[Aaron Olapade]: All right, we are ready to go.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Great. Okay, good evening. We have the seventh regular meeting of the Medford School Committee. Taking it back, John, I didn't know. Member Dapper, I'm like, what is that background? Where are you? Looks like a movie set. Seventh regular meeting of the Medford School Committee, April 8th, 2024, executive session at 6 p.m. and our regular meeting at or about 7 p.m. This meeting is being held remotely via Zoom and it's remote only and can be viewed live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media or your local cable channel, Comcast channel 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43, 45 or 47. participants can log in or call in by using the following information. The meeting ID is 960-8498-5140. Member Ruseau, if you could call the roll, please.
[Aaron Olapade]: Mayor, I'm actually acting as the secretary while member Ruseau is in transit. So I will call the roll really quick. If that's okay with everybody. Member Bramley.
[Nicole Branley]: Present.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham is on. Can she unmute herself?
[Erika Reinfeld]: I believe member Graham is also in transit.
[Aaron Olapade]: All right. Here. Oh, there we are. Member Intoppa.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Intoppa, are you here?
[John Intoppa]: Yep. I don't know what's going off my mic again, but I'm here.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Olapade, present. Member Reinfeld?
[Erika Reinfeld]: Present.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ruseau? Present. and Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: President, seven in the affirmative, seven are here with us out of seven, thank you. I don't think we had, I didn't see any student representatives, so I can wait and see if they come on at seven. No one has yet. Okay, if we could rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have executive session as number three, pursuant to general laws 30A section A3, the Medford school committee will convene an executive session to discuss strategy and preparation for negotiations with Medford educational secretaries, AFSCME council 93, Teamsters local 25 custodians, Medford teachers association for kids corner and Medford teachers association for paraprofessionals. as well as Carpenters SEIU Local 88, because an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the committee, and the chair so declares. Is there a motion to go into executive session? Motion to go into executive session. I'm Member Reinfeld, seconded by... I'll second. Member Branley, if you could call the roll. Member Olapade, thank you.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Branley.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham?
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ansapa?
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Alpada? Yes. Member Reinfeld?
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero in the negative. We are going to move to executive session and we'll be back as close to seven as possible. Can I confirm it's a different link or is it the same link? Just so the public knows. I thought I saw two links. That's why I'm asking somebody from the admin. It should be the same link.
[Aaron Olapade]: Breakout rooms are open.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham, you have been re-invited to the breakout room. Good evening, everybody. It is 7 o'clock. We're going on to our regular meeting. Does anybody have any business under good of the order? Hearing and seeing none, I'm going to move on to the consent agenda. We have bills and payrolls, regular school committee meeting minutes from March 18, 2024. student advisory council minutes, March 20th, 2024, strategic and capital planning subcommittee minutes from March 26th, 2024, and committee of the whole meeting minutes from April 3rd, 2024. Is there a motion on the floor? Motion to approve. Motion to approve by member Rousseau, seconded by, actually, sorry, before I call second, member Reinfeld.
[Erika Reinfeld]: I have a question about how things get recorded if someone abstains a vote, because we have it listed as 7-0, but it was 6-0 and one abstention on last week's meeting.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Then you can just motion to amend the minutes and maybe shoot an email over to, is it Lisa who drafted Ms. Malone? All right. Okay, so for motion for approval by member Ruseau, as amended by member Reinfeld, is there a second as amended? Second. Second as amended. Roll call, please, member Olapade.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Bradley.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ansapa.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Intoppa, you're muted.
[John Intoppa]: Of course I am. I'm also just noticing another error in the minutes, so I'm gonna abstain from this one, which might be the same thing that, I'm sorry, clarification, Member Reinfeld, are you mentioning the vote on the stabilization fund?
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yes, I am.
[John Intoppa]: Okay, so yeah, so as amended, then yes, I vote to approve, sorry.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Okay.
