[Roy Belson]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Secretary will call the roll. President, by a vote of five in the affirmative, two absent, there is a quorum present to conduct business. Approval of the minutes of June 1st, 2015. On the motion approved by Mr. Scariello, is it a favor to say aye? Opposed, no. The ayes have it. The minutes are approved. Approval of the minutes of the budget hearing meeting. On the motion of Mr. Falquah, is it a favor to say aye? Opposed, no. The ayes have it. Minutes are approved. Approval of bills and transfer of funds on the motion of Mr. Benedetto. Secretary will call the roll. Yes, by vote of five in the affirmative, two absent. Bills are approved. Approval of the payrolls on the motion approved by Mr. Crenshaw. Secretary will call the roll. Yes, by vote of five in the affirmative, two absent. The payrolls are approved. Report of the secretary, there's none. Report of committees, none. Committee participation, none. Report of the superintendent, one.
[Roy Belson]: Update report. Before we do that, can we have Mr. Cieri come up and give us just a quick presentation?
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mr. Falcomo, suspension of the rules and other, we may take a paper out of order. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. The rules are suspended. Is Mr. Rocco? Cieri is, okay. Very exciting day today, we're going to get a report.
[Rocco Cieri]: Good evening, school committee and Mayor McGlynn and Superintendent Belson. I'm very pleased to report that on Monday, June 15th, today, Stanford High School students and staff were visited by Professor Jerome Friedman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990. The program was supported by the Nobel Laureate's School Visits Program from Quincy, Massachusetts, and students from all science classes were invited to hear Professor Friedman speak about his discoveries in the area of particle physics. More importantly, students had an extraordinarily personal encounter with a unique, genuine, and brilliant scientist of our time. The event was held in the newly renovated Science Lecture Hall It was an intimate experience for all present. At the conclusion of the lecture, students asked both personal and scientific questions, which touched a number of disciplines and topics, including particle physics, the nature of discovery, ethics, and what college experiences are like. Cafe Electra prepared a wonderful reception event for Professor Friedman. where students and staff were able to speak even more closely with the Nobel Laureate. And I'd like to thank the Director of Mathematics and Science, Ms. Carolyn Joy, the Headmaster, Dr. Perrella, Director of the Vocational Technical High School, Ms. Heidi Riccio, the Assistant Superintendent, Ms. Diane Caldwell, the Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Beverly Nelson, and the Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Roy Belson, for their assistance in coordinating the event for the students and faculty of Medford High School. And I'd also like to acknowledge that the students of Medford High School did a fantastic job with their incredibly insightful questions, very thoughtful comments, and exemplary behavior during the entire event.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Mayor.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you very much for coordinating this and bringing this to our students. I mean, I'm sure that this has inspired many of them to follow in his footsteps in and moving forward with their career. What was your most memorable piece of the day?
[Rocco Cieri]: For me, it definitely resonated. His message to the students resonated with them, that he didn't begin his career in science. He began as an artist. He had a full scholarship to a pretty exclusive post high school institution in Chicago and elected to go to the University of Chicago and study physics. So he has a really varied background that didn't begin in science. It began elsewhere and came into science. So it was really nice to hear that from him.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mann.
[Rocco Cieri]: Mrs. Cunha.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you. Thank you for all the hard work, because I know this was not done in a very short time. I know that it's been months and months of your hard work. And I know that you and a lot of people are very excited. We were very excited to hear about it. I'd like to know the take of, one, the student's enthusiasm when he was speaking. And also, what did he say about the facility itself?
[Rocco Cieri]: He was completely impressed with the facility. He went to, I believe it was Marshall High School in Chicago. It's part of a film. I think it's Hoop Dreams or something like that. So he went to that high school. And when he saw what he was able to view at our high school, he said, this facility is amazing. You know, he had wished he had a facility like this when he was in high school. That clearly resonated with him. But even more importantly, what he saw from the audience and the students themselves were so engaged in that conversation. It's hard to replicate and describe what that's like in a lot of different ways. I can say that the bells were ringing, because they do at the high school, and you could hear a pin drop. The kids didn't move. Not a single one of them. It was amazing. So definitely they were there.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I would love to see a piece of this on our newspapers, on our Facebook page, on our own website. I think this was an amazing day for a lot of students that were involved, but it was definitely something that I believe our community definitely needs to know about.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Mayor.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Could we please send a thank you note for him to come and speak with our children from the school committee? I think that would be very nice, and maybe that will encourage him to come back again.
[Rocco Cieri]: We'd love that. Thank you, Michael. It's a gentleman. Great job. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you so much. Mr. Belz. Rocco did a great job in acquiring this. And we also established a good relationship with the person who coordinates the program. And I suspect we're going to see some more people coming to Medford very soon. But just to give you an idea, this topic was on subatomic particles. So if you didn't know it, you were all made up of quarks. That's what you are, up quarks, down quarks, and electrons. Those are the subatomic particles that you're made of. Everything else doesn't matter. It was a very interesting kind of discussion about how the colliders and all these things come together to actually see these things, to actually find these things, these subatomic things. But one of the messages that he gave to the young people, which I thought was really significant, He said, sometimes when you study things, you don't know how you're going to use it or where it's going to take you. But knowledge, studying knowledge for its own sake, often leads to things. So today, we have many things that we take for granted. But when they were first studied, they had no application whatsoever. And they didn't make sense to anybody else except the scientists who worked with them. And the youngsters were so engaged and so feeling strong with this man, because this man was so engaging and so warm to the youngsters, so interested in what they had to ask, that it really was an exciting experience. I wish we could have all shared it again, but maybe the next time when he comes in or someone comes in like that. But just remember when someone asks you what you are, you just tell them I'm a simple clerk.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Native clerks.
[Roy Belson]: And everything else doesn't matter.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: On behalf of all the members of the school committee, yeah. We know this, we listened to Rocco the other night at the budget hearing. Okay? On the motion of the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye the former director of social studies, will you all please rise and join us in a moment of silence. On that motion, all in favor say aye. Opposed, none. The resolution is adopted. Update report on the capital improvements to school facilities, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Mr. Mayor and members of the committee, our Director of Finance and Administration is going to deliver this report. We wanted to give you an idea of some of the terrific things that have been done over the last several years. And we also give you an idea of some of the important things that were done this year to respond to elements in our schools that needed substantial involvement this year. To give you an idea, sometimes during budget hearing, you would ask some of these questions, and so I'm going to call upon Pat to Go through that list with you, give you an idea of where we spent some money this year and where we have spent money in recent years.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening, Mayor, school committee. Attached, please find a capital improvements list covering the years 2001 through 2015. Additionally, find a list of FY15 maintenance and operations, emergency repairs, and special projects. Fiscal year 2015 was a very busy one within the school district. Planned projects, such as the pool and the new boilers of the high school, are in the final closeout paper stages. Emergencies noted are the new water heaters at both the Roberts and the Columbus Elementary Schools, and the replacement of five-unit ventilators at MHS on the second floor. Other emergency expenses were incurred as professionals were hired to clean up, dry out post-flooding at MHS and the McGlynn Elementary, and one fire at the Volk. And that was the auto shop. Further repairs included new handrails at the Curtis Tufts, and postponing additional handrail work at the building's side entrance providing ADA compliant entrance assistance. Additional repair and renovations improved the educational experience at the Vogue and allowed for a mock apartment in the special education area. Other repair and renovations are continually ongoing within the buildings to include painting, repairs, and general upkeep. All of the above would not be possible without the excellent group that we employ in our buildings and grounds department led by John McLaughlin. Any questions for me?
