[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The regular meeting of the Medford School Committee will now come to order. Clerk, please call the roll. present, six present, one absent, all please rise and salute our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please mark me, I must own Quinn present. Approval of the minutes of the April 11th, 2016 meetings. A motion on the floor for approval by Mr. Skerry. Is there a second by Ms. Van der Kloot? All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills transfer of funds. Motion on the floor for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payrolls? Motion for approval, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of the secretary? None. None. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I'd like to ask to suspend the order of business so that we could take up items 1, 2, and 3 before we have the report of committees.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor for suspension of the rules. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? We're now under suspension to take item one, recommendation to accept gift from Century Bank to purchase a teacher developed elementary school guide to the history of Medford. Mr. Superintendent. What number are you for?
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, it's a distinct pleasure tonight to welcome an individual who represents a fine institution in our community, who has made it possible for our schools to have this outstanding contribution by one of our teachers. I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent, Diane Caldwell, to explain it, make a presentation, and you have it in front of you.
[Diane Caldwell]: Good evening. So it is with great pleasure that I present to you this evening a book written by one of our very own, Michael Coates, a third grade teacher at the Brooks Elementary School. The book is entitled, Our Medford, An Elementary Guide to the History of Medford. This book represents a project that Mr. Coates has been working on for years. Now, originally I thought it was just a few years, but his wife Maria, who is here with him this evening, told me that this has been a labor of love for him for many, many years. He teaches third grade at the Brooks Elementary School, and this is a book that has to do with social studies, which is part of our curriculum. As Mr. Coates states in his report, he didn't want our local history to be underappreciated and or ignored. Medford's history is important, should be taught and celebrated, and local history is part of our learning standards. He researched his facts with the Medford Historical Society to ensure his book for accuracy. And in April of this year, Mr. Coates contacted Century Bank to ask if they would consider helping with the cost of printing this book. Now, interestingly enough, when I was speaking to Michael about this, he said that Mr. Sloan just picked up the phone and got right on and said, of course, we will do this for the Medford students, and he will help with the printing costs. So this year, we are piloting the book at the Brooks Elementary School, and next year, hopefully, if you endorse this for us, all of our third grade teachers will get to read this book with the help of Mr. Sloan who will print it for us. Attached you will find a report from Michael with a timeline and information about Century Bank. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Coates for his perseverance in this project and to also thank Mr. Barry Sloan for his continued dedication to Medford Public Schools. With Mr. Coates this evening is his wife, Maria. His brother, Tom, and his sister-in-law, Christina. Allison Andrews, who is from the Medford Historical Society, who was very instrumental in helping Michael with this project. Michael, would you please come up? Mr. Sloan, I'd like to have you come up as well. So once again, a labor of love from Michael. We have an author among us. As you can tell by your books, he's autographed them. We're very, very happy that Michael has seen this dream of his come to fruition. And our children will benefit from this. At this time, I'd like to present something to Mr. Sloan. Michael, you may help me with this, please. Yeah. Let's move a little closer here. So, this is a certificate of appreciation from the Medford Public Schools. We are proud to recognize Barry Sloan for dedication and commitment to the students of Medford Public Schools. Signed by our Mayor, Stephanie Muccini-Burke, Aaron DiBenedetto, Vice Chairperson, Robert Skerry, Junior Secretary, Ann Marie Cuno, Roy E. Belson, Superintendent of Schools, Kathleen Kreatz, Mia Quinn Mastone, and Paulette Van der Kloot. We'd be happy to take any questions.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So first, Mr. Coates, I heard that this was in the wind when I went to a historical meeting and society meeting, and I cannot believe how great the finished product looks. Years ago when I first started on the school committee, there was another book and it was very weak. And this is so wonderful, and the fact that you've included students in the, also highlighting some of the students, how proud they must be to be authors as well. So thank you for all of your dedication, for bringing Medford history to light, and for including our students so that they can look back and think about the time that they've been in a published author. Mr. Sloan, thank you for your generosity. We really appreciate your support of everything you do in Medford, and this is just a terrific testament to that. Thank you so much for being here.
[SPEAKER_17]: May I say a word? Would it be alright? Madam Chair, Madam Mayor, Mr. Superintendent, on behalf of my father, Marshall, who, as the mayor knows, just celebrated his 90th birthday, and left a little early today from the office, but with apologies. But who also just finished his own book, his own autobiography, so we know how much of a project such a thing can be to do it well. But Medford is our home, and Century Bank is thrilled to be here. It has treated us so well. We'll do anything we can at any time to help the educational system of the city of Medford. My sister and I are committed to that. So I will continue to just pick up the phone and take those calls and be happy to help. So please let us know when we can. Thank you very much for this opportunity.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: As my colleague has said, first of all, to Mr. Sloan and his family, always being there for us. We are immensely grateful to you, your family, and for everything that you've done. Because we know that you do it, not only because you do it financially to help us, but we really, truly believe that you do it with your heart. And we know that that is very, that's more sometimes, even though we love the money, we know that it does come from the heart. And to Michael, thank you, because I know this came from your heart. And it really is a testament to you, to your family, to the support you have, but to give back to the city, and to our schools, and to the kids, and our teachers. And that's great. I am curious in knowing, though, Catherine Coates. Related to you?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, that's my sister.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Oh, OK. It's your sister. OK, because I saw her in the book. So I was curious in knowing.
[SPEAKER_02]: She was the runner-up for Miss Medford. Great. In 1976. Great.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Great. See, I was reading it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry. She couldn't be here tonight.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Well, that was good. That was good. But no, it's great. And it's just such a vibrant book. And it really calls you to open up the pages and read on. So thank you for this. This is just a great, great thing. Thank you.
[Diane Caldwell]: There's a picture of Michael's son also in the book. Michael and Maria's son, as you open the book.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, no one gets away without a picture, so we've got to get everybody in here.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Crutt. Yes. I wanted to say congratulations. And it's just, it's amazing. And I know you waited a long time to finally, you know, publish and your dream come true. And thank you, Mr. Sloan. And I'm really excited to read this and I'm really happy for the Brooks School that they're going to pilot the book. So exciting. Congratulations. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And Mr. Coates, thank you so much for this labor of love. We really appreciate it, and I know the students will, especially tomorrow. I have a first grade class coming to visit, so I will definitely pull it out and share with them from the, I think it's from the Roberts School, actually, coming in tomorrow. And thank you so much, Mr. Sloan, for your commitment to this community. We really appreciate it, and for all your help as well. So thank you so much. I know the superintendent wants a picture. We need a picture.
[Roy Belson]: You have to memorialize it for the next edition.
[SPEAKER_02]: I also want to, if I could, recognize Allison Andrews. And Allison Andrews is with the Historical Society, and she was a big help through the project. And she made sure all the facts were correct.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you, Ms. Andrews. Thank you. Before we all leave, there's a motion on the floor to accept the gift by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Young. Yes. Yes. A little bit.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Excuse me?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Historical Society, the book is available to be purchased through the Historical Society for $20, and all proceeds go back to the Historical Society, I believe. That's what Michael just said. So anyone who is interested to purchase.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Coates, quick question. Is there a PDF of the book available online or no? It will be online as well. Great. Thank you very much. While we're under suspension, report on National Scholastic Medal winner. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, we're going to call upon our Director of Humanities to make a presentation to the National Scholastic Medal winner. I'll call on Dr. Chiesa to come up here and make that presentation. And I'll do it from down there.
[Chiesa]: Would you like to come up here and do it? Whichever you prefer, sure. Sure.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hello, Dr. Chiesa. How are you? Good, thanks. How are you? Good, thank you.
[Chiesa]: Good evening. The English Language Arts Department is thrilled to announce that Hannah Rogers, a freshman at Medford High School, has received a national silver medal for her work in the Scholastic Writing Awards. Hannah is a freshman at Medford High, and her piece was entitled James. You may recall when we honored the Boston Globe Scholastic Writing Awards that Hannah was a Gold Key recipient. Her work moved on to the national level, and she received a silver medal. And this is the first time a Medford student has ever placed in the national part of the competition. So we are thrilled. Ms. Lu is here tonight. She is her teacher. And we want to thank Ms. Lu for the time she has put in with Hannah. And we really want to congratulate and honor Hannah tonight, because we're thrilled. So please join me in congratulating her.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Congratulations, Hannah. The Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Hannah Rogers National Silver Medal Scholastic Writing Award for myself and the school committee members. Congratulations.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, every year we get a group of freshmen, and you look and you say, wow, what potential. And with Hannah, she walked right in. I think one of the first things I said to her parents on parent night is, she's got it all, and she's going to go far. And she surpassed anything I could have thought. Her piece was all her own. It's her tone. She's got an established writing style. And all I can say is, and I'm going to share the piece, so I'll have it on the Medford School page. for you all to look at, but Hannah is exceptional.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I just wanna mention not only congratulations to this fine young lady on her achievement, but also as Ms. Liu slinks away, she was the, last week was the National Honor Society, and Ms. Liu is the advisor for that club. She did such a lovely job, though she never wants to take any credit, so I'm outing her and saying thank you very much, Mrs. Liu, for your work with our students.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Benedetto?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Oh, I was just going to ask Ms. Lewis if she could email us a copy of Hannah's writing. That would be great. That would be terrific. Thank you so much. And congratulations to Hannah. But we know kids come from our elementary schools and build their knowledge through our middle schools. And then they get to the high school, and our high school teachers get to watch them bloom. It's from all the way through. It's an educational experience, K through 12. And I'm very proud of the students here tonight. Method's doing really great things in our community. And I'm glad to honor so many students. I see a line in front of us. So thank you again, Ms. Loeb.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to receive the report in place on the file by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Kreatz. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on Social Studies Special Events. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, we're going to call on Dr. Chiesa again to tell us a little bit about National History Day. and also about our Model UN project, and to recognize several of the students who have participated in both of these activities, both of which are really terrific experiences for them and for the school system. And I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Chiesa.
