[SPEAKER_02]: 3208 58099 member herself you call the roll please.
[SPEAKER_06]: Remember, here. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_09]: Democrats here. Remember McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_10]: Remember Mr. Member so present Mayor longer.
[SPEAKER_02]: present, seven present, zero absent. If you could all, any student representatives on the call, Dr. Cushing? Not that we know of. Okay, so if we could all rise to salute the flag.
[SPEAKER_05]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to suspend the rules and take items 7.2.3 and .4 out of order.
[SPEAKER_02]: Which one would you like to take first, number two?
[SPEAKER_08]: 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 on that order, Superintendent.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. Motion by Member Graham for suspension of the rules, seconded by Member McLaughlin. All those in favor?
[SPEAKER_12]: Aye.
[SPEAKER_02]: All those opposed? We have number 272, photography contest winners recognition and a short slideshow of photos by Ms. Suzanne Fee, Coordinator of Fine Arts, followed by a presentation of certificates to the winners. and a prize, a film camera for the top three winners of the photography competition. Ms. Fee, welcome. Yeah, it's just a little person with a voice. You can just press that button. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hi, everybody. Thanks for having us. We're really excited. Our photo contest came back after a brief hiatus. And we have the winners here tonight. And I'm happy to present the winning photos as well. So when the students' names are called, I'll have them come up and get their certificate. And our first, second, and third place winners will be receiving a film camera. So we're really excited about that. Just really quickly a little bit about the contest miss van Aiken, one of our visual arts teachers organized the contest and we have an exhibit at the high school. It's open to all students and we were lucky enough to have two professional photographers serve as guest judges this year. There was no preferred topic or theme for the contest. The judges considered all entries for their impact, originality or creativity, technique and composition. Entries were scored in those categories and tallied and the winners received the highest total scores. And then lastly, we just want to thank the Medford Educational Fund because they approved our grant request for a a photo printer for the photography club, and that was instrumental in getting so many kids to be able to participate, otherwise they wouldn't have access to photo printing. So it was really nice to see the effects of that grant in such a nice way. So without further ado, Daryl Mendoza is receiving an honorable mention for his photo, Golden Mountain. I don't know if Daryl, if you're here, come on up. Another honorable mention is Julia. Oh, you can go right through here, Dario. Julia Hanready for her photo, Morning Dew, which was also a Scholastic Art Award winner this year. Violet Veruso for her photo, A New Perspective, also received an honorable mention. Third place, Connor O'Leary for steaming through time. She's coming. Oh, sorry. Second place is Nate Tacey for his photo after hours. And Nate. Nate, your certificate got lost somewhere between here and Medford High, so I'll get it to you tomorrow, but go shake hands with your camera. And our first place winner also received an honorable mention for her other photo. So first place was for Calm Before the Storm by Hannah Sophia McLaughlin. And she also received an honorable mention for, let me see if I remember the name, And she received an honorable mention for her photo, Safaree Sawyer. And at the end, if you guys, if you wanna just scroll through Dr. Cushing, some more high scoring entries from our competition. We're really excited about this contest. I think it sets a nice tone for our photo class that we're starting next fall and our photography club. So congratulations to everybody and thank you for having us tonight.
[SPEAKER_06]: Can the students all come back up for one group photo? Great job, Ms. V and students.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have 7-3 presentation on EGAL, feminine hygiene products on a roll by Ms. North and CCSR students at the Andrews Middle School. Welcome. Ms. North, good to see you again. You're so involved, we love it. The little person.
[SPEAKER_15]: I first wanna take the time to thank you to meet with us today. This is obviously from the CCSR in Middlesex, Andrews Middle School. Our students have been asking for a program to place menstrual products inside the bathrooms. And it's taken some time to be creative. As we know, middle school can get a little dicey and sometimes we can, go through a little bit of misuse. On October 1, 2020, Bill H.565 Chapter 71 of the Massachusetts General Laws added Section 68A and Section 3 that all elementary and secondary public schools in the Commonwealth serving any grade from grade 6 through grade 12 shall provide feminine hygiene products in the restrooms of such school building or buildings. Such products shall be provided at no charge to the students. Such amount may be adjusted from time to time based on utilizations. School districts shall work to ensure such products should be available in a convenient manner matter that does not stigmatize any students seeking such product. Well, our Meltrick Public Schools does in fact honor this bill where we provide feminine products to our students at the nurse's office, but we currently don't have them placed inside the bathrooms. So we need to find a better way to have these students feel less embarrassed and make the process of getting products less time consuming. Many of our sixth grade students, they are embarrassed to ask to go down to the nurse. And what generally happens is students will now go to the bathroom and find out that they need product. Now they have to go back to their classrooms. They have to ask their teacher for an actual hall pass to go down to the nurse's office. That sometimes brings up questions of, well, why now do you need to leave the room again to go to the nurse? And if they don't really know who it is or it is a male teacher, questions will arise, especially if they're in the middle of a lesson. So now they have to leave class again, go to the nurse's office, get product, go back to the bathroom, and then get back to class. And I've calculated through data for the last 45 days that it takes approximately 15 minutes for a student to go to the bathroom, back to class, to the nurse, to the bathroom, then back again to class. Students are, they really are losing important class time due to this. Based on that type of data, I decided to reach out to a company called EGAL, and I just happened to find it by chance. just going through and researching certain things and it's a startup company in Somerville, and I decided that once I found out that Cambridge brought in a pilot program for the high school. I wanted to see if we could possibly have a pilot program brought into the city of Method. When I called I asked to meet with Jeff, he is the co founder and CEO his business card is placed inside of these folders. And he agreed that he would provide us with 10 free dispensers which I have here, and we can pass around with the product and a case of product, which is 12 rolls, and they come in packs of 40. Over April vacation, I was able to have our, I was