[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: reports of subcommittee. Chair Graham, would you like to report out yet or do you want to also table that? Okay. Member Graham.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. A couple of quick notes for everyone. We had our first strategic capital planning meeting around this capital plan specifically last week. We have another meeting scheduled for November 19th to finish the draft of the capital plan. And after that in December, we will have a committee of the whole scheduled. All of those meetings are Zoom only. And we in December will have a capital plan for this group to work through, ask questions about and prioritize so that we can give direction to the district about any CPC funding we want to direct the district to apply for to the mayor and the council about the immediate capital needs and the upcoming capital needs. etcetera. So, there we had a good productive discussion. It started with the input of the building principles across the district to identify some of those projects that were maybe not otherwise listed. So, we've updated the list. There are a number of capital projects in process. So, those those are noted as well and there's a huge number of upcoming capital needs, not the least of which is the HVAC project at McGlynn and Andrews, but all of that is being sort of packaged up as part of the policy that we passed last year. And we will be ready to share in a committee of the whole in December. So right on schedule with our with our timeline so that that does not interfere with our typical budgeting process. Whether that interferes with other supplemental appropriation budgets is sort of a one-time thing for us to consider maybe this year, but generally speaking, I think we're on a good track to not overlap the budget season. Great, thank you. Member Graham.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We have our reports of superintendent. First up is Dr. Edouard-Vincent's updates and comments.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to tonight's school committee meeting. Since we last spoke, our students have continued to shine and thrive in our Medford community, and I'm excited to share their recent accomplishments, as well as upcoming events in the district. Thank you to all our students, staff, community members, and elected officials who joined us at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new universally accessible playground at McGlynn Elementary. We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate the new space for our students and community members. Our health assisting CTE students and staff members have been busy supporting flu and COVID vaccine clinics held in our schools for all students and staff. These clinics are scheduled for Wednesdays at each of our schools through early November. Our National Art Honor Society members recently joined the grand opening of the city's new Clippership Pop-Up Park. Students volunteered to paint the cement markers at the new outdoor play area alongside other community members. Their terrific artwork will further enhance the enjoyment of the new park. Switching over to athletics. All of our fall middle school sports teams captured greater Boston league conference championships last week. Congratulations to our baseball team, our softball team, our middle boys and girls cross country teams on fantastic seasons. I'd also like to highlight our boys high school golf team, who also earned a GBL championship since we last gathered. Well done to all of our student athletes. While we eagerly await seeing how the rest of the fall sports season plays out, it's not too early to think about our winter sports. Registration for our winter sports is now open and can be done at medfordathletics.com. The deadline to register for our winter sports is November 18th. As a reminder, all athletes must complete the online registration and provide an up-to-date physical within 13 months to the nurse's office before tryouts. Our schools, once again, will be busy this week outside of normal classroom instruction with events happening to support the futures of our Mustang students. On Wednesday, October 23rd, Medford High School will host our College and Career Night. Our annual college fair for all middle and high school students and families will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Medford High School Gymnasium. Over 75 colleges and programs will be in attendance, including four-year universities, community colleges, military programs, and others. Beginning at 530 on Wednesday, the same day, Medford High School will also be hosting a college information session for students with IEPs and 504 accommodation plans. Attendees will be able to hear from our special education team and college support experts about a variety of topics, including the college application process and the difference in services offered between high school and college. On Thursday, October 24th, grade eight and transfer students and families are invited to attend the Medford High School open house from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Students can meet building teachers, administrators, and current students to learn what it's like to be a Medford High School Mustang. Attendees will also have opportunities to receive further information about our vocational programs, athletics, and extracurricular programs. We look forward to welcoming the future class of 2029. Lastly, I would like to wish our Medford community and all of those who celebrate an early happy Halloween or Happy Harvest Festival time. Be on the lookout for safety reminders and other upcoming Halloween programming in this week's Friday memo. Tonight, we will have two reports from our administrative team. First, we will hear on the water testing recently conducted across all of our schools. And we have UMass Amherst representatives and DEP representatives that will be joining us this evening on Zoom. I will also be joined by Dr. Cushing for that presentation. Later, we will provide a report on our district-wide transportation busing. Dr. Cushing, Ms. Megan Fidler-Carey, our Director of Family Community Engagement, and the representatives from Eastern Bus Company, our partner. We have Mr. Chuck Winitzer with us, Ms. Jessica Guadalupe, and his son, Mr. Winitzer. Is it David? David, David Winitzer. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent. We have a report on water testing Dr. Edouard-Vincent superintendent Dr. Peter Cushing assistant superintendent of enrichment, innovation and operations and Department of Environmental Protection representatives, Alex Smith Lynn project manager UMass Amherst Hannah parson project manager UMass Amherst, Yvette the Pisa Program Director, and Jessica Saborowski, Environmental Analyst, Marion Borowski, Technical Assistant Provider, UMass Amherst, and Kate Gallagher, Technical Assistance Provider, UMass Amherst. Welcome. I'm going to just turn on your microphone.
[Peter Cushing]: Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor and members of the committee. All right. Sorry, red means go now. Thank you for this opportunity to present and have the team from UMass on with us as well. They will be presenting a slide deck momentarily to talk through. But one of the reasons why we initially started this water testing was to be able to participate in what is known as the SWIG grant. SWIG stands for School Water Improvement Grant. One statistic that I saw was that over 82% of Massachusetts schools have some type of lead in their water. So in 2016, the governor authorized funds to be able to test water in schools and then also provide some funds for replacing drinking and bottle filling stations. in schools. So in order for us to be eligible for that and to also have concern and the utmost focus on the best drinking water possible for our staff and students, we began testing the water. Madam Superintendent, would you like to say anything before we move on to the team from UMass?