[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The regular meeting of the Medford School Committee will come to order. 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. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President.
[Unidentified]: Mr. President.
[Robert Skerry]: Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Present. Seven present, none absent. We are here to start the meeting. The approval of minutes of March 28, 2016. There's a motion on the floor for approval, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Minutes are approved. Approval of bills transfer of funds. Motion for approval by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Approval of payrolls. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of the secretary. Are there any? There are no reports. Report of committees. Mr. Scurry, are there any reports? There are none. Community participations. Cheryl Rodriguez, funding request for supplies for Robert's School Art Mural. Ms. Rodriguez? Good evening.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: So, my name is Cheryl Rodriguez, and I'm a parent at the Roberts Elementary School, and I'm involved in the art show that's happening in May. I think the teacher was my mom. We were fortunate to get a grant this year from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. We do have arts and residents in here. We have a student author come in, and she's going to be helping the students, every student who's going to participate. and create a mural on the second floor outside the art room. It will be a mosaic. So, he ran probably the entire cost of the art, and we were able to get some funding. But supply would be too, of course, for cover.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: The superintendent, it was my understanding that at some point there was some money that was put aside for art projects. Um, and this would seem, uh, without knowing too much about it, uh, uh, to be the perfect candidate, uh, for it. Um, so I wonder if you could, uh, let us know how, uh, the PTO, uh, the Roberts could go about getting this, this, uh, project funded.
[Roy Belson]: So upon approval of the school committee, We will ask the city to allow us to utilize the money from the public art funds that were appropriated for us.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So I'd like to make a motion that after review by the superintendent that the funds be appropriated for this project at the Roberts. Second.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: seconded by Mr. Scurry and Mr. Benedetto.
[Unidentified]: Do you have a picture of what the art will look like on the theater?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: We do not. All students voted that the final theme is the many cultures of the Roberts. Last week, in one day, our teacher asked everyone in their country of origin, and we had 41 countries from one day. So they're going to have to design something to try to incorporate all those cultures. They'll be a record of them coming out. The project is supposed to start in May. They'll all come together make one they'll be mounted on like separate bars So they'll be able to be removed if so it won't damage the wall But they'll be supported and we have talked to the buildings department to make sure it's safely installed. They'll be installed
[Erin DiBenedetto]: meet the needs of the school, that it's easily changed, or new students get that opportunity as well. So I really like the idea that it's placed on and not directly on the wall. I would like to see it at some point, or pictures of it, or a draft of the ideas, but I have no problem with moving forward.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Basically, actually, the question was going to be exactly what my colleague said. I know in the past when we've done murals, and correct me if I'm wrong, I believe Ms. Van der Kloot would know this, no disrespect to anyone else, but I think when we first started the murals, we had said we were going to put them on particular boards or frames at the schools so that way we can remove them down the road. And I want to say that a couple of weeks ago something came before us and we didn't ask that question. So I just want to make sure that It does continue doing that because we don't want to ruin the artwork of the children and we want to make sure that it does get preserved and that it can be removed from one wall to another wall without ruining the artwork or the wall. Thank you.
[Kathy Kreatz]: We are, if possible, you are getting the supplies. I reached out to a couple of artists, my niece is an artist, and I spoke with somebody that also, I believe, works with the Art Council, and she mentioned there's a company, Blick, and they have high-quality art supplies, very high quality, used by a lot of artists, and they also have like what's called an art room aid where you can select items and almost like a wish list where you can select the items that you want to choose for the supplies. And I don't know if this would be a recommendation, but it was mentioned that when you do this art room aid, You can actually request donations with this company. And I think, and I'm not sure, but I think the Andrews Middle School, they did something like that. But I'm not really too sure what it was when they were doing their, you know, the most recent art mural. But I didn't really have time to reach out to them. you know, the Anderson Middle School without having this any sooner, you know what I mean, than just receiving it over the weekend. So I wasn't sure if that was something that you were thinking about or, you know, I wasn't sure.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: I did go into Blick personally, and they said they had never heard of that program. Someone did make me aware that this program exists. So that is something I'm still exploring. We also have a membership to extras for creative reuse, which I recommend for all the art teachers. $80 for the year. You can go in 10 times and take as much as you want. I've gone in and gotten a lot of tile that we'll be incorporating into the mosaic. We also use that for the art show, and we're using that for our science night, so it really cuts our supply costs. So I'm doing as much as I can to mitigate the costs, but there will be some.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Oh, yeah. Do you know if the Andrews Middle School has any supplies left over from their art mural, even if it was paintbrushes that could be shared between the schools? And I'm not sure if that's something that's possible, but I was thinking of recycling some of the supplies.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: We're actually not painting. This is a tile mosaic and will be grouted. I can certainly reach out to them, see if they have any extra supplies. I definitely reach out as far as I can. Me, I can attest that I reach far and wide.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Thank you. Ms. Van der Kloot. Yes, I just wanted to ask one question about the timing of this project again. When were you hoping to do it with the kids?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: We have already begun the brainstorming. They did the voting. It will be unveiled on May the 26th. So the bills will be in the two to three weeks prior to that.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So this means if the committee approves my motion that the superintendent needs to review as quickly as possible so that we can put this on the fast track.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor for approval of an up to $800 expenditure for art supplies for the mosaic, seconded by Mrs. Carey. Would you like to speak on this? Is there anyone else that wants to speak on this particular topic? No? Okay. Motion for approval. Roll call, please.
[Robert Skerry]: Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, motion passes. Thank you. And I have invitations for the... Oh, great.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I believe there are others in the audience that would like to speak on public participation. Yes, please. Your name, please.
[Angela Moore]: Angela Moore. Excuse me? Angela Moore. Hi, how are you? Good evening, and thank you to the school committee and the mayor and Mr. Superintendent for allowing me to speak. It's really nice to see some new faces in the crowd. Um, it recently came to my attention that Superintendent Belson's contract is due to expire in June of 2017. So I guess the first question I have is if Mr. Belson, do you plan on retiring or are you planning on seeking an extension of your contract?
[Roy Belson]: I've made no decision at this time and that's up to the committee. So when I'm ready to make a decision and the committee is ready to make a decision, we'll do that. But there's no decision at this time.
[Angela Moore]: OK, that's understandable. I just feel like the process of selecting a new superintendent, it's a lengthy one. In order for it to be carried out properly, a search committee should be convened before the 2016 school year ends. It's imperative that the time over the summer is not wasted and that the process is started before the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Ideally, if you are planning on retiring, a candidate would be able to work throughout the school year with you to ease the transition. If you don't plan on retiring, then there's been some issues and concerns that have been in the forefront this school year and they should be addressed. I think throughout the recent mayoral election it became evident that the citizens of Medford really expressed a strong desire for change and to move beyond the status quo that's been governing our city. That same desire for change and to eradicate stagnation extends to the school system as well. The Medford public school system, the students, and the parents do not exist within these chambers. You, the school committee members, need to reach out to the constituents you represent and determine the future they want for Medford schools. This job mandates that you act in the best interest of the school system and the students it educates, and that decisions made regarding the schools are made with input from the community. I'm asking each of you to do your research regarding what the citizens want and to be proactive rather than reactive. when it comes to filling the position of superintendent. With that being said, and since time is of the essence, I would like to suggest that a transparent succession plan be in place by June of this year, 2016. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there anyone else that would like to speak during public participation? Hearing, seeing none, close that portion. for Zoom to reports. Mr. Superintendent would like to make an announcement in regards to an event that occurred today at Medford High School.
[Roy Belson]: Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the committee. With us is the headmaster of the high school, Dr. Perrella. This morning, as you know, you were notified that there was a bomb scare sent to Medford High School by robocall. This was also sent to many other schools in the area, including Somerville City Hall. There are at least 10 other school districts. I provided you with a handout from one of the, newspaper outlets as well. I believe the high school handled it exceptionally well. They did everything that was according to their protocol. You have the report in front of you. Local police and fire officials were on hand to assist with the sweep of the building. Students were kept in place. When stabilization took place, students and faculty were notified, and a robocall went out to parents in the community very quickly. Dr. Perrella is here. I'd be happy to answer any questions that he has and that you may have for him. Dr. Brown.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto, could you go over the timeline of the events of this morning, please?
[John Perella]: Yes, of course. This morning at approximately 7.45, I received a phone call. I wrote an automated phone call, repeating in a loop, a bomb has been placed in the building. It was, the background of the call itself had music in it, so when we listened to it for a few times, it kept repeating itself. After receiving the call, we had immediately called together the leadership team. We informed the police departments and the fire departments of the issue. At that point, we went immediately into a stay-in-place mode at the high school. This is something we practiced a few times over the past few weeks, so it kind of worked good as far as we were prepared for this. We went into the state of place, we administrated a sweep of the building in conjunction with the police and fire departments. secure the exterior of the building and stay in place. All the doors are locked. All students remain inside the classroom until further told what to do. The sweep lasted for about 35 minutes. The phone call itself was extremely vague. It didn't mention a time, a place, a motive, or even the building. It just basically said a bomb has been placed in the building. At the conclusion of the sweep, we met as a team after we notified the building that this had taken place. We notified the students and the faculty separately, one over the intercom, and also emailed to the faculty with a little bit more detail of the situation. Once we've completed those steps, I made a phone call to the community, also to express what had happened.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So what time do you think the duration of the whole thing?
[John Perella]: Once we received the phone call, we went immediately into stay-in-place. It was the beginning of period one, so before the period ended, within 50 minutes, we had completed the entire process.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay. I had a question. That's right at arrival time, isn't it, that you got that call?
[John Perella]: The call came immediately after announcements were made. Okay. So that's right when students were getting into period one class.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, so it wasn't while you were trying to bring children in. So I'm glad for that because that could just make it more difficult to secure all the areas. Thank you for the follow-up and following the procedure. I appreciate through you to I appreciate that the quickness in response to letting all community members know. That is imperative. We learned that from the last situation that we just went through. So we actually put in place what we had hoped to. I know that some parents wanted us to put a timeline to how quickly we were going to And I think that is actually earlier than any timeline that we would have put in place. And I hate to put a number on people when they're dealing with crisis situations. So this is exactly how it's supposed to work. I'm grateful that there was no bombs, and that our children and our staff were saved. And thank you, I'm glad the protocol works, and thank you, headmaster.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Vandeput.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Dr. Perrella, we, the school committee, were concerned and expressed our concern about the possibility of some students being very nervous once they were informed or uncomfortable. And I am curious whether, in fact, any parents came up to get students, and these students expressed the desire to go home, or whether any students were particularly bothered by this information and how you followed up.
[John Perella]: So we did receive a few parent calls asking for clarification just to sort of check in and see what the status was and if they could get any more information. All the parents were pretty happy with what had taken place as far as the communication and were, after the conclusion of the phone call, they felt that the building was secure and the students were safe. The students did not, I did not get any reports of students that did any sort of counseling. I was under the impression when part of the communication to the faculty was sort of to model the calmness and patience and sort of that we had things under control and now we just continue with the day as usual. So I didn't experience any disruption in the day.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Great, thank you.
[John Perella]: You're welcome.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry. You agree? Ms. Kurtz?
[Kathy Kreatz]: Oh, I just wanted to say that I did speak with a couple of parents, including my son. And some of his friends said that the message was very calm, and that all the students were very calm. And it was a very well-recorded message. A lot of people were really impressed with the very calmness in your tone. And it was a really good message. And the students were very, I guess because of the training, They weren't nervous, because I had asked my son, were kids nervous? And he said, no. Everybody was very calm. Everything was very, you know, they were notified. So I just wanted to share that I received some positive feedback on the message.
[John Perella]: Thank you. I appreciate that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you, Dr. Perla.
[John Perella]: Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Certainly, Mr. Benedetto. When we set the protocols in place, we also said that within 24 hours we would get a completed update to parents. So if there's any additional information for parents to know, like maybe just, I don't know, an email or I don't know how you do it best, just say, you know, today was a good day, we had no further threats. But we, in the protocol, we said if they had more details, we would follow up after the initial, letting them know there is a situation. And once you had more details, you would follow up within the next day, by the next day. Would you just look into that and just make sure that all protocols are followed all the way through?
