AI-generated transcript of 7.03.2024 - MSC Special Meeting

[Lungo-Koehn]: public schools YouTube channel through method community media, or on your local cable Comcast channel nine eight or 22 and Verizon channel 4345 or 47. The meeting will be recorded, since the meeting will be held remotely participants can log or call in by using the following information. on the city website, there's a Zoom link, as well as the school website, and the meeting ID is 967-2729-4638. Questions or comments can be submitted during the meeting by emailing medfordsc at medford.k12.ma.us. Those submitting questions or comments must include the following information, your first and last name, your Redford Street address, your question or comment.

[Ruseau]: Member Ruseau, if you could call the roll, please. Certainly. Member Bramley? Present. member Graham. It's absent member and Tapa here. Remember all the potting. Absent member.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Reinfeld present members of President Maryland occur present by present to absent. If we all may 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 one item under new business. It's a recommendation to approve the appointment of Mr. Noel L. Velez as the director of finance for the Medford Public Schools. I'll turn it over to you, Dr. Edouard Vincent, superintendent.

[Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. And I did reach out to member Olapade. He is going to be joining us shortly, having some Wi-Fi difficulties in his location. But yes, good afternoon. Mayor Lungo-Koehn and members of the School Committee, I am very pleased this evening to have the opportunity to introduce Mr. Noel L. Velez. I enthusiastically recommend that the Medford School Committee vote to approve his appointment as Finance Director of the Medford Public Schools. Mr. Velez comes to us with more than 12 years of finance and managerial experience. He was previously the director of finance and business manager over accounts payable, payroll, and transportation for the Winthrop Public Schools. Prior to that, he was a financial analyst for the Chelsea Public Schools. Mr. Velez earned a bachelor's degree from Salem State University, and he holds an active state licensure as a school business administrator. He is also an active member of the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, which is called MASBO. And he participates on their vocational subcommittee, finding out new things that are going on in the vocational world to bring back to Medford Public Schools. He is very eager to expand his skills and improve the Medford Public Schools. Mr. Velez came to Medford Public Schools this year at the recommendation of Mr. Gerry McCue. who worked with Noel in the Chelsea Public Schools and they have had a partnership of more than five years together. Mr. McHugh will continue to work closely with Noel as he transitions out of our district next year and Noel transitions into this role. During the interview process, Mr. Velez impressed our team with his assessment of other ways to continue to enhance the district through improving and pursuing grant opportunities, as well as working to institute procedures to improve all aspects of the business office. In his new role as finance director, Mr. Velez will work closely with the superintendent and the district leadership team to monitor the budget for the benefit of all of Medford's students. In the upcoming year, we anticipate Mr. Velez will operate under the guidance of Mr. McHugh to continue the sound and balanced budgetary practices that have been recently implemented. We are thrilled to welcome Noel Velez to his new role in Medford and know that his skills and experience will be major assets to the work of our team and impact our students positively as well. So I ask this. body, the committee, to please feel free to, you know, ask Mr. Velez questions, but this is our recommendation for him to be our Director of Finance for the Medford Public Schools. Thank you.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. Thanks for being here, Mr. Velez. Anything you want to add or

[Velez]: No, I think the superintendent said it perfectly. I'm just very eager if you're willing to have me to join this team at another level and continue, I believe, some of the great work that Jerry started in regards to, as you guys have said, the transparency of explaining how the budget truly looks and making sure that we're being very fiscally responsible with the budget that we're eluded, with the grants that we also get, and making sure that the the whole community itself feels comfortable knowing that the public schools are being very well taken care of financially.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Great, thanks. Could you give us a minute update of just your background and how long you were in Chelsea, just so the full committee- Yeah, of course. Yeah, your history, work history?

[Velez]: Yeah, so I originally, when I graduated Salem State, I was a director of an after-school program for a few years, and then I went to the private sector to go work for Marsh USA, which is one of the largest insurance companies in the world. And while there, I started learning a lot about, I started sharpening my finance techniques, got promoted, and then Chelsea had an opportunity to go be a financial analyst slash assistant business manager in 2017. So I had applied and I was very fortunate enough to get the job. I worked in Chelsea from 2017 to 2021, overseeing a lot of the transportation budget, student activities, helping out with the grants, helping out with anything that was Title I to Title IV related, and also end of year reporting and teacher stipends. Those were a lot of things that fell underneath my umbrella. And when I had an opportunity to go to Winthrop The summer of 2021, I took over as the director of finance and the business manager in Winthrop, in which I became much more involved in the full development of the budget in Winthrop Public Schools, sitting in negotiations with teachers' contracts. While I was in Winthrop, we negotiated the nurses' contract, the teachers' contract, the paraprofessional contract. And as I was leaving, we were just on the process of merging the DPW, with the custodial staff as under one unit in Winthrop, which I was overseeing with the new city manager and the new town CFO. So that was something that those were some areas that I was able to really gain a lot of experience while also assisting my superintendent in all aspects of finance and even being involved a lot with the operations, capital improvement, MSBA, things of that nature. I was very comfortable and familiar with.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Great, thank you. Member Branley.

