendent and her team are reflecting on the implementation of some of the things that are shifting as a result of the contract. So I think the most notable change to the public in terms of how school will grade is that 130 release on Wednesdays will go away. And you know, in the, through the vibing process, there was a lot of discussion and I think there was a lot of agreement about that change. And then as it came time for the membership to vote, they raised some really valid questions about the implementation. And while the implementation isn't like language per se that belongs in the contract. It is what matters, right? Like how the implement changes really is what matters when we talk about working conditions and serving the interests of students. So I think that's an example of where that student reception. sort of already started some collaboration like even in advance of the contract being signed around how that change would occur and the assistant superintendent Suzanne Galussi is like working through that worked through that way to address some of the immediate concerns and is continuing to work through how that will shift and change and obviously that kind of a change is it's It's big for a lot of reasons, but it includes, you know, everything to like changing the schedule of the crossing guards and changing the bus schedules. And, you know, there's just a whole variety of things that happen with that implementation. So I think everyone's right to be concerned that we do it well. I think Medford has a history of making changes. chaotically at times. And I think when we take the time to plan, we do, we do a really good job. And, you know, watching the administration and the teachers, like working together through that, I think is important because they all got valid perspectives to bring to the table.

[Chelli Keshavan]: Sure. I feel like I've gotten a little bit of a window into this. I am part of the sort of committee that's reviewing the health conversation at this time. And granted, I can only speak from my current lens, but from my perspective, Peter Cushing has been incredible and he is intentionally share a willingness to sort of question the status quo and maybe to your point, say like, why are we doing this and is it still serving us or not? And are there better ways to approach this just to, and even if the answer is yes, it's right, let's keep it, just to pursue the question, line of questioning feels like an improvement to me. Yeah. I mean, it just, it's been a wonderful learning opportunity. We have brilliant folks. moving in our worlds all the time and to kind of lean into expertise and experience feels like more equity than maybe I've seen from other steps that have brought on outcomes and choices in the past.

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. I think that the HECAC committee, first of all, was a pretty amazing display of like what the residents of Medford have to offer. Like when, when they, when we sat, they sat down to determine the committee, you know, what I heard from Dr. Cushing was, wow, there are so many qualified people, but we can't have a committee of 50 people. So, you know, really thinking carefully through that. was great and, you know, he, he was focused on making sure that the, the committee was representative of the whole variety of things that we need to make good informed decisions about our health curriculum, and I think The fact that we are taking a proactive approach to the community via these committee members, what they think is a step that Medford hasn't taken. So in the past, we do a lot of, we're making this change, ta-da, here's the change. And then everyone starts saying, well, what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And did you think about that? And that's what happens when you don't have your finger on the pulse of all of those, you know, end users of a process or project. And so doing that up front, I think, is really important and will lead to a good outcome. Because when you think about what the health curriculum represents, it's bad, potentially, right, in terms of the scope of the topics.

[Chelli Keshavan]: you know, like the- And as they're just learning.

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I think the high part, Bon, is, you know, the fifth graders watching a video that five teachers who went to Medford Public Schools watched, which was underwritten by a consumer packaged goods company. And that is how they learn about puberty. I am just here to say in 2022, I think we can do better than a very old video from Proctor and Gamble around how we teach children about puberty, right? So that like there's so many components of the health curriculum, there's how it interacts with responsive classroom, which is, which is done had really great effects in our elementary schools, but then how do you, how does that translate into middle school and we had a conversation about this in one of our rules commit subcommittee meetings, because we were talking about our bullying, bullying policy, and one resident had a comment about pro how effective some of the work that we're doing at the elementary level is for elementary school students around zones of regulation and and get arming kids with language that's like I feel red today and like what does that mean and everyone in the school knows what that means and everyone knows how to like you know get people back to ready to learn and her comment was it's super effective at the elementary school level but like we need We need similar tools for our middle schoolers and our high schoolers because like a teenager is not going to say I feel red today or I haven't walked head today or whatever it is. And so even though we're doing good work at the foundation that I think, you know, as time goes we will see pay off in spades as those children might go through public schools. That doesn't mean that the focus on social emotional health, mental health, self esteem, all of those things like that, it has to be a constant discussion about how those things are happening at various levels because the kids are evolving and what they need and how they probably think about something like their self-esteem is going to change really dramatically from junior kindergarten to the time they're like a freshman in high school. And there needs to be like language and support through all of that. The other thing that I'm looking forward to the econ really taking on is to be able to like infuse in our schools like a bullying prevention curriculum that has some like educational integrity that is not like cobbled together with like sort of one off things from here, there and everywhere, but instead to say, what is our end to end approach to, you know, preventing bullying, preventing violence in our schools. And like, how does that relate to all the other things that we're teaching, you know, in civics and, you know, history classes, in elementary school classrooms, like how, you know, how do we make sure that there's connectivity through all the components of what kids do while they're in school for those things to come. And I think all of that work being done by this team, I just keep hearing how incredibly positive these, the meetings are that you all are having, I think is so important. So I'm really excited that we are going down that route, this road, I think it, you know, it like, like everything we do, it feels like long overdue. But, but we are doing it. And I think it's, it's going to be really important for us to stay that course.

