[SPEAKER_07]: for its triennial review of our English learner education programs. Our EL director, Mr. Paul Teixeira, and his team will be working with DESE evaluators and Medford staff and faculty to facilitate this important review. DESE was out visiting schools today, the Mississippi, the McGlynn Middle, the McGlynn Elementary School, and Medford High School. and they'll continue their work throughout this week. Also, just another reminder, it's critically important for us as a district, kindergarten registration. I will continue to mention that kindergarten registration is ongoing. It's critically important for us to be able to start the school year strong and have as close an accurate count to the amount of students that will be enrolling for next year. There will be a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, February 27th at 6.30 p.m., and an in-person meeting on Thursday, March 28th at 6.30 p.m. Child care and interpretation services are available for those meetings. And thank you to all of those who already participated in our first session. Just a few important save the dates. Again, this week, February 5th through February 9th is kindergarten report card conferences. Again, this is the first time that parents of kindergarten students get to meet with their teachers and get caught up to speed on how their student is doing. That is taking place this week at all of our schools. On February 6th, tomorrow, that is our 100th day of school. So students will be celebrating 100 days and a lot of fun activities for our students scheduled for tomorrow. Also, February 19th through 23rd is our February break. There is no school. So for tonight's meeting, during this evening's meeting, we'll discuss a number of ongoing projects and important district priorities. The McGlynn Playground construction and fundraising drive, the status of this year's school committee goals, and the timeline for Medford's participation in the first phase of the MSBA core program for the renovation or rebuilding of Medford High School. But first, through you, Madam Chair, I'll invite Assistant Superintendent Dr. Peter Cushing to take the floor to present a recommendation on the creation of a job description for an important new post in the Food Service Department. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor. Member Ruseau. Motion to approve. Motion to approve the job description. Before we take a roll call, or call the roll. Could you please just give us an update, Dr. Cushing? Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the school committee. I really appreciate this opportunity to present this to you this evening. The Medford Public I apologize. The Medford Public Schools Food Service Program has really undergone a significant transformation in the first portion of this year under our newly hired director, Retta Smith. We're greatly appreciative of her work and the work of our managers in each of our schools. However, in order to take our program to the next level, we really do need a position, the assistant director of food services. to really help with this ongoing transformation to continue to look at the facility needs within our kitchens and cafeterias, the quality of food that we're serving and the support of all of our staff across the kitchens and cafeterias. So respectfully request the approval of this new position under this job description.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So it's a new position and the form says it's through a donation. Is that a mistake, a typo? we recommend the school committee approve this generous and appreciated donation to the Medford Public Schools. That must be a typo. Can you just confirm the funding will come out of the Yes, so that we were discussing earlier.
[SPEAKER_09]: Okay, so food services, the best way that I can describe it in public parlance is almost runs as an enterprise account. And so as a self sustaining business within the district, that the program under law is not supposed to run in the red. So it is upon the management of the district and the department itself to ensure that this program operates either at break-even or with maintaining some surplus that DESE has very specific and the United States Department of Agriculture both have very specific rules and regulations on how much we can have in reserve.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Dr. Cushing. Member Reinfeld.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this is partly a procedural question. Do we ask comments about the job description that's written, or is this just a pass? Has this been posted?
[SPEAKER_09]: We have not posted because I didn't want to post anything without approval of the body.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, remember I felt you could ask questions.
[SPEAKER_05]: I had a couple questions. Just a question around the practice of salary measure of experience. Do we ever post salary ranges for things? I'm curious. Measure it for with We don't post salary ranges. Okay. So that's a, that's a different conversation then about practices around that. Um, and then I was, I just wanted to ask about it's in the knowledge of progressive approach to enhance student dining experiences. And I'm curious what that means and whether that means culturally inclusive or culturally sensitive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm wondering if that language, can be added. Progressive feels very big to me.
[SPEAKER_09]: I also know that Director Smith is online. Get my computer and I can unmute her or actually, I believe Director Smith, I made you a co-host if the chair wants to.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hi, I'm here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Director Smith, you're coming in pretty loud, so do you wanna give us any information on member Reinfeld's question?
[SPEAKER_03]: Sorry, now I'm trying to whisper. I don't want it to be too loud. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Yes, so I think you're correct, progressive is a very broad term. So that would be culturally inclusive, maybe looking at different styles of distributing food, especially at the high school level. So just trying to do things in a way that best meets the needs of the students and the facilities.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great, thank you. So do you want to amend and make it culturally inclusive? Yes, I motion to.
[SPEAKER_05]: or to add culturally inclusive in that.
[SPEAKER_12]: Sorry, point of procedure. I think first we had the motion on the floor for this, and I had seconded the approval, but I just want to say for not a motion, but an amendment, right? Is that what's being suggested?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, motion for approval by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member Laughlin, as amended by Member McIntyre. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_12]: Just wanted to make sure we weren't doing separate motions. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Any other questions on the job description? Do we have a range, a salary range in mind? because the city posts salary ranges.
[SPEAKER_09]: So, yeah, it would be in the about 57 to 63 is the neighborhood that we're thinking at present.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Okay. If there's no further questions, we're going to move approval as amended. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes as amended. Thank you, Dr. Christian.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Director Smith.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have the McGlynn Playground fundraiser website update. We have Mr. Thomas Dalton, our communications director. Welcome.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, Madam Mayor. And through you, good evening to the members of the school committee. As you're all aware, the district commenced construction late last year on a new playground at the McGlynn Elementary School. This playground, which will be the city's first universally accessible play space, will be an exciting improvement for the school community, the neighborhood, and the city at large. At its January 8th meeting, this committee approved a motion offered by member Graham to establish a fundraising campaign to support the ongoing construction and future maintenance and improvement needs of the McGlynn playground. After the passage of that measure, school district staff, including the finance and business office, website, administration and development team, and the superintendent senior executive team collaborated to execute that motion. Our finance team under the leadership of director Gerry McCue and accounting manager Noel Villas performed the necessary due diligence and bookkeeping to create the McGlynn playground fund, allowing the district to designate a clearly segregated destination for any funds raised from the public in this initiative. I worked with Miss Lisa Miller vocational teacher and our MPS website administrator and associate superintendent emeritus Diane Caldwell, another MPS website veteran to establish the necessary website infrastructure to solicit donations online. This is the first time we're soliciting charitable donations online. So we wanted to make sure that we looked at each step of the process and that we understood clearly how it was gonna work before we started actually soliciting the donations. We were able to meet with BlueSnap. BlueSnap is the third party vendor which helps MPS process online receipts such as athletics user fees. And we created a secure online form and payment portal for donations to the Playground Fund. Importantly, these contributions will be clearly marked as contributions to the Playground Fund, and they'll include all of the identifying information we need for donor acknowledgement. Once the form was created, Ms. Miller and I created a webpage for the fundraiser, which is also easily reached through the main page navigation on the MPS website. If you're ever on the MPS website, you can find it under the Students and Families tab in the main menu. And then moving forward, we'll regularly share information with the Medford Public Schools community on how to support the McGlynn Playground Project. We'll be utilizing existing channels of communication such as social media and email to contact school community members, but we'll also extend our reach beyond the schools to Medford community organizations and other donors to request their support for this project. We're maintaining close contact with the McGlynn playground committee, the volunteers who helped plan and design and execute this project to ensure that existing channels of communication with advocates and stakeholders are still employed throughout the course of this giving campaign. The fundraising page on the MPS website has already been added to the McGlynn Playground Committee's link tree, so their stakeholders will be able to easily access the donation page and information. I'd like to offer my thanks through you, Madam Mayor, to the members of the committee for authorizing and encouraging this drive. The playground project will obviously benefit tangibly from this community financial support, but I do also think that the fundraising effort is gonna help us raise awareness about the project and excitement for this new play space, because really it comes down to this really important effort to ensure accessibility and equity in play for all of Medford's kids. So I'm happy to address any questions or comments that the members may have, and I thank you for the chance to present tonight.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Thomas. Much appreciated. I know the press release went out, if I may, from the chair. Will we be doing something weekly just to remind people? Because people sometimes see a press release, realize they have two months to donate, and then they'll forget. So I just want to make sure we have a strategy for the timeline.