[Branley]: Hi, Mr. Velez. It's Member Branley. I just want to welcome you to MPS and know that anything I say on the floor is not personal.

[Velez]: Of course.

[Branley]: So, welcome aboard. Thanks so much for all you're going to do. Thank you.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Branley. we can just mark member Olapade present, please, if you haven't already, Member Ruseau. And if any of the members have any other questions, please ask them now. If not, is there a motion on the floor?

[Reinfeld]: Member Reinfeld? I have a quick question and then I'm happy to make a motion to approve. I'm curious what collaborative budgeting looks like to you. Like how do you work with other people on the leadership team and in the administration and schools? Like how does that play out?

[Velez]: Yeah, of course. So when I was in Winthrop, we developed what was called a zero budget system. Where what it is, is although the town allocates how much money we're going to be getting as a whole school district, I was meeting, starting in November, I would meet with all my principals after figuring out what our salaries would look like and what any new contracts that were coming in and their pay raises, whatever was left over, I would allocate that in regards to working with my buildings and grounds. department and each principal would come to me with a list of curriculums that they were either using or curriculums they were interested in using in the future and how that pertained to what the superintendent called was the Winthrop Public Schools vision. other areas in regards to office supplies, normal supplies. And what I would also give to them is while they were bringing me all this information, I would bring to them information in regards to, here was your budget last year. Here's where you spent a lot. Here's where you didn't spend a lot. Do you want to move some of this money around? We would also look at technology. It's always a big thing, trying to figure it out. Where do you feel you are with technology? You budgeted $30,000 last year, but you spent close to $50,000. Do you feel like you want to spend another $50,000, or do you want to move that area into maybe the math program and everything else? And so what I would do is I would meet with the principals in November. They would give me kind of a layout of what they were expecting. I would take it all in. I would find the prices for them. I would work with the vendors to get their prices. And then when I would go back to them, I'd say, hey, go reach out to all your lead teachers. and your lead directors and see, does this curriculum make sense? When they would bring that all to me, then I would sit down with my assistant superintendent and superintendent, and we would kind of lay out the whole budget. And sometimes, you know, you requested 230,000, you might get it, you might get a little bit more, you might get a little bit less, but we always try to be very fair in regards to per pupil personnel, making sure that the numbers made sense in regards to how many students you had in your building to what you were expecting to spend. And also making sure that each school had the right amount of technology available. So if the high school had gotten a big technology bump, one year we would want to make sure that the elementary schools got a proper piece of that pie also for technology. So it was always, year to year, it was changing, it was moving. We never just copied and pasted. We didn't believe in that. But I did feel that by year three, the principals had become very accustomed to it. And we were able to really create what I thought was great open dialogue. And there was never really any thoughts about, oh, I feel like my budget was undercut or my budget isn't fully funded.

[Reinfeld]: Thank you so much.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Mr. Villes. Thank you, Member Reinfeld. Is there a motion to approve this appointment? Motion to approve the appointment by Member Reinfeld, seconded by?

[Branley]: Second. I'll second.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Member Intoppa, roll call, please.

[Ruseau]: Member Branley? Yes. Member Graham, absent. Member Intoppa?

[Branley]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Olapade?

[Branley]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld? Yes. Member Rossell? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?

[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. The appointment is approved. Congratulations and thank you in advance. Thank you. Thank you. CFO Velez of the Medford Public Schools. Call me Nawala, I'm perfectly fine with that. It was great to meet you in person. Thank you for taking this on and leading the charge. It's a tough job, but we know you do a good job. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Okay, is there a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. By Member Intoppa, seconded by Member Branley. All call, please.

[Ruseau]: Member Branley. Yes. Member Graham absent. Member Intoppa.

[Branley]: Yes, congratulations.

[Ruseau]: Olapade.

[Branley]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Members say yes. Mayor Longo.

[Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Six in the affirmative. One absent. Meeting is adjourned. Have a wonderful Fourth of July everyone.

Lungo-Koehn total time: 2.76 minutes total words: 435	Ruseau total time: 0.57 minutes total words: 61	Edouard-Vincent total time: 3.12 minutes total words: 441	Branley total time: 0.21 minutes total words: 48
Reinfeld total time: 0.35 minutes total words: 54