[Aaron Olapade]: Uh, remember all parties? Yes. Remember, Reinfeld?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Uh, the Russo? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. 70 affirmative. Zero in the negative. Motion to approve the consent agenda as amended. There are no reports of subcommittee, so I'll pass it off to Dr. Edouard-Vincent, our superintendent of schools, for updates and comments.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. April is Autism Acceptance Month. Many of you remember this observance previously being called Autism Awareness Month, but thanks to the wonderful advocacy of individuals with autism and their supporters around the world, we're making an intentional positive shift to emphasizing acceptance of all neurodiverse people. Their perspectives and experiences enrich and improve our community every day. April is also Arab American Heritage Month. Throughout American history, Arab Americans have made so many contributions to our country and our society. And today, approximately 3.7 million Arab Americans call the United States their home. Finally, April is an opportunity to mark OT month. In Medford Public Schools, we are lucky to have skilled and compassionate occupational therapy practitioners in every school and serving students at every grade and age level. OT makes a big difference for our kids, starting with therapeutic early intervention services and extending all the way to post-graduation transition services for students with disabilities. Another reminder that this Wednesday, April 10th, schools are closed in observance of Eid al-Fitr. And next week, believe it or not, is April vacation week. All schools are closed the week of April 15th. We wish everyone a safe and fun break and look forward to returning to the classroom on April 22nd. April 22nd is also the date when many members of our Jewish community will begin to observe Passover. Some students and staff may take time away from school for religious observances, particularly on the first two days of Passover, when the Seder meal is typically celebrated with loved ones. I now have an update regarding our Performing Arts Recognition. Last weekend was exciting for many of Medford's Performing Arts students. On Saturday, the Medford High School Orchestra won a gold medal and the Middle School String Ensemble won a silver medal at the prestigious MICCA, Massachusetts Instrumental and Chorus Conductors Association. Concert Festival. Congratulations to the students, their families, and our own conductor-director, Ms. Sophia Chang, on these recognitions and accomplishments. Meanwhile, the Medford Mustang Winter Color Guard became the 2024 scholastic regional champions. Medford not only placed first in the division, but also received the highest scholastic score of the evening. We are very proud of our Mustang guard. and their accomplishments. Captains Maria Zasra, Mandy Chow, and Cindy Hamill led the team through this challenging and rewarding season. The guard is advised by Haley Rello and coached by Jackie Gaffney. Congratulations to all. Another reminder, middle school placement lottery. The lottery for middle school assignments for next year's sixth grade class will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 9th. Lottery results will be posted on the website at 3 p.m. Letters confirming each student's middle school assignment will be sent to all grade five students no later than Wednesday, April 24th. But again, the results will be posted on our website tomorrow at 3 p.m. Transportation Survey. Tomorrow is the last day to complete the online Safe Routes to School Family Travel Survey. Please take a moment to complete it. It will help us identify routes and other resources to encourage and enable more Medford students to walk, bike, and roll to school. The survey asks about a student's mode of transportation to and from school. It takes less than five minutes to complete and is available in 10 languages. The survey can be found on our MPS website and Facebook page. Schools with 50% or higher participation will receive an incentive from the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School Program. For everyone logged in on Zoom, Thomas will share the survey link in the chat. Thank you, Thomas Dalton, for doing that. Tonight's meeting, we have another busy agenda this evening. First, we'll present several generous donations offered by our community for the direct support of our students. We'll discuss each of these donations in more detail, but I wanted to begin by saying a warm thank you to the Medford Educational Foundation, the Medford Kiwanis Club, and the Medford Rotary Club for their reliable and impactful partnership and support of public schools. After that, Dr. Suzanne Colussi will present a report on substitute teacher pay and staffing. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate and reliable substitute staffing has been a prominent challenge for all public schools. Medford is no exception. So we look forward to this informative and important presentation. You may have also noticed that I called our assistant superintendent, Galusi, doctor. Yes, indeed, I did. As you may have read in my Friday memo last week, Dr. Galusi defended, successfully defended her doctoral thesis without any revisions, which is a phenomenal feat. last month at Boston College, the Lynch School of Education. So congratulations, Dr. Galussi, and her original research for her doctorate in educational leadership focused on transformational and culturally responsive leadership. We are so proud of you, Dr. Galussi. In your packets, You'll also find a draft report on the district wide suspension and discipline report that was requested by the committee earlier this year. The final report will be presented to the committee on April 29th. So I do look forward to you communicating directly with me to send questions, additional pieces of data that you may be looking for so that I can add that to the draft. District staff are also working with the school building leaders and staff to develop this report while providing the appropriate and useful context for all of the data that it represents. In particular, we are working hard to ensure that the report does not inadvertently convey any identifying details about individual students. Again, we invite and welcome your feedback and input for the final product to be delivered to you. Finally, in your packets, you also received school handbooks for all of our schools. And the high school version of the handbook that you received will be completely finalized in time for the high school presentation that will be taking place on May 6th. The high school handbook will include our Medford High School, which includes the vocational school, and also inclusive of the Curtis Tufts High School. So all three schools will be represented in that one handbook for your review. So these important guiding documents are developed by school principals, assistant principals, school site councils, input from staff, and again, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on the handbooks. Thank you, and I look forward to this evening's meeting.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. We have, like you said, three recommendations to approve donations. The first up is $3,180.11 from the Medford Educational Foundation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so the Medford Educational Foundation earlier this year, they already donated $13,000 to Medford Public Schools, which was a very generous donation. They received an additional $8,949 in requests from teachers and educators. They were able to fund $3,180. And of that money, one of the things they were able to help purchase from one of our music teachers, Ms. Sarah Grant, she requested four keyboards to be added to the Curtis Tufts programming. And so we're very happy and very grateful to the Medford Educational Foundation for their generous contribution to that program. And again, we also want to thank Needham Bank and their branch manager, Jean K. Lau, for their continued generous donations to the Medford Public Schools. through Medford Education Foundation. They recently donated $5,000. So I just want to ask the committee to approve this generous donation in the amount of $3,180.11 to be added to the Medford Public Schools coffers. Motion to approve with thanks.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to approve with thanks. Well said. Member Reinfeld, seconded by? Second. Member Graham. Yes, thank you very much to the bank and to Medford Educational Foundation for donating to our teachers. Roll call, please.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Barrelli.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Intoppa.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, with thanks.
