[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The Medford School Committee regular meeting May 16, 2016 will now come to order. Please call the roll. Present. Seven present, none absent. All please rise to salute our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. There's a motion on the floor for suspension of the rules by Ms. Viendicluz so that Mr. Superintendent could make an announcement.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee and ladies and gentlemen, Tonight we're distinctly privileged and honored to have with us the Medford Middle School String Ensemble, which was founded in 2009 by Medford teacher Sophia Chang to encourage the development of musical excellence. Miss Chang is serving her 13th year as orchestra director at McGlynn Middle School. Since 2011, the ensemble has received six consecutive gold medals at the Concert Festival Conference. The string ensemble performed at Boston Symphony Hall and Mechanics Hall in Worcester. Many of her former students continue to pursue musicianship at the Tufts Youth Philharmonic, the NEC Youth Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and among others. Mrs. Chang is committed to foster broader appreciation for classical music to young people. Tonight, we are privileged to hear them perform at least two selections, Cakewalk from Serenade for String Orchestra by Norman Leiden, and Lullaby by William Huffeld. Madam Mayor, members of the committee, let's welcome our middle school orchestra.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Bravo, what a beautiful way to start our meeting off this evening. Thank you all so very much. That was absolutely glorious. Thank you. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So tonight, I was so excited because I knew that when I came to the meeting that Ms. Chang and the students would be here. And you know, we've watched each year asking for them to come and perform at our school committee meeting because there's no better reminder for us of what excellence we have in the Medford Public Schools. I am so, so proud of these students, the work, the determination, looking at their faces, looking at the concentration. And also, one of the other privileges that I've had is to watch them go on, go on to the high school, talk to them. They're siblings that I've seen. One family member moves on up to the high school, but another family member comes in. I want to thank the parents for making sure that their students get to all of these performances. I want to thank Ms. Cheng for her amazing dedication to these students and to the music program. And students, I want to commend you on your excellent performance. It is wonderful to achieve at this level. Thank you so much.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you. I don't want to reiterate what Ms. Van der Kloot said, but we are so impressed and so proud of who our students are. I also have to shout out to the whole music department. I had the privilege last week to go to the high school and the middle school band concerts, the orchestra concert. And each and every time, it just gets better and better and better. And for us, I can't be more proud of who you are and who you represent, because we are not representing you. You are representing us. And I can't be prouder than that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? Hi, I just want to take a moment Thank the students for filling this room with beauty and grace and art. This is art in our community right here. We're creating artists. And Ms. Chang is not easy. I know my daughter had her many years ago. And you have to hold the bowl in a special way. And she holds them all accountable. And that's why you are so good. It's because of the teaching you have. And my daughter still plays today. Thank you, Mrs. Chang. as well as Mr. Zigny and all the other people in the music department and the fine arts department. We as a committee have really committed ourselves to arts in our schools, and that has brought more art to our community, and I hope that we can continue this work together. Thank you for your time in bringing such beauty and peace into my evening.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And now if I could all invite you up to the front so that we can present some awards to you all.
[Sophia Chang]: Thank you all for coming tonight. To listen to the children play, I am just, my appreciation is beyond words. It is my great pleasure to teach in Medford. The ensemble was formed seven years ago to encourage artistic excellence, and the award is the result of a collective effort from all the students, and their parents. Many of my former students also come to coach the youngsters. I really appreciate their help. Our gratitude goes to the school committee and all the administrators, the faculties, friends, and families for their unwavering support. Without your support, the program won't be possible. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Congratulations, the Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Isabel Bezerra for outstanding performance and dedication to Medford Middle School Strings Ensemble, 2016 MICCA Concert Festival Gold Medal. King Cheng. Carla Lemus. Margaret Tseng. Dorothea Bellotti. Evan Lau Amy Perilla Alexander Newt. Justin Truong. Michael Wu. Kieran Adams. Diego Hernandez. Henry Nyan. Theodore Tringali. Congratulations Theo. Arielle Bezzera Samuel Klugisch Catherine Schmidt. Augustine Tringali. Thank you all so much for being here. I think we may be getting another song. Yes? Thank you very much, Ms. Chang. We're going to take a five minute recess. Next agenda item is the approval of minutes of May 2nd, 2016. Motion on the floor for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Vandekloot. All in favor? All opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills, transfer of funds. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Benedetto. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payrolls. Mr. Skerry. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Vandekloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of the secretary. None noted. Vandekloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I'd like to ask for suspension of the rules so that we could have community participation prior to the report of committees.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor for suspension of the rules. All those in favor?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Suspension is granted. Community participation. Ian Froning Kosuth, Medford Educational Foundation.
[SPEAKER_10]: Good evening. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Superintendent. Good evening, honored members of the school committee. I'm Anne Frenning-Kesuth. I live at 88 Winthrop Street in the Hillside neighborhood of Medford, Massachusetts. This is David Sayers. He's my esteemed chair of my Grants to Faculty Committee. Oh, sorry.
[Roy Belson]: I'll just be in front.
[SPEAKER_10]: You can stand straight. Yeah, you can stand straight. OK. Sorry. So how much did everybody miss? Should I start over? It's OK. We got you now. OK. So we're just here because the Medford Educational Foundation is a private fund to supplement the city's public education budget by rewarding teacher innovation in the classroom. It's a 501c3. It's an independent fund. It did exist in Medford about 17 years ago, but my co-founder, Paulette Vanderkloot, and I resuscitated it, and we launched it in about December of 2015, and we got 501c3 status pretty quickly. And then we did a lot of fundraising. We had a wonderful event at Wright's Pond in September of that same year. We basically were able to give out grants to faculty as early as December 15, 2015, with a window of about a month, January 15, 2016. And we awarded close to $7,000 worth of grants. I have a reprint of a transcript article that outlines in detail what those grants were. And I'm hoping if this might be something that I might submit, perhaps. It's just a direct quote from the paper. But as I mentioned before, David Sears, also Medford resident and parent, is the head of our Grants to Faculty Committee. And he has a little presentation that I think he's going to give. So thank you.
[Kh7pOoZw_4E_SPEAKER_15]: Thank you, Anne. Good evening. As Anne said, my name is David Sayers. I've been a resident of Medford with my family for the past 14 years, and I am the chairperson of the Grants to Faculty Committee of the Medford Educational Fund, or MEF. Tonight, I'd just like to give you a brief introduction of our goals and a short summary of the grants that we've awarded to date and plans for the near future. As Anne mentioned, we launched officially in January 2015. And thanks to the support and guidance of the City of Medford officials and the generous support of local individuals and businesses, we were able to hold our first grants less than five months after becoming a 501c3 organization. This past December, the MEF kicked off its first round of grant solicitations. We received 17 applications and we're pleased to be able to fund 11 of them, totaling almost $7,500. I'd like to highlight a few of those awards for you this evening. At the elementary school level, we were able to bring the hands-on history program to three of our elementary schools. Originally proposed by fifth grade McGlynn teacher Anthony Petrellis, Colette Van der Kloot, on behalf of the MEF, worked to expand this exciting opportunity to the Roberts and Columbus schools as well. This program brought presenters into the schools with over $100,000 worth of original 18th century artifacts and reenactments of the soldiers during the Revolutionary War to help bring what the students are learning in the classroom to real life. The MEF was also able to fund in part a grant to spearhead an innovation to bring hydroponics to the elementary school level. Started by McGlynn principal Diane Guarino and fourth grade teacher Donna Lasky, fourth grade students are learning about hydroponics. And while the students are having fun, they are also realizing how what they learn in science, math, and social studies applies to real-world problems. At the middle school level, we were happy to fund a garden project by social studies teacher Kathleen O'Donoghue, who is teaching her 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students about how to build a sustainable food source in an urban setting and also learn about providing healthy food for themselves and their families. At the high school level, we are helping to expand the existing successful aquaponics fish tank to include a hydroponics system. so that the plants will clean the water and the fish will fertilize the plants. In addition, we are funding programs that target at-risk students through the Empower Student Club at the high school and teach real-world skills through Nicholas Kane's excellent docent teaching training program and teaching publishing skills through turning the online student mantra magazine into a print version. In total, we were able to fund three grants at the elementary school level, one at the middle school level, and seven at the high school and vocational school. We have recently announced our next round of funding for the fall 2016 school year, and have already started receiving proposals. Going forward, we plan to have two main funding cycles a year, due October 15 and May 1. Thank you for your time and attention.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vanden Heuvel. I just want to thank Anne and David for being here today, because I am part of it. I know how hard they've worked to make this successful. I think many of us have heard about some of the projects. Actually, I read about some of them in the newspaper and whatever, and I knew that they were also projects that the Medford Educational Fund had funded. So thank you to them for being here, and we appreciate the support of the school committee. I should also, I'd like to quickly add that it's been incredibly helpful to, Pat Vili has guided us on some of the financial things that we needed help with, and we really, really appreciate Pat's help and direction.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I also want to say thank you to Ian and David and everyone else who was involved in this, and to my colleague Paula Van der Kloot. What I'm really happy about is that it was not only a plan of an organization to come to us and say what your plan was going to be, but you actually put your money where your mouth was and came up with money and was able to distribute it with the school system. So I thank you for that, and I thank you for making that reality, not just talk. It really shows when people do roll up their sleeves and work together, what things could really, can and will be accomplished. So I thank you for that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Kreatz. I also just want to thank David and Ian, and I wanted to share an experience. I went to Ms. Lasky's class and I got to see the, by hydroponics, yep, the hydroponics, and I got to taste the lettuce. They cut it and the students brought in the dressing and It was a great experience. And I've also seen the aquaponics at the high school, Mr. Russo's class. And it's just a wonderful experience for the kids. And it was just so fun. And the kids were so happy. And thank you so much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Wonderful. Thank you very much for all your hard work on behalf of the students of Medford. Thank you. Motion to receive in place on file the report by Miss Van der Klooth, seconded by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Also while we're into suspension from community participation, Anne-Sherla Monzel-Moore, follow-up. Ms. Moore.
[Angela Moore]: Good evening and thank you school committee, um, Mr. Superintendent and Madam Mayor for allowing me to speak. Um, I spoke before you on April 11th and I asked the committee to have a transparent succession plan for the position of superintendent in place by June of this year. On May 3rd, I attended the city council meeting and was very surprised to learn that in the superintendent's contract, It states that the school committee shall advise the superintendent of its intent to extend his contract by June 30, 2016. I was disappointed to hear this from a city Councilor given the fact four committee members were part of the negotiations for the current contract. That information could have been relayed to me when I spoke on April 11th. With that being said, I would assume the committee will have a plan in place by the given date. This is probably the most important role that you as a school committee member will play in your tenure. It's your legacy as elected officials. You can get this right or you can get this very wrong. I followed up with each of you individually via email, and again, did not receive a response from the majority of you. From those that did respond, thank you. What I'm asking from you is to devise a plan in the event Medford needs to hire a new superintendent. You've not been faced with such a task in over 20 years. And if the need did arise any time soon, you would have no guidelines set forth. Such a situation would surely result in panic and a haphazard process of finding a replacement. Ultimately, this is not about Mr. Belson's contract. However, the fact that it is the catalyst for such a discussion cannot be ignored. I'm speaking to you as a citizen you have been elected to represent. I'm also speaking to you on behalf of the 250 other residents that have signed both an online and paper petition. I'm frustrated a petition had to be started asking you to do your due diligence and ensure that proper measures are being taken regarding filling one of the most important positions in our school system. This is not just a small group of people with a sudden sense of urgency that are concerned about this. These are your constituents, and this is a plan that should always have been in place. With all of that being said, I will reiterate the questions I have regarding the process for renewal. and the subsequent questions should a contract not be renewed. Please feel free to take notes and answer when I'm done speaking. As I said before, this plan is not just about this contract, but since this contract is the one being renewed, it needs to be addressed. I understand Mr. Belson is currently working on a self-evaluation as stated in his contract. I further understand you will then begin your process of evaluation. Given you are obligated to work on this as a committee, at what point do you discuss your evaluations if the superintendent is always present at every meeting and every executive session? Is this process made public and is there an opportunity for public input? Is Mr. Belson's contract automatically extended on June 30th if your evaluations determine he is performing in a satisfactory manner? At this point, I feel your lack of a succession plan will truly come into play. If Mr. Belson announces at a later date that he plans on retiring, What is your plan? A plan should answer the following questions. What are the guidelines put forth with respect to renewing the superintendent's contract and finding a replacement? These guidelines should include, but not be limited to, evaluation of the current superintendent as set forth by the terms in his contract, allowing the school committee to do their own evaluation and discuss said evaluations without the superintendent present, gathering input from the community regarding their evaluations, If the contract is renewed, it should be clearly documented how recent and longstanding issues within the school system will be addressed. Clearly stated and documented requirements for a successor should be put forth. The guidelines should coherently document what the initiatives and direction of Medford Public Schools are and how they will be sustained by a successor. You need to evaluate the potential for an internal replacement and the eligibility requirements for such a vertical career move. You need to establish a timeline for searching for and transitioning in a replacement, allowing time for a replacement to work alongside the current superintendent if possible. And lastly, you need to determine how to record and maintain the knowledge that Mr. Belson does currently possess. It's a vast amount of knowledge and it's a vast network that he has created. And you need to know how to relay that to a successor. What I'm proposing should be a matter of routine governing within the realm of the school committee. As stated by one resident who signed the petition, succession planning is critical for a smooth search and leadership transition. We need the school committee to be proactive. As our elected representatives, they should implement a thoughtful, transparent process that prioritizes community input. I urge you to complete this process sooner rather than later and avoid the possibility of panic in our school system. There is indeed a sense of urgency since a proper search and transition should a replacement be needed will likely take a year. Now is the time you should be organizing yourselves and preparing yourself to take action if necessary. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cugno. Thank you. And thank you, Ms. Moore for coming here again and bringing your concerns to us. And I respect that. I'm going to address something in the room that maybe no one wants to talk about. And that is the elephant in the room, the rumors, the Facebook posts, the discussions between constituents. and not to mention the City Council. As a member of the School Committee, I truly want to thank you and I want to thank anyone who is truly concerned and has a vested interest in this situation. I love the idea of having people come up and discuss their ideas, for this is the forum. where this discussion should be held. However, I also want to remind everyone as a school committee member, there is a process and a succession of what we as a body need and decide to discuss and determine for the best interest of our district. As a committee member or anyone who needs to compare and evaluate, we need to compare one year to the next. And we are in the process of collecting that data. Now, as far as transparency, let's address what maybe I took for granted That was obvious. I will speak for myself as a school committee member. After investing 10 years, completed years, nine years as MASC, as a member, executive board member, and not to mention the president of Massachusetts Association of School Committees, meaning that I represent of all the school committee members in the state, the projects, the money, the time, the networking in our city, across the state and country, We have invested, and I hope and think parents, students, administrators, teachers, and constituents in our district would not believe that we, as your elected officials, would have been given this position and will take the hiring of a new superintendent very lightly. The hiring of superintendent, especially under our circumstances, whatever you agree or disagree, like or dislike the superintendent, the gentleman has been in a position for many years. For some of you, that may be a con. For some, it may be a pro. Personal preference, but for a person who has been around, and I can honestly say and tell you I've been on many sides and have seen our administration work, where many of you have not, I can tell you we have and are represented very well across the state. I know this is not the point for many of you. You are asking for transparency in the process. Educated in what the superintendent search entails and knowing what other cities are going through right now, This is something that we as a school committee need to sit down and discuss. We have had certain maybe not official meetings, but the discussion has come up. But we need to have certain things done in succession. As I mentioned before, the superintendent has already spoken to us. We already knew when the evaluation is going to be presented to us as far as what the next step was going to be. And so I guess at this point, I just really want to say that we are very much aware of what's going on. And it's kind of frustrating as a school committee member to sit there and know the hard work that people in our city have done. The children that were here tonight, that shows what we have in our schools. Not only in the group that was here this evening, but in many groups. This last month and a half, we have done nothing but give certificates out, not from us, but what our children have achieved in the state of Massachusetts. So to sit and listen over and over again, to listen to people just throw things out that are not factual is very frustrating. So with all due respect, I do and ask that I make a motion this evening that we have the meeting of the superintendent committee of the whole for the superintendent's evaluation. And then we also need to have the meeting of executive, the executive meeting, I'm sorry, the executive committee of, executive meeting for his contract.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If I could just make an announcement. If I could just make one announcement. We have scheduled a Committee of the Whole for June 2nd to go over the superintendent's self-review of himself. And at that point, we will be evaluating him, and then we will move forward in the process.
