[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Regular meeting of the Medford School Committee will now come to order. Please call the roll, Mr. Secretary.
[Robert Skerry]: 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.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Approval of the minutes of February 29th, 2016. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of bills, transfer of funds? There are none. There are no approval of bills and transfers. Approval of payrolls? There are none. Report of the secretary? None. Report of committees, Committee of the Whole meeting February 10, 2016. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: So what you have is you have the minutes from the Committee of the Whole. Sometimes we read them, sometimes we don't. And hopefully you've had a chance to read through them. And we can waive the reading tonight. Or we can refer it to the discussion of school security when we get there.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor for approval of the minutes? Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? All those against? Motion passes. Community participation? Hearing, seeing none. Ms. Van der Kloot, is there a motion?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes. Could we suspend the order so that we could take up the order? Brooke School Art Teachers request permission for mural.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor for suspension of the rules. All those in favor? All those opposed, suspension is granted. We'll take communications. Brooke School, our teachers request permission for mural. Name and address, please.
[Diane Caldwell]: Diane Caldwell, assistant superintendent. Good evening, everybody. At this time, I'd like to call up Sue Green and Michelle Maseka to come to the podium to discuss a wonderful project. And I'd like to share with you Harold and the Purple Crayon. It's a mural that these two teachers would like to paint. by the Brooks Kindergarten, so I'm going to leave it to the girls.
[SPEAKER_20]: Thank you. I'm Michelle Mazzica. And this is Sue Keith. We're both art teachers at the Brooks Elementary. And we're here tonight seeking approval to move forward with our proposal to paint a mural in the kindergarten hallway on the first floor of the Brooks Elementary School. We already presented a version of this proposal to the PTO in April of 2015, and were approved for $1,000, including the cost of materials. The mural design would extend the length of the kindergarten hallway, where the kindergarten classes are located, and that's generally where the teachers use that space to line up their classroom during transition times. It's 80 feet long by 9 feet tall and we want to put a mural there that's based on the children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon. Our design shows a scene of life-sized animals and a purple outline with Harold at the end drawing the last animal on the wall. Our goal is to transform the blank space with art in a way that's going to support the literacy and science curriculum.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Robert Skerry]: Ms.
[SPEAKER_20]: Discary.
[Robert Skerry]: Copyright infringements? Do we need permission from the author?
[SPEAKER_20]: Well, we're not copying anything. It's just in the style of.
[Robert Skerry]: I just want to make sure that we don't run into any infringements.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Well, that's actually, I mean, it's incredibly cute. And, um, but that actually is my question as well. And I'm concerned that you really need to check that out because even if it's in the style of, if it's purple, you know, with a little boy named Harold drawing it. So I think that probably, you probably need to, I'm not sure if the author's still living at this point.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know when we've done other murals, if we put the author's name in the style of, and put the children's book author right there on the mural, and put the date of the original illustrations on the mural, that can usually do much to cover us. Plus, we're not selling it.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I still would contact the publisher and ask. I mean, but it's wonderful and it's great, and so you certainly have my approval if there's no concerns about whether we don't have to pay any royalties. Okay?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto? I love the idea. I think it will be bright. I appreciate the picture of the hallway on your notification. Because it really is a blank space now. And I think it will be a fun area. And if they're standing there waiting, they can trace out in kindergarten. It just gives them something to look at. And it is my favorite color.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion on the floor for particular permission? Motion for approval by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion is granted. The left can't wait to see it. Thank you. Thank you. Motion to revert back to the regular order of business by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Reports of the superintendent. Report on Science Fair 2016. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, we'll call upon our Director of Science, Rocco Sieri, and our Deputy Superintendent, Beverly Nelson, to give us information on the science fair and to talk about the winners and all the things that many of you witnessed when you went up to the science fair.
[Rocco Cieri]: Good evening, everyone. I'm excited to be here to provide a quick summary of the report you have in front of you. On February 25th, we had the annual science fair. It was held in the science lecture hall. And students at this event, there were 35 projects, 21 individual projects, and 14 team projects. This evening, we have students that have joined us to be recognized by the school committee body, and we're very excited to be able to provide you with that information. I apologize for my throat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, that would be good.
[Rocco Cieri]: The event was attended by the mayor, Stephanie Muccini-Burke, as well as many school committee members. We had over 30 judges that joined us from Genzyme and from our newfound partners and sort of help in the community from Tufts University. So we're really excited that this fair has really brought together a lot of individuals for the students to have a public audience rather than just a teacher or educational audience.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Burke. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank you for all your time and effort each year providing these children the opportunity to show what they've learned through our community. I'm sure the projects have been more elaborate now that we have our beautiful new science labs and that we are building more and more partnerships with Genzyme and Tufts University. I'm sorry I couldn't make the event and I'm very happy to hear about some of the winners that we might have had and hopefully are present tonight. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Seary, could you comment on a couple of the senior projects, because they were simply amazing?
[Rocco Cieri]: Sure. I will do my best to pronounce some of these projects. I stumbled over my words trying to get through them. Serena and Simona Miller, Serena Doe and Simona Miller, did a project that I was able to actually witness. I was actually disturbing them while they were conducting these experiments. It was pretty fun to see. And they looked at the effect of varying the alcohol types and concentrations on the sensitivity of muon flux detection by a cloud chamber. So under the direction of some of our educators, they were able to conduct some pretty amazing projects. Other projects, for example, Michelle, who's here with us this evening, Michelle Nguyen, who's been, I believe, a four-year participant. So from freshman year to senior year now, she studied the effect of varying fungal chitin concentrations on the tensile strength of bioplastics. And there are several others. We always see increasing sophistication as the kids get older, but also we're really getting to a point where there's a real collaboration between Tufts, our school, students doing a variety of projects, and even seeing an increase in the students that come from the vocational school that participate. So it's really a really remarkable event at this point.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Wonderful. If we could have the students line up and we can give out their awards. The Medford Public Schools is proud to recognize Daowen Doe, 2016 Medford High School Science and Engineering, via first place, grade nine. Daowen. Oh, you're a team. Ethan Medeiros. Ethan? Congratulations, Ethan. I'm gonna have them both up right now. We have 2016 second place, grade nine, goes to Rubia Fernandez and Ganna Chan. Congratulations, great job. We have third place, grade nine, Julia Galbeck and Caden Higgins. We have honorable mention grade 9, Leah Van Daniel and Alida Brinton. In grade 10, we have an honorable mention to Scott Ranjanathan. Thank you. First place, grade 11, Joseph Farah. We have second place, grade 12, Michelle Nguyen. Let us know. Third place, grade 12, Serena Doe. And Simona Miller. Congratulations. We have an honorable mention, grade 12, to Ian Lee. Honorable mention to John Mucci-Riley and Vanessa Lu.