able to have our maintenance department, install these and the Andrews, and they are there's 10 of them. When you if you're not familiar with the Andrews we have one in the gym, on the first floor we have one of the nurses office, and there is one on each side A and B of six seventh and eighth. We then talked about how we were going to keep data and what was gonna happen and how are we really gonna present this. I had an assembly right before April vacation with all our female students about what was gonna happen and that we were in fact gonna be a pilot program. So we had to make sure that there was no misuse of products. And if there were, it was going to hinder as possibly bringing this to Medford Public Schools. Actually, I have to say that most, every student has been respectful. We've only had one misuse, reported misuse in the gym bathroom, and that's it. They have used these respectfully, and I've heard many positive comments on them. And right now they're only placed in one stall. So we don't even have them in every stall. I know that students definitely feel more comfortable not having to go to the nurse and that products are there. I do, however, know that the school committee did agree to provide tampons and they will still be available to our students. Cambridge and Boston Public Schools have already brought this program in, and they currently are spending, and it's about an estimate right now because it hasn't been the full year yet, but it's going to be about $5,000 or under, and that's for all middle schools and high school. So you figure that and calculate possibly what our budget is now to provide products into the nurse's office. I feel like this is not only a better product, but it is, it's lighter, it's thinner, and it's provided for them directly in. their bathrooms. Boston has now brought in a pilot program that's starting this summer for all Boston public buildings that they're going to bring this product and to provide it for the entire public. In the blue folders, you'll find all the information and selling points for this. And if this is something that we would approve, or if it can be approved, I'll be happy to facilitate the process moving forward. I do know that you can purchase this product now from WB Mason and any other places, and it's actually pretty inexpensive. In the long run, it'll save us money where we're not sending students to the nurse's office, taking, you know, 567, and then going back to class it's going to save them time for in the classroom and also, I think, produce more. education in the back end, because they're not missing so much class time, and we can pass this around, and I have some comments from Rowan Mastoni. She is our eighth grade point person and the person that has worked diligent with me to get this kind of on board.
[SPEAKER_11]: Good evening. My name is Rowan Mistone. I'm currently in eighth grade at the Andrews Middle School and will be attending Medford High next year. I am in CCSR that is run by Miss North, who was able to get the Andrews a part of the EGALP pilot program. This gave us the opportunity to put free pads in all girls' bathroom. Sadly, the program has ended. We received great reviews and are here to ask you to continue it. The hassle of having to make multiple trips between the nurse's office and the bathroom causes missing important time in class and a whole lot of embarrassment. With EGAL and pads on rolls, it has become so much easier at the Andrews for students, but we want to spread this to all the schools. Please support adding it to the high school, Curtis Tufts, Andrews Middle School, and the McGlynn Middle School. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great job. Ms. North and team, that was a wonderful presentation. Thank you so much and great work. And I think you have a photography winner behind you. She was photographing the whole time, so she'll be the next winner. Member Ruseau, then Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yes. Member Graham. Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you in particular to all the students coming out tonight to talk about this really awesome product. I had never heard of that product before, and I think it's a really great solution to the reasons why we haven't followed through on the multiple ways that we've asked for these products to be available to you all since before I was on the school committee. Before I was on the school committee I worked with a student at the high school to come forward and present just like you all did. And at that time, the school committee was unanimous in their support we've seen at least two other presentations. since then. So my apologies that we haven't gotten this right, but thank you to all of you for bringing this forward. This makes compliance with all the past school committee resolutions that were unanimous and the law that much easier. This seems very straightforward. I'm in full support. And I would like to make a motion to ask the administration to implement these immediately. and at maximum by the start of next school year in our high schools and our middle school complexes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member Graham. Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you. I think that, first of all, I also want to say to the students how particularly proud I am for you moving this forward in a very practical way and to the CCSR and to Ms. North for really just taking the initiative and really creating a pilot project because that is how things get done, usually by piloting, demonstrating that they work, having a price point, making sure that people know what that is, what things look like, having something tangible that people can see and look at. And so I hope that this is a real opportunity for people to be thinking about policy as well, because as member Graham said, you know, actually the students that first brought this to the school committee were in my daughter's graduating class. So they actually just graduated from college this year. And we're very proud of all of them for having brought this forward as well. But policy is iterations of, Right. And so it's evolutions of people, you know, there are leaders who start things, there are people that come along and actually practically implement it. There are people that come along and have another iteration of that a version of that that's even better. So it's just always building on other people as well and working together. So I think this is a really great example of how policy can be played out with folks. So I don't even think it's necessarily a bad thing that this wasn't right at the front, I think it wasn't even available right at the front four years ago. I think it's the evolution piece of it. I also very highly recommend this. I would also respectfully ask that member Graham consider amendment to the motion to include, and I would ask that you young women and Ms. North and the CCR consider including these for fifth graders in our elementary school. I know certainly some of our young women have you know, that experience much earlier, so making sure that they're available. And also there are class, there are bathrooms in particular classrooms, specifically classrooms that might be subseparate, where those would be included as well. So I would just ask that we expand on that motion. Thank you. I actually, I'm gonna press the button. The face. It's a little face with a voice coming out. On the front, on the front.