[John Perella]: Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK, or even have a public relations person put out something that would be helpful.
[John Perella]: And just as an aside, I had spoken to a few colleagues at different school systems, including Melrose. And my phone rang as well immediately after I made the robo call from Melrose's school, basically saying the same thing that happened in his school department. So I contacted their administrator, and we had a conversation about it as well. So there is a lot of communication among schools. That's great.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you. Unfortunately, it's a new normal right now.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor to receive and place on file? Moved by Ms. Vanderbilt, seconded by Ms. Cuno. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Presentation by Medford Public Library Youth Services Librarian. Ms. Fednik, please step forward. How are you?
[Sednick]: I'm doing well, thank you. My name is Sam Sednick. I am the head of youth services at Medford Public Library. And I was asked here today because we'd like to start a bit of a partnership between the public library and the schools. In particular, right now our drive is to try and get every child a library card. And, ooh, sorry guys, I'm gonna make computers work. Yeah. I'm going to give a very condensed kind of rundown on why I think it would be really great to have every kid have a card, and every teacher for that matter. I know for a fact that Medford Public Schools have wonderful library facilities in all of their elementary schools and their middle school and their high school, but the library can't give you additional materials without costing you anything, really. Medford Public Library is part of the larger Mass Board of Library Commission, and as such, we have a lot of databases and online research tools available to your students. And the only thing they need to access these databases is a library card. And so just kind of a general run on why we feel that the databases are very important. Every time I have a conversation with a child about how they do their research, this is the answer I get. Everyone goes to Google. I use Google. It's great. But Google really isn't the end all for research. And in general, it's not really the best place for research. If I'm doing a lazy Google search, and you can see up at the top I typed in Martin Luther King Forgot the Junior and just pushed enter, the first thing that's going to come up is Wikipedia. The next thing that's going to come up is something called martinlutherking.org, a true historical examination, which seems super legitimate. So I might use that on my research. And off to the side, you can see more Wikipedia stuff. But I'm going to go to the .org site. It's an organization. It must be good information, right? Well, this is martinlutherking.org. And I'm a little suspicious when it's like rap lyrics. and whatnot. But what I ask kids is, how do we know if this is good information or not? And the answer is always, we have to know who writes it. So if we do a little searching around on this website, we can find that it is hosted by Stormfront. And if you're not 100% sure what that means, you can find out that if you click on it, you end up at White Pride Worldwide. And that is the third search you get when you type in Martin Luther King into Google. So what we like to do at our library is trying to get kids to learn how to research, to learn how to use the tools that are available to them, and to be better at getting good information. Our website is www.medfordlibrary.org, and if you hover over children, you're gonna see all sorts of things, from our news and events to book lists, but the really important one is our youth electronic resources. This is a page that has everything from pre-K all the way down to 8th grade. We also have one for the teens on the teen section. And it has things like Encyclopedia Britannica, Kids InfoBits, OverDrive, TumbleBooks, and these are all resources that instead of just Google popularity search, are giving you vetted and factually accurate information when you do your searches with them. For example, this is Britannica. Britannica lets you kind of come in at whatever level you're at. So if you want to have the elementary Britannica, they make it super cute and make it super easy to read. If you have a slightly older kid, they can come in at a medium level for the middle school. And then, of course, the high school level is pretty much the adult Britannica. Britannica has a dictionary built in, so if kids don't understand words, they can double-click on them, and it will define them right there on the page. It has reading levels, so if a kid is struggling, they can move it down or up. It makes the information super accessible. It's all right there. And again, you don't have to worry about tripping off into, like, an unfortunate website when you are accessing the information through Britannica. Better yet, Britannica is free because the Mass Board of Library Commissioners have paid for that for us, and so as long as a child has a library card, they have access to the entire encyclopedia online through our website. There are other really great resources. This is Biography in Context, and if you look over to the far side, I know it's really hard to see with the tiny, tiny print, You can see that there are 1,400 newspaper articles, there's podcasts in there, there's videos in there, there's primary sources. It's really just a wonderful site with fantastic information. And I understand that at the high school level that you guys have Gmail accounts for students. The Gale databases will let the kids sign in with their Google accounts and make highlighted notes that will save automatically onto their drive. So it makes their research super easy, citations are right at the bottom, and it helps out when they're doing their projects. So we also have electronic books, we have audio books, and we have free streaming media, including videos. So all of this is available, again, with just a library card. The last thing I wanted to highlight here is we pay for something called Mango Languages, which is a language learning software program. There are 71 languages that you can pick and choose to learn. My favorite one is How to Speak Like a Pirate, but there are legitimate languages in there as well. But they also have English for other learners. So these are all of the different examples for your English language learners. So if you have someone who is speaking Portuguese in their home, they might be able to use this website to get a little extra English practice on the side. Again, the only thing they're going to need is that library card. So my proposal, honestly, is that we on your school supply list that you print public library card. We are more than happy to, all summer long, make sure that we work getting all the kids' cards. And then next school year, if your teachers wanted to use all of these resources in their classroom, they could just get that 14-digit number off the back of their students' cards and use it in your schools at no cost to anyone. And of course, we'd like to make better, stronger relations with all of your students so that they feel comfortable coming to us when they need a little extra research help or, you know, the next novel that they want to read. So.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good. Thank you, Sam. Ms. Cugno was first. Thank you.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you for the presentation. I think this is absolutely wonderful. It's always wonderful to see other avenues for our students to learn. My question to you is that, is there a way of, instead of like our students somehow, because it is difficult for some students, especially the younger ones to come to the library sometimes because their parents are working or things like that. if it's possible for our students to sign up for the card in the classroom and then somehow get that list to the library, set up the library cards and somehow distribute them back to the classroom. No, I wasn't asking for all the kids in the classroom, all the students in the school at once, but let's say we had a particular first grade or a particular kindergarten. If, let's say, the teacher came to get those applications prior to having the students come to the library. Okay, so there is a different way of doing it rather than everybody coming to the library separately. Okay, so if we could get that information out to our teachers, that would be great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Mr. Benedetto.
[Unidentified]: They even give it to their English teachers at every grade level and show that we have a strong website and know how much we can do to help our faculty in this industry.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Bell, sir, is there a way that we can work on a school-wide, a district-wide program to get every child in Method Public Schools a library card?
[Roy Belson]: I think it's a good, it's a great idea. It's another example of how the city and school work together under the mayor's leadership. So the reality is that, sure, we can make it happen. And we can, good idea about putting it part of the registration. We can move that along and we're electronic so we can pass it to them.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Maybe we could have it in different languages so that parents who English isn't their first language, that they understand what they're signing. And even if they got a temporary library card and had to go to the library to get the actual one. So that way it reminds them, oh, and they bring something home and say, I have my library card. We need to go to the library kind of thing. And they get points or extra credit or however we need to get them in the door and show them what we have to offer.
[Roy Belson]: All that's possible, and it's all good ideas.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Can we set up a program? Can we identify someone in the school district to work on this program? Sure. OK. And can we set a timeline for this to happen?
[Roy Belson]: Well, we certainly would work on it this spring, and then have it ready going into the next school year.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: OK. So that would be great. Thank you so much. You put in parent information as well?
[Roy Belson]: We put in parent information and things of that sort as well.
[Sednick]: You got shut off, I think. The library has gone out to several PTO meetings and done this workshop at Columbus and Brooks and Roberts, and so most of the principals have already gone through my run on databases before.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: public school, like how many students, how many people have library cards, how many children? Oh goodness, not off the top of my head, I don't.
[Sednick]: We do keep statistics on that so I could, I could figure that out for you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So maybe we can work with the liaison from the schools and see what percentage we're at and then do a drive or do a sign up and then see how successful it was. Like, and if we can get, the hottest children to get are the ones who's, you know, whose parents are working two jobs, or English isn't their first language, and we don't want to ignore those children, so we want to have a list of who we're missing, and really follow up, and really make sure children in Method have this opportunity. Because that way they don't even have to go to the library, they can read books from there. And a lot of families don't have the money or the time to go there. And if a child gets to read a book when they're bored instead of playing on a computer, it might be a, you know, it's a win or a fault. And, you know, they are using the computer to read.
[Roy Belson]: As you see from your packet, you also have museum passes and other things too, so it's not just resources.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Right. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Madam Mayor, through you to the superintendent, I would ask that we look at May as a starting point and perhaps our director of public information to get out a press release to local press. And if we put something on our school website urging parents that their children don't have a library guide, May is the time to sign up so that they'll be able to use it all during the summer. A lot of enrichment, a lot of great things happen at the library. It's a great way to probably partnership with the children's library and we can work in unison to get the message out across the community.
[Roy Belson]: We can certainly do all that and we can certainly hype it, you know, over the next several months so that going into the fall is even more robust.
[Robert Skerry]: I hope that we take the word can up and we'll do it and get it done as soon as possible. We have a great resource on High Street and I think a lot of children should take advantage of it. We think it's a great idea.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. Sam, I was just curious about how many classrooms come to visit the library. I know that my daughters receive library cards when they came in that we had to sign in advance and they went down to the library and they were all so excited and they came home with their library card. So how many, you know, is there schools who send all their first graders or Well, how does it exist now?
[Sednick]: Yeah, I sent an email out to the principals in about March and invite them to come visit us. I would say at this point we're getting maybe three quarters of the kindergartners, half the first graders, and McGlynn third graders. coming in during the May-June time to have library tours and get cards if they don't have them. So there is a good chunk of kids already kind of just making their way there with the schools, but it is not all of them. And so we'd like to snag the rest.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right. And probably, I mean, part of it always is the cost of transportation, the buses, but it would seem that it might make a whole lot of sense, and again, it's just the cost of the transportation, but to do a drive, I mean, there's been some good suggestions here about other ways to do it. I think that there is value in getting the kid actually into the library. and having you talk to them. So I think that I'd like to also throw about and discuss the possibility of making it consistent, like in the fifth grade, all the fifth graders go on some field trips. Well, maybe this should be the field trip for all the kindergartners or first graders or whatever. So I just want to think about that as a potential, too, so that it's not just this kid at this school, but this is one of the things that the Medford public schools do. All kids are going to go to visit the Medford Public Library. And I, of course, am understanding your timing, you know, before the summer, so that they've got the resources during the summer. We might not be able to get all of those kids to do it, but maybe if we look at that towards the future, it would make a lot of sense. Lastly, Sam, I just would like to thank you for your incredible energy and enthusiasm that you bring to everything that you do at the library.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Thank you. Ms. Cugno. I just want to get some clarification because everything that everyone has said here tonight, my colleagues, the drive and getting everyone registered, it sounds wonderful, but I also want to make sure that we don't get everything up on our side and bombard you on the other side. I mean, it sounds great that we have, you know, we'll sign up our students and have them register, but I also want to make sure that you have the manpower on your side to keep up. with those cards. So as my colleague has said, Ms. Vander Koot has said, try to get our students into the library. I totally agree with that. Maybe if it's a little bit more difficult for our younger students, totally understand. But I think in all, to see the whole picture, I think it's actually better if we could try to get at least our third graders in, up into the library. I would love to see everybody get into the library. But just to make sure, I don't want to promise anything on the school side. and say, it's great, we're going to do a drive, we'll stop registering everybody under the sun. And then on the flip side of that, not have the manpower to keep up with that. Because what's going to happen to us is that we're going to start getting phone calls saying, I signed up for the library card, where is it? I've been waiting for it, where did it go? What happened to it?
[Sednick]: Right. Well, we don't...
[Ann Marie Cugno]: mail out library cards. No, but I don't want our kids and their parents that sign up through us thinking something like that. Okay.
[Sednick]: Well, um, my, my one hope would be that if they do sign up through you, those forms just go straight to us. Uh, we, um, I've already talked to our, our, our new director as of today. By the way, we do have an announcement to make. Yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Barbara Kerr has been named the director of the library effective today. Yeah. Congratulations.
