[Nicole Morell]: Please be advised, and I'm going to leave the meeting because Jenny can't join. So please be advised that on Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 6.30 p.m., there will be an MSBA communications and community engagement subcommittee meeting held through remote participation and via Zoom. The agenda is roll call, finalize community survey to collect input on FAQs and other features for the website, discuss MHS video project and develop a plan of action. Recording in progress. And then a German. So I will start with the roll call. Marissa Desmond? Here. Maria Dorsey? Hey. Luke Prisner? Tina C? Will, do we usually call you on the roll call? I can't remember.
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, I got formally inducted at a school committee meeting in the fall, so.
[Nicole Morell]: Okay, perfect. All right, so Will Papaselli? Here. and Nicole Morell, present. And then I think I see we have Larry and we have Peter on as well. So the first item on the agenda is to finalize the community survey to collect input on FAQs and other features on the website. Is that something you have to share, Will?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, let me figure out what screen to share. I think it's this one. Can y'all see this? Yes.
[Will Pipicelli]: OK, so I went to a few of the other website, the other schools that were building or in the process of building a new building. I looked at Lexington. I looked at Stoneham. I looked at Waltham. Some of them are probably a little more advanced in the process than we are at this stage. But I kind of broke it down. So I think these were kind of the big, The big ones that need answering and throughout this, I'll be happy to either add more or take feedback or think about some things that we could possibly add to this. But these are kind of the big starting points. In terms of probably the big, those, those large key questions.
[Nicole Morell]: Thanks. Well, um. Do folks want to, can you share a link to that we could look at so we can just do it on our own?
[SPEAKER_05]: I will, anyone with link? And then I will add it in a chat.
[Will Pipicelli]: And then I'll just keep going through it. And then so I think the next thing is kind of, I guess the next step is the who. So these are some questions that we don't have answers to today, obviously, with the OPM, the construction manager, designer, and what those people who will be joining us in stage two look like. And then I also, so I kind of broke it down as the big picture questions. the questions for stage two, and then kind of the work that we've already done so far, which is in stage one. What happened, what documents have we already done, who was part of this, which is obviously the committee that was formed earlier in the spring, and then kind of the background of our history with the MSBA process. So, and then in terms of like, wherever the new high school, like what will happen and all the kind of logistical questions I know that we don't have the answers to right now. My personal opinion was I didn't think it'd be appropriate slash worth listening them because we don't have the answers to those questions. So I'm happy to have any feedback. We should add something, take something out, but yeah.
[Nicole Morell]: I do wonder if it is, at least for the where will the new high school be, I wonder if it's worth including and just saying, you know, this is, you know, whatever the answer is, as far as this is something that's still under consideration, just because I just wonder if people don't see the question, they'll just like assume it's missed, and they're just gonna, you know, email and ask and we're gonna email back anyway. So just like kind of letting people know it's still TBD, but we're aware that it's a big question.
[Marissa Desmond]: I think that's probably the case with a lot of the questions that you have down there. People are going to ask, where's my kid going to go to school? Immediately, someone's going to say, where's my rising freshman school next year? And you just have questions that maybe there's a section that's questions still to be answered or something like that. Yeah.
[Maria D'Orsi]: I'm already hearing people say, I heard it's going to be built. And people are already guessing. I'm hearing the Anheuser-Busch plant. But anyway, that's the way it goes. Yeah.
[Nicole Morell]: I have not heard that one yet, but that's a, yeah, any open parcel of land, I'm sure. Conjecture.
[Will Pipicelli]: So Marissa, just going back to what you said, these are kind of some of that I had listed that I think kind of fall under that realm. Should I just bump those up?
[Marissa Desmond]: I mean, not necessarily all of them, like what design elements will be included and factored into the project. Like, I think that's something like that's, I mean, it's not specific, but it is pretty specific, but like, oh, a new high school is being built. My kids in high school, what's going to happen to them? Like, That's the first thing that someone's going to want to know. And I think it is totally reasonable that we don't have the answer, but. Yeah. I think so.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my understanding was that part of the feasibility study was to take a look at the various sites that have been proposed and you know obviously the existing site is one. I think there had been a question about whether that could move down below the the Jewish synagogue and incorporate that if that was a possibility. I think there's been some discussion of the park down there at the end of Playstead, and then the bush, or the, yeah, the bud. I think that was just kind of out there, because it's such a nice place, and it's essentially relocated. I don't know quite if any work has been done on any of those sites, but I think somebody has them in their notes, I think, that those were things to possibly investigate, as well as the existing site up on the fields and stuff. I've no idea where it's at, but those are things I've heard.
