AI-generated transcript of 11.17.2025 MSC Regular Meeting (REMOTE ONLY)

[Suzanne Galusi]: there. I will get it. I'm looking it up right now.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay? I'll tell you find that approval grants approval of field trips approval of meeting minutes from our regular meeting on October 20th 2025. Assuming that's still in the 13,000 range, but I'll $13,251.18. Okay, is there a motion for approval with that amendment to correct the dollar figure for the grants from the Medford Education Foundation?

[John Intoppa]: Second.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion for approval, seconded by a member in Tapa. I didn't catch who moved the motion. Reinfeld. I don't know if you did members. Thank you. All those in favor, if you could call the roll, please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Certainly member of Bradley.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Graham.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Intoppa. Yes. Member Olapade. Yes. Member Reinfeld. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The consent agenda is approved. We have no reports of subcommittees. We do have multiple reports from our superintendent. So I'm going to turn it over to you, Dr. Galusi. First up is the Mustang moment.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you. Yes, this evening we have some students from the Andrews with their principal, Ms. Skane. So I'm not, I, Principal Skane, I believe will handle the introductions and then we will pass it over to the students who are going to present about some advocacy this evening.

[Jennifer Skane]: Good evening, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Superintendent Galussi, members of the school committee. Thank you for allowing members of the Andrews Middle School community to speak with you regarding our shared focus for the school year, creating a sense of belonging for students. One of the most important responsibilities we have as a school community is ensuring that every child feels a true sense of belonging. Belonging is not created by chance. It's built intentionally through opportunities we provide for students through voice and choice. When students are empowered to share their ideas, reflect on their learning, and influence the school experience, they begin to see themselves as valued members of our community. Our goal is to create classrooms here at Andrews where students are simply not compliant participants, but active partners. When students feel heard, have room to express themselves, and trust in their unique contributions to shape our school, they thrive. And when they thrive, our community grows stronger. Earlier in mid-October, I had a student approach me who has been a member of the Andrews Middle School for three years. And she asked when we would be having our first spirit week. And I shared with her that I would be happy to support any activities, but I would want it to come from the students. And I encouraged her to create a vision for the week. Our students this evening will share how they participated in the week's events and what that meant to them. Our first student was not feeling well today, so she is actually on, I believe, on the Zoom. Gianna?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Jennifer Skane]: Gianna, can you turn on your camera and audio for us? If she's not here, I do have her statement, which I can read for her.

[Unidentified]: She is here.

[Suzanne Galusi]: She is here. I did ask her to unmute. I don't know if she's having... I just lost track of her. Did she log on?

[Jennifer Skane]: I thought I saw someone come on. here.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Oh, there we go.

[Jennifer Skane]: Hi. Hi, Gianna. How are you? Good. Sorry. We're having problems. I know. I'm sorry. You're not feeling well today to go ahead. Take it away.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hi my name is Gianna Riccio. I am in eighth grade. I've been a member at the Andrews Middle School since the sixth grade. The Andrews Middle School spirit week meant to me for all my peers to come together and make memories with their with their friends and new people. I brought it up to Miss Skane asking if there was going to be a spirit week that Halloween. I think It's a good idea for spirit week to happen for people to express themselves and create memories for the yearbook. I thought of the idea about how people can support a Mustang Pride while having fun. I wanted the students at AMS to enjoy and create memories. And seeing all the pictures and the ideas that people came up with, it made me happy. And the people who helped me make the ideas, the CCSR club, to see everybody happy and I'll make all the memories that we made. Thank you.

[Jennifer Skane]: Thank you, Gianna. I hope you feel better. So we have the rest of the students here at the school with us. So I'm going to invite them to come on over now.

[SPEAKER_20]: Hi, my name is Nora Shaw. I'm in sixth grade at the Andrews Middle School. I love being part of a group costume. The whole team building experience was very empowering and it made me feel confident. My friend group was all working together and collaborating and having fun together. We all contributed to it somehow like how my friend Catherine came up with the whole concept of having being crayons and then like all of us working together on what we should do and like some of us brought supplies for the accessories and some of us just like helped think of the ideas. All of it made me really feel like I was part of the Andrews community. The teachers all got in on it too by wearing six, seven, somewhere on the outfits, which is kind of ironic considering the fact that they all hate it whenever we do it. Thank you for your time and have a great night.

[SPEAKER_04]: Hi, my name is Raina Myers, and I'm in sixth grade at the Andrews Middle School, and I was also a crayon for group costume day. We had so much fun with this costume, and one way it made me feel like I belonged is when we were in school the day of. We got our costumes on, and we got a lot of compliments on our hard work. We had dressed in our color, and our friend Catherine sent us all a video and templates for our Crayola labels.

[Unidentified]: Can you slow down?

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Should I read anything again?

[Suzanne Galusi]: You're doing a great job, keep going.

[SPEAKER_04]: We traveled as a pack and made a rule that every crayon should be with another in the house, and address each other only as their color and crayon. It really made me feel special, very loved, and part of the Andrews community doing an expressive group costume with my friends. Another thing I found amusing on when all of the students and all of the teachers in the school dressed up as 6-7. My social studies teacher Mr. Delaney hates 6-7 with a passion so to see him joining in was a shock. He even made a 6-7 joke in class and said if you can't beat him join him. It was a really fun concept and definitely added to the part of feeling connected and part of the community. Thank you and have a good night.

[Jennifer Skane]: Madison's next. Go for it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hi, my name is Madison Converse. I'm in 8th grade. Andrews Municipal has many fun spirit weeks. For spirit week, one of the themes was matching costumes or matching costumes with a group. My friends and I decided to match and wear matching M&M shirts. My friend Amelia came up with the idea and we all coordinated by discussing what color M&M shirts we all wanted. We found a high ground where we all agreed and we were given our shirts. So on Halloween day we all matched and were being all matching M&Ms. The teachers were also included. On AA, the teachers dressed up as versions of my civics teacher. The spirit week helps add a sense of belonging because everybody has a way to be including and everybody's a chance to dress up. Thank you for your time.

[Jennifer Skane]: And last but definitely not least is Amelia.

[SPEAKER_19]: Hi, my name is Amelia Lengel. I'm in 8th grade and I'm here to talk about my experience with Spirit Week. Personally, I think Spirit Week is something everyone at AMS enjoys. It is a fun way to celebrate before a holiday. We had a Spirit Week the week of Halloween and it was a blast. Each day was a different theme. It's not just the students who get involved, it's also the teachers. On that Wednesday, we had a theme that is something we do quite often throughout the school year, Student Teacher Swap Day. The teachers dress like the students and the students dress like the teachers. It is always a fun day, but everyone's favorite was Friday when you got to wear your costumes. Now, my friends and I weren't all going trick-or-treating together, sadly, but for school we really wanted to do a group costume. So, me and my friend Madison, who just spoke, and I came up with the idea of M&Ms. My mom and I went to the store and got a bunch of different colored t-shirts and used our Cricut machine to put an M on all of them. I gave them out to all my friends the next day to wear. Personally, I think Spirit Week is a great way to make the school week a little bit more fun before a holiday. The whole school comes together and really makes me feel like a part of the community. I hope everyone has a chance to feel like that throughout their time at AMS. Thank you for your time and have an amazing rest of your night.

[Jennifer Skane]: Thank you. Do you guys all want to come over? Does anyone have any questions for the kiddos?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Great job to you all. Um, I'm going to turn it over to member and Tapa.

[John Intoppa]: Thank you, mayor. Um, thank you all for talking about this tonight. It's amazing how one question and one sort of goal can create just sense, um, this great sense of community and great sense of belonging. So I really applaud you all for playing your part in that, getting your faculty and staff involved in the whole thing. It's really cool to see this all come together. And definitely keep at it, you know, make this a new tradition at AMS. I know when I was at AMS, we had something similar, but not as something as big as this. And it's just really cool to see how you guys took this under your belt as sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth graders to just do all of this. And there's a future in that. And there's a, if you, if this is something you love if you decide to go to college, you can do that as a part of one of your college jobs. It's a great, that's what I work in. I work as in campus activities. And we have eight student employees who do this every week and try to do something cool like that. So stick with it. Do really cool things. When you go off to high school, keep doing it there. Work with the CCSR. Try to get some money to make it even bigger and better. And just thank you for trying to create a sense of community and working to create a sense of community amongst your peers.