[SPEAKER_16]: Second from the right.
[SPEAKER_15]: I actually was able to talk to the CEO and make a deal with him that if Medford does bring in EGAL that he will provide all the dispensers for free. So we do not have to pay for the dispensers. So he'll be able to provide all of those to any place really that we want them. It would just depend on how maintenance installs them, but he'll be able to provide that. And I don't necessarily think that we need to provide it for every stall. In the middle school, I think having it in the big stalls right now is great. We probably need a couple more. We do have one in the nurse's office and even put them in the teacher's bathrooms, but definitely for fifth graders too. We just kind of focus more on the middle school aspect because they're middle school students.
[SPEAKER_03]: Understandably. Mayor, may I respond?
[SPEAKER_15]: Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I just want to say thank you. That's great. And I think it's also another great example and an important example just for the policy piece of it as well. When you're talking about having our maintenance folks install, having our nurses collaborate, having people know where in which bathrooms, that's all practical application of how you implement policy. So really being able to think those things through ahead of time makes it much more effective, bringing things to the table so that policy actually gets passed. And I just think it's a real learning opportunity again, for our students and for folks who are watching that that's a really great example of how it gets done. So thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin. And also that you had an assembly to teach the students how to, you know, how to treat the machines with respect and not overuse and misuse. I think that's wonderful. And I'm sure that went a long way. Member Ruseau?
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I do apologize that this has to be a focus for the fifth straight year since I've been on school committee where we've had a CCSR project to do this. Last March, we did approve the free products in any quantity that a student desires from our nurse's office. And when we did that, we did say like, this is step one. The next step is to get them into the buildings. into the actual bathrooms. You know, I think that the Senate has passed the I am bill I believe this is the eighth year, and the House of Representatives is apparently too stodgy to consider talking about menstruation. So it is never come up for a vote. There are more people sponsoring the I am bill in the House of Representatives, then a majority, a majority of the members actually sponsor it so there is zero question it would pass by if leadership is out of touch with reality or just can't talk about the topic, then, then it won't ever come up for a vote and become law. Hopefully that doesn't last forever. I do think that, you know, in the last number of times we've talked about this, I think we have, we have broached the topic of, you know, there's there's a moral panic around tampons. And I think that it is a disservice for us to implement policy that either sidesteps that issue by only offering pads or just keeps us from having to take a stand. That is not the appropriate way is to simply add pads and say, that's what menstruating students must do. I don't menstruate, but I know an awful lot of people who do. And for those that like tampons, It is life changing and it is a non starter that's like the differences are not, it's it. I don't personally experience it but it's it's not even an apples and oranges kind of conversation. So I do think that when we talk about putting stuff into bathrooms I think we need to set aside, just like with our other health education related things. How I feel about something is how I feel about it, but that's not policy and that's not how we should be using science and best practice and all that other stuff. So I'm very happy to see this. I'm sad that you all have to spend your energy on this. I'm sad that the public schools still to this day do not have this stuff in the bathroom. Now I understand it is not cheap. If we had two bathrooms we probably would have done it but we probably have 100 bathrooms in the district. So, I recognize that it costs money but getting back to the meeting that was just before that, you know, when we last talked about this last March, if, if bathrooms didn't have toilet paper, we would burn this place down. Right. I mean, if every one of us went to the bathroom every day, we are expected to bring our own toilet paper. And if it wasn't there, we're expected to go to the nurse's office. I just can't even imagine it would become violent, frankly. And somehow we are perfectly fine with the majority of the world, the majority of our population being in exactly that situation. And, you know, so that's just outrageous. But if we focus purely on the number one goal job of a school committee, and that is student performance, 15 minutes of class time, like we should be doing compensatory services for every girl, for every menstruating student, we should do compensatory services and hire tutors to fill in for the gap in their education they didn't get. Because we didn't do this. It's kind of absurd. And I continue to be disappointed that we are not making this happen. We just did the budget, we can literally I don't think we can make a motion to add to the budget because we just had that hearing an hour ago. If we had done this in the other order, I probably would have added another whatever $100,000 to do all the bathrooms. So, keep at it. I mean, I keep hoping that the house will finally do this because it is tiring to have the same conversation. around something that actually isn't changing like I think menstruation is fairly much been the same thing for as long as the House of Representatives has been around. And yet we got to spend all of our time advocating year after year after year on this topic and it's. It's also infuriating because all that energy spent on those things is energy not spent on other things we could be advocating for. And it just feels a bit like we're being like, you know, dragged around by this at the state house. But I am super happy that you all have kept it in the, kept the light on on this topic because the school committee has a lot to do. And sometimes it feels like we're turning our heads a thousand different ways every day. And so I appreciate that every year this keeps coming back until we can make it happen and make it happen right, so thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Mr. Russo. To wrap us up, Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, and I also, I just wanted to say, focusing on the positive, you know, in terms of, you know, what has or hasn't happened in the past, I just want to say, that's how things change. And you, you know, you get stuff done, and you guys are getting stuff done, and you keep getting stuff done. And it doesn't have to be the way things were before because you can change it. And that's how you do make the change that you made today. So, you know, when member Ruseau was talking and he was saying how, you know, things have been or whatever, it was all I could do to hold myself back and not, you know, yell out, not anymore, right? So not anymore here, right? So you guys did that. So that's really great. And I also just want to add to member Ruseau's comments that, you know, not to get too specific, but regarding tampons and pads, you know, there are obviously as women, we know there are preferences for different reasons that we don't need to get into, but we want to have both, you know, whenever possible for all choices for individuals. So thank you guys again, and I want to second the motion.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion for approval by member Graham, seconded by member McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes.
