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[Graham]: Okay, can you all hear me on Zoom?
[Cushing]: Bob, can I get another thumbs up if you can hear us?
[Graham]: Okay.
[Cushing]: You're the best. Thank you.
[Graham]: Thank you. Okay, let's get started so we can get finished. Are we recording? We're good? Okay. Please be advised that there'll be a meeting of the Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee held at Bistro 489, Medford Technical Vocational Technical High School, 489 Winthrop Street and via remote participation for the community. The meeting can be viewed live on Medford Public Schools' YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable channel, which is Comcast channel 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43, 45 or 47. This meeting will be recorded. Participants can log in by using the following information. The Zoom meeting ID is 960-3731-1740. I am gonna call the roll to start. So Jenny Graham, yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn, absent. Dr. Edouard-Vincent, absent. Suzanne Galusi, absent. Peter Cushing, present. Marta Cabral, present. Libby Brown, present. Marissa Desmond, absent. Maria Dorsey, present. Brian Hilliard, present. Tracy Keene, absent. Emily Lazzaro, absent. Nicole Morell, present. Erin Olapade, present. Luke Pricer, present. 9 present. 6 absent. Larry Brown. Present. Bob Dickinson. Bob. Fiona Maxwell.
[Hodgdon]: Present.
[Graham]: Joan Bowen. Absent. Tom Dalton. Present. Todd Fallon. Absent. Lori Hodgson. Present. John McLaughlin. Absent. Paul Rousseau is going to be late. and Phillip Santos. I see Phillip. Okay, great. The first item on the agenda for tonight is just the approval of the minutes from our last full meeting. They are in your packet. So as part of the consent agenda, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve the consent agenda by Aaron Olapade. Seconded. Seconded by Maria. Um, okay. Uh, Jenny Graham. Yes. Mayor Longo. Current absent. Dr. Ever. Vincent. Absent. Susan. Galusi. Absent. Peter. Dr. Cushing.
[Cushing]: Yes.
[Graham]: Uh, Mardi Cabral. Libby Brown. Yes. Marissa Desmond. Absent. Um, Maria Dorsey. Yes. Brian Hilliard. Tracy Keene. Absent. Emily Lazzaro. Absent. Nicole Morell. Yes. Aaron will pot a Luke Prisner.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[Graham]: Okay. Nine. in the affirmative, zero in the negative, six absent, the minutes are approved. Okay, so I just wanted to give you all a deliverable status overall. So again, we have five, we'll call it six things, but with five official things that have to be done in the eligibility phase. The MSBA let us know that our, you know, ICC has, which is the legal agreement, has been approved. So that is complete and approved. We have submitted our SBC form, our school building committee form. They reviewed it and they have approved it. So we are done and approved on item number two. Um, last meeting, we approved, um, the chapter 74 form as amended. That one has not been submitted yet, but that is just a matter of, um, collecting up all the paperwork and doing some final editing, and that will be submitted. Um, item number four is the educational profile, which I am hopeful that we will, um, get to today. Um, and then, um, the Final pieces include the maintenance plan profile, which we will talk about today and potentially provide an approval by this group to go ahead and submit that as soon as it's complete. And then the final big thing that we will have to do there's well there's two more things so there's data from the about enrollment that has to be submitted that is in process does not require approval of this body but we are working with Alicia Hunt as well as Gerry McCue who's our CFO here and are on track to get that completed. The very last thing that we will have to do is earmark funds for the feasibility study. So I just wanted to let you all know that you can expect to see that on the city council agenda on the 25th, which is a Tuesday evening. The request will come from the mayor to use free cash to set aside funds for the feasibility study. The exact amount is still a little bit of a TBD because there's a little bit more legwork to do to make sure that we get the right number, but we know what that range needs to be. So we have a couple more conversations to have, and then the mayor will make that request to the council. Hopefully the council will approve that on the 25th. MSBA has already signed off on the language that will go before the council to be approved. They are fine with it and they are ready to watch and hear that that's approved. They did say that they will schedule our enrollment meeting like once that happens. And so the fact that we're going to do that in June is good because then we can accelerate that piece of it, which really would position us for a much earlier view by the board than next February, which is when we would sort of be scheduled if we take full time. So that's just a quick update. Are there any questions? Okay, great. The other just like announcement related is that we have finished the first draft of the website. I'm gonna ask Tom to send that out to everybody after this evening. So if you wanna take a look, if you have any questions or comments or suggestions, please, by all means, let Tom know what they are and he will work on integrating any of those things. We are on our way there and sort of positioned for being able to use that to start to talk to the community when we are ready for that. And then the last thing we did have a subcommittee meeting earmarked for June 20th for the communication subcommittee and that meeting will be canceled. And I will reach out to the communications team to find another Zoom time for us so we can move forward on some of the preparation things that we were talking about at our last meeting. But I will tell you for sure it will not happen probably until the beginning of July. because I don't have any minutes left in the day. So I'm sure that's true of everybody. It's June and it's just sort of a full court press. So we'll spend some time in the summer to do that. And our summer meetings will be on the schedule unless we are in a true holding pattern. And in which case I will let you know and we'll cancel those meetings. But my plan is for the summer meetings to be Zoom only so everyone can be where they are. Does that make sense? Is everybody okay with that? Yes. OK, cool. OK, so on to the next item. We're going to take a look at the ed profile again. What I did since we last spoke is integrate feedback that I got from lots of people. Thank you, Maria. Thank you, Libby. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Tracy. You guys really crushed it in the performing arts. And what I wanted to do, what I'm hoping that we can do tonight. Hey, Paul. What I'm hoping we can do tonight is sort of collect any additional feedback that you have. There are some placeholders in here that are contingent on the staff having some time to meet with all the district administrators. And so what I'm hoping that we can do is, talk about what we see here, talk about any additional suggestions, agree on the things that are listed here as placeholders, and provide an approval as amended and to be completed so that, you know, and we'll share the final copy with you all, but if you do that, that will give me the leeway to sort of collect up all the last pieces and get this submitted as well, which I would like to do before June 30th. So a couple of big changes that I made, let's see, are start on page... So one big change that I made starts on page eight, which provides a deeper description of the library in its current form. Thank you, Maria. So that is one change that has been made. And then there is reference to the library as well, down in the non-traditional and other spaces section. And then if we fast forward to page 12, This is the section that got a really substantive overhaul based on all the things that were provided to me. So at the top of page 13 in course spaces, still to be added to this document, just for everybody to sort of shake their head and say yes, those are the things. There is some discussion about Curtis Tufts that has to go into this section. There is discussion about early EEC, early education and childcare, so that is both our Chapter 74 program as well as our MEET programs. Kids Corner, which is our daycare program for Medford Public Schools employees, and certainly they are at capacity. I think there would be no shortage of people interested in that service if there was space to increase enrollment and open that up to the public. And then the final thing that is on the to be added list in core spaces is that that felt integration project that we talked about. I know Suzanne was looking for some information about what that said so that we can sort of paint a like sort of paint some broad strokes about that as well in terms of this is our like sort of goal. So I'll stop talking. Are there any questions, thoughts, changes about the course basis section?