[SPEAKER_09]: Yep, absolutely. So I'm laying out a timeline for social media posts, additional posts to the Medford patch and kind of follow up with reporters I mean it's not always easy to get news reporters to cover local giving campaigns but that doesn't mean I won't keep trying and we'll continue to do different touches whether it be in the superintendent's weekly newsletter on the website. We'll be encouraging elementary principals in particular to include it in their principal newsletters which go out either weekly or monthly depending on the school so we'll make sure that we get it out as many avenues as we're able.
[SPEAKER_02]: let us in the city know what we can help with too. We have a monthly newsletter. Planning Development Sustainability has a newsletter they put out every so often as well. So we're happy to help.
[SPEAKER_09]: Great. I'll make sure to be in touch with your team.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, thanks. Wonderful. So everybody, make sure we donate. This is going to be a great playground. We've had so many of our members working hard to make this a reality. So yes, thank you. Thanks for the update.
[SPEAKER_09]: Great. Thanks very much.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have number four, the MSBA timeline overview. Again, I'll turn it over to Dr. Edouard-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_07]: Good evening. This presentation, shortly, we will project for you. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. The MSBA building process, and I want to thank all of you who have been supporting this work, and I know people may wanna know where are we as a district in this process. So this is just to give you just a brief update on that. So Medford Public Schools has been accepted formally, we announced it into the Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA eligibility process. As you can see in the table that's being displayed, it's that first blue box. This is a significant first step to determine the future of Medford High School's physical structure. A little more background information. This journey began for us a little bit ago. The MSBA Statement of Interest, our SOI period, it opens annually. for districts across the Commonwealth to submit applications to MSBA. Medford submitted another application in the spring of 2023, last year, and provided updated facility information in the fall of 2023. Just in December, late December, the Medford public schools was formally invited into the eligibility process, period that first blue box by the MSBA Board of Directors. So there are officially seven steps that each district needs to go through. We are currently at step number one. So under the eligibility period for Medford Public Schools, our eligibility period begins on May 1st, 2024. So we still have a little bit of a runway, but it begins May 1, 2024, and it's for 270 days. So again, that'll run from May 2024 into the beginning January-ish of 2025. That will be our first eligibility period. a certification of the school district's understanding of the grant program rules by executing an initial compliance certification. Later today in the agenda, there will be a resolution regarding the formation of a school building committee, which is also a critically important step in meeting the requirements during this eligibility period. While the MSBA allows for local communities to govern the overall composition of the school building committee, there are specific roles that are required. The district must complete an educational profile, a questionnaire to keep MSBA informed of what's happening. We have to talk about our current and proposed educational facilities, we have to share with them the teaching methodologies that we use in Medford, discuss our grade configurations, and all of our program offerings. All of those things are required during the eligibility period. We will also provide a summary of the school district's existing infrastructure repair practices. We have to agree on the enrollment estimates, along with MSBA, because that's critically important when they're thinking about the size of the new facility, and the community is required. This is important. to authorize spending by a vote during step three so eligibility period is step one step two is forming the project team which is still part of the eligibility period but also transitioning that's step two and um During step two, one thing that's important is although we were invited and we are going to work to complete all of the eligibility requirements, it does not definitely guarantee us a spot in the MSBA's capital project pipeline. So it's critically important that we do not miss any of our deadlines, that we meet all of the deliverables, all of the requirements during the 270 day window, in order to be able to move forward to the next phase. If we do not, for whatever reason, hit all of the deliverables, then as a district, we would have to go back to resubmit another statement of interest. So we don't want that to happen at all. And we are determined to hit all of the deliverables ahead of the deadline. So step two is forming the project team. That's what you see, the blue and the green rectangle. And at that time, one of the key pieces that will, key individuals that will be needed is the owner's project manager, OPM. And the owner project manager provides project management and guidance. So that is a new position that we will need to seek and hire to have someone be the OPM of the project. That happens during step phase two, step two. Step three is the feasibility study where they actually look at the initial space summary, look at the district's programs once again, look at existing school conditions. There are a lot of look at parameters. So they go through all of that during step three, the feasibility study. and approval by the MSBA Board of Directors is required for all projects to proceed to the next phase. After step three, or phase three, we move to phase four, which is the schematic design. Step five is funding the project. Step six is the design, development, construction, documentation, and bidding. And then step seven is actual construction. So again, as we have our upcoming meetings, we wanna just be able to give a little bit of information at each meeting to update and keep the community informed on the MSBA process. Again, we are only right now in the eligibility period, step one, which is a 270 day process. So that's my report for this evening.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_11]: Member Branley, I'm just curious on timeline overall, if I'm going to be very positive that all this goes as well as we would like it to. What is the timeline that we're looking for? Ballpark, obviously, not, you know, are we looking at five years, 10 years? Is this maybe my grandkids?
[SPEAKER_07]: I would, I mean, I know sometimes if everything, if all the ducks line up in a row, construction, if the votes and everything goes through, it may be as early as five to six years. Sometimes it takes seven to eight years. I mean, we're gonna try to, this is Medford we're talking about. So we're gonna try to make sure that we hit all of our deliverables early and we will be able to get to that point of construction, member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. Member Graham. The other thing the MSBA talks a lot about is five to seven is typical and average, but they also talk about some of the factors that sort of slow bog down projects. Certainly if there's not like consensus about the project that bogs things down, but as importantly, if you are doing really complex things like consolidating multiple schools into one or redistricting like anything that it has to do with like sort of substantially changing the like makeup and chemistry of what goes on in the building, they sort of cite as a reason why things slow down so we don't really have that going on here too much. in terms of what we're seeking to do. So I think that's good news for us because that and those kinds of conversations obviously take the time that they take to unfold in the community and to have broad support and to think about all the impacts to all of our staff and students and all that stuff. So because we don't have that like the, you know, the five to seven year timeline is sort of reasonable, I think, for us to expect out of this project. And to that, when we talk a little bit later about the building committee, we're going to want to build a building committee that's committed to five instead of seven, eight, nine, 10, because there are lots and lots of kids who have been waiting really patiently for this. We're going to miss it completely. But more importantly, For me, when I look at all the money we're having to put into the high school to handle massive leaks that happen or asbestos tiles that come off the floor, all of those remediation costs are going to continue to accelerate until we are able to really undertake this project. So we should be, in my opinion, trying to move as fast as possible, although the MSBA is going to We can't move faster than they're willing to let us move. So we just need to try to be on the front of the timeline instead of on the back of it as much as possible.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_04]: Member Reinfeld. The question about community vote. Is that part of a regular election cycle? Is that a special election? What does that look like?
[SPEAKER_02]: I hope you would, I'll turn to member Rousseau, but hopefully during a regular election, member Rousseau.
[SPEAKER_08]: Well, the mayor has already said hopefully, but there's no requirement that it happened during a regular election. It can be anytime. And depending on a certain communities may strategically choose to not do it in a regular election or a general election, you know, depending on the makeup of the community. And, you know, if it's a presidential, you know, everybody's showing up, Is that something you actually want? So there's no one answer, but obviously the city would have to pay for an election. So that's a consideration too.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Thank you for the update, Dr. Edouard-Vincent. Last for reports, we have the report on the status of the school committee goals. So again, turn it over to you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent.