[Sednick]: And we have assessed how many library cards we have and we're confident that we could pull through with the kids that are not registered currently.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Sam, I want to thank you for coming out tonight. And I'm really excited about the library card plan. And we talked about it a couple of weeks ago. And I just love the idea of promoting the literacy and the community participation at the library. And there was some ideas that we talked about possibly for having maybe, and I don't know if something like this would be possible to have, maybe like an orientation night at the McGlynn School where Sam could go there and do a presentation for the middle schools one night or for the elementary schools so that the parents could take their children and maybe possibly watch the orientation. or have something at the high school, at the Karen Theater, after hours, something in the evening for parents and students to go. Even if they didn't get their application at registration time, they could get one at that time, pick it up. but I definitely think it should be part of the new, um, or this year's orientation folder. And if possible, I agree with Bob scary that we should try to implement it as soon as possible. And you know, once again, thank you. And I'm just really excited. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you on the motion that application be put in the new student packet, that it be also be put down in the Parent Information Center. And maybe school libraries as well have applications. And all of the great suggestions that were made around the rail on that motion. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes.
[Unidentified]: Thank you very much, Ms.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Sedney. Our next item, recommendation to approve donation of a records board to Medford High School pool. Ms. Judge.
[SPEAKER_21]: Good evening. Hello. Hi, how are you? Good, thanks. How are you doing? Good, thank you. The Feely family have their, this family's been in Medford for three generations at least. I don't know, four? Been a while. Anyway. They've been through the school systems, and they're all athletes. And for the past, I want to say, almost, yeah, 20 years plus, the Feeley-Feelmey has been donating scholarships, athletic scholarships, to the school, to Bedford High. And the Feeley-Feelmey approached me a couple of years ago and asked me, knowing that the pool was coming back online, what could we use, and I said, a record board. And so we've been researching the record board. We've been going around, and actually we found one in Cambridge, Virginia Latin. And I contacted the designer, and they came up with a record board for us. So I'd like to pass that out for you. And the Philly family has been so supportive with our schools and just everything. And this is going to be more of a permanent reminder that there's family around and they are willing to help us.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Wonderful. This is such a fabulous gesture on behalf of your family. We really appreciate it. And it's so needed. The swim team is dying to get this up, I'm sure.
[SPEAKER_21]: Yes. This is Jerry Powell. She's the matriarch.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And the whole family's out there? Yep. Thank you very much on behalf of the city and the school department. And I just want to say, none of this would be possible without Mary, because I just asked her.
[Unidentified]: She has been working on this.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor by Ms. Van der Kloot, seconded and third. I think everybody, we all would like to sign on to this. Thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Roll call vote, please. Roll call vote, Mr. Skerry. Yes, seven in the affirmative, none of the negative. Motion approved. Thank you very much. Point of information, Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: And I was honored to to be a member with Kevin of the first grade class at the Franklin School, and John, Kevin and I went to high school together. And you've always been there for the athletes and the students, and we really appreciate it. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. The next item, recommendation to approve student trip to Italy, April 2017. Mr. Carlos. Hello.
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Good evening, I'm Rita DiCarlo from the news director and I'm here tonight to request your approval for a trip, student trip to Italy in April, during April vacation of 2017. We've had many trips in the past and these trips have a huge impact on students by expanding their horizons. Students who have participated in these trips in the past return with a much larger and in-depth understanding of the world around them. They all say that it's a life-changing experience and talk about the positive impact on their lives. For this next trip that we're planning, we are planning to have Miss Nicole Chalfon, an Italian teacher, to be the lead teacher. She was a chaperone on our last trip to France and Italy in April of 2015. And we're going to use the same agency they were used in 2015, because we were very happy, very pleased with the value they gave us. For 2017, we've put together an exciting trip where students will visit three of Italy's major cities, namely Venice, Florence, and Rome. And additionally, they will visit the city of Siena, Pompeii, and Sorrento. You have the full itinerary in the packet that I gave you. And if I can answer any questions for you, I'll be glad to do that.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Can I ask just a quick question from the floor? From the chair, sorry. Is there cancellation insurance included in this, just in case?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: We're going to require students to purchase the cancellation insurance, cancel for any reason insurance, and it's an extra $100.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Very good, thank you. Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: Through you to Mr. Kowal, are there any scholarships available if a student wanted to go and couldn't fully pay the fees?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: We don't have anything. We tried to do fundraising a few years ago, and to tell you the truth, what we made isn't worth the trouble, even if you make, you know, $4,000 it comes to about $100 a student when parents are spending that much.
[Robert Skerry]: I know.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I don't know where we could get funds for that, but thanks. A couple questions. I couldn't quite figure out what the cost of the trip would be. It's around $4,000. It's expensive. And also, I was curious, last time you went to both Italy and France. This time you're doing a more in-depth trip in Italy. Was there any particular reason? Was that because of political concerns?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Was that because just a desire to... Oh, that we're leaving France out? Is that what you're saying? 2015 was the first time that we did France. Actually, the French teacher wanted to do a France trip. We didn't have enough students, so we figured we'd combine it with the Italian trip, and that's why we did that one. Okay, so this is strictly the Italian trip?
[Kathy Kreatz]: I wanted to mention that I talked to my aunt. She's a flight attendant and she travels to Italy a lot. She said that this is an amazing trip and that it's something that if I could go, I should go. So I wanted to say that I would love to go if you need a school committee member. And she said for the students, and I agree that it's a trip of a lifetime for them before they go on their educational journey. or career journey after high school. I know it's expensive, but it is a trip of a lifetime. She said that the rates were actually reasonable with where they're going in the 10 days. Considering that it covers everything. It's a lot, but that's what you would pay.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Ms. Cuno. Thank you. A couple of questions to start off with. I know last year you did the France and the Italy, but that was because the French teacher didn't have enough students. Do you already know how many students are interested?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: We had an interest meeting, and there were quite a few students that came to the meeting. They were interested, about 40, over 40 students. 40 for the Italy tour? Right, but we don't know.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: How about for the French one, do you know?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: We're not doing a French one. The French teacher is not, right. She just had a baby, so she won't be able to travel.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I know that the students that went last year had an absolute fabulous time. It was an experience of a lifetime, it really was. Again, what is the breakdown for students and chaperones? The price? No, breakdown as far as chaperones.
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Oh, I'm sorry. For each six students, we get one chaperone. So one chaperone per six students.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Are you going to limit this to a max of numbers?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Yes. Last time, we had to limit it to, and we actually even went over what we wanted, 36 students. We probably had about 50 ready to pay with the checks, but we just couldn't take that many.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: and the students are going to, are they gonna miss, they're going to miss school on Friday?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: They're gonna leave on Thursday night, but they'll miss Friday.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And so that will be an excused absence, of course. And as the mayor asked, we definitely are going to get the insurance for all students. Is the insurance coming all from one place, or is it going to be like their own selection of wherever? All from one place. Through the company. And that's great. It's a fabulous trip. It really is. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Is there a motion on the floor for approval?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Second. Mr. Benedetto, so I just want to explain really well to parents that the insurance might not cover 100%. With a previous trip, it covered like 75% of the cost. So whatever those rules are, I just wanna highlight it with the parents so they understand that they are taking a risk, especially because the world is so volatile right now. If there's any reason that the school committee feels it's not safe and has to cancel that trip, then they're aware that they're responsible for the difference. We did make a one-time exception this year, but we wouldn't be able to do that again. Okay. Thank you so much. Mrs. DiCarlo, thank you again for doing this for so many years and giving so many children this opportunity in their life to do it. It's a gift that they'll carry forever. Great teachers do great things.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Motion on the floor by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. All those, a roll call? Ms. Van der Kloot.
[Robert Skerry]: Yes. Ms. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Gray.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes. The next paper is a report on the regional science and engineering fair, and we have Mr. Chieri in the audience, coordinator of science.
[Rocco Cieri]: Good evening, everyone. I'm really happy to be here this evening to report on the Regional Science and Engineering Fair. On March 12th, at Somerville High School, our students participated in the Region 4 Science and Engineering Fair. There were over 103 projects presented at that fair, and we had some successes. Five, actually six students won a cash award and advancement to the state fair. One of those students came in second place. Because she came in second place at that fair, she was invited to participate at the International Science and Engineering Fair. in Phoenix, Arizona in May. So we're tremendously excited about that. Is she in the audience? She absolutely is. Ann Lee, could you come up with one of them? Anne's currently a high school senior. If you have any questions about the research she did, she is the expert. There's not much I can add.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If we could pronounce it, no.
[Rocco Cieri]: If you can get through the pronunciation, you're good. So she's here to answer any questions you have and also for your recognition.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And could you highlight your project for us? Yeah, sure. Congratulations.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Sorry? In layman's terms.
[SPEAKER_22]: Sure, sure. So my project focuses on tuberculosis. So specifically focused on developing this method to be able to track bacterial viability. And this bacteria is like non-virulent, So it obviously won't, you know, make me sick. But the reason why we want to study this bacteria is because there's been tons of cases where people have been developing drug-resistant tuberculosis. And so that's where people take the drugs, but they're not working. And so by studying this bacteria, we can be able to see how it grows and sort of the function, the structure, and what it does during the growth process. And by doing so, hopefully we can be able to create more effective forms of treatment in the future for tuberculosis.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Do you know where you'll be going to college next year?
[SPEAKER_22]: Yes, actually, I just committed this past weekend to WPI. Congratulations. That's wonderful.
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. That's great. Mr. Benedetto, where did you get to do all of your lab work?
[SPEAKER_22]: I did it at Tufts University during the school year.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: That's great. And how do you think having science labs has helped you? Because you're one of the first students that have gone through having a few years with the new labs. And what's your experience been using them compared to what we used to have at the high school?
[SPEAKER_22]: Yeah, so in freshman year, I was in biology class. And I remembered I had Ms. Ensign. And she always wanted to do all these labs with us, but she wasn't able to have the equipment to do it. So we had to always do handmade labs. But in this year, in senior year, I'm now in AP Bio. So we do, obviously, a lot more labs. But now we've even created tons more. more sophisticated labs and studies with the equipment that we have right now. So it's been really helpful. Even in the physics and the chemistry sort of areas, a lot of the students and a lot of my friends have been really complimenting the stuff that they can use now. It's been very nice to have. Did you get to grow your bacteria in any of our hoods?
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I love those hoods. No. No? We'll have to work on that, Mr. Cieri, and bring the Tufts people down, because I think our facility is just as nice, if not better, than some of theirs, if I'm not mistaken.
[SPEAKER_22]: We do some E. coli stuff, but it's kept on the down low so it doesn't create an epidemic or something in the school.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: That's great. That's really great. Thank you for your perspective on that, because as a committee, we worked really hard to see that happen. And I'm so happy that you had the opportunity to use them. And thank you, Mr. Cieri.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I'm wondering, Anne, whether in your award you were awarded money to help cover the cost of your travel to Arizona.
[SPEAKER_22]: I believe it's actually covered by Intel already, so it's all covered by them. That's fantastic.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: By the way, my daughter went to WPI, and she absolutely loved it. Great place. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We'd like to present you with a citation if you could step forward. Congratulations, the Metro Public Schools is proud to congratulate Ann Lee for achievement to the State Science Fair and International Science Fair 2016.
[SPEAKER_07]: th th th
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: to the audience. We just want to be in the picture so that when she wins the Nobel Prize, we can say we remember when. Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor. It's also remarkable that so many of our students did well getting into the top 43 and being recognized with cash rewards. We met many of these students earlier, but it certainly would make sense for us to send out to them a letter of congratulations from the school committee for their achievement at the regional science fair. I remember going many years ago, and to have this many Medford students is definitely a very welcome sight. Congratulations, Mr. Seery.