[Unidentified]: Is there a motion on the floor to accept the report and place it on file?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Wonderful. Thank you very much for coming tonight, Mr. Seary.
[Rocco Cieri]: Thank you very much.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Sure. Motion for suspension of the rules to take a paper out of order. All those in favor? All those opposed? Paper number four, report on SkillsUSA state qualifiers. Ms. Riccio.
[Heidi Riccio]: Thank you, Mayor Burke. Good evening school committee members. Prior to the SkillsUSA district competition results, we would like to make formally an announcement that we received full chapter 74 approval for our environmental science program. with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. So we're pretty excited about that. And it couldn't have been done without Rocco Sieri back here, who had full support of our program and moving it forward, because I am not a science person. So he really helped us move it forward. The SkillsUSA district competition results, we sent over 20 students to the district competition in February at Keefe Vocational Technical High School. And competing with over 700 students, we were able to receive four medals. That then moves them on to the state competition in April. Our gold medal winner, and I'm going to announce them, and if those individuals could please come up so I can announce you formally. I know you love this part. Come on. Come on up. Come on. So we have three of the medal winners. I think the fourth one, he's been up here so much in the last two years that maybe he didn't want to come today. But we have a gold medal winner, Valerie Sajus from Masonry. Valerie's a grade 11 student in the Construction and Craft Laborers Program. In second place, winning a silver medal, we have Megan Follis in cosmetology. Winning a silver medal third year in a row, Sukran Saji in graphic communications. He is not with us today. The second medal, or the last medal winner is Karan Debel, and he is a state officer candidate. As you know, we had our first state officer candidate as well as a state officer for the last three years in Isaac Cardoso. Isaac is a senior in the electrical program, and he has mentored Karan Debel as well as another student. Kathleen Kreatz, Noah Kreatz. We sent two people, and we did get one state officer candidate, and that is Karan Debel, who is a junior in our construction program. In addition to these two medal winners, or these four medal winners, we would like to take two teams to the state competition. The first team is a community service team, where members are partnered with Boston Cares. It is a community service organization that pairs companies with service opportunities. On Wednesday, March 9, members will be helping Boston Cares assemble and paint toddler beds that were prepared by the carpentry and construction and craft laborers students. The toddler beds will then be distributed to families that are transitioning from homeless to having their own residence. The second team we will be sending is a non-traditional team. This team will consist of students who are in non-traditional career pathways. Their role will be to develop a business plan in increasing awareness and enrollment in non-traditional career and technical education programs. MVTHS is seeking partial financial assistance for this state competition, as they will be fundraising on March 16th at Margarita's to defray the costs. We are also seeking approval to attend an overnight trip for the competition on April 28th, 29th, and 30th, and would like to invite all of you to the opening ceremonies on April 28th.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. First, I'd like to congratulate all the students who attended the competition results, and you've done a great job and represent us well. In terms of the competition, could you tell us where it is?
[Heidi Riccio]: Sure. It is held annually at the Best Western Expo Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So in terms of, will the students be staying overnight?
[Heidi Riccio]: They do stay over for two evenings. The opening ceremony is on the Thursday evening after April school vacation. The competition day is Friday, and the award ceremony is on Saturday morning.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: How much does it cost for a student to attend?
[Heidi Riccio]: The total package with all of the teams, as well as the advisors and the students, will be approximately $5,000. The students themselves would like to defray the cost of 50% of that competition.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right. And I see that you have the fundraiser which hopefully will make a lot of that money.
[Heidi Riccio]: But... Seeing the people in the audience, I'm sure they're all more than willing to come on March 16th to support the SkillsUSA because 20% of the total bill actually is given to the SkillsUSA students. However, we have done three other fundraisers over the course of the school year in addition to the road race. with Judy Lonergan. We have also done a couple different fundraisers, and we also have a raffle going on. So we're fairly confident. We do have some money in our account as an activity account that we'll be using as well.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Great. So I have a motion to approve. How many students do you think you'll be taking?
[Heidi Riccio]: Each team consists of four students. So that's eight plus four. That's 12. And then we have three advisors.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: OK. So I'd like to make a motion to approve the overnight trip to SkillsUSA.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Seconded by Mr. Skerry.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. I just basically wanted to say, like I've said in the past, thank you to you, your administration, but really basically to thank the students. You have shined. You have made us proud. And I am now going to put you on the spot. And that is, I want to hear from you. I want to hear what skills means to you. What has it changed since freshman year to now? Because when we didn't have it, and I want to see what answer you can give me.
[SPEAKER_12]: For me, it's competition and an organization to help myself get better.
[SPEAKER_01]: For me, it's for value. Like you said, it's for competition. But for me, I feel like I like to help people. So running for state office, it's helping everyone in Massachusetts and the vocational school reach the potential that they didn't know that they can reach.
[SPEAKER_19]: It helped me learn a lot about my trade and what we have to do. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: what we want. We want these types of programs to bring you out there. We want to educate you, but we want to educate other people that you meet. And the networking is really important. And when you go out and you represent yourselves, you're also representing the city of Medford. And you're representing every student in that school, whether it be on the vocational side, per se, or the high school side. You're representing all of us that are sitting behind here. You're representing the mayor. You're representing yourselves. So hold your heads up high, because you've done an extremely wonderful job in these last three years.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry?
[Robert Skerry]: I just wanted to offer your kids the best of luck in your competitions in Marlboro. We'll be out to see you and keep up the good work.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is it still Kansas City for the gold?
[Heidi Riccio]: They actually change it to Louisville, Kentucky.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Kentucky. Yes.
[Heidi Riccio]: Okay.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. I just wanted to comment on The team that's going as a community service team and really what that means to the homeless people that they're serving, because when you presented this to us a few weeks ago, you commented that people transitioning from shelters to homes can't get into their homes without a bed for every child. So Medford High School vocational students are building these beds and making them in kits so that way these people have the chance to transition in. I think it's a great opportunity not only for them to learn the skill that they're at the school to learn, but to learn to give back to the community. I applaud this and I'm so grateful to see that our students have this opportunity and that they must feel a big heart when they're also building these things. I hope that they get that. how much it impacts those students' lives. I don't know if you get to see that firsthand put together in an apartment, but it's really, really great community work. And I applaud your whole community for being a part of it. Thank you for doing that and representing us well.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor for approval for the overnight stay for 12 students and three chaperones, I believe. All those in favor, roll call vote, please. Roll call vote, please. Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: Cuno. Yes. Ms. Benedetto.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: Prentz. Yes. Ms. Costone. Yes. Mr. Heria. Yes. Ms. Campbell. Yes. Ms. Mayberg.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, nine in the negative. The motion passes. There's also a second report offered by the Medford Vocational Technical High School regarding the Environmental Science Program approval. She did make a comment. Do you want to add a little more to this?