[Chiesa]: Hello again. Good evening. We're going to start with National History Day. I'm very pleased to announce that three Medford High School students and one Andrews Middle School student took part in the Greater Boston District's National History Day that was in Stoneham in early March. We have a very special thank you to our lead teacher, Nicholas Kane, and to Dana McMahon and Michael DiClemente, some of whom are here tonight, for helping the students in this ambitious endeavor. The Medford High School students competed among 200 students in the region. We had Winnie Standovan, Isabel Southwick, Kylie Chong, and Justin Zing competing in the senior division. And for the first time in Medford's history, we had an eighth grader, Maria Carmona, participating in the junior division at the middle school. And Maria received an honorable mention, which we're very proud of all of the students for. So we do have certificates up there to recognize each student, if I may come up. Certainly. Please do. Thank you. And if I could, would you mind if I invite Mr. Kane and Mr. DiClemente over here tonight with us? Yes, definitely.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the students, if they'd like to come and stand on the side here. Congratulations, the Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Winnie Standeven, Exemplary Participation, National History Day, Senior Division. Winnie. Isabella Southwick, Exemplary Participation, National History Day, Senior Division. Kylie Truong, Exemplary Participation, National History Day, Senior Division. Justin Fang, Exemplary Participation, National History Day, Senior Division. Maria Carmona, exemplary participation, National History Day Junior Division. And an honorable mention as well for National History Day Junior Division.
[wPYt766Eu-g_SPEAKER_01]: So it was an absolute pleasure to be able to help these students with their projects. The theme this year was exploration, encounter, and exchange. And the topics that they picked were far more varied than I ever could have imagined, from looking at the development of Chinese opera and how it became an international phenomenon, to looking at the legacy of Joan of Arc and how that changed. It was interpreted different ways over time. to looking at Maria's essay that was titled, My Nanny Speaks Portuguese, and looked at labor history and immigration history and the intersection of the two. It was a joy to work with them, and it was a joy to see the hard work that they put in as they explored the topic. So my thanks to them for all their hard work, and it was a pleasure to help them out.
[Chiesa]: I'd just like to add that in June, many more of our students will have projects on this same topic, and we'll be sending invitations to you all. We'll have a big presentation at Medford High School, where more students will engage in this, as well as these exhibits will be up as well. So we will invite you and have a formal invitation. Everybody's welcome to come as well. Wonderful. Thank you. Great, thank you.
[Roy Belson]: We'll get the model in here.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah, we have a model.
[Chiesa]: You can sit here if you'd like.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And we know what a fabulous teacher Mr. Kane is. He was recognized by the National Honor Society last week as one of the teachers that they wanted to pay tribute to. So he's a special teacher, and we're lucky to have so many of them up at Medford High and throughout our system.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cugno. Well, actually, while we're waiting for Ms. Cade to get her notes, I just wanted to say I'll take this opportunity while Mr. Cain is here, before he scoots off. Last week, we also had Day of the Hill for the Massachusetts Association of School Committee members. And I was thrilled to have my colleagues Catherine, Catherine, go ahead, Paulette Vindiclou, Mr. Bob Scarry, and myself. But more importantly, we also had representation of our city. And it was wonderful to see that Mr. Cain was there with a wonderful group of high school students. We had our vocational students up there. demonstrating their culinary skills. And Mr. Kane had a group of both the high school students and our vocational students. And it was just wonderful. It was our day on the hill to advocate for different issues that are occurring, that have occurred, that are occurring, that we're still fighting for. And it really gave an open eye to our students. And it was just wonderful to see and hear them with their interests. We had an actual session with our students that was set up with younger legislators that had started off as student Councilors and they really had a great interaction of you know questions and answers and you know someday they could be where they were standing and it was really interesting in hearing the students themselves and how they were interested and if I'm not mistaken there was one particular student that I overheard speaking to Mr. Kane that really made me Like extremely proud and excited which he turned around said you know what I thought it was going to be kind of boring But I was like really enthralled and enthralled in the whole day And they were so excited in each and every part and it was just nice to hear that But it was really genuinely nice to see that they were interested in the questions that they had I have to say maybe I was a little bit you know I don't know, proud of the way they presented themselves. But I could say that our kids had the best questions out of all the kids that were there. But it was a wonderful day. And it really, I think, gave them a great insight. So I want to say thank you to Mr. Cain, to Dr. Chiesa again for allowing our students to be there. It's just a great day.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Dr. Chiesa, would you please come forward?
[Chiesa]: Last time for awards, so thank you. The last group that we would like to recognize is our model United Nations group. This year in March, we had 15 Medford High School students and 10 middle school students participate in the invitational United Nations conference that was held at Northeastern University. Our senior students represented China, New Zealand, and Malaysia. Conferences covered various topics such as peacekeeping, health and wellness, and maternal health. This year also was the first time we've had a middle school group from Model United Nations. We want to thank the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility who helped to fund some of the costs that were incurred for this. We also want to thank Mr. DiClemente for facilitating the group and Mr. Tiberi Mr. DiClemente is of the Andrews Middle School. Mr. Tiberi is of the McGlynn Middle School. We want to thank him for aiding as well with the students. The students at the middle school level represented Germany, Italy, and Spain. They all did a wonderful job. We had Best Delegate Awards, as you'll see in a few minutes. We had Best Physician Paper Awards. We're very proud of both the high school and the middle school students. And at the high school level, we want to thank Ms. Dineyu who led her high school group. And again, they also received amazing awards as well. So we're going to call them up with your permission and honor them for their hard work and dedication. And if I could ask the teachers if that's OK to join us before the students come up, that would be wonderful.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, the Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Justin Brown, Exemplary Participation, Model United Nations. Connor Bryan, Exemplary Participation, Model United Nations. Christy Deng. Christy Deng, best public speaker. Montana Heiss, exemplary participation, model United Nations. Jeremy Hollings, Exemplary Participation, Model, United Nations. Taylor Kitchen, Exemplary Participation, Middle School, Model, United Nations. Jake Kostic, Exemplary Participation, Model, United Nations. Congratulations. Oh, Jake, Best Delegate, Model UN. McKenzie Madigan, Exemplary Participation, Model United Nations. Filippos Martin, Exemplary Participation, Model United Nations. Best Delegate, Model UN. Simon Ospinson, Exemplary Participation, Model UN. Best Delegate, Zoe Panchik, Exemplary Participation, Model United Nations. I get a duo for Zoe Panchik. Zoe Panchik, Best Public Speaker. Alexis Serino, Exemplary Participation, Model, United Nations. Tenzin Tlutseng, Exemplary Participation, Model, United Nations. Michael Walker, exemplary participation. Ian Agudelo, exemplary participation. Best Delegate, Middle School, Model UN. Maria Camona, Exemplary Participation, Middle School. And Best Delegate for Maria as well. Timothy Connelly. Exemplary Participation, Middle School.
[SPEAKER_11]: Michael Corso, Exemplary Participation.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Joshua John-Renee, Exemplary Participation, Middle School. Exemplary Participation, Middle School Model, United Nations. Brianna Lewis Best Position Paper as well. Victoria Macaluso, Exemplary Participation Brayden McCabe, Exemplary Participation, Middle School. Isadora Rocha, Exemplary Participation, Middle School. Satya Bhatt, Exemplary Participation, Middle School. and also best position paper.
[wPYt766Eu-g_SPEAKER_01]: Round of applause.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you so much for coming tonight. We're very, very proud of you. And I have to say, from visiting the high school and so many different events, what fabulous young people you are. And we look forward to everything that you accomplish in your next few years. Congrats.
[Chiesa]: I also would be remiss if I didn't thank all the principals as well, Dr. Perrella, Mr. DeLeva, and Mr. Edwards. It was really a team effort to get the middle school, particularly the model UN, up and running, so I thank all of them as well. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Madam Mayor, while we're on the subject of the United Nations, the grasp and reach of Medford students reach far and wide. April 30th was World Jazz Day, and our own Terri-Lynn Carrington had the pleasure of playing at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama, along with many national and international jazz musicians. And it was on TV Saturday night. It's great to see Medford kids do great things. And for those of you who don't know Terri-Lynn Carrington, she's a pretty premier jazz drummer and a product of Medford.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much, Mr. Skerry. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: I just want to thank Dr. Chiesa for all her work and her faculty and staff for what they put together, Director of Curriculum Bernadette Riccardelli for her work in supporting, and all the teachers who really put a lot of time in helping these young people to really take these events seriously and to participate in things that perhaps we haven't participated in as much in the past. And now that we are, we're doing exceptionally well. And it's to the credit of the students and to the credit of their teachers. administrators that this happens as well as it does. I'll just alert you that there's even more coming at subsequent meetings next week. I'll just bring this up. I will be traveling to New York to participate with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Global Scholars Program, another example of our young people who are working closely with each other to understand world issues and to exchange ideas and to become global citizens of the 21st century. So we've got a lot to look forward to. You're going to see a lot more coming up. And we're really proud of our young people tonight. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. There's a motion on the floor by Ms. Kress to revert to the regular order of business. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Report of committees. Committee of the Whole, April 25, 2016. Mr. Superintendent?
[Roy Belson]: Madam members of the committee, you have it in front of you is a report of our meeting with regard to here three pre-budget reports. You can waive the reading of it tonight at your discretion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion on the floor to waive the reading.