[Rocco Cieri]: I also wanted to add one notable to this to introduce to the committee. Last week, I sent an email inviting President Monaco from Tufts University to our schools to speak on some of the work he's done. And he graciously accepted. So we're going to have an event on May 24 with the president Tufts University, who has been an extraordinary partner to the science department, but to so many other departments in our school system. We're really excited to have him come see the labs and also share some of his research with some of our students.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Wonderful. Great. Thank you, Mr. Seary. On the motion that we send thank yous to, congratulations to all the students that succeeded in the science fair offered by Ms. Vandekloot, seconded by Mr. Skerry. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Rock on. Rock on. Report of the superintendent. Update on gender identity non-discrimination policy. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee, as you know, We passed a gender non-discrimination policy in 2013. And this past period of time, many organizations have come together to support additional legislation in the Massachusetts Statehouse to deal with all public facilities being available to transgender individuals. public schools are already covered. However, this issue is critical to us because as our young people go out into society and they go out into the world, we want to make sure that what they learn in school and what they experience in school is available to them in the larger world. Our current policy is a good one. So one way to reinforce it is to give our support to the ongoing legislation that is being proffered at the state house. Additionally, The site council of the high school, working together with the Gay-Straight Alliance and others, has tried to put forth a survey, and will put forth a survey, to help youngsters identify, it's anonymous and it's voluntary, so that we can better serve them, and we can make sure that we have everything in place that is necessary to accommodate our students. And that it's important that we also accurately report to the state on the various mandated reports. You have the survey questions that are here, you have additional information, you have our gender policy from 2013, and you have pieces of the legislation that is at the state house. So I present this report to you this evening to make sure you're fully aware of what we're doing. And that we get your support to go forward and to make sure that we can speak with a very clear voice at the state level. That the Medford School Committee and the city of Medford is in full support of all our youth, including our transgender youth. So I'd recommend that we approve this this evening. We have individuals in the audience tonight that headmasters here, I believe a couple of students were here and they're no longer here. Okay, a couple of them occurred, okay. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you, but I ask that you extend your support this evening.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I just want to disclose that I am on the site council. I definitely support this. I am just not, I don't think I'm, it would be right for me to put the motion out there, but I definitely support this and I am on that particular site council.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion for approval by Ms. DiVenedetto. Is there a second? Seconded by Ms. Kreatz and Ms. Discari. Roll call vote please.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: He has seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion passes. Next paper, recommendation to reaffirm Medford Public Schools drug and alcohol policy.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee, at our last meeting, we talked about the substance abuse drug and alcohol policy of the Medford Public Schools and the new legislation, the Opiate Act, if you will, that was passed in the legislature this past month and signed by the governor. Clearly, all of us are concerned, and at our last meeting, at your request, you asked that we withhold posting it until we brought it to you back to your attention. This evening, I brought that policy back to you, and I've also added a few things to keep it consistent with the new act, and to clear up a few things that would be inconsistent with the actual act. For example, eliminate the term CASPAR, which is no longer the program of choice here in the Medford Public Schools. So I've tried to put this together for you, and with your support, we will post this on our web page. And we will wait for additional guidance from the state, from DESE, from DBH, and others to further update it based on the deliberations that they have as they go forward in carrying out the legislation. But in the interim, it's important that we're compliant with the law that I'll be able to post. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. You can see that I've also attached legal advisories from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, and Lane, who represents us in various areas of special education. But they're also an excellent source of information in almost any legal matter.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's actually a recommendation that the school approve the recommended changes, Mr. Thompson.
[Roy Belson]: Yes, and then also we'd be able to post it consistent with the law.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion on the floor by Mr. Skerry to approve. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Can there be something in the policy that has all of our teachers, coaches, and anyone supervising children throughout the district have to sign that they've read this policy and that kept on record? I also would like that for parents as well, that parents are made aware of the drug and alcohol policy. I don't know if it's just at the high school, but even junior high. I mean, if it's a handbook or a part of their registration that they've signed, that they've read, this is such an important document throughout the district. And I want signed by every coach, every teacher, every everyone that they have read and they understand the policies and they're going to take appropriate action for any happenings.
[Roy Belson]: So I know at the high school, we have a very specific form that people sign. Dr. Perrella can speak to that. I know that handbooks are turned out to parents at the lower grade schools, and I'm not sure they have to sign off on these things. It will require that we take a little bit of time and explain, because some people are concerned when they sign something that they don't fully understand it. So with your permission, we'll do it over the next period of time. But it takes a little bit of time to explain these things to people, because just to put it in front of them and say, sign your name, probably wouldn't work with any great degree of, let's say, effectiveness. So we'd like to sort of do it in small groups with parents and work it through the schools that way so that over the next year everyone signs in. But I think we need to take our time and make sure that, otherwise we're just going to have people signing their name, they're not going to read it. Understanding it is probably not going to be a very high either in some cases. There will be some very diligent people who will, but it won't be widespread.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: But as far as teachers, staff, co-teachers, any policy change should be sent to them and they should have to sign off, especially in regards to this. My last comment was about Method Overcoming Addiction is having an event this Sunday night at 6 o'clock at the Karen Theater, I believe. It's a second annual vigil. Yes. It's Sunday night at the high school. So I just wanted to put that out to the community as a reminder. But I would like that to go in the policy that all teachers and staff and all coaching, whether they're voluntary or paid, they all need to sign that they have read and implement this alcohol and drug policy. Who can add that?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion that the Bedford I'm sorry.
[Mea Quinn Mustone]: It says social probation substitute may not or will not be allowed to attend or participate in graduation. I don't know what the rationale is as a parent who will have graduation and kids make mistakes to have that set in stone without some conversation. I don't know if there's a background you can tell me why it got changed to will not.
[Roy Belson]: Currently the policy reach will not be allowed. We'd like to change it to daytime so that we have some discretion because obviously there are some situations out there that require discretion. One of the things that, I just want to pontificate for a minute if I can, get away with it, and that's simply this, is that we can't be afraid of having discretion. Sometimes you make hard and fast rules and they don't apply to everybody. And then you're stuck with that rule. So I think it's very important to make it may not so that we can look at a circumstance and make a determination. Hopefully we're being fair and even handed across the board, but when something becomes so hard and fast, it becomes necessary to enforce it with everyone. So that's why it may not came in.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: You know, I'm somewhat taken aback only because I didn't quite realize that was, I didn't quite grasp that it has been, will not, and in the past, the most difficult, one of the most difficult days of my life was the day when some sweet young ladies called me and they were going to be removed from social probation and not being able to attend. And one of the problems, of course, is that they were sweet young ladies with much less body weight than their male counterparts, but they were not allowed to attend. And at the time, the principal, Dr. Kruger, headmaster Dr. Kruger said, you know, Paulette, I'd much rather have you have a hard time doing this than having to go to a funeral. And that was pretty, you know, what could you say? My concern here with this is that, of course, we're coming up to that time when we all get very nervous because there's so many events for our students, which traditionally we've done very, very well in Medford. But since Dr. Perel is here, just to please ask him to remind the students that this is a very important time in their lives for our seniors who are coming up and that they would not want to have a blight, even with You know, now if we're saying, well, we're going to be a little bit more thoughtful about giving out the punishment of will not attend graduation for the students we want them, we don't want it to even be a question for them to have to consider. So it's just so important and so very difficult for families if a child is not able to attend graduation. So I don't want to even think about it. I want them to go smoothly.
[Kathy Kreatz]: Oh, I was just kind of on what Paulette was saying, where it is approaching the prom season. Is there any special meeting that they have with the juniors and seniors to prepare them for the prom and to talk to them about being safe and not drinking? Just to kind of drill it in. their heads, that it's very dangerous, and what are the consequences if they're caught at the prom. I know that when my niece went a couple years ago, there was an all-night after party at Tufts University that was excellent. Is that still planned for this prom season? Oh, excellent.
[John Perella]: Yes, so this is a topic, obviously, that we take very seriously. And we begin in really ninth grade discussions about this. The first assembly I had this year, we brought this information up and made clear to the students. importance of what we're talking about, and really the fragility of all that we're experiencing. So it's something that's essential to really everything that we express to the students. There is a pre-prom assembly, there are pre-prom discussion groups, and there is communication to families as well regarding prom, prom activities, and all the things that they need to know about it. I'd like to speak to what Mr. Bellson proposed earlier, the mandatory sort of rulings and expectations that all students, under these circumstances, fall within. This sort of consequence, lessening that, gives us and the faculty a real capacity to work with students to individualize and personalize situations. So we think it's a wonderful transition.
[Unidentified]: Do you still do this?
[John Perella]: We haven't done, that comes around from time to time. It's not on the schedule this year. These will go from district to district, so they can reach out to us. Well, if we're interested, they did not reach out to us this year. But we did have a distracted driver assembly, which was pretty powerful. And a lot of that communication regarding alcohol use is brought up. And really, any distracted driving comes up in that assembly as well.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: This is a little bit difficult for me because I wouldn't really... at the end when we had, when this was in place and it said, we'll not graduate, it was really difficult. As Paulette had mentioned, I was in a situation too with another gentleman who was not able to graduate. And it's not something that is just thrown at our 12th graders just like out of the blue. This is something that is really spoken to them. and to the families since kindergarten. I know it's easier said than done, especially when they do go up to the high school, the ramifications of what will happen. With that being said, it was a very difficult and it broke my heart when I really had to, you know, relay the message to that family that we couldn't change anything. But with that being said, it's a slippery slope and I'm really worried because I just don't want to get to the point where will take certain things into consideration. And I just don't want to get to the point. And you know I respect you immensely. I just don't want to get to the point where, well, it happens to be so-and-so's child over so-and-so's child. I don't want to get to the point where it's this athlete over the person who's not an athlete. I don't want to get to the point where it happened to be that person who was in the play over the student who wasn't in the play. That is my biggest concern. That is my biggest fear. I want to make sure that everyone is going to be looked at and looked at upon equally. I don't want outside influences if we're going to change this. And that is my biggest fear. And having and seeing the atmosphere and the changes of the high school, and even though this is a very strict rule, I could honestly say I don't think we've had many incidences that have occurred, because I think students know that we're extremely serious about this, and the parents know how serious we are about this. And I don't think anyone has really taken it upon themselves to really say, oh, they're only going to you know, fool around with it. And as far as, you know, going back to Kathy and asking the questions that you had asked about the students being, you know, they told, I've had four now, my last two, my baby, he's, they're seniors, and I've participated in the overnight, you know, overnight Up all night parties, yeah, and I've stayed up all night. And I also suggest, really, if parents want to get involved, that's a great night to get involved. It is really a lot of fun. The kids really appreciate it. And it's a great way of keeping our kids safe, sound, and I can't say enough for it. So that is really my concern about this little word of may or will. I'm really having second thoughts about that particular word. Well, you know, let me say it this way.
[Roy Belson]: As school administrators, we make decisions about young people every day, who get something, who doesn't get it, because we have to. It's a human enterprise. abdicate our discretion or abdicate our judgment, we're basically just robots. We're just following mechanics when it comes to young people. And it's important to understand the circumstances that young people find themselves in at different times and how they were involved. A person could be at a site where alcohol is there and then not be a user themselves and might be blamed for it. Another person could be there and actually be distributing it or distributing drugs. There are differences. There are differences. And so our responsibility as your leadership team and management team is to be able to accept the responsibility of making discretionary judgments and not to abuse it and not to give away anything that isn't deserved or punish people in ways that are inappropriate, but rather to ensure that there is a review. and there is an understanding, because without that, we're basically on autopilot, and then I don't think we're being fair to our young people and our families. So I understand the downside, but we make a lot of decisions about what goes on every day, and you need to trust us to do that, because if not, schools can't run.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Could I just follow up on that? With that being said, would it be just Dr. Perrella's decision or would that be a collaboration of both you and Dr. Perrella?
[Roy Belson]: Dr. Perrella is the headmaster. If he has doubts, he'll come to me. If he has a clear understanding, I will respect his judgment.