[Heidi Riccio]: Sure, just that I would like to thank Mr. Charles Saulnier and Mr. Norm Russo, as well as the Director of Science, Rocco Sieri, for allowing us, or working really hard to get this approval done. I think we've waited a year for it because of a licensed instructor, and that was the only thing that was holding us back from actually getting a full approval. So what it means to our students is that they have the opportunity to gain college credit at state university systems, as well as community college, in the environmental science trade area. Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I think this is a tremendously exciting area. I'm so happy that our students are going to have this advantage and congratulate all of those who were involved, including yourself, Heidi, for making sure that this moved forward and is now before us tonight.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor to revert to the regular visits by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Recommendation to approve school calendar 2016-17. Motion for approval.
[Roy Belson]: Do you want to know anything about it?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Well, what about the primary? Is there a primary?
[Roy Belson]: We don't know.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We don't have it on the calendar.
[Roy Belson]: We don't know. We don't have a, you know, we haven't scheduled a day off for it because we think it's usually very, very late.
[Unidentified]: You have no idea who's- It used to be a state primary.
[Roy Belson]: So we didn't want to just interrupt the flow of the days because that first day, Monday, is Labor Day. Then if you have the next Thursday off, you've got two days off in that week. So we're going to play it by ear, but I think it probably will be in session. But if you want more detail, we can go over it. Otherwise, if you're happy with it, we'll just look for your approval.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor to accept this report and place it on file. All those in favor? All those opposed.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: With all due respect, I think the superintendent should at least explain a little bit because there are a lot of parents in our audience and also a lot of parents that are watching that this is very, it's very important that they know why the reasons are. Ms. Nelson.
[Beverly Nelson]: Thank you. I'll be more than glad to explain some of the rationale for our dates. One of the reasons why we're very anxious to get this approved is because we'd like to get it out publicly. We have a major change that was brought about by the new teacher's contract, and that is the start from this point on for this particular contract will be before Labor Day. Previously, the school, the contract said the teachers could not return before September 1st. This changes the whole schedule of when they do return. For this year, they're going to be returning teachers on August 29th, which is a Monday. The contract is also very prescriptive in terms of what that first week looks like. Again, this is all contractual language. Teachers return on the 29th for their opening day of meetings, and the students will be in school starting, these are grades one through 12, August 30th, which is Tuesday, 31st, which is Wednesday, and September 1st, which is Thursday. Friday, September 2nd, which is the Friday before Labor Day, there will be no school in session for teachers or students. Labor Day falls on September 5th. Again, no school for students and teachers. And then teachers and students return on the 6th, Tuesday, with kindergarten starting the next day on Wednesday. So again, that way students have three full days of school before Labor Day takes place. And again, we want to get this out because I know many families do plan vacations for that particular week before Labor Day. Now, principals have gotten the word out by their website's word of mouth, but we can't put the calendar formally on the website until it is approved by the committee. So again, we'd like to hopefully we have that approval tonight. The school calendar provides for five snow days, if we need them, with the closing of June 21st. And again, the vacations and holidays follow those recommended by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. And we have early release days for middle and high school, which are also indicated on the calendar. The contract calls for two mandated days of professional development. We have scheduled one for November 8th, which is the national election day. And the second we've held off on for a variety of different reasons. The superintendent alluded to the fact that if we were to have one of those days on one of the election days, the primaries, it would be a major interruption to the flow of the first few weeks. So again, we feel that we can handle that election while still having school in session. And we can give you some of our details about that. We also found that this year we did the same thing. We held off on scheduling the second day because a lot happens that we need that day for as the year evolves. Now, we have some major things going on next school year. One of the things is that we have a new professional development committee. Again, by contract, we have now teachers and administrators, a team of 12, working together to develop professional development offerings. And one of those offerings would be on the mandated day. So we'd like to give that committee time to get up and running. They're starting to meet for the first time another week or so, and then they'll have regular meetings and plan activities for both the early release days as well as the mandated days. So having them have some time to adjust to what they want to do and kind of looking at all the initiatives coming up, we find that we felt that having the day a little later in the school year could be beneficial. We also are dealing with the new state test. MCAS 2.0 is currently in the developmental stages. We have been told by DESE that it will be fully implemented by spring 2017. We have very few details about this test right now. We know that it's going to be different than the traditional MCAS. We know there are going to be park-like questions, But the state has been very slow to give us different details. And quite honestly, many committees are still meeting to develop this test. So we anticipate that starting in the fall, we're going to have more and more information emerging about this test. And we may need a PD day, or at least part of a PD day, to work with our teachers on getting our students ready for this test. So at this point, we have very little information on that. One of the additional items in the new contract is that the early release Wednesdays now, four of them are for mandated PD, which is a tremendous gain we feel for us because we need that time. And as we begin our mandated days of PD, half days of PD, what we're envisioning is that some of those will roll over to topics for the full day. So as we get those going in the fall, they may generate with the Professional Development Committee some great ideas for the full day of professional development. One of the things that, as you know, we had our PD day on Tuesday. It was, we feel very successful from the initial feedback we got. And one of the things that we were able to gather from the data from the teachers is what they would like additionally on topics. So again, having PD, letting teachers evaluate it, letting them make suggestions will help us to plan for a full day later in the school year. So those are all some of the reasons why we'd like to hold off. It worked well this year. We were able to schedule our second day last Tuesday. And again, it was something that we had a lot of time to plan for, and I think went very well. Again, you know, the idea of we can get this on the website tomorrow would be great for families to plan and everybody to know all the information. So if I can answer any questions.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Through you, Mayor Burke, to the superintendent, could we get a press release out quickly about the new school calendar for next year, as soon as it's approved? Because I already noticed that some parents had been making comments on the Method Yahoo group about they thought last year's early start was a one-time thing. So we need to really get the word out to them and communicate in every way possible.
[Roy Belson]: We'll put it on our webpage right away, you know what I mean? And then we'll send stuff through the buildings.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. And can we also send it out through the local papers so parents can see it? Thank you. Miss Gugno.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I just want to double check and make sure that I have the correct dates. Usually we start the kindergartners a week after the older kids start. So is kindergarten starting on 9-7 this year? 7th. The 7th. OK. And you also mentioned that the professional four half days, the Wednesdays, are going to be used for mandated professional days. Correct. So will students be told that they can't stay after school on those days, or how are they going to work those out?
[Beverly Nelson]: They generally, the buses come at the dismissal time, which is the half day. So most of our students do not stay. It's basically a day where teachers stay in the building. They work on their own topics. We do have volunteer professional development. For those of you who know the history of those days, all of the early release days at one time were mandated. professional development for teachers. And in contract negotiations through the years, I think it was in the 90s, part of the negotiation was the teachers wanted those days for their own work time. So again, PD from that point on was offered voluntarily, but it was very hard to do something that you wanted to do system-wide because people were not mandated. So some people had this knowledge and some did not. So we felt, we worked on the contract a big, piece of what we did, our work this summer, was on PD. And I think that everybody walked away pretty happy, both teachers and the administration, on some of the gains. So what we've done is we've kind of gotten half of what we originally had, mandated time back again. So we're very, you know, we're very happy about that. There are very, there are topics already that the union wants us to work on, dealing with the teacher evaluation, standards one and two, which is curriculum and instruction, and teaching all students. So we have some ideas of where we want to go. But having the committee, I think, will be very helpful, because it's nice to have input from the teachers and from the administrators, instead of just our team of administrators planning the day. So again, we're looking forward to that team generating some great ideas.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And this pertains just to the elementary school teachers?