[Brown]: Yes. Yeah, yeah. If you're volunteering, I will sign you up to do that.
[Graham]: Okay, great.
[Brown]: Yes. will be some of these suggestions based on this piece of property. Do you foresee whether you will make it fit for a location?
[Graham]: That will all happen in the feasibility study. So that is some time from now. I did, in some places, try to sort of describe that. And it's probably buried in one of these sections. And so what the other thing I'll do is find it and put it at the top of this section as well.
[Brown]: I printed it in the site section. Yes, I think that danced around it.
[Graham]: But yeah, okay, so I will. I am making a note that we will add that.
[Preisner]: So, um, yeah. But when I read the and any discussion of proposed changes to current spaces. So I sort of constrained my thinking in applying this as the current space. I didn't interpret this as a call for a design concept. Because logically, they arise in the details of the current facility. So when I read some of this, especially on page 13, it seems like it's a design vision suit, a multi-part design vision that's being proposed. And so I'm asking the committee at large, is that an appropriate statement to include in this document?
[Graham]: So I asked a similar question of MSBA when I spoke with them. And what they said was they used information in this section to get a feel for the kind of building we're trying to create. So I think that is like an answer and a non-answer. And I thought about that, too, as I was pulling in some of Tracy's content. to bring that to this group because I read it and I was like, I can see what he's talking about. Like I can visualize what he's saying when he talks about like the performing arts space in this building. And so I found it very helpful to read that to get a sense of like, do I agree with this? Yes or no? I think I did for the, you know, for the by and large, and I'm not an expert in space. So I was like, Tracy thinks we probably do. So I let I put it in here, sort of with that in mind, which is to say, like, if the if the designer or MSBA is trying to understand where our head is at. I think this sufficiently describes how we're currently feeling about the performing arts. So Libby and Brian, I don't know if you have anything to add in terms of your experience in this space and whether you feel strongly about what's here. Is it too much? Is it not enough, et cetera?
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think you can get a huge amount
[Graham]: Yeah.
[Preisner]: OK. What I'm saying is, I interpret this question as being scoped within one frame. And I don't disagree with any of what Tracy is proposing. I'm just saying that the question doesn't belong in this document.
[Brown]: I mean, I wouldn't limit it. I don't think they penalize anybody for adding too much information.
[Preisner]: Could we propose a vision for other activities? Yes. I could do that for Curtis' test, too. Yes. OK, because I wasn't sure in terms of, I mean,
[Hodgdon]: Because it's very different. I mean, I like what Joan and I wrote in the back. But if we're looking at core spaces and what we need out of space, I would want to move what we have currently inside this building. Just flatten it, you know what I mean? Or make it round or something. But I just would like to take the philosophy, like shoot for the moon, like we said. And I know we're going to have time during our admin meetings to work on it, which will be great.
[Graham]: Yeah. So if you're signing up for that, that's great. I'll sign up for it with Joan. And so, Luke, I think as you read this, if there are changes in that vein that paint a bigger picture, I think that's great. The other thing I think we can use this document for is when we went to Arlington and we walked around a brand new building, The first thing you saw was like a student-run cafe. Nobody in this building is like dreaming about a student-run cafe because it's like beyond the scope of what by and large we know to be about high school. Like I didn't have a student-run cafe. You didn't have a student-run cafe. Those weren't things back when we were kids going to high school. And we know what's in this building. And some people probably know like what those options are. But I think this is also sort of a nice opportunity for us to say to the community, here's this big vision, like here's where we're at right now. And this is the beginning, because I think it could get juices flowing, which will like feed into the feasibility study. Luke.
[Preisner]: So let's say, okay, by allowing us members of the committee to make strong statements of what we want in the school and have it I worry that we drown out the voices that we've not heard from yet, because we haven't engaged them. And it's almost like we're taking a hold of the headline, and we're driving in the directions that we want, without even doing an initial read. It's got to happen. I think that could be a process problem. That's why I want to bring it up.
[Brown]: Yeah. I think also just remember that this is a great time to be visionary and think of big ideas, but also it will not limit what goes in the building. Because there's still going to be a programming process where you'll go through with every space that needs to be in the building, and it will include big, great ideas, new spaces that no one's even thought of yet, but also down to offices and admissions spaces. I mean, yes, we should make sure we're not overbooking anybody that feels like they're being left out of the vision, but also like we're not limited. So if another great idea comes up later, or just important space to have it mentioned.
[Graham]: And I think the other thing that is important to remember is that There's no requirement even that the school building committee is involved in the creation of this document. Like the requirement is that it is submitted by the district. So I think it's appropriate for this team to start to like paint a picture for people to react to. So I think I'm okay with that. I'm personally okay with that. I think to the point of like engaging the community, I do want to engage the community when there's experts in the room who can do that well. I don't want us to be too far out ahead of that process because I think none of us particularly is equipped to do that kind of visioning process with the community in a way that's going to sort of be consistent with what has to happen during feasibility. So I don't want to create a situation where we are sort of out over our skis, essentially. So I think like what I would use this document when we sort of get to the point of publishing this to the community, I mean, they can, it's in the meeting documents and everything, but to say like, this is our, this is like the jumping off point that the committee accelerated to get us to the place where like the door, we can open the doors to this bigger vision, but we want you to read this and start to think creatively about these spaces. The important thing is like programming like Curtis Tufts, Curtis Tufts has to sort of say like an enter, this is our, this is like is, you know, this is our place to, to describe all of that. So, and start that process. So I think I'm okay with us being sort of visionary in terms of what we know, because as MSBA describes the requirement here is like, this is so that we can start to hear what's important to you. And I can tell you, I feel good that the things that we hear about on the school committee all the time are well represented here. Athletics, performing arts, Curtis Tufts, the alternative space for the high school, like all of those things are the, those are the heavy hitter topics for us, generally speaking. Peter?