[Unidentified]: Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Keep up the good work. All right. We're gonna- Thank you so much.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Can I just like thank them before they go? I know this is, we had to shift to being virtual and it was really nice to see how flexible you all were. We appreciate it. We're so glad you were able to join for this Mustang moment and keep up the good work. Thank you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.

[Paul Ruseau]: Thank you. Mayor?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, Member Ruseau.

[Paul Ruseau]: I'd like to make a motion to take item number six out of order.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Sure. Motion to take item six out of order by member Rousseau. Is there a second? Second. Member Olapade, roll call please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Branley?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Graham?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Intoppa?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Olapade?

[Nicole Branley]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Members say yes, Mayor Langenkirchen.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, I'm in the affirmative, zero in the negative. I see number six as reports requested or so.

[Paul Ruseau]: I see this presentations at the student advisory council, but I don't know if I'm looking at it.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry about that. Yep, I see it now. Presentations of the student advisory council, on high school transportation.

[Suzanne Galusi]: So we have Jayden on the call and he's going to be leading the presentation this evening. Will will screen share in just a minute. But I also did notice that the, that assistant principal Sheila Freitas is on the call who also works with the student advisory council and just wanted to make sure that people were aware of that. And we're all set for the screen share. Thank you. Jayden, are you all set?

[Jayden Giang]: Is my mic working?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes, we can hear you. Great.

[Jayden Giang]: OK.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you.

[Jayden Giang]: So we at the Student Advisory Committee, we've gotten feedback on a newly implemented railing system we have at the high school. And we've gotten some, a bit of negative feedback about how the single railing system just isn't working out. So we've come up with a few suggestions on how we could fix that. One of them is, oh, and also like the bus system in general. Can we go back to the last slide real quick? One of them was, if we could discuss with the MBTA about having more buses for after school and stuff, as well as creating a few more railings. That way, there'll be less trying to funnel in as many students into, I'm trying to remember the term for it, bottlenecking. And we can move on to the next slide. So these are two pictures of what we currently have right now. We have two bus stops set up here. I believe you can see the railings on the left side. And you can see another one on the right side. And then if we could go to the next slide. And what we want is we want to implement two more railings along these two areas over here. That way, more students will be able to access the buses at the same time instead of the buses needing to wait for others to finish loading their students before they can take a spot. And I think we'll go to the next slide. more images of spots. So we want to talk to, I believe, the director of transportation about how we can implement these changes, especially with the MBTA, since we have to find a way for them to comply with these changes. And we'd also like to send out a survey to students about their feedback on our current system and how they would feel about changing it up. And this is an easy change, but we can talk to MetalFab about how, if they want to make us two more railings for this. Are there any questions? Member, is it?

[Unidentified]: Jayden, was that the last slide?

[Jayden Giang]: Oh, was that the last slide, Jayden? Yeah.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, just making sure. I wanted you to present first. Yeah, I'll pass it over to a member in the top.

[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Jayden, for presenting on this information and for talking about it. I'm gonna second your thought process on interviewing and talking to the students at the high school, especially those who take the bus. When you try to implement something new into someone's routine, it can have a bit of a pushback at the beginning, but it's all about trying to find a way to ease someone into a new system or to figure out what are the roadblocks. And sometimes they're obvious things where it's like, oh, I don't like the railings of this. I don't like it because of that. Or sometimes it's things that you would have never thought of. And so sending out a survey before you make any other changes and even putting in would a second railing work? Giving people options so they don't have to think too much, but to give some things that you're already thinking about and pitch some stuff is what I completely recommend as you try to solve the overcrowding issue of getting onto the bus and making sure that everyone boards safely and effectively and as quickly as possible. But definitely leave a section there for, you know, What are some other alternative methods? You'd be surprised. Some people just may have some other ideas that they've noticed in using it. Then, yeah, talk to your users. And I agree with your next steps that you're thinking of. So definitely create that survey if you want. I mean, I won't. I have a background in product design and industrial design. We do stuff like this all the time in designing experiences. So if you guys want to throw it my way, I'll volunteer myself to take a look at something as well as I'm sure your building staff, Ms. Farias as well, so go for it.

[Jayden Giang]: Yeah, we actually have the survey made already, I think. We just haven't sent it out yet.

[John Intoppa]: Way ahead of the game, great.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Reinfeld, I believe was next, then Member Branley.

[Erika Reinfeld]: Yep, thank you. So I remember the student council meeting when you all were discussing the problem and I love that you've got a solution and I've talked to a couple of your users and they've agreed that the, I definitely support getting a few more railings because I know you solved the mass flood onto the buses, but the waiting has introduced a new problem. So my only recommendation is that you also talk to Kyle, your security monitor who kind of oversees that bus process and get that input already as well if you haven't already. because I know he sees things from a particular perspective and that big picture. So thanks for taking action to change. to fix the problem and I look forward to hearing how this goes particularly around your conversation with Mr. Schwartz and what can be done in collaboration with the city and the MBTA. I think that's a big question and I don't know if the mayor has things to say about that in terms of the relationship with the city and the schools and the MBTA, but thank you so much for including all these voices in this problem solving.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member Branley and then member.

[Nicole Branley]: Hello. Um, so I just have a question about the signage. It says contact MBTA signage for arrivals and departures in real time. What is your vision for that?

[Jayden Giang]: So. Um, one of my. Other one of the other members in student Like the departures and arrivals in real time.

[Nicole Branley]: Like at the train station when you wake up? Yeah. Okay, just curious what you meant by that.

[Jayden Giang]: We want to try and find a way to see if we can program that. And signage might also refer to just having signs out in front labeling which bus goes where.

[Nicole Branley]: is there a set spot for those? I have to say, and I'm gonna be really honest, because I tend to be really honest on these meetings. When I first pulled up to that, I said, who the heck thought of this? Because as a mom who's dropping off, I'm like, do I pull up against it? Do I pull before it? Do I pull beside it? Do I drive past this? And I sort of felt like it blocked people from getting out of their cars to a degree. But I guess in the big picture of everybody coming out at the same time, I can see why we would need to kind of funnel students. But I just want us to be mindful of the fact that in the morning when people are pulling up to that there is this, you know, well, I mean, I guess this is beyond this. There should be some etiquette when people are pulling up. You know, there are people that are waiting in their cars for their kids to get out or kids that might need extra time. Buses are pulling up, buses are pulling, you know, away. And I think to a degree, it kind of bottlenecks people a little. So I just want us to be mindful of that if we're going to put more up. that we're giving maybe a little bit of space for cars to pull up and open their doors and just so that there's still that passing lane to our left. So just some things to think about. I love the idea of the signage. I just am wondering if it would be really accurate and if it would be worth it. I would love if it was accurate. I mean, I just know I've stood at the train before and I'm like, that's the longest 12 minutes I ever spent waiting here, 45. So just things to think about, but I love your idea. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham, then back to Member Intoppa.

[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. As it relates to the idea of a late bus for the high school, that's actually not something we've heard people talk about before. So thank you for bringing that forward. It makes a lot of sense. I'm kind of surprised we've never heard anybody articulate that before, because there is so much activity that happens after school at the high school. So I think my request is that once our transportation coordinator gets their feet under them, and we are starting to talk about next year's budget, can we do a little bit of a dive into what additional coverage options might be, not just at the high school, but district-wide? Because we have long been talking about increased transportation, and we've not been able to We've not been able to really expand in very many places in the way that I would like to see us be able to do it. But I think it would be helpful to have that conversation as part of the budget. So I think with our transportation coordinator on board, there might be an opportunity to have a little bit more of a cohesive look at transportation so that we can just be thoughtful about what we can do and can fund in this upcoming budget versus what do we have to plan for down the road. So thank you for bringing that forward. It makes perfect sense. I'm just like absolutely surprised. We've never heard it before. So, um, thank you for being at the meeting.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, ma'am grant member and top of and Dr. Pelosi. Yeah. Sorry.