[SPEAKER_10]: I don't have any language of a motion, so.
[SPEAKER_02]: just that we place them all, I think, which would be free placement in all our middle schools and high schools and I think member McLaughlin wants to explore something, the fifth grade, although I think that.
[SPEAKER_08]: So the motion is to implement these devices in all of our high school, middle school and upper elementary bathrooms. and review the possibility of putting them in some of the individual classroom bathrooms as appropriate.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes. May I, I know we've already voted on it, but if this could violate procurement law, depending on the pricing, so we may. Roll call. What was the roll call and what?
[SPEAKER_08]: Should we roll, are you asking, should we roll call?
[SPEAKER_10]: No, I was just saying like, if this is over $10,000, we literally cannot
[SPEAKER_02]: It was, it was came in Cambridge, it was 5000 so eventually have to do procurement if you do multiple year purchasing but okay.
[SPEAKER_15]: They do offer bulk pricing as well. And that's something that I can speak to Jeff about when I I'm going to call him tomorrow and get the bulk pricing rate. So, obviously, you know, taking $5,000 at the moment, out of the budget that you've already approved is not We're not going to be able to do that. However, I know that money is used to purchase the products now. So I'm hoping that you can, or you can allocate that money for these. And Cambridge has them in all of their, and they're bigger, obviously they're bigger schools than we are. So all of their high schools and middle schools, they don't have them in the elementary, but we can certainly find out if we can bring those in. So it's probably going to be less than that. And again, you can buy them in bulk, buy them quarterly. I still, so we've been doing this for about 45 days and I still have three roles left. So they're not using them where they're taking them every single day, that they're using them appropriately. So you're going to have some bathrooms that are highly used, that they're going to go through maybe one rule every month and a half. But you're going to have other bathrooms that, I mean, it could be two or three months before you need to replace them. And again, each school will have to have that point person, because you don't want to put that on the custodians or maintenance department. So for Andrews, I would take that responsibility and I would go around and I would still have my students take data. We have sheets of data for the last 45 days of how much usage and there's a key. Nobody can open these except somebody that has that key that can go in and open them. and that prevents theft and damage. So we'll be able to handle it on that end as well. And the same for the high school assembly, like we did maybe for the middle school, what's going in and look for damages and to keep that cost down. If they, I mean, high school level, I'm assuming many bring their own and won't need it all the time, but some may. The same with middle school. Some bring their own, but when you're in, you know, a bind and you need that, it's creating loss of class, loss of educational time. And that's tough. And I see it with our classes where kids are gone for 15 minutes. That's a large chunk of time to miss from a 40 minute period.
[SPEAKER_10]: Then they walk back to class and the teacher's like, where were you?
[SPEAKER_15]: And we do, you know, where were you? Why were you there? And they have to come up with an explanation and that's embarrassing for kids that are just learning about their bodies.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_15]: Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_03]: Appreciate y'all being here.
[SPEAKER_16]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_10]: We vote yes. Did we do the vote?
[SPEAKER_16]: We took a vote. If you want to take a vote that we follow procurement, then I think that's self-explanatory. Yeah, I think we're good.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much. I did motion for approval seconded by all in favor, all opposed motion passes. Yep. Oh, okay. Announcement of new principals to Medford public schools by Dr. Maurice Edouard-Vincent, our superintendent.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you. I am really excited to welcome to have our three new principles, we have Miss Jennifer scheme here. If you wouldn't mind coming forward, as well as Miss Michelle Cole here. Miss Jennifer scheme is our new principal of the Andrews Middle School. has something to display, thank you. And we are very excited to warmly welcome you to Medford. Those are some of your wonderful students that you'll be meeting come next school year. And this game brings over 27 years of educational experience. As a teacher, a guidance Councilor, and an assistant principal, you've developed a philosophy that is rooted in the care and attention to individual needs of students, with a focus on developing strategies and protocols to increase academic achievement and social development. We warmly welcome you, and I know you're already calling the Andrews your new home. And we are just very glad to have you here this evening with us, and I wasn't sure if there were a few words that you would love to share with the committee.