[Aaron Olapade]: Uh, member Olapade. Yes. And thank you again. Member Reinfeld.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ruseau.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The motion passes. We also have a recommendation to approve $500 being donated by the Medford Rotary Club to the media technology program.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And just want to say thank you again in advance to the Medford Rotary Club for their generous donation supporting our vocational programming. And the media tech program will be most appreciative. And again, it benefits our students. So we thank them for this generous donation. And my ask of the committee is recommendation to approve this generous donation of $500.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, thank you to the Rotary. Motion for approval by.
[John Intoppa]: Motion for approval.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Intoppa, seconded by. Second. Member Reinfeld, roll call please.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yes. Member Graham.
[Jenny Graham]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Intoppa. Yes, with thanks. Yes.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yes, but thanks.
[Aaron Olapade]: Russo.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Maryland occur.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes 70 affirmative zero in the negative donation accepted. And third up another request for approval of a donation from the
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to share that Medford is so blessed to really have both a wonderful Rotary Club and a wonderful Kiwanis Club. We want to thank the Kiwanis Club for their donation of $500 to our vocational programming. Again, Culinary Arts, our bistro, wonderful thriving restaurant, and I'm very grateful for their partnership and their donations. And I just want to ask the committee recommendation to approve this donation of $500 from the Kiwanis Club.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you to the Kiwanis. Is there a motion for approval? Motion to approve. Member Graham, seconded by?
[John Intoppa]: Second.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Intoppa, roll call please.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Bradley.
[Nicole Branley]: So can I ask a question? Do I need to abstain because my daughter's in culinary or can I say yes?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, I can say yes? I would think so, but I'm not state ethics. Can you hear me? Yes, you're not. That's not a problem. So I'll abstain just to be... Okay, yes, yes, yes. No, no, you can abstain. That's fine. You can abstain. I think we'll accept money. I think we got the votes. So member Branley abstains. Who's up next?
[Aaron Olapade]: Uh, member Graham?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Intoppa? Yes, with thanks. Uh, member Olapade? Yes. Member Reinfeld?
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yes, and thank you.
[Aaron Olapade]: Uh, member Rousseau? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Kirsch?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, six in the affirmative, um, one abstention. Motion is approved.
[Jenny Graham]: Mayor?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, member Graham.
[Jenny Graham]: Before we move on, can we ask that the superintendent send a thank you note to all these organizations on behalf of the committee?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Yes, yes, that's a yes. Thank you. Do you need a roll call? Are we good? You got that? Yes. I don't think we need a roll call. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is substitute pay report, Dr. Susan Glusi. Assistant Superintendent of Academics and Instruction. I'll turn it over to you.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you very much. Dr. Cushing's going to present the small slide deck. So while he's searching for it, I'm just gonna kind of start. So good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the school committee. Thank you so much, Dr. Cushing. Tonight, I'm presenting the requested substitute teachers supply and demand report. As background information, the school committee stated the following rationale for requesting this report. First, substitute teachers play a critical role in maintaining educational continuity and quality. when regular teachers are absent. Meanwhile, Medford appears to struggle to obtain enough substitutes to cover the need. Second, concerns have been raised for a long while regarding the adequacy of compensation for substitute teachers and the potential effect of compensation on the quality and availability of substitutes. And third, understanding patterns and reasons for teacher absenteeism is crucial for addressing any underlying issues and ensuring the effective allocation of resources. So as such, the slides presentation for this report will cover the sections listed within the request. The first section as listed here covers substitute teacher compensation and district comparisons of substitute pay rates. You can advance the slide. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So the table presented here displays the details of the current substitute compensation for Metro Public Schools, which you will see has the blue highlight going right through. And then you're going to see the comparison of surrounding districts. You will notice a variance in daily rates ranging from the high end of $150 per day to Medford Public Schools at $90 per day with Woburn Public Schools, oh, thank you, at 110. Dr. Cushing's trying out his pointer. You'll also notice that some districts have set a different long-term daily sub rate, and some districts have not. At the current time, Medford does have two separate scales for substitutes that are working in long-term coverage needs. If they're licensed, it's $125. Otherwise, it's about $100. Currently Medford, as you'll notice, Malden has a tiered approach, which reflects the substitute's education, experience, and licensure. Currently Medford does not have a tiered approach. Moving. Thank you. So the second section covers substitute need and availability. and you can go to the, so the chart that is displayed on here correlates the total number of teacher absences to the total number filled by a substitute for school year 23, excuse me, 22-23, which is highlighted in the gray bars, and then currently for school year 23-24. It's important to note a few things here. First, absences reflect a variety of reasons, ranging from sick days, personal days, jury duty, bereavement, religious observances, professional development or conference needs, and then various forms of a leave of absence, which could be family medical leave act, maternity, workman's compensation, et cetera. So that is the third column, which for each school year is just a data point to acknowledge that there are leaves of absence. And each leave of absence ranges drastically in the amount of days that a teacher may be out. So that data point is going to fluctuate drastically. You will also notice that the amount of, this data is just for teachers. So it does not include any other staff. And the number of total teachers is listed underneath the school name. There are two asterisks at the bottom of this chart that I think are important to note. And one is that there are 17 teachers who have like a district wide status. And so they're not reflected in this chart. and that the total number of teachers active