AI-generated transcript of Regular MSC Meeting

[Graham]: Hi, everyone, we're back. Okay, before we had to step away and come back, we were talking about the before school program increase, and there was a question by Member Intoppa about the rates looking like they were reversed for the three-day option. Is that correct? Is that what you were looking at? I believe it's being

[Intoppa]: In before care program school year 2025 2026 the 3% increase for monthly three days should read 122.57 not 112.57. I'm just noting that I understand that but I'm just noting that so if this infograph is sent out, that we correct that similar to the one that was mentioned for me. OK.

[Graham]: And the presentation has been updated with the corrected rates. So if you all can take a look at the screens rather than your handout, that's probably the most accurate picture at this moment.

[Galusi]: Could I ask Will to just enlarge Dr. Cushing's screen in his absence, just to make it a little bit larger for the community in case people are watching. Thank you. Thank you.

[Graham]: Chair? Member Ruseau.

[Ruseau]: I think there's still some problems with these numbers, but I think the motion that I would make is that we would accept the rate card with a 3% increase over whatever it is right now.

[Graham]: Thank you. There's a motion to accept a 3% increase for the before care program over current rates And obviously that these charts will be updated accurately before they're posted on the website by Member Ruseau. Is there a second?

[Reinfeld]: What's the history of increases here?

[Galusi]: Sure, I'm going to ask, so Director Megan Fidlecari is on the call. So she's unmuted just to give us a little bit more of a history here.

[Megan Fidler-Carey]: Hi, everybody. We have in the last two to three years, certainly two years, we've only increased very modestly to account for increases to staff pay. But before that, we went several years without increasing before school pay. So it's only to keep up with the increase in staff pay for before school. Megan, could you also speak to afterschool care as well? Certainly. Yeah, afterschool is the same. Three years ago, or maybe it was four years ago, right after COVID, we did a considerable jump to right-size our tuition rates to meet tuition and staff rates. to better reflect what our neighbors were doing. But since then, it's only been a very modest increase, and it is only to keep up with increasing wages.

[Reinfeld]: Am I right now? Yes. And then I was also wondering how this matches up with some of the right sizing we've been doing on our budget over the last couple of years with our revolving accounts. I don't know if that's a question for budget analyst Gerry McCue, but that is my question around this.

[Galusi]: I think what we're, I would probably defer to him for a more detailed, you know, accurate answer. But I think for the purposes here, for us, what we're looking at is, yes, a modest increase to some of the wages, but it's also to increase some of that staffing capability and also for the increases that we've seen in some of the supplies and the materials. I mean, I can get you some like. Sorry, I should have asked for this when I got my packet on Friday, and I apologize. No, no, no, that's okay. But I can get that to you. I can get that to you more specifically in terms of what you're talking about with.

[Reinfeld]: Yeah, because I'm curious what I know that was one of the accounts that has had a lot of movement over the years.

[Graham]: And member Reinfeld, I do know that last year, I believe last year was the first year that we started doing chargeback to certain revolving accounts. And this was one of them. This was one of the accounts that already has sort of ingested a chargeback model. So yeah, and for that point, Kids Corner is as well. Terrific, thank you. Member Ruseau.

[Ruseau]: Oh, I made the motion for the 3% for the before program. I'd also make a motion for 3% for the afterschool program, if there are even separate programs, but.

[Graham]: Member Olapade. Okay, so we have a motion on the floor to increase before and afterschool program tuition by 3% for the 25-26 school year by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member Olapade. Are there any other questions? I'm not seeing any. Okay. Can you call the roll, please?

[Ruseau]: I'll call it twice. Member Grant, this is for before school. Member Graham?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Intoppa? Yes. Member Olapade? Yes. Member Reinfeld? Yes. Member Rossell? Yes. Mayor Longo?

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. Motion passes. Before school increase is 3%.

[Ruseau]: And for the after school member Graham?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Intoppa?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Olapade?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld? Yes. Member Rossell? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. The after school program rate increase is 3%. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Fidler-Carry. Thanks. Okay, we are done with the rate card. Item number four, recommendation to approve budget transfers. Mr. Noel Velez, director of finance.