[John Intoppa]: Yeah. How, how is the weather out there right now? It looks freezing and I don't want to go walk outside in Boston either. It's too windy. I'm sorry if you saw the look on my face where I was confused. It's because I was like, wait, we had a late bus. And then, no, it wasn't. It was that the North Medford bus was so late that it felt like a late bus to get to the North Medford Heights, leaving high school every day. So that's where my kind of like, what? We've never had this before? No, we haven't. It was just that that bus used to get here so late. And people would either take the T down at the bottom of the hill and not at the top of the high school in order to take. The late bus was just walking down the hill and taking the bus there. It didn't actually go up to the sequence. Jayden, a few things that I noted when we were talking about the displays, and I'm sorry that I missed the part of display art, so I said that earlier. The T-screens are great. Look into, and you remember in robotics may have done that, look into E-ink and look into using that. That's what they use at the green line stops. That's because one, it only uses energy to change, and two, it's so much easier to read, especially if it's sunny out. You won't have to create a canopy and design a way that that screen won't break. So that's something to note. And then in term of member Bramley's point about confusing, you know, folks may be getting confused when they go and see these is a simple change, maybe just adding like a bus stop here sign. So that way it signals to people that they're meant for the buses and not meant for, you know, personal vehicles. And so adding a bus stop here, like they do, if you've been on the green line in Boston, that may be something small that might signal to people, you know, that. But if you're curious about what that e-ink signage looks like, if you go around Medford, there's those kiosks. There's one in Haines Square right on the corner by the hardware store, as well as one on the corner in the hillside across from the old hardware store, old hillside hardware. Those are some cool things to look at in terms of what that technology looks like, and you can use it as a, you can order that stuff online and use it for display. People use it for weather stuff all the time. I'm sorry if I'm saying something that you already know, but these are just things that I noted while we were talking. So thank you for looking into this as complex as you are, and I really appreciate it.

[Suzanne Galusi]: So before I speak, I don't know, Jaden, do you want to have an opportunity to answer any of the questions or points that was brought to you before I speak?

[Jayden Giang]: No, I think I'm good. As everyone was speaking, I was writing down their suggestions for the other members of the student advisory committee.

[Suzanne Galusi]: OK, because I just I wanted to point out when I joined the student advisory committee meeting last week and was speaking with the students, there was a discussion on to member Branley's point. where the railings were to be placed because we also have, that did come up about just car drop-offs as well as at the beginning of that drive, we have both the Kids' Corner drop-off door and the Medford Family Network drop-off door. So I think the students were really very thoughtful about where they would want to place the other two railings to make sure that we're leaving that front area as like a open for car drop off but I think so that in addition to being very thoughtful about where those hopeful to new railings come from once metal fabs able to create them. Then they were having a discussion about labeling them so that it's very clear which bus is lining up with which railing, which will also help with the car drop off. There was a conversation too around internal use of TV screens that display student news. and announcements throughout the day, and using that as a way to keep students current. So the railings have really helped embarking on the bus, but what's happening now, to remember Reinfeld brought up, is waiting. So sometimes as the students are waiting for the buses to arrive and get on, that's creating It's not even a bottleneck yet, but if there was an opportunity to have some students be able to wait inside or somewhere else and keeping current updated information on the monitors throughout the school would be helpful. And then the other piece that I was going to mention is the part about the late bus. And I think some of the things that we're working through is also that change in our dismissal time. So because our dismissal time is 15 minutes later than it was before, the North Medford bus is also the bus that returns immediately to the high school for athletics. And so trying to figure out, Evan is going to be working with the school and the students to figure out what would be, what would students need? It might be, to member Graham's point, we do have to be mindful of this for our budget build for next year, but what would be the need in terms of when students are staying late? At the middle school, you know, there are three days that there are late buses. And so trying to figure out what that need would be for the North Medford, which is the only yellow bus we have at the high school as the MBTA, does continuously run it does not run as frequently when it's after school and that piece Evan and the students will be working hopefully in partnership with the city with the MBTA but in terms of that one yellow bus that we have for North Medford we're trying to figure out what would the actual need be how many days would we need it and so there are some ongoing conversations with the school and the students to narrow that down.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Great. Thank you, Dr. Lucey, and thank you, Jayden, for presenting. We look forward to the survey results, so please keep us posted on that as well.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you, Jayden. Excellent job.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Is there a motion to revert back? Do you want to talk, Ms. Freitas? OK. You're on mute, so please.

[SPEAKER_18]: Okay, thank you so much. Great job, Jaden. I just wanted to talk a little bit about the late bus and just kind of the talk amongst the kids around belonging and equity, right? So there are some kids that can't do student advisory council because they have to go home right after school because there is no late bus. So the kids brought that to my attention. I said, let's look into it. We're focusing on belonging and equity. That's what our goal is. So that was a consistent thing that has occurred over the last three years. So I'm very proud of them for kind of pushing that work forward. Secondly, it has been wonderful to be a part of conversations with Matt Rice and SMMA about a new school. Wouldn't it be amazing to have departure and arrival times and also, like the MBTA, have hearing impaired and people that can't see, the ability to put that something up to help people navigate the buses in a new building. I know that's not anytime soon but you know if we're thinking about the future you know I would love for us to be able to provide access to kids. I have a lot of ninth graders that come up and don't understand where the bus stops and so on and so forth and you know I think it's important to provide them with as much information as possible so they're not scared about getting on the bus and riding the bus to Medford High School. Um, you know, again, this is a work in progress, but, uh, it's been pretty exciting to sit in and listen to Matt and, uh, all the people at Medford High talk about a future in Medford. So I'm pumped. This is the second time I've worked with SMMA and, uh, let's make it better than Waltham and better than Somerville. Thank you. And also where our spirit week just started. The Mustang.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um, motion to revert to the regular order of business.

[Aaron Olapade]: A motion for that.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I remember all parties seconded by a second. Member Bradley roll call, please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Yes. Member Olapade. Yes. Member Redfield. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Lungo-Koehns.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion to revert back to the regular order business has been approved. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Chad Fallon, executive director of CTE, to give us an update on the CTE grants.

[Chad Fallon]: Hi, good evening, everyone. I'm gonna give an update tonight on some money that has entered into the district tonight and just share with you some of the initiatives that we're gonna be using the money for. I thought it was, let me just move my screen here. Helpful to remember when you think about CareerTech and Medford, what we operate on. So for FY26, our budget was $254,500. Of that, we depend on the revenue that we generate in our programs and donations. So with that number added to the FY26 grant funding so far, we're going to be bringing in another $542,000 to our little school. The money that It's targeted for, this is going to be for specific professional development for the CareerTech faculty. We're going to be working on aligning our programs to academic offerings in partnership with the Lynch School for Boston College. We're going to be funding, we got some funding to support the development of our new Chapter 74 programs for plumbing and information support services and networking. And we're going to be using money from our Perkins to upgrade equipment in culinary, film and TV, and cosmetology. Additionally, with Perkins, we use that money for OSHA training, specialized exams for students to strengthen their own portfolio, and funds to subsidize the cost of boots and uniforms for students. The 422A was really a gift from the Department of Education. This is because we're in the pipeline for new programs. So this was an allocated amount of $35,000. That's going to be super helpful in the work that we need to do over the next six months to get a program open in the fall. 422A for $35,000. I had applied for this grant. This is 426. This is for competency based implementation. This is all of the frameworks for every chapter 74 program were rewritten and basically put public just this school year. So we're going to take this money again for targeted professional development for teachers to work on scope and sequence planning and again to the work that it takes to align academic courses to our CTE programs. This was Perkins, which I had mentioned this every year. We usually do not do salaries out of Perkins. We take the allocated amount and we use it for supplies and equipment. So that was the $64,000 for three different programs. And the last grant that was a year in delay, but we did finally receive it, was our latest round of skills capital. And this is $404,000 that we're putting directly into the auto tech program to educate students and train students on EV engines, electric cars, and hybrid motors. This, just so you know, is the fourth time that we've received these funds. In previous years, we had used it to build the bistro, upgrade our engineering shop, $300,000 for our construction program. And this is the fourth year of this award for us. And also just want to brag that it's the second highest award in the state. So really happy for Medford. This last grant, I'm a little superstitious, so I don't want to say too much. This is the one that we just applied for just last month. If we get this one, this will be a big one, and this will help us really deploy the two new programs in the fall. This was a grant that was targeted specifically for schools looking to add programs to add seats for kids. So we should be finding out somewhere at the end of December. Fingers crossed on this one. And that is a quick update.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Mr. Fallon. Great job on those grants.