[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. It seems like it's an important sort of element to think about, like not setting ourselves up for a position where we have to be like reactive to things. So like you're sort of talking, like my son's in first grade, so he started the Nexus curriculum from kindergarten. And so I think it'll really be interesting to see like how that moves him through the upper grades. But I guess I'm wondering how you think about the health curriculum as connected to some of the incidents we saw at the high school earlier this year, sort of what your hopes are and kind of how to reflect and address that.

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, and then I think there's that health curriculum, to me, the opportunity for the health curriculum is that It can help us set a better foundation for all of our students around things like conflict resolution and struggle. all the hard things that happen in life, right? And if we can set a better foundation, can we prevent issues like we are seeing? And frankly, schools everywhere are seeing right now that's really exacerbated by the pandemic. But on some level, you know, this is, it's not a pandemic only issue that there are fights in schools. And I think there's like all kinds of ways you have to try to solve a problem like that. And I think it is a work in progress always. I mean, I remember when I was in school, there were fights. So it's not like this is new, right? Like this happened. I think Medford High has a really long history of fights. And violence and I'm not even sure that it's that different than any other high school, but it's not the idea that it's news is false. The idea that the pandemic has a has made it worse is true, but the to me the path forward is. creating a better foundation, which I think the health curriculum can help do, but then also making sure the right processes and systems and structures are in place on a day-to-day basis so kids feel like they belong, that if they're struggling, there is a mechanism for them to say, I'm struggling, but more importantly, kids are struggling, particularly at the high school level, that somebody isn't waiting for that adolescent to reach out and say, put their hand in the air and say I'm struggling, but instead say, We see that this student is struggling, how do we help? So to me, the health curriculum takes this part of the way, but then having solid processes and staff in place who are proactively looking to prevent those situations by doing what is right for kids is the other piece of that equation. And they all have to come together. They all have to work together. on some level, on many levels, but you can't, you can't just do one thing and expect a comprehensive answer. Like you have to be able and willing to do a whole variety of things and to do them constantly and consistently. And that consistency is something that I think We Medford high has struggled with because the idea of the bathrooms being a problem is again not new news. So, the concept that and what to do about it is not unique to Medford. But the consistency is a uniquely Denver problem. And because how we are inconsistent is the, is the part where we are different from other campuses, right? And there have to be good, there have to be good structures and accountability to, to manage that. And that, that is where we are unique. How we do that is the unique part. And we have to, and we have to, we have to do it consistently. We have to think it's important enough to come every day to do those things.

[Danielle Balocca]: Mm-hmm.

[Jenny Graham]: And I think that's where we fell down for students. And hopefully we're back on, we're, you know, back on a better path now, but it can't, it can't go away. It can't stop in three months because it's working, right? Like that it's one of those things that it's working because you're doing it and when you stop doing it, the process stops working. So we need to make sure we're approaching staying, looking at consistency and sustainability and, and that, you know, in a recent school committee meeting, I asked a lot of questions about This, the 10 point plan that the superintendent put out, like, all of that sounds good in the short term, but I do have questions about how to make it sustainable in the long term because the plan can't stop. It has to be able to continue and if that is happening at the expense of. Administrators in an all hands on deck fashion, doing things that's important right now. But as a district, like that can't be the long-term solution because we need those administrators to build you the things that they are there to do. We can't have a gap open because that, that takes their attention away.

[Unidentified]: Yeah.

[Danielle Balocca]: I think whenever I hear like policies around like prevention and sort of trying to identify students that might need more support, I kind of always think about or wonder how that's like operationalized, like how that might be sort of like like the way that it is implemented might affect different kids differently and how, like how we think, how we're sort of holding that equity lens or like how maybe we're thinking about that in terms of like how we do that, right? So like how, which kids are getting more attention when they're going into the bathroom or which kids are, are maybe like more easily identified as somebody who might need support. So I don't know if that's something that is part of the conversation. I think it definitely is.