[Cushing]: My one takeaway from this is having worked in schools that had been through MSBA projects or school building projects, however you want to look at it, Um, people will often talk about the visionary hopes that they had and that they, they wish they'd done more. that they'd wish they'd put in more of it, because that way the voters could have seen, the people could have seen what it could have been. And instead, they almost felt hemmed in by worrying about like, oh, will it pass? Will it not pass? And my suggestion, having been through this a few times in various things, is to make the building as visionary as possible. so that you inspire the community around it, and that you really wrap them into the possibilities and the potential.
[Graham]: Oh, sorry, Larry?
[Preisner]: I agree with that statement 100%. With regards to the student-run food service, when the students time back, the students were clamoring for that. But we couldn't do it because the word at that time was, I think, hide and kill. You know, we're frustrated with that. But because of issues of fairness and so forth, that not all students understand that we could afford it at a sale. So I just think going into that, now most of the regional schools I've been to have student meal tickets or something.
[Graham]: The one in Arlington is like a cafe. So the one in Arlington is like limited because you can't interfere with the food service program. That's a whole other problem. But this what was in Arlington was like a cafe, essentially like coffee.
[Preisner]: Well, students to this day. So last year, they Mr. Brown. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's that number two in terms of the shot.
[Graham]: So that's all in the chapter 74 piece in that other form. So it doesn't make a huge appearance here for that reason. Yeah. So we, I did put something in there just so it doesn't get lost, but the chapter 74 form talks about all of those programs that we're trying to explore and the proposed capacity.
[Preisner]: Essex has an institute up there. Their shops are in actual, like, more like warehouse-type buildings adjacent to the structured building. What we really need is space and metal buildings that are well-insulated, even with all the power and stuff, are fine. So depending on how the layout was, as a concept, we would find the sort of the top wing that was a little more industrial. And that way, that might also give us more split footage, which is what we would need. And also, it might be a good money.
[Graham]: OK. I can add something about that in. OK. Paul?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Well, so it's something that I said, I think, earlier. When we were walking around the Bonington building, two things that worked out is to me, just through my experience of it, I think what we were told is that there were multiple areas to it because their needs are starting to grow as we start envisioning what we want. So I think that I feel also comfortable with this as a starting point or as a jumping off point because it doesn't, I don't think it limits us in that we can't continue to grow or consider what the community actually needs. I mean, we're only a select few people. There's a community of 60,000 people who all probably have an opinion in some capacity on some program the high school could offer. shooting for the stars or really considering what's possible is also difficult because we don't know what's possible. When we were walking around in Wellington, I mean more than half the tour I was just like in shock at what they had to offer their students, what the faculty were experiencing, what the HFMA or the design firm were offering. I think there was so much understand what we can do, because it's never happened before. So an idea like a student cafe, we've never had that before. I didn't have it here, and I'm sure many of you didn't have a student cafe in the sense of the word. And so to even consider what that would look like for our community is something that's never been done before. So how could you say we want that? Other than hearing we're going to other communities that do have that, which I think is why we should really push to go to other programs that have done MSPA, or it's other programs in general that are offering things that we can't have as of right now, we could consider the program. I'm okay with it in its current wording, just as a starting, as a limiting, like it.
[Ruseau]: Paul? Yes, I want to feed everything from this. But when I think about the community involvement, several people have mentioned that we are somewhat limited by our own experiences and knowledge, well, we are completely limited by our own experiences and knowledge. And so, Unlike the community, we're going to go around and look at lots of schools. The whole of Medford is not like this. And so I think it's, well, to be expected, reasonable to think we have an outsized impact on what's possible. Now, I mean, obviously, I'm not serving the community, and I look forward to the professionals that kind of do that, doing that, because, like, I don't envision them providing us with a list of things to do with this building, this room, like, they're going to be providing, in my mind, a set of values, what's important to them, and have feedback from there to create a vision. But to ask the community, will be self-selected, it will absolutely be not representative of the community, that's 100% not an option, to somehow generate a vision, I think it will be great. I just don't see that as something to happen. And that's sort of, in my mind, I mean, I'm on this committee, because I have a search for new things that I need to make sure we don't stop talking about, stop thinking about. And I assume everybody here was on here for people had to but they're not investing in five to seven years of their lives getting it. So I really do care very much about what everyone else is saying, but like me, I went to a one-level school in Borough of New Hampshire. It was a regional school and built in 1970 or so. And to me, that's what high school is. I sure hope we don't do that here, but until we start this, I don't know what you're going to do. It's possible. So I look forward to that opportunity. And then sharing what we're experiencing with those tours. Like, we saw this thing, like, far like a van, these tunnels that are like as big as this, from the ceiling to the first floor, going through the library, provide light, natural light, everywhere the library came. That's kind of weird, to be honest. But also, like, never seen such a thing and thought it was cool to go there. But I'm excited for all of these visits, because I suspect we're going to find in every visit things that we want more. And we're like, let's not do that. Right.
[Brown]: I want to defer to Lori.
[Graham]: Oh, sorry.