also fluctuates due to various needs for leave of absence. Currently, there are 495 employed teachers, but 489 are currently active as of right now. In looking at, you can see that there are trends. The total absences by building for last year, For the most part, absences have drastically fell for this school year. In some schools, maybe not all. So hopefully we're seeing that kind of, as we move closer away from the pandemic will start to see these numbers. improve a bit, but last year if we averaged out the daily need for a sub, it was 55 subs district-wide. That includes all reasons for absences. And then this year our average daily need for substitutes is about 32 people. I'm sure there'll be questions, but I don't know if you want me to pause or continue going. All right, I'm gonna continue going. So the third section in this report covers the substitute pool and the current coverage structure for Medford Public Schools. So our active pool of substitutes for school year 22-23 consisted of 38 substitutes. Three of those were assigned as long-term subs. While this year, our current active pool is 46 substitutes, and six of those have been assigned as long-term substitutes. So we have been increasing the pool of substitutes from year to year, but it still cannot meet the current demand. Most of our substitute pool comprises of college students, current Medford Public Schools, caregivers, and retired professionals. The availability of substitutes, because of that compromise of pool, does fluctuate throughout the school year, especially around college students and their availability in the months of January, May, and June. It is important to note at the end of each school year, substitutes are classified as inactive until they complete the yearly CORI, which is like the background check, and then they're activated again within our system and able to continue working. Dr. Cushing, if you mind going to the next slide. This is just a current structure of some internal coverage that we try to employ within the Medford Public Schools. So first, there are instructional support staff. Honestly, aka, these are the building substitutes. And so we have through ESSER, but we have one budgeted position at each school. However, not each school has been able to fill the need of one dedicated position. Currently, the Curtis Tufts, the McGlynn Elementary School, the Brooks, and the Andrews has a dedicated, what we call ISS, or building sub. The Roberts, the Missituk, and the McGlynn Middle have not been able to fill this position to date. The other position that we have are academic support leads. These are new positions to Medford High School. So with the shift in leadership, Principal Cabral created two dedicated positions this year to help alleviate daily absent coverages. And their title is the academic support lead. And then the third layer is a student supervisory assistant or SSA. These were created during the pandemic to help alleviate some of the coverage needs around lunch supervision or just daily coverage needs. These positions are unique because they work no more than about 18 hours a week. Currently, right now, we have an SSA position at the Missituk, the Brooks, and the Roberts. It is important to note that some of our SSAs were hired as paraprofessionals in the past couple of years. I also think before going on to the fourth section, it's very important to note that the structural nature of the secondary school level lends itself to covering teacher absences in a way that's just not possible at the elementary level. For example, at both the middle school and the high school level, there are designated study halls or teachers that can be assigned based on their schedules or open blocks. while at the elementary level that's not possible. And so principals are unfortunately forced to make difficult decisions to cover the class with in-school resources. And those in-school resources can range from the ISS or building sub, but it could also include specialist teachers. like Art, Music, PE, Computer, Library, Nexus, and it also can include reading and EL teachers, as well as school leaders themselves. And those coverages can range between blocks of time to the entire day worth of coverage. Okay, we may go to the next. Thank you. So the fourth section covers the budget impact of everything I just presented here. So on this next table, Thank you. This next table details the teacher coverage and loss of prep as a result of, especially at the elementary level, but especially due to lack of substitutes and the need for teacher coverages. So you will see that last year, in total, we spent $448,960 just in teacher coverages and loss of prep. The anomaly, as noted in the comments section for March of 2023, includes a few things. One, It includes, so when the contract was ratified, there was the retro pay of per hour rate for teachers increased. And so that resulted in about $34,730 that were paid to teachers on March 2nd per the contract to account for that retro need. Last year, there were also a great deal of coverage needs at Medford High School and the Andrews Middle School, which resulted in the total cost there. You can see currently for this school year, all of the data from all the graphs compiled for this report go up into March 31st. So we do not have clearly, but data for April, May or June. So to date, our current total of teacher coverage and loss of prep is $34,408.89. Next slide. breaks down the total impact. So you can see the graph, excuse me, the column in the middle has our anticipated budget, which was what we allocated in the operating budget to cover substitute needs as well as teacher loss of prep and teacher coverage. versus what we're actually spending. I think it's important to note here, as you noticed for last year's spend, which was fiscal year 2023, we ended that year with a total of $878,327. That number includes the $448,000 and change from the previous slide because this spending includes all three. It includes what we pay for substitutes, what we pay for teacher coverage, and what we pay for loss of prep. So if we were to subtract the $878,324,000, by the 448 and change, you'd get the total cost we spent on substitutes. And then the final section. is our recommendations and next steps to address the findings of this report and how to effectively address substitute supply and demand. And so, final slide, Dr. Cushing. Some of the things that we've been talking about internally are adjustments to the current substitute teacher compensation structure. We're discussing it and we're vetting out the implementation for fiscal year 25. This includes, but is not limited to. increasing the pay scale for substitute teachers and for the instructional support staff position, considering the establishment of a tiered pay scale system similar to what we saw for Malden, which includes consideration of a substitute's experience, licensure, and level of education, as well as looking into the feasibility of using an educational staffing company to build a greater pool of substitutes and also to help arrange and organize daily coverage needs, which is being used in some districts. So that vetting process of the educational staffing company has been ongoing all year, but these are some of the ways that we're looking to remediate and mitigate the current situation. And at this time, if you have any questions, please let me know.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Galusi. Any questions from the committee? Member Branley, then Member Graham.