[Paul Ruseau]: Yes, if we can get the whole $60 million, I hope we can make some more space. Yes, that'd be great.

[SPEAKER_16]: Me too, Paul.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member Graham?

[Jenny Graham]: Thanks. I just wanted to say thank you for pulling it all together so we can understand. A lot of this stuff comes in in dribbles, and we hear about them in one-off ways. But when you see them sort of tallied up, it makes a big difference. And then my question was, we don't need to accept these because they're grants. Is that correct? Or do we need to motion to approve these?

[Suzanne Galusi]: I'm sorry. You This is for information. You do not need to approve them. It's just so that you are aware of what has been awarded and how it's being used.

[Jenny Graham]: Great. Thank you.

[Nicole Branley]: Member Branley. I just want to thank Mr managing all of these businesses, and staff, and students, and all the pots that you have your hand in actually amazes me. As I depart my seat here at the school committee, I hope that this committee truly remembers what a crown jewel This Vogue is, I've become part of the Vogue family. I'm staying there, that's for sure. I'm not leaving the Vogue family no matter what, but I'm really, really proud of you guys. Thank you for everything that you do. I will continue to plug the Vogue here, there, and everywhere. And so if you haven't ordered your pies yet for Thanksgiving, I think it would be a great idea. I have my little flyer here. I know I'm blurry, but you can order pies at the Bistro through Friday. So just send a little email right to Chef P. It says Bistro right on there, and he'll get your pies ready for you. So.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Brinley. Thank you, Mr. Fallon. We appreciate your presentation.

[Unidentified]: Thank you, everybody. Have a good night.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You too. Next up we have HMFAH school use report. I'll pass it over to you, Dr. Galussi.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you very much. I'm just going to give it a second for Mr. Pippa Sallie to do the screen share for me. Thank you so much. Okay, great. So good evening. I do want to begin this presentation just a little bit on the next slide by grounding us in how we arrived at this discussion tonight. So last May, during the school committee subcommittee meeting on enrollment and overcrowding, there was a resolution that was brought forward that acknowledged the pressure that some of our elementary schools were facing around shifting enrollment, uneven capacity across the buildings, and a need for both immediate relief and long-term planning. And you can see this, what is on this slide, was not only a clip from the presentation last year but also the short-term and the long-term suggestions, ideas, solutions that we discussed. So Since this meeting, we have taken some meaningful steps to address short-term needs for this current school year. That's why there's a little green check mark. We did wind up relocating the MEEP at the Roberts to the Missituk, which allowed for some additional space at the Roberts. where the Roberts is experiencing some overcrowding. This kindergarten class was not as large as we have seen since COVID. We're keeping a close eye on that, but there needed to be a little bit of a relief. And so there was also an additional special education teacher at the Roberts that was hired this year to ensure inclusive specialist coverage. And then we did launch a comprehensive space utilization study using HMFH to see how our K-8 buildings how the space is being used currently and what opportunities, you know, exist. You'll also notice on this screen as part of last year's work, we did review, the district did review a lot of long-term solutions. We, as you have listed here, where we looked at the possibility of a weighted lottery for kindergarten, grade span restructuring, a review of where we're placing our special education programs. We really did take a comprehensive look at what other opportunities could be, but decided really what is best for the district at the time is let's get a better understanding as to how our spaces are used so that we have some information when we are discussing next steps. So that's what we are here tonight to do, is discuss the Space Utilization Study. So right here on this slide, what you can see is this captures the work that HMFH did during the Space Utilization Study. They visited all four elementary schools, as well as the McGlynn Middle School and the Andrews Middle School, and they looked at the current use of classrooms. They identified spaces within each school that could possibly be used as additional classrooms, but I think it's important to note that the criteria that they used were that these were the size of these classrooms, if these classrooms had windows, and how close they were to circulation paths. That will come up in future conversations, so I think it's important to note. And then they did know, based on the framing from that subcommittee meeting, that the places of particular interest regarding capacity were the Brooks and the Roberts elementary schools. So this right here, the chart below here just shows, this was HMFH findings for how classrooms were used last year. And so you can see that they have tallied core classrooms last year by grade level span. I think it's important to note that subseparate specialized programs are not reflected in these numbers. And where you see some of the, where some of them are located is in this orange box where it says possible additional classroom space. And that is based on enrollment numbers, class sizes, and again, their criteria of the size of the classroom, if they had windows, and proximity to circulation paths. You also would notice the last And maybe just if I keep on that span for just a second. So at the Brooks, that meant that there were six classrooms that they felt the district could take an additional look at and see, all right, how are these six being used? Can we leverage these in a different way? Is there something we can do? And so forth down the list. So Missituk, they wanted us to look at five, Roberts five, McGlynn Elementary Middle seven between the two of them and Andrews nine. The last two rows talk about how we are currently using, like how many students within that grade span across the district are an average in these classrooms and how many we can put in there per the CBA. I just wanna note that when they did this, there is some leverage here. They used the old CBA and not the current CBA. Next slide, please. So taking the results that they gave us and knowing that they said that these classrooms warranted an additional review, and to build on that, we did conduct just an initial internal walkthrough. And we did that specifically at the Andrews because so many classrooms were identified as, hey, there are nine classrooms here. that warrant a review. And we also noticed that because of the criteria they came up with around windows and size and circulation paths, there were a lot of classrooms that they did not include in the original report. And so it was important for us to get a better understanding by walking the building about where are these nine classes and why weren't all of them part of the report. So what we came to find out is that there were several spaces that are currently being used differently than from what the original intention was. When a space utilization study is done, they're using the original floor plans, and they're looking at, okay, when this building was built, this is how this room was supposed to be used, and then they're kind of looking at how it's currently being used, and that's how they're flagging these spaces. Um, there were several spaces that warrant a further review. And it's also important to note that if we were going to maybe repurpose some of these areas, that there are varying levels of renovation or facility work that may need to happen in order to make them efficient to the purpose that we need it to be. Next slide, please. Thank you. This first column here, I know it's a lot of words, but I just wanted to show everyone, this first column are the four options that HMFH gave us as to at the end of their space study, here are some things that you could look at. And what we did here internally is say like, for each option, are renovations involved, is redistricting within the city involved, are there going to be increased transportation needs, and then just some like additional notes to consider. So the first option was basically like everything stays the same. the four elementary schools, nothing changes, but you just look at each building, specifically the Roberts and the Brooks, to see where we can free up space. And so does that require renovation, potentially? Does it require redistricting, maybe potentially, especially where some of the MEPS are considered? And then are there transportation needs, potentially, if we're looking at programs and space? I do think what's important to note is that because of the varying capacity and enrollment from school to school, that additional space that we would find is limited for multi-use. It's like not evenly distributed across all four schools. So we are going to find greater capacity at the Missituk and less at the other three buildings. Option two, which I will just paraphrase for what HMFH has listed here, but option two is basically to say that the elementary schools become K-4, the McGlynn Middle becomes a 5-6, and the Andrews becomes a 7-8. And so that option, for just an initial review, will that involve renovations potentially, redistricting? No. Transportation? Yes. We would now have to be talking about transporting 5th grade students as well as 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. It would create additional space in all four elementary schools and it would remove the need for a middle school assignment process because every student would go to the McGlynn and every student would go to the Andrews. Option three and four were a little out of the box, but option three here, they suggested that the McGlynn becomes entirely middle school and kindergarten, and then that the Andrews would take the fifth grade from the Brooks, the Misituck, and the Roberts, and one through four from the McGlynn. So for us, that would require renovation, redistricting, and transportation. To equip a middle school space to now take in first graders is definitely going to require renovation. and the newly built McGlynn playground. That access, though the Andrews is on campus to the McGlynn, it's not adjacent. And so walking first graders or second graders from the McGlynn to be able to use that playground also just seems like another barrier, and it would impact time on learning. Similar rationale for option four, which is very similar, but instead of kindergarten, the McGlynn becomes, we put all the pre-K at the McGlynn, plus the middle school grades, and then the Andrews takes the fifth grade from the Brooks, the Misituck, and the Roberts, and again, K to four from the McGlynn. Same rationale, it would require that even like Still, that requires the renovation to equip middle school spaces to take on younger students, definitely redistricting if we're bringing all pre-K to the option before all K, definitely increase in transportation, and again, not direct access to the playground. Thank you. So the recommendation from the district is that based on this utilization study, we would recommend a further review of option two. It would not be for next school year, 26-27. It would be a further review for school year 27-28. We do feel that option two requires a further review with a committee of varied stakeholders. We do think that it could effectively address immediate and long-term needs for the district. and minimize disruption to the greater community. We do think it's the most balanced and cost effective for the district and the needs of the existing facilities. And then also it addresses the middle school, it allows us to address the middle school programming. So it would eliminate the lottery process for entry. As I previously stated, all students would go to both the McGlynn and then the Andrews. This would also address demographic disparities between the two schools based on the programming that is happening right now at the two schools. And it would eliminate that programming piece where some programs are at the McGlynn specialized programs for EL and special education, and some are at the Andrews. This would mean that we would have programming at both. So with that said, what we see as next steps would be, as mentioned during the subcommittee meeting last year, the establishment of a task force to further review option two, which we believe is the most valuable option, to partner with the existing school teams in that work to explore and identify actual capacity, and then create advisory deliverables to this committee and to inform planning for school year 27-28. We would say that the development of this task force would be that we're gathering stakeholder interest in early January so that we are convening this work. late January so that we can be finished in a reasonable amount of time so that we're able to present at the end of the year to the school committee. And then for next year, we would, for middle school assignment, continue to use the existing lottery system that is currently in place and has been in place for the past seven years to assign sixth grade students for school year 26-27. And I know that's a lot to probably take in, but at this time, I'm happy to answer questions and have a conversation. Thank you, Mr. Pippicelli.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Galusi. Member Ruseau?