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Chairman? Mr. Schoenig. Ms. Velia, are there any capital improvements planned for next school year?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: At this time, we're gathering our list. And we have meetings beginning tomorrow to start putting priorities in place. And the summer's very short, as you know. So we're going to list everything by priority and by price and deal with the things that are most significant to the district.
[Robert Skerry]: Is the entrance rate of the high school on that list by any chance?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Do you mean the?
[Robert Skerry]: Yes.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Yes.
[Robert Skerry]: Thank you.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye.
[Unidentified]: Aye.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye.
[Roy Belson]: The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion of Mr. Schapelle be accepted and placed on file. All And Jeanne Irwin is with her. Jeanne is the person working on the implementation of the
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening again. An internal task force, and the list was provided for you, reviewed the needs of our school system with regard to the management of student information data and state compliance. We provided you with a PowerPoint presentation that Gene provided for you, and we'll go into that next. Our current system, I-PASS, no longer provides us with the requisite capacity to meet our needs. I-PASS was merged with a larger entity, and they have not maintained certification with the state.
[SPEAKER_10]: What led us to seek out other alternatives were what we called the slide the drivers for change. I-PASS has demonstrated significant incompetence for service and workflows since being acquired by this parent company. They've been virtually unreachable. Unable to file state reports this year and had to complete them manually. This is mandated as of September of this year that they have to be filed through a system called SIF. And we were unable to do that with them, and thus that caused them to be decertified with the state. It is not only Medford, but other communities as well. Currently, Harris I-pass is decertified by the state for incompetences and inadequacies. Since being acquired by Harris, they have increased their cost by 20% and decreased their service. They have outdated capabilities and inadequate systems. I believe you heard from Tony Vento, the school nurse, she's still They're still using reports from 2010, which were changed in 2013. So they haven't changed them in the last five years. Other systems are much more complete, which include HR attendance modules that would alleviate the need for additional programs and redundancies. The next slide was just basically our process that we did during this whole school year. I contacted the leading three companies. within the state for school information management systems. We had them come in and we developed this focus group, which you have the list of. We had them come in, do their demonstration. We had everybody in the room to ask pertinent questions that was going to be important to their department. Then we had the leading two companies. There was one company right off the bat we knew wasn't going to meet our needs, was woefully inept, basically. And the other two companies, we brought them back for a full day that we had departments, myself, Pat, whether it be Tony Vento, meet with them for the full day and get really in depth in the program and ask the questions that we needed to ask to make sure it had the capabilities and capacities that we were looking for. And then we made a recommendation as a focus group, a final recommendation to go with the company called School Brains, which also happens to be the recommended company by the state. It is different than being on the state contract because the two finalists, which was Aspen X2 and School Brains, are both on the state contract. But this School Brains has a very different state contract that was initiated by the DESE last year. They went through an extremely rigorous RFP process to acquire them. And basically, our price will be based on the enrollment overall for the state. So the more cities and towns that join School Brains, the lower that our rate will be. And so we spoke, and I spoke with references for all the companies in different communities that use them. The next slide is a comparative criteria. This is kind of what, as a focus group, what we identified was important to the departments. And so you can just see a check off box as far as which companies did what. They were very comparable. There were some that were better than others in one area, and then the other company was better in another area. But we did identify with School Brains that it was going to be able to meet our needs, as well as Tony Vento and School Health, which is a big win. SIF performance rating. This was actually a slide given to us by the state. The state analyzed how everybody, all the different districts did their reporting this year, and they analyzed and ranked the companies that did the best. So you'll see that School Brains was ranked number one. It had four and a half stars, whereas IMG is at number six, and it has a. Next slide is the cost. And after the implementation year, the per pupil cost is actually going to be virtually identical to what we're paying right now. So we just have to get over that implementation year, which Pat has already budgeted for.
[Unidentified]: Okay. Mr. Mayor.
[John Falco]: Mr. Falco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for your report. First of all, I like the process that you went through. That was very good. It seems like you had a lot of people included throughout the district, which I think is definitely beneficial. It seems like it's a good package. It seems like it's very robust. I like how it includes the health, the health component. Um, so I think that that's great too. I just had questions about the cost. So I know we have budgeted some money for that. And, uh, but, um, with regard to the negotiated state contract at a per pupil cost, can you talk more about that? I guess. So, so did you say depending on how many school districts, so where do they cut that off? I guess, I mean, is it, is it like as a, September 1st, how many school districts enroll, or is it just like, is it ongoing and do we get like rebates off of that, I guess?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: There'll be no rebate the first year. You know, whatever the price is when we sign on will be our price that we sign on, but we'll see a greater savings the next year as more schools going on. And it's interesting the note that are leaving. I pass and School Brains is their choice. So the more that sign up, the better off it is for us. So we get through our implementation period. and we are ready to go live July 1, then we'll know our rate. And then we'll have that rate secure for the next year. And they'll give that to us in time for budget season.
[John Falco]: OK. Great. And as far as, do we know from, I guess, a user standpoint about how user-friendly this is with regard to, from, I guess, a parent's perspective and from a teacher's perspective?
[SPEAKER_10]: Out of actually all the three programs, this was the most user-friendly. to the whole group, the whole focus group, was that it was kind of a unanimous vote that for parents, the student interface, the teacher interface, there was just one portal that teachers can link their website, if they have their own websites, that they have the, you know, students do different assignments and so forth, and they can link that right through. So all they're doing is logging onto School Brains, and they're going to, it's like a central portal for everything. It's very Windows. It's very, very user-friendly. We, you know, the other company that we were considering, Aspen X2, is, you know, maybe had a little bit more complex capabilities to it, but as far as user-friendliness, it really wasn't. And that was coming from, you know, some tech people that are very familiar with the technology and going, you know, I don't think the average user is going to be able to use this. School Brains definitely is going to be far superior.
[John Falco]: Okay, great. Thank you for your question. Thank you very much for your answers.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor.