[Roy Belson]: Unless there's something you'd like to comment on that's within the report.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor to waive the reading by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? A motion to receive and place on file this report. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Curriculum Subcommittee. April 27, 2016. Minutes. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Paulette Van der Kloot. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, this was our Curriculum Subcommittee. It was attended by three members and Mrs. DiBenedetto, The minutes are in front of you, if Mrs. Vandekoot would like to highlight something or talk about something in particular, but otherwise you can also waive this as well.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: No, I would actually prefer not to waive it. It was a very important subcommittee meeting. It was a great meeting. And so, I'd like to review some of what we've talked about. So, we called the meeting to order at 7.05. In attendance was myself, Mr. Iscari, Mrs. Mastone, and committee member, Erin DiBenedetto, who is not on the subcommittee, but joined us. Also in attendance were Superintendent Belson, Deputy Superintendent Beverly Nelson, Assistant Superintendent Diane Caldwell, and Director of Curriculum Bernadette Riccidelli. In addition, and most thankfully, I was very grateful that we had five parents who attended, Kate Carson, Michelle Ciccolo, Jennifer Lewis, Cheryl Rodriguez, and Ellery Klein. On the agenda were three items, the park opt-out situation, Then, parent concerns regarding homework policy and practice. And lastly, the state accountability system and Medford performance, with specific discussion around the Roberts School. Superintendent explained the roles and rules governing the subcommittee meeting. And we began by talking about the state DESC guidance on opt-out. Deputy Superintendent Nelson provided a handout that identified the state's position. And I think that we're going to be updated with that later on. And so I'm going to skip down now to the part of the meeting where we talked about the parental concerns about the homework policy and practice. Parent Jen Lewis made an initial presentation, and there's items attached to the report. And she raised issues of quantity, quality, and variation among teachers. There were particular concern regarding homework in the early grades, and in fact, in kindergarten as well. Also, there were concerns about some teachers using homework as a punishment, which might include the loss of recess time for students not completing homework. Parent Kate Carson, a teacher herself, talked about the stress that homework places on young children and families. And she brought an exchange that she had with Tufts professor Martha Potts, speaking about homework and what really is the point of homework and how to have homework that's really valuable. Parent Michelle Chickalow felt that the nightly homework that her student was getting was too much. Parent Ellarie Klein said that the students showed that homework for early learners is not effective. However, parent Cheryl Rodriguez was more pro-homework and felt it played a valuable role. Assistant Superintendent Diane Caldwell spoke to us and she said that the goal for homework was 10 minutes per grade. In kindergarten, maybe just reading with the student, but in first grade, 10 minutes, in second grade, 20, et cetera. And it seemed like that was not consistent with the parents that we were hearing. And so for the parent who was happier with the homework, it seemed like it fell within that reasonable time. But overall, parents talked about the stress of homework in their lives and saying that it became such a very negative thing rather than a positive learning situation for their children. You note that I embellished that a little bit on our written minutes. Superintendent Belson spoke on the need to be developmentally appropriate and that using homework as a punishment is not acceptable. He emphasized that homework well done can be important, but that is not to be just a make work activity. And again, reference back to Diane Caldwell talking about the new K-2 program, which is going back to a more developmentally friendly classroom, which should include homework. I talked about our experience with homework from one particular teacher at the fifth grade level who had flexible homework, which was to say all the assignments needed to be done by a particular time. But during the week, the student and family could pick which days they might spend time on homework, as long as it was done by a certain date. And that kind of flexibility in today's chaotic world for parents who are both coming home from work really, really would be appreciated. The committee will study the parent proposal and report back. Meanwhile, the administrators will reinforce best practices with our teaching faculty. The meeting then moved to the topic of the state accountability system and the Medford performance in 2015. There was particular emphasis on the Roberts School. Superintendent began by saying that we should begin the review with the accountability status focusing on the big picture. Medford Public Schools has eight schools that are eligible for accountability ratings by DESC. Only one school has been designated as a Level 3 school. That designation was one point below the Level 2 threshold. Medford High School and the vocational school are both designated as level one. And the superintendent goes on to give us some comparisons to neighboring communities. For example, Waltham Elementary, Waltham High, Woburn High, Quincy High, Peabody High, and Malden High are all level three. And if we look at elementary schools, many communities in Redding, Somerville, Waltham, Quincy, Framingham, for example, all fall in level three. However, that really was not what we were concerned about. We were concerned about trying to make sure that all of our students were being educated in the best possible way and how we could improve because we are in the business of improvement. So Deputy Superintendent Beverly Nelson made several points about the accountability system and Medford's performance. And then there was a discussion on the population distribution among the schools. The superintendent pointed out that the Roberts had a substantial population of ELL newcomers However, it would be difficult to move them to all other schools because of staffing concentrations. And also, we're not interested in just moving students around to improve score levels. What we're interested in is to make sure, again, that we're meeting the needs of the students. So Assistant Superintendent Caldwell spoke on our current and planned interventions. For current and past activities, we're mass supports in grades three, four, and five, and directors working with teachers to disaggregate data. Moving forward, in ELL, we've got two more staff positions for growing ELL population, two paraprofessionals as well. And as you know, we have a very transient population where we have kids who arrive any time during the school year. But moving forward, we discussed the hiring of two math coaches for the elementary schools for grades level two, three, and four, and to continue to work with DSAC for professional development opportunities. Envision our math program is going into the third year and we hope to see more positive results. We're going to intensify classroom review and have grade level meetings and it was suggested and confirmed that we would have more math nights at the school. The discussion turned to the value of coaching. Mr. Benedetto had concerns about whether the coaches would be considered teacher evaluators and the answer was no. Ms. Mistone commented that coaching was not evaluative, and I spoke about coaches as being as models for teachers. The general finding was that the state DSAC was not providing real assistance, and they were short on answers, so it was a little frustrating, but we'll continue to work with them. The subcommittee concluded that we have challenges ahead, but there were several concrete measures in place. The meeting was adjourned with the understanding that we would come back for a further discussion and report on the homework policies.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much, Chairwoman. Is there a motion on the floor to accept the report? Motion to accept the report, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? All those opposed? The report is accepted. Ms. Vanderpool?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yeah, I just want to again mention how valuable it was that the parents came and participated in the subcommittee meeting, and I was very grateful for that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the addition of coaches was mentioned in our budget meeting last week. So that is in our files to pay special attention to as the budget proceeds. Thank you very much. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So Madam Mayor and members of the committee, just as an off agenda item, but something to make sure that everyone is fully aware of is we were honored to have in our presence at the Medford family network, uh, this past week on Friday, The speaker of the Massachusetts House, Robert DiLeo. Speaker DiLeo came with Assistant Majority Leader Donato, Christine Bobber, and Sean Garbley, our two reps, also representing the city. Mayor Burke was there, School Committee Member Van der Kloot, and School Committee Member Mustone, and School Committee Member Kreatz. Were there? No, weren't there. Came later. OK.
[Unidentified]: So national on the site.
[Roy Belson]: Get mixed up. We had nice representation. We had a wonderful presentation by two parents who had participated, two parents who came from a different country, who really expressed how it helped them make the transition. I think the speaker was very impressed with that. The program was co-sponsored by the Children's Trust. Susan Bartley is the executive director of the Children's Trust. The Children's Trust is the premier organization in this state that works to prevent child abuse and works to strengthen families. Susan Barkley has been very active for many, many years, and it's her goal to take the model created by the Medford Family Network in the early 90s, it's 22 years in existence now, and the work of Marie Cassidy, who's been our lead player in that organization for many years, to take that statewide. And basically, the pitch with the speaker was that this is the way you reduce child abuse, this is the way you help DCF meet their challenges, and this is the way you promote good gateway education into the community. And as the mayor emphasized also, that it was critical that we do these things so that when youngsters come to school, they're ready to learn. And they have family supports and parents know what's expected of them, and we can move our agenda forward. So it was a thrill to have the speaker here, to have such a strong delegation from our legislature there, and to have the program that we hold so dear, the Medford Family Network, raised to such a high level of praise by Susan Bartley, who I indicate is sort of the leader in the state for child abuse prevention and for strengthening families.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you Mr. Superintendent. If I could just a quick comment. I think a lot of us have benefited from the Medford Family Network through the years. I know I certainly participated with my youngsters who are now teenagers and above and it's just a fabulous program and I urge all new parents and parents of young children to participate. It's a great advocacy program, learning opportunity, and just socialization with parents as well as the children themselves. So it's a fabulous program and we're very proud to have Marie Cassidy and the support of the school system throughout the years having supported this program.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: It was a great presentation the other day, and I was very honored to be able to attend. I think, you know, you can't help but feel proud when you realize that what we have in Medford is the goal for the rest of the state. And that was very, very clear. That's, you know, part of the reason why the speaker came out. was because we were being held up as the exemplary program. It would be remiss if I did not happen to mention, since I'm old enough to remember, but the superintendent was key in developing the Medford Family Network, and it was through his work that it came into being.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you, Ms. Van der Kloot. Ms. Puno, did you wish to speak on this topic? Mr. Benedetto?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I actually have another topic about legislators, so I thought I would speak on it now, if that's okay. I know a few months ago, Mr. Skerry and I met with Christine Barber and Sean Gobley about homelessness in the state of Massachusetts and specifically about transporting homeless children and maybe redirecting some of those funds into being proactive rather than reactive and help families stay in their homes. But the school system here in Medford, we've spent already over $100,000 transporting homeless students to and from school. And those students don't all live in Medford any longer. They sometimes live in hotels or motels or shelters, and it's still Padawa's responsibility to give them a safe place to come to school every day. But given that work, Christine Barber and I sat down in Mississippi, too, to write an amendment to this year's budget and it passed the State House of Representatives. And the purpose was to form a commission to review the costs and challenges to finding homeless students, transportation services, and to make recommendations on how to improve this system. Before July of 2017, the commission will create a report that will include a review of the federal McKinley-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Assistance Act, a budget assessment, a review of methods used by school districts now to bid and to procure transportation, a review of the best practices in other states, and finally, recommendations for improvement. So just as an example, I work at a neighboring district. And if I have a homeless student that lives in a homeless shelter in Dorchester, just to put it in perspective, that needs to go to school in Cambridge, I pay, along with the City of Medford, $275 a day to transport one child to school. That's not their housing. That's not their food. That's just to get them to and from school. And that is like $6,000 a month. We need to change how we do this in the state of Massachusetts. And when Mr. Belson presented us with some facts and figures a few months ago, and how much Medford was paying, and then actually in my other job, my day job, of actually getting kids and families' rights to school, and how difficult it is to get people because there's not enough drivers, I saw a bigger picture here. So we're working towards fixing it. And this is the first step. It's a small step, but it went through the House, now it will go through the Senate. So if any of you know senators, please give them a call. Tell them you support this amendment so it stays on there, so we can have a commission and really talk about what's working, what's not working, and how we keep families in homes rather than in homeless shelters and driving them back and forth from there to school. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you very much, Mr. Benedetto. Cuno? Just a point of information, with all due respect, and this is great that you're working on this, Erin, and Mr. Scarrialso. This is something that has been worked on for the last I've been in this now 11 years. I believe it's been nine years that school committee member at the time, Mary Jo Rosetti, and at the time it was Representative Kyle Scortino who had brought up this bill and had been working on this bill of transportation and mobility. And it's been an ongoing, it's been ongoing for many years. So I believe it's now Christine who, because of Kyle not being here, Christine is now bringing it along and bringing it forward. But it is a transport and mobility issue and a bill that they've been trying to be pushing it for many, many years. And it's great that now we have more support on this. So I just want to make it clear that it is something that has been going on for many years.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I just wanted to thank my colleagues, Irwin DiBenedetto and Bob Scurry, for their work on this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you very much. Community participation. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to step forward for the community participation segment? Hearing and seeing none. Pre-budget report English. Ms. Nelson. Oh, is Ms. Nelson for five? No.