[Paul Ruseau]: Thank you. I really am happy to see that slides just an option to because that was after reading those options. I'm like, please let that be the one. I'm especially excited for the, you know, one of the things that we have talked about in the past is that students with certain types of disabilities don't really get a choice as to which middle school. They're out of the lottery. And so I'm excited that we will no longer have essentially a class of students that doesn't get the same choice that other students get, the same for our Yale students. From an equity perspective, I'm very excited about this. I am curious, and I realize that that's part of what the committee that will be created to do this will have to investigate, is I'm curious about how that will affect programming at the elementary schools around special ed. And I think we have EL at all the schools. But I don't think we have newcomers at all the schools. So it would be interesting to see if we can solve that problem of, you know, some students have to go from one grade to another and change to a different school. Or we used to have that. I'm not sure the current layout. So I'd like, I feel like the middle school equity part is almost just solved by default with this approach. But I would like to know how that What what areas of equity we are still missing at the elementary level that we could really, um, maybe drive this all the way home. So thank you for the presentation. I look forward to hearing from the group of people that will provide recommendations.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Remember. Okay, you weren't muted, so I went with you, I wasn't sure. Member Olapade.

[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, thank you so much. And thank you for this presentation. This gives some really good, I think, insight into this next step, and I'm really excited for the prospect of it. And I'm sure that the task force will kind of go into the nitty gritty of this. Obviously, this is kind of a very, like, altitude level approach to this discussion since we're so early in. When we talk about transportation, I know that's going to be one of the biggest conversations that are going to come up just with navigating, at least with option two, fifth graders all now going to the McGlynn and the Brooks, for example. Have we thought about what the costs will be about rerouting buses and busing in that regard? I know that we already have that bus routing already set up. But I know that's going to be a big conversation for a lot of parents, especially about navigating timeline about students schedules and how it's going to shift probably more drastically than we may first initially envision. And again, that may be a more task force conversation as we kind of get into it, but just something that I'm wondering about. And then the other portion of that is Do we have a set of criteria or deliverables for the April, May 26 presentation we're looking for? And if we do, could we have that sent to us just so that we have that physical copy as well?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Two great questions. First, for the transportation, I agree. And I think that's another reason why I'm very grateful that we have a dedicated position now to transportation with somebody with that expertise that has done this job in other districts, who will be, I think, a key person to participate on this task force. and be able to kind of have those conversations. I think that's a lot of data that we're going to have to review, look into, and run some numbers. I think when we do get to that part of the work with the task force, happy to share. I think that would definitely be part of the deliverables. And I think, you know, one of the things I want to say too on this call is that this is not like set in stone. This does not mean like this is what we're doing. It just means that as a result of the space utilization study, let's do right by the data that's in front of us. Let's just explore a little bit more. Is it even viable to do this option? And so I would say that a lot of the deliverables are going to be around the actual viability of what is it going to take to be able to do this, because I would say if we're going to entertain it, I could see deliverables being somewhat scenario-based, because it's going to involve some level of renovation. you have the transportation costs, but in order to maybe make some of the spaces we need to, I think even if it's something as simple as like putting up a wall, there's going to be some sort of level of renovation. And I think what this report is gonna have to detail very transparently is what would have to be involved in order to fulfill option two, if it's possible at all. Does that make sense?

[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, that's great. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thank you. Member Graham, Member Ntapo, and then we have Josh.

[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. I agree that this, at this point, appears to be our best option. I think this study from HMFH was really good and important to help us debunk our own opinions about what happens in our buildings. These buildings are busting at the seams, and they are in their current configuration, but they clearly identified that there's more than meets the eye, which I think is really important. Um, I think I just want to flag that as this task force is, like, doing its work, we're going to start receiving a bunch of information about our community driven input from our strategic plan. And. I would like this task force as they think about. this question of how do we do this, to also think about anything that we're going to collect or glean through that process about middle school. Because let's say the overwhelming feedback is middle school should have an X class that it doesn't have right now. Obviously, if we're planning on making changes to buildings, and schedules, and structures, all of that stuff, really sort of thinking about all of that at the same time, like, seems to make a lot of sense to me. So I would want this group to certainly be able to, like, raise the flag, like, hey, this actually isn't viable for these reasons, right? Because I think that's one possibility. But more importantly, to, like, take sort of a broader lens to what they're going to consider and say, What is the right way for us to do middle school? And can we get there? How do we get there in this like reconfigured model? So I think there's like a sort of a broader mission. And I think there's lots of questions. There's like a financial aspect of this. There's the transportation aspect. There's like what classes should we be teaching? Like in a five, six school, does it work the same way as middle school now? Like there's a million questions for us to think about and answer and be thoughtful about. So I think that's really important. Um, so I'm, you know, I'm hopeful that we can, like, sort of. Start to meld these 2 efforts together as they, as they continue towards the April May timeframe. Um, but I, I personally think that the committee needs to say, yes, this is where we want to go because otherwise, like, it's, it's very amorphous for a task force to, like. have a kind of charge. But there's like 10 people on the call tonight. Most of them are people who work at MPS. And what I don't want to do is say have us like take some sort of a vote tonight that then tomorrow everyone's like the school committee voted to do this thing and they didn't even tell us about it. So because that's fair. So what I kind of am thinking about is Do we table this for a vote at our next meeting and between now and then we let the public know that. We are considering a reconfiguration at our middle schools that will have impacts to both elementary and middle and that we that in this reconfiguration, it will not happen. In August of this year, but instead we're planning for the future and that what we are inviting input on in our next meeting are the kinds of things people want the task force to consider so that. We can create some space to collect some of that information before the task force gets going. Instead of like the task force comes to us and presents, you know, here's what we think and here's what we recommend and then then people come in and they're like, did you think about this and this and this and this and this? So. I think what I would like to do, uh, let other people chat before I do this, but is to make a motion to table this to next week with some promotion of like, this, this consideration being out there so that. if there are people who want to talk about what the task force, the scope of the task force is or the kinds of questions they're going to be asked to answer that we can hear that from people before and not after the task force feels like it's done. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham. Member Intoppa. And then Member Reinfeld.