[Beverly Nelson]: The middle and high school have the half day, four day mandated. The elementary, they do have one, I think, Wednesday. Diane, if you want to speak to that.
[Diane Caldwell]: So the elementary schools every Wednesday have early release at 1.30. The first and third Wednesdays are for elementary principals to have their staff meetings. The second Wednesday is usually for directors, for instance, director of Title I or ELL or special education to meet with their staff. We worked with the union to take the fourth Wednesday of each month for the elementaries to do some professional development. Once again, the PD committee will work on specific topics related to the first two standards. So the elementary teachers will be dismissed at the regular time at 1.30. We'll go to an elementary school and receive some professional development.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: That's good. That's really good.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor for approval by Ms. Disceri, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Paper number three, update report on online payment system and TransFinder bus system.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, we're going to ask our Director of Finance and Administration, Pat Feely, to bring you up to date on the new systems that we've implemented this year.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening. So July 1st, we initiated online payments to the request of all of our parents, and it's been well received. Online payments are the way to go. It is dual control at its finest. It's easy. And it really provides us a lot of feedback. We can have access to a lot of reports. The online options have been well received by the parents. You'll see by the figures below on your report. Beginning FY17, paying by check or cash will no longer be an option for fee-based programs. We gave them the option this year to work with them and to get them through the hurdle of learning the system. As the months have gone by, we've seen more and more parents go on to the MC and the FACS. And they've, once they get over that hurdle, and I've walked a few of them through it, that, you know, it's really easy, and it's cheaper than a money order. So FACS is our online payment for programs that have a set tuition payment plan, including all of our preschool program, Kids' Corner, before school programming. And this next year, it will include after school programming, which is also tuition based. The cost is $43 annually to run the program. We charge a registration fee that covers that expense. And then the cost to the family is $0.25 for an ACH or 3% for credit card. Most of our parents are using ACH for your own purposes. The initial year of this program allowed families the option of online payment or sending in a check. We only accepted checks from those people who did not have any issues. And twice a month, FACTS wires NPS the funds collected through the online portal. To date, we've collected over $403,000 through the online portal. MCC is our other online payment option, which is the portal that the city uses for all their fees, taxes. And because of that, the city helps us run that program. The cost to our customers for making payments is the same for FACTS, $0.25 for an ACH or checking account, 3% for credit card. Both those fees on fax and MCC is retained by the company as the cost of doing business. MCC, we're making a change this year. We're actually updating the portal to accept registration forms, which will help our programs like summer fun camp and summer school. The parents can actually register while paying the fee. The portal actually will provide a registration report for the person running the program. And so everything will be on that. And to date, that's collected $386,000 in fees. The newest program to our fleet this year will be the Transfinder RoutePro. And this is a new program. And the superintendent is fully backing me on this one. It provides a lot of safety options. To date, we really don't have a school bus rider list, except for those generated by the schools. This company will actually generate all the information based on the information that we feed them, such as our routes, our student rosters. It's highly confidential. None of this information is shared anywhere. We will have real-time knowledge of who is on our bus. So if there is an accident, we will know what riders are still there. Even if it's done 11 stops, we'll still know who's sitting on the bus. And we can analyze what-if scenarios. So if we find that, like this last year, we had all this construction, What can we do to get the bus to the route at the right time without stopping and then analyzing? It's actually real time. So I can go on to the system and I can say, High Street is closed from here to here. Reroute the bus. And it does it. All right? The cost of the first year is just under $10,000, which includes $4,400 of implementation costs. MPS has not held this contract past the first year and can either increase or decrease services as needed. And I've spoke with Eastern Bus Company, and they're fully behind us operating this route finder. Any questions? Just a quick, the second year cost? Second year cost will be just around $5,000.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Cugno, and then Ms. Mustone.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you, Ms. Duda. Brief report. I know that we don't have the SCTs and the PSETs to pay for anymore, so that's a good thing. But how about guidance Councilors, like especially the seniors that have to pay for transcripts and things like that? Is any of that included into this type of payment plan?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: This year we did AP testing, which was a huge success. We did over $7,000 in AP online payments. And we do have it set up out there for driver's ed for lost textbook fees. And I'm willing to add anything they want. They just have to ask.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Okay, so I think it would be a good idea maybe if we could, through you to the superintendent, maybe ask the guidance council department to get in touch with Ms. Beeler about, especially seniors that need like transcripts, because the students have to pay for transcripts and they have to pay for different things, especially when they're applying to colleges. So instead of bringing in checks and money orders, if we could do it like that, it would be a lot easier. And the other thing I was gonna ask you is the buses, the students that pay for their bus fees, that they buy the MBTA cards, would that be involved and incorporated in this, or does that have to still count? I'm working on it.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: It has a few more twists and turns. It's not as easy because we do go through another vendor for those. The MBTA sends us the passes, we sell them, then we transfer the money back to them. But I am working on it.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: All right, thank you.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms. Mustone. I have a preschooler, so I love the FACTS online program. But the fax one costs $43 annually and the MCC doesn't have an annual cost. Is there a reason why the fax programs can't go to the MCC programs?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: The MCC does have a cost. The city takes care of it for us because it is their preference. So could the fax go to the city as well? No. And the fax is different because it actually has an invoice system. MCC does not. It's only set up to accept a fee. So the facts, once you set it up, as you well know, you get your tuition divided by 10 payments. It's taken on the date that you select each month.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Okay. And then for the bus, um, also with five of mine who take a bus, is the cost after year two, 5,000, the same year three, or does it decrease the longer we use their program?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Well, by the time we get into year three, we're probably not going to need as many facets of it because we will have established so much of our parameters. But the first year, you know, is big. It's a lot of work. And then year two is a little less work. And then year three, we'll evaluate at that time and see if we need what we have at that time. Okay.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Thank you.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Thank you. Pat, I didn't quite understand on the TransFinder program, is it, will the students be wearing identification that's got a chip in it, or how does it work?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: No. What it does is that we upload the information from our SIMS database. our student information management to the TransFinder. It then plots every person in the city on a virtual map. Then we take those children that actually use the bus service and we change them into a different icon, for lack of a better word. Then we go through and we see where those students are headed to on their bus path. And we look at the routes that we currently have, see if we can improve them. seeing if we can make them faster so children are on the bus less time. And the Transfinder helps us design the routes in conjunction with Eastern. There is no chips, there's no confidentiality is uppermost on their list. The only thing that won't change is K through 2 riders will still be tagged like they are now with a bus tag.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I guess I didn't fully understand because she said if there was an accident, we would know who was on the bus.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: So when we know who those riders are, and we move them over to the route that we know that they're on, and we assign them their bus number, all that information is shared between Transfinder and SIMS. So if the bus is out and bus number 15 is working its way from Columbus and we're three stops in and there is a malfunction on the bus, we know exactly at that stop the number of children left on the bus and at what addresses they belong to because we've already put them on the map.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But how do you know whether which kids didn't ride the bus that day?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Well, we wouldn't know that per se unless we call the school and find out their attendance, but we can still send a general email or phone call to those parents that the children are on the bus because that information is shared with the SIMS system. OK. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. So I know we talked about this before when we were first implementing these new programs, that the possibility of putting community schools on a program like that. Do they currently have a program similar to this? For TransFinder or for the online?