[John Falco]: Mrs. Goodell.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you for the report. I totally appreciate this. And just to continue on with what Mr. Falco was talking about. So the capability of this, first of all, we have, you were saying that it's very user friendly. So for parents and students, I'm going to throw out here, maybe throw you to the superintendent. Am I understanding correctly then that all elementary, middle, high school, Curtis Tufts teachers will be using this so parents could get information and students could get information from this?
[Roy Belson]: As per our discussion at a committee of the whole meeting, um, the system we're looking to put in place is much more user friendly. It will encourage more people to use it because I think they'll find that it's an easy way to take, information they put in and transmit it or get information back. It'll be to their advantage. But as far as mandating its use, that's part of negotiations. So that's in our negotiations package. And, you know, we're going to have to encourage people to use it. But as far as mandating it goes, we need that will be dealing with it on a different basis. Okay.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And this program then will encompass everything. It's like from the health, from administration, from parents to students, from homework to grades to everything.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: This company also has, you know, has does as builds. So as we move along and we see something is lacking, they'll work with us to approve it.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. And I also, I also know that at the beginning, especially, I passed, it was really difficult for parents sometimes to actually, you know, link in. It was like it would take days sometimes. I know it got better, but I'm hoping that this would be easier for parents to get, to link on. Is that what I'm understanding?
[SPEAKER_10]: There's going to be an initial, you know, transition and setup period, but once that is through, it's going to be instantaneous. I mean, there will still be somebody that's a point of approval. Like, I have to go through the approvals of any parent that assigns for an IPAS account, just for security's sake. You want to make sure everything matches. But it's instantaneous, basically. OK.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Perfect. Thank you. Mr. Mayor?
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Ms. De Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Hi. Thank you. I work at a school that just transferred over there, the whole system. And I work with Sims, and I know parent piece is very important. So I suggest trainings for parents. And your data is only as good as how accurate it is. So what I suggest maybe is maybe registration, like having parents re-register so that way they register right on and that the current address and current phone number and everything is actually updated. So I don't know if you could do like a computer lab at each school on open house night or something and have parents going in and using that, just a suggestion. Because if you're transferring old data to new software, it's still no good. So any way you can get hands-on information from a parent, I find that that's good, as well as the training for the parents to use the program. I strongly suggest that it should be more than a suggestion to our district teachers and staff to use this program. It should be a requirement for everybody throughout the district to transfer all of their information onto this because it's only good if we utilize the program in its full capacity. I also wanted to ask you a question about the ability to link and integrate with outside programs. Is Naviance going to be up and running day one? Is the special education program Are they going to sync every night or how often are they syncing? How often is that data updated? I have a lot because I work in it.
[SPEAKER_10]: We determine that. So, I mean, it could be nightly, it could be weekly. We, you know, the food services in the back there with Nutri-Kids, Naviance, EZIEP, all these programs are going to be up and running.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Are they going to be up and running when the program hits the ground? Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: So, we have an implementation period that we're not going to be going live with for a while. And in that time is when we're going to be backloading all of that information. To your point of training inside this implementation cost is our, excuse me, several days of training for each different category, whether it be the teachers, the students, the administrators, the parents, so we can break that up however we want to. so you know for the training aspect that's covered.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I can't really stress enough, updated data is really the key. Once parents have, I know you might not want to open the parent portal immediately to change dresses and phone numbers and stuff like that, and as you build, but that's really going to be a way for parents to keep that information up to date for our nurses and for our teachers for emergency contacts, because then you can print them a class list In that way, they always have them when they're on the schoolyard or wherever they're at. It's just a great program, but we just want to make sure that the data is accurate. It's only as good as the data is.
[Unidentified]: Right.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: The program's only as good as the data is. So I'm really happy and excited to see this for our district, but I believe, and my colleague has stressed this point repeatedly, because as parents, they have told me about How difficult it is, they have to go to three different sites to find out what homework assignments are for one child. And if you have multiple children, that gets frustrating in the evening. So I really wanna suggest to the superintendent that this should be more than encouraged. It should be a requirement for our staff and our employees.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you ladies. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Report on the new phone system, Mr. Superintendent. Very members of the committee, we have another surprise guest. Pat Healy is going to come up and brief you on the issues of our new phone system, where we're going with it, and the great tour they took the other day to do a lot of inventory and work with a lot of people to move it forward.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening. The Medford Public Schools District, as you all know, has been experiencing considerable problems with the current phone system for the past few years. FY 15 has seen extended periods of time that one or no more buildings have no phone service, leaving this building to use cell phones with limited success as communication devices. The lack of properly functioning phone systems provides for child and staff safety concerns and routine communication issues with stakeholders. To prepare for the remediation of the telephone issues, the district hired Chamber's advisory to fully review and inventory all phone lines currently charged to the district. After the completed inventory was received back, I met with several phone vendors and other individuals who know a lot more about phones than I do, and made some decisions based on the inventory results. By staying pots to pots, which is plain old telephone service, we could save upwards of $12,000 a year. You have to keep in mind that the first year there is a cost for having used this service, and it's 50% of whatever they save us. If we had gone POTS to Centrex, we could have saved $24,000 the first year, would have lost 50% of it, and there is a $50 per line changeover fee. And since we're in the beginning stages of deciding what we're going to do, it didn't make sense to spend the $50 in line when we don't know if we're going to stay with Centrex or if we're going to go to VoIP, voice over IP. So we have the determination we can change that at any time. So if we get down the road and they say that Centrax is the way for us to be based on what our infrastructure is in the city, we can still make that savings. But we delay it and not spend the money and then maybe not recoup that later on. So the committee, Roy Belson, Beverly Nelson, Diane Caldwell, myself, Kevin Andrews, Kirk Johnson, Alan Arena, John McLaughlin, John Costas, an interested city member, Kathy Kay, Heidi Riccio, and Bill Timmons met May 6 to discuss needs, wants, and the next step, interviewing the vendors. Friday, June 12th, we invited six vendors on the state contract list to walk through each and every school building to visually view the current systems and ask the necessary questions regarding maintaining current intercom paging issues and integration of working phone systems. The expectation post walkthrough is to provide three options to MPS. Improve the current system to fully functioning at all locations to include new equipment. Upgrade system to Centrix and replace replacement equipment at all locations. Upgrade system to VoIP and replacement of equipment at all locations. All proposals must maintain most buildings work very well or improve the viability of intercom and paging. We really only have a couple schools who have intercom paging issues. And if we can save that, we'll save money. and a breakdown of cost and suggested options by each individual building and a grand total for the district. Our goals, after having met with them on Friday, we had thought that we'd have everything ready to go July 3rd to make a decision. We need two more weeks to put together a few more things for them. And then they said that they could meet with us and do their presentations middle of July. They also stated that our two most suffering buildings, the Brooks and the McGlynn, could be up and running by the start of the school year, and that we could integrate the rest of the buildings throughout the year and finish up at the time. So we would put our focus, again, on those buildings that have priorities and that are having the most issues. So at this point, we're going to do a few more things for them. And then they'll come in and do their presentation. We are going to hire someone who has more experience in this field than I do. And they are an unbiased person. And they will give us their opinion as to which system would work best for us, and give us the most bang for our buck.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Chairman?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor?