[SPEAKER_07]: Good evening. Back in October. October 16 was the meeting where we had a lot of technical difficulties and we had to people couldn't hear audio there were all kinds of problems happening that day. So we actually had the goals. And if it's possible. Thank you. We'll get we'll get them up in a moment to for you to look at but These goals were voted by you the committee approved on March 6 2023 of last year. And so. It was March six that you during the 2223 school year. March six you put out seven key actions that you as a committee wanted to accomplish. And the hope was that by November of 23, that all of these goals would be accomplished. And when we originally were reporting out, the committee at that point in time had already accomplished, fully completed six of the seven key actions. And so I'll just run through them very quickly, but all school committee agendas would be translated in the major recognized languages of the district starting in September of 23. That was completed and starting on the September 18th, 2023 school committee agenda, it was available and translated for the community. I will say the second key action was for us to host additional town hall meetings and provide opportunities for community feedback. And so that one is the only goal that is still in process. And now where we have so much MSBA work that's going to be taking place, I'm sure that we'll be having plenty of opportunities to engage the community in other ways over the course of the school year. The third key action was expanding the arts, through increasing programmatic offerings for students. and for us to strongly consider the addition of a theater teacher. And that was completed, and we did add the additional staffing. We did offer Jump Start Camp to our students during the summer months. So that went well, and that was, again, during late August for two weeks. It was offered for students in grades four through eight. The fourth key action was to create an action plan for Medford High School, and Miss Cabral did come and present to the committee on September 18 at a regular meeting, and she will be providing another update. Later in the school year. For number five, creating an updated superintendents evaluation process. The school committee completed that in June of 2023. Number six was replacing the finance director in creating an earlier budget process that to was completed. Our finance director is Mr. Gerald McHugh. He was appointed by the committee at our August 14 2023 meeting, and for number seven. submitting the MSBA core program application, which we did and we were selected. And so that was also completed. So I just wanted to provide the committee with what their goals were from the 22, 23 school year, and just to officially give you an update on that. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent. Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Vincent, for putting these forward. And just to be clear for the community, these are school committee goals that the school committee as a whole set for ourselves to be able to identify and for the community action items that would be tied to our mission that you have in your own goals around equity and community and so on and so forth. So these were our accountability to the, these are partially our accountability to the community. And so I just had a couple of comments slash questions. One was, so as of September 18th, 2023, number one, the school committee agendas are available with translations in the most predominant languages in our district, right?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: And what would those be just for the community?
[SPEAKER_07]: We have it in English, English of course, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Arabic. Those are the four languages that we have been translating all of our documents in those four languages. And so the agenda, effective September 18th was when that started.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you, and so those are available on the website in those languages?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: Okay, thank you. Not that somebody has to translate with a button or Google or what have you. They're separately translated.
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't know exactly the specific posting, but when it's posted, it has the language. It's similar to the Friday communication. It's there. It has the languages at the top. They just have to click on the language.
[SPEAKER_12]: Okay, thank you. May I, Mayor? I have a few more. Thank you. For the town hall meetings, I think I know that that's the sort of one in process that we're talking about. So October was going to be the first town hall meeting. And now the remainder of the note there says that it suggested, you know, that hasn't happened, so it needs to be scheduled. We had said we would have three. And to be clear, the town hall meetings wouldn't, you know, include community hosted by, you know, admin. Obviously, I would assume school committee members would be going, but essentially that it's community feedback opportunity on a number of items that don't have to be specific necessarily to the MSBA, but can be. And so the October one wasn't scheduled. And then it says the superintendent should desk at the remaining two meetings. take place in February and May. So we have three that we need to schedule, it sounds like, before the end of May. Is that right?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, if I may. And it was only where the committee suggested three, or that was what was put forward. So I just tentatively was just thinking about having it spread out. But that's up to the committee to decide It was just a suggestion. And again, this would have been presented in October, so it would have made more sense at that point in time. So that was the only one that was in process.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. So it looks like we are past you on that one. And to be clear, I want to make sure that, again, the community understands that this is school committee goals, right? That we're working as a school committee to be able to do these goals. These are not necessarily things that we're asking. or dumping on administration to be able to do, we should be working collaboratively to make sure that these things are happening, because these are things that we said we would be responsible for as well. So then I would just ask for the number four, create an action plan for Medford High School for the 2023-24 school year prior to October 1. I know the action plan was completed, and we talked about Principal Cabral coming to present to us again. And one of the things that was discussed was the Welsh report for the recommendations for the high school. And I know that that had been said we would do that a little bit later in the year. And I'm just sort of circling back on that because I feel like it was already end of year last year. I believe that Mr. Welsh was making the recommendations for the high school. And if we're waiting again till the end of this year to find out whether those recommendations are being implemented or not, It just feels late and it doesn't really feel like we met the goal that we said we would meet for hiring the consultant to make recommendations to. demonstrate that the recommendations were not being implemented. So I'd like to sort of put that out to my colleagues.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, and if I may, we did have Ms. Cabral back in December when she gave updates and highlights on the high school during the high school presentation. So again, when these goals were written and trying to just fill in the table with where we were at that point in time, it was October. And then since then, as a committee, we had the committee of the whole, where the committee approved. When Miss Cabral would be coming back because there's still a lot of things happening I mean, even this week they're, they're having the el desi is there. So there are a lot of. just a lot of housekeeping things that are taking place right now at the high school. So I wanna be able to give her that time to be able to come do a substantial presentation and another update. But in October, she hadn't yet provided the December update. So there is more information about the high school that has been shared with the community.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, thank you. And may I, Mayor? just to the, thank you, just to that point, sort of, you know, the Welsh report is, you know, again, something that was very much moved forward by the committee and, you know, paid for, you know, through our school funds for the committee. And, you know, there were recommendations that were made there that were presented to us and sort of getting an update on those is really important. So I understand that we made a calendar for the remainder of the year agenda items for the remainder of the year that we discussed, that would be really helpful to put out, but to be really explicit and clear that in that presentation, we'll be revisiting the recommendations from the consultant that was here, and that we'll be going through those.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you, that would be really helpful. Yeah, and I guess toward that end, I mean, I think it's of the one, two, three, what was it, seven?
[SPEAKER_07]: Seven.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, of the seven, we partially completed the goals. It looks like one remaining and maybe a question of another. remaining, but I think to that end, you know, that's good news. Thank you for the presentation. And I think I would also ask my colleagues to consider goals for the next term and, you know, whether it's the good of the order for next month or what have you, but we're thinking about what goals our school committee wants to achieve collectively as a team to be working together so that we're tied again to the strategic plan, but more about the accountability to the community. And I believe there was something about website update in our goals. Am I missing that? Wasn't there something about that?
[SPEAKER_07]: When I created this, when I went back to the meeting and those were the seven that were set at that point in time on that particular day. So I did not capture anything about the website at that particular meeting.
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go back and look. I know we had a couple of meetings about that, but I just wanted to sort of look. So thank you. Thank you for indulging me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin, and thank you for presenting the goals of the school committee. Member Graham?
[SPEAKER_10]: Do you have any information about how frequently the translated agendas are being accessed? Can we see the click rate or anything on those documents?
[SPEAKER_02]: Mr. Dalton.