[SPEAKER_12]: Sure, I just want to say thank you for this opportunity I am really looking forward to serving Andrews I already met those young ladies delight. They've already clued me in who all the great teachers are and it was really nice to speak with them. I also learned that they did all that fundraising themselves through CCSR so I was proud of them for that. So I just look forward to working with all of you. I've heard a lot this evening through some of the budget discussions and the needs of the school and the district and I'm looking forward to that challenge and working with Maurice and making sure that we meet all the needs of the students. So thank you.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Miss Kane. We look forward to having you. I'm going to turn over to Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, thank you miss miss gain it was a pleasure to be on the committee, interviewing you and getting to know you just that little bit then and I definitely think Medford made the right choice and we're lucky to have you and want to let you know that our, you know, doors are open in terms of reaching out in different ideas and not to put you to sleep but in the event that you're interested or you want to, you can access previous meetings on Medford community media. And I hope that doesn't deter you from coming to the district. But should you be interested in information, you can get more there as well. All right.
[SPEAKER_13]: I too, I want to thank Member McLaughlin and Principal Nick Tucci and all the teachers, parents, Ms. Joan Bowen, yes, part of my Director of Pupil Services for being part of phase one and phase two. I want to thank the teachers and the parents that were deeply involved and truly committed to this process of really putting forward strong candidates. And I am very grateful that We have Ms. Scania as part of the team and that she accepted our call. So welcome aboard again. Thank you so much. Yes. And so now, I am pleased to announce Ms. Michelle Crow, who is the new principal at Roberts Elementary School, effective July 1. And Ms. Crow brings over 22 years of experience as an assistant principal, a principal, curriculum director, and teacher, a wide portfolio of Educational Experiences. She's currently the Director of Teaching and Learning and Assessment and English Learners for the Wayland Public Schools. So we warmly, warmly welcome you to Medford Public Schools. And Ms. Poole, is there anything that you would love to share with the committee?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just thank you for having me here tonight. I'm super excited to join your team. It's funny, I didn't think I knew anybody in Medford. And when you went public with the announcement on Friday, I had more text messages from people. I didn't know that you lived in Medford. And some parents of some colleagues of mine that I worked with previously, children go to school in Medford. So I'm really excited to join the team and hit the ground running come July 1.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much. Ms. Crowell, you'll have multiple of our students. No, yours is... Okay, miss member Hays students there, my fresh sons there so best of luck. I talked to Mr. G Clement day he's wonderful this week and yeah, yeah. We're happy to have you and we're excited for the start of school and for you to be there and welcome our kids. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you. And also for the Roberts, I want to thank Susan Lucy, Dr Kathy K. I want to thank member Hays for being part of phase one, the teachers the parents that were deeply involved in the selection process and really bringing forward. strong candidates so a very special thank you for your support and collaboration for us to be here today and I'm really excited that you accepted the call and you're going to be part of the team for next year so congratulations and thank you again.
[SPEAKER_02]: I believe, Miss Martha Cabral from high school is at graduation which got postponed till today so yes, yes, if she, the modern high school graduation was postponed due to the weather.
[SPEAKER_13]: And so she said she's still going to try her best to swing by so she might come. depending on how things and at a different point in the meeting, but we are very excited to have her on board and respond to convert Cabral is the new principal of Medford High School, and she will be starting in July as well and I want to thank member Graham. I want to thank Dr. Cushing. I want to thank We had so many different members of the team, Dr. Riccadeli, Bernadette Riccadeli, who helped with the selection process, and the teachers that were part of the process, parents, students that were all deeply involved and going through a very long process for us to get here. And so we warmly welcome Marta. And if she is able to come, we'll introduce her in person. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to revert to the regular order of business.
[SPEAKER_02]: Probably motion to regular business is executive session. If we want to save that till the end, we'll stay under suspension and go to five and six.
[SPEAKER_08]: Are the attorneys waiting for us though?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you want, you want to come back? Okay, that's fine. That's fine. I didn't I thought we were doing at the end, but that's completely fine. No, completely fine. So motion to revert back to the right regular order of business by member Graham seconded by Member McLaughlin, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Number three, negotiations and legal matters executive session pursuant to general law 30A, section A3 to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with Teamsters Local 25 custodians, Local 25 security monitors, and Local 25 administrators as an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the committee and the chair so declares. Executive session pursuant to general laws, chapter 30A, section 21A, three to discuss potential litigation, Deion versus Medford School Committee. Since an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the committee and the chair so declares. Motion to move into executive session by member McLaughlin, seconded by?
[SPEAKER_08]: Second.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Ruseau, all those in favor? Roll call, does it have to roll call? Do we?
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes. Okay, sorry.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Grant. Yes. Member Hays. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_06]: Under bills and payrolls, minutes from regular school committee meeting, May 15th, 2023.