[John Perella]: If I could answer that as well, this would be that those decisions are taken with utmost seriousness. And in those situations, I would seek out to support not only the superintendent, but the leadership team as well. And it would be very transparent about any conversation or communication that took place, and with the family, with the students, and of course, the administrative team.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Like I said, it's easier said than done. I haven't been in that position. I don't want to be in that position. And I also thought that in the past, even though it said will not, it has been investigated if it was a student who happened to be just there, really at the wrong time, at the wrong place, they still were. able to graduate, it was really the student that was really in the situation that was the situation. So again, even though that word was there, it was fully taken under consideration.
[John Perella]: Sorry, one last thing. The seniors are reminded of this consequences, daily, basically, in the months of April and May, because there are so many events that take place before every event, we remind them of what's at stake. So, you know, because it's an option wouldn't mean that it would be something that would be commonplace either. It would just be the capacity to look at things individually in personalized situations and differentiate between situations as well.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you so much. I just want to talk a little bit about the post-prom party. I was very involved with that while my children were up at the high school. We have between 200 and 250 children that attend there. It's extremely well run. They have so many offerings for our children, and I really encourage parents to send their junior children there. They're safe, they're locked in, and if they leave, the parents are called. If they don't come, their parents are called to say, hey, your child hasn't come and they signed up. It's a lot of fun, they have, you know, hypnotists, they have mechanical bulls, they have food all night, and a lot of things are donated to our community, which is really a lovely gesture. But the most important thing I really wanna talk about is the person who runs the Up All Night Party. Her name's Ann Rapucci. She's been a parent in Medford School Systems for a very long time, and her youngest is graduating this year, Eric Rapucci. So she's been running this event, for between 10 and 15 years now. I'm sure it's over 10, and it might be just under 15, but it might even be that. She's a phenomenal woman. She gets the job done. She organizes people. She gets things donated. They do an event to raise the money for this. It's phenomenal, it's fun, it's for the safety of our children, and she runs many, many other things up at our high school. She's the president of the PTO, a co-president for Metro Witch right now. She's done a phenomenal job, and I'd like to honor her here at the school committee, so maybe we could do a plaque because of so many years of service, and maybe, if possible at graduation, have a seat for her as her youngest leaves our school. and as she leaves our community as a parent who has donated their time for so many consecutive years.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: You know, I think many of us have worked with Anne over the years and she has really is distinct. I mean, we have many, many parents who volunteer for long periods of time, but Anne has put so much energy into that up all night party and is really stands out. I remember there was one year when she actually had a hiatus, I think, between children for a year, but it didn't stop her at all from making sure that that group of kids in between, before her next child entered into ninth grade, was well taken care of. I think that she definitely is deserving of an honor, and if we would ask her, We have other parents on stage, the parents of the valedictorian, the salutatorian, and the student from the vocational school, so we probably could fit two more seats up there.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion, as opted by Mr. Benedetto, seconded by Minnie. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion carries. On the recommendation to accept the amendments to the report, the recommended change is an authorized posting consistent with the law, in addition adding Mr. Benedetto's amendment that all teachers, coaches, staff, et cetera, sign off on the updated policy. Seconded by Mr. Andrew Lute. Excuse me? Oh, he already seconded it. Sorry.
[Robert Skerry]: Roll call vote, please. Yes.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. The financial report.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Good evening, Mayor and School Committee. I have a lot here for you tonight. As of the writing of this report, we're 71.86% expended, right on target, pretty much, and paychecks are going out as planned. The April 21 paycheck, which is for all 10-month and 12-month, will be paid out this week versus next week because of spring break. The business office has continued its program of personnel file maintenance for active and inactive employees. There's been real progress and location of call for items is timely. Existing employees have been fingerprinted. This is a requirement for all new hires. In addition, last year we actually had three on-site visits and able to get all of our existing employees fingerprinted. It was a huge endeavor. We're in the process of recoring every three years and we do that on a natural rotation. Harper's payroll accounting update, which was to be minor, far exceeded the work expectation, is settling into a pattern for processing. Preparation for summer hiring has begun with folder preparedness, updating of forms, and the restoration of the superintendent's conference room every day during the summer from 9 to 11. point of contact for us. Usually we wait for people to come in, and they go through the process, and they get interviewed, and then the determination is made by the department heads and the superintendent, and then we set them up for appointment. Every day this summer from 9 to 11, we have reserved a room, and it's just going to be an automatic process. If you came and you have the right IDs, we can get you processed and out the door. You can go enjoy your summer. Purchase order final notice is issued for April 22nd. All purchase orders must be in the accounts payable department with a few exceptions for spring sports, maintenance, and final grant spending. That said, balance of spending must be encumbered no later than June 5th, and that allows us to get all the invoices in for June 30th, which means our carryovers are much less, which is very important to us and to the city. food service. FY 15, you see the profit and loss for a food service on the big sheet of If you look at the trial balance, it is a negative $8,563.56, but in reality, if you add in the June federal aid and the June state, both were posted in August and July, the adjusted end-of-year balance is $88,920.65, which is just a little bit more than what we had anticipated. food service has been really busy. We did have the voted for price increase, and that has gone fine. We've not really seen any backlash on that. And we have a new employee in the food service department, Tom Dixie, and he's doing a fabulous job of introducing new quick meals. And what those are is For a reimbursable meal, it has to include three components. But the kids don't always want hot lunch, which is a reimbursable meal. But if you put a bagel, a piece of fruit, and milk together, it's a reimbursable meal. It's also quick and ready to go. And Mr. Dixie's been very good about doing a lot of those items, especially at the high school. We're up about 40 count per day at the high school level. And he's working on more new ideas. Everything takes time, but he is starting. special education, out-of-district tuition continues to maintain stability. We are pretty much on target. We have a little bit of a contingency for unknown placements. And as of April, we still can have those as we come into June. Substitute teachers, MPS has expended $370,973 of the $573, $492 budget. That gives us $255,000 roughly to get to June. Keep in mind that April, May, and June are our biggest sub-use months. So that will disappear rather quickly. FY17 will see the integration of an ASAP subscription from Frontline Technologies to assist in managing our substitute teachers and employee attendants. That should do great things for us within the substitute filling world. They say 95% fill rate. And I am contacting other teachers. During a good economy, you don't have a lot of substitute teachers. There's so many jobs that those people who generally go to those jobs find things that pay better or are more consistent. But even with a good economy, they are having a really good fill rate. So that will help us out at the lower levels. The high school telephone conversion will be completed April 15th with the porting of the high school from Verizon to DSDI. The complexity of the high school building brought about a slightly slower conversion. Just did not want to rush this. This is a really big building with a lot of phones and a lot of 1970s infrastructure. And along with all the telephone stuff that has been going on, we also had to integrate the paging system into the new phone system. So every time you go to do something, even the buzzer to the front door is integrated into the phone system. everything you bring in through the wires has to talk to something else. So we've taken our time. So we're just a little bit beyond where we wanted to be, but we're still within scope, within budget, and I think it's going very well. We do have a training session April 14th, and that goes on all day from 9 to 12. Transportation, bus routes are running smoothly, and of course, during the lighter than normal winter, MPS experienced few reported issues. In January, all of Eastern Bus Company drivers were trained in the use of EpiPens. Toni Bento took care of this for us. She volunteered, and I thought it was a great thing. So all of the drivers have been instructed in how to use an EpiPen. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to be using TransFinder RootFinder Pro program next year, so we're doing a lot of work with that, getting them our roots, uploading a confidential list of student riders' addresses, and of course, their contact information, which is going to be a huge plus for us next year. So if we do have an issue, we can reach out to those parents immediately. Utilities for the month of February, the district's buildings utilized 48% less therms than a year ago. You'll see that I provided you with a comparison spreadsheet from last year versus this year, so you could actually see the use across the buildings. Keep in mind that the readings were actually estimated for February, so I do see that that will be down a little bit more. I think they were very nice to us. So I see us at being about 28% less thermeus than last year, which of course coincides with our actual price because we have not changed in price. Electricity costs are running about 6% above last year and can be attributed to the first full year with the pool and science labs. We're under contract for electricity through November 2016, so costs are in line with last year. The FY16 budget plan for the increased kilowatt expenses and should complete the year as planned. So we'll be at probably just at 1.8. The school year has had a share of unplanned maintenance issues, failed water heater, sewer cleanup, concrete work, but careful spending has thus far kept the budget aligned. Any questions?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry.
[Robert Skerry]: As the city's energy office done a study at the high school, recently to find out where we can conserve energy and how we can bring our electric bills down a little.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: We spent a lot of time at the high school. Yes. A lot of time. So there are a lot of things in the works and we're just waiting to see how they all pan out. And all the schools actually.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Ms. Vanderbloom.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes. This year we were blessed because of a warmer winter to have savings, just as many of us were at home too. I noticed that our bills were down as well, almost comparatively to the schools. But it's just that when we're planning for next year, we have to remember not this winter, but the winter before, just to make sure that when we do our budget sessions, we're not the incredibly optimistic, of this year, but we are realistic to the year before. So I'm just mindful of that because it looks so good this year. On the food service, I just want to, I think, reiterate that of the $88,000 surplus, that that money then is taken and will fold over into needed upgrades of different things in our food service. Is that correct? That is correct. Because I think that's very important for people to realize, because if you say 88,000 surplus, then you're asking, oh, why did we raise the cost of lunch? We raised it because we need to cover, it's a self-funding program, and it needs to cover other necessary items. And that's the way we do it. So while it's a that money was generated because there are expenses that need to be paid out of that money to keep us in good shape. Is that correct? That is correct.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: And you should also keep in mind that the state says that we should have 10% of our annual revenues. in the fund to roll over into the next year. So we're not quite there again yet, but we are working in that direction. But we are keeping in mind, we just had the discussion about looking for our repair items and things that we might need to keep building on Mr. Dixie's ideas so that we have the equipment in place.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Yes, it sounds like he has some great ideas. I am also glad to see in the report that you attached that we're going to be able to continue the food service program during the summer that we began last year. So thank you very much, Pat. You're welcome.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion to receive. You just have to hit your button.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Benedetto. So through you to the superintendent, speaking of conserving energy, we had talked about the new lights at the Curtis School as well as the vocational school quite a while ago. And you were going to speak with Ms. Hunt, and we were going to price it out. Because wasn't there an option that we could take a loan out And then the savings that we would make would pay back the loan.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: If I'm not mistaken, it's part of our grant for the green community staff this year. I believe the Curtis Tufts is one of the schools that's included. I think the Robins as well. There are about three schools that are included. I can confirm that tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure. That's great.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I just didn't hear that update, so that's terrific. And my other questions were about maintenance and equipment for our lunch facilities. I know last year when we raised the rate, we did talk about items and that was part of the process. And we talked about not waiting until things were really bad about changing fees. We didn't want to do big lump sum fees. So we just want to make sure that we have enough money to maintain the items we need to and not hit parents. with large increases over time, and that's just a reminder of that.
[5T-XCQueORE_SPEAKER_06]: Right, and we talked about, we went with phase two versus phase three, which would have provided substantial capital, and more or less making sure that we maintain what we have with phase two.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Okay, and if there are items that need to come up in the next year or so, we need to maybe have that reported at our budget session so that way we can plan for them for next year. So if they are looking at things and they say, well, these things can be repaired and these things can't and these need to be replaced, then maybe we could bring them forward in the next month or two so we can look at that with our budget. Thank you, and thank you for your report. It's always great. You're welcome.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion, Ms. Van der Kloots. On the motion to receive and place on file? All those in? All those against? Motion passes.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms. Van der Kloot. I was just wondering. I noticed that Mrs. DiCarlo is here, and we received a report on our desk. Perhaps before we go on to the lead counsel in school rentals, we might want to turn to this report. Are you presenting this tonight?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Would you like to highlight it?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Sure. We received in our packet a wonderful, this is more good news, Medford High School students of Italian win first prize in contest at Northeastern University. Do you want to take over?