[Angela Moore]: I would just like to follow up to that to say that I am actually a very proud product of Medford Public Schools. My children attend Medford Public Schools. I am extraordinarily aware of what Medford Public Schools have done, what they can do, and I hope to God what they will do. So for you to sit there and say that I don't appreciate what goes on in the Medford Public Schools is an outright travesty. With that being said, I am not asking you to simply sit there and say if you're going to renew or not renew Mr. Belson's contract. What I'm asking you is to have a transparent process if it has to happen. If, God forbid, he couldn't perform his job tomorrow, what is the process? And you'll say it's transparent. Well, then why did I stand here in front of you in April and not one of you had the audacity, not one of you could say anything to me? You didn't acknowledge that I was here. So don't tell me that's transparent. Thank you, Mr. Benedetto.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Thank you. Point of personal privilege, Ms. Cuno.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Angela, I didn't say it was you. I'm saying in general. Well, I'm the one standing up. Actually, I said thank you to you when you first came, and I said it a couple of times, actually, that I enjoy that when you do come, this is where the forum should be. It's very, very frustrating to be on this side, too, just as much as it is for you that you want to do the best you possibly can for your children. But it's very frustrating on this side working the hours that everybody works, not just me, I'm no one compared to everybody in this room. But to sit here week after week and listen to everyone else discuss our Our due diligence of what we're doing for our children is very frustrating. I've said it to you before and I will say it to you again. Thank you for bringing this up to us. But you also have to understand that there is a process. I'm not saying that the process is behind closed doors. We haven't been in that situation in the past. And you're absolutely right. We've always talked about, if God forbid anything happens, that we want to know what's going to happen. But to sit here and know outside of this room that already there is people talking about, oh, we're hiring or we're firing, that's not fair to us. And I'm not saying that that was you. And I know that you have children in the system, because my children have been with your children. So I am not getting more aggravated at you. I thanked you for coming to us. But you need to give us, you, the public, needs to give us some time. Because there hasn't been time to sit down and do what we have to do. And it's kind of ironic, we can't evaluate something if you have nothing to evaluate it from. We have to evaluate the evening with the superintendent. Well, we have to wait for the evening of the superintendent, and that is coming up this week. So, I mean, I understand the frustration of everybody, but you also have to understand the frustration of us. Me, myself, as a parent, totally understand, but I'm on both sides. And it's very frustrating when you know your children are doing 100 percent the best they possibly can, and they're striving, and people just come to you and just keep on saying facts that are not true. If we're going to throw facts out there, let's remember, I don't know, a little bit of reality. And we sit here, I'm number one. I started here 10 years ago with let's not bully anybody. What kind of a message are we sending as adults to our children that we say don't bully? And we're at this point. It's very frustrating.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Um, I don't agree with my colleague. First of all, when you came in April, I wish I had said something, but you did make me think. And I did request the superintendent's contract. And that's when I found out that as a school committee member, the June 30th date, I did not know that prior to that. And, um, I'm honest and truthful, but prior to that, there were discussions and there were requests and evaluation processes happening. So, That actual date of June 30th, knowing that, that's where that came about. And I brought it to a meeting. after you came forward. And I apologize because I know it's not easy to stand there in front of a body of people and a whole nother room full of people and just ask about a process and not making it personal. I do this all the time. I do it with asking for budgets and I do it for oh, so many things. And people think I'm like, what do you want to know? I just want to know what's happening so I can make good judgments. And I think that's what's happening here. I think that The stuff going on, the parents making comments and bring them up, most of them Not all of them, but most of them, about the process. What do we do? We've had a great run with Superintendent Bellson. We wouldn't have our science labs without him. I know that. I know that better than anyone. He came to this meeting and presented it, and it's amazing that we have that. That got one third of our high school building remodeled at the same time. I mean, I watched in awe as that happened in front of me and made sure that it expanded our whole vocational education. And he's done so many wonderful things, but that does not mean he's going to be here forever. And we do need to start the process. I have asked for his self-evaluation. As far as I've been told from him, he is going to provide that to us today. May 16th is the date he told us at a prior meeting. I was looking forward to seeing that this evening. If that date has changed, he can correct me and tell me why that's changed. But we need sufficient time to go over his self-evaluation and do our evaluation that we do every year. We do this every year. And every year, I talk about his strengths. And every year, I talk about areas of growth, just like anyone in any job. And whether or not he has the option of deciding whether he's coming back, but he doesn't have to tell us until September 1st. That's what the contract says. My obligation as a school committee member and to the people who voted me into this seat is to make sure you feel that it's transparent. If you ever have a question, I will answer it honestly as to the process and what happened in my eyes and in my viewpoint. So I commend you for being here. I know that we're going to move forward. I'm very happy to have the meeting on the second. I would like the superintendent's evaluation prior to that so we can provide our evaluations of him on that evening so that way we commit and meet our deadlines. And I would like it published in a way that all of our community understands that we're doing this like we did last year, like we did the year prior. I don't want to be disrespectful to a person, but I want the process to be more clear, more understandable. Maybe this year we want to—we've always had the opportunity for people to come and speak. We usually don't have that in our audience, and I'm glad to see that some people are here and lined up to speak. But that's a time for when we do his evaluation. That might not be tonight, but if you feel like you're here and you're ready to speak, I am more than happy to hear every single person in this room. Okay. So that's my take in all of this. I commend you for coming forward April 3rd. Cause you, you started some me thinking and my actions moving forward. So I don't know if the superintendent is still planning on providing us that information this evening, and maybe we can figure out a timeline right now. And I applaud my colleague as far as setting up dates and moving forward and calling for a committee of the whole.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Krutz. Oh, hi, Angela. Thank you for coming out tonight. And, um, I, I did respond to your email and I let you know that, you know, I'm new. There's a couple of other new people here. And that night, typically we get an agenda and it tells us what's going to be on the agenda that night. And we get the information that we can read through. So the night that you were here, you weren't on the agenda. I really haven't experienced a lot of people coming that aren't on the agenda. So I didn't have any information to even speak on. the evaluation of the superintendent. I know from my work experience where I work, I work at Mass Teachers Retirement System, and I work with over 40 school districts, and I hear from my payroll people all the time how upsetting it is when they see a superintendent go, because they get a superintendent when somebody retires, and the superintendents are coming and going all the time. And when they come and go, they also come in and they reorganize. and they get their staff in there or their administration in there, and they set new rules. So then it sends a lot of teachers off going and a lot of people moving out of the community. So I agree with my colleagues that we need to take a lot of time doing the search, because we don't want to get somebody from Chicago, which I've just heard from one of my school districts, because they lost their superintendent. They got a new superintendent for two years after training the new superintendent, and now they have somebody from Chicago coming. who doesn't know anything about their district. So I think that it's going to take time. I don't know how much time, but we do have coming up the 23rd, I thought it was, is the evening with the superintendent. That's for the public, where everybody can go. And we're invited to go as well. And I'm going to take notes, because what I heard was that we could take notes at the meeting. And all of the meetings in all the past have been public meetings. So all the minutes are available. which is transparent. Honestly, I didn't have time to go and look for all those meeting minutes, but it's all available at any time for anybody to get. It's just a matter of, I know where I work. We have to go into the archive bulletins. It might be something like that because we have so much data to go into the websites. It might be in a different area that we might have to reach somebody in the IT or the technical office to find out exactly where they are. Honestly, I don't know, but no, I think You know, it's definitely something we have to consider and take a lot of time to do the search to actually get another superstar like Roy, because he's been doing a terrific job. You know, students rave about what he's doing, parents rave about what he's doing. You know, we have a lot of good, positive feedback, and I do appreciate everything you've said, and I hope you got my email when I responded. I did, thank you. Okay, thank you.
[Angela Moore]: not here specifically discussing Superintendent Belson's contract. I'm here speaking about a plan that should be in place, like what you're saying. You don't want someone to come in and then have it not work. So you need a plan in place so that if you do need to replace someone, there's certain steps that you go by. If there is a process, it should be public. Like you said, there is a process. Well, I have no idea what that process is. And when I stood here on April 11th, nobody shared with me what that process was. Nobody said, there will be this, there will be X, Y, and Z, and by June 30th, we will have something to say. That's transparency.
[Kathy Kreatz]: And I just went to a training along with a couple of my colleagues, and we went to the training. It's for new school committee members. So I received the certification probably, I think, two weeks ago. I don't remember the exact date. Yeah, it was actually the day before Mother's Day. So it was not this week, it was the week before. and we got a booklet and we, you know, there's a lot of information that we have available, including help from the MASC to conduct a superintendent search. They assist with the superintendent search and they gave us a little, you know, a little handout. So they also can help us conduct the search. And with any questions that we have as a committee, you know, to help us with the search. Now I'm not experienced with this. I've never done it. And I don't know if any of the colleagues here have done it because Mr. Belson has been the superintendent. So I think it's going to be new for all of us. You know, at the same time, it's going to be a work in process where you know, I think we're all going to learn from this experience and like we've been doing with all the other procedures, we've been documenting and we've been writing instructions and new procedures and we've been reviewing the procedures as a group before we make a motion to put it on the table before we publish it. And we've been, you know, doing that, you know, as we, I mean, during committee of the whole meetings. Um, so I think it's, It is, you know, definitely in the works. I think, you know, where it's so close to the superintendent night and so close to his evaluation, I, you know, I wish the timing was different and we had some more answers for you tonight, but I'm very glad that you've come out, you know, to talk to us. Thank you. Thanks.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I just want to back up for a second and remind everybody here that actually I've been through two superintendent searches already, but first for Superintendent DeVoe, an outside candidate, and secondly for Superintendent Belson, who was an internal candidate at the time. So I've actually got a little bit of experience. Also, I just want to assure everybody that there is no way, and I kind of recoil from your word haphazard, that I would allow this to be a haphazard process for picking the most important job that we have in our school system. In fact, if you go back, when I ran for school committee this time, one of the things I talked about was that we will be entering a transition period. and it will be vitally important that we take our time and we do due diligence and we have a very successful transition. And that's particularly because I am involved and have been involved on the statewide level at the MASC and we've talked to our colleagues from other districts who've done superintendent searches and we've gotten, Anne Marie and I have gotten some pretty good feedback We've also had the opportunity to talk, you know, they will do superintendent searches. There is a process with them that we could choose to, at the time, ask for their assistance. Of course, no decision like that has been made, but we are well aware of that as a potential. By the way, Angela, I did want to tell you that I did not receive an email from you, and that's been a problem. Somehow emails that are sent directly to the school are not coming to me, so use my Gmail address. please. So again, no way would I allow someone with 26 years of experience on the Medford School Committee, who lives and breathes this job, would I allow this to be a haphazard process. I also want to remind everybody that this year, we've had three new school committees join us. Ms. Kreatz, Ms. Mostoni, and in fact the mayor, is new. They joined us in January. That was not the time to spring into action to do the superintendent's evaluation. They needed an opportunity to work with the superintendent and find out for themselves what kind of man he is. You don't just go and evaluate somebody who you've only worked for for six weeks. So our evaluation process is a little later this year, okay? It is going to happen. The evening with the superintendent is going to happen. I would have it no other way. Sometimes it feels like there's another elephant in the room, and certainly there are some citizens that would prefer the superintendent not to perhaps indicate that he would like to stay another year or so on top of his current contract. And it's all very interesting, this. The superintendent is a man who has to make some tough decisions, and he has to lead, and he's been our leader. He has a backbone, and so he's spoken out about things like the drain of finances that was caused by our students going to Minuteman, and he worked hard to end that procession out and to, in fact, then booster our own Medford Vocational School so that it would be the jewel that it is growing to be. We're so proud of that, such a change. He talks out on a statewide level about the inequity of charter school funding and the problems of the funding formula. And every so often, he gets really pissed off, and he speaks inappropriately, perhaps, to a citizen, and that's my view, and I can tell every single one of you that when I feel he's crossed a line, I'm the first one to tell him. But he is a magnificent leader here. he will be hard to replace. We will also need to look about and think very strongly about, and I've actually already had some discussions with the superintendent himself, which at some point along the line when we sit down, the whole school committee will have to consider not only his role, but what is the role of the other people who might, because he's leaving, decide to go with him. It's a bigger picture than just the superintendent. Now, you said to us, why didn't we say anything to you in April? We were coming up cold. I didn't know you were coming. I hadn't looked at the date on the superintendent's contract that night, okay? We had a school vacation week. We've gone through incredibly busy weeks. I don't know if people realize how busy this school committee is. One week I was out so many nights, and look, this is just, we're here today, May 16th. We have a meeting on May 17th. We have a meeting on May 18th. We have a meeting on May 23rd. We have a meeting on May 24th. We have the M Club dinner on the 25th. We have 6th, 7th, 8th. We are incredibly busy. It is, we have to get all of us together. Now, should this be a priority? Yes. But I would hold that we are taking our steps. The superintendent will give us his evaluation. We will deliberate on that evaluation. We will ask him for his preferences regarding a contract and we will deliberate on that. Okay? We will go through the extraordinary busy time of getting the budget, and we need to realize that the superintendent and his, everybody in the administration needs to spend time to put that budget together. That's the time of year it is. I assure you that this will not be a haphazard process, and I want to add, over my dead body.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Mustone. Angela, thank you for being here. I think what you've been saying is it's about the process and transparent, which I think we've been successful since January with a new security policy and that wouldn't have happened without parents' voice. We have community schools discussion, that wouldn't have happened without parents' voice. So I think Regardless, Mr. Bellson, I'm glad you're here and you're well right now. We need to just have a policy that we can share with the community about how we're moving forward with dates, all those dates that we've rattled off that I haven't even kept track of. So I want to thank Angela for being here for the other parents. I'm interested in hearing them because it seems like things get done when it comes from the parents, not from us. So thank you for being here. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Superintendent would like to clarify some.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, I've been here 21 years now as superintendent, 48 years as a public educator in the city of Medford. I grew up in the community. I went to the schools. I went to the Forest Park. I went to the Roberts Junior High School. I went to Medford High School. So this is my community. I care about it. And as I've said before, I never intend or would never intend to make a decision that would leave my community in the lurch. Now, having said that, we have had a process of evaluation and decision-making that has gone back well before my term as superintendent, and it's always been transparent. My self-evaluation will come to the committee this week. You'll have it. You'll have more than two weeks to go over it. That's a pretty substantial period of time to look at the document, which takes me time, to produce and review given all the other responsibilities that we have in the school district. The process will be in public. It always is. Open session. It's not an executive session. It's not away from anyone. It's open and every committee member has an opportunity to say what they feel and make whatever ratings they want to make. So far they've been good. I'm sure that there may be some things that people would like to see me do better, or the school system do better. But clearly, it's been an open process. And as you can tell, people come to the rail all the time and make statements, give their opinions, come into meetings, some of them in support, and some of them critical. But that's a balancing act. Wherever we are, that's what takes place. What does concern me is this, and I say this in a very sincere way, and that's simply this. Whether I stay or go, when I go, if an outside individual is going to consider the Medford Public Schools as his or her home, as superintendent, they are going to evaluate the environment. And if they feel the environment is hostile, they're not coming here. They're not coming here because it's a tough enough job not to be in a situation where people are divided and split along many issues. So it's our responsibility to have a decent dialogue, to make an appropriate decision, but to keep it intelligent and to keep it welcoming, so that when someone does consider applying for the Medford Public Schools, they say, I want to go there, because that's a good place to be a superintendent of schools. The people support the administration, they support their school committee, and there's mutual respect. And so that's really what we've got to strive for. A decision will be made. Decision will happen in public session. Decision will happen after a lot of consultation. And a lot of the things that we have to decide are based on, am I a person at this point in time able to bring forward our agenda in an intelligent way? Or is someone else maybe better positioned to do that at this point in time? That's what it's about. That's what it's about. So let's have our process. Let's respect each other. Let's continue to work together, and let's make a decision in a timely way on behalf of the community. Now, superintendent searches vary. Many of them are done in a lot shorter time than a year. But if that's the community's wish, then that's something we'd go forward with. But I've observed a lot of searches over the years, and people call me all the time because I've been around for a long time. So I think that it's important we go through our process. It's also informative to go through the process, because the things I will bring to you in the self-evaluation will remind you of things you've done. Even when I'm writing up the evaluation myself, I'm saying to myself, oh, I forgot we did this. Oh, I forgot this actually happened. Oh, this, yes, was a concern. Yes, we dealt with this. It's a process of re-educating ourselves about all the things that are going on. It's also a message that we send to our administration, faculty, and staff. And it's important that we do it right. And it's important that we have the right kind of discussion. And that we not create a leverage situation where decisions are made on the fly, or decisions are made without proper dialogue and discussion and process. I'm very confident that you will do that. And I'm very confident that we will have a good discussion and that a proper appropriate decision will be made. So thank you for your ongoing support. Thank you for your interest in perhaps making sure the community has a proper transition. But at the same time, let's make sure we do it right. And so you will get my self evaluation at the end of the week. And by the way, it's important that people respect the fact that you're the elected members of this community. You have a right to look at this stuff before the rest of the world comments on it. You work with me all the time. And conversely, I believe I have a right to make sure that the people who work with me all the time get the first pass at commenting on what goes on. I think we're in a good place. I think it will go well. And I think people will be pleased that a good transparent process has taken place. That's all we all want.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. I want to also comment that there is a lot of support in the in the galley for the superintendent. I know that a lot of teachers heard that this was going to be on the agenda and in parents and they wanted to come out and show their support and that's why the room is full and it's very nice to see. And there's also a lot of people here that just want to bring forward the process. So in that, taking that into account, I motion that the superintendent provide us with his evaluation by Friday, May 20th, to all school committee members. That's four days after I thought we were going to get it, but that's my first motion. And my second motion is for us to meet on June 6th to to provide the superintendent with our feedback and his evaluation. Is the committee meeting scheduled for June 2nd? Oh, 2nd. I'm sorry. Thank you. That's what I'm trying to get is the date so it's clear to the whole committee. So I would like that. I'm making a motion to have that on the agenda so that the whole community knows when everything's going to be. about and if they need to come and make additional comments, they're welcome to come that evening and hear our evaluation as well of the superintendent that we do every year. And then my last motion would be to have, as a committee, have a succession plan in process on the record by June 30th, 2016. And it doesn't have to be, we as a committee have to provide the superintendent on that date whether we are extending his contract. But in addition to that, this motion is about making ourselves accountable to a date to have a secession plan in place, whether or not we extend the superintendent's contract a year or so. So that way, if something were to happen, and life things happen, we have a plan in place. Mr. Belson is continuing on as our superintendent or not. We can go back to that plan, just like a master plan, and put that in effect if anything were to arise at any moment's notice. So I'm asking for a second to my motion of all three items.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a second. If we could take them separately. Motion for the self-evaluation to be provided to the school committee by Friday.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I have a question. I think that the contract reads that we have to inform the superintendent by June 30 if our intention is not to rehire him. Is that correct? It doesn't say not. Do you have a copy of it before? I brought it too. Could you just read the first sentence or that sentence?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Madam Mayor, would you like me to read it?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Certainly. You're right at the line.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, term. The superintendent shall be employed for a two-year period commencing July 1st, 2015, ending June 30th, 2017. The school committee shall advise the superintendent of its intent to extend his contract. The intent to extend his contract by June 30th. We have to decide by that date whether we intend to extend it or not. that we intend to extend it. If we do not tell him by that date, it also goes forward with the superintendent shall notify the school committee of his notice of obligation by September 1st, 2016. Notice of school committee's intent to terminate the contract upon expiration must be given by certified mail, return address request to the superintendent at his address of records. So we would have to, if as a committee we were not extending his contract, he would have to have notification to himself by June 30th, 2016 at his home address.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor. There's a second by Ms. Mostone on the first motion that Ms.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Cuno. It says that we have to come up with a plan by June 30th also, is that your motion? We'll take it one at a time. That's the second one, okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We're going to move them separately.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay. Ms. Vander Kloof. So, you know, I don't have any problem voting for the motion, but the superintendent has just told us that he's going to provide it to us by Friday, and he's just told us that we've got a meeting on the second. So, in fact, my colleague is, by putting it in motion, is making it sound as if You know, she's doing something like a big deal. But I just have to be clear that we've already put out and said that we're going to be doing these things. I have no problem voting for it because we just said we'd do it. But, you know, I just want to be clear. Oh, sorry. Well, it seems redundant to me.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That the self-evaluation be provided by Friday. It's seconded by Ms. Mostone. Motion has been moved. Roll call vote's been requested.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Kress. Yes. Ms. Mostoma. Yes. Mr. Skerry. Yes. Ms. Van Der Poel. Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes. The second item, which is, I've already called the Committee of the Whole June 2nd, 2016. Is there a motion on the floor that we have a Committee of the Whole meeting on June 2nd, 2016? Sure. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. DiBenedetto, who made the offering. Roll call.