[SPEAKER_09]: I'm happy to check. I think we'll be able to tell with the likes of the the Google translations of the superintendent's weekly memos. I'm not certain about the agendas because of the way they're uploaded to the website. But I can take a look at the back end.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, I would just be interested to know sort of what what kind of access we're promoting
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, and if I may, I would also mention that when it comes to agendas for the school committee, we've also started posting it in two formats. So previously, we had only posted a link to the PDF. The PDFs include the translation links for the four major languages, but they're hard for other translation tools to process. Now we're also posting them into the HTML body of the webpage. That should make it easier for those using translation tools built into their own browsers. If someone was looking to translate into, you know, Mandarin or Swahili or another language that we don't do the translations for, it should be more accessible on a language front. So that's another improved move made with the agenda posting.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Thank you. We do not have any presentations of the public or continued business or new business, but we do have several motions. First up, 2024-4 offered by member Graham, be resolved that the Medford School Committee discuss the formation of the Medford High School Building Committee and identify key priorities and attributes for the committee on February 5th, 2024. The goal of the discussion will be to inform the creation of a resolution and application process that will be drafted for review at an upcoming committee of the whole member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. So I think procedurally we need to. vote this resolution favorably and then open the floor for the actual discussion. So my goal with this is for us to really start to talk about things that are collectively important to us as we think about forming the committee. MSBA is really explicit that local control is the answer for all questions about the school building committee. And they actually sort of decline even to say what you could do or what you should do. They really want communities to think through that for themselves. And sort of the consequence of that is if you look at other building committees, some are very small, some are very big, but I'm hoping that first we can pass this and then we can have some discussion if people have things on their mind I would love to know that I sort of started drafting a resolution that would allow us to say this is how we're going to proceed forward, but it's very basic right now and I think some of this discussion would help inform that so that we can then review. something completely and and sort of get that process off to the races. I would like to see us be able to have that meeting by the end of February so that by the end of March, we have picked our committee and we're sort of a little bit ahead of the eligibility process timeline so that the group can start to meet and they can start to like norm and they can start to learn about their requirements under the open meeting law, etcetera. So, anyway, I motion to approve. A question.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member McLaughlin and Member Reinfeld.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. So. For the. It sounds like the motion is to. Have a motion that will discuss the formation of the Medford High School and identify priorities and attributes. By the end of February, is that what you're suggesting?
[SPEAKER_10]: No, if we pass the motion, we'll talk about that tonight. Okay.
[SPEAKER_12]: And then, okay, that's why, okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: I was gonna motion to approve, but I'll second, that's why.
[SPEAKER_12]: That's why I put my mic on.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, sorry.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion.
[SPEAKER_04]: Are you not done, Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's just a little hard to understand why the February 5th date's in there, but so I'm with you. Do you have any other comments, Member McLaughlin, before? move the motion?
[SPEAKER_12]: No, if the motion is just to open discussion, I didn't know that. Yeah, that's fine. I thought I'm a little confused on why we have to have a motion to open discussion. I thought it would just be an agenda item to open discussion. I'm not sure why we are motioning to open a discussion. I guess I just love some clarification.
[SPEAKER_10]: Everything I put on the agenda goes through a resolution. So that's what I did. Just that simple.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion to open discussion by Member Graham, seconded by Member Reinfeld. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion is approved. Who would like to start discussion? Member McLaughlin. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_12]: I would love to know sort of just in terms of thought around what the requirements are for the building committee from the MSB, if there are requirements that we get copies of what the requirements are for what it looked like, and I'm assuming obviously that one of the requirements is that it will be representative obviously of the community that is in our school and that there'll be opportunities for interpretation, translation, access, all of those things. So the question is, is there a guideline on what the committee should be comprised of from MSBA, and if so, can we get a copy of that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Mayor? Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: There is a set of guidelines. I'm going to text you. It's all on their website, so every last bit of information is on their website. just texted you that I just texted you the link member McLaughlin. They do have requirements. So for example, they require that somebody on the committee is certified procurement officer, they require that the local chief executive officer, which would be the mayor is on the committee. They require that one school committee member is on a minimum of one. The superintendent of schools, the local official responsible for building maintenance is on the school principal is on. and a member knowledgeable about the educational mission and function of the facility is on the committee, a local budget official, which would be probably our CFO, and then members of the community who have architecture, engineering, and or construction experience. That's the requirement. There is no requirement to be inclusive. There is no requirement to provide translation. all of that is, is subject to local control. Um, there's no requirement to how big the committee is. Um, the requirement is that we notify them of who is on the committee, um, and that we identify who's a voting member and that we notify them if things change. So, and I think that's really typical in a project that lasts five to seven years. So I don't think it's necessarily unusual that a committee would sort of change over time, um, through the phases and that kind of thing. So The requirements are really about sort of the, I would say like the bare minimum to actually make the project happen, but it doesn't go further than that to describe anything more than that.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you, Member Graham. Member McLaughlin? Whoops, thank you. So if I'm understanding, thank you for sending the link. And I, you know, if you wouldn't mind sending it to the committee as a whole, that would be great. And save people may be searching a little bit. Thank you. And then if I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like those are minimum requirements that we must meet in order for the committee, but certainly not the totality of the requirements. And I guess I'm just asking the committee to consider, you know, some of us know the history of what was once a high school committee that was created and initially created under a different administration, I believe, and then changed or recreated under another administration. And it caused a lot of community grief around the way that process was or wasn't moved forward. And I just want to make sure that we're really understanding that as a committee. before we start to do this and understanding what the history was and understanding, you know, prior applicants and, you know, people who were, you know, and then how it just sort of dropped off with everything else that needed to be taken care of. That committee just sort of vanished and nothing more came of it. And so I think we asked people to apply, we asked for a process, we asked for a whole slew of things. And then that was done and then people were appointed and, and then, and then nothing really came of it. And so I think part of it is like building trust with the community again, but I also think it's, which is part of what the town halls were intended for, um, and building relationships. And I think it's really important that we're thoughtful as a, as a committee about how we're moving forward with us to make sure we are really not creating some of the same missteps that we did in the past.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Ruseau. Thank you. I've looked at some building committees around and one of the things that was sort of glaring to me as confusing was that there was, there were no parents. There might be one teacher. And I was trying to wrap my head around it because I remember Graham and I did talk about like, you know, just blue sky about like, who would we want? And we were quickly at like 30 people, or I don't know, I think it was a huge number of people. And so managing a group of that size is certainly a challenge, but even if that wasn't a challenge, we have to also acknowledge that what we're asking for in the commitment to be on this committee is as much work as it is to be a school committee member, probably more. I mean, it's many hours a week of uncompensated labor and it's an open meeting. If a quorum doesn't show up, we don't keep moving along in our process to getting a new high school until that quorum can show up. So the commitment that we're asking whoever does end up being on this, it's not a garden club. We're asking for a shocking amount of unpaid labor and a commitment, and as Member Graham pointed out, like the committee will probably change over the course of five to seven years. So that's normal and not surprising, but we will have to be very careful that we, you know, if we decided we wanted to have several students and they're voting members, but if they don't show up and then suddenly there's not a quorum, whatever the agenda was, it's not happening. So I, you know, it's, I have a strong desire to have inclusion of a whole host of different members of the community and different kinds of levels in the high school. I do want all of those people involved. On the other hand, when I look around at other school committees, Winchester, Arlington, Somerville, they have 12 people. And that includes all these mandatory people. So, you know, I spoke to someone who is on the Somerville school committee today about this and I said, what are the big mistakes, what should we not what