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Skagg. Through you to Ms. Ville. How many unused lines did they find? Approximately how much have we paid out in the last couple of years for services that we should not have been paying for? And is there any chance to recapture any of those monies is the first question.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We are recapturing. In fact, we just received a credit for $8,500 on voicemails that were not up and running and that Verizon was charging us for that we had canceled. and made changes to, and so we have received that credit that just showed up on our phone bill. And as far as the unused or the lines, I'm still working on them. We have ring no answers on them, and I've been calling them at different times to see if I can get somebody to answer. But what will happen is that before we make any changes, we'll talk with our vendor that we choose, and they'll tell us whether or not we need those lines, because it costs money to have them turned back on. So I'd rather wait another month and turn them off.
[Robert Skerry]: And have we done an audit of cell phones? I sign the bills every month. It seems that we pay an awful lot for cell phones.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We have done an audit.
[Robert Skerry]: And are they all accounted for?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: They're all accounted for. And we just recently renegotiated with Nextel. And we're saving about $400 a month starting last month.
[Robert Skerry]: Is there a school policy, school-wide policy regarding cell phones? If a person is retired or working part-time and come back for 120 days, are they entitled to a cell phone that the taxpayers are paying for?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: I met with the superintendent at the beginning of the year, and he helped me go through the list, and we cut several people, and let them know that the phones were being turned off, and then redistributed those lines to people who did need them.
[Robert Skerry]: Okay, when that list is compiled, can we have a copy of that list as soon as possible? Sure, yes. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor.
[Robert Skerry]: Mrs. Crenshaw.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you, Pat. Just to go over, on the expectations, it says all proposals must maintain most buildings work well. Could you reiterate that for me? When it says most buildings work well, we're hoping that all our buildings work well.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We do have some intercom and paging issues at some of the buildings. Some of them, you have to use the phone to page. You can't just go up and push the unit and page, so you have to be called in directly. So we will fix that. We also have one company that no longer has a service rep in our area, and that is Simplex. And so we need to do something about that system, because if we can't get them out to service it, then it's not a piece of equipment we want to maintain. But we just found out through Louise Miller that even though it is a proprietary system, that because of the fact that they have not serviced our contract the way they should have, we have permission to move forward and find somebody who can service it.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: OK. So when you were talking about that, you were talking about the intercom system within the school system, not parents or other people calling the school. OK. So that's one. Not that I'm happy about that, but at least I'm more concerned with parents trying to get in touch with administration and teachers. OK. So that. The family network, the daycare, is that all inclusive with what we're doing? Or are those separate forms?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: If they're within the buildings, they fall within the realms of our project. OK.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And I guess that was? basically. Oh, um, I know, I don't know if this is part of it, but I do know that, um, a lot of the secretaries, a lot of the time have also said it would be nice if we could have like, um, when they go to answer the phone, they know exactly who's calling.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: And, um, you have to be careful because you know, whatever model phone we put in the rooms, gauges the expense, and currently all the rooms have analog phones, which are the basic phones with the touch tone. But at the secretary consoles, we would have caller ID. OK. Thank you. Thanks for all the work.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor, one quick question. When will we be receiving an update as to how things are progressing?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Well, we'll have the presentation about mid-July, and our unbiased representative will be there, and they'll be listening the discussions and he said that he could give us a discussion or a decision within seven to ten days. And then of course, you know, we have the right to go our way if we don't really care for what he's saying. But this is a gentleman who works specifically in this field. And so I expect to rely on his opinion.
[John Falco]: Okay. Thank you.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you. On the motion, Mr. Chair, the report be accepted and placed on file. All those in favor signify by closing all the ayes. Have it. Report is accepted and placed on file. Report on the food service program, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Members of the committee. In the previous meeting, you asked for information on the food service program. Tonight, our Director of Finance and Administration, Pat Bailey, along with our Director of Food Services, Jewel Bradley, and her assistant, Maria Archeri, will be here tonight to update you on our food service program. And at some point, we need to at least, we have three options here. We need to at least meet the federal standard as we go into next year. So there's three options for an increase. One of them is an absolute minimum, and the other two are highly desirable if you decide you want to move forward. Otherwise, we'll have to look at it going forward. So may I return it over to Pat again, and they can take us through the food service report.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: The Food Service Program has worked diligently to include the USDA and National School Lunch Program rules and regulations. The initial results of the new regulations reflected in lower participation. As time goes on and children accept the new food choices, participation is starting to increase. The district has also seen an increase in free and reduced meal participants. Increases are also reflected in food and labor prices. The review offers a lot of information, including participation numbers, free and reduced numbers, the FY 15 profit and loss through June 10th, and three proposals for price increase consideration. I appreciate the school committee's well-placed reserve in considering a food service price increase, but without a price increase, we are non-compliant and have been informed this could affect our funding. I ask the school committee to consider the three price increase proposals that we will submit. The first price proposal for school lunch increase request should see us through three years if costs remain at the expected increased levels. The second proposal should see the district through the next fiscal year without having to ask for another price increase. The third proposal meets the FY15 USDA guidelines and assist MPS in meeting compliancy for last year's FY15 weighted average expectation. We've attached the USDA paid lunch equity memo previously presented. We're going to go through the presentation and then take your questions regarding the proposals.