[Hodgdon]: Oh, well, you kind of added that. Well, I guess. For me, and maybe Peter knows since he's on the cutting edge of kind of the research, I feel like some of the research is missing around this, around the educational underpinning. How are we going to deliver instruction, curriculum? And I feel, you know, listening and I happen to love school architecture, but I'm also thinking there's a school in San Diego that I know we've all talked about it. I know it's the vision for Curtis Tufts that we get to project-based learning. So we're not looking at the typical classroom. We're looking at collaboration stations, collaboration areas, that the hub is probably the library and we're calling it something else. And I want to make sure that we're not losing that because this building is, I'm sure in 1970 when this building was being built, we were like, this is cutting edge for 1970. Okay, no one expected that it was going to look the way that it did. And I would say for the 1900 building that is Curtis Tufts, which I love and I'd love to replicate in different ways, but I just think, I don't want to miss the research on this. I think going to high schools is really important. There's a school in San Diego that does project-based learning and it's how they structure their day, but it is like a warehouse. It looks like this and kids come together, like they're doing a project. and they leave into different rooms to go do their part of the project or meet with their facilitator. So I want to make sure that, because I think we have to be light years ahead of everyone, we're also going to need to be budgeting for how a teacher is going to teach differently. And I don't want to lose that. I mean, you can have a building and not do what you said you were going to do with the building. So for example, Mosconomet went through and created this round building Right? So that kids would never have a place to go anywhere but around the building, right? It's round. It wasn't economically feasible when it came to it. So when you get to the third floor, educationally, there was no air conditioning because they ran out of money. You shouldn't have had a third floor. So I just want to make, I'm just thinking curriculum instruction and assessment 15 years from now, because that's typically when probably the building will be built. And I don't want our plans or what our vision You just have to be five years ahead of everything. And I don't know if you know that school in San Diego, Peter, but it's like cutting edge. It's, you know, it's, and their achievement is through the roof and it's attached to a vocational school. And so kids are going to, and from, and creating, and design, and it's really about design. So I know that's what would engage my students, but I'd want to start even younger with middle schoolers, because I think in terms of Curtis Tufts, it's too late for our kids. they should have been engaged a long time ago. So I just don't want to lose the research. I'm happy to do some research and get some articles.
[Graham]: So that's the work that the administrative team has signed up to do, because they will have to describe the curriculum, the 2B curriculum section of this, which is not complete yet.
[Hodgdon]: You don't want to have an innovative building and then do the same things you've already done. Correct. I believe that's our work. Oh, so you know more than I do. Yes. But I just, you know, I don't want that to be lost because we might as well have this thing developed.
[Brown]: Yeah.
[Preisner]: Lou?
[Hodgdon]: I hope that makes sense.
[Preisner]: Yeah. Just a couple of points. A few of our responses here is delinquent. Right. The question is still limited. I got a bunch of things you can talk. Yeah. So about this vertical balance.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.
[Preisner]: I think it is a mistake not to engage with them. I think deferring until professionals are involved is possibly too severe an instinct. I think there should be self-coordinated engagement, probably this summer. We talked about a survey and the education committee. I thought that was a wise idea. It's just a, what do you want? And I agree. Their responses probably won't be very detailed terms with long explanations about how different elements are integrated, how they support learning. I'm not expecting that, but I am expecting to get an understanding of what the community views as important and what they want to see. And from that, we kind of know that first and document it. And then we'll use that as part of our vision And certainly, a lot of the imaginary is discussed. There's a place for that in the process. It's feasibility. Once we have money earmarked, and we are committed to feasibility, that money will be deployed on consultants, and on people with disabilities. And at the end of feasibility, we should have, judging by all of the schools that are studying, which is 2.7, we'll have three to five options. And they will have significant detail. They will spur a lot of community conversation. And it's probably going to get messy. There's going to be a lot of opinions and so on. And I also want to refer that to feasibility and focus on executive eligibility. Because the reason it's not here is because I've seen through many sources, right, I've spoken to people particular things. Ball is a great example, right? If you pitch a perfect game and nobody knew you in high school, you're gone in six years. If you don't, you might be on your 14th account, right? So I'm here to keep this thing on track. I don't want to waste that. is nothing else. I just wanted to get all those things out there.
[Graham]: Thank you. Yeah, so I guess a couple things. I am also here to keep this on track. It is like my mission in life to keep this thing on track. One of the things that, so I agree with you that we can start to ask those questions in the summer. What I'm unclear about is, are you saying we should not submit this until we've done that? Or are you suggesting that we submit this and then we use that sort of body of information to also feed the consultants that are going to come on?
[Preisner]: So I'm sort of ascribing you and also sort of outlining the efficiency of what we'd like.
[Graham]: And so is there something in here that you want to not be in here?
[Preisner]: If we are introducing new things that we want, I think that material belongs in these buildings. I think that what this question is asking is to tell us currently
[Graham]: It is asking for core spaces, specialty spaces, and non-traditional spaces that are described above are proposed to be used if known at this time. Additionally, if there are proposed changes indicate how they will impact space needs and what training to support staff will or may be provided. That is the question.
[Preisner]: Yeah. So is it? OK.
[Graham]: Bear with me, my brain short-circuited several hours back. Is there something you're proposing to take out? Like, are there words on the page that you want to take out? I would say anything that doesn't exist today. Which is?
[Preisner]: We have an auditorium which has lighting and acoustics and a sound system.
[Graham]: Anesthesia, like all of these things exist, they just exist poorly.
[Preisner]: If you're a wishlist for book one tomorrow, I would say book one. However, that conversation has to be about it.
[Brown]: Are you concerned that the MSBA will trip up that process or that people will be concerned that they haven't had a chance to get feedback? And we submit this document without reaching out to the community.
[Preisner]: So my mother is, so that's the last one. I'm concerned that we're disenfranchising by allowing our kids to leak into this saying, well, we want a school to be without ever having engaged the community to ask what it wants.
[Graham]: I think what the community wants is to talk in feasibility study. And we can't get there unless we agree on how we are going to get this document submitted, right? So that is why I'm just trying to be really concrete. that you what I think what you're saying is there's too much information in items one through 11 on page 14. And instead, we should maybe be more broad about what we are thinking. Is that what you're saying?
[Preisner]: I mean, other than the mini stage, all of those things exist poorly. And This goes in our front of the bracket, right? This is part of our official eligibility-based schedule. It's going to be viewed by anyone who answers the RFI and makes proposals in our community for feasibility study. If there are certain things that the size don't bother us, then that contractor will see that and will think about that possibly to the detriment of other things. And that is kind of it.