[Noel Velez]: Am I on? All right, sorry about that. I'm just as excited as you are, Paul. I love budget transfers. So what you have in front of you is a proposal from the business office as a whole and the superintendent regarding $138,000. $431.25 for budget transfers. What I did with this budget transfer, I wanted to keep it quarterly. I like to keep things fiscally responsible. And my goal was to keep everything within their allotted, I think we call them either codes or program codes. I wanted to keep everything, I wanted to keep everybody within their program codes regarding how they can properly spend their funding, but in some areas they may have overspent in one line. but they had extra money in other lines. So we kind of use those funds to cover it. And then in one of the pages, you'll see, I gave a, just a small brief description of what each budget transfer refers to and what, and what these principles and what these directors have done with their finances. And this also gives them a better opportunity as we're, as we're coming towards the end of the fiscal year to see how much they have in each line and really spend accordingly and be fiscally responsible.

[Graham]: Questions. Member Ruseau.

[Ruseau]: I don't have any questions because they're all answered and I appreciate that, but I'll make a motion to approve the budget transfers.

[Graham]: There's a motion to approve budget transfers by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member Intoppa. Are there questions? Seeing no questions, can you call the roll please?

[Ruseau]: Member Graham?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Intoppa?

[Intoppa]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Olapade? Yes. Member Reinfeld?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. Motion passes. Thank you, everyone. We do not have any presentations of the public today, but we do have some continued business. So we have the second reading of policy IKF as amended at the April 7th regular meeting. So these are requirements for graduation. And as we discussed last week, there were a few, a handful of clarifications made to the previously updated document that laid out participation and graduation activities and commencement decisions around around meeting graduation requirements and in some cases being subject to individualized IEP program processes, as well as some updates to math to reflect that we are in transition in the math program. Would you all like me to read this or is there a motion? There's a motion to waive the reading by member Reinfeld, seconded by member Intoppa. Roll call, please.

[Ruseau]: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Graham]: Six in the affirmative, one absent. The reading the policy is waived. Is there a motion? There's a motion on the floor to approve this policy, the second reading by member Reinfeld, seconded by member Intoppa. Member Ruseau, will you call the roll?

[Ruseau]: Member Graham?

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Intoppa? Yes. Member Olapade? Yes. Member Reinfeld?

[Reinfeld]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn?

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent. Motion passes. We are on to item number eight, new business, and we have one motion. It's 2025-12 offered by member Reinfeld, whereas uneven distribution of students across the city's elementary schools has constrained Medford public schools ability to most effectively use physical spaces, provide transportation and offer specialized services to students. And whereas the city of Medford is undergoing reevaluation of zoning and residential areas, Be it resolved that the district administration will undertake a review of the potential solutions to alleviate issues of overcrowding and associated inequities. As such, the administration shall provide no later than May 19, 2025, a summary of the challenges at hand and recommend next steps. The report should include the following data. Enrollment in general education and specialized programs over the last three years. Average class size and relative proportion of students in general education classes who require specialized support services projected student population growth within the city space and staffing constraints at each school average number of intradistrict district approvals by school per year. impact of sibling preferences on enrollment and space capacity, general fluctuation of the above conditions from year to year, summary of associated transportation constraints, and a list of potential long-term solutions for consideration. Next steps may include feasibility studies for one or more long-term solutions, meetings with community members and stakeholders, and a proposed action plan for managing overcrowding at the elementary level for the 25-26 school year. Member Reinfeld.

[Reinfeld]: So this is a very fancy way of saying our elementary schools are overcrowded. We need to fix it. What this began as a resolution to undertake those solutions, but very quickly evolved into a report to assemble the data so we can really understand the nature of the problems and the challenges we're facing. I apologize, this probably should have been submitted as a report request by the time I was done writing this. But the community, the principals, everyone has come to us, we know this is a challenge, and everyone has an idea of how it ought to be fixed, whether that's through redistricting, restructuring, changing how we select students per elementary school. And so I would like for the district to begin that process. I know we've just had a lot of schedule changes that we've had to implement very quickly, but this is a pressing problem. And there are two stages to this. One is to figure out the long-term solutions based on the data that we have, but we also have a very urgent issue of potential kindergarten admissions exacerbating this problem for the upcoming school year. So I'm looking for some short-term solutions as well as some long-term solutions. And I think the district has a lot of this data and can present the challenge and potential solutions before choosing one to really investigate further. So that's the goal of this is to begin the process of solving our overcrowding issues.

[Graham]: Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Brinefeld member. So did you have your I do? Yes.

[Ruseau]: Thank you. I do have a question about the May 19th date. I'm wondering if you've talked to the administration yet on that. That was something they said they could do.

[Reinfeld]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Okay, then I'll. And I don't want to approve.

[Reinfeld]: Yeah.