what do we really need to make sure we don't screw up. And it was, it was interesting because she talked about. you know, you need to have, you should have a student, you know, inclusion of all these different groups. And then after I got off the phone with her, I went and looked at their website and they actually weren't there. So I'm still trying to parse how that worked out. I do know that in this process, while MSBA's requirements on who has to be on the committee is a pretty short list, there's mandatory community outreach, there's, I think there's surveys I think there's listening sessions there's focus groups with the community. So, it's even if we don't end up with a community committee, a building committee that is. as large as we want it to be from the perspective of including all the right voices. That's not to suggest that that's the end of it. The building committee will not go off in a room by themselves and just do the project. There's mandatory stuff that will pull in other members of the community. And one of the other suggestions she had, which I haven't processed because there's only a couple hours ago, was the idea of an advisory committee to the building committee so we can create advisory committees left and right we've created one, a couple of them in the past. And so I mean I haven't thought about how that might work. having shorter term and more focused specific groups that we could create to advise the building committee, not unlike a subcommittee, but the subcommittees of the building committee will be full members of the committee. So again, if we had 12, you can't have 15 subcommittees. we have an awful lot to figure out here. And I was at the conference in November with member Graham and there's a big aversion as member McLaughlin, sorry, but I don't think you were in this session with us, sorry. And there was definitely an aversion to trying to provide advice on this. particular thing. And if you think about it, like there are regional districts where people are hour and a half away from the school, like providing a this is how you do it. When people are dispersed over a quarter of the state and some of these regional districts that would be really inappropriate and then there's communities that are so tiny that Again, that same advice would be weird. On the other hand, I really wish we would get some more advice on this because being wide open feels very, well, it feels a little risky. If we build this too big and then it just can't function, time is ticking. So that's my concerns.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member Ruseau. Member Olapade.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, thank you so something that memory so mentioned I think is important, or something that I would consider the productive suggestion maybe is that we both have. I think this advisory committee suggestion, but also having voting members and then inclusion members. So I think because we want this to be an expedient process, not because we want to ignore communities in the community, ignore communities in the city, but we want to make sure that we're going at the speed that we should be going at so that this process completes in a timely fashion. Is it possible that we do have our building committee that are voting members, and then we also have our advisory groups? who are giving us suggestions on certain aspects of the construction or the remodeling, just because I think that, I think member Ruseau is correct that if we want, we want to include as we do parents and students and other members, other stakeholders in the city, if they're not able to attend for a variety of reasons, as we all understand that we're living in the world, it's possible that they can include their voices when applicable, but they're not stalling the voting processes of the building, if that makes sense. Just a thought.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Great idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: I've been sort of thinking about this. I know somebody who's on a building committee in another community and she said there's like 35 people on the committee, and it's That sounds like horribly unwieldy in terms of actually moving the committee through. And so I've been thinking a lot about this. And one, I think one variable is to explore and maybe ask a couple of questions, which I can do of the MSBA about the requirements around non-voting members of the committee, because they can be, you can appoint people to the committee who are non-voting members. Um, but I, but I also think, um, maybe there's a process for us that says the committee is going to be a certain size through, um, the onboarding of the owner's project manager. And what that really means is through the eligibility phase. So that is like those, those distinct deliverables, the chapter 74 profile, the educational profile and the maintenance plan. So maybe there is a possibility for us to think about. having a committee be maybe smaller for that first phase so that we can move through it. And then once the owner's project manager is onboarded, they'll help advise about sort of the broader array of community input that has to and should happen from there on out. But I also think quickly, as soon as you hire the owner's project manager, you're in the next phase, which is the feasibility study. And that's where I think the committee actually has to expand and get a little bit bigger, because that's the point at which we're going to consider things like, are we going to try to renovate this? Is one option to renovate this building in place? And that causes disruption, and you have to have mitigation plans for that disruption. Or is the plan we're going to put it right on the side of it? Or is the plan we're going to put it somewhere in the sky? Or whatever it is. We're going to put it in the air rights over Wellington. Whatever those options are, that's to me where the real community conversation starts to happen. And that's where the energy comes. Because people are already talking about, are we going to put it here? Are we going to put it there? So I think this upfront phase is sort of our requirement to do a lot of blocking and tackling and to fulfill our requirements so that we can get there. But once we get there, that's where the community input comes in. And so I was trying to think through, is there a two-step process to our building committee where that first group is committed through the start of the feasibility phase and can be re-upped if they want to and it's all working fine? but also some commitment to expansion when we get there. Because I do think the value of having a bigger committee is the folks in that feasibility study are gonna be uniquely suited to go out and sell whatever the choice is to the rest of the community. And we will have to do that in a significant way. So we will, once we pick, they'll give us three options and we'll say we like option two. And then we will have to fund that in some fashion, right? So whatever the reimbursement rate is from MSBA, we'll have to fund the rest of it. And so then we will need to mobilize lots and lots and lots of people to turn out a vote that's gonna vote favorably, right? So, and if you've been watching the news, a vote just failed north of here at Whittier Tech. And MSBA, I just saw an article today that MSBA came back to them and said, you've got X days to get this right, or you're out. So they are literally at funding and they can't pass a vote. We can't take that risk because we have no fallback plan. This building needs this work. So maybe once we get through this first phase in terms of go fast, expanding the committee so that there's a broader cross-section of community members who are supportive and stated are willing to work to support whatever sort of funding is required. to sort of bring more people into the fold in that phase, which is, I think, the phase that everyone eagerly wants to get to, right? Like this whole, like, how many classrooms do you have? It's very important, and we have to do all of those things. But I've not heard a single member of the community say, I'm really looking forward to counting classrooms at Medford High, right? Like, what they're really interested in is, will it be in place, and will it be in the field, and will it be in the parking lot, et cetera, et cetera. I was sort of trying to think through that. I'm not even like sold on it myself, but I think it's a possibility in terms of like how we go through this. But I also, the other thing I was thinking about is like, is there a shorter term commitment that we're asking people to sign up for upfront? Because asking somebody to commit to five to seven years is a very big commitment. So, so how do we sort of strike that balance and in when we put this all together. Just be really clear with people about what this looks like like you will need to meet in person and the meetings will be on, you know, we will have this many meetings and like as best we can to inform people of what the requirements are so that we don't have quorum issues and we can actually proceed with sort of our collective intention to move as quickly as possible. So that's some of the stuff I've been trying to think through is like is it a two phase process and do we just sort of design it that way from the beginning so that. we can both move fast into the phase that is actually like exciting and like people are eagerly waiting for but also let people know that just because they're not involved in this first phase doesn't mean a we're not interested in their input because there's plenty of opportunity for that but also be that there's still an opportunity when we get to the exciting stuff and then there's probably a whole other group of people who are like I want to pick the color of the chairs that is going to go in the new Medford High School and I'm the one that wants to make sure the left-handed desks are there, whatever it is, right? And so there's probably even like phases beyond feasibility that we could think about, but you know, at least up front, there seems like maybe there's a line there that we should explore.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Member Graham. Member Reinfeld, Member McLaughlin, Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_04]: I am curious what expertise we already have here. Like I pretty sure we don't have people in the district who have been through a new construction process and that feels for new construction in a school. So I'm curious what the expertise is and where our gaps are. And then the other thing that I wanted to say is I think Defining the committee, I like the idea of starting with what we need and being really clear about the process. So I think putting that in addition to the committee, just the process of here are some key milestones for that community input at these stages is really going to be essential. And these are the points when we will evaluate. Is the committee shifting? Are we rotating? this position or that position, but I would like to know what expertise we currently have. The requirements say one principal. I feel like if we're talking about the Medford High School vocational combination, we actually need two principals there. So that kind of conversation. How big is our committee of people that we already have?