[Nicole Branley]: Just want to make sure that you can hear me. Yes. Okay, so just a few questions. Let's see here. Do we have data on how often we're pulling reading specialists, EL teachers, specialists, you know, music, PE?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes, and I can get that to you. I don't have it at my disposal right now, but I know most of the principals. I think the tricky part would maybe be data from last year, where there was a turnover at one building. But I know principals have been keeping that data, so I can get that for you, definitely.
[Nicole Branley]: Perfect. I appreciate it. If you could share that with us, that would be great. And then my question, what is the difference between a teacher coverage and a loss of prep? I know when I was at the Brooks, a loss of prep was, okay, you know, Mr. Sacco's absent. There's no one to cover loss of prep.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Correct. So teacher coverage is that
[Nicole Branley]: Go ahead.
[Suzanne Galusi]: No, it's okay. Teacher coverage, you mostly see at the secondary level, but it's when teachers, you know, outside of contractual obligations are covering or they're picking up a coverage due to an absence or a long-term absence. And so we have to pay for that coverage. Does that make sense? They're taking on the teaching duties or the coverage of the class for the absent teacher.
[Nicole Branley]: Okay, and then loss of prep and teacher coverage paid at different rates.
[Suzanne Galusi]: So in the previous contract, it was $30 an hour. And in the new contract, it's now $40 an hour. So if you're speaking about what was owed to them retroactively, we had to go back to when the dates reflected in the contract and add $10 to all of the teachers who either provided coverage or lost their prep. for the year.
[Nicole Branley]: Okay, so teacher coverage and loss of prep is both $40 an hour now.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.
[Nicole Branley]: Okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Um, I think that was all my questions. Thank you. Thank you. Member Graham and then member old party.
[Jenny Graham]: Um, well, all of these, um, sort of recommendations and next step be reflected in the budget that we see at our meeting after April vacation. Um, or Are these going to take more time to unfold beyond that meeting?
[Suzanne Galusi]: I think probably, honestly, I want to have that conversation with the superintendent and Gerry McCue. but I know I've been having ongoing, we have been engaging in ongoing conversations all year with Mr. McHugh around this and both Mr. McHugh and I have had meetings with the company to see what we could do, but I can get that definite answer from you once I speak to Mr. McHugh.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I think it would just be helpful when we meet next about the budget, either to say, that it is included in the it is contemplated in the numbers that we're going to look at that we're looking at at that time or it's not and if it is like what are we saying we're changing so just if we could clarify that when we whenever we talk about the budget whether this is being reflected in or not that's i think that's my major question yeah we do that point point of clarification is that
[Suzanne Galusi]: Mr. McHugh has already spoken about, and one of the slides clearly showed that we're under, the budget for this need, it does not reflect, they're not balanced. So the only thing I wanna check with him is if it's part of the April 23rd meeting, or if it's part of the May 8th meeting. That's what I'll clarify with him.
[Jenny Graham]: Okay, and then I think the other thing is if we are, I mean, I think the other point of this, um, report was to say, should we be adjusting our, our rate schedule at all? Um, yes or no. And so I think the other question for the budget reports is. What at what rate is he projecting when he is making his calculations? So is it at our current rate or is it at some other rate that we're going to go forward with or that you're recommending we go forward with?
[Suzanne Galusi]: we're, I mean, I don't want to quote an amount, but we're definitely recommending an increase in the rate.
[Jenny Graham]: Okay. Yeah. I think it's just whenever we're talking about the budget, if we could just be clear about like what rate we are anchoring to from a sub pay perspective. So just so that we understand where we're at.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Absolutely.
[Jenny Graham]: Perfect.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Um, member of the party, the member. Ryan felt.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, thank you so much for this. A couple of questions on the way way end of the of the presentation. So when it comes to the feasibility of working with like ESS or like swing education, for example, is there a timeline that they would require us to, you know, put forth our want to work with them in partnership so that we have an idea about if we want to implement that, let's say, for the beginning of next year? Is there a timeline on that? We haven't really started the conversation.
[Suzanne Galusi]: No, we have started that conversation. And to date, there is not a timeline. The only thing that they're clear about is that they can't build a pool overnight. And so they spoke a lot about the recruitment strategies that they would utilize to increase our existing substitute pool. And so they're just careful to say whenever they, let's say potentially we were to utilize them, whenever we engage in that partnership, it will take, you know, to their end, couple weeks, couple months to build an adequate sub pool for the district.