[Robert Skerry]: Ms. Scugno. Yes. Ms. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Kreatz. Yes. I think that there are many factors to a succession plan.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I am afraid that by saying, oh, we're going to have the whole thing done and created by June 30th is inappropriate. The piece that we need to do is we need to let the superintendent know, after he lets us know what he wants, what our intent is with his contract. But there are many, many pieces, and to just define it by June 30th, when you know how many meetings, I mean, some of you have yet to go through a budget meeting and what other meetings we might have in the end of the school year business. I have no problem meeting during the summer and working on a succession plan if we need be. I have no issue with that to tie us into a June 30th meeting. So, I think it would be more appropriate is to inform the superintendent upon our intent and then subsequently, I mean, to make, to create and affirm a succession plan. I just have to tell you, I mean, there's many pieces to a succession plan. And there's going to be many, many parts of this. So I'm a little concerned about that. Absolute. Oh, we're going to have the succession plan by June 30th.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm offering an amendment.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Um, yes. Uh, so that the, uh, could you just say how it read right now?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Original was that a succession plan be created by June 30th, 2016 point of information.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto, please succession plan slash process. So even if we come up with the succession plan process by June 30th and we start a committee. Why don't we say process rather than succession? Okay. And another point of information, um, through you to my colleague, um, the superintendent isn't required to tell us if his intentions until September 1st. So. We might not know his intention by the time, that's how it's worded in this contract. I know it's awkward and awful, but that's how the contract is worded if I'm not mistaken. And I don't think I am.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right. So that's why the word saying a process would be more appropriate because it gives us then the leeway of understanding the superintendent's role in informing us at a later date. However, there is certainly no harm in us having discussions about all the different things. And by the way, just one thing I do want to add. You know, someone brought up their concern, and I absolutely understand. What if something happened to the superintendent? And for years and years and years, the biggest criticism I had of the superintendent, we used to say, delegate, you have to delegate, you have to delegate, because he seemed to be the guy who knew everything. But one of the things, he's been very successful, and I have to say that he really, you know, he really listened to us, He also speaks a lot shorter than he used to, too. But the thing that he does now is he is delegated. And so I know that, God forbid, something happened to the superintendent, that he has so many strong administrative people working for him and our principals and whatever. It is not, I mean, I hope you understand in my saying this, Roy, that if he all of a sudden had a terrible accident that we would be left. without leadership. That's not the way it is. We have very strong leaders across the board, so many talented individuals. And believe me, that has been one of the things that, as I've watched the process over the years, has really changed, that I feel confident that we would not all of a sudden be rudderless in a storm.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So the motion has been changed by the author of the motion, Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I would like to change it to say a secession plan outline process would be completed by June 30, 2016 or developed by then. I'm assuming that it's a working document. I work a lot with IEPs and it's a working document. You come and revisit it many times and make changes and add to it. And that's how I look at this process.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Once a plan is established, you make changes over time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Right.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The plan itself, if you have a deadline, it's a deadline.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Well, we need to begin the process, so the process and the outline for a succession plan be started by June 30th.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Started by June 30th, okay. That's more reasonable.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yep, that's more reasonable.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Cugno. No, that was it. On the motion that a succession plan process be started prior to June 30, 2016. Excuse me?
[Roy Belson]: Prior or by?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Started by. We're picking on words now. Started by June 30, 2016. Is there a second by Ms. Van der Kloot? Mr. Skerry, call the roll.
[Robert Skerry]: Ms. Cooney. Yes. Mr. Vandetta. Yes. Ms. Stratz. Yes. Ms. Postone. Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes. Thank you very much. There's others that would like to speak on this topic. Thank you.
[Jeanne Martin]: Jean Martin, 10 coming street. Thank you very much for having me and letting me speak tonight. Um, I'm going to ask you guys first to, to not be defensive, you know, um, and it's, it's hard not to get defensive because you feel like you're being undermined and you know, your authority is being undermined. Um, It's an overarching concept that with the new mayor, the old mayor did things very, very differently and things were around for a long time. And people just went on automatic pilot. And this is the first time that questions are being asked of leadership. And with Mayor Burke, they're actually not getting pushed under the rug. So that's a good thing. So the dialogue between the council and the mayor needs to improve, as I pointed out to her. And the people need to dialogue with the school committee more. And there's nothing wrong with challenging the leadership, challenging authority. There's nothing wrong with asking questions, and I thank her for asking that question. One of the reasons why it got overlapped is because the people weren't feeling that they weren't getting their answers from this body. And that's why they went to the council, and that's why I pointed out they're calling the Councilors, because they don't feel that their needs are being heard here. So there's a breakdown in communication. So that needs to be said. And I just wanted to say that whether he stays or goes, it doesn't matter. I don't have children in the school system, no offense. But I do know that you've been around long enough not to take anything I say personally. I do know that. He knows me too well. But anyway, I just want the process to happen. It's the same thing with the charter review. It's the same thing. And there is overlap. I don't have children in the school systems, but I do have a tenant who has a daughter in the school systems. So you're always around kids, and kids are always everywhere. They're always everywhere. And so a kid in the school system is my kid in an extended version. But what was I going to say? I did, I don't know. I just think that more communication and more openness, it's not a bad thing. The new mayor has a new start. She's got a long way to go, a long way to go. And it's not bad to review. Oh, and the overlap. If you have the TV3, and I don't agree with having it up at the high school, you all know that. But if you do, I'm a person, I'm a citizen, I'm now going to be in that public building. I'm going to be in the school system. There is overlap between, even if you don't have kids in the system, there's an overlap between the schools. and the city council. And that, oh, go ahead. I just want to say, Jean, you're a taxpayer.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, that's right.
[Jeanne Martin]: That's right.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I mean, you're a taxpayer, so you don't have to keep on saying, I don't have kids in the system. You are a taxpayer. You are a citizen of Medford. You have every right to be concerned about the schools in our community as any other person, any parent, or whatever. Well, thank you.
[Jeanne Martin]: Thank you. So I just wanted to say that There's nothing wrong with asking the question. And I think that every five years, somebody should be judging you. No offense. Every year.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Every year? Every year he's reviewed.
[Jeanne Martin]: But it should come from some higher authority and not yourself.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, we are the higher authority. We hire him.
[Jeanne Martin]: Oh, you hire him. OK. All right. OK. Yeah, but he's evaluating himself. I don't get it. He should. He submits it to the body. Yeah. OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All right.
[Jeanne Martin]: Well, that needs to happen, and it needs to be. And I'm all for having it open. The Charter Review, I'm all for open government, and I want to thank everybody for the transparency. It's a new day is dawning. You got a job in front of you. I don't envy you. And I'll see you guys later. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Martin.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno? I just wanted to address what Gene said. I just want to make it very clear. I'm not trying to be defensive. I just get very frustrated between facts being thrown out and non-factual stuff being thrown out. And so I've gone to City Council. If you're going to be speaking about City Council, I've gone to City Council many, many times. And I try to get my information not only from City Council, but also from parents. When there's two stories out there, you always have to listen to both. And it got frustrating to me as a school committee member because we haven't had the opportunity yet until tonight to really speak about what is going on. So for that, I apologize if I come across being defensive, but I get very upset and very passionate when I know there's certain things that are not true and certain things that are. And as far as debating and coming and asking questions, that's why we're here. We're not here for us. We're here for everybody else.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Vander Kloof? No. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. I'm sorry. One, one, I'm sorry. One more quick thing. Um, I know this item, a few items have been on the city council agenda and some of our colleagues have moved over to city council and I just feel like we're working together because they have to approve the ultimate bar budget as well. So I believe that the school committee and the city council working together only benefits our community. And I look forward to doing that with them in a much more open, direct way. Because I feel like any kind, instead of it being them and us, I want it to be us working together as elected officials to represent all the voters and all the people coming forward. So I just want to say that straight out. And I'm glad that our items are on their agenda and someday maybe some of theirs might be on us.
[Jeanne Martin]: Absolutely, because they're in charge of the budget. So I totally agree with that. But I want to just say, instead of just one-on-one and cherry-picking, you know, that it needs to be body-to-body. We need to have the whole body of the city council sit down with the whole body of the school committee and maybe under new leadership we can do that. If you're doing the right thing, you will do that. Thank you very much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hello, your name, please.
[SPEAKER_24]: My name is Bob Candy.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And Monique DeVos, Grand Ave.
[SPEAKER_24]: Monique and I have three children in the system. Abby is now actually at Mount Holyoke, so I shouldn't say we've had three children in the system. She prospered in the Medford schools. Ben is number one in his class this year and doing very well, taking advantage of AP courses. Things are going great. and Jane is prospering as well as a freshman, we're not here tonight to talk about Mr. Belson. And I don't know why this has been conflated with Mr. Belson. This is not, when you talk about a time for a process, and by the way, I appreciate your motion, or some of the comments that have been made, it makes no sense to us. With all due respect, I don't mean this the wrong way, it could be Mickey Mouse up there. It doesn't matter. A succession plan is a plan. It's irrespective of who's in place. Whether Mr. Belson decides he wants to renew, retire, God forbid he's ill, doesn't matter. And what hasn't been done, at least as far as Monique and I can tell, is you don't have a plan. And it's not dependent on what Mr. Belson decides to do. It's just good common sense. I've checked other school districts before we got here. You'd be amazed how many school districts have a plan. Indeed, there's a quote from one of them that says, the lack of a plan is no plan at all. So with that said, this is not a referendum on the elephant in the room, I think, as you put it, Ms. Van der Kloot. Whether Mr. Belson goes, stays, how well he's done, it's a separate issue to be determined by the school committee, by the parents, all concerned, we want to talk about the succession plan. In the corporate world, the schools would be the public company. The taxpayers would be your investors. Stop me if this analogy isn't working for you. The shareholders are the Medford taxpayers who want to see a return on their investment. Many of us are parents here of children. We want to see them achieve their potential. And we want the schools to continue to improve their accountability results. The school committee is the company's board of directors. And in the corporate world, they're charged with ensuring responsible governance and the ongoing continuity of the company. If a company that was public did not have a succession plan, they would be guilty of malfeasance and could be charged by their shareholders and by the government. with failing to adhere to several statutes that I can think of. So why this is such a matter of contention, we don't get this. Whether you were defensive or not, I know it's difficult, Ms. Cunha, to sit and listen. Our sons run track together. We appreciate everything that you do, all of you, day in and day out. It's not about this. So hearing this is really troubling. you're either going to do the right thing. And I'm sorry if you don't like that phrase, or you're not. So the board is also responsible for ensuring the school committee the performance of the CEO. And in this analogy, obviously, that's Mr. Belson. Him meeting the standards that you define and that he defines for himself. He's not going to, I'm sure, define standards he doesn't think he should be meeting. And finding out if he doesn't do that, as someone pointed out, holding him accountable. It shouldn't matter who is at the helm. So the goal of the shareholders, the parents, the community at large, is it fair to ask if you folks really feel that you know, as your shareholders, what the parents and the community at large really want from the district? Do you feel you truly understand that? Have you done any surveys? I know you talk to parents all the time, God knows. You know, Paulette, she's everywhere and does a great job, and I know the rest of you do, too. But do you know that? Have you actually polled them? Have you spoken with them in a matter that you could publish and say, you know what, the majority of people seem to want A, B, C, D? Because the succession plan is supposed to have that, by the way. It's not just supposed to be about replacing Mr. Belson should he leave or go. It's supposed to be about We need a plan to achieve X with a person who's going to hold this job, who's capable of doing A, B, C, D, E, except the A through E ain't there. At least not as far as we know. So what about the goals of the teachers and the other staff? I see them all here tonight, and I'm really glad they're expressing support for Mr. Belson, but again, this isn't about him. This is about governance, simple governance. What about the goals of the administration? Mr. Belson's right. He has a perfect right to define what we should be doing as a school system. And that should be for Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Nelson and the principals. But it's not in a plan. Not that we know of. Not a succession plan. And it should be based on all of the above and you should have a recruiting plan for it regardless of why. It should be there. You should know, Mr. Belson said, some take longer, some don't. Just have the plan. So telling me that there's good superintendents, I know that. We work with Ms. Caldwell in particular. She's excellent. But that said, knowing that you have people in place, that's a contingency. That's not a plan. Am I wrong? OK. I just wanted to know I was in office. My wife tells me in outer space. Okay. So look, Monique and I really appreciate you listening to us. We're already going in the step in the right direction. So the dates kind of don't matter to us, but the good plan really does. We would ask you to find a mechanism to survey the parents and the community at large. It's unfortunate we don't get as many people as we could, but you and I both know, not a lot of people show up. Same people to the PTO, same people to the meetings, but there's a lot of good-hearted parents out there who give you information if you ask for it. So, Monique, I don't know if you have anything you want to add, but it's unusual. We thank you for listening to us. Do you have any questions of us?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot? So, Bob, one thing I just want to mention to you is that our thinking actually isn't that far apart, because recently I attended the National School Board Conference, and I said to Anne Marie, who was with me at the time, come on, come on, we have to go down and talk to these people, because the topic was how to successfully survey your school population so it's meaningful. And so that's very much been part of my thinking of sort of saying that it is time I believe, to reach out and to send a survey. But, you know, surveys can be useless and they can be powerful. And that's, so that was my thinking about that. I do want to mention to you also that we do establish goals every fall. We talk about them publicly. We argue about them. And those are our guiding lights. Again, personally, I think now we're clearly at the place where we need a succession, to talk about this and I will just assure you that it will happen.
[SPEAKER_24]: Can I ask a question?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_24]: Do parents have to live to your goals?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I certainly think they should.
[SPEAKER_24]: Do they? Do they have input?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Well, Bob, you know, every year we do it. Every year, you know, we have three people in the audience.
[SPEAKER_24]: So let me suggest, knowing that, because we both know that that's the case, that what you just did, going to find out what that is, find a better mechanism. Don't rely upon people to show up. You know they're not going to do it. You guys are given all these nights and you must obviously feel very tired about it. But I'll bet you that if you gave people an online mechanism to respond that was anonymous, if you need help with that, let me know. It can be done. With that said, a last comment. Angela Moore got up here and did a very, very difficult thing. She did it at the school committee and she did it as a council. Somehow it got conflated with Mr. Bilson. It wasn't about that. Because I spoke to Angela after this was in place. Her goal was to make this a process that was happening. So I just want to commend her for coming, facing, I won't say the lion's den, but it wasn't easy. So thank you, Angela.