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Sure. Thank you. So I'm happy to report that The ten students from Medford High School formed a team and they competed against other area high schools and they won first prize at Northeastern University this past Friday. You have a more complete report than I'm just going to give you a brief summary. The group was made up of two students from Italian, two honors, two from Italian, four honors, and six students from Italian AP. They collaborated on Google Docs and created their script for the skit, and then they practiced after school under the guidance of their Italian teachers. The guidelines for participating in the contest were to create a five-minute original skit on an Italian feast or celebration, outlining its social characteristics and cultural tendencies. The dialogue, of course, had to be in Italian. Our students chose Carnevale, which is Mardi Gras, as their topic, and the skit consisted of an imaginative fashion show dubbed Contest, in which students featured stock characters from La Comedia dell'Arte, Through their dialogue, elements and tendencies of Italian culture pertaining to the celebration of Carnevale came through with a humorous and modern twist. Judges for the presentations included professors of Italian from Northeastern University and Bentley College. The groups were judged on language use, creativity and performance, preparation, and adherence to theme and time limit. After the presentations, all students participated in a trivia game on Italian history and culture. The first student with the right answer to a question would receive a special pencil donated from AATI, American Association of Teachers of Italian. In addition to winning first prize, Medford students walked away with the most pencils, which exemplifies the preparation and passion for the study of Italian culture. We are very proud of our students and they really represented Medford High School well.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Mrs. DeCarlo, you missed the best line, though, which is Medford High School won first place, Lexington High School won second place, and Everett High School won third place. Right.
[ACxsV5H4ehA_SPEAKER_09]: Yes. Lexington was second and Everett third. Medford was first. Medford was first, so they were very impressed, our students.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: That was the line I was going to repeat. Although we're not supposed to be competitive, it's nice to be competitive. The other thing is that through you, Madam Chair, to the superintendent to make sure that we send out letters of recognition to the students. And congratulations to you and to the students. Very well done. Thank you. Thank you.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Very good. Mr. Benedetto. I just actually wanted to know if we could invite the students to come to the city council because it's the first year and hopeful. Sorry. It's been a long night. School committee. So that we can present certificates of achievement to them and because they They really modeled great behavior and great ability, and they kicked butt throughout the districts. So if we could invite them here and honor them for their achievement, that would be great.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion offered by Mr. Benedetto and Ms. Vandekloot, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Report of legal counsel on school rentals. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor, members of the committee, our legal counsel, Howard Greenspan, is here to report on the matter that you referred to him and our committee the whole with regard to rental and school properties. At this time, I'd like you to welcome Howard Turner.
[Greenspan]: Mr. Greenspan. Madam Mayor, members of the committee. Last week, I did forward to you an opinion that you requested in your March meeting. uh, as to, uh, a legal analysis, uh, regarding Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 71, uh, which is the use of school property. Uh, my opinion is strictly limited, uh, to the, uh, statute, uh, and the analysis of the statute. And I did not go into any of the facts or circumstances regarding any of the uses that have occurred with the community schools during the last year or couple of years. As I stated in my opinion, this is not a subject area of the law that there are a lot of reported cases on. In fact, there are very few reported cases. And the ones that have been to go back to 1941. And basically, our Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that it's really up to the school committee to determine the use of its school buildings, which can't be interfered with with any other public body. That's what the cases say. The cases also say, and the statute also says, pursuant to its rules and regulations that the school committee may develop. The superintendent faxed over to me four different school committee policies. which relate to the use of community schools. And they're all under Section K of your school committee policies. And there are four different policies that relate to rentals. And as I stated, in my opinion, some of these policies are somewhat contradictory. So based on my review of the statute and my review of the policies, it is my recommendation that the committee review the policies that I've attached to my report and maybe clarify or develop a new policy or decide which of the four policies you really want to stick with and implement. The superintendent also sent to me minutes of the March 19, 2012 school committee meeting in which there are a couple of things that went on in 2012 that relate to this opinion. One of the things that occurred was that the subcommittee for support services reported out to the full committee that it meant for the purpose that it met to review the community schools program back in 2012. One of the committee members at that time expressed strong feelings that the program had great potential to generate revenue for the entire system and that there needed to be a defined schedule, fee structure, and personal support system in place. There was supposed to be, the committee accepted that report, and there was supposed to be a further meeting of the subcommittee on April 26th of 2012, which I asked the superintendent if there were any reports or minutes of that subcommittee meeting. And it's my understanding from my discussion with the superintendent that that meeting did not occur. Also, the next thing on the agenda that same evening, was a recommendation to approve the MASC and working with the MASC to publish online the Medford School Committee policies. The report states, and the minute states, from the superintendent that there was agreement on a substantial portion of the policies, but does not indicate that the entire MASC policy handbook had been approved up to that date by the school committee. uh, in these policies, uh, that the superintendent sent to me, there are two policies which reference as a source Medford School Committee, and there are two policies that reference as a source the MASC. So that is another reason why I think there's some confusion as to which policies have been adopted by the committee, why you have to review these policies. Were the MASC policies relating to the use of community schools ever adopted by the committee? It's very difficult to tell from the minutes of the committee meetings back in 2012. So that's a brief summary of my opinion. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto, thank you, and thank you for looking into this matter. So do we have dates of when these policies were put into place, out of these four, which is the most recent that was approved?
[Roy Belson]: So researching the issue as well, I found that, as Mr. Greenspan explained, that in the minutes of the March meeting, we indicated we would post those policies that had been approved of March of 2012. If you go online, and remember the online policies were posted by MASC based on the fact that we had approved them, and the ones we hadn't approved were still pending. If you look at the policies online, you will find that the policies, the four policies we're talking about, are not there. So what it means to me is that we didn't get to it. We hadn't really dealt with it yet, and that two of the policies that were MA Medford policies were older policies that we had had from older yearbooks that might have been available through hard copy, but they weren't available online. So as a result, It's clear to me, at least from my standpoint, you know, concurrent with our attorneys, is that we need to decide what you want to do. The law doesn't prohibit us, but the four policies either contradict themselves, and they weren't posted by MASC because clearly Jim Hardy, who was our consultant at the time, didn't get the go-ahead from the committee at that time to post it because we hadn't got that far. We'd done so much that we wanted to get as much as possible up, but we really didn't get that far. So in the interim, if I can, just for a little bit more and then certainly take any questions. In the interim, Pat Bealy has convened a committee with community schools and several of us working on it to come up with a draft policy for your consideration, which obviously you can change, adjust, modify, add to, subtract, as you will. with a fee structure, and we would hope to present that to you very shortly, probably at our next meeting, so that you can look at it and begin the process of agreeing what you want to be the policy of the Medford Public Schools. It's much more comprehensive than anything we've ever had, it's much more detailed, and it also reflects a lot of the discussions that you've had in our discussions and meetings as to what you have indicated were concerns that you had. So, I think we're, and attract to come up with a new policy, one that you will have obviously the final say over, and whatever you decide, we'll implement. But as Howard points out in his reference, in going over the issue of revenue, it becomes extremely important that we understand that revenue is key to keeping some of these facilities going. So we need to understand the balance between Programs that provide revenue and programs that are simply community oriented, that we are supporting activities within the community. It's a balancing act. But having said that, I'll be happy to answer any other questions you have or I'm sure direct them to Mr. Greenspan.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So I'm not finished yet. You didn't really answer the question. Which of these four policies are the one that we have enacting now and the most recent? That's the question.
[Roy Belson]: My answer to that is I don't believe any of them. I believe they all were in discussion.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: We currently don't have a policy in place that we can rent. Point of information?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Ms.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Vander Kloof, point of information?
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I would put in a point of information. Because I sat on the committee that was going through the policy handbook, I need to, just for those of you who weren't there, to tell you it was an extraordinarily arduous task. We met night after night after night with Jim Hardy. going through all of these different policies. And when you see SOURCE, M-A-S-C, those were ones that he brought along and said, this is the M-A-S-C policy that many school districts have adopted. When Jim went to that place, and we posted this, since we had worked on this for so long, and it was finally time to post it, it's very clear to me now, looking backwards, that this must have just been set aside, probably to go to the subcommittee, and it was not. So I think to answer your question, Mrs. DiBenedo, is that unfortunately the two MASC policies would be, in my recollection, ones that Jim brought in for our purview, and the other ones were ones that we found in our paperwork that had existed over some period of years. What the superintendent is recommending, and is clearly the logical thing to do, is now to sit down, take a look at all four, and develop our own, along with the fee structure. I will note that Mrs. DiBenedetto and I were able to attend Fiddler on the Roof this past week. It was excellent. We really had a very enjoyable time. But afterwards it was, when we had a discussion with one of the teachers, it was clear that they had had to work around a rental that took place the previous weekend, which, to an outside vendor. And that didn't make any sense at all. Our kids needed that space to be able to prepare for their yearly spring musical. And we were both disheartened to hear that that had happened, because I think that the committee as a whole is of the priority that our Medford High School kids take first priority. So it would seem that this would be the logical thing to now send to a subcommittee and work out a new policy and a new fee structure and then finally be able to post this as our new policy.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: So, thank you. Thank you for the point of information regarding that. I believe that when I was researching this issue, the MASC source is the source that I got from our publications. So, this was the understanding I had when I went to that meeting on April, I mean, The 19th of last month, I believe. So this is why I brought this forward, March 19th's meeting. And this is what I brought to the meeting and handed to you, Mr. Superintendent, because this is what was posted. And on it... So I believe that this was our current lease. And I'm all for changing it and making it new and creating it. But that's why I would like to have a committee of the whole, not only to go over this issue, but to go over community schools as a whole. I want to know who's renting our schools, what we pay to use the gym at the McGlynn compared to the Columbus. I want to know everything, who's using our, our theater, what group it is, how much they pay, whether they're for profit, whether they're not for profit, if they take out insurance to use our buildings. I want a complete understanding of what's happening in this district, in these situations. I want to know it. I've been asking for it for a month now. It's on our agenda because I asked for the list of things that were requested. And I also would like the date those things were requested on the back of our agenda as well, so we know how long they have been outstanding. I want to move forward with this. I don't want it to take another school year. I don't want another company displacing any of our students because we're making our buildings available to for-profit companies and displacing students from practicing for plays, or using facilities, or any other thing that might come along. I don't know who's using them, I don't know what they're paying, if they're paying, who they're paying, so I want a whole understanding, and that's why I requested a meeting, and I think it needs to happen within the next three weeks.
[Roy Belson]: So, Madam Mayor, you know, we've agreed to do that. This is not something that, you know, we need to say, oh, we've agreed to do that. But we first wanted a legal opinion. We now have a legal opinion. We told you that we've sat and worked on a comprehensive policy for you to review with a fee structure based on what we think is necessary to sustain the operation of the building. We will provide you with every renter, every user, We're also preparing for you a policy with regard to booster organizations, which will require that booster organizations register with the schools so that we have some access to their materials and we can track their materials. So there's a lot that's coming forward to you. You know, it just takes a little bit of time. We pulled it all together to do it right, and we waited for the appropriate legal opinion, and we did our homework. And I think that over the next month, you're going to see a lot, and you're going to have a chance to do it. And the reality is, is that going into the summer, into the next school year, you'll have a policy in place, assuming that you approve it. And that you'll have fees in place, assuming you approve it. And you have a structure that we believe will answer your questions and the questions of other people, and at the same time allow us to move forward in a constructive way. So I believe it's happening, and I believe that there's a lot of goodwill here, and I believe everybody wants it to work. And we certainly want to take any doubt away from anyone about the operation of the schools with regard to nonprofit, community, and other groups. It's also important as we go forward that you help us to identify to what extent, if any, you want to allow certain groups to have a pass in terms of the rental or the use of the school facilities, such as community organizations. How often, how frequently, so that we can fairly distribute them. This is a very involved process because there are many, many people who see the schools as a place where they can conduct their activities. So you're going to get a very comprehensive report. It's going to be very thorough. And I believe that when we come out of this school year, you're going to have something very, very well thought through and something that you will have had a very strong hand in developing.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I was just simply going to say that I did not think that we needed a motion because we had already had a motion earlier for all the things that Mrs. DiBenedetto mentioned, and I think we're all in agreement. Also, in the report that the superintendent gave us, it says very clearly we have been working on a new policy and free structure since our last committee of the whole. We would expect to have it ready for your review by the first meeting in May. Any new policy should be carefully studied and approved for the next school year. So I definitely believe we're on the right track and appreciate the Attorney Greenspan for coming out tonight.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: In the interim, though, I know that we did have a resolution about the cages in particular. And I've been approached, the superintendent's been approached by Little Leagues and Babe Ruth that they'd like to have the ability to practice up there when and if the school is covered. So I'd ask that my colleagues consider allowing our member baseball and softball leagues to be able to practice up in cages until that policy is developed. Motion, do you have a motion? Motion for approval.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: So, which organizations exactly? Our Medford Little League, Babe Ruth, and our softball. With the fee structure or not?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Without the fee structure, there are people on the premises. Without the fee structure at this point.