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: For the payment system. Yes, they do. We run summer fun camp, summer schools. We have the option for athletic fees, which is starting to pick up. had a slow start. Anything they want to run through it, we can. We're working on trying to get the pools up next.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So other facilities as well, the pools, the fields, all of that can eventually go into this type of program?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor to receive and place on file? Motion to receive and place on file. Seconded by Mr. Benedetto. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Pat. Update on charter schools, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee, I spent the better part of today at the Statehouse as they received testimony on the initiative petition and the version of the Statehouse bill with regard to charter schools. As you may or may not know, the state awarded new charters to Brockton and Springfield at its last meeting. And locally, the board approved an expansion of the Pioneer Charter School, as well as an expansion of seats at Mystic Valley. You have the technical information here, so I'm not going to go through every bit of it. There are a number of issues that are being raised at this point. Today was a very extensive hearing at the State House. As I indicated, I got there at 10 o'clock, it didn't leave until 4.30. So you get the idea of how many people were testifying at different points of the day, not only in charter schools, but common core and some other matters. Citizens Republic Schools released a report, I've attached that to this cover sheet that I wrote. on the wait list. Now, the wait list is projected by DESE to be 34,000 students, but when it's sanitized and worked on, CPS projects that it's more like 15,000 students or less. Part of that is because some of the students are in Horace Mann charter schools. Some of the students are at grade levels where they won't accept into the school, and some of them are simply the wait list. Like, for example, Mystic Valley has 3,600 kids on a wait list. That number is bogus. It's just a rolled over number. Instead of, you know, every year going through and seeing how many kids are actually interested, they just roll over the numbers. Now, there are schools that don't roll over the numbers. And, for example, Prospect Hill didn't roll over the numbers. So, you know, that's helpful. But I've given you a chart to give you an idea. We currently have 344 students at charter schools. The average cost is about $13,300. If the initiative petition were to go through, it could allow for 12 new charters a year. for over 9,500 students and well over $120 million new that would then have to be picked up either by the Commonwealth or the localities. As you know, the Commonwealth has historically underfunded the entitlement. So I suspect that at least some of that would come back to the communities. And Medford would be a community that might be hit by that since we're surrounded by some charter schools. So this is part of the discussion, you know, today that as to how to handle that. I don't think the state could actively vet 12 charter schools in any one year. But that's what's on the initiative petition and that's what is being discussed at the state house. The other thing would be is that there's also a capital fee that's paid by the state, another $100,000. There's other funding that moves with this as well. So what I'm providing to you right now is to give you an update as to what's happening in the charter school area. It's certainly going to be an ongoing discussion. There were people from all over testifying today. And it was obviously very interesting, pro and con. And so we need to see where that goes. Obviously, we're concerned that if in fact that were to pass, it wouldn't happen next year because you have a situation where the election would be in the fall and it would take another year for it to kick in. But since Mystic Valley has 400 additional seats, Malden and Everett have been capped. At least Malden has been capped because they've already reached a certain number. Medford could be a prime target for that. Pioneer is also in Everett, which could be a target. And we talked last week about, you know, possibly the closing of a parochial school, which could have some youngsters going to charter. So we track it very closely. We talk about it. You know, not to say that all charters are bad. Some charters are doing a really good job. But having said all that, you know, when it affects us economically, we have to pay attention to it, or potentially economically. Secondly, there are a whole series of other things that we're all interested in. Some of the testimony today was on a mental health bill at the Statehouse on education requiring social, emotional, mental health to be taught as part of the curriculum. There was another piece on having summer school or summer programs count for credit and being another learning experience, extending the learning time through the summer, more learning time. People testified on that. other discussions about other uses of money. So for example, one of the parts of my testimony was, is that if you're going to spend $120 million new, why not put it into things that we all know we should have? More early childhood, more on technology, more on learning time. et cetera, more social emotional health. So these are things that are going on, but it's an ongoing discussion and I want to keep you involved and aware as it's happening so that if you read it in the newspapers or you hear about it, you'll be informed and you'll be able to comment on it. So I'll continue to give you updates on this and there's plenty to read right now.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Miss Cuno. Basically, I'm not going to repeat what the superintendent said. I do have a resolution that I had put and have presented in our packet this week. The purpose of my motion is not to discredit the charter schools. The argument is not if the charter schools are teaching better than the traditional public schools. The argument here is the accountability of the finances. Right now we have a governor who would like to lift the cap off our charter schools. Right now in the city of Medford we're paying about $13,300 per student. Today it could be $13,300. Tomorrow it could be $15,000. Next year it could be $25,000. And that all comes out of one budget. And that is where the concern is. And we are not the only ones that are dealing with this situation. And as the superintendent said, this is an ongoing Argument and you know discussion that's been going on and it's going on across the state. It's actually going on across the country I've had the opportunity as past president and when I was president of MASC to go to different conferences and really deal with this type of situation and It really hurts the budget of the traditional public schools. Again, it has nothing to do with choice. Everyone has the right to make the choice of where they'd like to send their children. This is all based on the accountability of the finances. So our colleagues in Ludlow actually have set up a letter that you will all have in your packets, and I am motioning that we, along with Ludlow and other cities and towns, sign the same type of letter that pertains with our budget and our amounts that will go to the governor and also to our representatives. And that's what I am asking tonight.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. I motion to table this until I can speak with the state ethics to decide whether or not I can vote on such a motion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If I could, that resolution by Ms. Cugno has not been offered yet. We're still on the superintendent's report. Is there a motion to take this from? Out of order. There's a motion to take Ms. Cuno's paper out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Paper passes. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee adapt a letter approved by the Ludlow School Committee opposed to the raising of the charter school cap in Massachusetts. Further, this letter be sent to our legislative delegation. Mr. Benedetto has asked that we table this paper so that she can get a conflict of interest. Letter from the State Ethics Commission. There's a motion to table, which is undebatable. Mr. Benedetto, do you wish to withdraw?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I'll withdraw so my colleague can speak, and then, if necessary, repost my notes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. So I just wondered whether, in the meantime, it made sense to adapt the letter for Medford, so that we would actually be voting on the letter we would be sending rather than the Ludlow.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Furthermore, it had also been my intent tonight to, I just didn't have time today, there is a round
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Massachusetts, many communities are speaking out with a resolution about the foundation budget and urging the full financing of the foundation budget. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to put together a resolution, but I'm wondering if either we take them both up on Wednesday when we're meeting anyway, or we leave them to our meeting of next week.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Point of information, Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: For the superintendent, Mr. Superintendent, if you do draft a letter, would you check with us to see if we have any concerns? And I'd like you to point out what we actually pay for each student to go through the Medford Public Schools versus the amount that we pay for each student to go to a charter school. I think that point has to be concretely determined and put out there and let people know that there's a discrepancy and why some people might be outraged with the charter school.