[Graham]: Yeah. I also would encourage this group to choose their words carefully. Like if we start telling people we're disenfranchising them, they will feel that way. And I don't think the community thinks of us that way. Like, and so we shouldn't talk that way. So I just, I think this stuff does find its own legs in the community. So I, the school committee under its authority appointed you all. And we're here to like, make sure we don't mess this up, right? Because everyone in the city is definitely afraid we are going to mess this up. So it's just it's the truth. So we can strike item 11, all those other things are there. We can make it, like I will go through and make it a little bit less specific, which I think is totally fine and reasonable, so that it does not sound so specific. And I think to your point, like when we put out a press release that says these documents are complete, there needs to be some framing of this document as like a starting point by this committee, in meetings open to the public, it's tough. It's like May and June, like there's not a whole lot of time in the community for people to be with us. But the entire point of this was to like collect all the feedback that we've heard all along the way, pair it up with like the teaching and learning methodology and get us sort of off to the races. And that, to me, that is what we're here to do in eligibility. So I think we're still on track to do that. And so I think the other place where there is some like real description here is around the library media space. But I would also say, I don't see anything in here that doesn't sort of match the description of current in some way, shape or form. So there's some description of like what the current state is that Maria put in. And then there is the description of the like, the ideal space and other than a restroom close by. And movable walls. I think other than that, we are fairly saying something about how we're envisioning and actually with the luxury of our head librarian doing that for us, that this is sort of what we're envisioning that space to become. So that was the other place where I thought it was very detailed. And so I don't know if anybody saw anything else that they thought was maybe too detailed.
[Brown]: There are some items in the library section that's really good information. It's probably more necessary like a little farther down the road. Like needs a sink and like boxes for the cabinets. Like that's all great, maybe like a little too granular for this document. Okay. So I don't know if it hurts us to have it in there, but it may be And to Luke's point, it's focusing on one area of the project more than others. So we could, I mean, I wouldn't rid of any of it. Or I would maybe, we'll talk to her later. Oh, sure, sure, yeah. Maybe we just save it for the visioning programming part. Yeah, give me that.
[Preisner]: Yeah. Maybe in one way, I'm assuming you kind of address some of the concerns that I raised and perhaps others shared, is to have more consistent formatting. So, you know, different formatting. It looks like you're emphasizing something over another thing.
[Graham]: That will all be cleaned up before this is done.
[Preisner]: So perhaps if that were standardized, things would pop out more than other things. Yeah. And then also we could adjust wording here and there where something needs to be designed to strike that. Say, current series are this. have a different, it'll land.
[Graham]: Okay. Yeah, all of that is a sort of a wacky template to work in. And it has like all kinds of different bullets. So all of that will be cleaned up before we're done to make sure that it's consistent.
[Brown]: I think that as for those of us that did have some writing The assumption was that you would be reformatting. And I just, I don't suffer from brevity. No, it's totally fine.
[Graham]: That's totally fine. That's totally fine.
[Brown]: But I did want to say before that, Laurie, if you do look at some of the ideas for the library, I had project-based learning in mind. That's awesome. Because I also thought, yeah. Yeah.
[Graham]: Are there questions about section three? Aaron?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think, like you mentioned, for example, some of the more specific items, like on the library, the library media space, we're suggesting that CERN ones are more specific than others. So are we taking them out? Because the previous section of the state of the art, the Performing Arts Facility, we're going to strike Levin, but then we're not going to strike others. I just don't really know if it makes sense to strike CERN ones but not other ones.
[Graham]: I think we're just, I think what I'm hearing is to just bring everything up to the same level of detail.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[Graham]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I prefer that. Okay, we're gonna, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to strike certain things and not other ones if we're going to be specific about certain areas. Yeah, I think one or the other should be chosen.
[Hodgdon]: Okay, perfect. Sorry, Larry, did I see your hand?
[Preisner]: A minute ago.
[Hodgdon]: Oh, okay.
[Brown]: It can be.
[Preisner]: I would say that that's true. Also, I'd like to propose, if you're interested, NELTA, the New England Labor's Training Academy, is just completing, as we speak, a brand new campus, which would be suitable for vocational courses. But it has booths and clusters and classrooms surrounded by this big metal shop, as does Essence. So conceptually, it builds different schools, take a picture. Sean downstairs at Media Tech does a very good job with the students. By that point in the fall, or maybe beforehand. But put together a nice little montage with music. And it kind of explains things that get us excited. So we can then maybe go into the theater sometime and show people in the community who are interested. So this is kind of what got us going. so we can set the table a little bit. But I do think it's good. At this point, we're kind of painting with a broad brush. We've got all this stuff. But I think it's good to give a panoramic. And I personally, I guess, I think it's OK to say not only what is, but just to sort of play them a little bit. Also, we would like to stay in New York Theater. It's a really, really nice spot. We love those two things. Classrooms are classrooms, they should be nice, they should be functional. Vogue, they just need space. I'll tear it up anyway. The connection with the films, media is really big.
[Graham]: Yep, and Suzanne was working on that. Tracking down that application that went in. Some years ago now to do something. It was very project based learning integration with the outdoors oriented for another grant that we did not get, but she was going to. Go through the files and we had information to figure out if there's anything that.
[Preisner]: Rock climbing baseball. you know, groomed cross-country ski course up there with some yurts and you can eat here. I mean, that is so undeveloped and it's a gem for the entire city. And not to be capitalistic, but there's money in terms of parking fees and concessions and stuff. I mean, that is such a beautiful So how that integrates with everybody, there could be cross-country meets in that area. So to whet the appetite of it, to me, I think it's fair to point out what is here, some of the deficiencies, what we feel like we're lacking for the sake of students, and then sort of shoot them with some options of kind of what we're thinking.
[Graham]: Yeah. OK. Any other questions, comments?
[Brown]: Maria? I just want to mention one thing. You're probably already aware PVD High School is in process right now. They're about to begin the design phase. So I spoke with the librarian at PVD High School. She gave me some of her notes, which I incorporated. OK. But they're just a few steps ahead. Yeah. It might be a resource. So.
[Preisner]: What's your list of potential students who are unable to attend? What else is on?