[John Intoppa]: Yeah, thank you all for this information. And I'll actually, you know, preemptively second that motion with the amendment of for the December 1st meeting to earmark that for the December 1st meetings that I believe is the next meeting that we have. I'll also say, so we're talking a lot about a lot of stuff and what this option looks like and reverting to things. I have a question about staffing and a question about how our faculty will be impacted by this change in terms of retention with faculty. Are we expecting, I mean, obviously this is something that the task force would look at, but are we expecting to retain all of our faculty or are we expecting that this will lessen positions, bring up positions, keep them the same in terms of how class sizes are impacted by funneling all of one, by making this switch with option two, what does that look like just to get ahead of any rumor mill or ahead of any anxieties that may occur? Because when I hear this, that's immediately where I think of is I think of, How are faculty impacted? What do jobs look like? What do position numbers look like? FTEs, all that fun numbers stuff that we do every budget season. How is that impacted? And I'm not sure if there's any initial thoughts about that or if we have to wait until the committee meets. And like member Graham said, I completely concur with the idea of like, we don't want anyone to think we're taking a motion tonight to put this into effect, to do this. We don't want that narrative because unfortunately, you know, we just don't want to scare anyone in terms of that we're making this huge change suddenly and that this will come into play in August and all of that. But that's my initial question is what are we looking at with staffing?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yeah, and I think that's why it was important for me to say that it's not for next year. And it also is not a definite It's not a definite decision. It's one that just warrants another review. I think it's a balance. So we're in total partnership all the time with our teachers. So this is not about, you know, reducing. This is about, we also heard teachers come to school committee meetings to talk about the overcrowding at some of our schools. And so, you know, some of this work was also in response to like their input. So I think just taking a closer look at what our options and our possibilities are is where we are in this process. When we get, and also for the task force, I mean This is, I welcome, you know, teachers' perspective and participation on the task force. Like, it's great if this should be an opportunity for varied stakeholders to dig into the work. And I would say as we go along, this has to be we have monthly joint labor meetings with our teachers, and we're just starting up with our paraprofessionals so I do imagine that this would be like ongoing conversation, so that people feel like they understand what is happening. And then when we get to a point of advisory as to what we feel our next steps should be, then I would imagine the appropriate conversations will happen as a result of what the advisory is.

[John Intoppa]: Thank you. And I understand all that, but my question still stands of preliminary, do we think that staffing changes will occur in terms of like- What was that?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: We just don't know that as of yet, right? But Dr. Guzzi.

[John Intoppa]: Right, then that's a viable answer too. Like if we don't know, we don't know. But I just wanted to put it out there and ask, do we know? And if we don't know, we don't know. But if we do know, I'd like to know.

[Suzanne Galusi]: I, I, we haven't done the work. So I don't know. That's why I've updated you with what the what HMFH said and the further dive that we need to do with a task force.

[Unidentified]: Okay, thank you.

[Erika Reinfeld]: Thank you. Member Reinfeld? Yep, I won't. So my colleagues covered a lot of the things I was jotting down, so thank you. Won't repeat. I have one question and one comment left that I haven't crossed out yet. In our strategic planning subcommittee, we talked about looking at the MISA TUC in particular for some early childhood focused. I didn't see that on the list. We also got some negative feedback about that from the public on our, on our call, but I'm wondering what happened to that thinking or did that just get absorbed into, well, we're looking at a high school that has space for early childhood, so let's not implement that change and then have to implement a new change. And then my comment is around the type of learning that's going to be occurring in these spaces. Member Graham covered a little bit in terms of what does a late elementary school and early middle school look like now that we're thinking there's a middle school and a junior high. or however we frame that. But I was a little bit appalled when you said that the space company didn't look at some of the special education spaces. And so I really, really don't want that to be an afterthought. And particularly as we're looking at the equity across the different grade levels and the different schools, the type of learning that is happening in these classrooms and the need, the student need, the teacher need, the community need in these classrooms. I really hope that this task force will be really focused on that. It seems like I really appreciate what the space utilization study showed us and what HFMFN did. Sorry, I got the letters wrong. I think a lot of that was the number of students and the space available and doing that math, right? I think options three and four were surprising to me, not just because of the playground, but thinking about we've got middle schoolers and kindergartners, and I already hear about the McGlynn cafeteria and the choice vocabulary people are learning. So all this to say, I think this is a really good start. I appreciate getting some input before we officially vote to study it further, and just being aware that the Thanksgiving holiday is between our next meeting and our next meeting is the day a lot of people are getting back from family activities or travel. So making sure we get this messaging out early and not as people are leaving for a Thanksgiving break. So thank you, and I look forward to the next steps. Thank you for that. Thank you.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Is it okay if I quickly respond?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, Dr. Galussi.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you for that. I think Will and I can do that pretty quickly. The MISTITUC was one of the things that internally the district looked at as a possible long-term solution. HMFH did not have that in their options. We could always go back to them, and that's something that maybe through the task force, if that's something that we want to look at. might require additional funding, but you never know with these things, but they did not bring that up as a suggestion. And I agree around the type of learning. The only thing I want to clarify about the space is Their criteria, again, so they did look at some of the special education classrooms, just in case people have the same kind of wondering as they're listening to this. They were reflected in those additional potential classrooms to look at. And it wasn't because it's a special classroom, a subseparate classroom, a service provider classroom. It really was the size of the room, in relation to the amount of students in the space. And so it was a flag for the district to look and say, is this a space that we could repurpose? Because the number of students is not at the class level cap that it can be. And we do know that depending on the programs, maybe for some of them we could look into that, but not all. And so for some of our programs, we need additional space. And so that was just a little flag for the district to have those internal conversations. The pieces that surprised me were in some of the schools, there were like internal classrooms that weren't necessarily flagged by HMFH that I'm very interested in having the task force look at. Some of those internal classrooms are around what our specialist classrooms are being currently used as, so art, tech lab, spaces like that. And I'm not taking, we're not like, you know, doing anything right now, but just to take of make sure we're not leaving any stone unturned.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham?

[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I just also wanted to mention that I think the staffing question that was raised by Member Intoppa is a fair, a good and fair one. But I think before we can talk about that question, we have to talk about what is going to happen in the building and how do we like re-envision how we meet the needs because it's not exactly the same. But at the end of the day, we're still educating the same number of kids. So we might not do it exactly the same way that we've always done it, but it's too soon to say yes or no or something in the middle. But at the end of the day, we have the same number of kids to educate and hopefully a growing number of kids to educate as more students decide to stick with MPS. So I think that is a question for the task force, like the finance side of the task force to that, but not until we've decided how do we educate students? What does middle school look like? What supports are needed? And how does that change as we move into these new thing, into these new structures? So it's very much on my mind. I just think there's a whole slew of things that we have to decide and a whole slew of opportunities to evaluate before we get there.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Member Graham. Josh, name and address for the record.