[SPEAKER_26]: Hello. How are you doing?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hi, can you name and address, please?
[SPEAKER_26]: My name is Vince Master Mateo, 10 Schoolhouse Road, Bedford, Mass. I'm here tonight. This is the first time I've been in a school committee meeting. I have three young kids in the school system. And my biggest, I have a lot of things I wanted to say, but I'm probably going to hold back for most of them tonight. But the biggest thing that concerns me as a young parent with a lot of young kids is, and a lot of people my age that are moving out of Medford to towns like Andover or Winchester, is the school ranking, 70 out of 75. And that's one of the things during the succession thing that we're talking about, what's the game plan to make it better than 70? And how do we do that? And how can we in the community help? And those are the things that I think are most critical, because at the end of the day, really, that's the most important thing.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_26]: So please just take that into consideration.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I just want to say as far as the plan, I mean, we haven't sat down and we are going to sit down. You're absolutely right. It's not that, I mean, having a superintendent search without any type of input from either community parents, teachers, administrators, or anyone from those categories, and including students, would be crazy for us to do. I mean, I'm only basing it on what we've done and what the superintendent has done the last few times, even when we've hired assistant principals or principals or the director of the vocational school or our director of finance, is that we have had That particular plan, and I'm not sure if everyone is aware of that, is that the superintendent and the assistant superintendents have gotten together, have made a list of qualified people, and once that was set, then we had groups of people that we never even got involved with until it went through all the groups that were on a one-to-one basis. So I'm looking forward to the fact that that's the type of plan or part of the plan of the groups that we'd want to get. We definitely have to have the input of the parents. We have to have input of the students. We have to have input of our teachers. They're the ones that are going to be in the system. We're here as elected officials, we understand our position of what we have to do, but we need to collect all that data before we could really go and just make a decision of who's coming and who's going. So, I mean, to address your concerns about, I mean, I know that Paulette just mentioned it, but I want to reiterate the fact that there is no way that we could or will pick someone else when the time comes without the input of the people involved. It has to be.
[SPEAKER_24]: And thank you very much for that, but I was going a step before that, which was help in defining what the goals of the person you're seeking ought to be accomplishing. So what that means is, what are the priorities of the young parents at Bedford? I'm an old guy at this point, but you've got people who have people in kindergarten, kids in kindergarten. Mia, God bless you, with six children, right? I mean, so I'm really getting at a point of, Medford is changing, and it's changing for the better through the hard work of a lot of good people. They don't feel they have input. I've talked to a lot of them. Not because you're stopping them. They don't know how to do it. I'm asking you show them how to say, these are my priorities. This is what I want from the system. Because I know you'll take that into account, and then you go search for a person who has done that, can show he or she has done that. and meet it. To just search for a superintendent with credentials is only half the battle. Would you agree?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And you're right. And as far as I mean, having, it's, it's unfortunate. Go ahead.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you, Mayor Burke. Um, I just wanted to, to address the, the, the gentleman that was just at the podium. Um, I want to, I know you asked, excuse me. I know you asked about what, um, we were doing about our, our level and my colleague is the head of the academic affairs committee and I requested that we hold a committee meeting so that way we could discuss our next steps because we are a level three school district and we need to have a plan in place. Yeah, I know it upsets you, it upsets me too.
[SPEAKER_26]: We have to have a... What does level three mean?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So when your MCAS school is in, it's like you're leveling. Okay. All right. And it has to do with the ranking as well.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay? So we did a committee of the whole to go over ways that we can address, figure out what the exact needs are, what we need to do, and what next steps are to help us And I'm going to stop talking now and let the committee chair speak a little bit more about it directly, because we just did this recently. So as a committee, we know that that's an issue and that we are bringing that forward.
[SPEAKER_26]: The biggest thing is, again, for someone like me, I have three kids. I'd rather not have to spend $100,000 a kid for high school. I'd rather just use my tax dollars and make Medford a better school. And that's one of the reasons I'm here tonight. I do want to make Medford better. And I know a lot of younger parents do as well. But like in business, when you're ranked 70th out of 75, heads roll. And people need to be accountable. And this is the kind of time to do that. And I get caught on the carpet in my work all the time when my rankings aren't where they need to be.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So, as my colleague said, we had a meeting about a curriculum subcommittee meeting. Now, I need to clarify something, and part of the problem is this is very, very complex, and if you just go on and you just look at a ranking, it will totally lead you in ways that are not correct. First of all, my colleague mentioned we're level three. Well, we have one school which is in level three. We were one point away from being level two. They can't tell us what we did wrong so that we get level two, but that's part of the complexity of it all. Okay. Okay. We are a level one high school and have been so for years. Okay. So we're doing awfully good somehow or another. Right. Okay. when you look at these you do have to look at if you there so much uh studies have been done and information is sort of like uh the the uh level of uh of your socioeconomic and your economic standard throughout the city hey i know i know you're gonna you know you know more about your area right now and you can you know you can talk to me and i don't i don't know what you're talking about my point is
[SPEAKER_26]: It's just that's why young kids like me are leaving Medford to go to other places where they're just better school system.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And for years and years and years, one of the things which has been so difficult for me is I see young families have leaving because they think there's a holy grail someplace else. And that's what I've worked for on this committee for all these years of saying that we've got it in Medford and we can do great. The biggest difficulty is when we have a meeting, we discuss these things. and nobody shows up. And so how do I get the information to you so that you can talk to your neighbors and friends about how we're getting out? And one of the things we did was, with great controversy, we just brought in a person to do publicity for us. Because we understand that one of the biggest problems we have is there are so many good things happening in Medford. If you were here earlier, you saw one of them. But getting it out is tough. The publicity. All right. What was your question?
[SPEAKER_26]: I lost my train of thought.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: What was the good thing?
[SPEAKER_26]: Just for the publicity, is that what every school does? Hires a publicity agent?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Many school systems have now. Okay. Many school systems have.
[SPEAKER_26]: I'm pretty old. I don't remember having that when I was in school.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: One of the things that she does is she has a blog because we realize, I mean, how do we reach parents? Well, we have to do it with the way that parents are looking at media now, and that's through a blog. Sure. You know, the highlights of Medford is not working. Does not work. So we are trying. I mean, we're trying. The communication is key.
[SPEAKER_26]: Well, the parents need to do better, too. I'm here to say that. That's why I'm here tonight. So, you know.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Well, I would look forward to talking to another. I didn't get your information, but I'd love to further conversation.
[SPEAKER_26]: That's fine. I'll send you an email. Great. Gmail account, right?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: P. VanderKloof.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you, Mr. VanderKloof. We have another citizen that would like to speak.
[Charlene Douglas]: Sharlene Douglas, president of the Medford Teaching Association, resident of Medford, lifetime resident of Bedford, Mr. Belson was my teacher. 30 plus years as a teacher in the system and very proud to be a teacher in the public schools. I wasn't going to say this, but I have to. The word level three made my blood boil tonight because it's 2% of our student population. We have a level one high school, we have a level one vocational school, and the rest of our schools are all level two. We have a diverse population that matches the likes of an Everett, a Malden, a Revere, and we are far above them. We are an outstanding school district. And I take offense to any of these facts. Let me finish, please. May I finish, please? And then you can clarify. Mr. Belson knows I'm extremely passionate. And he knows that I'm very opinionated also. But he taught me that. So today, no, not really. That was embedded from my mother. So today, I come before you at the request of the MTA executive board. We voted unanimously. for me to come here as president to speak with the school committee and the citizens of the city of Medford about our working relationship with Superintendent Roy Belson. Mr. Belson works with us and has the best interests of both the students and teachers at heart. While the administration and the Medford Teachers Association have differences, at the end of the day, we come to resolve conflicts in a professional manner, following the process, and involving third parties to resolve matters when necessary. Politically speaking, and politically supportive, Mr. Belson has spoken on the charter schools and stopping these schools from creating separate and unequal opportunities in a costly and device two-track school system. Superintendent Belson is a passionate supporter of public education, and we continue to work with him to ensure the best education for our youth here in the city of Medford. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came out tonight. We know this is a very important topic. We're not taking it lightly. The process is starting and there are meetings scheduled and we promise you that we will do our due diligence, include the public in different fashions so that we're able to reach out to them. But thank you all for being here tonight on this topic. Thank you. Motion on the floor to revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion is granted. Report of committees. Subcommittee meeting on building and grounds. Ms. Cugno.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: The buildings and grounds subcommittee was called to order at 7.05 by the chairperson, myself. Subcommittee members present were Kathy Kreatz and Paulette Van der Kloot. Also present were school committee members, Aaron DiBenedetto and Robert Scari, Jr. Also, Superintendent Roy E. Belson, Director of I'm sorry, also Superintendent Roy E. Belson, Director of Finance and Administration, Patricia Villa, Director of Buildings and Grounds, John McLaughlin, Assistant Director of PE, Health and Community Schools, Rachel Perry. Community members present include Katie Martin from the Mephits Orca, and Dennis McDonald of the Office of Energy and Environment. We all rose to salute the flag. Chairperson myself asked the superintendent to explain the purpose of the meeting. The superintendent explained the purpose as follows. Review the specification conditions for the proposed winter season bubble on Edgeley Field. Review the proposed facilities, rental agreement, and fee schedule for the Medford Community Schools Program. The superintendent informed the subcommittee of two additional comments that must be discussed as we go forward with discussion. OCD director Lauren DiLorenzo explained that since federal CDB HUD funds were used to remove architectural barriers from the entrance and exit to the field, the use of the bubble would have to make the same accessibility provisions as the pool. This means that the facility must take provisions for low-income and disabled users. Also, any profits might have to go back and reimburse HUD funding. Ken Kraus raised several environmental concerns. Need to construct the proposed parking lot with appropriate stormwater management techniques, possible impact on the fells, and the size and location of the field house. Possible impact upon Winthrop Street development. Dennis McDougall from the Energy and Environment Office suggested that installations of the appropriate drainage as part of the parking lot was a must. He also would have preferred pavers as an alternative to hardtop for the parking lot. He recognized that the cost would be very high. Superintendent explained that Winthrop Street development has not even been submitted and that it would not affect the parking area. Also, the field house size had not yet been established, but it would probably be about 1,000 square feet. The parking lot would not be adjacent to the Middlesex Fells area. The committee then began a review of RFP guidelines for the bubble structure. The committee took the following actions. Added the words with appropriate drainage. Specified the fieldhouse have at least two toilets in each of the male and female bathroom areas. Further that they be handicapped accessibility. required the vendor and contractor to hold a four-hour open house at least once during the season for the community. This would be listed as number 15. There was considerable discussion on how the schedule of the bubble could provide more time for community use. Suggestions included such ideas as having the contractor start later on Wednesdays, adding a later finishing time in exchange for more time in the afternoon and weekends, sharing space during contractor time. These ideas were rejected for several reasons. There was concern that the hours available would not be conducive for parents to bring children and youth to the facility during the afternoon hours. There was discussion that the facility could provide opportunities for adult residents, like the pool does. For example, there could be tennis, golf, track-related activities. While the adult use was understood, the committee was trying to find more time for children and youth. Ultimately, the committee opted to include a four-hour open house requirement once per season. On the motion of Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Ms. Kreatz, the subcommittee voted 3-0 to forward and recommend the amended RFP guidelines to the full school committee. You can see that attached. The subcommittee then began its review of the proposed facilities rental agreement. Director of Finance and Administration took the subcommittee through each page. Discussion was held at intervals as each member raised questions and or made suggestions. The following represents the changes made by the subcommittee. The liability insurance requirement was changed to maybe from it is required. The age of 21 was submitted for the word minors. On page four, the time of activity termination was changed from 11.30 p.m. to 11 o'clock p.m. Hormel Stadium line was altered as follows. Hormel Stadium rentals are controlled by the Hormel Commission. Contact information 7, 8, 1, 3, 9, 3, 2, 3, 8, 0. Under pool fees, the resident fee for birthday parties was raised to $275—actually, while I'm reading this, I just wanted a clarification on this—raised to $275 from $125 per hour, or was it—I don't—if I just want to ask Rachel. Because then it also says, the birthday party rental included up to two lifeguards. If the swimmer numbers exceed 20, then additional lifeguards and apical costs will apply. On page 7, the rental fees for Edgley Field were changed. Categories 1, 2, 3 remained at $145 per hour. Category 4, for-profit, went to $185. Non-resident, non-profit, went to $165. Under food service fees, The words added, with exception of birthday potties. The chip, myself, called for a 10-minute recess. Members were asked to review the last three pages of the proposal, which contained the faculty, the facility usage request form, and the release identification agreement. The subcommittee convened and agreed that the forms looked good. They will be reviewed by legal counsel. On the motion of Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Ms. Kreatz, the subcommittee voted to recommend the facilities rental agreement proposal as amended to the full school committee, three to zero. The subcommittee then received the financial reports on community schools, the pool, Edgeley Field, La Conte Ring, and again, see the attached overview of financial documents are on file. In addition to the report, the materials presented to the subcommittee asked to receive the following information. Names of identities that have been given free space. Names of employees who have worked the pool, field, and rink. Clear breakout of pending review. The subcommittee on the motion, Ms. Kreatz, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot, voted to adjourn at 10.05 p.m. Respectfully submitted. Ann Marie Cuno, your chairperson.
[Rachel Perry]: So we have clarification on that?
[Molly Laden]: Sure.
[Rachel Perry]: The birthday parties were $200 for Medford residents, and you voted that we would raise that to $275 for non-residents. So that $200 includes the rental of the pool for an hour, the cafeteria for an hour, and two lifeguards. If there's more than 20 swimmers, we have to put another lifeguard on, and that would be an extra $25. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you very much. You're welcome.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vandekloot. I just want to mention that in terms on page three, where it gives the list of changes, there should be eight that a four-hour open house requirement once per season was added. It is added in the document, but it's just not added in that numerical list.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: In the IRP list?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So in the list that Anne-Marie just read on the third page, it's mentioned on the second page, but it's not included. The following represents the changes made by the subcommittee. So that should be number eight. So if I could ask for a correction on that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion for correction, Mr. Superintendent. If we could just sever this paper, the first item being the bubble, there's a motion of Ms. Vandekloot, seconded by Ms. Kreatz in the subcommittee meeting, that you voted 3-0 to forward and recommend the amended RFP guidelines to the full school committee as amended by Ms. Vandekloot on the floor. On that motion to accept the RFP as amended
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mister Bennett. Thank you. I reviewed this and it's really great. There's just the RFP that is attached. If we could look at number seven. It says there should be sufficient insurance coverage borne by the vendor to cover any liability damage or liability The city must be held harmless all employees of the contractor who work on-site must be quarry checked and then it goes on to say Appropriate security. Can we just define what appropriate is so that way there's no error in understanding with with the vendor So
[Roy Belson]: Remember, and this is something that was misunderstood, and I heard this at a council meeting, that this is not the RFP. These are guidelines to the procurement office to develop an RFP. So they need to flesh out the specifics of security or other things, because if we get too tight right now, in their process, they may not be able to put something together that is appropriate for a vendor. If you set up a security plan that's around the clock or something like that, they may say that's prohibitive, no one's going to bid on it. We've got to get something from procurement, let them check with other people as to what's likely to go through. The same thing is true of other elements of this. This is guidance to the procurement officer. Remember, the procurement is going to come back to you. You're going to see the actual document. So this is really guidance. Let the procurement officer actually spell out a little title and you'll be better off. Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Just in general for insurance coverage, there's stipulations that go into all the contracts we write and that would be what will be in the RFP, not what we've written here.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. And I also just want to bring it to attention that these are items that I'll be looking at as, as bids come in and I want to take, have to meet the minimum bid. Right. And this, and then number 12, It's the end of the season. They have to deliver the field in the same condition as it was before. I'd like to have a certified evaluator to look at the field at that time. Just to be more specific, not just anyone from the school department walking through who doesn't really understand. how the field was. We can do that outside of the RFP. OK. That could be our internal procedure. OK. As long as it's understood that, you know, I just want to make sure we do it right in the beginning. I don't want to come back and say, I wish we added that word or just change those little issues.
[Roy Belson]: All right. Just one more thing. You know, there are a lot of stories and comments being made outside of us that sometimes mislead the public. And I want to make sure we clarify, just as we talked about, this was not the RFP. This was the guidelines for the development of an RFP. Now, the second piece is that there was some comment at a council meeting that dealt with the cleaning of the fields, that no deep cleaning had taken place. That's not true. We actually have the invoices. We actually have the procedure. And we actually have the details that they did a deep cleaning on a regular basis. So I want to make that clear that, you know, some people say things and, you know, they may think it's true, but we have backup information, which I can provide to you at a subsequent time. which shows that a deep cleaning was actually done, and the process and procedures spelled out as to what a deep cleaning actually is. So just for your information, in case you're asked, we've been doing deep cleanings because it was associated that if we didn't do deep cleanings, the longevity of the field would be compromised. We do deep cleanings.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the bubble RFP guidelines to submit to procurement? As amended by Ms. Van der Kloot. Please call the roll, Mr. Skerry. Ms. Cunha. Yes. Ms.