[Roy Belson]: Well, you know, they're sort of related. But in this instance, we'll call upon our deputy superintendent to introduce someone who she just met this past week.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Nelson.
[Beverly Nelson]: Good evening. We're going to continue this evening with our pre-budget presentations. Last week at the meeting of the whole, we heard believe it was three or four, and tonight we have an additional three. We're going to hear from the English Department and the Social Studies Department, and then from our Health Services Department. We've asked our presenters to prepare a cover sheet for you. They'll address most of the items on the cover sheet. You have the extensive reports. Hopefully you've had a chance to review them. And again, they'll be bringing up basically some of their needs for the upcoming year. So we'll start with the English department and I think I know this person, Dr. Chiesa.
[Chiesa]: Good evening again. How are you? I'm just going to start with a brief description of the program. The English language arts department, as you know, is aligned to the 2011 Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework. At the elementary level, instructional materials include the Journeys Common Core and additional trade books. At the middle and high school level, we have the Houghton Mifflin anthologies, periodicals, fictional, informational texts, along with e-readers. There are 27 teachers in the middle school, high school, and vocational departments. Specifically, there are seven teachers at the Andrews Middle School. seven English teachers at the McGlynn Middle School, 11 teachers at Medford High School, and two teachers at Medford Vocational Technical High School. When we look at the use of funding for this past school year, 2015 to 2016, the use of funding was consistent with the appropriated budget funding. And I'll speak to some of the accomplishments, which thanks to your support, we were able to accomplish through the budget this year. When we look at the accomplishments for this year, big accomplishments for the English Language Arts Department was purchasing 100 e-readers at both the middle school and high school level. By doing this, we, in the end, saved a great deal of money because we are reducing the need for replacement text. Generally, when we have books that we hold physically, the durability wears on them quickly. The students also had an option for those of the classrooms that participated in the e-readers. Students certainly had an option to use the regular books, but they could also use the e-readers. Also with the e-readers, there are many books that are free on the public domain, and at times less expensive when purchased through Amazon. So it was a great purchase for the department. The kids were excited that it participated, as well as the teachers. And we thank the school committee for their support for that. Other accomplishments for the year was one you saw tonight and one you saw previous months ago, the Scholastic Writing Awards. This year, we worked to refine the district-determined measures to meet curriculum demands. We established personalized data folders for all English teachers, grades six through 11, so that they could have greater access and analysis to MCAS data. We fully integrated grades nine and 10 for the high school and vocational English language arts classes, which allowed our vocational students to take classes without any restriction. We also implemented two inclusion co-teaching classes at the high school that spanned both the ninth and tenth grade at the high school and at the vocational school. Additionally, we established ELA Google share drives for grades three to five. That allowed for more consistency throughout the elementary schools so that teachers were able to virtually speak with each other through these drives which improved the consistency of instruction even more than it already was. And we also had elementary and middle school students participate in some mock park exams to establish testing comfort, ease, so that they would meet the test that they took this week with less anxiety. If I move to the request for the budget for school year 2016 to 2017, you will see that the office supplies have remained the same. There is an increase in textbooks. The increase in textbooks speaks directly to the increase in classrooms at the elementary level to support the journey's materials. We've looked at the different grade increases throughout the district. If one grade increased at one school and another grade decreased at another school, we were able to move those materials to share, so we weren't repeating any of that. However, we did find for additional, we have a few additional elementary classrooms And that would equate to $5,000 in journey's materials to meet the needs of that classroom rooms. For instructional supplies, this year the instructional supply increase speaks to three specific items. The first is assessments for grade the middle school. This is an intervention assessment so that we can more accurately notice what the needs of the students are at the middle school. The Andrews Middle School has done this in years past, and we want to make sure that they are able to continue as well as the McGlynn Middle School. Through these assessments, students are assessed throughout the different quarters, and should they need extra intervention, RTI, in a certain area, we can then meet their needs based on this. Similarly, the other two requests for instructional supplies speak to the Journeys materials. Journeys has released a new item that is more closely aligned with the upcoming new assessments. Now, we don't know exactly what MCAS 2.0 is going to look like, but we have a strong sense that it will be similar to some of the park exams that we have. And what the company has created is a small book that meets these needs. It has more of the, when you look at the new types of testing, you're looking at more textual evidence. You know, they're asking the student a question, they're following up with textual evidence. The written responses are looking at different three passages instead of just one. The Journeys has published a book that works with that. So I propose that we get one per classroom teacher so we could we could have it that way. The last piece is, the last one for that is also journeys readers notebooks. Those are the consumable for journeys and those would be specifically for our ELL and any struggling intervention to students. Those consumables would help to intervene for our struggling readers and our ELL students as well. I'm also making a request for additional staffing. I'm looking for one extra FTE at the high school. Right now the English department is operating only with 13 high school teachers as opposed to 14 and 15 for the other departments that have four year requirements. We've been operating since 2010, I believe we lost one staff member that we did not replace. We've been able to meet and deal with those increases for class sizes, but at this point, we've hit our wall, and we really need one extra person at the high school to meet the demands. There's also requests for a .5 person at the middle school, and that person would be working on intervention for reading for our struggling students, as well as our ELL population, which, as you know, is significantly increasing year by year. I want to thank the school committee for last year for the budget. And we did wonderful things. Thanks to all of your support. And I greatly appreciate that. So thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto? Thank you. Great accomplishments. A lot of work this year. Thank you. And it really shows. And it shows by the awards that were given out this evening as well. Thank you. So kudos to all of that. I just had a question. The increase in the amount of children in our elementary school, and it might not be directed to you, it might be, Madam Mayor, to the superintendent. Has there been an increase, an enrollment increase in recent years that we have more students in our elementary school that we need to add more journeys, stuff?
[Roy Belson]: Well, the enrollment's been pretty stable. at this point in time. The shift sometimes is the grade levels and, you know, the distributions. So we want to take things away from people who already have them. We may need a little bit of a shift. I can tell you that as of today, based on what we've seen in previous years, we're 49 students ahead in kindergarten enrollment at this point in time. which tells us that people are coming home.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So just to follow up on that, I know there's been a lot of building and a lot more condos and apartment buildings in the community. And I know there's room. And we just want to keep that in mind for our services. So Mayor Burke, I hope that when they build or propose a lot of apartments and buildings, that we keep in mind how many teachers and how many firefighters and how many police officers we'd have to add to the community to make sure that we have safe streets and really good educators in our school and we're not overcrowding anywhere. I know we're not even close to overcrowding, But I want to make sure we keep the ratio that we currently have, and the supply costs, and how it will affect us as a community as a whole. So could you just please keep an eye on that and keep us informed as that happens? Because we're already almost 50 children higher for this. This year enrollment, and this is very early to have that many, because there's a lot that come through the summer as well. That means that we might need to be careful with staffing and make sure that we have enough staff for September and add classrooms in which schools and which areas they're going to need. So any updates on that, I'd appreciate that. Again, thank you for the report. We'll do our best to help you with the items that you request. There's always a lot of requests and it's hard to prioritize. If you had to pick one thing that was really important.
[Chiesa]: I would also say that the high school, at this point, having just 13 teachers, it's critical to add that one with inclusion and other demands based on curriculum. I would say they're all important. I know how much work we have to do, so I try to vet out the ones that aren't. But that one is definitely a big one as well.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you for prioritizing, and thank you for your work on the report. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Mustone.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Thanks for being here. I give you credit for being down one English teacher since 2010, so I think that is definitely a top priority. The other question was the .5 for the middle school. Is that for the Andrews or the McGlynn, or would they share the .5?
[Chiesa]: I talked to one of the principals. At this point, the English language learners have some of the McGlynn. We're thinking that they may be better staffers, they may be better servants. I'm very sensitive to his needs as well, so wanted to make sure. Also, the way in which the scheduling, because it's different, a slightly different reading by arts, he's able to do the intervention in the reading with his schedule, and it's not as easily done currently at the other equivalent, and that's why we're leaning towards that. But again, should things change, I didn't designate it per se for that very reason.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much, Doctor. Motion to accept the English Language Arts Pre-Budget Report, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The report is accepted. Thank you. Social Studies Pre-Budget Report. I'm back. Does it all. Dr. Keetha. Oh, I know, you know, when it was squealing, I shut it off. I'm sorry. Thank you.