[SPEAKER_16]: Ah, good evening. Josh Terrell, 86 Newbern Avenue. Long-time listener, first-time caller. I've lived in South Medford for almost 10 years now. I've got two young children, and my son is heading to the Missituk for kindergarten next year. So, in regards to the school use report, I actually didn't plan for this, but member Reinfeld and Dr. Galusi really teed up my question. If the recommended models by HMFH frees up classroom space across the district, my question is, could some of that space be used to expand access to full-time pre-K? I usually hold court at Tufts Park, and a lot of the parents of the playground tell me the MEET program and the staff are wonderful, but the schedule is just impossible. The issue isn't about like program quality, it's just availability. You know, we personally were offered 10 hours a week at Misatoch for our son, and we had to opt out for something private that met our needs. So, if this reconfiguration suggests space can be gained, even if the gains are modest, I feel like it's worth asking whether this is an avenue to expand programming in the long term, not just rebalance. I have more questions than answers about this right now, but I'd love to see the topic of expanding pre-K added to future agendas for broader public comment.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you, Josh. Yeah, really appreciate that. So I do think it's important to note that through the MSBA process that we're going through at Medford High School, our educational plan includes the creation of an early childhood center, which would bring preschool, our municipal daycare, MFN, all in one space up here at the high school. And part of that was because we do want to have conversations about what would it mean to increase not only the capacity for preschool programming, but also full day preschool programs. So it is part of the ongoing conversation. I can't necessarily give a timeline to it, but I do think it's worth a further dive.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Dr. Lucy.

[Suzanne Galusi]: Member Graham has her hand up. Yes, Member Graham.

[Jenny Graham]: Sorry, you can hear my dog whining in the background here. She decided to join us. I just have a motion, which I'm going to put in the chat so that people can read it or copy it if they need to, so that we are on the record, which is the motion would be to table the recommendation to adopt option two, which would move all elementary schools to pre-K to four, change our McGlynn Middle School to five to six, and change our Andrews middle to seven to eight upon validation of the feasibility of the decision to be a decision by the to be formed middle school transition task force until our December 2nd meeting. Further request that the administration invite the public to attend the 12-2 meeting to provide input on the scope of the questions and considerations to be addressed by the task force. Oh, amendment 12-1, okay. Happy to take that amendment. And I'm also going to add in this change would take effect in the 27, 28 school year, just so that that's clear as well. Hold on, I'm just retyping.

[Paul Ruseau]: I already got it.

[Jenny Graham]: I'm just going to put it in the chat. Um, so that is the, uh, motion.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay. Motion to table by member Graham and I believe member on top of you earlier said you wanted to second it.

[John Intoppa]: Yes, but I'll also mention that, um, if it. be take kindly to the amendment of removing the 2728. I know it provides clarity, but in case the recommendation is that we need a further delay to change things around, I don't want to pin us to 2728 if we, unless this has no, not that it doesn't matter, but unless it doesn't pin us to 2728, but I know the intention is to say it's not going to happen in 2627, but I just don't want to make it so that way we are forced to then do 2720.

[Jenny Graham]: I think that's the upon validation of the feasibility part. Like it could be happening later, but I want to be really clear because what I don't want is a bunch of parents to feel like they need to truck themselves out on December 1st to say, you haven't thought this through. There isn't enough time because we're not intending to do this this year. So that's not on the table.

[John Intoppa]: Can we put it in at the earliest, the 27, 28 school year early school year? Would that work? Is that an okay amendment to make? And if so, I'll second.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to approve by member Graham. Motion to table amended by member Intoppa. Member Ruseau?

[Paul Ruseau]: No, no, I just think that it's important to, when we direct others to do work, to set an expectation. So, I mean, are overcrowding is a perennial issue? We receive numerous communications from parents and a lot of freaking out at the beginning of every school year about we have to add another kindergarten classroom. But I mean, my own husband works in a kindergarten classroom. Essentially, it's a lovely classroom. There isn't a window and it's in the corner and it is not intended to be a classroom. So I think the urgency of saying The goal here is 27, 28, and let them decide that it's not possible for whatever reason, rather than giving people an out. We're supposed to be the ones giving the direction. And I always expect that when we give direction, if it runs into problems, people come back to us and say, we tried. here's why we're not gonna get there, rather than giving them the out before we even tried. But regardless, I'll, we can just take this language and move along.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham? Good. Okay. So, you're good, Member Ruseau, or would you like to remove the?

[Paul Ruseau]: Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: No, it's fine. Yeah, I mean, we are overcrowded, so, I think everybody's goal is to fix this issue by 2728, but I hear what you're saying, Member Intoppa. So we're going to move approval to table as amended. Roll call, please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Bradley? Yes. Member Graham? Yes. Member Intoppa? Yes. Member Olapade? Yes. Member Reinfeld?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Rossell? Yes. Mayor Lincoln?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. This motion is tabled. We do not have any reports of subcommittees nor presentations to the public, continued business, but we do have new business. 2025-36 offered by member Intoppa, whereas navigating and obtaining a 504 plan may be complex for families and friends of students navigating accommodations for the first time. And be it resolved that the administration health services and student services departments will look into drafting a notice sent to families and caregivers on a yearly basis about 504 plans. Content may include but not be limited to guidance on how to navigate, how to apply any needed documentation, what a 504 is and who qualifies. Member Intoppa.

[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. This motion comes out of a conversation that we had at a lovely round table surrounding allergens and surrounding families and parents and caregivers and friends of students who have major food allergies within the system. It was talked about how navigating a 504 plan was difficult and how the community member in particular did not feel, and I don't want to misquote them, did not feel that they had the adequate resources to figure this out and to figure out that they could actually get a 504 plan for their student's allergy due to the nature of it. and a whole bunch of other stuff. And so this comes from just looking at what that may look like. You know, we do yearly notices for other things, you know, in the past, and I think we still do. We do a yearly notice around gun safety and around storage. And so just as one example, but looking at, you know, what that language looks like, what those guides kind of look like in terms of helping families understand the really intense process of 504. I will say on a personal note, I had a 504 plan when I was in Medford Public Schools. I was almost not granted it because that option was not given to my folks. They were screening me for an IEP. I didn't qualify for an IEP and we almost didn't pursue that until we were presented with the thought process of doing a 504 and I was able to be properly supported in Medford Public Schools given support systems in the Medford Public Schools to be the best student that I could with my disability and working towards different academic goals. So that's what this motion is. It's to look at what that language looks like, to what other resources may look like. It's to really spark a conversation around making sure that our families know what a 504 is and know how to get access to it, especially for those who may not have known that, whether that be they haven't had one in the past, they don't have a child who has that in the past, they didn't have one, or they are not aware of other families that have done so.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, Dr. Galusi, I figured you'd want to respond. Yes.

[Suzanne Galusi]: I think the, what I think is very important that Member Intoppa has raised is just that like the need for continuous communication or making sure parents know where to go to find supports or resources that they feel they may need or at least want to discuss. I want to make it very clear that a 504 plan follows an eligibility process just like an IEP does. And so they can't just be given. There is a formal process with a team, with caregivers, with a school-based team. We do have on our website a lot of information. Ms. Bone, who oversees 504s with Mr. Pivoselli, has really done like a little audit of the website to make sure that all of the information is updated and current. And I think really happy to, at the start of every year, like especially since we have a formalized communication system with the memo to put reminders in there about where parents can find supports for their students if need be, maybe sections on the website that help where they can find those resources. I just want to be careful about how it's communicated just so that where parents know that there is an eligibility process.

[John Intoppa]: Yeah, thank you. That's exactly why I put in the motion eligibility requirements. So that way people know, you know, we make sure that we're making it so known that, you know, there is an eligibility aspect, but also what are the eligibilities and what are the things that people may not realize that their student may be eligible. The whole point of this is to make sure that families know that if their student is eligible, that they seek it out and they go for it and they try to Obtain a 504 because some families may not realize that their students are eligible until it's too late and until they are in the later Grades and so all about that early intervention and notifying noticing these things now is what what this is really aiming for So I really hear what you have to say and I thank you for bringing that up Yeah, and on that website to your point on the website Miss Bowen made sure that there was a link there to like there's a frequently asked questions document that is she's been working on internally and that

[Suzanne Galusi]: is going up, Ms. Vaughn-Jones?

[Joan Bowen]: Probably in the next week. We're just getting some feedback from other administrators, and then it will be up with all the information and the process that parents and caregivers can follow. Thank you. Thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Wright? You're on mute. I'm muted. You're a mute member, I'm sorry about that.