[Unidentified]: Mandela.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, that motion passes. The second item is to recommend the facility's rental agreement proposal. If I could, from the floor, that proposal also includes the fee schedule. And I've received a few calls over the past couple of days, actually, of people that are internal, that are very concerned about the increase in the fees. So I'd ask that the agreement go to legal and be processed, but that the fee schedule be, have a public hearing, public meeting, so that the public can come forth and tell us their concerns for our own Medford youth programs. Is there a motion on the second? Seconded by Ms. Vander Kloof. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? That document will be sent to legal. We will hold the fee schedule in obedience until we have a meeting with the youth organizations throughout the community so that we get a fee schedule that they can actually afford to participate in. The last thing we want to do is isolate this field, that we do not have our programs involved.
[SPEAKER_09]: name and address, please. Name is Alicia Rourke, 47 Hutchins Road. Um, in reviewing the document, um, I found the categories a bit interesting and that they weren't necessarily in line with how other, um, departments within the city function. For instance, our parks commission, they do have for, um, divisions that's based on the rate schedule. However, they're quite different than what has been submitted in this proposal. For the Park Commission, they allow for select teams that are comprised of 75% of Medford residents. These select teams are often for profit. They would fall under the higher rated for profit rates. the way that this document has been created, a non-profit would pay a much lesser rate. The NFL is a non-profit. So the NFL could come and ask to use Edgley Field at a much lower rate than what, say, a kids' club soccer team would pay. I think that there really needs to be a much better understanding of athletics and the way that they work in the community, when you're looking at this and the fee schedule and how it's structured. Point taken.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Mayor Burke, I just wanted to note a change that we commented on at that committee meeting. On the facilities rental agreement, first page, page one of 11, item number two, The completed application formed together with all necessary documentation, including certificate of insurance, if required, and a security deposit. I thought we had changed that to non-refundable security deposit for certain situations.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But that's what a security deposit was.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Right. It doesn't say that, and we were adding that. At that meeting, I had it highlighted from that meeting, as well as- Where are we?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Which bullet is it?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: It's number two.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Right.
[Roy Belson]: What page are we talking about?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It's right here. Page 1, item 2. Page 1, item 2. That's not clear, though. Because if someone puts up a security deposit and the facility is left as it was when they came, they would be refunded. So it can't be. No, it's supposed to be clarified.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Non-refundable for cancellation purposes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So what is the non-refundable security deposit?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: It cancels within 48 hours.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It cancels within 48 hours.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Unless they're in 48 hours.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Is that what you agreed to?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Sorry. Sorry about that. It was a question on the 48 hours only because if it's certain, let's say it's a soccer group. and because of weather, they don't know that they're going to be cancelling within 48 hours. So that was what we were discussing. We did discuss that there would be a non-refund, but I'm not sure about the 48 hours.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I was thinking about things like a birthday party is a good example. If all of a sudden it's canceled in the last 48 hours before, we can't go out and rent it again, okay? And any other place where a parent would be going to have that kind of function would have a have some kind of cancellation policy. I wasn't thinking about a field and it rains. I mean, that seems like a different sort of contingency. So, again, how we define this in here, we might need to take a look at that. But if we have a theater group you know, who's renting the Caron Theater, and all of a sudden they decide not to hold the performance, should we bear the entire cost of their cancellation, of their last minute cancellation? I think any place where you go would expect some remuneration. Not necessarily great, but some.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cugno, chairperson. could have sworn that we had written it down, that we had come to the conclusion, and we were going to bring it forward to this meeting, of how we were going to present it. Because there were different scenarios for different situations. And I think at that point, we were going to bring it here to have it clarified, as far as the time was.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We need the proper language in order to vote for it.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. From my reading of it is if we do a correction on number 2 on page 1 of 11 and say a non-refundable security deposit may be required upon acceptance of rental. That, right now, puts it in this document, and then if we need to be more specific in terms of which of the, if we want to spell out which of the, when we might require a... So it gets canceled within 48 hours of event?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: What's the objective?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: to prevent people from saying they were going to rent a place and then willy-nilly just turning around and not showing up.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Would date, how many hours beforehand can they cancel? Is there a cancellation policy?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Well, when we did it, we had done 48 hours. I don't necessarily know if that's enough, but that's. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Sorry. We had also commented on 72 hours at that meeting at that time.
[Roy Belson]: Do you remember that? No, just the one item. Let's wrap it up.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah, OK. Oh, and then I wasn't finished. There is another section on page five. You know me, Roy. I look for every detail. Sorry.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Was it discussed in the subcommittee?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes. In the Homel Stadium, it was Homel Stadium usage is controlled by Homel Commission, not rentals. So the usage is Right? Didn't we change it? Or was it usage and we changed it to rentals?
[Roy Belson]: Is it, you know, is it different? I mean, basically, we're losing... Ms.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Cuno, chairperson of the subcommittee.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: On the Hormel Stadium rentals are controlled by Hormel Commission because the rentals themselves, as far as we were told, The rentals themselves are through the commission, but as far as the usage, I believe that our athletic director also has purview on the times if we have our teams that are going to be playing, and he's here, so he could clarify that. Mr. Maloney.
[Robert Maloney]: Good evening, Robert Maloney, Sheridan Ave. The Hormel Commission is in charge of Hormel Stadium. You have to go through the commission, they meet once a month across the hall. I schedule the field, I invoice the field, I pay the bills at the field. I meet with Jack Buckley and his commission once a month. I schedule that like I schedule Edgeley Field. I want to thank you on a couple things tonight you've already done. I have a couple groups here tonight. The fee structure, I think we really need another meeting, maybe another subcommittee. It's important. I apologize for not being at your committee the whole meeting, or subcommittee meeting. I was away. But we cannot price these youth groups out. If you decide to price these youth groups out, you're going to commit political suicide. I think there was a recommendation, as you leave field, to go up to 145 for the youth groups, just for your edification. Method Youth Soccer, which is a fantastic group. I know Anne Marie's been a part of it for 100 years. They pay $75 an hour for that field in Hormel Stadium. If you go up to 145 on those kids, you're going to have serious issues.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But I want to thank you for moving that forward.
[Robert Maloney]: But as far as Hormel, I schedule Hormel and I schedule Edgeley.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the purpose of the fields beyond socially edgily for high school sports is for the youth in our community. So that's, I mean, that is the pecking order. So we appreciate that and we're not going to price them out. They're built for that purpose.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Points of clarification. We weren't, we didn't have that information. We were told that it was $145. So when we were looking at, when we were looking at the rates, we actually decided that we want to make sure that we kept our youth programs as they are paying now, because we didn't want to raise So the $75 is something- They pay $75 an hour for practice.
[Robert Maloney]: Monday through Friday night, and they pay $100 for a game on a weekend, which is an hour and a half. So they're getting a 50% discount. And I believe they're very happy with it, and they would not be able to take an increase.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: That will totally be reviewed, the price structure. OK, that's what I want to make sure. So could I motion for a subcommittee meeting?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We just voted on it, that we pulled out the rate schedule from that approval process. I'm like, we've got it. Ms. Van der Kloot was first. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I just, since we're having that subcommittee, it would be a fine time to also discuss when we should require a non-refundable security deposit. And I think it would be, we didn't have Mr. Maloney there. And I think that would be very helpful to have that discussion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I just want to clarify changing the word from rentals to usage because the high school teams don't rent it. And even though you schedule it, you schedule it through for the commission. So you're not doing it as your athletic director. You're doing it as whatever other hat you're wearing at that moment, right? So I wanted you still to be able to schedule that for usage with no monies attached. And that's why I wanted- For Hormel? For Hormel.
[Robert Maloney]: You can't discuss Hormel. You need to go before the commission. It's the commission. You have no authority over Hormel. Nobody does.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Well, we're putting a blurb in about it.
[Robert Maloney]: I'm just saying nobody, you have to, anybody who wants to rent Hormel other than going through me.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Or use it.
[Robert Maloney]: For Relay for Life, they come, they go before the commission. They sit with Jack Buckley, the commission votes. They tell me, take care of like Relay for Life's down there in a couple of weeks. I know everybody's a part of, it's a great cause, but Hormel Commission, they're in charge of it.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: We recognize that completely. The reason for putting in a statement which said Hormel Stadium rentals are controlled by the Hormel Commission contact information is so that people who are looking online would get to that because they're trying to rent Hormel and they would see in our document. Oh, so we just really put that as a direction so that you wouldn't be flooded with questions or that somebody would know. It was really a courtesy quite honestly.
[Robert Maloney]: I appreciate it. The other thing you're going to realize is I would think you might want to invite Jack Buckley to that meeting because if you change the fees at Edgeley Field to $185 and Hormel stays at $145, people are going to be knocking down Hormel's doors before they want to rent Edgeley. We have a good thing in the city. We have three great fields. And the one thing gets tiresome up here is Somerville this, Everett this, Winchester that. You need to understand that we have three turf fields right now. They're going every night to 11 o'clock. They're going Saturdays and Sundays, 8 to 4. Why? The price is right and the fields are in great shape. Winchester's coming online in a couple weeks with a brand new field. Somerville charges the athletic department for practices. So I don't want to hear about Somerville. We have a great thing here. And, you know, you need to consider if you're going to jack the prices at Edgeley, you may want to have the Hormel Commission there so everybody's on the same page.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I really appreciate your perspective and your knowledge about what the rates are now and all of that. I also agree that both fields should be on the same level in understanding so that way one doesn't get overused or another or waitlisted. I agree wholeheartedly. So I agree that Mr. Buckley should probably be at that meeting as well. My only concern is keeping the prices low. I did see the budget for Edgeley Field, and it hasn't come up on the agenda yet. And we will get there. But last year, we were $95,000 in the red for that field because of the bond and the interest on the bond. And I know that that has to come in play somehow with usage. And this might not be the time when we get further into our agenda for the evening. We will discuss that. I know that that has been rectified with the payment from the city, so we're not in the red any longer. But we will get there, and we'll discuss all these issues. But that's my only concern of keeping the rates too low. We want to be able to maintain these without going to the taxpayers. And we can't. As a school committee, we have to figure out a plan to move forward to make sure we're in. The bubble might be the answer to that. I do appreciate what you're saying. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to approve file. Motion to approve the file, excluding the fee schedule. As amended. Yes, Ms. Kreatz.
[Kathy Kreatz]: These are just like some minor updates on page two. It's just missing a word, like right here under the bullet one, two, three. Third bullet down, renters must, it's just missing the word E, 21. And then down below, a little bit further, I thought it was going to be new individuals will be admitted to the school building before or after an adult supervisor who must be at least 21 years of age. I thought it was gonna be 21 years of age, but it says 18 years in one section, but 21 in another. Yeah, I think it just needs to be changed on the bullet on the bullet. Yeah. Two of the bullets. Second one from the bottom.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Are there any other? No, I didn't see any others. Okay. It was a motion. We'll wait for him to get back. Take a two minute recess?
[Charlene Douglas]: Yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That would be fabulous. They were amazing. Oh, amazing. Wish I had the whole thing.
[Unidentified]: Probably that's a little too big. No.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No, I don't see her. No, Mia, and we're missing Scary. The meeting is called to session. We just lost another one. Another one. Done, done, done. That's what happens after three hours. I don't do the two changes on page two. On the motion that the facilities rental agreement as amended on the floor be accepted, excluding the fee structure, and a committee of the whole will be called in the very near future to discuss that with our youth groups in the community and the Hormel Commission as well. On the motion offered by Ms. Vandekloot, seconded by Ms. DiVenedetto, roll call vote please. Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. Subcommittee? Subcommittee or committee at all? On the motion to send the fee schedule to subcommittee to hold a hearing and a meeting in the very near future. All those in favor? All those opposed? Subcommittee meeting has been called. Okay, report of superintendent. Update report on Medford Vocational Technical High School, including SkillsUSA, SkillsUSA request to attend national competition. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam members of the committee, Dr. Heidi Riccio is with us this evening. She's distributed some additional materials. There's a lot of exciting things going on in our vocational school, and she's here to tell you about some of them.
[Heidi Riccio]: Thank you, Superintendent Belson, Mayor Burke, and school committee. I will be quick because my colleagues over here are forcing me to be quick. I'm just kidding. They're not. They're not. So we are very excited to have two national qualifiers for our SkillsUSA competition. This year we have a second qualifier, Sukaran Saji, who is a senior in our graphic communications program. He placed gold at the state competition in Marlborough in April, and he will be moving on to the national competition. The second person is Karan Debel, who is a junior in our Construction and Craft Laborers Program. He qualified as a Massachusetts State Officer, and he will be representing not only Medford Vocational Technical High School, but also the state of Massachusetts and SkillsUSA at this conference. At this time, I am requesting approval for us to be able to attend pending funding to the National SkillsUSA competition that will be held in Kentucky. Louisville, June 22nd through the 25th of 2016.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion on the floor, motion for approval offered by Ms. Cuno to attend SkillsUSA in Kentucky. Ms. Van der Kloot?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: What's the projected cost?
[Heidi Riccio]: Each student costs approximately $1,600, which includes airfare, evening at the hotel, as well as registration into the conference, and then the advisor of $1,600. So it's approximately $4,800. We do plan to do as much fundraising as we can in order to support this.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I know you were successful last year, and I'm sure that we'll see some of your fundraising that we can help support. I would like to invite both students here to commend them for their achievement. That's really fantastic.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the achievement may not be over yet.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: It may not.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hopefully.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: We'll see. We'll hope.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Ms. DiBenedetto. I'm good. Ms. Van der Kloot asked my question.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Likewise. On the motion for approval to send the students to the competition in Louisville, seconded by Mr. Benedetto, roll call vote. Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: de Leon. Yes. Ms. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Ratz. Yes. Mr. Stone. Yes. Ms. Kering. Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, 6, 7 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative. Motion passes. Teen Dating Violence Prevention Grant. Ms.
[Heidi Riccio]: Ritchie. Thank you. The second component of my report is the Teen Dating Violence Grant. This is a collaborative effort with Medford High School. in Medford Vocational Technical High School, and it was co-written by some of my colleagues behind me, Tony Vento, Jill Sawyer, Rachel Perry, myself, as well as Stacey Shulman, who is an adjustment Councilor. This is a $10,000 grant to reduce risks, or high risks, of not only females, but also males in teen dating violence. We believe this to be an extremely important component of our high school curriculum as our students enter into adulthood and need to make difficult choices. The grant proposal, which I can certainly forward you, the one that we did get approved, is a $10,000 grant over the course of three years and we will be developing a mentoring program as well as other curriculum that hopefully the students are able to be so confident in themselves that they do not get into a situation of teen dating violence.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Congratulations on receiving that grant and to the whole team that put the grant application in.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I know that this is a great program, and I know that the PTA up at the high school vocational school used to bring in a program called the Yellow Dress and present that. I'm not sure if they're still doing that. They used to rotate each year, whether or not. And I know that the head of the PTA, Ann Rapucci, is retiring. And so you might want to, maybe we could check in with her and see if they just want to continue that program or help you with this program and help fund it in that way as well.
[Heidi Riccio]: Sure. One thing that this grant really specifies is that it's not a one-shot deal for presentations. longer term. So they begin in grade 9 and then move all the way through to grade 12. So it's really an embedded curriculum that goes across all content areas within the high school and the vocational high school. So that would be one component, would be to bring in a guest speaker. But that's, yes, one component of the entire grant process. So thank you. We'll reach out to her. OK. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Who awarded the grant? I'm sorry? Who did you receive the grant from?
[Heidi Riccio]: Oh, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Ms. Van de Kloop.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: It's terrific. Thank you so much, Heidi. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Bunker Hill Community College Collaboration and Dual Enrollment.
[Heidi Riccio]: So the next exciting part is, again, another collaboration between Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School is that, come fall, we are offering an EMR adult ed program in the evening, but also an EMT certification program. That is a collaboration with Armstrong Ambulance, as well as Bunker Hill Community College. Where the high school and the vocational school comes in is that they are also offering us a four credit dual enrollment course that will be offered during the school day for both high school students and Medford vocational high school students. So upon completion of this course, they will have been certified as an emergency medical responder. This is a requirement if a graduate goes into the military, becomes a firefighter or any sort of civil service, as well as an EMT and paramedic. So it's a precursor to the EMT and paramedic program that is also offered at Bunker Hill. So they will receive, at no cost to them, four credits towards that certification. That's great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Excellent. Very good.
[Heidi Riccio]: Keep on going. I know.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: MTHS Connect and CareerSource of Cambridge.
[Heidi Riccio]: So we did report on this, but it is finalized where the Connect CareerSource with a collaborative grant, and we are a vendor of that grant, so we don't actually receive the grant funding. What we do is we receive funds to be able to teach the program at Medford Technical Institute. It's an adult ed program. It is a pilot program for the Commonwealth Corporation. If you're familiar with the Commonwealth Corporation, they do fund these types of workforce development and retraining. It is specifically targeted towards females, civilians that are newly retired or discharged military, as well as a diverse population. So whether it's students or adults that have English language as their second language. This is scheduled to be held starting the week of July 11th. It is an eight week program. And so we're very excited to be able to offer this because the hopes is that if this becomes so successful, it is a pilot for the state of Massachusetts. We were the only ones that did receive this and they would like to see what the outcome is of this, of those 15 graduates or participants in order to then fund additional. It is specifically related to the construction and carpentry trades.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: who will be conducting the training?