[Roy Belson]: Our goal would be to allow our community groups to have access while we are developing things. Now, going forward, you may decide that there needs to be a modest fee or some type of fee. But for the short period of time that they would be inside, remember, this is April. For the short period of time they would have to remain inside, we'd like to sort of not try to construct some sort of artificial fee structure. Not for the batting cages. Not for the batting cages.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion of approval. There's a motion for approval. All those in favor? All those opposed?
[Robert Skerry]: Is it on this motion? The last seven years, I don't know if I could come up with that, but I certainly will go back and ask for certificates.
[Roy Belson]: Insurance liability.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. In regards to letting people use it, can we get a list of people that we would be voting to let use our facilities free of charge? Also, we voted that there would be a monitor there at the last meeting. So who would be paying for that monitor to be present? And who's going to open and close the facility and make sure that it's picked up? There's more than just letting people go in and out of the building. I mean, I'm not comfortable voting yes on this, and I actually don't approve for this to happen. Until we figure out what we're doing, we should do that as quickly as we can so that community members can access our facilities. But we want to make sure it's done in the correct and appropriate way. If someone gets hurt up there and there's not a monitor in place, who are we hiring? What are we doing? I'm not comfortable moving forward with this, and I would like to table it this time.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to table the paper at this time. Roll call vote, all. Motion to table is undeniable. Would you like to withdraw your motion so that she can ask a question? Well, it's not up to you. It's up to the person that offered the motion.
[Robert Skerry]: Nope. No. It's undebatable.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to table. Roll call vote. It's undebatable. We had begun and then got interjected.
[Robert Skerry]: What are we tabling here?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: allowing the Little League and the softball league to use the facility until the crisis developed.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Or insurance, or staff was there.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Correct, if you table this paper. There's a motion to table.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: They can use the gym as they used to before the cages were. It's not so that they can't.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to table. It's undebatable. We need to take the vote. That's how it works. Mr. Sperry, call the roll, please. Ms.
[Robert Skerry]: Cuno. Mr. Benedetto. Yes. Ms. Kreatz.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: We take no action tonight. If it's tabled, we take no action. You have to vote to table it. You have to support the tabling or not to table it.
[Roy Belson]: Do you want to discuss anything?
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Skerry, continue.
[Robert Skerry]: Ms. Buston. Mr. Skerry, no. Ms. Van der Kloot. Mayor Burke.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: No. One in the affirmative, six in the negative. The motion to table fails. Now it's back on the floor. There's a motion for approval offered by Mr. Skerry, seconded by Ms. Van der Kloot. Roll call vote, Mr. Skerry.
[Unidentified]: Mrs. Cunoz.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On it.
[Robert Skerry]: Motion to call.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The motion is, yeah.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: The motion's been called. We're in the middle of taking the roll. Before the roll is delivered, then you can ask a question.
[Robert Skerry]: I yield to my colleague.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Yielded. It's been withdrawn. So my colleague is independent of herself.
[Roy Belson]: So here's the way it would work, okay? If you approve it this evening, we will contact the individuals who run these organizations and talk to them about what their schedules they would like to see. And we will try to work their schedules into times where we have existing supervision in that part of the facility. To the extent that we don't, We will calculate as to whether or not the cost of supervision is extraordinary enough to worry about it, or if it's just marginal in order to help community organizations. If it's small enough, we probably would absorb it under our normal operational costs. If it were extensive and they wanted to use it, then we would have to say we can't do it unless you're prepared to pay for that supervision. So, you know, we obviously recognize the legitimacy of the concern, but at the same token, we're trying to say we want our community groups to feel wanted, while at the same time, we want to make sure that we understand that this is a temporary measure and that all things will be put in place and we'll ask for their cooperation.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: it would be appropriate to add an amendment on to the main motion that, and I forget the exact wording of the main motion. Okay, but that the superintendent will follow up with the organizations to make sure that adequate supervision and custodial services and insurance will cover, are in place.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: How many players could be upstairs in that cage at the same time?
[Roy Belson]: I'm not sure, but I'm sure there are guidelines, and I will ask the athletic director to inform me.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: And we have to make sure that the youth programs that are there are also informed, because I don't want, like, everyone up there at the same time. Secondly, if anything does happen, who is responsible for that? Is it our school that would be responsible for that, or is it the youth organization that would be responsible for child welfare?
[Roy Belson]: When you say something happens, would we talk about injury?
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Yeah.
[Roy Belson]: So if an injury were to happen, And there's no gross negligence on our part. We're not responsible. We're only responsible for gross negligence. And Mr. Greenspan can comment if, in fact, I miss something. But with regard to the issue of general negligence and the like, we would expect that the people who are running the program would be responsible and that our supervisor would follow the rules that we set in front of them.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: As a school committee member, I just want to make this very, very clear and as transparent as possible that if this goes, we vote on this tonight, one, we're doing this because we don't have the policy in place of the rates. It doesn't mean that once our rates are in place that all of a sudden, you know, every person under the sun is going to think that they're going to go back up there for free. It doesn't mean that every other sport or youth sport or whatever saying, well, gee, they got it for free, how come we can't get it for free for a certain amount of time if we're going to use the turf, or if we're going to use this, or if we're going to use that. This is under a certain circumstance because we don't have the rates in place and because of the situation that's at hand. But I, you know, we definitely have to make sure that we have to have the, that people are being looked upon up there too, especially when we have children running around at all different ages. God forbid anyone does get hurt. I mean, I know that you, with all due respect, you have given me the explanation of it, but you just never know when you have so many kids up there, and if there's not enough supervision, And it's really not fair to put that on just our school system because our administrators and our teachers have a lot of responsibilities going on too. I mean, I know that if we're going to be talking about the April vacation right now, I know that we're going to be having the April vacation camp going on up there. We can't be expecting the Councilors that are doing the April vacation now overseeing or monitoring the cages. So there's a lot of things that really need to take in place. It's wonderful that we want to help everyone out, but we definitely have to make sure that everything is in place. Absolutely.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. Um, so I would like a list of exactly which, which community groups you would do. And I would like to know if they're nonprofit before we vote on this as a school committee, we need to know who's using our facilities and what we're voting on. Um, so that's very important to me at this point. I would like only nonprofit Medford community organized groups to be able to, um, to use the cages during this transition time. And I also don't understand why they can't use one of the cages which is what they would have used had the batting cages not been set up.
[Roy Belson]: So the answer to that is you can have us do anything you want. We're just making a suggestion that it might be possible to help out community groups. We're referring to the youth baseball activities that are in the community. That's all we're referring to. We're not referring to outside groups. We're not referring to anyone. We're just referring to youth groups.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And who's going to make sure that that's the only people using these cages? Who has the key to the cages? And who will be unlocking them and locking them when they leave?
[Roy Belson]: Well, that's what has to be, you know, worked out in the final analysis. So when we get to talk to these people, we'd say, I'll call a meeting of them or ask them to come in. And I'll ask for some scheduling possibilities that they might like to have. Maybe they don't want to do it. Maybe they'll turn around and say, you know, it's not worth it. But, you know, if it's worth it to them, we'll schedule it. And then we'll determine who's going to open and close and, you know, and supervise.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Also, on Mr. Maloney's recommendation to have somebody up at the cage area at all times when they're in use. So that was going to be used to pay for that was the usage fees that we were going to make. So now that we don't have usage fees and we're giving this out free, We want to make sure that that policy is still in place, because we voted on that already, that that was our intent. So I want to make sure that that's happening, and I would like to know how those funds are going to be covered.
[Roy Belson]: All I said to you a little bit before was that if it's a small amount of money that's required, And there's not someone else up there. Remember, there's three different batting cages. So if our team is using one of them, somebody can use the other two. I mean, or whatever the case may be. So, you know, if we can't cover it with someone who's already going to be there, we'll assess the cost. And if it's minor, you know, a few hundred dollars, you know, for a few, for a couple weeks, then we'll absorb it. If it's not, then we'll not allow it or ask them to pay it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: And I also have one last question. Does the fire marshal or anyone have to inspect that area and give us an estimate of how many students can fit up there safely at a time? Or how is that determined?
[Roy Belson]: Well, that's an acceptable facility of the school. So at this point in time, you know, the fire department hasn't found any problem with our use of it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Have they seen it?
[Roy Belson]: They've been in the pool. They've been in that entire area.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: They've cleared the fire alarm system that ran through that entire area.
[Roy Belson]: And they're aware that students are up there in that area. At any time, if something were to go wrong, certainly they could come in and change their mind. But as far as I'm concerned, they've cleared it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I'd also like a list of people who currently have keys to that area.
[Roy Belson]: I'll have to check on that with Mr. Malone.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you, I'd appreciate that information, and I'll add that to the list.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And if I could suggest that the Building and Grounds Committee receive this packet and start to do its work on this topic and set the rates. I believe Mr. Woodhouse is here.
[Robert Skerry]: I know you're working on it. We've got a report coming in. Mr. Greenspan, you're going to be sent to the Buildings and Grounds Committee before we know what recommendations it has to receive. We already have a motion with an amendment on the floor.
[Roy Belson]: It's already been sent, we call it, to us. We're going to bring you back a report.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: But if you want to send that back. The motion with the amendment had to do with the outside groups using the cages for the next short period of time.
[Robert Skerry]: Correct. I just clarified a few ways. I mean, this may be two subcommittees, although we can roll on it. We don't have to roll on it. Two separate, this is the same. I mean, that'll work.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: On the motion to allow Medford Little League Softball and Baseball to utilize the cages for a nominal cost for the remainder of the term until policy and pricing is developed is one amendment. And also to send this paper to the subcommittee on building and grounds.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: A further one. And we have a citizen who's been waiting to speak. Are you wanting to speak on this?
[Jeanne Martin]: Your name, please. Thank you. Jean Martins on Cumming Street. I'm not going to win this argument because the love of money is the root of all evil. But schools are built for kids, and that's my opinion. I just want my opinion on the record. So if a city near us, Melrose, Malden, their kids want to use our facilities for basketball practice or whatever, and they want to pay us for it, I'm good with that. I personally am against having adults from strange groups I'm just, there's too many corners. I have a concern. I know I'm not going to win. I know that you're going to rent out the schools, but I want it on the record that I don't agree with having outside groups, especially if they're religious groups. in public buildings, and I just want that to go on the record, that there's a lot of issues, and I can't agree with Ms. DiBenedetto-Born and Ms. Coutinho. These concerns are real, and they need to be addressed. And so I just thank you very much for listening. I don't like the idea of outside groups of adults milling that we don't know anything about, milling around these schools, unsupervised, it's bad enough when the kids come in, what they could possibly do, you know, terrorize the school, graffiti, whatever, you know, it's bad enough when the kids are doing it. So we don't need to add fuel to the flames. And that's my opinion. So thank you very much. Thank you. On the motion.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Mr. Scari, please call the roll. To allow the little league. And to send it to subcommittee. Yes. OK. Yes, six in the affirmative, one in the negative. The motion passes. OK.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: I know I've asked you this question before. I would love to take you back up to the high school or any of our schools and visit them. There is really no more graffiti. A lot of the things that you have seen many, many years ago don't exist anymore and I would love to take you up there or you could go up there on your own and see that our schools have changed a lot, and you'd be very proud of what our kids do today. And as you can see tonight, winning first place in a contest against Lexington, or having one of our science students come up and winning such a wonderful award and going to WPI, it's not the schools of yesterday, it's the schools of the future, and we're very proud of it. So I just wanted to let you know that. Okay, thank you. But I still stand by the principle. I understand.