[Chiesa]: You can turn it off. I can speak louder if you want. Hopefully for the social studies report, you'll see I have a cover page there as well. And then I have a more in-depth report, which hopefully you've had time to look at. The social studies department very quickly is committed to providing all students with academic and problem-solving schools essential for the development, responsible citizenship, and lifelong learning. Currently, we have 26 teachers, social studies teachers, in the middle school, high school, and vocational department. We have six teachers at each of the middle schools. We have 13 teachers at Medford High School, and we have one teacher at the Medford Vocational Technical High School. This year, for funding, once again, similar to English Language Arts, I want to take a minute to thank all of you for your support of the social studies department. We were able to accomplish a great deal as you Hopefully saw tonight and as you've seen throughout the year as well. We were fairly consistent with the budget that you provided with us, with the exception of field trip items, which we had an increase in. I was able to allocate some of the funds to meet all of the demands, but we did see an increase in the field trip, which again, through grants and some reallocation, we were able to meet the needs of. And I'll talk about that briefly when I go through my requests for next year. But if we focus on the accomplishments for this year for a minute, this year, for school year 2015 to 2016, we were able to implement 35 additional Google Chromebooks for our Global Scholars Program. That was huge. The teachers were able to use them in the classroom. I know you've heard about the Global Scholars Program before. It is a thriving program. The engagement for those students is absolutely amazing. As a former seventh grade teacher myself, I am thrilled when I walk into a classroom and see how engaged they are in the learning for social studies. And the Google Chromebooks was very instrumental in supporting that program, so I thank you for that. We've also had a very significant increase in our community partnerships for authentic learning opportunities. Some of those you saw tonight. We had great success and an increase with National History Day. We were able to implement a middle school model United Nations group, as you saw tonight. We were also able to resurrect our mock trial program, and they traveled throughout the state, participating in different competitions throughout the year. We hadn't had that for a few years, so it was very exciting for the department. We participated in Law Day, we participated in Student Government Day, and as Ms. Cuno mentioned, we participated on Day on the Hill just last week. This year, in addition to that, we've worked hard as a department to refine our district-determined measures to meet the curriculum demands. We have fully integrated grades 9 and 10 for all social studies classrooms between the vocational and the high school, again allowing students to take classes without restriction. And we have also implemented two inclusion grade 9 co-teaching classes at the high school and the vocational school. One other thing I want to mention is that we have either reinstated or created four new senior level classes. We brought back government and law, which hadn't been there for a year or two. We have had great success in the economics class, which you have known about in years past. But we now are thriving with two economics classes for our grade 12 students. And additionally, we were able to bring back our advanced placement comparative government class. And that's huge. Those classes are populated with quite a number of students So it's very exciting for the department to see how alive it is, even in the senior year, where social studies is only a three-year requirement. It's been wonderful to see, really. It really has. In terms of requests for funding, the requests remain the same. And actually, I failed to mention another accomplishment for this year, thanks to your support, was the purchase of the AP European textbooks for grade 10, and also the beginning purchases of the grade eight the Grade 8 U.S. History textbooks. As you recall, last year you were kind enough to provide funds to support one classroom set per teacher of the new books for the Social Studies Grade 8 classrooms. This year, the budget requests remain the same, with an increase in field trips moving from 2,000 to 4,500. The cost of buses and the increase in the number of opportunities that we've let our students participate in. It's quite expensive, and we've done our best to defray the costs. But if we want to keep supporting these groups, that's really where I see the biggest increase for us. Thank you so much, again, for all of your support of the department, because it's wonderful. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much. Are there any questions?
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Just one question about the 35 Google Chromebooks. Is that enough or do you think that program is looking to expand?
[Chiesa]: I'm keeping that in to expand as well. So that came from instructional supplies last year. So yes, we're looking to add more to the classroom. Part of the Google Chromebooks is also Purchasing the carts to keep them safe and keep them charging. You know, that's one extra cost that we factored into this year So yes, we we're still planning for next year to continue with that purchase as well Thank you so much, thank you
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: School Health Services Pre-Budget Report 1617. Good evening.
[Toni Wray]: Good evening, Mayor Burke, school committee members, Superintendent Belson. I'll give you a little bit of overview of the program. Several of you are new. We have 11 and a half full-time employees in the nursing service department, 12 DESE certified school nurses, We have one RN who's a medical paraprofessional and one LPN who's a classroom paraprofessional. And you can see from the list the breakdown of where these nurses are covering in all the schools. Presently, all of the schools have additional nursing staff, except for the Andrews, which has one nurse, the Roberts, one nurse, and the Curtis-Tufts, which has variable nursing services during the week, about three to five hours per week coverage. So I'd like to stress a little bit on how nursing has changed in the school environment over the years, especially the last 20 years. And at that point, that was the start of the essential school health services grant. And Medford's been very fortunate to be receiving money for the last 25 years from the state to help support our school nurse. department. And in those years, there were a few students with chronic illnesses. If we look, we fast forward to today, we have many students with chronic illnesses, diabetes, epilepsy, cardiac problems. We have children with cancer, and that has greatly impacted the acuity of the students' health needs in the schools. All of these children are now here because of the wonderful advances in pediatric medicine. So where 20 years ago we, school nurses, focused on band-aids, maybe some medications during the day, that has all changed. So now we have students with tube feedings, students who walk through the schools with portable defibrillators. We have students who need insulin adjustments two to four times a day. We have 168 EpiPens in our district and at any one point a student can have a reaction like you all received a telephone call today that happened in one of our schools. And then the growing number of students with social emotional learning needs and these students present to us often first with a physical ailment or complaint and that is attended to in the nursing department as they The school nurses try to sort that out and figure out where the best place is for the students to be taken care of. An emergency with any of these students at any one time can tie up a nurse for a couple of hours and that can draw them away from the rest of the student population. We're also adding new mandates from the Department of Public Health for substance abuse screening in the upcoming year. And then there's a new wave that we've recognized this year of international students who are coming to us with very complex medical needs. And this has corresponded to the growth in the international health services at the Boston Pediatric Hospitals. Families are coming in because they want care for a very sick child. They will enroll the entire family in the school district. And then we also have the care of that very sick child. This year that amounted to four preschool students who entered the system. So we're very grateful over the last couple of years that there have been several funding that we received. We were grateful to replace all of our AEDs about a year and a half ago, and we have state-of-the-art AEDs through some assistance with Armstrong Ambulance. Despite the volume of student health encounters and the acuity, we are returning 97.2 students back to class. So students are no longer going home if they have an asthma problem in school or if their diabetes is a little bit out of control. We're keeping them in school and we're managing them. Another accomplishment this year is that we wrote protocols and procedures for the administration of Narcan and all of our school nurses now carry Narcan in the schools should we need to respond to any overdose situation within the school environment or on the school grounds. And then we also received additional funds from the essential school health services grant for SBIRT screening, which is a new mandate that was signed into legislation this year by Governor Baker. And that speaks to screening students in grade nine next year and then grade seven the year after. for risk behaviors that are associated with substance abuse. For students who screen positive, they are referred on to additional treatment. So my special request for next year would be to meet the acuity needs of our system. We're very fortunate that to date we've been very well staffed. We do carry some very good ratios above the state guidelines. But as we looked at data, I'm very aware that we could use more. I'd like to ask for two full-time employees and that would be spread amongst the schools. I'd like to see coverage at the Curtis Tufts and at the Andrews and the Roberts additional coverage.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? Thank you. I just want to say thank you so much for a great report, Ms. Vento. Thank you. I appreciate it. Also, I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the nursing staff stepping up with the substance abuse issue in the community. Because in our elementary schools, maybe a nurse doesn't need to carry knock-in for our students. But maybe for one of their parents that are dropping them off or picking them up, or another relative that's there visiting the school at an event. So the fact that you had total compliance throughout your department is really touching and very appreciated. And I just wanted to go on record stating that. Thank you.
[Toni Wray]: They are a very professional group of school nurses.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: We're fortunate to have them. new check-in with, I believe it's the ninth graders, right? Yes, the screening.
[Toni Wray]: And that's starting in September? It will be starting in the next school year. We aim for a January screening time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: That's probably better. I'd like the kids to get in and get settled and then just really see the reality of what they're like once they're settled into high school.
[Toni Wray]: It works well within the curriculum framework as well. We're looking to do it during phys ed classes or health ed classes, but That month really works well with other curriculum initiatives that are really important.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So, not directed at you, Mayor Burke, through you to the superintendent, Mr. Bellson, how are we communicating this fact that this screening is going to be taking place with our students in January of next year for our freshmen?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: How are we going to communicate it?
[Toni Wray]: I think I can answer that for you. At this time, we have a planning committee. This is part of what we use the funding from the Department of Public Health for. We're developing a whole resource booklet that we would like to bring to school committee. It includes letters to parents. It includes all the information about what the screening is, how it's conducted, and we would bring that to a school committee meeting so all of you would be informed of that. We'd also look at extending for parents if that's needed, or getting information on websites. All parents will have the opportunity to opt out of the screening, and so we will make all those instructions very clear.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: could we possibly use our PR person to make sure that people in the community know that we're doing these types of screenings and that we're really serious about substance abuse in our community and we're here to help any student that needs help and it's not to be to It's not to be punitive, it's really to help students and help families that might need help. And I know the screening not only screens them for themselves, but also if they're dealing with a family member as well, right?
[Toni Wray]: Do they have those questions? Not entirely. OK.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: It's really more about the student's specific risk behaviors. OK, great. All right. Well, that's good to know, too, for my education. Thank you again for your report, and I'm going to ask you the same question that I asked Dr. Chiesa. What are your top priorities? What are your top needs? I mean, we'd love to fill every position that's requested from us, but that's really not possible for us to do, and we need to know what people's first priorities are.
[Toni Wray]: I would say having more nursing presence at the Curtis Tough School. Yes, we could do it with a half time.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Thank you for all this information. I was just on page 6 where it says EpiPens were purchased through a free program sponsored by Mylan Specialty for a savings of $10,000. So I know just from my own children, we I've provided the EpiPen.
[Toni Wray]: This is a stock EpiPen, so this is for students who... have their first reaction in school and have no medication, no prescribed medication in school. So we can meet that need. We would also be able to meet that need for, since we carry an adult version, we could meet that for staff who might have a reaction that don't know they're allergic to any substance. And I know they expire typically in a year. They do. We're fortunate every year to be able to renew that. Oh, you get this. OK, great. We've done that. This is the third year that we've participated. Thank you.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Thank you. I noted where you said four pre-K students with complex medical needs registered in the district. Are those students in the same classroom?
[Toni Wray]: They are. Three of them are enrolled in Brooks. So we finished the registration for them. We have the classroom set up. And we're just getting all the medical information pulled together so they can actually get Okay, and it's just prompting the addition of a classroom licensed practical nurse that was in addition this year that was a new position this year in response to these Students that unexpectedly entered the city and so is that
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: position maintained in your budget for next year, so the two additional is on top of that, correct? It's always amazing to me when I see the list of students, you know, 336 diagnosed with allergies, you know, the number with diabetes, the number with, you know, such complex medical needs, and know what great dedication your staff has to keep all the balls in the air safely. It's a juggling game sometimes. Thank you.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Thank you very much. The message we got today from the Roberts and that was an example of a job well done with the nurse that administered the EpiPen and the way the 911 response and the principal going in the ambulance. It was just wonderful. It was a very smooth event. Extremely smooth. It was handled very well. Thank you.
[Toni Wray]: That's what we aim for every single time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good, thank you very much. Is there a motion to receive this report? Motions? Motion to receive the report offered by Ms. Bamford, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, just before we move on, just want to note that tonight, one of the contracts that we hope to settle tonight will be the nurse's contract. They've done an excellent job under Tony's leadership and we think that we're able to move forward, and they're certainly taking on more and more responsibilities.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you. Next item is item seven, recommendation to reject participation in school choice school year 16-17. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: This is a requirement that we face every year. School choice is one of the pieces of legislation that would allow us or would mandate, if we don't reject it, to take a student in from another district at $5,000 based on availability of seats. We find that this is not a productive way to increase enrollment and that we have to notify the State Department by June 1st, so we put this on annually and ask that you approve it so that we can formally notify the State Department of Education.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to approve by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call vote for this. Yes, 7 in the affirmative, 9 in the negative, the motion passes. Next item is the report on the last day of school for the current year.