[Heidi Riccio]: It will be done by a variety of sources because the individual will receive the construction OSHA 10-hour card, so that will be done by an OSHA trainer. They will also receive CPR and first aid, which will be done by a trained CPR and first aid associate. and then a carpentry and construction trainer as well that has to be certified in order to use the equipment, et cetera. And we have posted this position internally because our goal is to hire staff internally as they will be taking care of the property of Medford Public Schools.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno? I just want to ask about the CPR course. Well, it's part of the course. Will the students have options of getting certified?
[Heidi Riccio]: They will. So upon completion, they will get their first aid CPR certification as well as their OSHA construction card. Any of these types of programs, how they deem it to be successful is by having a credential attached to it. So those are the types of credentials that are needed in the construction and building trades, and therefore they will have received that certification.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And is there any other fee? adjacent to it, like I know the boys, I mean, it's a different thing, but I know my boys just took a CPOC course through our school. But to get certified and for their certification, they had to pay a fee. So I'm not sure if there's anything.
[Heidi Riccio]: So this adult ed program is being paid for by the Commonwealth Corporation because it is a retraining grant in order to retrain under or unemployed individuals within the greater Boston community. Great. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: recent grant applications? Do you want to just hit on them?
[Heidi Riccio]: Yeah, basically so that you know that our school is working very hard and diligently looking for alternative funding sources as we continue to expand our career and technical education programs. We do feel it necessary to make sure that we're meeting industry demands, and with that comes equipment. So we have collectively and collaboratively, again with the high school, as well as our colleagues, have applied for multiple grant opportunities. The first being the CTE makeover challenge grant, and Molly Layden, who I think is still behind us, has helped me write this grant. It was a two-phase process, so we're in the second phase. We did make it to the second round of that grant application, and we'll be submitting by the end of this week. I also have to say that Kathy Kreatz, as a member of our advisory board, has reviewed the grant application and provided feedback, so I would like to thank her for that. The second grant application is from the Auto Collision and Repair Education Foundation. It's a makeover grant. Many of these grants you have to reapply because you may not get it the first time. We didn't get it last year, but we did get feedback, so we're hoping to strengthen our application process, and we will be submitting that grant application in the next two weeks. With the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and as you know, in vocational education, it's pretty hot in the state of Massachusetts, and making sure that all students are prepared not only for college, but also for their career, even beyond college. Therefore, the Department of Education has submitted an RFP for $10,000 of a planning grant. That planning grant is going to be extremely important for us to get this planning grant, because it is a precursor to a much larger grant of $150,000 in equipment. And so in order to be able to write that second phase of that grant, you have to have received this $10,000 grant. We sat into a webinar last week, and there are 120 schools that were listening to this webinar, and they are only giving out $10,000. planning grants of $10,000. So it's extremely competitive. We're not sure if we're going to get it. But one thing that we are looking for is partnerships. And I'm just going to really quickly list off that the Metro North Regional Employment Board, Bunker Hill Community College, Comcast, Wynn Boston Harbor, State Representative Barber, Light Cyber, which is an Internet securities firm. The Furniture Trust and Congresswoman Clark have all reached out and given us letters of support for this grant, and there will be additional grant fundings, as you see in your other packet here from the Massachusetts Business Roundtable. is that Governor Baker, they did pass an act with approximately $75 million in funding that is going to target specifically vocational education, which may also be in the community college level as well and career pathways. But the nice part about us being housed in the same complex as the high school is that they are looking at creative ways to increase opportunities in technical education in comprehensive high schools. So, yes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vandekloot. So, Heidi, I know you like a challenge. And this is a pretty great challenge. This is fantastic. Good luck. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the last item is a New York Times article. Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Kritz.
[Kathy Kreatz]: I just wanted to say congratulations, Heidi, on qualifying to the next level. I know what a big deal it is. Thank you. Congratulations.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Sure. Is there a way that we can publicize that we're looking for, industry level? I mean, might there be other businesses you particularly want to attract?
[Heidi Riccio]: I think since this is publicized and all of you being community members, it will be really essential that anyone that's listening that feels as though they have a presence, this particular grant that we are writing, is going to focus on all technology-based programs, which includes TV production, media technology, computer programming and web development, marketing, business technology, graphic communications, design and visual, and information technology. So we're looking at really creating this hub. or this epicenter or innovation center, and robotics and engineering, where they're all kind of working together towards a common purpose. So if anybody out there is listening and definitely has a field of interest, certainly, and we can, I think Allison's still here. Nope, she left. So Allison Goldsberry can also post it on our website, and we can have Lisa post it in the blog as well.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Did you consider Tufts University?
[Heidi Riccio]: We do actually have Tufts University, but we're waiting for their letter, yes. I didn't want to put them until, but thank you. And lastly, the New York Times article. The last exciting part is that I think you all know Isaac Cardoso, who is a state officer with Massachusetts SkillsUSA. He will be graduating in just a couple of weeks, but he is also going to the national conference that is being paid for by SkillsUSA. He was reached out to us by the New York Times because they're doing a story on vocational education across the nation. And they were looking for somebody that is going directly into the trades in some way through an apprenticeship program upon high school completion. We were approached by the state director of Massachusetts SkillsUSA. So he was selected. one person in the entire nation to be represented as being a successful model for vocational education. We are very fortunate to have him also receive the IBEW Local 103 Scholarship, and so he will be entering IBEW in the summer.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So one of my friends said to me, did you see the Times? Did you know that the Medford Vocational School is featured in it? Which I didn't, and I still haven't seen it. Do you have a copy of the article? Yes, you have it actually. I could not find it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: They just circulated them earlier.
[Heidi Riccio]: Sorry.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Uh-huh.
[Heidi Riccio]: Thank you very much. That's great. Thank you. It was also posted in our blog as well over the weekend. So it's a pretty cool article. And the picture, the New York Times actually came to the electrical shop last week and took the picture in our electrical shop. So we're pretty excited about that as well. Wonderful. That's fabulous.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? I just want to commend Isaac for his work through our school system. I mean, he's represented Method well for a lot of years. I remember when he first started running for this seat. And it's just been a pleasure to watch him grow up and represent us in such a great way. And the mentoring that you and your staff have given to our vocational students is very impressive. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Nice presentation, Heidi. Thank you very much. Is a motion to receive in place on file? Motion to receive. On the motion. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Pre-budget report guidance.
[Roy Belson]: So we're going to call upon our guidance director, Amelia Jensen, to tell us about the guidance department.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Hi, good evening Mayor Burke, Superintendent Belson, and members of the school committee. Tonight I'm here to give you the pre-budget report for guidance, and I too will be very quick. I'll give you an overview of the guidance department to start. So the guidance department currently consists of 10 Councilors, five Councilors at the high school, one at the vocational school, and two at each of the middle schools. The mission of the guidance department is to ensure that all students thrive in the three areas of college and career readiness, academic development, and social and emotional wellness. And those are the areas we base our curriculum, our programs, and our opportunities on. To deliver this counseling curriculum, the middle school Councilors teach classes to students in all grades, and the high school Councilors meet with students in a variety of ways, including the guidance seminars through the advisory program, as well as individual meetings and classroom pull-outs and collaboration. So our use of funding for the school year 2015-2016 was consistent with what was reported. And thanks to that funding, we've had some major accomplishments this year. In the report, you'll see a list of many accomplishments, but I'm going to highlight three tonight. First, this year we had our first annual C3 Day. C3 Day was a day that was dedicated to college, career, and community service for the entire school. What we did is through the funding that you so graciously gave us last year, all of our juniors were able to take the PSAT free of charge. which really got them thinking about college, it helped prepare them for the SAT, and it really created a strong college-going culture. During that day, all seniors had the opportunity to participate in off-campus events regarding college, career, or community and civic experiences. Many students used this day to take college visits. Tufts University hosted a career panel. Students job shadowed did community service. Tufts also hosted an essay writing workshop on our school campus and there were many more opportunities. So it was an extremely successful event and we are looking forward to doing it again next year. The second major accomplishment was that we were able to advance our experiential learning. So last year we asked for an additional school Councilor. We used that school Councilor as our new school and community partnerships Councilor. This position has made a huge difference for students because this person in this position has brought many opportunities to Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School students. One specific thing is that we were able to offer a Bunker Hill dual enrollment class on campus after school to junior and senior students, which was sociology free of charge for up to 30 students. We're looking at expanding that next year and teaching more courses at school so students can get college and high school credit. This position was also able to connect over 300 students with community service opportunities, internships, and job placements by partnering with the community, with Tufts University, with the Medford Chamber of Commerce, with different businesses and organizations. Our third major accomplishment this year that I'm going to note tonight is that we were able to expand our social and emotional learning in the middle schools. So last year, the middle school Councilors at the McGlynn Middle School were able to teach students all three grades in guidance classes. And this year, thanks to Mr. DeLeva and working with us in the scheduling, now the Andrews Middle School Councilors also teach sixth, seventh, and eighth grade guidance classes. So this is really pushing forward our freshmen, I'm sorry, this is really pushing forward our students so when they become freshmen at the high school they're all in the same place socially and emotionally with our Michigan model curriculum. So for next year, our request for the school year 2016-2017, we're really looking at keeping level funding with our textbook and our PSAT accounts. And we're hoping to increase our office supplies by $300 to assist with materials needed for our advisory seminars. and increase our contractual services by $500, which would cover professional development related to two areas. One would be training the Councilors in vocational education to further the integration process of the high school and the vocational school. And the other area would be with the ELL population, counseling them in regards to the transition after high school and college. There's very limited resources out there, so they need some additional training. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Are there any questions? Ms. Cugno, you're all set?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: No, I was going to ask the question. Thank you. I just want to ask, first of all, the C3 day, as a parent, I liked it a lot. It gave me the opportunity with the boys to go and see a couple of more schools because it's difficult in everyone's schedule. So that was great. And I also know that the feedback on that day was really good from a lot of students and parents. So that was a really nice way of thinking outside the box to make sure everybody was looked at instead of having some lull day that no one could do anything. I am looking, I'm looking at your goals and I like the idea including especially because I'm always afraid of the children that are getting not getting looked at when we're going from one to the other job like I'm you know elementary to the middle middle to the high school so that just makes so much sense the other thing I was going to ask you is I'm looking at the 2016 college acceptances oh yeah and again proud of our students of what they've done what they've accomplished with the help of everyone But I know that in the graduation book, on graduation day, it doesn't really say where the students were accepted to. It says where the students are going. And I know I had this feedback last year when parents were asking me, Well, you always say that the kids are getting accepted into all these different schools, but I'm not seeing any of these schools on the list. And I know, as many of us, because of the financial situation, some of the students are not selecting the schools that they really had been chosen to because financially it worked out better for their own personal financial situation to go somewhere else. So I'm looking at the list, and I know for a fact we have a lot of students going up to UMass Lowell. this year. And I just somehow, if we could incorporate where the students have been accepted, not only to where they're going, because I just don't want the students need to get the credit for it. And I just don't want parents to look at the list and say, oh, there's five colleges here. This is all they've been accepted to. And I don't think people understand that when they're reading it. So somehow, some way, if we could put that in the package of the booklet, I would appreciate it.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yes, after we had spoken at that middle school college night, I had spoken with Dr. Perala and Lisa Bowler about creating the booklets to be different this year. So we're going to have both the colleges that students were accepted to, and then next to that, we'll have whether or not students are attending and how many.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Great. Thank you. Excellent.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vander Kloof? Amiya, since you mentioned the PSAT funding, I just wanted to ask you, are the AP tests funded, are they, does guidance organize those, or are they organized by department?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yes, so guidance organizes the AP exams.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And do we provide any funding for AP students?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: No. However, there are fee reductions for students who are on free and reduced lunch. So I believe this year, if a student was on free or reduced lunch, they paid, I'd have to check, but it was somewhere between $13 and $15 per exam.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I guess I'm a little concerned that for a student taking multiple, I heard my students talking about this, who I oversee, and they were talking about if they were taking multiple tests, if they're not on free or reduced lunch, it's just so expensive. And somehow or another, I would really like to see some funding towards AP exams, because I think that it's such a great thing for our students. We like them doing well. But the funding is prohibitive for a lot of kids. So I'd like to talk to you about that a little bit more.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yeah, the exams are about, I think this year they were $92 per exam. And some students do take three or four. The majority of students take one to two, but we do have quite a few students who take three to four. I believe this year we had about 220 students taking AP I'm sorry, we had 220 exams. I'm not sure the number of AP students. I think it was around 140. So yeah, I mean, it's a very expensive cost. I know the AP Italian exam is completely covered through an outside scholarship that Miss DiCarlo has secured. And then again, students who are on free and reduced lunch get the $15 per exam. But the rest of the students do have to pay the full price. which is pretty costly. I have researched what some other schools do, and I'm sorry I don't have it in front of me, but I could get it for you. I know that one school district up north, and I believe it's Woburn, but I could be wrong, is that they offer to pay for one AP exam per student, and then after that the students pay for it. So I know schools are out there kind of trying to explore it, but there are other schools that also take the stand that The AP exam is something that gives the students college credit, and therefore it's beyond high school, so they opt not to pay for that, whereas they do opt to pay for the PSAT because it helps prepare students to actually get into college. So there's some differing opinions out there, but there's definitely some models that I would be happy to give you information on if you're interested.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: One of the schools of the students told me that they pay for all of them. Wow. And I was really impressed. So anyway, I'd like to explore it a little bit more. I know it's another budget item, but it's something we should think about.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Krebs? Hi. Hi.
[Kathy Kreatz]: I just wanted to know, because I know that the enrollment's going to go up a little bit in the vocational school. There's a few more students joining the vocational school. Do you think that one guidance Councilor would be enough, or there might be a need for an add to staff, or maybe 1.5? I was just noticing that the numbers were like the Anderson Middle School was two, McGlynn was two, the vocational school was one, and the high school was five. So I was just kind of looking at the numbers that way.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Yep, well, we could always use more Councilors. No, actually, the middle, or the vocational school right now, I believe, has a population of around 200? 253. For next year or for this year? This year, OK, has about 253 students this year. At the high school, the average Councilor caseload is around 280. One Councilor has 320. It's a little off this year. So it depends on how many students do enter into the vocational school. What Ms. Riccio and I have been talking about, though, is that we plan on integrating the counseling staff, working towards that next year, with the following year hopefully having it fully integrated where every Councilor would have a section of all students. So it would be more evenly distributed.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Okay. I just had one more question. Um, Oh, I just wanted to know, um, who is, what is the name of the new community partnership Councilor?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Uh, Mr. Tim Klein.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Okay. I knew I met him, but I just couldn't remember his name. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: You're welcome. Thank you. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I just wanted to comment. There's quite an extensive list of colleges that our students have been accepted to. This is a great accomplishment, not only to our high school educators, but to our kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. This shows that what we're doing is producing wonderful, wonderful educated children that are getting into schools throughout the country. you know, whether they're Ivy league or down the street, I think it's all, all a tribute to, to what they have learned throughout their, their educational thing. Um, this just brought up a reminder that, um, the school committee voted to have, um, some of our parents also on the stage. And I just wanted to remind the superintendent, I know spoke on the phone about it, about, um, some more, um, students being on the, And just to make sure that you touch base with all involved at our high school and vocational. I know they put the program together and make sure that they're made aware that Mrs. Rapucci and her son will also be present on stage for graduation. And notify them as well, because I don't think they've been notified yet. And moving onward reminded me of that. Thank you. Ms. Westmark, for you.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: You're welcome. Can I make one comment about the college acceptance list?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: So I just wanted to note that this is a report based on about 80% of the students. It was as of May 10th. So students are still coming in and letting us know where they've gotten accepted. And they're still in the place where they're choosing and making final decisions. or at least haven't yet reported those to us yet. So you should expect, and I will make sure to get this to you, that a complete report explaining the postgraduate plans of all students will be prepared sometime in June. And that will give you the percentage breakdown of who's going to a four-year, two-year, employment, military, et cetera. Of these colleges, I just wanted to point out point out a few. So we have colleges from across the country. We have one from Washington State, which is my hometown. So I had to point that out, which is Gonzaga University. But also, eight of our students this year got accepted to Tufts University. And I spoke to the assistant director of admissions, and this was more than last year, but what he said is it was very exceptional because this year, it was their most competitive year ever for admissions, and they only accepted 14% of applicants. And eight of our students were accepted, and we know of five right now who are attending. Awesome. Very good.
[Roy Belson]: Just want to mention while Amelia brings that up is Dr. Monaco is going to be at the high school on the 24th. And if you have time and you want to see him in the science labs talking with the kids and so on and so forth, we can thank him for the acceptances as well. Because maybe next year we'll go for 10.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Thank you. Going back to the AP exams, I believe we had the conversation last year, if not the year before, but are we putting students on payment plans if they're looking into the AP courses? Because I know that the fees of everything between proms and banquets and everything else are all at the same time. So I know that we had spoken about if students were interested, they could go on a payment plan. done?