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, so I guess, Larry, in terms of what we're doing here, piggybacking off what you said, I think maybe just having that key question like Marissa said, but also maybe listing some of the sites that we've at least explored without committing ourselves to locking those spots down in stone.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I mean, not to split hairs, but I do wonder if listing any sites, I mean, I think just, I think maybe listing- It might be premature. Yeah, criteria for what's under consideration in a site, but I think listing anything specific just kind of, people look at stuff really quick and then run with it, so.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's part of the feasibility study, because I don't have a clue.
[Maria D'Orsi]: I think it would be a good idea just to say, including the current location, because some people may- Sure.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I think that's really important, Maria, good point. All right.
[Marissa Desmond]: So we should say- I think that could just go into that, do you share questions to be answered? We could list it there could be. I mean, I don't know. I'm not entirely sure what the format would be, but, like, it could be, like, under study, you know, under consideration at the moment. We'll know once the feasibility study gets underway.
[Will Pipicelli]: or something like that, and we can either list specific places, including the new high school, or we can kind of just list general areas of space that are open.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I mean, I would say, you know, a number of locations are under consideration, including the current site. And it may be worth just another questions to be answered. Like if there's just like a subtext underneath that, that's like, just basically says like the, the questions below are, you know, identifying answers to the questions below are part of this process. Like, it's not like we're behind by not having answers to these questions. It's just something that has to be figured out along the way.
[Will Pipicelli]: Okay, is there. I guess we'll just we'll just start kind of with the, are these good for the kind of the four main sections the. Well, I guess three because we've technically not in stage two yet but just bringing it down as big stuff feasibility is stage one and then questions to be answered.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I would just make sure in the project basics it references, and maybe it's in the project timeline, it just references the stages so that someone understands what, like, you know, why we're saying stage one and stage two below. So just making sure that that's outlined elsewhere.
[Will Pipicelli]: So maybe what does the MSBA process? Something like that?
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah.
[Will Pipicelli]: Okay. Is there, I guess now we'll just go section by section just so we cover our bases. Is there anything else worth adding in this basic section?
[SPEAKER_00]: What did Jenny say? I mean, I think some of this stuff has been discussed previously and some of it may be in the notes. I don't know. I've toured several high schools. I don't know. I think Maria, you did one of them. And I took a ton of notes, but we've never, you know, I don't, I think it's prematurity to the design stage, like, very specifically until we have the site and stuff. But I, some of this stuff has been discussed previously. So you may find it in the record already.
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, I guess I'm more concerned about the questions themselves rather than necessarily the answers at tonight, and then we can kind of collaborate what the answers will look like, which has been discussed throughout these meetings.
[Maria D'Orsi]: You know, I'm kind of stuck on the question, will the new Medford High School offer CTE programming? Because it's almost making it sound like it hasn't been offering it. I think maybe it should say, will continue to be, or that it's turned moving to a comprehensive school with both the CTE and high school together, or I'm just stuck on the wording there.
[Will Pipicelli]: for the new Bedford High School?
[Maria D'Orsi]: Because that- The answer to that, I believe, is absolutely yes. It'll just be- Alongside- Approved. Or to be part of the high school complex, maybe?
[Marissa Desmond]: I think you could just at the end, after continue to offer CTE programming alongside, you know, the traditional.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Marissa Desmond]: Yeah, alongside the traditional. I don't think that's the right word, but yeah, high school curriculum or the yeah.
[Will Pipicelli]: All right. Yeah, so I can play around with that, but I think the genesis of making sure that we'll see TB offered, but also alongside what we're already teaching many of our students. And then, yeah, is there anything else that sticks out here, or should we jump on to down below?
[Marissa Desmond]: Just take that where will the high school be built out of this section.
[Will Pipicelli]: We're taking this out and moving it down.
[Marissa Desmond]: I think you already moved it down there, but.
[Will Pipicelli]: It is listed to it. All right.
[Marissa Desmond]: I think it makes sense to have it below because like in this section, we're going to have like actual answers. Right. So having it in the section where it's just like, okay.