[Jeanne Martin]: I want to make sure that I tell you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you.
[Jeanne Martin]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Motion to move item nine to the end of the agenda. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Old business. Authorization to submit letter to our legislative delegation recommending rejection of a chartered cab lift. Mr. Superintendent.
[Roy Belson]: Madam Mayor and members of the committee, at a previous meeting you asked me to draft a letter that to some degree paraphrased the letter sent by the Ludlow School Committee to our legislative delegation with regard to the Charter School cap lift, recommending that the legislature reject that particular item. Now, specifically, the State Senate, passed a bill the other day through the Senate. It isn't legislative, it isn't law, but it passed through the Senate, which is a comprehensive approach to the charter school issues that have been discussed throughout the Commonwealth, much more broadly based than some other discussions have been, and dealing with much more than the charter cap lift. There's going to be some debate on Beacon Hill. I don't believe that the Senate bill in its entirety is going to be accepted by the House or approved by the Governor, but there may be elements of it that are acceptable by the House and by the Senate, and maybe even by the Governor down the road. But certainly, the House and the Senate would probably get together and have a discussion about it. From our standpoint, I drafted a letter. which would be consistent with it, but it wasn't done in the context of the Senate's passage of this bill. I would ask that you study this material, and maybe I would draft another letter since this is going to be a pending discussion going forward. Because I think that the letter that I originally drafted for you is probably a little bit out of date, the fact that there is a change in what's going on on Beacon Hill. So I'll do whatever you want, but I think that there's quite a bit of ferment going on. And it may be that the Rise Act that is consistent with the charter school legislation is something you want to take into consideration. The letter that I drafted for you is on the back page, the last page of this. And if you haven't had a chance to read it, maybe you should take a few seconds and read it. But it paraphrases or closely paraphrases the letter that was sent from Ludlow with a few changes that reflect more of a Medford issue. Because since our issues are not totally Ludlow's issues and our numbers are slightly different. I just want to tell you that the preliminary numbers on charter schools have been posted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. And this year we have 344 students attending charter schools. Next year the department is projecting we have 315, a substantial reduction of 29 students. So that's not necessarily a final number, it could be a change up or down. But it certainly is a trend that we were hoping for because obviously that puts junctures back in our schools and also deals with money as opposed to it going outside of our schools. So happy to answer any questions you have or continue the discussion.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Since it was my recommendation to have this letter drafted, I would say to go ahead to the superintendent, make the edits that are needed. But I do ask that we send out the letter as soon as possible because it has been dragging for a couple of weeks. And I guess it's better that now we have the updated information and we have the information on the letter that coincides with it. But I'd like to get this ready to go as soon as possible.
[Roy Belson]: Okay. I'd also want to say that, you know, we have a meeting May 2nd, so that I would probably bring it back to you for approval on May 2nd.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Then I would ask respectfully that I know there was a concern at the last meeting with one of my colleagues, and I hope that you will have an answer, if not tonight, but at least by May 2nd, so we can approve this and let it go.
[SPEAKER_07]: Okay. Mr. Benedetto.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: I did get a ruling from the state ethics, and I am allowed to vote on this issue. But at this time, I would like to go with the superintendent's request in this report is to withhold the letter due to the changes that are taking place. And I'm not sure that those might be complete by the May 2nd, because it will have to go to the House's representative. And there's a great bill on the floor. There are great parts of it, but there are parts that need I've read the whole bill that needs some tweaking and some changing, and I believe that that's going to happen in the House of Representatives, and then again at the Statehouse. So if we send this, it might not be good timing. It's already in debate there. So, I mean, we could write a letter based on what we think the bill is like, and that's, I think, more relevant.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: It wasn't necessarily based on just what the Senate was going to say or the House was going to say. The letter was supposed to be based on how it reflects us as a district and how a charter school or the charter schools will reflect us as a district. That's why I'm saying it's imperative that I mean the whole Commonwealth is already signed on board and have already written their own letters I think it's imperative that we write our own letter. We have already been sitting on this for a while I agree with the superintendent that we do our edits, but I really don't want to hold on to this until you know Everyone starts agreeing because if we're going to write if we're going to write a letter until everyone agrees We'll be sitting on this letter for the next 10 years So I don't believe
[Roy Belson]: that necessarily we're going to get agreement in a short period of time with the legislature and with the governor and everyone else like that. But I do believe that there are some pieces in the Senate's legislation that we should be supportive of. I mean, for example, within the Senate's legislation is full funding. the school districts, as opposed to partial funding that we're getting now. Within the Senate's piece, there is a piece that calls for a reimbursement formula that's more realistic. So reality-wise, we should probably want to reference those items. Now, I'm not going to reference the items about good, bad, or indifferent about charter schools, because that's not what I think you're asking me to do. I would like to be sure that we're able to be on record as saying is that there is a bill out there that is asking for full funding. There is a bill that is asking for that. that there be reporting, that individuals would know who's going and who's not going, that there be better demographics taken across the board. Not necessarily, some schools have done well, but other schools have not done well. I think those are things that we should want to be on record and show that we're knowledgeable of the latest things that are being discussed on the Hill, as opposed to being four weeks behind. So I think that that's, you know, I think that makes us much sound much more intelligent when we present a letter to the Commonwealth saying that we're aware of what's being discussed rather than we wrote something a month ago and still sending it.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: I certainly understand what you're saying, um, Mr. Superintendent, but the only concern I have is that our May 2nd meeting is three weeks off. So in three weeks off, you know, right now, I mean, part of the, I think that part of the intent initially was that you go on record and you say, at least for the, the intent of the motion would be that we're against any legislation that raises the current current cap on charter schools. And then secondarily, we are for full funding of the foundation budget. I really think that that's what it comes down to. I'm just concerned that we're now talking about saying you're going to bring us back something in three weeks after the debate is all done. Perhaps it would make more sense to, and you know, I don't know whether what the vote of this committee would be on those two very simply put items. Because I put it very simply.
[Roy Belson]: So we are scheduling a committee of the whole on April 25th, that's a week sooner.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Right, we still happen to have vacation week in between this then.
[Roy Belson]: Yeah, but what I would do is I would send it out to you well in advance. I'd draft it this week and send it out to you over the vacation period and let you look at it. And if it came in April 25th, we'd make it a standalone item along with the committee of the whole reports. And we could go from there, that would be a week earlier. But I do think you should have some of the latest stuff. I just don't think you should be talking about things that may not be in play right now going forward.
[Paulette Van der Kloot]: Okay, well, we obviously all can still talk to our legislators separately. So I think that bringing it forth to us the week sooner at the Committee of the Whole would make a lot of sense.
[Ann Marie Cugno]: Very good. We're discussing April 25th. April 26th is Day of the Hill. If any of my colleagues would like to join us at the state house, please register or please contact the superintendent. And that is the day you definitely want to come and advocate.
[Roy Belson]: Please do it soon so I can really reach them and get you in.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Mr. Benedetto. Thank you. Through you to the superintendent, I agree with you regarding this issue because there is so many changes taking place right now. I do have a copy of the bill that was passed in the Senate. Pat Jalen was kind enough to send that to me and asked me to go over a few things and my opinions with her. So I'll be doing that in the next few weeks. So I really think that we as a school committee want to represent ourselves as educated as possible. So I'll be happy to forward that to you. And then you can then forward it on to the other colleagues. So if they want to review what's on there now. I do see some valid points about reimbursement. And this bill is very important because it brings up the conversation that needs to be had throughout the state. But it also has a few things in there that really, really aren't in the best light for either side. So that's why I plan on sitting with our state senator and talking to her about that as an individual. So I really agree with you, Superintendent, about being really aware of what's going on out there before we send a letter that makes us look like we're a few weeks behind.
[Roy Belson]: I may also mention that I gave you an article this evening, it was in the American Prospect. The individual who wrote the article used to write for Commonwealth Magazine, now writes as a deputy editor for American Prospect, which is a very progressive publication out of Washington. Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich are, you know, part of the editorial board of this particular group. So it's fairly strong. magazine, if you will, or commentary. But it talks about the great diversion. It talks about the money moving away from the traditional schools. It's not passing judgment on whether or not charters are good, bad, or indifferent. It's just asking the question, can you support two school systems with a finite amount of money? And that's really sort of the harder part of this discussion. can we really do that? So I recommend you read it and become familiar because there's a lot of stuff going on that's affecting other communities, not affecting us as much right now, but it could going forward. And it's the kind of discussion that's going to happen over the next several months, especially if it goes to a ballot question. So you need to know these things, and it's important that you stay up on it.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Very good. Mr. Benedetto? Mr. Skerry and I had the opportunity to meet with a few of our state representatives regarding a homeless transportation issue. Not only in our community, but the whole homeless situation as a whole. So Representative Christine Barber is actually working on an amendment to this year's budget to really look at it and create a committee at the state level on looking at how vouchers are given out, maybe a district-wide list of students, and really trying to place families close to where children go to school. I had the opportunity to meet with her again this week, and Mrs. Skerry was able to come to the last meeting. And I'll be meeting with her and maybe speaking there about homelessness. I know that the superintendent presented us a few weeks, maybe two months ago, with an amount of like $71,000 the district had paid. for homeless transportation at that point. I don't know what it is at this point, and I know it's growing every day and the cost of it. And I really want to take an active role in being proactive with those funds and keeping people in their homes rather than paying for them to be housed and transported to school after they've been presented homeless. So I just wanted to give you an update on that and to let you know that work is being done. I'll continue to update you as things progress. The rep was going to put our notes together and write up the amendment and send it to me. school vacation as well. So there might be a little bit of delay in some of the progress with this, the bill that we were talking about previously, and this as well. But we are moving forward with this. And the superintendent's been nice enough to offer to provide me some more data, so that way we can really help the homeless children, not only in the city of Medford, but in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and their families as well.
[Roy Belson]: We are putting data together for you based on your request.
[Erin DiBenedetto]: Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you. Be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Carol Caroni Mastromaro. Carol was a graduate of Medford High School, class of 1967, and also a history teacher at Medford High School for many years. School committee resolution, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee express its sincere condolences to the family of Marjorie Bennett. Mrs. Bennett was a lifelong Medford resident and secretary for Medford High School for many years. Would you all please rise and take a moment of silence?
[Roy Belson]: While we're up, I also heard today that the passing of Linda Houston, who once was a secretary of the school. She's a member of the DePasquale family. And I met her, so if you could take another second. Thank you.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Negotiations and legal matters.
[Roy Belson]: Just a couple of quick things for you. Again, I'll send you out information on our beginning of the pre-budget season on April 25th. We'll send out the materials early next week. So you'll have them to go over and begin to look at various departments and programs to give you a preview of the kinds of concerns we may have going into budget, so you can begin to ask questions about that. Additionally, in the back of your packet, we have the responses that I sent to the city council based on the various things that they had asked over the last a few months with regard to security and substance abuse and the like. So please review that so that if you're asked whether or not we sent that, this used to be, you know, some question as to what we did, we did. And the other thing is, is that some of you were able to attend, but I do have some information from Robert Brooks, who spoke at the Symposium on Addiction. I thought it was an excellent program. I'm glad that some people made it, approximately 80, 90 people there. We thought some of the things went well. We would have liked more people to have been there, but I understand that's Saturday, and sometimes it doesn't work, but it's an important activity, and it does continue our efforts to inform the community about these matters and keep them involved. You all know that the play was this past weekend, and many of you attended, and I know that you've all told me how wonderful it was, and I think that, you know, it's another It's an important accomplishment of our young people, so I think it's important that we recognize them at some point going forward.
[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: There's a motion to go into executive session to discuss legal matters and negotiations. Mr. Skerry, please call the roll. Yes, seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. We will now go into executive session, and we will end the meeting.
[SPEAKER_01]: We may have to come off for a moment.
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