[Roy Belson]: The charter school amount is really, you know, a composite of what we pay. Um, the differences is the fact that, you know, at the elementary level, it's one thing at the, depending on the school they go to and so on and so forth.
[Robert Skerry]: But you know, we can do that for you in the point of transparency. I think that all has to be pointed out in that point. We can do that for you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to table opted by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor. All right. All those opposed. The paper's tabled.
[Roy Belson]: Did you accept the other?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor to accept the superintendent's report.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: Mustone. Sure.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: We only pay for the bus if they were at the charter school was in our community. So if you're in Malden, you'd pay for the bus in Medford. We don't. Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion to accept the report, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report on financial literacy. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: I think we all know the cost of going to college has skyrocketed, or has had youngsters in college in recent years. And college debt, which spins from the cost of going to college, has also dramatically increased. So helping families to prepare is a very critical step in promoting college attendance and completion because a lot of very worthy youngsters have to defer going to college or perhaps go to a school that's not their choice because of the cost. And that's a serious issue and looking forward. I have attached some statistics by which I think they're very, very revealing. And I want to pick a couple of them out to just simply amplify in this report. Realize that statistics tell us that only 40% of adults keep a budget and track their spending. In other words, saying some people just spend, or their paycheck comes in and goes out, and so on and so forth. They're not really sure why they're spending it. Approximately 75% of American families are currently living paycheck to paycheck, and 25% have no savings account at all. Collectively, American consumers owe $11.5 trillion to lenders and creditors, and this grows every year. In 2013, student loan debt grew by more than 11%. And only 50% of American families have more than three months worth of expenses saved. 50% have less than one month saved. And the average American family savings account balances $3,800. The average amount saved for retirement is $35,000. The average amount of household debt is $117,951. And the average amount of family home value It's about 160, but it's probably up a little bit higher in this area. People spend 12 to 18% more when using credit cards than when using cash. The percent of American workers who postpone the retirement age this year is 24%. You can't afford to retire. Only 18% of adults who are contemplating retirement feel they have enough to do so. 76% of college students have a credit card. And it goes on and on. I mean, I don't want to read them all for you. But it just gives you an idea that financial literacy is critical. And it's important that we do more with our community and we do more with our students in the area of financial literacy. I currently serve on the Treasurer's Economic Empowerment Trust Fund. And this is a major discussion that we're having right now. I'm part of a subcommittee with Senator Eldridge. and Representative Altrino from Malden, and Representative Ryan, and a few others, to look at all this and see if we can't come up with some suggestions to augment a report that was commissioned earlier in the year. On Tuesday, March 15th, at the McGlynn Middle School, starting at 7 p.m., the Bloomberg Center, the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility in the Guidance Department, will welcome State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, to the McGlynn Middle School, where she will discuss preparing for college, the proactive steps, and financial resources. And there'll be other speakers as well. I won't read them all. At this point in time, you can read them. And we'll be talking about what are some of the strategies you can get involved in in order to prepare for this kind of expense, because it's really out there. So we'll continue to provide you information on this. We're going to have some recommendations as we move forward, possibly with something that we'll incorporate in the curriculum as we move forward into the budget going forward to next year. And we think it's an important topic and we think it's a topic that affects families and young people. And it's critical that we help our young people and their families to get higher education but at a cost they can afford without the debt that will nag them for many years after they complete.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the report and place on file by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Cuno? All those in favor? All those opposed? The report is accepted. Report on school security, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee, I have distributed to you this evening a Fresh report. Apparently, when we were preparing the report, we put the old report on top of the materials. So I apologize for that. But you do have the new report. And I'm going to go over it in detail tonight. Take any questions you may have. But I think this reflects the consensus we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks, at least, as to where we want to go. And then certainly, we can discuss anything else you'd like to. So pursuant to our recent deliberations on school security, this report represents our unified position on these matters. While certain steps and information must remain confidential to ensure the effectiveness of our actions, this report contains the agreed upon protocols and practices that will guide our responses to the various threats to school security. So the following general principles will guide our policies and practice. One, All threats will be treated seriously. It goes without saying. We treat every threat seriously. We don't treat it as something that is not real. We treat it seriously until we know differently. Two, each threat is unique and must be handled in accordance with the specifics of the situation and the realities of the impacted facility. So again, threat can come in different ways. It can have different variables in it. And it can affect a different facility which has different considerations that we must bring to bear. No two facilities are exactly the same. And no two threats automatically are exactly the same. Each school has a multi-hazard response plan. So every school has a plan. They don't advertise it. because obviously that would reveal certain confidential information. Each school has a building level emergency response team with the principals involved. All school personnel and students will continue to participate in regularly scheduled drills. We have regularly scheduled drills at each of the schools and we also have drills with the fire department. All threat assessments and response interventions will be coordinated with local law enforcement and fire safety. We don't act alone. When something happens, we're talking to the police. We're talking to the fire department. We may be talking to the state. We may be talking to the FBI, Homeland Security. We're talking to whomever we believe is necessary to be interacting with us. But in particular, our own police department and our own fire safety operations are always involved. Protocols will adhere to the guidelines of the Massachusetts State Police. the Massachusetts Department of Fire Safety, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I've attached that to the report that had the wrong cover on it, but you can see it there. And we've passed that out before. Each threat will be assessed by a combined police, fire, and school assessment team. Additional police and fire personnel will be summoned as necessary and consistent with the findings of the threat assessment. It's not necessary to call out every fire truck and every squad car in the area when we believe it's a low-level threat. But if necessary, we'll interact and we'll call out whatever we think is necessary and summon them to the area. Regional assistance, like the STARS program, will be activated as necessary, determined by the Threat Assessment Team. So our police department can activate STARS with us, The fire department can activate mutual aid. All these things are possible, but we don't just do them, we do them in sequence as we determine the threat, as we determine what needs to be done, and what is the best response for us. The school environment will be sealed off from non-public safety personnel until the situation is stabilized. We cannot allow people to come up to the facility or enter the facility until we know that we're stable and everything is in place. Can't manage the students, the faculty, the staff, and itinerant people coming and going. If a situation is in place, we'll seal it off