[Will Pipicelli]: And then we're skipping stage two because we were not there quite yet. Hopefully soon. But then I guess in terms of stage one, this is where we can keep some of those documents that we already worked on, remind people of who was involved in this stage. And I think also just a little historical backdrop of kind of when and how.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I wonder if the first question, just to get a bit more like powerful language, just say what was accomplished in this step, maybe rather than like what happened in this step.
[Marissa Desmond]: Um, maybe was this the first time we went through instead of we, you could say like the Medford school committee or Medford high school building committee or something like that.
[Will Pipicelli]: Is this, was this the first time. Does that make more sense?
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah.
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, and now I wasn't here for those first steps of the feasibility study. But is there anything else that sticks out as part of that process?
[Nicole Morell]: I mean, I think this maybe is answered. It's kind of addressed above, but I don't know if. Like, are costs estimates revealed as part of the feasibility study? Maybe that's like getting into the weeds, but I feel like if I saw feasibility study, I'd be like, oh, maybe they have, you know, dollar signs they got from the feasibility study.
[Will Pipicelli]: For cost-free. Does that make sense or should that be?
[Nicole Morell]: I think it makes sense as a non-construction manager, like a non-expert in this space.
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, because I think here we can also say the city provided us money to go into a feasibility study as well. Make that clear here.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, that's a good point.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK. Excuse me, do you guys have any questions that I can help with? I've heard a lot of this stuff already discussed and I don't think I have a role to discuss it further. So I'm not sure what else I can contribute tonight. So unless you got a reason, I think I'm gonna, that's it. If there's any reason to stay, I'm happy to do that. But I don't quite understand what's going on here.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I think we're mostly in the question asking part of the communications process. OK.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you guys got a good handle on that. So I'll see you next time. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening, all.
[Nicole Morell]: You too.
[Will Pipicelli]: And then I think these are the big questions that people may still have about the project that we don't have answers yet to. I guess there's only three listed. Is there more to consider?
[Marissa Desmond]: Let me look at the ones that were down below again.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
[Nicole Morell]: I wonder if.
[Will Pipicelli]: And then I also had some of these.
[Nicole Morell]: Oh yeah, I think that Kids Corner and yeah, I think Kids Corner, Curtis Tufts are important. Right, I agree. And then I don't know exactly what the answer for the, you know, how is this project or how will this project be funded? I assume that's going to include the, like a reference to a debt exclusion or a potential debt exclusion. So I wonder if then in the questions to be answered, it's, you know, when can we expect, you know, when can voters expect to see something related to this project on the ballot?
[Marissa Desmond]: Now I'm like, there's so many questions, I'm forgetting what I read up above. But was there one, when will the project be finished? Because I know that's another thing that we don't know. But I don't know.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, there's a general project timeline question. But yeah, I had that same thought, too.
[Marissa Desmond]: It's still like, I mean, this is where I'm meeting a million meetings ago, I was saying it might be nice to kind of create like a graphic timeline as opposed to a timeline that has actual dates on it, to be able to just be like, here's where we are in the process. We have no idea how long this process is, but we're X percentage of the way through.
[Will Pipicelli]: And the MSBA has some really good graphics about what the timeline looks like. So I think it'd be kind of easy to just take what they have, apply it to us, and then even just stick that picture as the answers. So, yeah, I like that idea, Marissa.
[Marissa Desmond]: I can definitely help if we want to create any visuals as well. That's.
[Will Pipicelli]: My house. Um. Yeah, so I think these questions we, um. I don't think we need to answer tonight. I think Dave, a lot of them have already been answered kind of in the public meetings that we've had. So I can either talk to Jenny or just go back to those meetings and pull some of the answers to them. But in terms of what we're ready to publish and just because I know the questions that we have, many of the community members will have them as well. So. But if there's anything else you think is worth discussing for this, the link for it is in the chat. So if it's easier to see it on that end.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Well, we'll have access to this, right? Can we, are we commenters?
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, you're full editors. Yep. So you can take the comment, but yeah.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Yep.
[Nicole Morell]: I assume this is like kind of a living document. I mean, we wanna vote out something tonight so that we can get something up, but like anytime we meet, we can say, oh, I think we should add this, right?
[Will Pipicelli]: Yeah, totally. And then I can also, after the meeting ends, make it look a little more organized than these letters. But Nicole, I guess in terms of voting, what is there to, to kind of make sure it gets voted on tonight for this.