[Graham]: Um so we talked about Arlington, we talked about Somerville, Belmont, okay and you know the other you know the thing we may want to do is sort of reformat our summer meetings to be like tours instead so that we have some time in summer to do various tours so um I think that would be a great use of summer if we can get all of these documents, if we can get through all of these documents so that we really can sort of take the summer to put all of our like communication plans together, start to tell the community what we're saying, start to look at all those other schools and sort of get ready. So it might just be nice timing to do all of that.
[Preisner]: If you want to go to Nelta, I think I can send that home. Okay. So, and I think that's out there, especially with locations Great, okay. Okay. I'm sorry, what school is that? Quincy. Yeah. Great. OK.
[Brown]: Yeah, that would be great.
[Graham]: Section four, community engagement. I think the last time we talked, people talked about the sequencing of the information in there. And I tried to, although I'm finding the typos because I was doing this in my lap at the council meeting last night, but I did try to like re-sequence this to better flow with the information that we have in here. So talking about the communications and community engagement subcommittee first. I think it was last and then talking about some of the things specifically that they asked about around, you know, what kinds of things are we considering doing? And then, in addition, doing a little bit of sort of just framing that last paragraph a little bit better about. the engagement that we've already done around the co-location of Curtis Tufts because that is a program that we are proposing to bring on here and the school committee has done some very helpful useful work to sort of move that forward. So that is, I think that is everything in this document. Any other questions? Um, is there a motion to approve this document as amended and to be completed as noted?
[Cushing]: Motion to approve as amended and completed as noted.
[Preisner]: Okay. Second by... Oh. Can I ask to stand by? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I put your name on the list.
[Graham]: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so a motion by Dr. Cushing and Aaron, seconded by Aaron. All of our voting members are in person. So all those in favor. All those opposed. The ayes have it. Okay.
[Preisner]: Yes, yes.
[Graham]: I can do that. Okay, the last item on our agenda for this evening is just to give you an update on the maintenance practices information. So, Dr. Cushing, so let me pass this out and then I'll explain what it is. Okay, does everyone have a coffee? Oh, we're almost there. Okay. Okay, so just as framing, the MSBA has an online portal where they require us to upload a whole variety of documents around our maintenance and capital planning practices. Earlier in this process, Tom and I sat down with that system and we went through and we created this document to just try to provide like a working place for all of that information. So you'll see all the questions listed. throughout this document. And what you'll see is the questions, the answer format. So many of these things are like yes, no type questions, and then any comments, which would be comments that we need to put into the system to answer the question, et cetera. Um, so if we start at the top, what I think you'll see is that the vast majority of this information has to be completed by Dr. Cushing, who's our representative on the committee in terms of his work as the overseer of the facilities department for Medford Public Schools, among other 45 other jobs that he does. But I think I just wanted to run through the questions here as a sort of jumping off point and talk a little bit about, you know, give you all a chance to review all the information that is populated in here already and talk about next steps for this document. So if we start at the top, the first series of questions is really around staffing. So it asks about, question number one is, is the facility maintenance performed by the municipality or the district? In our situation, it's a combination of both. So the districts largely has the responsibility for sort of all things maintenance until something gets too big and becomes a capital project and then the city does step in. Our buildings and grounds department clears snow and they do other projects like paving and things like that. So it is truly a group effort. Item number two, are vendors used for any aspect of facilities maintenance? And the answer to that is yes. For all of these things, plumbing, pest management, elevator inspections, asbestos testing, et cetera, fire alarm systems, all of that good stuff.
[Cushing]: I'm just waiting on the name of our pest management company.
[Graham]: Number three, full-time equivalent, to help them understand how many custodians we have across the district. Is there a director of facilities? The answer to that is yes. And does the district have defined job descriptions for our custodial staff? And the answer is yes, so we'll have to attach those. Um, item number six is their system of performance evaluations of the district's custodial and maintenance staff. Um, that is a work in progress, but, uh, we are, uh, pending contract negotiations around that. And, um, number seven is training required or provided for the district's custodial and maintenance staff. Um, yes. And we cover some of the things that we have, um, trained our staff in starting in 2023. And then number eight is their written maintenance plan for the district that details minimum custodial maintenance standards and governs day to day operations. The answer to that is yes. And so we will have to attach those documents. So that's the staffing section, the planning. Is there a preventive or predictive maintenance plan for the district's facilities? The answer to that is yes, and there's an attachment that we'll have to provide. Does the district have a work order system? The answer is yes. We actually recently converted from email work order system, which is problematic, as you might mention, to a system called operations hero. And it is a true work order ticketing system. And we the district is sort of rolling folks onto that both on the custodial staff and then also in the school buildings. Over the course, there's working on that implementation. The facilities condition index question number one. Does the district conduct periodic inspections of school facilities to ascertain their conditions? The answer to that is yes. Um, item number two is do we have a facilities condition index which keeps track of school systems, identifies major system components and tracks information. Um, we purchased some software to begin doing that in February of 2024. That's operation hero. Um, item number three, please describe how the district analyzes facility condition information and how that analysis impacts decisions on budget capital improvements and staff performance. So up until recently, the facility conditions and repairs were done on an as-needed basis. the district. So beginning in FY 24, we've really begun to shift to a recommissioning model where we are looking at each of our schools on a periodic basis to understand their budgetary needs, etc. Item number four, is do we have a protocol around commissioning and recommissioning? That is starting in FY25. And that process is essentially on a periodic basis. You do sort of a soup to nuts assessment of what is happening in the building so that you can identify what it would take to bring the building back to its original condition in terms of its intention. And then what that does is it sort of highlights any maintenance practices that need to change. HVAC can, you know, the big systems there are like HVAC oriented. You may or may not know this, but we have a project going on right now in our middle schools that will replace HVAC systems in the Andrews Middle School and then in the entire McGlynn complex. So those buildings are like in effect being reconditioned because of that substantive work, which is scheduled to be done. Hopefully by next summer. Next summer. Yeah. And the other schools, Brooks, Roberts, Missittuck, will get on to the reconditioning cycle with this next rehab. And then the expectation would be the high school would go on to like a five-year loop with the other schools as well.