[SPEAKER_11]: Good evening, Mayor, Superintendent, School Committee. Help, I had it right side up. What's cooking? The focus of the food service program is about educating and modeling the best way to fuel the body and the mind. School lunch is the perfect model for students to see, smell, touch, and experience proper nutrition. Just a bite program, harvest of the month when found to schools, better training of staff of what makes a reimbursable meal, meeting the national school lunch program meal and hydration requirements, and students are now directly certified. What's cooking? All grains served need to be 51% whole grains, and that also includes snaps. The big picture, this is a chart of our revenues and expenses for fiscal year 14 and fiscal year 15. Our average daily participation on the next chart. This is our current average daily participation. And then here's a chart for the last three years of average daily participation. What's cooking for 2016? Farm to School is expanding the Harvest of the Month program. Each month features a different produce item. Farm to School provides marketing materials that saves us a lot of money. The DOD Fresh Program, fresh produce at DOD prices. Sponsor entitlement dollars are used to purchase fresh produce. USDA commodities to help control food costs. What's cooking for 2016? USDA working to upgrade the commodities program with DOD Fresh. And for 2015, districts were able to request what items the USDA sourced for the monthly offer sheets. We use more than 100% available commodities by taking advantage of commodities other schools have chosen to opt out of the commodity program. MPS was proactive in securing a bid for poultry products for fiscal year 16 prior to the issues currently facing production. And here is a chart for the commodity usage for the past five years. And for 2015, that's only going up to April. Opportunities for 2016. Full program improvements in place for next year. Inventory for better cost control. Menu includes a nutritional analysis. Monitor our labor. Free and reduced. For meals per lay. And in the last column, that shows you how many meals per labor hour each school is making. The next is our a la carte menu options with a variety of our snacks. More opportunities for 2016. The participation at the high school continues to struggle. Current student base had the new nutritional regulations thrust on them, and food service has felt the brunt of their frustration. There is lower level of participation at the middle and high school level. As the kids move up, so will participation at the high school. Improve meal labor hours percentages, reducing high labor costs through attrition and redistribution of labor to higher need areas. Next chart is our current free and reduced enrollment for fiscal year 14 and 15. And then this is a chart for the last two years of the increase or decrease by school and the need for price increase, paid lunch equity, fiscal year 15, MPS charged an average of 270 for a paid lunch. That is the SFA weighted scale. The SFA weighted scale is a combined calculation of current pricing weighted by free, reduced and pay means. The premise is that the free and reduced program cannot be what is sustaining the food service program. Increasing costs of food prices in fruits, vegetables and meats. Meat prices are slated to increase by 16% in fiscal year 16. The free kids act, each meal is mandated to have a fruit and a vegetable. Fiscal year 16, MIP prices will increase $0.07 per unit, which is resulting in a $20,000 additional cost just to our milk. Capital request to begin replacing aging or non-operating equipment. Wage increases, Massachusetts minimum wage law will require all new employees to start at 11 an hour in 2017. Additionally, new staff requires surf safe training. NPS employees are guaranteed 33 cents an hour fiscal year 14, 15, and 16. The last lunch price increase was just about 10 years ago. And the next is a food price survey that was conducted to show the different cities and towns of their lunch prices. And the next is a graph on our food or grocery prices this year, last year, and the year before.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Can you slow down while we look at the food service price surveys from the different communities? There's a lot of communities here. So when you look at these, we're not on the high side of anything, correct?
[SPEAKER_11]: Not at these.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Pardon me?
[SPEAKER_11]: Not at this list, no. But a lot of these districts have higher percentages of free and reduced, so they would get more funding from the government. That's how the formula is based on your free and reduced children, and we're at 44%. A lot of districts are at 60, 70, 50%. And that raises the USDA's financial contribution to those districts.
[Roy Belson]: I think what the mayor's asking is that the rack price is still pretty reasonable.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I just understood.
[Roy Belson]: I know there are some changes in the food programming for next year, and they're going to reorganize free and reduced, and they're going to call it, what is it, it's economically disadvantaged, and I'm wondering how that's going to affect our community.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: in our funding for our food and lunch program. Because there are going to be less students eligible for free and reduced lunch because the DESC is changing those regulations as of next year.
[SPEAKER_11]: Are you talking about the community eligibility provision?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes. They're changing it from free and reduced lunch to a new category.
[Diane Caldwell]: Ms. Garlow. So there is a new metric system that they're going to be using to identify children on free and reduced lunch. It's a new metric system. What they're doing for Title I students, especially, and this will affect the free and reduced lunch, is giving you the comparison. And the first year will be like a wash. So you can use free and reduced lunch. But we're not sure yet how that's going to affect our numbers.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I know that in other districts, they're a little concerned because of the criteria for now. It's going to change the amount that we're funded for free and reduced lunch. not through our community, but through all communities in Massachusetts. And they won't be called free and reduced lunch anymore. They're going to call it, I'm sorry, I took notes earlier. It's going to be all about just calling it different things and redefining the low income. And they're going to be a lot of changes in it. And they're going to call it economically disadvantaged now. And I know some schools are going to see a 50% decrease in the amount of students that are going to qualify for what was known as free and reduced lunch. And that's going to affect our students. So if we go up on the price, it's going to make it harder for those families to afford to buy lunch. And my concern is students not eating. That's my concern. And when I was looking through some of your paperwork, we're not in the red in this program. We still have, like, we have, like, what, $130,000 this year? Am I correct the way I looked at that? I know we started at a little deficit, but now the balance.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Well, we should end the year around 69,000. But you have to remember that July is a big month for food service. We have to pay out longevity and two weeks of vacation for all full-time employees.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. No, I just want to make sure that I have the whole picture. And I don't want to read your budget things incorrectly. But I also am really afraid to. to raise the prices and have high school students say, oh, I only have $1.50 in my pocket. I don't have money for lunch today. And I know the portions have changed over the years. I just don't want to see our kids hungry. A concern, a very big concern for me. And with the government changing things in the next year or two, we're going to have less and less kids on free and reduced lunch. I know that for a fact. that they are looking into this and that big changes are on the horizon. And I'm just, I'm, I just don't want to, kids, too many kids are hungry in the world today. I don't want the monocity. I don't want kids going all day with nothing to eat and then have to take an AP exam or a test that really matters or a youngster going home hungry that, that parents might not have food at home. Some kids come to school and those are the only meals they get all day. And if they can't afford them here, what are we doing? Like in the snow, I'm like, open the schools. Some kids don't have heat or food at home. We have to open the schools as much as we can. I feel strongly about this issue, and I'm very hesitant to raise the prices. I understand that we need good quality ingredients to feed them. I know we need good quality people to serve them. I understand that costs money, so I just feel torn about this situation. And with the current changes coming and unknown, I have one more question that you might be able to answer. The 45% of our students, is that with 100% return rate on those documents? Are we really getting those all back to make sure every student that is qualified, we get that back for? Are we really pushing that so that way every kid that would qualify for a free lunch is getting it? Because that's a really important piece.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor? Oh, I'm sorry. This is Scarpelli. Was that a question that you wanted to answer?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I know it's a lot out there, but.
[SPEAKER_11]: I think it was a chat that I brought that I should have handed you out, and it gives the percentages of our enrollment according to free or reduced, and how much of them participate in. Our elementary is a pretty good, meaning anywhere from 50 to 60% participation on the free reduced. It's really our middle and high schools, but I think with the push, as the younger ones grow, when they come up to middle and high school, they're going to be the ones carrying the tree because of the big changes. Now they're used to it, so we just do a little more marketing.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: I think it's important to note, too, that while the food regulations say that we can provide a child with a cheese sandwich, For lunch, Jewel and Maria never do. Those children, nobody ever knows that they could not afford lunch that day. They get a full lunch.