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: We don't have an official payment plan. However, we did advertise, not advertise, but we did send out the student registration forms and alert parents a lot earlier this year. So a letter went home in the fall letting them know that this would be a cost coming up. And then a robocall went out as well. And then students who did have difficulties paying, a lot of teachers would bring a student down, students would come to me individually, and we were able to make plans work for them. So it was done unofficially, but we didn't have anything specific on paper that said that we had a plan, but it was communicated to the students that there was that possibility. And I think what we had talked about last year is just letting the parents know that that price was coming earlier.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: So that's what we did. And if we could also let the parents know that there could be something, you know, work dealt because sometimes the student will go home and tell the parent and then the night before they're like, oh, by the way, I need $300 money order. So if we could, if we could do that, that would be great.
[7DUlBp6f_Us_SPEAKER_21]: Oh, we also this year started, uh, thanks to Pat Vili. We started doing the online payment system, which was fabulous because we didn't have to manage a lot of cash coming in. Um, and we didn't have to worry about students writing personal checks. They were all able to do it online.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. There's a motion by Mr. Skerry to receive and place on file this report. Seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you. And our next report.
[Roy Belson]: Fine Arts.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Fine Arts Department. Mr. Schroeder.
[Richard Trotta]: Richard Trotter, Director of Media Technology and Fine Arts. So I'm here to present the Fine Arts Report. First of all, it's an honor to be associated with such great staff. You had a taste of it earlier, Sophia Chang. And by the way, she received an award from Tufts Youth Philharmonic Community Service Award last Friday night, and it was a fantastic night for her. So I was happy to be there. I want to thank you, the school committee and superintendent, for funding the fine arts program. I really think it's an outstanding program. I think you do too. We have an unbelievable staff. Tonight, Tony Zigny's here, who's the lead teacher and is really the glue for the department and keeps things going. He's really on top of all the music programs and the art programs. Without his help, I couldn't do this job. Also, Haley Rells here, the band director, who does another fantastic job. The band's been at numerous performances, and I'll go through a few things, but I want you to know they're here, and if you have any particular questions, they stayed for this to answer any questions about the music program and the band, two of our programs. So the music program is K through 12. Students take music elementary through high school. And they have teachers at every school. And the basic music courses are taught at elementary. And the students get introduced to musical concepts and basic instruments and learn how to play, do music. And in the grades four to five, they start taking instruments. We have a string program which begins in grade four. And students are allowed to use a violin for $25 for the year. And so we usually have around 300 students doing that. The second year, fifth grade, they drop off a little bit. And we still can't maintain a good core group. So if you've been to the high school concert, you've seen how many students are in the high school orchestra. The band program starts in grade five. And we don't have the violins to allow students to take the $25 program. So they have to rent the instruments and buy the instruments. And so we don't have the same numbers. And so part of this proposal is to strengthen the band, because we need more numbers and we need more teaching periods. During the year, the music department performed in 14 major concert events and during additional performances at buildings and community service events. Three high school ensembles also participated in the mayor's inaugural ceremonies in January. There are a total of 11 music teachers on staff, nine full-time and two part-time, basically 10.4 teaching positions. The visual arts department It presents students with opportunities to explore and develop talents in a variety of art forms. At the elementary and middle school, similar to the music program, all the students take art elementary through middle, and we have teachers at all the schools. At the high school, the students have the option to take them as electives. We have comprehensive art, studio art, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, and this year, fashion. Many students participate in festivals and exhibitions. And there are some achievements, like the mosaic that was done at the Andrews, which are listed in the full report. There are so many accomplishments by both groups, the art and music, that it would take me a long time to go through a list. So I'm not going to do that. But you have the list in front of you. There are a total of 10 art teachers, nine full-time and one part-time. And budget funds were spent on maintenance of equipment supplies, some technology, and buses. And accomplishments, the major ones, I mentioned some. The band participated in over 20 different events during the school year and a number of different competitions. Last week or two weeks ago, the band won a gold medal at the Great East Festival that was hosted here in Medford. So the band has won a number of awards over the years. Haley and the students have done a fantastic job. The orchestra had four students selected to the MMEA Senior District Festival, where they played with other outstanding students throughout the state. The chorus had a charity fundraiser and did some caroling and worked at Memorial Day and graduation. So, in the art I just mentioned, there were also some McGlynn Elementary students designed logos for Medford Public Library and a number of showcases. The budget is the same as last year, basically, except we are asking consideration for another full, for a band teacher to teach middle school and elementary school. And that would allow Ms. Rello to stay at the high school to enhance the band program at the high school and also offer more electives and music at the high school. So that's the overview. You have the full report that you can, you know, peruse at your own time. And I'll be happy to answer questions. And also, as I mentioned, Ms. Rello and Mr. Zigny are here for questions pertaining to those programs.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vander Kloof. I just want to say that, of course, how wonderful all the concerts were. They really were outstanding. Unfortunately, the one I missed was the hand chime, but I think it's so great that we have that as an offering in Medford. And, you know, my hat is always off to Mr. Zigny and Ms. Rello and the other teachers. Perhaps they're the luckiest teachers because we do see the results of their work, but it was really outstanding. And of course, tonight was a great example of the work in our fine arts department.
[Richard Trotta]: I agree. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Thank you, Mr. Gerardo, for the report. A couple of things. I guess because Mr. Zigni and Ms. Rallo are here, elementary, middle schools, and the high school, how are scheduling going with the music? I know at one point the high school students couldn't take it because of certain classes they had to take, so they had been rearranging the courses around so that way the students had the availability to take the band orchestra music.
[Richard Trotta]: I can answer that, but I think Mr. Zegni can answer it better. He works with us all the time and has to live with it, so I'll let him answer. You're talking about the band and the orchestra, correct?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Yeah, being in the orchestra for sure, because that's also in the elementary and middle schools, and I know that in the past we've had a situation where students wanted to take them, but because of their daily classes, they weren't able to. And I know that over the years, it was supposed to be a work on progress.
[Tony Szykniej]: Yeah, Tony Zickney, lead teacher of the Fine Arts Department. We generally, I just saw the numbers, I think we have like 100, for orchestra, 116 requests to take it. Generally, we want to run about 70% just because there's only a six-period day. There's just a limited number of periods available. A lot of our kids take AP, so if we get 70%, that's That's been good. That's been average. Um, there's discussion at the high school of changing the scheduling, which hopefully we're working on maybe opening up either more periods or, um, so pretty much it's status quo. Um, and based on the scheduling we have, um, that's pretty much how about the middle schools in the elementary school, middle school special, The reason, a big request is to have another teacher on board. Mrs. Zarello is the only band teacher, and she's expected to teach high school band, Andrews Middle School band, McGlynn Middle School band, and all the beginner classes at all the elementary schools. And it can't be done. There's not enough periods in the day. Luckily, one of our elementary teachers has a band background, so she's been helping out teaching the fifth graders one day a week. But it's really difficult because it all ends up being on a Wednesday. That's a short day at the elementary schools anyways. The teachers themselves, the classroom teachers, are really tight as far as their scheduling. So it's really, really difficult to get those classes in and see the kids the amount of time that we need to. So actually, our band numbers have waned a bit. And it's already showing up at the middle schools where the numbers have dropped. And very soon, it's going to start affecting the high school groups, at least the high school band. Luckily, I've been here, I guess, 23 years. Mrs. Chang was here 13 years. So we have that continuity and that regularity where the string program is on solid foundation. But the band, we really need another band teacher to kind of to kind of get that to where it needs to be and where we can get the numbers up to the high school. So that's where I think where our biggest problem is. And by adding that one teacher, not only is it going to help the band program immensely, it will help scheduling at all the other schools around the city. let the teacher go back to the books, and books can go back to having a full-time general music teacher, which they're losing one day a week for the band program. It will allow us at the high school to have the guitar 2 class as a follow-up to a guitar class now, percussion 2 class as a follow-up to a percussion class, and most importantly, a new music technology course that we want to put up the high school, which music technology is probably the biggest growing area in music, not only in education, but in industry. And we actually had some music technology in the pit. We were way ahead of the game. We had it when no one else did, and then we lost it. And it would be nice to get that back. And it will also give the possibility to give the McGlynn Middle School more of a full schedule. So that one position by altering everything is gonna benefit us in many different areas. So that's probably our biggest need.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: The other thing I was gonna ask is on the contract that we have with the instrument company.
[Tony Szykniej]: Yep.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Up until the fifth grade, they only rent. Right? Up until fifth grade?
[Tony Szykniej]: Are we talking band, strings?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Both.
[Tony Szykniej]: Okay. So we have... We have well over 200 string instruments that we use for our beginners, and they pay a user fee which helps us keep them in shape. After the fourth grade, they have to either rent or buy or provide their own. The band, they're renting pretty much from the start because we just don't have that fleet of instruments. And again, they can rent from the company that we recommend, or they can get them on their own, they can buy them on their own.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. And at what grade does the band have to make the decision, too? Is it the fourth grade also?
[Tony Szykniej]: Fifth grade, because they start in fifth. Violin, strings start in fourth grade with the school instruments, and then in fifth grade, both the violins and the band need to either rent or probably buy their own.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Is there a way of speaking to the company Because they've been with us for such a long period of time. I mean they've been and they've been giving us a great Opportunity for our students to rent it rather than you know versus buying it But I don't know if it's really been looked at over the years because it seems like it's the same contract that's been out there for many many years we have Yeah a few years ago we did
[Tony Szykniej]: I have a lot of other vendors, and I actually do get calls. And basically, the instrument company we're dealing with now is by far the least expensive.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: No, I know that. What I'm asking is, is there a program out there, instead of having our students select in fourth and fifth grade, that they go from renting to either buying it, Is there something that maybe we could overlap it and have them rent it all the way up to middle school?
[Tony Szykniej]: So that way maybe we could have the kids... Yeah, right now the band is a rent-to-own, so they do continue to rent until it's paid off and then they will own it if they continue. So it is a rent-to-own program.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: All right. And the other thing I was just going to say, oh, congratulations to the band. They were invited to the Hershey Pennsylvania Invitational to go and compete there. So congratulations to them.
[Tony Szykniej]: Yes, absolutely.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Kreatz. I just wanted to say I enjoyed all the bands, concerts, everything. It's always just perfect, beautiful, amazing job. Thank you both. Thank you.
[Tony Szykniej]: Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Very good. And the music tonight was wonderful, as always. I didn't get the opportunity this year to see the concerts as I usually do.
[Tony Szykniej]: We'll get you a DVD. We do that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you very much, because it is the highlight of my end of the school year.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That'll pay for everything.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. I have a couple questions. I'm wondering if the cost of renting violins in that program leads more parents into going into that program, plus the beginning of starting it a year earlier. And because I know as a parent who rented to own a saxophone, it ended up being very expensive at the end, compared to a parent whose other child played violin. It was much more affordable, so we need to take into consideration that fact. But in that regard, I know we were getting all of our antique equipment. and musical instruments evaluated, and I was wondering where we stood on that situation. I don't know if you were aware, Mayor Burke, we have wonderful antique instruments in storage at our high school facility that are very valuable, and we were having them evaluated as to what their worth was, so that way we could let musicians throughout the world bid on them. and use them rather than be in our possession and not being used. So I'd like an update, and I think I asked for this prior, to the superintendent, where we are, what the evaluations are on these pieces of equipment, and what it would take to actually get them out so people could enjoy using them and we could enjoy the money and put it back in our program. So I'm making a motion to the superintendent to provide the school committee with a list of inventory, and I know it will take time because right now we're in the beginning of the budget, but maybe by the end of September, have the list of inventory and the value of such items presented to the school committee so we can decide how to move forward from that. a motion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion that a report be furnished on the list of music equipment that's in storage at this point that could be available for auction. Seconded by Ms. Mustone. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Is everyone all set? Any other questions? Is there a motion on the floor to receive and place on file? So moved.
[Tony Szykniej]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So moved. Seconded by Ms. Cugno. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. If I could also congratulate and thank you all for all the community service that you do on behalf of the community between Patriots Day, the inauguration. We have Memorial Day coming up, 10 a.m. Memorial Day. It's at the end, and I believe the chorus will be there, and then with a short march over to Veterans Monument. So telling everybody out there, mark it on your calendar. They're fabulous, and we look forward to seeing them. Thank you. Thank you. report on National Science Foundation Computer Applications Grant Program. Mr. Superintendent?
[Roy Belson]: So Madam Mayor, members of the committee, Molly Waden is with us tonight. Molly headed up this project and filed it with UMass Lowell. And this project is really an advanced project for a school system. It's a $1.2 million grant, which we share with UMass Lowell and Everett. But the work was done here with MOLLE and MOLLE, UMass MOLLE. And it's a program where youngsters have really gone to the next stage of computer development. Instead of just doing the routine searches and things like that, they're actually developing the applications that people buy and developing new engineering techniques. The way we've got to look at the future is that when we talk about science education and the like, it's not just learning the facts or the information. Now it's engineering solutions. And this is a major step. And for our middle school youngsters to do this is an incredible step forward in computer science education. And it's to be a model. But Ms. Molly.
[Molly Laden]: Ms. Layden. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Molly Layden. I'm in Instructional Technology in the schools. The Middle School Pathways Project, we are actually midway. We're almost a year and a half into a three-year project. And it's funded by the National Science Foundation. It's $1.2 million. total for the three years. UMass Lowell actually, the computer science department, is actually the fiscal agent. But we work on the grant with them. We're co-directing the grant. The partnership is the UMass Lowell Computer Science, the Medford and Edford Public Schools, and TriTech, the Tri-City Technology Education Collaborative. And it really is designed to bring computing experiences, project-based computing experiences, to our middle school students. It's about more than just learning how to do computer science. It's really learning about the field of computer science. So we look at having students learn about different kinds of careers beyond just programming. There's almost any job our students will be in will be using computer science in some way. So we're trying to build that comfort level and introduce them to computer science at an earlier grade than waiting until high school. It's also designed to motivate students to pique some interest and perhaps pursue high school courses and beyond, and perhaps even some careers that are computer science or computer science related careers. Those careers may be programming, but they also may be graphics. They may be network. They may be support. But almost any job that our students do will use some of those skills. It's to bring computing experience and career awareness to students who are traditionally not in the field. So it's not students who would just self-select to be in that field, but students who are going to learn about it for the first time and then may select to be in the robotics club later on, if not specifically in computer programming classes. So it's really to bring that computing experience to students who may otherwise may not get it, self-select to receive it. And it's to take students beyond Microsoft Office, or Google, or basic computing and technology tools, but really looking at it as a broader field. As I mentioned, we're about halfway through the grant, so the implementation has our teachers begin doing about 30 hours of professional development in the summer, and then they move into school year activities, professional development, and they develop a 15 to 20 hour curriculum that they do with their middle school students in both middle schools. We have five teachers to date who have been trained, are participating continuously throughout the three years. And those teachers actually look at their current curriculum, and they work with this computer science curriculum, and they make it work into their curriculum. So it's computer science brought into technology, or computer science brought into their technology curriculum, their engineering curriculum. They do about 15 to 20 hours during the school year, and then we run summer camps. So we had two summer camps last summer at the high school, and we'll have two summer camps this coming summer that will be at the McGlynn Middle. Teachers have the choice to teach those camps. They don't all have to. And then they showcase the event, the work that the students are doing. What is really unique about the project is that students become developers instead of just users of technology. So they're developing mobile apps on Android devices. We provide the carts. And those, although they are trying to sell them apps, we are not actually looking to have them sell the apps, but they are looking at designing and developing and creating. And that's a different kind of competing experiences for our students. We have computer science professionals who come into the classroom to talk about the kinds of work they do. We try and get a diverse group of professionals from different kinds of jobs and who are from, who are women, who are different people that they would actually traditionally think are in the job. We've had people come from iRobot. We've had people come from universities, from Amazon Robotics, the manware, cast, polytronics, a variety of fields that they've come in and talked to the students about what they do. They come in during the school year and they come in during the summers. The lasting curriculum change is that every student in our district, every student will come to middle school and have participated in the project. Every student will have some experience with the app development to introduce them to the field. They may like it, they may not like it so much, but they've had some exposure to that over the course of the school year that they're in. To date, we've had a year and a half. The second year professional development is completing. The second year classroom implementation is completing. We've had classroom visitors, and we've had an outside evaluator look at the project. They've had a variety of great results. Students are increased in their interest. We will be looking next year about if students are then taking higher level classes in the high school. We haven't gotten there yet. We're going to start looking next year. I included some pictures of some of the apps that the students have created during the summer camp. We are trying to get them to look at their communities and develop apps based on the community needs. So they had a tree warden, they looked at energy and environment, they looked at the Board of Health, farmers market, and these are some of the apps. They haven't sold them yet, they'd like to sell them. This is our budget breakdown. It's $1.2 million, as I mentioned. Some of it goes towards teacher stipends for professional development. Some of it goes for the camps, instructors, UMass Lowell to do professional development for our teachers, an outside evaluator. We have an advisory board. The goal is that we develop a pathway, so students are introduced K-5 in introductory activities, code.org kind of intro weeks. They will do the middle school project and then hopefully as they enter high school they'll look towards vocational programs that are certainly aligned or exploring computer science curriculum at the 9th grade, 10th grade, and then higher level computer programming courses. So generally junior or senior year in high school.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. van de Kloot. So this is just fantastic. I should tell you that my daughter develops, works for a company which develops iOS apps. And so I, you know, I have firsthand experience of sort of knowing what an incredible career potential this is. And so I guess my biggest concern is after the grant ends, what we do, because this is something that we would like, I would like to see continued. And again, like you say, it's going to be very interesting to see. where the kids who are being exposed now, where they go with it, and what they do at the high school level. So I just want to commend you for all your work and thank you for your work on this project.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Benedetto?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Do the students have any opportunity to do coding? Because most of the people in the industry now are desperate for coders in all aspects of, that's all I'm hearing. And so a lot of high schools and a lot of different schools are teaching students how to code.