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, member McLaughlin. Will you yield to member Graham? Member Graham, just to answer that.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, I think there's probably like 10 to 15 people in the district that you would want on this committee to cover those bases. That was like what I'm remembering when I was like making a mental list. It's somewhere in that neighborhood of just school administrators, teachers, et cetera, that you would want in the mix before, even before you start talking about members of the community. just to get the educational piece of it, right?
[SPEAKER_04]: And then what are the gaps there that we would need for the core committee? What needs to be filled in?
[SPEAKER_12]: Member McLaughlin and Member Ruseau? Thank you. So I think while this is all very exciting, and it is very exciting, and I know that we have our first deadline in 270 days, which obviously can I think we need to go by really quickly. I also feel like, you know, there needs to be a PR campaign around this. I feel like, you know, the superintendent's memos, which have been helpful, what have you, are not always read by the entire community. There's not, you know, there's a large constituency I'm sure we're missing. And I think we also need just like a one-on-one, like what is this? How, you know, certainly this has been super helpful. visual, I think that's really helpful. And I'm thinking about even sort of even more elementary around like the 101. What is this? What is the potential? We've been invited to participate. What does that mean? How much can we actually get from this? What are the outcomes that could potentially happen? Like, I'm curious, I don't even know the answer to this, because I haven't been on the website, but like, what kind of money are we talking about potentially getting from this? And then, you know, it does that cover you know, X, Y, and Z for the entirety of the high school, which I'm sure we know that it doesn't, but we do have nearby communities that have gone through this process, right? So Somerville's gone through it, I think, right? Arlington's gone through it. Did you say Winchester? Remember, we were saying Winchester's gone through it. So we have these surrounding communities that have all gone through it, and actually I was driving by Arlington and Somerville in the past week, week and a half, and I was thinking it would be a really, great opportunity for the committee as a whole to be able to potentially get a tour of those facilities, but also to potentially talk to the folks that have gone through this process. So I think it's wonderful that member Rousseau was able to speak with his friend at the Somerville school committee, but I think for the benefit of the committee as a whole, we have three surrounding communities that have done this. Why are we not tapping into that expertise as well in terms of being able to understand that better and then Again, I really do feel like there needs to be a whole PR campaign around this. I think we're throwing around words and terms and, you know, in phases of the development or whatever. And I don't think people even necessarily know what this means. Like, okay, we're talking about, you know, hopefully in our lifetime, I'm sure it will be building a new high school in Medford, right? Like basic one-on-one, what does that mean? You know, how are we gonna do that? you know, what can we get for, you know, this particular process, how else will we need to augment it? Like, I think we need a basic one-on-one, and I think we should be taking advantage of our neighbor's expertise.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. I certainly have been trying to take advantage of our neighbor's expertise, but I understand the point. I just think that it's hard enough to get us together. I think trying to get other school committees to serve us sounds like a challenging ask. It would be fabulous. I think it would be better if the MSBA actually provided this. Literally every single district going through this process is sitting here probably having the exact same conversation, like, why can't somebody give us a little help with how this is supposed to work? And I don't, I've never, obviously I've not been the fly on the wall as to why they don't go there. It seems like a great place to go. There was a session in December I went to where all of the invited districts were, members were invited and there were like 400 and something people on the call. And it was fascinating. Everybody had the same questions and they were mostly around things like this. So, no, I actually, I don't remember, I don't know which towns they were, but it was just, it was very interesting. I did want to just reiterate, just kind of come back to something that Member Graham said that I actually think is important about this when we think about how to form the building committee. And aside from, you know, the exciting stuff happens in feasibility and it's correct, nobody has asked to be on anything so they can count classrooms. A lot of the things in the eligibility phase are in fact things that the building committee cannot actually help with, like they, you know, the members of the community who will end up on the building committee. will not even in feasibility be allowed to just roam the school. And a lot of these activities, there's a massive checklist of things that have to be turned in that nobody in the community can help with. In fact, nobody in the school committee can help with. There are gonna be things like, how much did you spend on maintenance for X number of years? So somebody's gonna be digging through a whole lot of old receipts. Hopefully there'll be some of that categorized in the finance system, but I don't know. So, much of eligibility is just a whole lot of paperwork, frankly. And so, bringing in getting people excited to join the committee. And then to have them have a few meetings where they just have presentations on this is how many classrooms we have. I mean, that doesn't sound exciting to anybody, I don't think. So I do like this idea. And I think it would be good to lay out when we get to the point in a committee, the whole amount of resolution on defining the committee, to literally lay that out so that people understand that, hey, we didn't call you up yet, or we haven't even asked you if we decide to do that. But that doesn't mean that, you know, we don't want your feedback, we don't want you to be part of it. It's just that in this beginning phase, it just doesn't make any sense. So that I like that very much.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'd like to acknowledge our student rep who's on the call. I think he's been on for quite some time. Noah, you're Osco. Thanks for being here. joining us. And we also have a resident who would like to speak. Eunice, if you name and address the record, please. And Dr. Cushing, if you could unmute. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_06]: Hi, good evening. Thank you very much. I want to preface this with I'm a member of the Medford Charter Study Committee and I am only speaking for myself here. But I want to second what Member Graham and Member Ruseau said about the level of commitment. The Medford Charter Committee, like the you know, building committee has the potential to have a huge impact on Medford as we move forward. And I think in the case of the building committee, you need to be crystal, crystal clear about the amount of commitment that you're asking of any resident. The charter committee meets monthly, And in between that, there's often homework that we have, certainly a lot of reading. Some of us have been involved in various projects. We're up to now 15 monthly meetings and we've got subcommittees going, we've got other things going. So I think if there's, you know, if you're inviting the public to this, I think you need to be very clear about what the commitment is. How many meetings a month? Are they regular monthly meetings? Will there be subcommittee meetings in addition to a regular, you know, full group meeting? Will there be homework generated from these meetings of whatever it is. So I think the clarity of the time commitment, the energy commitment and so forth, we've already had additions and subtractions on our committee over the amount of months that we've had. So again, I stress that you really, if you're going to invite the public to this into an unpaid, position, particularly, which a lot of residents will be more than happy to do to support the endeavor. I just think that you need to be real clear from the get-go, in terms of hours, days, and so forth, of what's going to be required. Because as was said, it's not something that you can show up for when you've got a little extra time on your hands. You've got to be all in. So thanks very much.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Ms. Brown. Your address for the record, please.
[SPEAKER_06]: Greenleaf Ave.
[SPEAKER_02]: Greenleaf Ave. Thank you. And thank you for your service on the Charter Commission. We hear you. Thank you. If I may, from the chair, I know that it's going to be a fast process. And sometimes you really do need time to gain as many applicants and diverse applicants. So I just want to make sure whoever is going to be publicize, once we get to that point, make sure that we map out a plan now, maybe that's you, the communications team potentially, map out a plan to make sure that we get this press release or request for applicants out far and wide so that everybody can see it, like you said, get it translated so that we can pull in as diverse committee as possible. Member Reinfeld.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, to be a little bit clearer in terms of my saying what are our gaps, I think we should potentially be looking to fill particular functions and roles on the committee. I think absolutely representation is important, but what is it that we need to do to get this done. This is a very logistical process, and particularly at certain stages and in terms of educating the community about what this is, I would hate for us to run around finding all the things we could tell them. I think an FAQ would be really helpful. What are the frequent questions we're getting and put together an answer on that? I do think there should be absolutely points for community input throughout the process, but perhaps in this initial stage, what are the key things that people are asking and that they want to know similar to what we did around I hate to make the comparison to COVID, but there was a very soliciting input and then hopefully answering those questions. Thank you. Member Ruseau?