[Aaron Olapade]: Okay. And then when it comes to the cost, does that fluctuate depending on how much we're, you know, sourcing out for their, for their aid for us? Or is that just a flat kind of fee, um, because we're in partnership with them or was that again, part of the conversation with them in general?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Um, no, some of that is part of the conversation, but I mean, they will use our existing rates that we have set. I mean, they were clear that they'd like to see an increase in those rates, but they will use the current rates that are already set. And then they take on for a temporary time, kind of full ownership of the staff, which means they'll do like the training and the onboarding, they'll do the organizing of staff. They'll deal with that for the first couple months of employment. And so there is, they take a percentage of the fee, the pay.
[Aaron Olapade]: Okay, thank you.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Member Reinfeld? Yep, thank you, Dr. Galussi. I have a couple of clarification questions, which is to note, so the table of substitute coverage, this school year, these numbers are over eight months, whereas the previous year is over 10 months, right? Yes. Yeah, okay. But the number is still higher. Was school year 2022-23 particularly high in absence, or are we... or was this year particularly low? Without more context on either side, I can't quite tell.
[Suzanne Galusi]: So I will be honest. I mean, I did not go and do a deep dive into pre-pandemic numbers. So I could do that. I mean, I do think that the absences and the need for absences has definitely been decreasing as we're kind of going month by month, year by year out of the COVID pandemic. So I think, but also the need for leaves of absence fluctuates so much, which you can also see in that chart. And that's a definite factor in terms of some of them might've been entire years of a leave of absence, right? So, and some of them may have been short-term. I can get some more data for you if you would like a comparison to pre-pandemic.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how we can project ahead as to what the need is going to be and what's typical here. Are things actively going down because the needs are changing? or not?
[Suzanne Galusi]: I think there may be. Yeah, I think there may be a lot of reasons at play. I would be curious to kind of watch the trajectory from year to year. But.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Great, so and then one little question, do long term subs attend planning periods and team school grade level planning? Is that part of the long term sub responsibility?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes, for during the day. I would have to get back to you. I think some attend staff meetings and training sessions, while not all do. All right. But common planning time during the day with teams, yes. Good to know.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yeah, and then I just wanted to confirm, I think you introduced some information that may have shifted my numbers, but it looks we're spending 50 to 60% of the spending on substitutes is in-house, but in-house folks are covering about 86% of the need here. So if we are shifting away from in-house coverage, we're going to see that percentage change. Although I do want to say, especially noting that there are a lot of teachers here, thank you for this coverage. It is much appreciated.
[Suzanne Galusi]: And I think that's, especially at the elementary level, At the elementary level, it's at the expense of. So I think we do have to look at the amount of money that we are spending on coverages and loss of PrEP. It may be difficult at the beginning, but we're talking salaries or increases in that substitute pay, because especially at the elementary level, they get one PrEP a day and it's not guaranteed because if the art teacher is out, if the music teacher is out, they lose their one and only planning period for the day, as well as, as I mentioned, support staff being pulled. And then that means we're affecting students and their services, and that's not equitable, and that's not okay. So we do have to do something to increase that. because right now we also don't have an active sub-pool that meets the daily demand. Absolutely.
[Erika Reinfeld]: So I definitely want to second what Member Branley said about understanding where the, what coverage, where the services are being sacrificed in these situations. Thank you. And then I also wanted to ask, you mentioned a few of the things that the staffing company would do in terms of onboarding. I always have this question when we bring in consultants. What is the added value of paying a staffing company to do this work versus things that we've thought of in-house, such as just raising the rates of pay? Why are we bringing? What else would the company add that would make that better?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Sure. Right now, we currently don't have a position that I would say, don't quote me on this title, but I would just say like attendance coordinator. Let's just say we don't have someone right now that works on recruitment and that actually organizes daily coverage needs. So the way it works right now is we have an online portal called Frontline, and teachers, when they need to be absent, they go in digitally and they record their absence in that system. Our current pool of substitutes are also connected within this system and they can go in, they log in, they can see all of the coverages that are needed within the district and they select the ones that they want to take as work for the following day or that morning. But there isn't someone that's maybe actively making phone calls. and trying to connect substitutes to the coverages that are needed. We're just relying on the online portal.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Does that make sense? That makes sense, yes. I'm just trying to understand where that money is gonna go to hire someone outside versus to the people doing the substituting, doing the coverages.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Reinfeld. Thank you, Dr. Galusi.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Any further questions? Do you need a vote to go to Malden's rates or are you gonna come back to us at the next meeting once we have more of the budget figured out?