[SPEAKER_02]: Minutes from the committee of the whole budget, fiscal year 24, April 10th, 2023. Minutes of the committee of the whole meeting, superintendent self-evaluation, May 8th, 2023. And minutes of the committee of the whole budget 2024 meeting, May 15th, 2023.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to approve.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion for approval by member Mustone, seconded by member McLaughlin. All those in favor? consent agenda is approved report of subcommittees. And then we're going to go right to miss Marder-Cabral, Medford High School principal. So if we could be somewhat brief reports of subcommittees minutes of special education subcommittee meeting May 3 2023. Can I motion to waive all the readings? Motion to waive all the readings minutes minutes of DEI subcommittee meeting. Second. Seconded by Member Graham. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? We'll do it just like a consent agenda.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to approve the minutes from section six, items B, E, F, and G. Do you mean A, B, C, D? Yes, we have two different versions, yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, motion for approval of reports of subcommittees by member Graham, seconded by?
[SPEAKER_05]: Do we want to tell the folks what the subcommittees are?
[SPEAKER_02]: I think member Graham motion to waive the readings.
[SPEAKER_05]: I waive the readings.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to waive the updates.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion to waive the updates.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Would you like to?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there are two things I do need to talk about.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we all voted in favor motion to reconsider by Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Hays. All those in favor?
[SPEAKER_03]: Aye.
[SPEAKER_02]: All those opposed?
[SPEAKER_03]: Just quickly, I just wanted to say for the Special Education Subcommittee, we obviously approved a non-discrimination statement. So for folks that are out there watching, that should be coming in your September, anything that's sent out in September and should be elsewhere. I'm happy to answer questions on that for folks that want, and if I may move forward, Mayor, to the DEI subcommittee meeting. And then the DEI subcommittee meeting, I just wanted to say that we were discussing the impact of new safety regulations and procedures on various populations within our school. And so we agreed to have a meeting in the month of September as a whole, to discuss, not as a subcommittee, but the superintendent would bring back information to the committee at large or the entire committee with data around some of the things that were asked for in the subcommittee. So in September, folks can expect data on some of the DEI material that was discussed in this subcommittee meeting. So just again, a reminder that we would have a meeting in the first month in the September on the DEI topic to include data that the superintendent is collecting, superintendent team is collecting regarding impact of safety policy and procedure.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Thank you for the brief updates. Thank you. Motion for approval of A, B, C, D, depending on what it was.
[SPEAKER_08]: Motion to approve the subcommittee minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember Graham seconded by member McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Has it? reports of the superintendent announcement of new principal to the Medford public schools. Dr. Edwardson, if you'd like to introduce our new high school principal.
[SPEAKER_13]: Yes, so good evening, Miss Cabral, come forward. I am really excited to introduce Miss Marta Cabral, who will be the next principal of Medford High School starting in July for school year 23-24. Miss Cabral brings with her she's currently at Malden High School as a house principal, and she brings a wide range of leadership experience as well. She is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language. And she credits growing up in a multicultural and multilingual family with shaping her educational vision. And she has stated that all students can achieve their academic potential when encouraged and supported by strong adults who model perseverance and determination. She endeavors to create and foster a culture where students feel secure, welcomed, respected, and academically motivated. So welcome, welcome, welcome to Medford Public Schools and to Medford High School. And Ms. Cabral, is there anything you would love to share with the community, the committee?
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Ms. Cabral, there's just a little face with the microphone. You just have to touch that. Mr. McLaughlin, put it on. Yep, just press it again. Perfect. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_14]: All right. Thank you all. Thank you for welcoming me to Medford. I am so extremely excited to join the Medford community and to learn all about Medford. I am honored to be the next principal. And I think it was shared that I am the first female principal of the high school, which I'm extremely honored to be. I am excited to start July 1st. I'm eager to start and to learn everything that I need to learn. I am soaking up every single second that I have left at Malden, but I'm very excited to be joining all of you and the Medford community and to meet the students and staff at Medford High School.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for being here and stopping by after graduation. We're excited to have you. We can't wait to help support you through culture and climate change at the high school We're excited. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you all.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: What did I miss?
[SPEAKER_03]: No, we didn't because we didn't do the good of the order.
[SPEAKER_02]: The good of the order. We have number for good of the order, man, member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you. I was going to under the good of the order I was going to ask that the committee consider a process for onboarding school committee members and a way in which we can make that happen, whether it's through one of our subcommittees or some other plan, but I think we really need to think about preparing onboarding materials for incoming school committee members. And I just wanted to put that out to our committee for suggestions.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a great idea. Maybe member Kreatz and member Mustone could.
[SPEAKER_08]: Mayor. Member Graham. I do think we have some rules in our rules handbook around onboarding and so we should use them as a starting point but II think they're, you know, that that is a good starting point and agree that we should start thinking about that and maybe early in the fall, create a one time subcommittee to deal with that.