[Brown]: Maria? I have a question because those buildings are only 20 plus years old. You know what I'm going to say?
[Cushing]: Go for it.
[Brown]: because of not being kept up or is that just aging out?
[Cushing]: I think that's actually a really good question. Yeah, it really is both. In all honesty, and with any of our architects and others who have a lot more experience than I do, the reality is as these buildings approach 25 years old, they're at midlife expectancy for their structure. So, you know, roofs last about 30 years. HVAC equipment, you know, some pieces of the equipment are expected to last 10 years. Some are expected to last 15. And, you know, your bigger equipment, your rooftop chillers, your compressors, things like that, with proper maintenance, will make it to that 25-year mark. But essentially at that point, I mean, everybody we have talked to in our process for OPM and designers is, oh, yeah, they're at the end of their life. They could be the Rolls Royce. And I think this is how I described it to someone like, you know, we're not going to put more money into fixing these because it's not a classic Mustang or classic car. It's a 1975 Pinto.
[Graham]: So, so yes, yes to both of those things right like proactive maintenance like extends the life of these systems. But there is a life of the system that you know you you tap out and I think what you see, particularly when you talk when you start to think about like that's kind of. system programming that's going to go into this new high school like Arlington talked a lot about how like they don't know how to use their building just yet because it is so highly technical and so very different than how their building used to operate that they said often they hear they are like this thing is broken and it's not broken at all they just don't know how to use it yet right and so there's this huge learning curve that goes into these these new buildings in particular But, you know, for the same reason that like when your car is like fully electrified inside, right? Like there's more parts, there's more things that can go wrong, right? There's more, there's more, well, if you're completely electric, that's different. But like you start talking about like even the advancement of anything else that's going on in your home, like you're, you know, the refrigerator from the 70s lasted for 30 years. And it's still, maybe it's still running in avocado green, but If you buy a refrigerator 10 years ago, you're probably thinking about it's time for a new refrigerator. So the entire way we maintain our buildings will change with this new building. And I think what they're trying to understand is, how do we do it today? So how big of a climb is this going to be for us to take good care of this building? And the answer is, we have work to do in that department, for sure. we are trying to get there proactively so that we have arrived by the time this building comes on because that's going to be its own challenge. The environment question, does the district routinely monitor air quality? The answer to that is yes. Does the district implement practices in the EPA's Tools for Schools program? The answer is yes.
[Cushing]: More information forthcoming. Yeah, we do have more work to do on that.
[Graham]: Does the district have a protocol to eliminate toxic chemicals and use green products for cleaning and repairs? Best practices for building operators typically include regular inspecting, testing, balancing, and cleaning of HVAC components in order to make them most efficient. Do we do that? I think that's like maybe a working yes. Does the district monitor energy consumption and spending? We do.
[Cushing]: We've started that this year.
[Graham]: It is a very interesting analysis.
[Ruseau]: I can tell you right now. I think it's one word. Yeah. Luke? Since COVID, yes.
[Graham]: With outside testing, yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. There's technology now, meters.
[Preisner]: Across a number of UK metrics, a number of international metrics. Anything you want. And if there is a problem, you can go that way.
[Cushing]: Yeah, it's once a year or if a concern is raised. So when we had flooding, I forget when that was, December, January, whenever we were hit at the high school with a heavy flood, once we had everything cleaned up, we brought in UEC consultants and they did air testing. It was found to be fine at the Brooks and other schools, the Mississippi in particular, where there's been some buildup of land or the land is just up against the foundation. There's always been some concern of moisture. So we will do testing in those spaces. But the other thing too is across our District right now we're doing a district mapping project to know every single space to get pictures of every space to really understand every space for us to be able to have a device like you mentioned, we'll probably have a significant ramp up cost. that I think we should really look at when we go for a new high school. And I think what Member Graham is saying about the things that we need to learn as part of this HVAC project with the Andrews and the McGlynn, that's been one of my key questions is, okay, this is great, but once we commission these, how are we gonna know that our maintenance staff are well-trained to be able to monitor and then not just like know what to monitor, but know when want to know something, this is outside of my scope, I can't try to fix this, I need to call someone in. So those types of things, like know what you know and then also know what you don't know so that the system can be maintained by truly trained HVAC professionals. And our maintenance staff does a great job. It's just, you know, we're getting into an area with these building systems that require extraordinarily high training and high skill.
[Preisner]: Can I give a quick example? It's not the maintenance guy's fault. There are times when everybody else is open. Open groups in the winter, but class is out. Kids over at C building, it's the community And simple, but good quality, to me, is what's really important for the board. Another quick example. The lights we had in the shops were terrible. Those fluorescents, a lot of juice, they didn't shine very brightly. So we got this rant of getting new LEDs. And so it's like, not very literally in the shops. It's wonderful. Except that whoever sold the bill of goods got all this, That's good, no problem there. But it was all programmed via cell phone. We had no control over it. It doesn't go over internet. And cell phone reception is terrible. So this was pre-pandemic days for about three years. I would come over here to walk in the middle of the weekend, and the lights were on in my shop.
[SPEAKER_03]: What is going on?
[Preisner]: And it was supposed to stop that. And we just asked, can we just put in switches? Well, we didn't think, well, how long does it take to turn on the switches? So it just took like until two years after we got back to schools, about a year and a half ago, we finally solved it and we haven't had a bunch of problems since. I don't know what they did, but they had a bunch of the guys from Jordan come up and figured it all out. But just sometimes we run with all the bills and things that are so high tech, it's like software that is, it has all these whistles and bells, but you only need this 5%, you know what I'm saying? You don't need all this other stuff. mental capacity to do it. So I just think that this is something we're going to have to deal with throughout this whole process and review. The other thing with regards to, I would like to see as part of this vision thing, is I would really, really like, and I think John would back me 100%, is to have that having maintenance department.
[Graham]: We have a maintenance department.
[Preisner]: That has a space, a little shop, Ah, okay.
[Graham]: Got it.