[Erika Reinfeld]: Thank you. This doesn't need to go into the resolution, but I think the other thing that I'd love to see as part of this is a conversation with the 504 coordinators, because I have heard from caregivers who are going through this process that they feel like sometimes their coordinator and their team isn't expecting the particular accommodations and they would like the team to be thinking about other options that maybe they've received doing this work as teachers in other districts, as coordinators in other districts. So I think as this communication goes out and we may be seeing more people coming to the process, I would love to see a little more conversation among the people who will be interfacing with the families about doing that and doing that in a really accessible, culturally sensitive way. Um, this isn't picking on anyone in particular, but just to make sure that we really are a strong team in responding to these requests and in really becoming a team in putting them in place.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Um, so is there a motion for approval?

[Unidentified]: Okay.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Seconded by. I can second. Okay, roll call, please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Bradley.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Graham.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Ntaba.

[Aaron Olapade]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Olapade.

[Aaron Olapade]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Members say yes, Mayor Langenberg.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, seven the affirmative, zero the negative, motion passes. Thank you, Member Ntaba. Also offered by member in Tapa is 2025-37, be it resolved that the Medford Public Schools will work alongside a register of voters to best identify how we can improve engagement, engaging our student population in the following but not limited to areas, pre-registering to vote, absentee mail-in ballots if traveling, currently stationed elsewhere than mass or at a higher education institution, identify roadblocks and barriers outside the norm of registering, how to address a letter, et cetera. Action items will be created to then send to an ad hoc committee created by the superintendent of key stakeholders to best identify ways to strengthen our voter education plan across the district. Member Intoppa.

[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. You know, this comes out of my work personally at my day job. A lot of, for context, during election season and not during election season, I work heavily with our college students at the Master's College of Art and Design get them educated on on civic and just sort of catch them up to speed alongside the director of government corporate relations and my other team and student engagement to help students figure out a way to make a plan to vote to figure out voting stuff. During the 2024 presidential election I was dealt I was dealing with a lot of shocking questions, a lot of things that I never would have thought of that our students here were wondering. Things like, all right, I know who my registrar voter is, but I don't know how to address a letter because my state requires that I send in a letter application if I can't make it in person. Or, oh yeah, I'm just going to go early vote at the MFA. Where do you live? Oh, I live in Quincy. That's not how that works. And so really helping catch our Medford students up to date on how these things work, their rights as voters, their rights as, and their ways that they can do it. Because I want our Medford Public School students to be the leaders that I work with to help educate other students and to get them aware of, you know, how to pre-register, the age they can pre-register. You know, if they live in the dorms, can they register to vote in the dorms or should they, you know, stay at home or should they stay registered at home? All these things that they may have questioned, especially for our students who may be shipped off in the military, and how they, sorry, I thought my computer froze for a second, how they have voting rights and all that. So this is really an ask for the administration to take a look at how we can best support our students. I'm thankful for our faculty members that go to our Register of Voters and pull out Register to Vote cards and help get students pre-registered or registered. The Medford Register of Voters, I've had a conversation with them Especially Jim Blanchard, the elections manager, talking about how they would love this support because they would love the support from the schools to help work together collaboratively to make this in. Easy as you know, the committee could come out and say we have cards to hand out, or it's a bunch of QR codes that get posted outside of every bathroom around election season and whether or not they're eligible or not to do it. At least the information is there and it's ready, and we're lucky that Massachusetts, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, has an amazing one-stop shop for all these things, but it's about getting our students there in the first place to learn about it so that they know about it before they need it and to be better civic leaders, not just in Medford, but wherever they may choose to go once they leave here. So that's what this motion is. Like I said, it could be as simple as there's a sign that's printed really nice that gets put up every year, year round outside the guidance office. It could be that we send out a yearly notice about voting and registering to vote. or we put together voting packages, whatever it may be. Again, super open-ended. That's why I'm having the experts talk about it. I've talked to Will about this a few times about what the graphic design looks like or what have you. But I think that's enough of me talking. I think the motion stands for what it is.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thank you, Member Intoppa. Member Graham, then Member Reinfeld.

[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. I was actually wondering if this might be a great place to plug our student advisory council into the conversation. I think when adults do things, sometimes it works and when peers do things, there's a different lens that is effective. And so I'm wondering if it might make sense to like, amend the motion to ask the administration to work with the student advisory council to explore solutions that might improve our statistics. And I think my other. My other question is like, what are what are the statistics now? And what are we trying to achieve? And I don't, you probably don't know the answer to that question, but I would be curious if we're going to invest time and energy in this, which is really important. It would also be nice to be able to say it worked or. It kind of worked, or this is where we saw movement. And I don't know how to frame those kinds of metrics, but I assume the elections manager does and could provide that input to us. Thank you.

[Erika Reinfeld]: Thank you. Member Reinfeld? Yeah, I really like the idea of bringing in the student council on this. And I think this feels like something that guidance can lead in the same way that this is, it's information about what happens after high school and in some cases during high school and careers. The other person that I would recommend potentially bringing in on the city side is Matisse from the Office of Prevention and Outreach. She's the youth coordinator and in some of our community liaisons to think about how to make sure this language gets to people in all of the ways that they communicate with families.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Member Ntuk, are you moving approval and seconded by?

[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I happily accept the amendments. I will say that the reason I left it kind of vague was to assist the superintendent in helping find that and make sure it's availability. In previous conversations, I brought up specifically the CCSR and this being some kind of civic-led project to help survey the students and figure out where their needs are. Because like you said, when it's peer-to-peer, it's a whole difference of experience and a whole different outcome in terms of surveys. So getting the SAC involved, getting the CCSR involved to figure out how we can, like I said, find those weird little gaps is in what be registering or may not be doing it. It's all about building this routine early on and anything we can do to help support that. And also it may not apply to students, but it sure as heck can maybe apply to their families and making sure that they can take that guide and help assist their families when it comes to voting, um, assist their friends and more, um, spread the wealth. Right. So thank you. I motion to approve and accept the amendments.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to approve by Member Intoppa and amended by Member Graham, seconded by?

[SPEAKER_20]: I'll second.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Branley. Roll call, please.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Branley?

[Nicole Branley]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Graham?

[Nicole Branley]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Intoppa?

[Nicole Branley]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Olipate?

[Nicole Branley]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Reinfeldt? Yes. Members say yes, Mayor Lococo.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes, 70 affirmative, zero in the negative, motion passes. We do not have any reports requested. We do have a couple of condolences. The members of the Medford School Committee expressed the sincerest condolences to the family of Paul Matatal, former Medford Public Schools physical education teacher, coach, class of 1966 graduate, and 2010 Medford Hall of Fame inductee. The members of the Medford School Committee express their sincerest condolences to the family of Francis Franny Giordano, owner of Medford's Arthur's Pastry and former school committee and city council member. And lastly, the members of the Medford School Committee express their sincerest condolences to the family of Roberta Lynch, retired Medford public school teacher and paraprofessional. We all just may take a moment of silence, please. Thank you. Our next regular meeting, which we already mentioned, is December 1st, 2025 in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall, in addition to Zoom.

[Erika Reinfeld]: Motion to adjourn.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Motion to adjourn by member Reinfeld, seconded by?

[SPEAKER_20]: Second.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Stanley, all those in favor?

[SPEAKER_20]: Aye.

[Paul Ruseau]: We'll call it. No. Bradley.

[SPEAKER_20]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: That's a real call. That's a real call. Sorry. Remember Branley? Yes. Member Graham?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Intoppa?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Olapade?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Reinfeld?

[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes.

[Paul Ruseau]: Member Ruseau? Yes. Mayor Longo?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Meeting

Suzanne Galusi total time: 30.06 minutes total words: 1230	Breanna Lungo-Koehn total time: 8.48 minutes total words: 733	John Intoppa total time: 15.16 minutes total words: 1305	Paul Ruseau total time: 4.52 minutes total words: 464
Nicole Branley total time: 2.85 minutes total words: 346	Erika Reinfeld total time: 5.46 minutes total words: 314	Jenny Graham total time: 10.68 minutes total words: 1265	Aaron Olapade total time: 1.26 minutes total words: 157