[SPEAKER_03]: make a motion to send it to a sub motion to, no, actually I make a motion to create a one-time subcommittee in the fall for onboarding process of school committee members.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion on the floor to create a subcommittee in the fall for onboarding new members in January by member McLaughlin, seconded by member Graham. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Great, great idea. Thank you, member McLaughlin. We have our report of the superintendent updates and comments Dr. Maurice Edouard-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_13]: Good evening, and I know today it's been a very very busy day but I am excited just to share some positive news about wonderful things happening in the district. First I'm very excited that we were able to welcome our three new administrators, and looking forward to that. happening. This Wednesday, we are going to wish our class Mustang class of 2023 success at home El Stadium, they'll be getting getting a donning their caps and gowns and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate for us on Wednesday. So, Might be a little cooler than expected but it's going to cooperate so I'm happy graduation will take place. Last Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the senior prom which took place. at the Renaissance, and I just have to say my bucket was completely filled. We had over 340 students participating in the prom, and the majority of them. I think they were all high school students, significant number of our seniors and we had a few underclassmen juniors. And maybe one or two sophomores that were able to attend the prom, and it was a wonderful event. They rolled out the red carpet for prom students they got to display their, you know, walk down the catwalk or whatever you want to call it at the West courtyard. And we had school buses transport. All of our seniors safely to the Renaissance to the prom and safely home. So it's just a wonderful event parents didn't have to worry about it we did have a lot of families come out to support and take pictures but it was an absolutely wonderful event to see the students. dancing, jumping, singing, laughing, and really just enjoying themselves so it was a wonderful send off and I know Wednesday will be a continuation. So congratulations again to our class of 2023, I look forward to seeing you at home now, Wednesday evening. I also want to just congratulate many of our teams that just did absolutely outstanding work this year. Our spring sports teams. And these are the ones that qualified for the state tournament included Mustang boys tennis Mustang girls tennis Mustang boys volleyball Mustang boys and girls crew. Mustang boys lacrosse Mustang boys and girls outdoor track and Mustang girls softball. I just want us to give them all a great round of applause for a wonderful, wonderful spring season. Congratulations to all of you. In addition to that, we wanna recognize the Mustang crew team. They meddled at the state tournament. The boys novice, there were two girls novice, there were two, and boys novice, there were four. All of them won the bronze medal. Congratulations to them. Our girls outdoor track four by 400 relay team of Emma Casey, Eastman D'Souza Vieira, Anna Casey in Savannah Nash, they broke the old school record with a time of four minutes, 19 second 19.11 at division two state tournament. The boys must embrace four by four outdoor track team. consisted of Dimitri Charles, Will Kelly, JT Mastricola and Jacob Stecker. They also broke the old school record with a time of three minutes 32.10 seconds at the division two state tournament. They also have qualified for the Nike National Tournament. Just a reminder, anyone out there who would like Mustang gear, the school store is open until June 13th. On Wednesday of last week, our first combined Andrews in McGlynn mock trial middle school team competed at the locally federal courthouse, the judges were tough but the Mustangs one. These students put in an incredible eight weeks of work preparing for this amazing opportunity. We are all so proud of you. We wanna thank their advisor, Ms. North, Mr. Tucci, Mr. Downs and Mayor Brianna for serving on the judging panel. So congratulations for a job well done and I'd love to give all of them a round of applause as well. Also, I just want to share some good news just a little bit around the district. Our eighth grade students in Mr. Michi's Italian class, they were able to take a fabulous field trip to the North End. Yes, not far, but very enjoyable and educational for them. They got to see Paul Revere's statue, the Christopher Columbus Park, the New England Holocaust Memorial, and the North End Library. They went to the new improved City Hall Plaza, and they even went behind the scenes at Mike's pastries. They enjoyed lunch at Humberto's and later gelato. Mr. Michi is grateful to the Andrews administration and the PTO for assisting with the cost of transportation for them. Continuing with our talented middle school students, our middle school students did a fantastic musical this weekend. The production was called Rock of Ages, both the Andrews and McGlynn Drama Club. They performed for packed audiences and the student actors and stagehands hit a home run each night. Special thanks to their advisor and director, Mr. Hubbard. Bravo. Also, we want people to know that summer fun camp still has openings and summer fun camp will start on July 5 at the miss attack. If you're interested, contact community schools at 7813932226. Also, last week on Thursday June 1 here at City Hall we came, and the pride flag was raised Congresswoman clock came and spoke, and really shared some positive remarks, state rep Donato was here, member Graham member so. Other members city council members were here as well it was a wonderful event. Our students GSA students spoke from Medford High School, and it was a great event last Thursday on the first also on Friday, this past Friday. It was national gun violence awareness month. And it was where orange weekend. And it was presented by moms demand action group Medford chapter is very active they were here at City Hall with the mayor on state web Christy barber came out and several city Councilors as well. Again Medford standing against gun violence. wonderful speakers and it was inspirational as well. And this past Friday, we had the Junior Olympics, and we had unprecedented heat on Friday. It was definitely a scorcher. We had participation from Mayor Brianna, member Hays, member Mustone, and I'm not sure if any other members were able to add the Junior Olympics, but it's been a tradition for a very long time, where we recognize all of our fifth graders where they compete in Olympic events and torchbearers to students got to carry the torch up the stairs. And really a special time for our fifth graders as they prepare to move on to middle school. So, it's a nice event that's only for them, and it's been around for a very, very long time. And, you know, we're going to do our own after action review but it definitely was a scorcher but the kids were happy to compete and run against one another. So in closing, I want to just share that June is LGBT q i plus month. And as President Biden noted in his 2023 LGBT q i plus proclamation. We honor the resilience of LGBTQ plus people who are fighting to live authentically and freely. We reaffirm our belief that LGBTQI plus rights are human rights. Equality for LGBTQI plus families makes everyone realize the full promise of America. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, Member McLaughlin, again, because I don't think you can see me, sorry if I'm interrupting. But thank you, Superintendent, especially for your more recent comments. I did have a question about the Moms Demand. I did have a comment slash question about the Moms Demand action. Folks might remember, school committee worked with them at the beginning of the year, I believe. And I'm so glad to see city council is working with them as well. I think it's really important. I think it's important across the city. And we did have a resolution that we were sending out safety messages to families regarding moms demand action. And just as I'm wondering if that actually occurred as an out of district parent, I did not see it, but I would like to know that we followed up on that.