[Suzanne Galusi]: I think we'll come back to you with what finance and the superintendent is recommending.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, thank you.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Next up, we have new business. We have offered by member and Tapa recognition of Autism Acceptance Month, whereas Autism Acceptance Month is recognized in the month of April. And whereas Autism Acceptance Day is recognized on the 2nd of April, now therefore be it resolved that the Medford Public Schools and Medford School Committee recognize Autism Acceptance Month within the Medford Public School System, recognize for future usage Autism Acceptance Day as April 2nd on all official Medford Public School calendars distributed to the public and report to the Medford School Committee on steps being taken with the Medford Public Schools to support students impacted by autism spectrum disorder, ASD, and how we go about identifying students who may need these services that have yet to receive them. Explanation, those within the advocates of the autism spectrum, Community are looking to distance themselves from groups that treat autism as a disease and something that needs to be healed. The focus is not on awareness of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, but more of a focus on acceptance of the members of our community that fall under the autism spectrum and making sure there are equitable systemic pathways for their success, being conscious of decisions that may impact members of the ASD community, both systematically and socially. This is the first step in this process to better understand and see how we as a city can better serve our community members impacted by ASD. I'll turn it over to you Member Intoppa for a motion or anything else you'd like to add.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you very much Chair Lungo-Koehn. Yeah I just wanted to put this motion forward to sort of recognize and also I guess more amend our current calendar so I know we have we take a vote in November to put forward days of observance. I also want to clarify This is not a day off holiday I'm looking to put forward. It is more of a day of observance, day of acknowledgement. Currently as it stands, the last calendar I had checked, it is referred to as Autism Awareness Day, Autism Awareness Month. And this motion looks to amend that and to change that language, whether it has to get tabled till November or if we can do it right now, which would be preferable. So it's where it's already labeled and where it needs to be changed. The third part of the motion, the clarification about identifying students is how we're looking at how we are screening, screening techniques, as well as looking at ways that parents can come to us as a district to look at receiving services, however, they may need it. This is something that I would like in writing and to sort of get a report on. I have a personal, this comes from a, and the explanation kind of talks about it, of looking at how we make change and how we are impacted as a former student in the Medford Public Schools with an IEP who belongs in the neurodivergent community on the spectrum of the attention deficit disorder spectrum. This is something that I witnessed. I witnessed students who had 504s and IEPs, their struggles, how some of them would lose them because they were doing better, which to me makes no sense. Because if you're doing better on a plan, you're doing better because of the plan. It helps you. So, I'm really looking to see what we are doing. And this is sort of the 1st kind of steps and looking at how we as a community. can become allies within the autistic community. I'd like to make another point of, um, the use of disorder, um, uh, is not so popular. And my apologies for using the official language. Um, but also, um, you know, this really, really comes from, um, my personal experience working with those, um, within the autistic community. Um, as my buddy Dan puts it best, it's pretty easy for me to make you aware that I have autism and that usually proceeds to do it. But it's really hard for members of the community to accept me. And I would like to mitigate that harm. We're talking at a higher education level. Mitigate the harmful effects that this has on our students before they even get there. And as someone who's been looked at funny and scrutinized because of my diagnosis, this is my way of putting steps forward for better allyship. But we also want to look at the success. We want to look more at the success, not so much as a disease needs to be healed, as mentioned in the motion. But I feel like we can't do that until we look at how we are helping and how we are aiding the community. So that is all I have on the motion.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Intoppa. So I'm going to assume you're moving approval. Is there a second? I can second. I second by member Branley. Dr. Edward-Vincent?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I guess as I was just listening to the description, on bullet number three, I completely agree with autism acceptance month, but where it's saying how students are identified, like there is a process that has to be followed legally. And so I'm not sure, I guess I need clarification or I'm not sure on the ask of saying do you want something that we legally have to do as a district to switch the way in either changing the wording or I guess I'm just not clear about point number three, because there are things that we have to follow legally by DESE, when IEPs are being developed. And I agree students should not be treated as if they need to be healed. But I just wasn't sure about what was being approved when it says how we go about identifying students. Because there's medical documentation. The medical community sends recommendations. There's official IEP testing that takes place. And I just want to be clear on what the ask is because I don't want the committee to be saying yes, they approve it and putting the school in a position where we are not following the appropriate regulations that we should be following.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Understood, Dr. Vincent. So maybe some clarification for member and topper, or would you like to amend section three of your resolution?
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I think, thank you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent for bringing to your concerns. I think that's what I'm just looking to see is what are the procedures we have to follow? That's really, I'm sorry if the phrasing is, this is my first motion. My apologies if the phrasing is weird. But yeah, I'm looking to see what protocols are from DESE.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, so you're looking for information rather than us providing services to people that need them, even if they haven't been identified. Right, I'm looking, yeah. So you're looking to change that report to the school committee on steps being taken to provide supports for those impacted by autism spectrum disorder? Correct, yeah. Good, as an amendment?
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, that would be good as an amendment. I would say a better method would be reports to the Medford School Committee on steps being taken with the Medford Public Schools to support students on the autism spectrum, due to just recommendations from the community on language surrounding how we address it.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, so then just strike the second half of that, number three. Perfect. Correct, yep. And for approval by member Intoppa, as amended by member Intoppa, seconded by member Branley, roll call, please.
[John Intoppa]: have a motion to amend the calendar. I may. Yeah Member Reinfeld had their hand up.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Oh yeah, okay.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Reinfeld.