[Jenny Graham]: I think one of the things that the administration is doing that is important is talking to the students, who by the way, are wonderfully articulate about what the problems are, what they think the solutions are. Like they, they really, you know, impress us constantly. And I don't think we were hearing from them enough in, in these last few years. And I think putting some important structures in place to listen to them has PET has been informative for the administration, I think for sure, over these last couple of months. But I think the ongoing plan around listening sessions and, and surveying the student population and trying to figure out like what is it that they see that's working and what isn't. And then they, you know, then I'm sure they tell the administration every day about, in their own ways, about the ways they're working around the rules because teenagers are there to like work around the rules, right? Like that's part of, you know, development and, you know, so it's a constant conversation to be having. That's the important thing is that that conversation is constantly happening and I think the students have been really wonderfully grounded in those conversations as it relates to equity and as it relates to how this is affecting All of them, all of their peers. And so there's been a lot of good discussion about that, that I, you know, that I think and I hope continue because I think listening to students is really going to help lead the way.

[Chelli Keshavan]: So with the same dynamic in mind, but zooming out, I am of the mind, so IEPs are on my mind a whole bunch, kind of all the time and both democratizing and lifting the stigma and sort of saying that every student for all intents and purposes deserves an IEP but not necessarily because of making a claim about remedial supports but just because being is being a student is your job your commitment to you are you have agency in your own education and the adult sort of learning team is here, but also. in the space of like proximal distance and asking you to invite, and as you get older, sort of scaffolding to this place of a greater and greater responsibility for what learning means, what is learning the process of transgression. But I wonder if there are conversations, probably more in the high school as opposed to the younger kids, but to say like, we're kind of all here as a team and education is a process, but we're looking for your commitment and your investment. in the name of kind of building that critical thinker and building that lifelong. I mean, I guess the goal for all of us is to see young people have a zeal for learning and just become assets to their communities. So like, just wondering if that, if that's happening and then what it is. Yeah.

[Jenny Graham]: You know, it's interesting. I think that happens all the time at Medford High, but it happens in a very non-systematic way. So it happens because there are teachers who are transformative. And not every teacher is transformative for every kid, but it happens because there's like, I don't know. a relationship that gets established that just works for students and really helps them sort of take on that role of being, you know, having agency and being in charge of their own learning. You know, it, it like, you know, I think tactically happens certainly in our vocational programs, right? So there's a lot of agency there, particularly when they get to the point of doing internships that, you know, that's where like the learning really opens up. But I think the thing that's missing is. that that is the approach to learning that is like systemic or like wound through the entire climate and culture of the building. And so I think it happens. today, I think it could happen in a more impactful way for more students with some of these shifts in climate and culture that we've been talking about and some of the work that we'll do coming up around establishing like a more robust, I guess I'll say, like Culture for that for that for the high school building in particular. There's a lot of, like, many cultures, but I don't think there's like. An overwhelming re, like, overarching kind of culture in the building. And I think to me, that's the opportunity is like that climate and culture. Really embracing the idea of increasing the amount of agency student time. and being there to create critical thinkers or lifelong learners and like dedicated members of society and all of like there's a way to me to like weave all of that into that overarching culture that I think we want to see in the building.

[Chelli Keshavan]: You remind me of a quote, and if for some reason ever hears this, kudos. There was a person, gentleman who was leadership at the VOC who during a school committee meeting said like, I want our kids to experience joy and feel that school is a place where education does represent joy and be able to like lean into that with colleagues and also receive that from others. And that, that really resonated with me and hoping there's places to build as well.

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, you know, I know exactly the comment that you're referring to. And I have to say, as he was speaking, I was just really taken aback. Like, okay, we have a building, it has problems, as they all do. But I'm now also hearing that the building doesn't even know how to have fun. And it was just, that is like what I took away like, oh my goodness, that's also a problem. And I think that goes back to like that climate and culture and school, school should be fun. If it's fun, you don't know you're learning, right? But I think that's all part of like that culture and the, you know, the Mustang pride. Like I want to see all of those things translate to you know, kids who can come home and say they had fun at school and that they learned something and that they feel supported by their, you know, their administrators, their teachers, and their peers. Like, to me, that's, you know. what we're what we're looking for but yeah that that plummet really struck me as well I was like you know and again the pandemic like has been hard and it's hard it was hard to have fun during the pandemic and it's hard to like remember how to do it in a, like a school setting, you know, like even things like field day was different. It was like, Oh, okay, now we're doing field day again. And like, what does that mean now? And so, you know, it's, there's been so much disruption these last few years that It's sort of understandable that fun has gotten a little bit lost, but we really need to see a return of that for that healthy culture that we're looking for.