[SPEAKER_08]: I just wanted to comment that the Somerville School Building project site has an amazing FAQ system. I mean, I looked at several, most communities like create a whole website for the project so people know where to go. frankly, a lot of them didn't have FAQs, but Somerville's is top-notch. So we don't even have, like, I feel like a lot of the questions you're gonna ask, we're gonna hear, like, wouldn't they be the questions happening in almost every community? So thank you to everybody who's gone before us.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member McLaughlin?
[SPEAKER_12]: So can I make a motion to create a FAQ for the MSBA?
[SPEAKER_02]: just need a second. Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_04]: Second.
[SPEAKER_02]: Seconded by Member Reinfeld. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion is approved. And I don't know how we want to wrap this up, but I know Member Graham listed all the requirements that are as far as people with expertise and officials within the city and school department. So I don't know if we want to just...
[SPEAKER_11]: Sorry. So obviously my mind is a little blown by all of this. This is ridiculously overwhelming, but obviously much needed and willing to do the work. So just on member McLaughlin's point about the surrounding cities, I mean, I do think that's a great point. I mean, they're right there. I mean, I work in one of those neighboring districts, I worked at one of those brand new high schools this summer. So, I mean, could we pick someone's brain? Am I thinking too small? Like, member Branley goes there and says, Hey, can someone give me like 10 points of, am I being too narrow minded to think that that, you know, like could go somewhere and say, you know, hey, like I just remember in the building that I was working in over the summer, there was a comment, I think at some point, and maybe like too much glass, you know, that it was, you know, an issue, you know, heating, cooling, safety, just little things that had popped up that we could say, yeah, we might not wanna do that in the foyer of the brand new Medford High School. So is, Am I being too narrow-minded to think that I could be a point person for a neighboring district and maybe, you know, if someone else volunteered or something to say, can you, can I just pick your brain so that we're not in a 400 person Zoom call that, cause that doesn't seem like much gets done in a 400 person Zoom call. To think that you could just go in and say, you know, maybe just maybe from like a safety aspect or a, logistics of, you know, the driveway, you know, whatever, those little things. Is that, is that a possibility?
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it is, but I think tonight is about what we want within a committee, right? Okay. We're going to get there, but tell me when within a committee, what are we going to be? The superintendent, the chief procurement officer, the mayor or designee school committee member, principal, CFO, maintenance architect. What are we missing? How large do we want this committee to be? And if we want to take ideas from other surrounding communities, we'd have to do that research and whether you want to table this for tonight and everybody look at a community and we come back and brainstorm ideas, but every community has done it differently. So, we want to do what's right for Medford, what's right for us, and I don't know what the right answer is that's kind of what we're discussing tonight. Remember Graham and you go offline member Rousseau.
[SPEAKER_10]: You know one suggestion. I think there's a really low risk of us like duplicating effort. So if you know somebody on this in Somerville, who can like have that conversation with you. I think it's would be great for us all to go out and do our own legwork. through our networks and have some of those conversations. Representative Garbally offered to provide us a tour or tours at any time. He is happy to accompany us. I'm sure he's not going to give us the tour because he doesn't work in the building, but he said he'd be very happy to help arrange something like that in Arlington. And Christine Barber said the same. Rep. Barber said the same thing in Somerville. I do think that once the building committee is formed, they will also want to do those things. We may want to hold off on like trying to tour places until there's a little bit more clarity on the building committee. But I think in the meantime, for us to be sort of talking to people and fact finding and collecting information, I think if people are able to do that in advance of a committee of the whole at the end of February, at some point, I can take a shot at drafting like something that looks like what we've been talking about. And we can start the meeting with like, what, what information did you find and sort of share some information across the various members of the committee who were able to go out and talk to you know whomever. My cousin is a member of a school committee in the southern part of the state, and they're in the middle of a building project. So there's, you know, there's lots of people that we know who have like participated in this and gone through it. And I think that would be really appropriate to lead off a conversation that then looks at like a nitty gritty resolution about how we might do this. So I don't think there's any reason not to do that, if there are people willing to talk to you. And I also find that anybody that I've ever contacted through MASC, where I've been seeking information about a district, like people are very happy to engage. So I suppose there's maybe small risk if we all call the same person, but I feel like they're just gonna tell you like, hey, I just talked to somebody from your committee. So I think it's probably fine for us to reach out to our networks and then share that information back when we get to the committee of the whole that talks about how we might put this together.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. Member McLaughlin, then Member Ruseau.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I would agree. I think that it's important to gather information before making the decisions. And I think it makes sense to have people reach out to folks that they can and also I do like the idea of either subcommittees or advisory committees because I do feel like that's where a lot of the legwork can get done and that we're not having an overwhelmingly large building committee and potentially even stages within the building committee. I think these are all great ideas. I do want to say and I think we need to be thinking about how we're being inclusive, right? And so I'm not just talking about, well, community members or whatever, I'm talking about whoever we're thinking about in the buildings that we're being diverse and inclusive, that we're thinking about what that makeup looks like, that we're really sort of being thoughtful and just sort of as we go into it. And then I did, I appreciate Representative Garbally's offer and Representative Barber's offer. I think those are lovely offers and I think we should take them up on it. I agree, we don't want to overstay our welcome or overuse. an invitation and I'm sure superintendent can reach out to her superintendent colleagues at each of those buildings as well and get a tour for us. I think it makes sense to have the building committee tour, but I would also respectfully ask that school committee members are participating in those tours so that we can also see. I know when I'm renovating a house or anything like that, I love to go look at other people's houses and see what they did and what worked for me and what didn't, and that I spend way too much time on Pinterest, so we can create a Pinterest board for our high school, I guess. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it. I think it's all very exciting. I think it's thoughtful that we're having these conversations, and I would just ask that we don't make decisions tonight, that maybe we just are having the conversation.
[SPEAKER_02]: Also, so is there a motion to send this committee the whole unless we want to keep talking and try to hash this out tonight?
[SPEAKER_10]: I would make a motion that we schedule a committee of the whole for the end of February, like after February break.
[SPEAKER_02]: Member Graham, motion to schedule committee of the whole, seconded by Member McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. 2024-5, offered by Member Ruseau. I'm not sure if these are numbered right. 24-5. You do it every meeting is new? Oh, we've only done three? Okay, thanks. Medford School Committee Policy Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan will be updated by removing the text three or more incidents. Motion for approval by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. Are those opposed? Motion passes.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Ruseau? I'd like to make a motion to waive the second reading of the policy JICFB that we just discussed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion to waive the second reading of this policy by member Ruseau, seconded by member Reinfeld. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Second reading is waived. 2024-6 offered by myself, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, whereas, oh, whereas all security cameras were recently fixed thanks to the collaboration of the school and city teams, be it resolved that the school IT director provide a monthly status report to the school and city administration and replace anything that breaks down within 45 days. And I put this on just as an update. We've worked over the last several months get the 30 to 35% of cameras that were broken fixed. That was a collaboration, a lot of pushing from Paul Riggi, who's our facilities maintenance director, Rich Lane, the city's IT director, along with the school team. And we were able to get those fixed. So as of Friday, all of our cameras are working. It's been a huge, it's a huge accomplishment. I know the school committee has been pushing to get that done. So I'm very happy to say that it is done. want to make sure that it stays that way. So I think it's incumbent upon the IT director to evaluate the system monthly and give a report to the superintendent and hopefully myself so that we can make sure anything that's broken down is getting fixed so we don't land ourself in the same position five years from now. So I do like a motion with a roll call if that's... Question, Mayor?