and we'll act accordingly. Evacuation protocols, when necessary, will be used away from the identified hazard. People ask me all the time, What door are you going to evacuate from? Well, it depends where the hazard is. If the hazard is on the west courtyard at the high school, then we're not going out the west courtyard. If it's on the vocational side, we're not going out the vocational side. If it's in the front door, we're not going out the front door. We will use the appropriate evacuation routes or evacuations in place within the buildings based on where the hazard exists or where we believe the hazard exists. We will move away from the identified hazard. The Medford School Committee will be notified of the threat as soon as possible by the administration. Updates on the status will be provided in a timely manner. We'll let you know as soon as we know what's going on, and we'll provide you updates in a timely manner. Faculty and staff after threat assessment will be notified, and students will be informed of the action plan, whether it is the shelter, lockdown, evacuate, as soon as it is feasible. As soon as we know enough to tell people so we know what we're asking them to do and we can do it with confidence so we don't get people saying, well, I'm not sure of this, I'm not sure of that. We need to be sure of what we're going to do in order to engage the students and have them respond appropriately. Individual communication devices will be discouraged. We don't want people going to their own cell phones or other devices to call or make calls at the point of impact. Because if they do that, they may have misinformation. They may be telling people things that, you know, that are not appropriate, or perhaps creating other concerns. People may be listening in, and it may be the person who, or persons who are actually causing the hazard. Parents will be notified of the situation after the situation is stabilized or the evacuation protocol is implemented. When the situation is stabilized or we're evacuating, we will tell people, we will tell parents what we're doing. A reunification site will be established for parents who desire to dismiss their child. No non-public safety personnel can enter the building or premises until stabilization is achieved. Students may only be released to a parent or a guardian, and the reunification site will be determined based upon the identification of a safe area. Now, it could be an area in the building. It could be an area outside the building. It could be to an area off campus. It could be in a bus. It could be any number of things, depending on what we believe is a safe area and where we can coordinate reunification by parents, guardians, and students that they wish to withdraw. Administration will coordinate the dismissal of students by meeting with parents at the established site. So administrators will go out, meet with people, determine who is going to be dismissed, who is going to be let go at that point in time, and then they will be brought to the site as opposed to just having them walk out to the site. We'll provide a follow-up message to parents, students, and the community within a day. It takes a little bit of time to figure out what's going on, but certainly by the next day we should have a full-blown letter, if not sooner, if we can determine that, and we'll let people know. Remember, we're going to notify people of a situation once it's stabilized, but I don't want to tell you that I can tell everybody everything until I know myself, until the people involved know. As a result of inquiries regarding our protocols for shelter in place, stay in place, I put a description in the previous packet that was given to you that was produced by the high school, which explains that procedure and how that works. The following additional information is provided in response to inquiries that were made in public settings. The high school personnel who made the sweep of the bomb threat included the following. Headmaster John Perrella, the Assistant Principals David Blouk, Nick Tucci, and Gail Traynor, the Vocational Director Heidi Riccio, the Vocational Assistant Director Jill Sawyer, Medford Police Officer Jim Ricciardi, High School Security William Mazaker, High School Security Janet Connors, the Athletic Director of Community Schools Director Robert Maloney, and two building monitors, Dennis Robinson and Joseph DePace. Each of these individuals has a designated search route. We have it planned out where people look at designated places. I'm not going to reveal what those places are. They look for packages, backpacks, unusual objects in hallways, cafeterias, gyms, bathrooms, trash bins, storage areas. Exterior areas are also checked. These individuals practice these procedures several times a year. I was asked, do they have any experience doing it? Yes. The search was directed by the headmaster and the police resource officer. Had it been a bigger threat, we would have brought in additional police personnel or fire safety personnel to assist with that. Each week, administrators meet in community-based justice sections, CBJ, to evaluate information and discuss possible threats to the school. The frequency of bomb threats in our area was discussed well in advance of the actual incident at Medford High School. There were over 145 threats of a similar nature in this area during a six-week period. Subsequent to the sweep, each person is called into the office by walkie-talkie. A debriefing was then held based on the findings, and this is a standard procedure. What happened? What do you see? What didn't you see? Is there anything that concerns you? and what should we do about it if we think there's some concern. We have a very good camera coverage at Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School. This year we have spent $55,000 new on camera repairs and replacement. Our contractors are American Alarm, and we've upgraded certain cameras to provide wider coverage and a sharper image over the last week and a half. We will be installing a revamp buzzer system at the front door of Medford High School. The purchase order is out there. We expect it to be in place within a week. Pat Vealy worked with us on this today with City Hall and with the people involved. It will be a situation where the person monitoring the front door can actually see who's out front and can determine whether to let that person in or not. That will work in conjunction with the Raptor system and also be similar to what exists in the outside buildings. All doors will be locked during the school day and monitored by personnel moving through the building. Now, it's imperfect. If somebody lets somebody in, it's pretty hard. So you have to know not to let people in if you don't know who they are. And that's something that every member of staff and student has to internalize. send people to the front of the building. So for example, this Wednesday, there is a group coming to the vocational school for the community that cares project. They're going to work on the bids and the like. They'll all be checked in. When we had the chamber luncheon, people were checked in. People who are regulars will have badges. They don't need to check in because they'll have the badges. We know who they are. So everybody needs to be checked in. Cannot let people in through doors. And that's really human. There's no system out there where you have as many doors as we have at Medford High School. All guests in the building will be checked and IDs issued. Regular personnel will be expected to wear their IDs. So key personnel continue to meet and review protocols and practices in light of the most recent wave of threats to schools. There have been several regional meetings regarding best practices, several of our people have gone. You heard last week Officer Ricciardi tell you he'd just gone to another event. We'll continue to participate in these sessions and stay informed of threat patterns affecting area schools and other institutions. So that's our report of where we are, what happened, and I'd be happy to take any questions you have.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. So I've been thinking about this since our last meeting, and there's just, there's a phrase which I find awkward, I guess, and that is non-public safety personnel. Now, maybe it's one that's used all the time, but I wondered, like, when I read the sentence, I was, I just kept on playing with it and saying, just feel right, can you write the sentence a different way and say the school environment is sealed off from the public and only appropriately public safety personnel be able to enter until the situation is stabilized? What was the term you wanted to use? And then the second, so the school environment is sealed off from the public, and only appropriate safety personnel, designated safety personnel, will be able to enter until the situation is stabilized.
[Roy Belson]: Designated safety?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yep.
[Roy Belson]: Well, remember, I don't know where the police send somebody up in the fight.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So safety personnel.