[George Scarpelli]: Mr. Scarpelli. If I can, I can understand completely how difficult this is moving forward. I have my own work. I see the waste. where my staff is trained that if a youngster wants a meal, and they're still hungry, or they just want an apple, they have to get the orange, the milk, everything, and just throw it away. And that's a disgrace. And this isn't us, this is the government as we go forward with this. The whole parameter, if they catch anybody, any school system, any one of our programs that do that, they take the funding away. And so I think it's really backwards, and what I really focused on, this will be an increase to us from the federal government for our free and reduced. I want to look at the kids that, it looks very close to 50-50, free and reduced, and just a regular parent who's paying for my children. I'm afraid the free and reduced is still going to be getting fed. But the increase is really going to hit the person's wallet at home that's working and has to pay for that on a daily basis. So that's where I find it very difficult as we move forward. I know the comparison of what we pay and other communities pay, but when people don't qualify for free and reduced, They're the ones paying out of their pocket, people that qualify for free and reduced. We're getting money from the federal government. That sounds great. I apologize, but I don't see that. The middle class worker that's out there busting their humps every day, and the fee really hits them hard. Okay, so that's why I, if we're federally mandated, then we have to do any sort of increase as we move forward with the presentation. I just find it alarming for what the federal government's telling us to do. And then what I've seen on a daily basis, I think it's districts. And I'll probably say that, but I still need to know more about this before I look at someone like myself that gives that money every day. Because I don't qualify, and so it's coming out of my paycheck. My kids have to eat every day, so.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mrs. Crenshaw.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I don't think there's anyone here who disagrees with both of what my colleagues have said. I mean, you know, we're, we're all compassionate and that's why we're here. I mean, we all know why we're here. We're definitely here for the kids, but if we also have to look at our regulations and what we have to comply with, we also, that is also our responsibility of why we're here. So I'm looking at the three proposals and the way I'm looking at it is this. I've looked at the second and the third, And the second and the third, the differences are right now, we're looking at the breakfast day is the same. As far as it's a dollar now, it goes up to a dollar 10 with the proposal. The lunch, the elementary, we're talking a 10 cent difference. The middle school and the high school, the lunch we're talking a five cent difference. If we combine those two, the second and the third proposal, But the caveat, no pun intended, is that we look at those numbers, but now we're saying that if we as a committee decide that we're going to go with those two proposals, but then we're going to look at it next year and say that we're going to be bringing up the rate. It's something that I definitely don't want to do. I mean, personally, I don't want to do any of this. But if I have to look at logistically, I'm looking at the fact that we haven't touched this in approximately 10 years. Not looking at the breakfast portion of proposal number one, The difference between an elementary lunch at $2.75 and the proposal of $2.01, we're talking a $0.05 difference. The difference between the middle school lunch and the high school lunch, we're talking a $0.10 difference. Again, I'm just throwing out the numbers to really break them down in what we're talking and what we're discussing. What I do have a problem with, As I mentioned before, I have a problem with the whole thing. But we're going from a breakfast of $1 to $1.50. A $0.50 jump is a lot. And that's a $0.40 difference between number one proposal and the two and the third. So I'm looking at it Would it still be beneficial if there's some room to work out the breakfast of a dollar if we're looking at this as a committee? And again, these are just numbers to throw out there. I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I am saying a 50 cent jump is huge. Is there any way to work that breakfast from $1 to like, I don't know, $1.20, $1.30, something like that, and still not touch this for a few years down the road?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We'd have to do the weighted scale for you and then submit it to you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay. I just want, you know, I want to do both. I want to do the right thing for both sides. I want, you know, I want to do the due diligence of making sure that we're in compliance, but I also want to make sure that our children are all being fed. And, you know, as our, as my colleague said, I mean, we understand that the free and reduced lunch children are going to be covered, but we don't want to take advantage of the person who's going out there working day after day and they're going from paycheck to paycheck either. It's hard on everyone. So that was what I was throwing out there.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Is this a self-supporting program?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Is it self-sustaining?
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Yes.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: It is this year through great efforts by Jewel and Maria. We did enter this year in a negative. And it's been through a lot of hard work and a lot of monitoring of inventory and staffing levels and making the right decisions as we go through the year. And as we got to April, We really started to look at what the inventory was, what our needs were, and it was time to, as you would at home, start to clean out the refrigerator and the freezers and the stock shelves. And, you know, we also want to make sure we're turning over product, and they've done an excellent job of it.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: What about equipment in this program?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Well, it's interesting. We have an inventory here for you, and it has pictures and all kinds of good details. I read through it.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: It said that there's a need for upgrades. So will the price increase affect what type of equipment we have in there?
[SPEAKER_11]: Our new schools, the steamers are breaking down. Our tilt skillets are breaking down.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: The question is, will the price increase affect what equipment we have in there? Does some of that money, does it go towards upkeep or purchase of new equipment?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: It definitely could, as long as we are monitoring our other costs.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: I'm sorry, what?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: I said it definitely could, as long as we're monitoring our other costs. We just have to go at this strategically and really monitor what's going on in the program. And that means by watching our meals per labor hours and our inventory of food products. But there definitely could be money in proposal one to start fixing some of the equipment.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: All right, so as I also read through this, it said that there are people who are looking for an upgrade. what the kids have an interest in eating that is going to be nutritious for them. Is that reflective in the cost?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, Mayor. You'll see in the chart how much our groceries have gone up this year. We've gone back to a lot of scratch cooking and fresh produce. All our schools have salad bars now. That's really a price increase. This is providing all the fresh.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: So nobody wants to make a price increase. No. But we have fairly moderate pricing right now. And if we do not have a price increase, what's going to happen to the quality of the food, the equipment, and the food service program that is a self-sustaining program? And non-compliant. Be non-compliant. And then we'll lose funding. So the bottom line is, we have to have an increase. And people have always been reluctant to do it in the past, and that's part of the reason that we're in this situation. But we probably should have been building reserve all the way along so you can prepare for these things. So what are you recommending in terms of the increases? We know there's a wide range from a nickel to 50 cents, but what is reasonable? That provides a good program for the kids, so they continue to get food. We'll have the equipment, the labor, and everything else involved in it to make sure that the program runs properly.
[SPEAKER_11]: I like proposal one with a $10 for breakfast. Well, I don't know. That way we wouldn't have to come back next year and The whole thing is, is the government is giving us $2.70 per child that is free. And this year, we're under a nickel. We should have raised it this past year and we didn't, so we're really non-compliant right now. So next year, the figure is $2.70. And yes, we sell lunches at $2.85 and $2.50, but we sell more $2.50 lunches than we do $2.85 lunches. There's no balance there.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mr. Schapela.