[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. I appreciate the reflection earlier about involvement of students and some of the feedback and policymaking. And we have a great example that you mentioned the same teacher that your daughter was working with last year helped The students make a podcast that in conjunction with the school committee helped to change the dress code. And I think sort of address some issues of inequality and even racism that were in the system. And it makes me, I think, I think like it's important to ask the question, but hopefully this has been dispelled that I think there was talk during the conversations around violence at the high school about the policy around suspension and expulsion. And lots of people talking about students won't be expelled for some of these things or won't be suspended. So could you just explain like. what the changes have been to that policy and what, you know, what the existing policy looks like. Sure.

[Jenny Graham]: So expulsion is a structure that is set out in the law. And so as a public school system, we are required to educate every student. And so if a student, if a student's infraction like rises to the level of expulsion, there's a lot of rules about what that looks like and how it can happen. And in the end, unlike charter schools, private schools, the public school system can't say, you're out. Like the public school system has to create a structure for students to be educated. And if that can't happen in a particular building, there's just a ton of rules, right? But to me, expulsion is, it's a thing, it's set out in the law, how it works. Suspension is also to some degree set out in the law. What we did was we implemented a policy that attempted to limit the use of suspension for things that don't rise to the level of sending a kid out of school for a period of time. And so as we looked at what was happening in our schools, like the data was clear that we were disproportionately suspending students of color. The data was very clear. I sort of at the same time, I was, Lila was joining the middle school and I was looking at the handbook. And what struck me is that each and every rule in the handbook from chewing gum to bringing firearms onto campus ended with that, that the consequence is up to and including suspension. Now, if you bring a firearm to school, the impact of that and the consequences should be more severe than if you are chewing gum or if you are wearing a hood. So what we did was try to set out boundaries around when suspension, when an out of school suspension is appropriate. The administration still has the authority to suspend students when it rises to the level of suspension, but what the policy does is say that level. is like, in my opinion, it should never be about chewing gum, right? It's just gum. Students shouldn't be denied learning because they are chewing gum, right? So how do we make sure that the consequences fit the infraction? The policy did not say that there can't be in-school suspensions. It did say that an in-school suspension can't look like a student in a room by themselves. That the point of an in-school suspension should be that the student receives an appropriate consequence, but more importantly, that learning can continue and that restoration can happen. We are not doing in-school suspensions. That is a choice that the administration has made. I am not sure why. I think that there's a lot of opportunity in having a structure for in-school suspension and certainly cost in terms of staffing, et cetera. But I think more importantly for me is like, when you have a student who has had an infraction that rises to the level, you know, that is beyond like detention or social probation, you know, what have you, like they need support and if they are at home, I just question how much support we as a district can reasonably provide. If they're in school, in some way, shape, or form, there may be better opportunity for that. So to me, I see that both in-school and out-of-school suspensions should be viable in our structures, and that's not the case right now, but I think overall, the idea that restoration has to happen is important because they're, you know, students, if they're, you know, if the student is suspended for five days, on day six, they're, they're back. And if nothing has changed, like what, what's to say that the reason that they were suspended originally has been resolved for them. So that's, it's hard. It's a challenge. And I would like to see the administration look at that again and determine like, do we have all the right tools in our toolkit to do right by students who are struggling and get to the point of meeting consequences? Because right now, I think we are lacking an important tool. And so it sort of complicates the conversation about what those options are when a student needs discipline.

[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I would rather hear that, like we have some questions about how this might work and there's things that we're thinking about then to have a policy that doesn't make a lot of sense, but like maybe addresses some of the fears or like emotional reactions of the community. So I appreciate that response. I want to be conscious of time though. So I want to thank you so much for all of your time and all of your answers and thoughtfulness today. Anything else that you want to mention before we wrap up?

[Jenny Graham]: I think so. I think so. Actually, the one thing that I talked about at the State of the City was how excited I am about the playground project at the McGlynn. If you haven't seen the designs yet, they're great. Like the committee did a really fabulous job and I'm really excited about it. And then, you know, I continue to be really committed to moving the needle on reimagining, replacing, rebuilding, whatever the R word it is that you want to use, but Medford High. It's time, it's past time. The other thing that we're, I think, painfully aware of is that that is years in the making and there are things that have to be done right now to make that building more suitable and we're pushing to try to do that at the same time.

[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. Hopefully we'll talk to you again in the future. Yeah, anytime. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Idonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.

Jenny Graham total time: 29.7 minutes total words: 1280