[Roy Belson]: Okay.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: And in this, in the second one, it says no non-public safety personnel can enter the building. And it would make more sense to say only public safety personnel can enter the building.
[Roy Belson]: Okay. I can do that.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Uh, just, just to follow up, man, may a few through you to superintendent Belson. At your release, could you get us a report back from the chief of police? I believe the, excuse me, the McGlynn incident, the individual was prosecuted, and I was wondering if there was any order of restitution to the city. Okay, I will ask. I think that's imperative.
[Roy Belson]: It's probably at the DA's office, but I will ask.
[Robert Skerry]: The police should have a copy of the report. Okay. I'd like to know that. I think that would be a big help. Okay.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to accept the report as amended by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call vote, please. Yes, seven in the affirmative, none of the negative. The paper passes as amended and also an update on the report of the McGlynn incident offered by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor. All those opposed. Motion passes. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Um, let me say thank you to you. We've had a very good dialogue and you've given some good input. It's helped to formulate what you would like to see. Um, every community has to go through this. No community is immune. And so I think we've had good discussions. Um, if you read through the minutes of the, uh, committee of the whole, I think it was a good meeting. It was a substantial meeting. I watched the tape a couple of times, you know, to see it all, to see the different give and take, so I could capture what I thought people wanted to see, as opposed to just simply trying to remember it on notes. And I think it was a good give and take, and I think our previous meeting on the subject also helped to shape this. This is an ongoing responsibility to all of us. And the people who think that, you know, you can just simply wave a wand and wave threats away, they don't understand. Every community has issues that they have to continuously pay attention to. And we're no different. But we will. We have good people in place. We have excellent cooperation from the police and fire department. We have excellent regional relationships. And we will work on tightening up the various human behaviors that can sometimes make us a little bit more vulnerable. So thank you. We have one thing we should do. One thing that's come up.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to move negotiation and legal matters to the end of the agenda. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. Communications. New business resolution submitted by Erin DiBenedetto. Be it resolved that the administration identify all school employees that sit on or are signers for the Friends of Medford Baseball, Friends of Medford Softball, and the Friends of Medford Basketball. Further, that it go to executive session if any employees are named. Further, I am also requesting that the administration provide bank account records dating back four years for the groups named above, including account names, numbers, and signer information. A complete list of all income and expense with all details. A complete list of all donations made to all three of these groups, including money, in-kind donations, as well as equipment donations.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Ms. Kreatz? Yes, I'd like to put a motion. I'd like to table the agenda item and move it to the committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday so that we can all be there to answer questions.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you, Ms. Kress. There is a committee of the whole meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, I believe at 7 o'clock, Mr. Superintendent, up in the superintendent's office at Medford High School, at which time information will be furnished by the superintendent and possibly those involved. Is a motion on the floor to table this paper? It's undebatable. Roll call vote. It's undebatable. Ms. Cugno. Whether to table it or not.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Aye.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yeah, she said aye.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Well, I would like to table it. So yes. So I can have more time. That would be a yes. Because I haven't been informed. That would be a yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No. Sherry, no. Yes, four in the affirmative, three in the negative. The motion passes. This paper is tabled for Wednesday evening.
[Unidentified]: Can I make a motion to have a little Wednesday night meeting? Can we have the high school library in film so that the community can see the conversation and everybody present can have a place to speak? Sure.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I make a motion to move this meeting All information is being located and all people in the community have a chance to come and speak.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There'll be a motion, there'll be a paper posted. It's already been posted at the public meeting. It will be moved on to the door of the superintendent's conference room that it has been moved to the library.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Roll call vote.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Roll call vote. Mr. Skerry. That the meeting be moved to the library. And it'd be videotaped, and it'd be set up with podiums. It's already posted. Yeah. We'll have to repost on the door.
[Roy Belson]: I'll just change the location.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: It's tabled.
[nF3vsK9QOYk_SPEAKER_30]: We can move back to the agenda. Certainly.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Let us first take the motion. Roll call vote offered by Mr. Benedetto. I'm moving the location. Mr. Skerry.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, negative. The location of the meeting has been changed. There's a motion for suspension to revert to community participation, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? All those opposed? Suspension is granted. Please come forward.
[nF3vsK9QOYk_SPEAKER_30]: My name is Jack Dempsey. Thank you for telling me who I am. I've taught in Medford for over 20 years, coached in Medford for over 20 years. And I want to talk about an incident that happened the other night. affecting the girls in the Medford High School softball program. First of all, I'd like to congratulate all the other high school girls and vocational school girls tonight for their great awards. It just shows how great Medford High School is and the students, teachers, athletic department, and the school. Okay. Last Wednesday evening, The unprofessional behavior of a Medford School Committee member was a humiliating and demeaning.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Dempsey, please. Mr. Dempsey, this isn't the place for this. This paper just got tabled.
[Roy Belson]: Just got tabled.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: But it's pertaining to this matter. So see you Wednesday night? Wednesday night. See you Wednesday night. We'll have another opportunity Wednesday night. Wednesday night.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you. We have a couple of one thing is that there's some concern. Again, there's some concern.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: There is some interest on the 21st of people attending the Celtics through the activity that is Medford Community Night at the event. We have a scheduled meeting that night. Several of you have asked me if you'd like to go, so it's fine by me. But technically, you have to decide you want to postpone that meeting to another day. Is that your wish? If not, we're in session. I don't cancel your meetings.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There are people from the school committee that wanted to attend that evening. Ms. Danticlude?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I would be comfortable postponing it, either doing it earlier to the 14th or putting it off for a week to the 28th.
[Roy Belson]: All right. So let me tell you a little bit about what I've got. On the 14th, I had told you that previously I was scheduling activities around the schools. I'll be down in Robertsville on the 14th in the evening. So the 14th does not work for me.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: OK.
[Roy Belson]: So, you know, so there'll be people that, so I can't do it the 14th, I could do it the 28th.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I make a motion that we move it to the 28th?
[Roy Belson]: The only thing about March 28th, I just want to lay this stuff out for you, it's the day after Easter. So if we do that, If we do that, well, the Jewish boy has to tell you about this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: That's OK. We're good. There's a motion to postpone, Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: OK.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion to postpone the 21st, March 21st meeting to the 28th of March. All those in favor? Roll call. Roll call. Mr. Skerry. Ms. Cuno.
[Robert Skerry]: Yes. Ms. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Kreatz. Yes. Ms. Postone. Yes. Mr. Skerry, yes. Ms. VanCook.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. Hayford.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. negotiations, and legal matters. Mr. Superintendent?
[Roy Belson]: We just have to go to executive session for a brief bit of information that I want to provide to you that can't be done in open session.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to go into executive session. We will close the meeting out from executive session. Mr. Scari, roll call vote to go in. Yes. Seven in the affirmative. Negative will now enter executive session.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
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