[SPEAKER_13]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have submitted, not submitted, we've sent them out to all elementary families. Right now what we're doing is we're sending them out in June for the secondary families. It's going to be a cover letter from the superintendent, a copy of the brochure, and then I want to say Megan Dowd, but I'm probably blanking. Megan and Aaron. Megan and Aaron. So I actually wanted to say Aaron Dowd, I was confusing myself. Twins. have been really great. They recently sent a few other PDFs, so we're going to include one of those in. I was hoping to get orange envelopes, but that's not going to work this year for orange in June. We've also done, I think, two Facebook posts on our district website and have pushed at least one district-wide message via school messenger. Wonderful. Secondary. All secondary. So what we're going to try to do is we're going to try to pare back the just to save the families who have an elementary and a secondary.
[SPEAKER_03]: Can you make sure that it reaches our out of district families as well, please? Yes. Thank you. Um so thanks. I'm glad to hear that those are going. I'm glad to hear those are going out and I'm sure you need far more than I have but I have lots of orange envelopes. Doctor.
[SPEAKER_02]: Alright.
[SPEAKER_03]: Pushing so.
[SPEAKER_02]: For next year's. Yeah. There you go. We'll make sure. That sounds great. Thank you. Thank you, Member McLaughlin. We do not have any presentations of the public or continued business. We do have one resolution under new business offered by Member Hays and Ms. Stone. Resolution in support of LGBTQ plus youth in Medford, where as June is LGBTQ plus pride month, whereas the human rights campaign has already identified in 2023 over 540 anti-LGBTQ plus bills introduced in state legislatures across the US, over 220 bills specifically targeting transgender and non-binary people, and 45 anti-LGBTQ laws that have been enacted so far this year. Whereas the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health by the Trevor Project found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and nearly 20% of transgender and non-binary youth attempted suicide. Whereas data from GLSEN and the Movement Advancement Project found that Massachusetts students' reports indicated a 686% increase in homophobic remarks and 256% increase in transphobic remarks from educators between 2019 and 2021. And whereas the Trevor, the 2022 survey by the Trevor Project found that nine in 10 LGBTQ plus teens in Massachusetts said political rhetoric weighs on them. Whereas rates of self-harm are much lower among LGBTQ plus students who feel affirmed in school. And whereas Medford Public Schools stands for the education of physical and mental health of every child, be it resolved, the Medford School Committee reaffirm our support for the rights and dignities of LGBTQ plus youth. Be it further resolved, the Medford Public Schools will continue to develop and improve its supports for LGBTQ plus youth. be resolved, the administration will work with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee of the Medford School Committee to address any policies, procedures, and practices that may need to be created or changed to improve our supports for our LGBTQ plus students. That was submitted on the 31st of May and requested to be on June 5th's agenda. Is there a motion for approval? I remember McLaughlin seconded by- Second. Member Graham, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. No reports requested. Condolences. The Medford School Committee expresses sincere condolences to the family of Rosaline M. Dello Russo, mother of Ms. Mary Jo Patron, Administrative Assistant to Building and Grounds, Kathy Hunt, Afterschool Coordinator at the McGlynn Elementary School, Amy Klein, EL Teacher at the McGlynn Elementary School, Christopher Dello Russo, Custodian at the Andrews Middle School, son-in-law Brian Guillen, custodian at the Missittuck, grandmother to Anthony Guillen and Christopher De La Rosa, both teachers at Medford High School, and Christine Hunt, a teacher at McGlynn Elementary School. The former, the Medford School Committee expresses sincere condolences to the family of Richard D. Fusco, former Medford High School teacher and assistant principal, and the Medford School Committee expresses its sincere condolences to the family of James Rabbitt, father of former Missittuck Elementary School's fifth grade teacher, Kristen Rabbitt Cardone. We all may rise for a moment of silence.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Our next meeting is our 11th regularly scheduled school committee meeting held next Monday, June 12, 2023 in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall, as well as June I mean, as well as Zoom. Is there a motion on the floor to adjourn by Member McLaughlin?