[George Scarpelli]: But again, this is 50% of that's in the free and reduced that comes back, that we'll be automatically getting from them. Correct? Roughly it's 50% of our lunches in each school.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Correct. The way the weighted scale works is their whole philosophy is that people who pay full price for lunch or breakfast can't be supporting the program, and with our current ratio, that's the situation we're in. Free and reduced is paying more for the program than what you would have for your equal balance, and that's why they're saying that we are not where we need to be. Mr. Mayor.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mr. Mayor. Just to clear this up, what's the actual record? What percentage are on throughout the school system, free and reduced?
[SPEAKER_11]: Total free and reduced? The total right now is 41%.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: It's important we don't round off. We look at what the percentage is. Mr. Mayor? Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So what's the minimum amount that we have to go up to meet the requirement? Which option? Is that option three? Because I would rather meet every year and meet that minimum than overcharge every year, to be honest with you. I don't want to overcharge our families. And I think some of the maintenance issues are important to maintain the proper, so that the food is cooked properly and we're not making anyone. But at the same time, I really know families that don't qualify that kids won't eat because they won't have enough. They don't have the $20 every week, plus the bus fare up to the high school if the kid's tired to walk from one area of the city or not. I mean, it gets expensive. And it's a concern. I want our children to be eating lunch. I really do.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: So I think what everyone is asking is, nobody wants to go number one. It's probably the best option. But the question is, can it be molded better fit what everybody's talking about here, to make sure that we are meeting the standards, we're providing the very best to the kids, but we're not croaking the families.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Mr. Mayor.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Mrs. Cunha.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I just want to keep in mind that one thing that has come up in discussion is this is a self-sustaining program. And if we have equipment that is not going to work properly. And I don't want to see this department come to us in a year, two years and say, guess what? It's going downhill now. And then in two years, guess what? We're not going to be able to feed the students because it's completely broken. I don't like to see our prices go up, but we haven't gotten, we haven't raised any prices in 10 years. So, I like to keep my budget at home. I have four kids. And if something breaks, I'd rather have—gee, I'll put $2 aside every week, and that way at least I know if, God forbid, anything happens, I have that money. To say that I'm going to go to the minimum now, and then all of a sudden next year we're to the minimum, and next year we're to the minimum, that's why we're sitting here now saying, gee, maybe we should have put that money aside for the last 10 years. So that's my concern. I don't want to go up and overcharge anyone. My concern is that we've been sitting here for a few amount of years now, going back to the pool and the fields and the theater, saying, we're going to maintain, we're going to maintain. This is a self-sustaining program. It's been doing very well for a very long time. I do not want any child to not eat. But I don't want to see the day that we're going to turn around and say, we're going to have to close this cafeteria, or we're going to have to close that cafeteria, because we have no money for this. That's my concern.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Or within the program itself, if equipment does go down, then you'll be talking about a much larger increase. No kidding. Because it'll be a rushed situation.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Mayor?
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: I mean, you can come back every year and do it, but what it means is you're hanging on by a thread every year. You should always try and build some reserves. I mean, that's why the city as a whole has done extremely well in recent years, because we've built those reserves.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: So if it means charging a fine- Mr. Mayor, I'd rather- Mrs. DiBenedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Mayor, if I'm not mistaken, I believe Pat might have said that with this increase, there would be some money, like even the minimum increase to upgrade and to maintain our steamers and things and make a priority and utilize our food and our staff effectively. There would still be some room for that. Was I mistaken? Did I hear that mistakenly? Or is that only option three, the highest option?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Option one would offer you the ability to replace some equipment. Option two would be minimal. And option three would cover no equipment.
[George Scarpelli]: OK. Mr. Scappelli. When we know that something's going down, and I don't blame you. I'm not blaming you guys. We're getting this now, and we're getting that, we have equipment failing. Now that doesn't shock me, but we didn't know anything about it. Okay, so here we are, after we voted on the budget, now there's equipment failing. So I understand waiting and increasing building reserve, so we don't have it, but that should have been done five years ago. I'm looking at this right now, and I think that's what's bothering more than anything right now, What is going down? Do we have an estimate cost of what's going down? What are we looking at, hundreds of thousands, 50,000, 20,000?
[SPEAKER_11]: I've replaced the equipment that I can replace without going to the state, because the state requires me to notify them if I have any capital equipment purchases, which is 5,000 or over. So I have been maintaining. They've been maintained, they're usable, it's not that they're broken down and need replacement today. We are using them, we are utilizing them.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you. What I'm saying is, we're looking at piecing together things and spending 5,000 to keep things going. Now we're saying as we look forward, we're looking at major repairs or major replacements? I mean, is there an idea? Do you have a report? Do you have something?
[SPEAKER_11]: Because I don't see that. I should have brought that with me. I'm sorry. I didn't know we were going to talk equipment. I have equipment specs here that has pictures of our equipment and what they are. And I don't want to put you on the spot because I don't think it's fair.
[Unidentified]: No, that's fine.
[SPEAKER_11]: I do have two freezers that are going to need compressor repairs this summer. OK. Do you have the funding?
[Roy Belson]: Mr. Bellson. Mr. Mayor and members of the committee. Early this evening we received a capital report. And in the last page we saw that we had to spend money to replace water heaters. We had to spend money to replace ventilation systems and other things like that. Because in the normal scheme of things, things break down or things need more maintenance. We have a lot of equipment in the food service operation. It's a prudent course of action to properly fund it. Now, we can get by into the fall with just being compliant, or we can make a move to give the department a little bit more room so they can do what they have to do as it occurs. Now, we didn't plan on a water heater going down this year, but when it went down, we had to fix it. In fact, two water heaters went down. So it's really a matter of either planning for forward plan to put things in place, or just simply meeting compliance, because we have no choice but to meet compliance, or you'll lose serious money. And then come back to you in the fall and say, by the way, if something goes down, we need the money. Things are going to break in any normal operation. Let's not kid ourselves. They do. They go down. We've talked about bulbs. We've talked about projectors. We've talked about computers. We've talked about maintenance things. We have things that can, we have things that are going to go down and the food service is no exception. So it isn't a question of bad planning. It's a question of they've worked within their revenues. We've gone through a recession and we've managed to stay whole. The school system hasn't asked for a supplemental budget in years, almost a decade because we've stayed within our world. working with the mayor, working with you, working with everyone else. So we can either decide that we're going to fund it intelligently going forward for the year or going the next couple of years, or we're going to put a bandaid on it and we'll be back in the fall or back in, you know, the first of the year talking about looking for an increase. So it's really a choice. It's really a choice. I mean, it's just, it's just good planning. That's all.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So we can fund it either through the people paying for lunches or we can fund it through our budget as far as our maintenance and make that an important thing if we need upgrades.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: I don't know if we can. It's a self-sustaining program. If we start paying for self-sustaining programs through budgetary items, then you're going to have to take it away from something else. And if you get into, which I've been through three recessions during my tenure, if you get into a recession, Now you're starting to eliminate jobs in different programs. The stole instead of generating the revenue through a self-sustaining program that is supposed to be self-sustaining. So it's dangerous to go in that direction.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Again, I can't stress how much I appreciate the work. And I know how hard you work and how hard you've kept it together for so long. without having to come before us and ask for money. And I know you wouldn't be sitting here and asking us to increase the amount that our parents in our community has to pay for their kid to go off and have lunch every day unless you needed it. And I wholeheartedly get that. I just want to make sure I protect those families and those students and make sure they eat as well. And I get it. I can see it in your faces. I know it through the dedication, through the years. And I'm going to work with you to make sure that we have a compromise that families can afford and that we can get what we need to provide good food for our children with the right equipment. So I just want to be careful. I just want to be careful that our kids don't go hungry. And if in any way that seems unappreciative to you, I don't want to go there. Because I know the dedication and the hard work and why you haven't come before us in 10 years. is because you also don't want to go up on the prices for these children.