[Roy Belson]: So, assuming that it doesn't snow.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: One can't assume that.
[Roy Belson]: Or there's anything else that might get in the way of closing. This year the last day of school will be Tuesday, June 21st, 2016. It says 2015 here, so. Anyone who doesn't show up tomorrow will be in trouble. It'll be a 12 p.m. Release for all schools. The completion of school on this day enables us to meet the state required 180 instructional days minimum and the total hourly minimums for each grade level. We have a schedule for elementary and middle and high school. We'll post that on our webpage and through other channels and make sure that parents receive it from their schools as well.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to receive in place by on file by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Recommendation to approve school committee meeting calendar for 16-17 school year.
[Roy Belson]: So we like to post these meetings as early as we can so that people can plan. Uh, this is, uh, we're starting earlier, uh, this year coming up in August. But these are the meeting dates that won't conflict with various holy days or other considerations that we would consider to be, let's say, not good practice.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Vander Ploot. Personally, I don't think it's good practice to have a meeting on Halloween.
[Roy Belson]: You don't want a meeting on Halloween?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right.
[Roy Belson]: So I would. Consider it if we want to come in costume.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Well, no, because I believe that there are certain members who need to be home with their students, uh, their children and the other members who need to be at home giving out candy. So if we could please, uh, look at the calendar again and change that October 31st meeting.
[Roy Belson]: Okay. So if we could approve the calendar tonight and we will come back to the next meeting with a change on October 31st, unless you choose to come in costume. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: for the February 13th, 2017 meeting to February 27th?
[Roy Belson]: We can always make that move. The only thing is it comes right after school vacation. We put two meetings in a row. But we can do that. If you want to do that, we can do it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK. On the motion to accept the school committee meeting schedule for next year as amended, all those in favor?
[Robert Skerry]: Aye. Roll call.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Roll call.
[Robert Skerry]: Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Roll call, as amended.
[Robert Skerry]: Mrs. Cuno. Mr. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Kreatz. Yes. Ms. Mustone. Mr. Schara, yes. Ms. Van der Kloot? Maybrook?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Do you want to speak on this before I call the final? Yes, please.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? I just wanted to have the superintendent email us with any updates on the opening of school and how it went and if there were any issues or bus issues because this is a late start to me, but I understand because of religious holidays, that's why it's scheduled at this point, at least that's what I'm assuming. But I would like updates.
[Roy Belson]: We'll send you a full update with the opening of school well in advance of the meeting.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: OK, thank you. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes as amended. Is there a motion for suspension of the rules to move negotiations and legal matters to the end of the agenda?
[Robert Skerry]: Motion for approval.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion for approval. All those in favor?
[Robert Skerry]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those opposed? Motion passes. Also, is there a motion on the floor to offer condolences, Mr. Skerry?
[Robert Skerry]: Out of order? Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: School committee resolution. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Maria DeLiva. Mrs. DeLiva was the grandmother of Andrew's principal, Paul DeLiva. Also, while we're into suspension, we have, be it resolved, the Medford School Committee sends its condolences to the family of Whitfield, Jeff Jeffers. Mr. Jeffers was a longtime Medford resident who was active in civic affairs in the West Medford Community Center. If we could all please rise for a moment of silence on the passing of these two individuals. New business, discussion of the RFP development for winter season bubble structure on the field of dreams, which is the edgily field for proper naming. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, after a number of meetings on this matter, because it involves real estate negotiations, the committee went into session to discuss some of the possibilities. we put this together as a compilation of what you thought was important to be included in specifications. Should we decide to go forward with a winter season bubble over the elderly field or sometimes referred to as the field of dreams? Um, so it requires your approval for it to go to an RFP development. Once the RFP is developed, it would then go out. And of course, any awarding of a lease of any kind would then come back to the school committee. uh, before it was actually implemented. But these are the terms and conditions that we would ask to be put into the, um, RFP. Uh, and if there's any amendments to them, obviously we would make them this evening if we decided to go forward, uh, with the permission of, uh, mayor, I would read through them for public consumption and also, uh, to allow you some time to reflect on each one so that you may have some thoughts as we continue our discussion. Number one, the contract must include a parking lot for an additional 100 cars on the non-turf practice field adjacent to the turf fields paid for by the vendor. That's the West courtyard field. Two, the contract must include provisions for a field house with adequate indoor bathroom facilities. It should have a heater installed since it's going to be used during the winter months. All costs of installation and maintenance must be borne by the contractor. Three, the programs operated by the vendor must make substantial provisions for discounting participation fees for Medford youth and residents. One of the things that in checking with Mr. Scarpelli, who is actively involved in recreational matters in Somerville and is knowledgeable of our facilities as well, in Somerville they look at a 50% discount. We could change that, add to it, you know, as, as the case may be, but we could, you know, that's, that's nothing that we have to, uh, uh, decide immediately when we can come back to that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, it should be in the RFP.
[Roy Belson]: It should be in the RFP. Okay. Um, and that would be not only for Medford youth, but also for residents for the hours of operation must be established in such a way as to avoid conflict with Medford programs and to avoid late night impact on a butters. The contract may not operate programs beyond 11 p.m. on any evening. Six, all operational costs associated with the rented program must be borne by the company or vendor. This would include but not limited to electrical, heating, snow plowing, cleanup, maintenance, parking, staffing, et cetera. Seven, there should be sufficient insurance coverage borne by the vendor, contractor if you will, to cover any damage or liability. The city must be held harmless. All employees of the contractor work on site must be Corey checked. Appropriate security coverage will be provided by the vendor contractor during the contractor's hours of operation. Access to the main school building should be limited to emergencies. Nine promotion and advertising of the facility's purpose and use must be reviewed by the city to ensure that there is no misrepresentations. 10, There must be monthly reporting of activity and facility conditions to the city to ensure that any emergent situations are dealt with in a timely and effective manner. 11, the initial contract would be for a term of seven years with the possibility of three year extension after five years of successful performance. So that means after the fifth year, the committee would then decide whether it wanted to extend the three years. There must be an out cause in the contract for the city. If there was a failure to perform, or there is a transfer of ownership control. Twelve, substantial non-rental time must be available to the Medford Athletic, Physical Education and Community Schools for educational and recreational programs and activities. Any subcontractor of the contractor to a third party must be approved in advance by the city of Medford. So those are the general provisions. If there's something that we missed as coming out of our meetings, or if there's something that You want extended or clarified, we should talk about it now.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? Thank you. On number three, I agree that we need to put the 50% discount for any residents who are refugees. Also, I wanted to talk a little bit about the start time and the weekend time. We never really discussed that. So I'd like to see that Also, we talked about this, but it's not mentioned in here, a snacks shack slash sale of goods. We should either ban it in the beginning and renegotiate if that comes up, and if so, I would like to see our youth groups, like maybe the youth soccer, a non-profit youth group, be able to run that, or the high school, or the students, extracurricular activities are that way, whatever. That needs to be a separate discussion and maybe not allowed at this point, so that way they're clear that's not allowed, they can't just set that up. And if they want to, they need to revisit us and that would be a separate contract. OK, because that would be a lot involved. Also, I think number 12, the substantial non-rental time must be available to math and athletic and physical education and community schools. for educational and recreational program and activities. I think we need to be much more specific there. I think it's just too general and I think we have to be very clear what we want and what we expect so we get what we want and we're not surprised that we don't have everything we need. So those are my notes and my things and I'd like to talk more about that.
[SPEAKER_11]: It also does not include the minimum rental fee
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: late November to March. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Yes, ma'am. You and I share the same concerns. I'm surprised to see that there's no expected remuneration to the city. I had asked the previous meetings to find out just where we're at with the field of dreams as far as what it's costing us each year, what we take in, what we're expending to run the place and to make sure that our bond payments are up. And the last thing I would, expect, I would hope, that we would stick to the rules that are in place now, that no refreshments on site. I mean, we have to take care of that deck. I don't think this company is going to replace the deck at the end of their contract before they go somewhere else. And, you know, we have to take care of that surface, and it's very, very expensive to replace. And I also want to make sure that it's in writing in the RFP or in writing in our records where those monies, just exactly what line item those monies are going to go to. I want to make sure the monies go back into that project for anything it may need in the future.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That wouldn't be in the RFP. No, no, I just, I want it in our records.
[Robert Skerry]: The committee would have to set that up. Yeah, I want it in our records that that's what's going to happen because they just don't want it to, you know, go to never never land.
[Roy Belson]: As you remember from our discussions, that was to put it, it was to go into, I'm sure we left it off for some reason, but that was to go into the, into a fund that would only be used for either debt reduction if necessary.
[Robert Skerry]: Right, but I want that expressed publicly. Hey, I want to make sure that that happens.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Definitely.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I am concerned about number eight, access to the main school building should be limited to emergencies. That assumes that someone's going to have a key or to the main school building.
[Roy Belson]: So, so they're excluded from there, but if there was a, you know, situation where an ambulance had to come up for some reason and they needed access to a medical attention immediately. We have custodians on duty through 11 o'clock. So I mean, so they could enter the building. It would be obviously a call to the building and the building would open. I think for that reason, I don't know, somehow it wouldn't have a key, but I mean, but if you had an emergency there and you needed the building and you didn't open it up, I think we'd be liable. I think you've got to be conscious of the fact that the building has to have some kind of availability for an emergency emergency. I'm not talking about for general reasons. You know, we just,
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But doesn't that put a responsibility on us to always have someone in the high school who can open it up? I mean, I think it's clearer if there is no access to the school facility.
[Roy Belson]: It's a decision you can make. It's a decision you can make.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Well, to me, it's clearer because if we put in except limited to emergencies, it seems that it puts on to us a responsibility. And I think the responsibility has to be with the people who are operating the facility to use our emergency in the city. Also, you did not include, we talked about provisions for snow days. Because my concern was that all of a sudden there'll be pressure for us to do snow removal when our snow plows are busy. So I've written this way. The facility will be closed during snow days unless the vendor arranges snow removal acceptable to the school department.