[Nicole Morell]: I think just like us like voting to approve this to, I assume the next step on your end is just to get it on the website. So I think it would just be to vote to approve as is would be my thought. Okay. So do we have any further edits or do we feel comfortable having a motion to approve?
[Marissa Desmond]: I'm comfortable having a motion, yeah.
[Nicole Morell]: All right. Can I get a motion? Motion to approve the document. Motion to approve the document by Maria, seconded by... Seconded. Well, you're non-voting as far as I know, so I think I can only get a vote from... Seconded. Seconded by Marissa. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Hi. I suppose. All right. The motion passes. And then the other thing we have is, um, finalizing the community survey as well.
[Will Pipicelli]: Um Marie, I'll I have I can put it up on my screen if you want to
[Maria D'Orsi]: So this document is obviously directed towards the faculty and staff of the high school. So when we say community, I'm just limiting that community to the stakeholders here. And I spoke with a couple of the teachers before I worked on this, and one of them said, you need to make sure you answer three questions. What are we keeping? What do you want? What do you need? So those questions, that actually directed how I asked the questions, and Will certainly cleaned it up, too, and made it better by adding the last question as well, because people always want to know, is this going to be in confidence? Is this going to, is my name going to be attached to this when I answer? So it's pretty direct. It's short, which is what we wanted. And that was discussed at the last meeting that we just wanted a few questions to put it out there to staff and faculty and get them thinking about the process, get them invested in the process, and then let them start to guide us with some of their needs. And maybe they'll think of some things that we haven't come up with.
[Will Pipicelli]: I will share this out with everyone after. I know Google Forms is really hard with sharing permissions these days, so I just want to make sure it gets into my hands. So piggybacking off of what Maria said, So the plan is to send this out to MHS staff members, kind of solicit their responses. And then at the bottom, because they're kind of thinking about it, if they're interested in speaking on camera to the students, we met with Mr. Hester, who runs our film and TV production CTE program. And he's got some students who are interested in helping us make a video just kind of outlining why we need a new high school. We thought that, It kind of formed it sounded as a narrative came from the student came from the mostly teachers, but also some of the students who fortunately won't be able to use the high school just because of the project timeline. It'll kind of drive the narrative and the importance of why we need this building. Um, effectively.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Sean also talked about how much more effective it is to ask fewer questions rather than more questions. And so that guided this forum as well. And he's prepared to start as soon as we put this out. He's very excited about being involved with the project and he even wanted to bring students to our meeting with Will. And they're ready to go and they're ready to jump on it. They're very excited about it.
[Nicole Morell]: Awesome. Yeah, this looks good to me, I think, especially when you put the emphasis on just keeping it shorter. I wonder if just question three, it just says, what are the components of the school that we need to keep? I don't know if we need to be clear that it's physical components or like, or space components or something, because I could just imagine someone writing a long thing about programming we need to keep. And maybe that is an answer. I could be wrong. But I don't know if we're just looking for physical space responses.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Well, I think that kind of gets addressed in the next question as far as limits, talking classroom shops. But if that needs to be reworded, that No, but that's a good point.
[Nicole Morell]: I mean, yeah, maybe someone does answer just programmatically, but that's still helpful information because you say, okay, they really care about this program and we need to find space for it.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Or even if we just say what would need what that we need to keep thinking in terms of you and your students, maybe putting it that way.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I think just getting your. Yeah, I could be up for that, but I think getting your background information too, like I think that's, I understand it better now, like, you know, having these, I understand that the second question is like a little bit more about space and if people answer programmatically in the first question, then that still informs space.
[Marissa Desmond]: Maybe just change the order. Like if the want question is like really physical spaces and that like might get people more in the mindset of like answering about space within the building as opposed to concepts. I agree with that.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Yeah, that's a good point.
[Will Pipicelli]: So now it's, what do you want to see in the new high school? What do you want to keep from the old high school? And then what do we need in the new? Yeah, that makes a lot more sense.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Yeah, I agree.
[Will Pipicelli]: And then in terms of the video itself, Sean said, Mr. Sean Hester said that, depending on how many people respond, the video itself is only going to be like three to five minutes, keeping it short, because our 2025 attention spans are not always the highest these days. So keeping it short, and if we get a lot of great answers, he said his students are willing to kind of cut up some different variations that will still serve the same purpose.