[SPEAKER_12]: Member McLaughlin. just in terms of you said, letting the school, the superintendent and yourself know, just in terms of the breaking or if there are cameras sort of, you know, out of service or what have you, but can we add an amendment to this, that we are notified quarterly, school committee is notified quarterly on those so that we're kept up to date, you know, you guys monthly and us quarterly, so that we're making sure that they're actually being repaired and not just getting notices that they're broken.
[SPEAKER_02]: May I ask a question for member Rousseau?
[SPEAKER_08]: I fully support this, except for the fact that we'd have to have executive session to receive that report.
[SPEAKER_02]: On security. That's why I didn't say the school committee, to be honest with you. We have the building and grounds team, maybe twice a year they can bring up security in part of their meeting in executive session and get an update. Who's the chair? Oh, the chair of the Building and Grounds is... We're not there yet. Yes. Member Brindley, maybe we can make sure that's on the agenda. Shall I add that to my list of things to do? Yes, please. So maybe note it for June or September to just put it on the... If you have a subcommittee meeting, just get an update, and you can add the 10-minute executive session to that meeting. Thank you. Okay, so motion for approval of the resolution, seconded by Member McLaughlin. Roll call, please.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Branley. Yes. Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Olapade. Yes. Member Reinfeld.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Monthly updates will be provided to the admin. Thank you. offered by myself and member Graham be resolved. The school committee will operate as subcommittees for this term through 12, 31, 25 as follows behavioral health, special education. The chair is member McLaughlin, member Olapade, member Branley. Building grounds chair is member Branley with member Rousseau, member Olapade. Curriculum instruction assessment and accountability chair is member Reinfeld along with member Branley and Rousseau. Diversity, equity and inclusion chair is Aaron Olapade. along with member McLaughlin, member Reinfeld. Family engagement and communication, chair is member Graham, along with member Branley and member Reinfeld. Rules and policy, chair is member Rousseau, along with member Graham, member McLaughlin. Strategic and capital planning, chair is member Graham, along with member Rousseau and Reinfeld. And superintendent evaluation, the chair is member McLaughlin, along with member Branley and member Olapade.
[SPEAKER_12]: Mayor?
[SPEAKER_02]: Member McLaughlin.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. I was just curious about whether or not we had added a motion to include a strategic and capital planning subcommittee. That wasn't one of the subcommittees previously, right? And do we need to add a motion for that? I guess I wasn't, was that on the list? When we discussed that at 80?
[SPEAKER_02]: Either way, we can approve this or amend it. What was that? Member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: So one of the questions that we asked in, well, a couple of the questions that we asked in the survey was whether there were committees that folks felt we didn't need anymore, and there actually was one, and that was the personal and budget subcommittee, so that's not going forward. But we recreate these committees every two years, so they're not required to be anything in particular. And then the other piece of feedback that we did get was that, we need a place and a home and a space for capital planning because we have been talking about capital planning for 4 years and we've really not gotten rigorous about it. So, we need a place and a space for that. So, that's how that came to be. So, that all of those changes were based on the feedback that everybody submitted when they submitted what they said they wanted from the committees.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yes, thank you. I think that's helpful in terms of certainly I think it's needed. I think that I think we really need to discuss the process of the subcommittees because we haven't really talked about what this process is and what it looks like. And while I think it was super helpful this year to have a questionnaire for committee members to determine their preferences around the committees, I think it was a little bit ambiguous about where that information went and how it was used and how it was going to be incorporated and so I think I'd like to be a little bit clearer about what the process is and maybe you know I don't think at this hour of the meeting it's a good time to do that but I guess I'll give that some thought but I would just like my the committee members to consider the process so that if we are as a team working together to create subcommittees we should be as a team identifying the different subcommittees that are going to exist for the upcoming term. And then also if it is the chair that is choosing the subcommittees that the chair, I mean, yeah, that the chair is establishing what that process would be around how information or how people can get information to the chair. So I think again, the form was super helpful. I just think it was kind of ad hoc and, you know, put together and I don't think the committee collectively decided how that process was going to work. And I think we need to, um, especially when we're no longer here and other people are doing it and they need to have a basis for how it needs to be done. So, um, I would like us to consider that there needs to be a process for the subcommittees and what that process for the creation of subcommittees and identification of members of subcommittees and what that process should look like.
[SPEAKER_08]: Member Ruseau motion to approve.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion for approval by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member McLaughlin. All those in favor?
[SPEAKER_08]: Aye.
[SPEAKER_02]: All those opposed? Motion is approved. 224-2024-8 offered by Member Graham, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee establish an ad hoc subcommittee to establish a process and norms around annual handbook review per the resolution passed unanimously on 11-20-2024. It also resolved that the subcommittee will be established at the February 5 school committee meeting and will work to complete the process as close to the original deadline of April 1 2024 is reasonably possible member Graham.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. Back in November we talked about the need to just have an ad hoc committee much like we did with the superintendent evaluation process last time around to say, how can we move through what amounts to seven handbooks. four, five, six, seven, eight school handbooks, all of which are supposed to be approved to us when changes are made. And I think what we've found over time is that the handbooks continue to change, but they haven't come to this committee to say, are they approved or not? And so I think there's just some work to be done that would lay out like how we would even go about that process before we can sort of dive into actually looking at handbooks and approving them because it's not effective for seven of us to sit around and look at, you know, many page documents. So the goal of the committee would be to figure out what the process should be, whatever it might be, to make sure that we have a routine in place that does this on a regular basis and does so in a way that is sort of consistent with the school calendar and how the schools move through their handbook process. So my motion is just that tonight we identify volunteers to go through a sort of subcommittee process to figure out how should this work going forward so it's sustainable.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all. Thank you, member Graham. Member Ruseau, member Reinfeld?
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. I certainly agree. I thought that that worked well with the superintendent evaluation process that was developed. And I just want to be clear that this is not a motion to do the handbooks. This is to have three of us get together and figure out, well, how will we do the handbooks? So I certainly would motion to approve.
[SPEAKER_04]: I second. That was my question.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great motion for approval by member Rousseau, seconded by member Reinfeld. All those in favor?
[SPEAKER_10]: Aye.
[SPEAKER_02]: All those opposed? Motion passes.
[SPEAKER_10]: Mayor, are there any volunteers?
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's right. Who would like to serve on this ad hoc committee? Member Olapade.
[SPEAKER_04]: I am willing. I defer to a member who is willing. If anyone is gung ho, they can have it, but I'm absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, member Olapade, member Reinfeld.
[SPEAKER_08]: And Rousseau.
[SPEAKER_02]: And member Rousseau. Looks like I'm on the building committee, so thank you for taking that one.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's going to be your excuse for everything now.
[SPEAKER_13]: Well, it depends. Monday night is school committee. Tuesday night, city council. I got to pay attention. Wednesday night, the hall's open late, so that will just be mine. OK, so member El-Padre, member Reinfeld, member Rousseau will be on the committee.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for volunteering. Motion for approval of that committee? Motion to approve. By Member Graham, seconded by Member Olopone. Seconded. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. We do not have reports requested and we have one condolence. Members of the Medford School Committee express their sincerest condolences to the family of Paula A. Gianelli-Coughlin, early childhood educator of the Medford Public Schools. If we all may rise for a moment of silence. Thank you. Our next meeting, we're lucky, we have three in a row, is Monday, the 12th, 6 p.m. here in the Alden Memorial Chambers. Can't wait to see you all again.
[SPEAKER_04]: Motion to adjourn.
[SPEAKER_02]: Motion to adjourn by Member Reinfeld, seconded by? Seconded. Member Lopate, all those in favor? All those opposed? Have a good night, everybody.