[Roy Belson]: OK. So the only thing I would suggest is that we have a snow day at 7 o'clock in the morning. By the time the vendor gets there at 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, everything's clear, everything is taken care of.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But it's not always clear, because sometimes it takes us two or three or four days.
[Roy Belson]: No, I'm just saying, but let's say that situation would occur. I don't think it should be so absolute, because if we had six, seven, eight days, that's revenue that a vendor might be interested in, because obviously they're offsetting costs. I'm just doing it to be balanced.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: We could replace. The facility may be closed during snow days. But also what I'm saying is, hey, if you want it open, then you pay for the snow removal.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah, well, you see there's a cost of snow removal here that's put in.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: She means on school cancellation days.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: On school cancellation days. I mean, we talked about it last weekend, I think. So the facility may be closed during snow emergencies. unless the vendor arranges snow removal acceptable to the Medford School Department.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. On number seven, it says appropriate security coverage will be provided by vendor contractor during the contractor's hours of operation, but we had discussed that we wanted to make sure that there was security up there at all times, not just during the hours of operation.
[Roy Belson]: Well, you know, I don't think you can ask a vendor, what do you call it, to provide security for for times when they're not doing their work. If you load up costs to the vendor, you're not going to get a vendor. So it has to be somewhat balanced, because obviously people want to pay for what they're responsible for. I don't think you can ask them to pay for things that occur at times when they're not there. Now, that's a decision you can make, but I think it might compromise a bit. subtract from other things that the vendor might be willing to do.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Because we had spoken about making sure that there was no one up there during the off hours too. So, I mean, unless we were going to take that under consideration and make sure that it was going to be covered.
[Roy Belson]: Again, you know, we can put anything we want into the RFP. You just want to make sure that it's attractive enough for someone to come in and say, I'm willing to pay for this, do this, do that, you know, and the like. Is it necessary? If you feel it's necessary, then it goes in. If you don't feel it's necessary, then it might alter the willingness of someone to bid or to pay for certain things.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: OK. Because we had discussed that, and we had also discussed making sure that we would have coverage in the high school at all times. They don't have access to the high school.
[Roy Belson]: No, they don't have access to the high school.
[SPEAKER_07]: And the other thing was, I just lost my concentration here. The other one was, I forgot at this point. I had it written down. I apologize. I'm sorry, I'm still on jet lag. I just, just jet lag.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Do you have a date you want to get this RFP out? Should we try to get this going?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Oh yeah, we'd like to get it started tonight and worked on. It's up to the body. Okay. The sooner the better, so there's time to be worked on. I remember.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno, follow up. We want to make sure, as Mr. Skerry said, that once this is over and done with, that we have the condition of the fields as we gave it to them. And I don't have it here. So each season? To make sure that we- At the end of each season, the condition is as it was given. Exactly. Yep.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I also want to reiterate what my colleague, Mr. Skerry, talked about. We do request to see the committee vote. more funds coming in than the payment money, what we were doing then, how maintenance is going. I did walk the field. I didn't walk the middle of it because children were playing on it and it looked in pretty good shape, but I did speak with people who were very involved at the beginning and they said that the field usually lasts between 12 and 15 years.
[SPEAKER_11]: 8 years in. So, through this contract that our fields wouldn't be able to take place anyway and have this experience here. So, maybe it has to be some provision in here that would help us redo the term on that. If it becomes necessary while we're in the public. I would really like to see a second case in this area. I've asked for it in the past. next steps. I know we're going to do this quickly so that way we have an opportunity to take the edge of this soon. We're also in a good position here in the community because of the support that we have in our field. That's what makes this field eligible for this So, I know there's still a lot of questions. There's a little bit of time to review the fact of penalty fees, but I'm not sure what that is. But I know we'll begin tomorrow. I do like the idea, to be honest. When a private company rents, they have to provide their finances to make sure that they From the bitters.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I just want to make sure, because it's very crowded at that time, the lots were fully used, and in fact, I was driving around looking for a parking space for quite a while, that in that case, and I'm certainly assuming that a Saturday morning would be a very popular time to use this facility, that that lot in the back that the vendor is using the 100 cars would be for the vendor's use during that period of time, and that there would be no conflict with our existing contract with the Japanese language school.
[Roy Belson]: Well, that's the whole point of it. You know, that's why the 100 spaces, you know, we're asked for 100. He probably has indicated, you know, in the preliminary thing they needed about 60, but we asked for 100 because I thought there might be some overflow or there might be some situations where other multiple events were running and we might need a few extra spaces. Or during the regular year when we have other events sweeping, maybe more spaces. We'd be the beneficiaries of a larger one.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If I could, from the chair, are you all set?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I just have one further question. Sure. What is the date of the meeting for us to discuss community schools? I'm sorry? What is the date of the meeting? It's the 9th. May 9th, which is next? May 9th, OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Also, we spoke about having netting for the different sports, so it's not strictly for one type of sport. So baseball, lacrosse, golf, and soccer netting established in the facility. And that we would own it at the end of the term. We spoke about that as well. Okay. Ms.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Mustone. On number 12, I'm excited about the time for MEDFED youth.
[Unidentified]: Mm-hm.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: We had talked about it in the executive session, 230 to 4, that they would start at 4, so we would have use for high school athletes, just so the community knows why it's a benefit to us. And then for an RFP, so once, say we get four bidders, can you then working with them come up with new terms or whatever set is set?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: They'd have to meet the minimum standards and then anything above you can evaluate. Okay.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: All right. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: So we can establish evaluation criteria, Ms. Chief Procurement Officer. We can establish criteria and during the interview process you're actually weighting them based upon their financial security, their past history, et cetera. So from that, number 12 seems to be the item that needs more specificity. So we want to have for varsity athletics, 230 to four. During the day, we'd like the ability for the gym class, if they'd like to, at least maybe use half of it.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Right. And then we even talked about if the vendor rented to youth, like, so if Medford Youth Soccer wanted to rent, they would get a discount. So not the 50% off, but actual young person signing up for their soccer club, but for that's a youth soccer team to be able to rent from the vendor at a discounted cost.
[Roy Belson]: But I don't know.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: That's what I mean. I don't know how specific we have to get within doing that.
[Roy Belson]: You may find that you have limitations.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: You know, you can, um, From some of the preliminary discussions, I believe that the vendor that we did talk to to get some information was talking about 4 o'clock in the afternoon during the week. And then on the weekends, having a more expanded time, because obviously they would have more activity in the weekend.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: 8 AM?
[Roy Belson]: I think they wanted to come in in the morning and then run through the day. So that wouldn't really be available to Medford independent programs on Saturday and Sunday. So I think that's what I understand from, you know, the preliminary discussions with vendors. So I would say four to 11 is probably typical during the week and then probably be something like 8 AM to 11, you know, 11 PM on during the weekends.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you so much. Um, I also, we also need to figure out, uh, Christmas and February break. Because if they stay to the 4 o'clock schedule, then we, if we add any youth camps for our students or our families, then we would be able to take them outside.
[SPEAKER_11]: So we want to make sure that Christmas is in every grade. So maintain an 11 time frame. That's trying to stay away from me.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I just, sorry, I just have, I would like to know what the penalty fees were and I would like to see the wording of it before we send it to the thing. I don't want to hold up the process. I really don't.
[SPEAKER_11]: That's not my intent. there's a lot of little changes and I would like to see them in print before we send it off to an RFP.
[SPEAKER_08]: Otherwise, you'd have a problem with the mechanism. And then you would then have to remove it. So, what we're going to do today is give you instructions on how to remove it. Mr. Benedetto just just because I don't know would this have to go past our city Councilors as well or no school department property
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: We'd go by the city solicitor though.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If we wanted to set up a sinking fund per se, we may need the city council approval, but right now we're just dealing with the RFP to start.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: The only other piece I have is, um, once, once we figure out the fees and all that, the penalty fees, I think that's extremely important. I really want to see a dollar amount on there and I don't want it to be a little dollar amount.
[Roy Belson]: I want it to be a little dollar amount for what?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Penalty fees, but going over or going too early or, not having security or whatever rules that they may break, I want a fee attached to them for breaking any and all rules. Because I know with our buses, I think there's a penalty fee for certain things, and it makes them do things really well really quickly. So I would like to see that here.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And I want to see... Is there a dollar amount that you're thinking about?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: $5,000 for... Just for guidance? $5,000 for staying late for... Well, stay there till 1 in the morning, because no one's going to be up there, and we have 20 neighbors calling us, or maybe if it's after three offenses, or $1,000. I mean, I want it to be significant enough so that they're not going to do it.
[Roy Belson]: Usually, on penalty fees, Usually, there's a one-time pass where someone misses something. Then the second time, it's one thing. And then the third time, it's more extensive. And then possibly, then you reach a breach of contract. But you're essentially, you don't want to dissuade people from doing this. If you want it, you don't want to dissuade people from doing it. You want to make it so difficult for a person to say, I can't take the chance. I'm going to be kicking out all kinds of things. On the other hand, you also want to send a message that you can't. You can't cavalierly break the rules because you will pay for it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So why don't we go $250, $500, $1,000, and then after the third offense, you can lose your contract. That's the motion on the floor.
[Roy Belson]: I think the other thing, too, is that there are different, you know, violations. Staying over, not cleaning up, not having security. I'm going to think this one through just a little bit because some things are more egregious than others. And, you know, it could be the A person, if they miss it by a half an hour on a given night, it's not the same thing as blowing it out for two hours, or not having the right cleanup, or not having the right maintenance going on, or not taking care of other things that need to be done. So, I mean, there's severities that you want to have some degree of flex.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cugno? Just to go on that, I mean, I agree. I don't think we should just have a slate of If we're going to run a message, we need to run the proper message. I don't think that, let's say, if there's huge damage at our turf and we have a $250 fine, it's not going to be compatible to do anything. I think what we need to do is have you go back, set up some type of structure. If it's like certain things, it's X amount of money. If it's another certain thing, it's X amount of money. If it's maybe the first time around for something minor, you have a free pass. Then the second time, you said you want to hit them in the pocket. Well, if they're adults, the first time around, it might be a pass. Second time around, then you hit $1,000. Then the third time around, it's $3,000. They've now had three chances. But $250 isn't going to do anything. But I also think that we have to look at the severity of what it is. And to sit here tonight and just go back and forth and back and forth, we're not going to get anywhere with that. So that's my opinion on that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If I could just make a suggestion that over the course of the next two weeks, people think about it. And when the RFP comes back, be ready with some language that we can vote on.