[Nicole Morell]: And just for my understanding, this is the same video that's on the agenda. This is the video we were going to talk about anyways later tonight. Because I know there was an archive video we talked about a long time ago, just making sure this is the video that we had planned to talk about tonight.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Yes. I think this is the first leg of it, right? Because it will be an ongoing video series, I guess. That's my understanding anyway.
[Nicole Morell]: Okay, great. Yeah, I think I'm just like, yeah, I'm just making sure it's not, not making sure, I'm just making sure I'm talking about the right things. I just remember their talk of like old library footage, like several meetings back and just making sure I'm talking about the same video as everyone else. Yeah. This survey looks good to me. If folks have any other edits or thoughts.
[Marissa Desmond]: this video will be later shared as part of the, I think just shared later.
[Will Pipicelli]: This video will be shared like publicly later? I just want to make it clear that like, if you're going to go on camera, like we're going to broadcast what you said.
[Marissa Desmond]: Yeah, no, I just think later shared is a little clunky, just shared later. Or even just shared as a part of community outreach.
[Maria D'Orsi]: You know, that's better. Yes.
[Nicole Morell]: Do I have a motion to approve the survey as is. Motion to approve the survey motion to approve the survey from Marissa seconded by. I'll second it, Maria, and then we'll vote. So, Marissa, on the motion to approve the survey? Yes. Okay, one yes. And Maria, on the motion to approve the survey? Yes. And myself? Yes. So that's three in the affirmative. Motion passes. And then we also just have on the agenda the video itself. So if there's anything else you want to share about it, Maria?
[Maria D'Orsi]: No, actually, our conversation with Sean was pretty directed towards just this piece. And then I think as we move along, they'll see where we go according to our process. He's got such a good handle on how this would be viewed to the public, what needs to be done, how to make it so that everybody will be able to, I guess, enjoy it and get something out of it by keeping things short. I think it just will be ongoing. At this time, I don't think there's really any plan other than that it will continue.
[Nicole Morell]: Okay, great. Yeah. So it sounds like the action plan where it stands now is basically get the survey out and start to collect this and then hand it off to the students. And then as they edit together, go from there as it comes together. Okay. Yes.
[Maria D'Orsi]: As it is what you when you're dealing with students, that's pretty much the way it has to be anyway. So right.
[Nicole Morell]: Right. Okay, great. Yeah, I don't know if we had to take any, I don't feel like we don't have to take any official action on that outside of we approve the survey, which includes the question. So that's done. So that covers our agenda. Unless folks have anything else.
[Maria D'Orsi]: I do have a question, and this is only because I was listening to some information about some of the other building projects, and one of the high schools costs about $250 million. Is that the range that we're considering? I don't know. I know we haven't talked any money, but is that where we're at? Is that what we're looking at? Does anyone have any idea? Because I was kind of floored at that.
[Marissa Desmond]: From my personal architecture background, that's like an expensive school, but it is not like an order of magnitude off. It will be up there. Yeah, I just and that'll be like total project costs. So not like the not only just the building that'll include all of the fees for the design team, the fees for the construction team, all of the equipment that goes to fitting out the building and everything like that.
[Maria D'Orsi]: And everything's finished landscaping and all of that. Yeah.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I just briefly looked up my alma mater, which is in full reverse. It's not like a bells and whistles kind of place. It is significantly larger than Medford High, and it was $263 million. So yeah, I think at this point, it's definitely in that world. OK. Yeah, it's an incredible amount.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Yes. staggering, especially, you know, I was somewhat involved in the K-8 school building, and the whole project, I think, was less than that.
[Marissa Desmond]: I know that construction costs have really, really risen in the post-COVID era, like things have gone way, way, way up.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, I think I remember, I can't remember how much it costs. I'd have to look it up. I remember Newton North and like the big story about it being like the most expensive high school ever. And now I feel like everything costs that much.
[Maria D'Orsi]: Right? Yeah. Well, I think Otis will have, will be kind of surprised when I saw, when it's revealed, but.
[Nicole Morell]: Yeah, yeah, but I think that's why part of the reason or debt exclusions are over 30 years. So divided by X number of people over 30 years and it's a little less shocking, but it is, yeah, it's not an insignificant amount by any means. Great, all right, thanks everyone for working so hard and for a very timely meeting. I just need a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. On the motion of Maria to adjourn, seconded by... Seconded. Seconded by Marissa. I will call the vote on the motion to adjourn. Marissa? Yes. Maria? Yes. Myself? Yes. That's three in the affirmative. The meeting is adjourned.
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