[Galusi]: Yes. I'm so sorry. I have like a This is a needed piece of information to look into. It was an ongoing thread in conversation at a lot of my meet and greets at the elementary level as well as at the middle school level. And so we have in earnest started a lot of some of this background information that you have outlined here, but it definitely needs to be a greater conversation. So I welcome the opportunity to gather this data with my team and come to you by May 19 with a further conversation. I'm also very interested in continuing this conversation with varied stakeholders. So I'm really glad to see that one of the pieces here is ongoing conversation with community members.

[Graham]: Member Reinfeld, if I could potentially offer a friendly amendment to this motion, I think it is certainly well time to do this, and we've sort of been dancing around it for a really long time. I do wonder if bringing this data back to this committee will, like in this sort of broader sense, will necessitate us having to send it somewhere else anyway, because there's a lot of work to do here. And our subcommittees are intended to be working committees. So I did have a suggestion, if you are interested, that this be referred to the strategic planning subcommittee, where some of these community-based conversations can be had in advance of all this information coming back to us. Because we typically have a really ambitious agenda and don't have time to dig in in those kinds of ways on the floor here. So that was just my suggestion.

[Reinfeld]: I'm certainly open to that. I am also on that committee. So I'll be getting that information. So I might confirm with colleagues who are not, I think any, all right, I'm seeing some unofficial signals that that feels okay, so yes. And my question to the superintendent is, would we need, because that's strategic planning for the longterm, would there need to be, looking at the elementary school for next year, would that need to come to this group sooner, or would that need to go to family engagement?

[Galusi]: I would say just because of the timing of the year, it may need to come here. And then I think we could make a decision if we feel that further conversation is needed at that subcommittee.

[Reinfeld]: Is it possible to have that conversation about elementary without having had the bigger conversation in the subcommittee meeting? I'm thinking about timing here and the May 19th meeting.

[Graham]: So I think the question is like, can you bring the short-term solution here without that larger conversation around the long-term? Is that the question? That is the question.

[Galusi]: I mean, I think clearly the piece here in terms of your talking about overcrowding for the next school year is for the Roberts Elementary School. we have seen since COVID a need for a fifth kindergarten every year. And so the pressure is most acutely seen there in terms of what the needs are going to be for school year 25, 26. I guess that would depend maybe on the scheduling of when we're doing this because we really, in essence, really have about a month left, month and a half to make a lot of these decisions. And I believe we have two school committees left. So I think it would maybe depend on the timing.

[Reinfeld]: All right. Then I will accept the amendment to bring it to strategic planning, but I would defer to the superintendent and the team if this piece of it needs to come on the agenda sooner.

[Galusi]: Yeah, I would agree with that because then we can schedule that.

[Reinfeld]: Yeah, accordingly, when the data is ready, we can schedule strategic planning and see how the kindergarten situation fits into that. Well, we've been closely monitoring everything. I'm sure.

[Graham]: Okay, so there is a motion on the floor as amended that this data will go to the strategic planning subcommittee. Motion by Member Reinfeld. Yes. Is there a second by Member Ruseau? roll call please.

[Ruseau]: Remember, Graham. Yes, remember and Tapa. Yes, remember all about it. Yes, remember right. Yes, remember so yes Maryland.

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative one absent motion passes. Okay, we have two condolences this evening, the members of the Medford school committee expressed their sincerest condolences to the family of Constance candy grand a Sullivan, the mother of Brooks Elementary teacher Camille far far ago and grandmother of Jared Fargo former vocational electrical teacher. and the members of the Medford school committee expressed their sincerest condolences to the family of Sophie Marie Santoro who self selflessly served as a crossing guard with the Medford police for nearly 30 years watching out for children in our community. If we could all please rise for a moment of silence. Okay, our next meeting is on our next regular meeting is on May 5th at Alden Memorial Chambers Medford City Hall in addition to zoom. Is there a motion to adjourn. Motion adjourned by member and Tapa seconded by member Reinfeld roll call please.

[Ruseau]: Ever, Graham. Yes, remember and Tapa.

[Graham]: Yes.

[Ruseau]: Remember all the party. Yes. Remember, I know. Yes, members. Yes, Marilyn go.

[Graham]: Yes. Six in the affirmative, one absent, motion passes. Meeting is adjourned. Good night, everyone.

Graham total time: 8.93 minutes total words: 1188	Intoppa total time: 0.35 minutes total words: 54	Galusi total time: 3.25 minutes total words: 474	Ruseau total time: 1.31 minutes total words: 247
Reinfeld total time: 3.26 minutes total words: 520