[Molly Laden]: So they do. So our K-5 students all do some introductory coding activities. And then this is somewhere in between the two. So it's essentially a drag and drop program. It's introductory coding. So it's before they get the higher level programming at the high school, it's an intro to computer programming.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Do we offer coding at our high school? Is it incorporated in any of the classes or any certification when they come out? Because I know in industry, this is This is a huge job opportunity, like Paulette said.
[Molly Laden]: So we now have at the, we have an exploring computer science course that starts, and it's an introductory class, hopefully to feed our higher level programming classes. And in that class, they do introduction to coding, they do some web design, they do some robotics, they do, it's a full year course, and they do a module in each of these different areas to introduce you to all the different areas, including coding. and then they can go into a higher level course as they move through high school. But K-5, all this introductory programming class, coding class, either, it could be very short at the lower grades, it could be a little longer at the upper elementary, then by middle school they're doing this, which is really a beginning programming. It's a drag and drop, but they actually have to do things to make things work. So it's the beginning part of that coding. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. There's a motion on the floor to receive in place on file offered by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Thank you, Molly. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Report on summer programs.
[Roy Belson]: So we're going to call on our deputy superintendent to do this. It's almost summertime.
[Beverly Nelson]: No, I think the program's starting soon. I won't go through every single program, only the basic Information is there for you. We have been planning these programs with different administrators who oversee them and teachers. We have programs that are grant-funded, as the one Molly just explained. We have others that students pay tuition, like regular summer school. And we have others that the district supports, like our very popular High School 101. We get out of school the 22nd, and the programs actually start the next day. So the earliest programs start the 23rd, and all the programs except for the vocational adult program will end by August 25th. Again, the programs are elementary, middle, high school, and the adult program. We have our regular summer fund program. I've listed for you the contact people, so if you're interested in further information, this program will run at Medford High School. And again, it's a full day program for elementary students. The regular summer school, that's for students who have to make up a course because they haven't passed it in middle school or high school. And that program is being run by David Blow and Jill Sawyer, and their contacts are listed there. Those programs cost $250 per course. for our students, and then if we have out-of-district students, it's higher, it's $300. We're very excited. This year we're going to do the science offerings online. We've actually, Molly was helpful with this, we've looked through different companies. We found that the one company in Menton, which is really Plato in disguise, has good curriculum. Mr. Cieri has looked through it and found that it's very much the same as the regular curriculum we teach in the sciences. We will have the online science offerings in regular summer school. Then we have programs for special populations. There's a program for ELL learners. There are many special education programs that fit the different needs of those students. Molly spoke about the computer camp for middle school youngsters, and all the dates and information are listed for you there. And what have I missed? Oh, high school 101. This is a program for students entering grade nine who have been identified as academically being challenged. And during the summer, students, when they leave grade eight, they get a summer assignment in mathematics and English. And oftentimes these students need a little boost with that. So what we do is we get them going with the summer work, but then we bring them back into school a few days earlier. And there are teachers that are helping them to finish up the summer work so that they're not behind once they get into the ninth grade classes. This program actually runs for a few days, the last week in August, just before freshman orientation, and it culminates with the freshman orientation. So those ninth graders are there a few days earlier, they get to meet some teachers, they get to meet some administrators, and then it's just a seamless transition into the regular orientation with all the rest of the incoming freshmen. So, again, lots to do for kids this summer. And I'll be more than happy to answer any questions, but we're in the process of hiring staff and getting that all ready. Programs will be at the high school, the McGlynn, and the Roberts this summer. And again, your contact people are listed there if you want more information.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: No, I didn't say anything. Ms. Cuno. Thank you, Ms. Nelson. When you say the online programs, are the students going to have to take them at school?
[Beverly Nelson]: Yes.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay.
[Beverly Nelson]: The content will be online, but physically the students will be there with the teacher.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay, thank you. Is there a motion to receive the report? Thank you very much, Ms. Nelson. Motion to receive the report and place on file. Offered by Ms. Cugno, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on community schools. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, you have a very extensive report here dealing with community schools, not only with information about the programs, but also with a lot of financial data. Um, Pat Vuey, uh, working with, uh, the community schools office, uh, put this together and Farina, Mr. Maloney, uh, Rachel Perry and others put this together so that we could, uh, analyze whatever you had concerns about. So Pat is here. Um, any questions you may have, uh, we can all try to answer them and, uh, go from there. But there's a pretty extensive report here. We can, uh, we're talking about community schools itself. MHS community pool and the edgily field One other thing to say though some of this material you received at the committee of the whole I mean the subcommittee And build these grounds some of it is additional based on additional requests This is a better day
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: I think that we have met all of the requests that have been coming to us from the school committee for the last six months. But it's very extensive. And if you see in your packet, you'll see a narrative that explains each fund. And we can start with Liamis Poole. Poole's doing very well. I believe Rachel. There she is. She is still here. Rachel's been doing a fantastic job with the pool. This is our second year of operation. Not our second full year, but about a year and a half. And we are seeing that it's busier. Revenue is going up. The pool will still end the year in a negative balance. And really, it's kind of a superficial negative. We have not charged use of the summer fund program or the April or February camps to that pool yet. Looking forward into another year, by bringing on board a facilities calendar, we'll be able to do that in a better way, a more transparent way. But at this point, I expect the bottom line to be absorbed by those programs. Any questions on the pool for myself or Rachel? Next up is community schools. Community schools, again, is a very busy program, and I have to thank and Farina and Bobby and Rachel for helping me with this information. What I gather from the database does not look like anything that you have in front of you. The breakouts that you have showing the actual revenue earned, that is provided by community schools. The way our accounting system works is the deposits are made and then they're lumped by date of post. So then I ask community schools to pull out that information so that you can see FY 15 revenue. and FY16 revenue. And then, of course, the software does provide you with a breakout of expenditures. Okay? The program will end the year in a positive. We have a lot of revenue not posted yet, which you'll see on your receivable section of the report. AIC, Bangladesh Group, Impact Church, Japanese Language School, and Tibetans are all invoiced at this time. And we're waiting for their money to come in and then be posted. And it should all be here before the end of the school year. Any questions on community schools?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Any questions? Yes. Mr. Benedetto? Thank you. Thank you, Pat. And I want to say thank you for sitting with me the other day and showing me how to read some of these documents. So I have quite a few questions regarding community schools. Do we have an estimated amount of what revenue would be coming in from now till the end of the school year? That would be in the second section of FY16 financial activity receivables.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: OK. OK. So that's your AIC, your Bangladesh group, your impact church, Japanese language school, and the Tibetans. That's the known revenue at this time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: There'll be some smaller groups. So we project $271,000. Coming in yet. Coming in. OK. When we initially got the community schools budget, it had a negative balance of $95,000 at a subcommittee meeting that has been. No, that's the Edgeley. Oh, that's the Edgeley. I'm sorry. It's my mistake. Yeah, community schools has always been in the positive. Right. That's right. And community schools does help pay for a lot of different things. OK. So getting back on that. community schools program is changing because of the way that we're going to have people sign up and use the facility with the new software system in the way people pay. They're going to, they're going to have to pay, they're going to have to apply online with the new format and the new forms that we provided in the new rates that will be determined at a subcommittee meeting. Um, so what I would like to also propose is that anyone using our facilities also fills out those same exact forms in that the fee structure is just waived so we can track how much, how much usage, how much, how much community uses we allow at no cost. So that way we know who's on our building at all times. in that we can track how many wonderful things, opportunities we give our community to use our facilities. So at this time, I would like to see that added to the community schools on July 1st when we transfer over to the new programming. So I would like to make that motion this evening.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Should an application be filled out here regardless of whether they pay or not?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: That is the expectation of the group, so that we can track every possible user.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And could we also add a calendar so that way we should know, like anyone in the community can know who's supposed to be on any field or in any part of our buildings. So if a group is there and a person has rented it, it's very easily bring up the calendar, these people, you've paid for it, you've pulled the permit, you have the time, and the other people have to graciously walk away at that point. That's the luxury of the software as well. Okay. So we just want to make sure that that's available and implemented July 1st as well. Is that the plan? That's our goal. Okay. So I can't tell you how much I love you being in there. I'm just going to say that outside. I have a couple specific questions about programming that might not directly relate to you. Okay. So the first one is, I noticed that different programs work out, rent our facilities. And as I was looking through the list, I was wondering if there may be any conflicts of interest with any of our employees working at the school district as well as through any of the rental programs. Either, for instance, the Middlesex Reds, the AIC program, or Any other person renting? I just don't want the impression of, I want everything to be on the table and outright and forthright so no questions come to me that I have no answers for. And so through you to the superintendent, do we have staff that work for these programs that also rent our buildings?
[Roy Belson]: I'm not sure of the Reds, because obviously that's a, maybe Bobby can answer that particular thing. There was one person who was a coach and, you know, was affiliated with the Reds.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: As well as other programming like the AIC College.
[Roy Belson]: Let's start one at a time.
[Robert Maloney]: The Middlesex Reds, there's no paid employees on their staff. We have a volunteer coach at the Method High School baseball team who's affiliated with the Middlesex Reds, but no paid personnel.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. I just want to make sure that if there's any, We're following the rules in that we're all doing it and it's disclosed so that way people are aware that their relationship with the school department as well as their relationship with any private entity that is renting our school department. I'm not asking, I'm not looking for who does what for which programs. I just want to know that there's no ethics violations and that we are in compliance. And I don't want to vote on something that isn't working in the most transparent way. That's all.
[Roy Belson]: So you mentioned AIC.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Right.
[Roy Belson]: AIC contracts. with the school department through my office and with Pat Velie. So it's a direct contract, and we generate about 60,000 a year, is that right? Maybe sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, depending on the thing. Now, neither Pat nor I have any affiliation with AIC in any teaching or supervisory role.
[SPEAKER_09]: American International College.
[Roy Belson]: American International College. We basically just simply contract with them, and they use our space. and the like. Now, we have nobody teaching a course for AIC in our faculty or our administration. Some of our administrators from time to time supervise practicums for people that are looking for advanced degrees or trying to get licensure. I think at this point in time, there's maybe just a couple of people that do that. Beverly Nelson does some of that, as does Diane Caldwell. But they are not involved in the contractual activities with AIC. So they have no contact with, in terms of money. So I don't believe they're in conflict. But one of the things we can do is, going forward, we'll run some of this by Mark Rumley and ask him if he's got any thoughts about it. And he can check with ethics.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes, that's all I'm asking for is to make sure that we're in compliance with all state ethics laws and we're transparent through the community as well. Because I did not know that AIC was actually an option. And maybe we should open that up and let people in our community know that we have this program at our high school. as well as our community things, so more people from Medford can take advantage of this college programming. I mean, we have these offerings in our high school, and they don't have to go to other towns to go to college. And if they need to expand their knowledge and their educational base, they can do it right here in Medford. But I don't know if it's that transparent to everybody.
[Roy Belson]: It's pretty well attended by Medford and others. But having said that, most of the courses are education courses. If AIC were to expand or some other colleges were to expand, then obviously they'd offer other things. But with their education courses, mostly individuals were pursuing graduate degrees in education. So that's really where it's at at this point in time. But we can do that. We can take a look.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I have another question specific to that. How many hours are they using our building, and how did we determine what the fee structure was for that? I mean, I just want to be transparent here.
[Roy Belson]: We looked at custodial costs. We looked at, what do you call it, fare costs that we thought were involved. Basically, they run about four to five semesters, four to five, let's say, periods, four to five session periods. And generally, it comes out to $2,000 to $3,000 a course, maybe $2,000 a course. that they're paying us for for the rooms and for the custodial. So some of them run the same night. So that mitigates the cost of the custodian because one custodian can cover five classrooms or four classrooms. So we break it out. We can give you a breakout. We can show you what we charge. Um, and you can actually look at it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: My question about that is, is do they use the same amount of time as our, um, as the Japanese school does? And if they do, why is their fee so different? That's my only question.
[Roy Belson]: I'm just trying to make sure apples are apples. They don't have anywhere near as much coverage of the building as the Japanese do. They're basically talking five classrooms, maybe three nights a week.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: But if you count those hours, if it's six hours and the Japanese school has our building, it's six hours.
[Roy Belson]: It's pretty substantial from what we're getting from them for the time. But we can show you the break up and you can look at it.
[Rachel Perry]: I'm sorry?
[Roy Belson]: The $200,000. For the Japanese, it's generally $100,000 a year. That's moved up from $90,000 a year. We moved that up $10,000.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I thought I saw a line item for $200,000. Yeah, that's for two years.
[Roy Belson]: That's what it is, the $200,000 from the Japanese. But that's for two years.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK.
[Roy Belson]: That's $100,000 a year.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: All right. It just looks like in the financials that we get, it looks like it's $200,000.
[Roy Belson]: What we do with that, just so you know, we forward fund that. We ask them for the money up front. So we're two years ahead on it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Just for clarity, my goal here is to make sure that we are being transparent, we're following state ethics laws, and we're doing the same amount for them as we are for any other program, especially if our employees are working at this facility. I just want it to be no questions asked and everything on the table. And I'll move on to my next question.
[Roy Belson]: Well, custodians would be. Custodians, it's overtime for them. Right. They're just there. And that's part of the contract to have overtime. But we'll run personnel by Mark. And let him take a look and see if there's anything he sees that's, you know.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I have a lot of questions. I'm sorry. But the vocational evening classes and stuff like that, does that come in through those community schools? Or is that separate? It's a separate revolving fund. Okay, and where is that accounts and how do we see that? Do we see that as a school committee?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: You saw that earlier in the year when I gave you the revolving funds. Okay. And of course, this is the first year of evening classes, so there was no balance. Next year in the fall when you get this year's accounting, you will see all that.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, that's great. And it is kept separate. That's great. I just don't want to vote on a budget and be missing pieces. and I just didn't know how that came into play. Okay, so there are a lot of adjusted journal entries on this data, and I know you explained it to me, Pat. Could you just go over it? Like, I know there's one for $480,000, 450, 480, I'm sorry, it's late, $553.15. Can you give me a page? I'm looking at, hmm, so on page one, But that page is like five pages in. FY16? It's actually June 30, 2015. It says JE01 Adjustment Budget. Post errors. I just wanted to be clear that adjustments are made in this budget. I don't know how to read a lot of this. I'm trying to learn more and more.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: So what I believe that you are looking at is an appropriation adjustment. And I think that the city auditor would have made this one. And she went back and checked the balances to make sure that they were posted correctly. So this looks like a budget adjustment from her to appropriate the money in the right fund.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So we had the money in a different fund and it moved to this fund? More than likely.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: That's what it looks like to me.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: All right. So I know we discussed about Hopefully looking at different programming. So this is easier to read. I know that might be on the city side and maybe some Councilors, the mayor might facilitate that. So this way it's not quite so confusing. Like for me, this is hard to read.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: These are the financial reports, I'm telling you. They're extremely difficult to read.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yeah, and I don't know what that means a lot of the time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So I mean, I don't know if this is looking into a new program, but that would... We did a community compact, and we're going to be looking into trying to get one program that works through our treasury office, our payroll office, and the financial software as well. So that's being analyzed. And then hopefully we come up with one program that does it all.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I just want, like, because the documents are out there and they, someone sees that adjustment to the budget, $480,000. I mean, it's because an adjustment was made, but it doesn't specify why it was made, how it was made, what budget it came from.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And that's how, that's how we're audited. We look at the journal entry behind it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So it's just difficult for me as a school committee member to know all the ins and outs of what's going on. So I'm all in favor of a better programming, so maybe it's accounting 101 instead of 104. Okay, so that's that issue. I just wanted to bring everybody's attention to the overtime for our custodians in this thing is $93,000 a year. That seems like a lot of money. I know it's overtime. I know maybe we could figure something out with flexible schedules and next time we negotiate with them. But if we're spending that much money, maybe we could hire another person and have them do different hours so we're not always paying. I'd rather give someone a job than if we're going to spend that amount of money.
[Roy Belson]: So you've got to understand that a custodian salary is going to be about $60,000 plus benefits. So if you add benefits to $60,000, you're almost on top of the 93. And the flexibility of the schedules and the different places that people have to be at at different times, you know, creates that situation. We're actually doing very well with the, you know, with the overtime account in that regard. But it's substantial because there's a lot of programs. You know, but if you hire one custodian, pay them benefits.
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