[Preisner]: A place where they can take their lawn mowers in so we don't have to build these sheds all over the place, store them, work on them. Got it. The guy probably needs a pickup because they're always borrowing other shops, trucks when it snows. We have our own snowplow and we have tried to form a relationship with maintenance because they need help. They need the facilities. They used to always borrow tools, ladders, scaffolds. to work and to do stuff. They need their own stage and scaffold. So we have the kids, the cooperation, because so you know, every year they break leaves, they prune trees, they do the landscape. The kids have done all this garden stuff out in front. Last year they were all on their hands and knees pulling weeds out of the break out of the center courtyard. So we, there was this stuff about paint So every year we work with all the potholes and parking lots. Kids have resurfaced, seal coated parking lots and painted all the stripes. So since they do that, I would like the kids to get a little recognition. And also maybe that can be part of a new plan, which is collaboration, where the vocational students can take on some of that stuff. And we try and try to get some of these kids co-op jobs But in construction, you have to be 18. But they could work with the school for a little bit here and there. We could maybe do some more merging. Regarding the last thing I'll say, the warehouse thing, I just think the guys at CCW would like this at all. But that could be a stopgap thing. Have you ever been in that facility? I mean, it is. That's everything they construct for free. It is nice. It's big. It has everything in it. If they didn't get a quarter, maybe for the school district, they run out of that for a while. I'm good. You know, you didn't hear that. All right.
[Graham]: Well, you know, you're being recorded, right?
[Preisner]: Okay, so
[Graham]: Also in this document is a series of questions about budget. So does the facility maintenance person have a role in establishing the budget? What are the amounts that have been requested in the budget over a series of years? What was allocated in the budget over a series of years? If there is a variance, why was there a variance? Expended budget over a series of years. Is there a variance? If there's a variance of 20% or greater between consecutive years and the district's total expended amounts, please provide the details on the reason for the difference. projected budget. I think we're actually on a better track there. So that is nice. What does the district believe that the appropriate amount of spending on operations and maintenance should be to allow for routine maintenance of those facilities? And how close are we? So we had lots of conversation at the council meeting last night, in particular, because that there are potential Proposition 2.5 overrides on the ballot in November, voted in last night. And part of all of that money, $7.5 million across the two ballot measures, other than $500,000, would be directed towards schools. A big part of the planning that went into those numbers was things like making sure that we're able to provide routine maintenance that supports the district. So that's a big deal. Um, and then any other comments on your budget history, so we will talk about those upcoming items. Then there's a capital program piece. We're in good shape from a capital program perspective because the city, we had a capital program for several years when Mayor Lungo-Koehn took the reins of the city. She created an integrated capital plan that included the schools and they use the calling center to help establish that. And then we are in the midst of a policy change on the school committee side to sort of codify our annual capital planning review process for schools. And then the capital budget history asks about tax overrides, capital exclusions, debt exclusions. The answer to all of those is we have not done that before, but we're about to do it in November. And then any other capital projects that were deferred due to funding constraints, so I'm sure that we will have one or two items in there. The final section is the capital improvement plan and budget. So what is you know what is our capital improvement plan and budget so we will attach the city's capital improvement plan and some of the other documents that we have internally and then provide any information about availability of non public funds for school facility purposes. We'll talk about our rentals. and some other things there. And then provide information from the treasurer finance committee or capital planning committee regarding the outstanding debt and future bond capacity inside the debt limit for municipalities. And so that will come from the bankers office. And then this last table was just a table, one of the tables that have to be sort of filled out and completed. So all this document is really just to allow us to start to collect the information where that ultimately then has to be like keyed into the system in a very particular way. So I wanted to share this with you, find out if you have questions or comments. Our working goal is again that by June 30th this will be done and we will be able to submit it. We actually have until I think October to do this, but we can't go to that next phase in the process until we're done. So our goal is to get all of this documentation pulled together and buttoned up between now and then. So questions? Um, would anybody like to make a motion to authorize Dr. Cushing and I to complete and submit the questionnaire? Okay, so motion for myself and Dr. Cushing to complete this questionnaire as requested by Nicole Morell, seconded by Emily. Thank you, Emily. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. Okay. We are at the end of our agenda, a few minutes early. Our next full meeting is scheduled at six o'clock on July 17th via Zoom. I will be in touch with the communications committee so that we can find another date hopefully in July. And I think the next steps are to finish up these forms and get everything submitted and look forward to that feasibility study vote by the council on the 25th. Um, so that we are sort of off to the races and then, you know, use the summer to do our community engagement planning and do some touring. So between now and July 1st, I'm going to say I will be back in touch with you if I am able to sort of shift things around and schedule some dates and times. So those two meetings may not stay on the calendar exactly as they are, but I will let you know as soon as I have ideas and plans. Generally speaking, if we're going to go to a school in the summer, I think their folks are going to lean toward wanting to host us, not in the evenings, is there. time frame that works better for you all than others. I'm assuming it's summer, it's going to be sort of a Monday to Friday ish thing. And probably they're going to ask for us not to come from six to eight, but I will certainly ask if that's a possibility. So is there other other times like, generally speaking that like, Is morning better than afternoon? Is afternoon better than lunchtime? Is lunchtime the best? Any feedback about scheduling? I know it's all impossible. OK.
[Brown]: Emily? I think it's flexible, but I assume we're not going to get a critical mass of our feedback. It's just probably going to be something that some school that's a great example offers themselves. And if we think it won't, we don't. Correct. Yeah. We're going to have more conversations. I think that we should prioritize whatever school is the best example for us to see. That's my take on it. OK, Nicole? I think it'd be nice to just not be there to overshow or damn take your time.
[Graham]: Yeah. OK. Any other questions, comments about timing and scheduling? I know it's all. So like I said, I will ask if there are people willing to host us on an evening, and maybe there's evening programming going on in the building where somebody would be willing to do that, or the architects would be willing, the designers often are willing to sort of help make those things happen. So I will do some outreach and be in touch. I'm sure the HMFH would be very happy to take a group back to Arlington. I know some of you got to see Arlington, It was just right next door, which is amazing and was very cool. So I will be in touch on that. And as soon as I have dates, I will have Lisa send them out to you all so that you have them on your calendar. And you all should have district email now. If you have questions about that, you can see Dr. Cushing. And is there a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn by Luke.
[Brown]: Second.
[Graham]: by Libby. All those in favor. All those opposed.
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