[Erika Reinfeld]: I just in regards to point number two. Our policy. I see I see a, uh, lists this as although as awareness day, so I think that's a pretty easy motion to amend that policy. The question of putting it on calendars is a little different because we have the public calendar that is the closures and then there was a that we recognize Awareness Acceptance Advocacy Month. And so I'm wondering if that is part of, in terms of distribution to the public, is part of the longer conversation about the calendar and how it's published. But absolutely, I think we should amend the policy as it currently exists, that line there. And then my question on number three, I wondered if it would make sense, although possibly not with the suggestion just approved, for the subcommittee to sit down with CPAC, the Medford Family Network's autism spectrum parent support group and then the conversation around procedural safeguards and FERPA and all of those screening things and then prepare something that the full committee might be able to approve with a concrete step for the administration. I wonder if that information gathering might be well suited for subcommittee with members of the community.
[SPEAKER_09]: Mayor.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham.
[Jenny Graham]: Can I add to that suggestion that this go to the Behavioral Health and Special Education Subcommittee for that review?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Member Topper, is that okay?
[John Intoppa]: Yes, absolutely. That would be great to have that conversation with CPAC as well as bring that to the subcommittee. And also to answer, sorry, to answer the question at hand of the school's calendars to reach the public. Yes, it would amend it to where it is already written to where that to where days of observance are listed. Because it has also been brought point of singling out 1 holiday is a concern, which I fully understand. So, wherever this would naturally be. Written is where we would like to see it amended. So yes, all recommendations of amendment are taken into consideration for the motion.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, motion to move to committee as amended. Roll call, please.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Moranly.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Intoppa. Yes. Member Olapade. Yes. Member Reinfeld.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ruseau.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I believe we lost Paul for a minute, so he should be back. We'll just mark him absent.
[Aaron Olapade]: And Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one absent, motion's approved. Member, Vice Chair Graham is going to read the resolution. Thank you.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. And Member Ruseau is online and just can't seem to respond. Dr. Cushing, if you could try to address that while we talk about the next resolution. Okay, so item number 2024-18 offered by me, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee will adopt the following revised subcommittee structure for this term. And this is basically to recognize that we have a relatively new member of the committee, member Intoppa has taken his seat after the resignation of member McLaughlin. And we had previously established subcommittees for the term. And so I went through, I did trade some information with Member Intoppa and also went back to all of the information I had about the formation of the subcommittees at the beginning of the term. And I'm putting forward a recommendation on how the subcommittees will look going forward for the committee's consideration. Um, and just so you know, I didn't just simply assume that member and Tapa was, um, interested in the same things that member McLaughlin was, although there was like a shocking amount of overlap. So that was nice. Um, but there were other sort of. You know, there are other sort of things that were happening, um, in terms of people's requests, um, the first time around that we were able to sort of shuffle around in this, um, uh, in this revised, um, subcommittee structure. So. It is in your agenda. It includes the behavioral health and special education subcommittee, buildings and grounds, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, family engagement and communication, rules and policy, strategic and capital planning, superintendent evaluation, and last but not least, and we'll talk about this in just a little bit, the ad hoc committee handbook and evaluation process. Is there, are there any questions or any motions on the floor?
[Paul Ruseau]: Motion to approve.
[Jenny Graham]: Motion approved by Member Ruseau. Seconded. Seconded by Mayor Lungo-Koehn. Miss Branley, Member Branley? Can I just ask a question?
[Nicole Branley]: Would it be helpful if people, you know, the participants on the meeting know who's on what committee?
[Jenny Graham]: Sure, I'm happy to read them. So the behavioral health.
[Erika Reinfeld]: I'm sorry. You could potentially share the agenda on screen and not read it all.
[Jenny Graham]: That would be a great idea, but one second. Um, well, thank you. While that happens, I will, um, let people know who the chairs are. Um, behavioral health and special education chaired by member Rousseau buildings and grounds chaired by member Bramley curriculum, instruction, assessment, and accountability by member Reinfeld. Diversity, equity, inclusion by member of a pot a family engagement and communication by myself. Rules and policy by member. So, strategic and capital planning by myself. Superintendent evaluation by member of a pot a, and then the ad hoc committee handbook evaluation process by members. Dr. Cushing, are you able to pull it up? Great. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Getting it now.
[Jenny Graham]: Um, so we did have a motion on the floor by members. So, and I believe a second by member Reinfeld. Is that right? Oh, I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_09]: And we'll just make sure that everyone can see this before we call the role.
[Nicole Branley]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Perfect.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_09]: Member Lopate, can you call the roll, please?
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Moranle.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Graham.
[Nicole Branley]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Intoppa. Yes. Member Lopate, yes. Member Reinfeld.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Member Ruseau.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.
[Aaron Olapade]: Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Jenny Graham]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, motion passes. These subcommittees will be updated on the Medford Public Schools website now that we have taken this vote. So you can look for that information there in the coming weeks. Once updated, all of our information is on the website anyway, but you'll be able to see the subcommittees there as well. Item 2024-19, also offered by myself, which is a recommendation to appoint the School Building Committee provide an update about the Medford High School Building Committee. So Dr. Cushing, I have some slides that I would love to be able to share. If you can allow me to do that.
[John Intoppa]: You should be good to go.