[Roy Belson]: We'll put some recommendations down based on calling to some people.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto? So Mayor Burke, in that two weeks, I would like to see Mr. Skerry's request for the funds that we collect now for the fields, so that way we have a total understanding of what's currently happening before we vote on more. And the second thing is, we talked at the last meeting about a point person and who's going to be the person that is the point person. the contact for this company, the liaison for this. And I know that our community schools director is also our athletic director. And at this point, I'd like to see a recreation slash community schools director hired. And then that pooling person would be the person. But I want to make sure we have something in place and we're not just adding more to Bobby Mone's lap, because he already has so many facilities to bring. the field, so many things already, the new batting cages, the swimming pools. I mean, we can go on and on and on, not to mention his role as the athletic director. So I really don't think that he's the appropriate person to be the point person for this situation. And so that has to be discussed and brought forward as well. I mean, that's a very important piece. So I'd like to see what your proposal is on that in two weeks. I'll give you time to think about that and see It needs to be a significant thought.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Very good. Okay. Ms. Vanden Heuvel. I was just thinking that it would be very helpful if the superintendent sent to members a draft, his next draft, rather than waiting until May 16th, because there may be edits that we need to do. And if we wait all the way until the 16th, I'm afraid that we'll be at a meeting like this where we're sort of saying, you forgot this or whatever. So I'm not quite sure how to do it, but I think it would be advantageous to see it in between.
[Roy Belson]: So here's the sequence. I mean, I'm listening to everything tonight. Sometime tomorrow or the next day, I'll draft up the materials that you're giving me now and we'll run it by you in a temporary. Then we'll send it over to procurement. you know, I mean to actually draw specifications. Okay. And then legal to actually look at it at some point, you know, probably early next week when they've had a chance to play it through, we could send you something in the, you know, in the, in the thing. The only thing is, is that remember under the open meeting law, you can't deliberate with each other. So you can look at it yourself and feedback, but we can't, We can't go back and forth as a committee because we're not in open session.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But on the other hand, we could communicate directly with you one-on-one.
[Roy Belson]: I'm sorry?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: On the other hand, we could give you feedback directly one-on-one.
[Roy Belson]: You can do that. You can do that. But if there is differences between one member and another member, I won't be able to resolve it individually until we get back in open session.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Right.
[Roy Belson]: OK?
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Kurtz. What about a backup generator in case of a power outage? Would they be required to have that?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah. They would have that on their own to keep it up.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: All set? Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. Sorry. My last thing with this before we move forward is I'd really like.
[SPEAKER_11]: I love this video so much.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I just want the revised one of this. That's all I'm requesting before it goes to the RFP. I don't want to send it to the RFP yet until we see this revised list and make sure everything's on here and everybody's concerns are addressed. And then we're not having the RFP drawn up twice or adding to it. Move this until the subcommittee meeting of May 9. Motion to move this list as amended for the RFP.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Bless you. All those opposed? The motion passes. All right. OK. The letter. Motion to revert to the regular order of business. The letter.
[Roy Belson]: We have the letter.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We have a letter that was requested at an earlier meeting to our state delegation in regards to charter schools. There was a vote taking at a committee of the whole last week and it's now on the floor.
[Roy Belson]: So what you really need to do is we only made one edit where most was added to most charters.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: To the first bullet.
[Roy Belson]: And that's the only change and if there's no objection to that then those who want to sign it. before we send it out, and we'll do so in the next little while when we send it out.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Well, I believe we need a roll call on this, don't we?
[Roy Belson]: Pardon me?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: We need a roll call on this, don't we?
[Roy Belson]: Yeah, we should vote. We should roll call it.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion for support of the letter to our state delegation in regards to the charter school programs. Is there a motion on the floor for approval by Ms. Cugno? Second. Seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call vote, please. Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: Cugno? Yes. Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Six in the affirmative, one abstaining, motion passes. Do you have an original for us to sign?
[Robert Skerry]: I have an original.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good.
[Roy Belson]: Original is April 25.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: He'd have to print it again. I'd have to print it again. This is when they drafted it.
[Roy Belson]: But I think it's, you know.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I think it's fine.
[Roy Belson]: I think it'll be fine. Unless you really feel, you know.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to revert to the regular order of business. Negotiations and legals matters. Is there a motion to go into executive session?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you so much. I'm sorry to stop the proceedings, but we received a few things on our desk and I'd like, um, the superintendent to explain this item.
[Roy Belson]: What that is activity that was approved by community schools a while ago and it's happens to be. So I wanted to make sure that you, I just got it today myself from Mr. Maloney. So I wanted to make sure you knew about it. So in case you heard about an event, uh, this is a group that's been active with us in the past.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So is there a fee charged to this group to use our facility?
[Roy Belson]: I was told that the projected fee is $3,500. If they spend more time, it'll be higher. But that's the projected fee at this time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And shouldn't this have come before us for our approval for rental? Because this is a one-time event.
[Roy Belson]: Well, again, we still haven't reached the point of having a formal fee schedule and the like. So this is what was in place. And so we just simply have gone along with it. But it pays the bills. Like I said, when we finally arrive at what we're going to do in the future after the ninth or hopefully subsequently after the ninth, uh, these fees will be readjusted to affect, to reflect whatever decisions you make.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Um, I note that they have not updated the change of our esteemed mayor. And so perhaps one, somebody should communicate with them about, sorry, it's listed as mayor McGlynn. They haven't updated that. I'll talk to them. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you so much, Mayor Burke. So it says free admission ticket required for the cultural event. Is there a charge being? Is this a non-profit using our facility? Is it a church-based program?
[Roy Belson]: I believe it's a non-profit organization, but I can't attest to that at this point in time.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Do you know what cost is involved for people to come up into our facility?
[Roy Belson]: It's a non-profit solicitor's non-profit, I'm sorry.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Is there a cost to the community to come to this event?
[Roy Belson]: Not to the general event, to the cultural activities, I believe there's a ticket.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And do you know what they're charging our community members?
[Roy Belson]: I don't.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I really have an issue with this not coming before us and a fee not requested in front of us. I'd like to make a motion that any rentals of our facility, while we're reviewing it, come before the committee before approval.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Chair, look, we've had a major discussion about rentals and we're going to have another discussion coming up. This is an activity, this is a group in this community that's been here before and used our properties before. It would be an embarrassment for me to go to them and say something at this point in time and change the rules as we're operating right now. Going forward after the 9th, you can make whatever rules you decide are appropriate. I think that's the way it ought to be. And if you decide everything has to come in front of you, then you're going to have to have every piece of business come in front of you all the time. And we'll do that. But at this particular point, I'm to imply that this group, you know, was any different than any other group that we've had over the years, is really kind of out of line as far as I'm concerned. I reach a point where, you know, this is a group, this is a cultural group within our community. It's active within our community. We should treat them with respect.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mayor Burke. Ms. DiBenedetto. Through you to the superintendent. I'm in no way judging this group, or their traditions, or their use of our building. I am judging the way that it's presented to us. We did not know about it. We do not know the fee structure involved. All we got was this piece of paper on our desk tonight. And that's where I have a problem with Mr. Superintendent. If you're telling me that this group is paying $3,500 to rent our facility for two days, I will take you on your word for that, and I have no problem with them using it. But for a future reference, I would like to see a contract before we rent out these facilities and know who's using our building. This is an hour after the Japanese school finishes. There's going to be a lot of transition at that time. I checked to see if it wasn't the same time. I want to make sure the safety of everyone using the facility is as appropriate and that we're charging an equal and fair amount for the uses of our facilities. That is my only goal. So, and I agree with you, we'll wait because our meeting is very soon and we'll put structures in place for this situation, but I don't want to see this on my desk every time I come in or any time I come in. Thank you.
[Roy Belson]: I was giving it to you tonight because it was given to me today, so you would know about it and you wouldn't hear about it on a phone call on a weekend. Now, I try to keep you informed when I know something's going on, but we agreed at our meeting of the whole that we would leave things alone for the rest of this year until we came to a new conclusion about our rental rates and all the stipulations involved. And that's all I'm saying at this point in time. We're just simply moving along. I gave it to you tonight so you'd know about it. And I think that you will at the, after the ninth and after subsequent meetings, you will have an opportunity to set whatever rules you want to set in place, whatever fees you want to set in place and whatever enforcements you want to set in place. And that will then govern whatever happens next. And then anything of this type, if you want to make it all come in front of you, then all come in front of you. But that's the way, you know, we'll do it. But that was the understanding we had after the last committee of the whole.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mayor Burke. Mr. Benedetto. My understanding that we were allowing people to use the gyms and the facilities in that manner. It wasn't for all usage of all of our facilities to move forward in the same manner. So we are on a different page there. That is one issue. Wait a minute. I'm not finished. I was polite while you spoke. Okay. Secondly, like I said, I don't have a problem with this group using our facility. I just want to make sure that we do it in an appropriate, fair fashion, and that anyone who uses it in this manner gets charged the same amount of money, and that it's equal and fair throughout the community. Also, I am doing my due diligence as an elected official of this community. It is my job to do this, and I will do it as I see fit. And this is how I see fit. When we did speak of those times, we also got a request placed on our sheet, February 29th, for the financial records of the community schools. And at no time did we say we would wait until the meeting of May 9th for them to be presented. So since February 29th, I've been asking for those items, and they're still on our list, and we haven't received them. So I just want to say we need to move forward with this item very quickly.
[Roy Belson]: You've received more reports than most people ever see. Okay, and you've received financial reports on all kinds of things, but you'll get even more. So Pat will stop doing the budget to do this one audit.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. I just want to ask, as far as this organization coming in through, I'm sorry, Madam Chair. To the superintendent, do you know if they're going to use the Karen Theater?
[Roy Belson]: If they're going to what?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: To use the theater.
[Roy Belson]: I don't know. I'll have to ask them.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I'm just asking if they are going to use the theater, if they could just make sure that they don't bring any drinks or any food into the theater. That's all I'm asking.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion on the floor to go into executive session by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot, to discuss negotiations and other legal matters?
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