[John Falco]: Mr. Falco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for your report. It's in depth, it's thorough, and I like how you gave us a number of proposals. And I think that helps us as a committee to see what we're, you know, what we need to do here. And with regard to proposal number two, so if we went with proposal number two, which I believe is the middle of the road proposal, Would that allow us to build some reserves to come up with a plan to fix or develop a plan to maintain some of the equipment that needs to be fixed over the next few years?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Yes. I mean, it would be minimal. We would not be repurchasing any major steamers. But we could strategically plan for replacement and possibly do one each year. And we could look at an equipment list and actually gauge those priorities.
[John Falco]: OK, that's what I think I'd like to do. So I would like to make the motion that we approve proposal number two. And I would like for you, if you could please come up with a list of equipment throughout all the schools, throughout the district, that's broken what needs to be fixed, and come up with a plan to basically repair this equipment over time. Second the motion, Mr. Chairman.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Motion is seconded.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: But point of clarification on that. I have no problem. I just want to have the clarification on proposal number two. Does that also, is this one here also the one that we would have to come back to next year that we would have to increase?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We would have to see what the weighted average came out to during our audit of the food service program. And it's determined by that. So it really does. It is based on several factors. It depends on our participation, our free and reduced, and then our not free and reduced participation.
[John Falco]: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Fellow. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When is the audit? It's every spring. Every spring. OK, so the audit is past then. Yes.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: On the motion, Secretary will call the roll.
[Robert Skerry]: Mrs. Cugno.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Yes, indeed.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Falco. Yes. Mr. Scarpelli. Yes. Mr. Scari. Yes. Mayor McGlynn.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: No. By a vote of five in the affirmative, one in the negative, the item passes.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: And then Jewel and Maria are going to unroll some good news. And while we do that, I will tell you that the last page is the P&L that you requested. And that June is estimated, of course. And when that is complete, we'll provide you with an end of year for the food service program.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you very much.
[SPEAKER_11]: Our schools at the DESC conference that I just attended to about a month ago recognized two of our schools, the McGlynn and the Columbus, for increasing their participation in the breakfast program. And they gave us these wonderful banners to hang up in our schools. Our very own Lunch Mothers from the Roberts School was nominated by the School Nutrition Association for a Super Lunch Hero. That's great. Thank you.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Recommendation to adopt the revised policy on head lice in public schools. Motion approved by Mr. Skerry.
[Roy Belson]: Mr. Belson. Members of the committee, we have our supervisor of health, Tony Vento, here to go over this with you. This was given to you a while ago. We need to bring it back because obviously it's a topic that comes up periodically. We want to be consistent with the best advice we get from the Department of Public Health and all the other associations that deal with this, the Academy of Pediatrics, National Association of School Nurses and the like. And it's really important that we minimize student absences and we don't create a sense that something is more let's say, dangerous than it is, when we need to keep youngsters in school and we need to give people clear instruction in the school as to how to handle this. So I'm going to turn it over to our supervisor to explain it to you a little bit more so that you have a sense of what we need to do in order to get a consistent policy in place.
[Toni Wray]: Good evening, Mayor and Superintendent Belson and school committee members. In the school year 2013 to 14, we piloted a LICE protocol change that focused on keeping students in school if they had presence of NITs, which are LICE eggs. And we're looking today to update that and include what's called more of a screening and education program that focuses more on keeping students in school, minimizing the amount of time parents are called out of work to pick up students who have on head lice and focusing on reducing the stigmatism of lice in the classroom. It is a common occurrence. There's no research that supports that lice carry any disease. And in fact, the research shows that it's not even spread in the classroom setting. It tends to be spread at home or in a camp situation when children are sleeping in close quarters. So by focusing on the education, we've developed a number of parent letters and parent information tools, some of which we'd like to send home in the information packets at the beginning of the school year. We will target screen students. So if there are students that are suspected of having lice, we will screen them and then put the efforts into education for the family on how to manage that at home. But the goal is to keep students in school and focusing on academics.
[George Scarpelli]: So if the classroom has a rug or a pillow or a stuffed animal, that was one of the biggest questions in the past.
[Toni Wray]: Exactly. I'd say the classrooms have really rid themselves of rugs and pillows and students are, I mean, you can do group work even though you're not head to head and you can sit in the same area, but you know, it's just kind of common sense procedures. Some other things that we do advise the teachers to do, is to encourage students to take off their jackets and their hats and put them into their own backpack, rather than hanging them in a cubby area. And that will reduce the spread as well, once it's in a contained, the code is in a contained environment.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you. Tony, so you just said reduce the spread. So it reduces the spread, but are you saying if we're encouraging kids to stay in school, over what it would have been if they weren't in school, it is going to continue to spread.
[Toni Wray]: Well, Mayor, the lice spreads in situations where students tend to share bedding or share close quarters. That's typically in camp, on sleepovers, within the home. It has not been shown to spread in school. So what we're doing, we will look at children that are suspected of having lice, and we'll focus on education with the parent on how to rid them of that.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Is there a motion? Second. Motion to approve. All in favor say aye. Opposed, none. The item is approved. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, just one thing. I know the committee would like to congratulate Tony on the recent marriage of her daughter.
[Unidentified]: Oh, congratulations.
[Roy Belson]: Congratulations.
[TM-L7tQLt0w_SPEAKER_09]: Recommendation to approve summer rules. On the motion approved by Mr. Skerry. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Item is approved. Negotiations and legal matters. On the motion of Mrs. Cugno, we'll go to executive session. Secretary will call the roll. Mr. Cugno? To discuss. Yes. Update the status of bargaining. For union, non-union groups, custodial agreements, and MTA agreements.
[Robert Skerry]: Secretary will call the roll. Mrs. Cugno? Yes. Mr. Benedetto? Mr. Falco? Yes. Mr. Scarpelli? Yes. Mr. Scaria? Yes. Mayor McGuinn? Yes. By vote of five in the front, two absent. We'll go to executive session.
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