[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: meeting of the Medford School Committee will come to order. Today is Monday, September 14, 2026. Welcome, everybody. It's our 16th regular meeting of the Medford School Committee. Our meeting will come to order. It's Monday, September 14, 2026. We have executive session at 5 p.m. and our regular meeting at 6 p.m. here held at the Howard Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall, in via remote participation, and this meeting is being recorded. The meeting can be viewed live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media, on your local cable channel, Comcast channel 9, 8, or 22, and Verizon channel 43, 45, or 47. Participants can log or call in by using the following Zoom link, and the meeting ID is 996. 3-9-6-8, 5-9-9-5. Member Ruseau, if you'd please call the roll.
[Paul Ruseau]: Member Graham. Here. Member Mastrovone. Here. Member Olapade. Here. Member Parks. Here. Member Reinfeld is almost here. Member Ruseau is present. Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Present. Six present, one on her way. I don't believe there's any student reps yet, but we'll maybe see them at our 6 p.m. meeting. If we could all please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have executive session pursuant to General Laws 30A, Section A3. The Medford School Committee will convene an executive session, discuss collective bargaining regarding a grievance dated 5-13-2026 with the Medford Teachers Association, the MTA, and the chair so declares. An executive session pursuant to General Laws 30A, Section 21A, to conduct a strategy session on the basis that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining positions of the Medford School Committee. Specifically, the Medford School Committee will convene an executive session to discuss strategy for potential litigation. Sheik, PPA versus City of Medford, and the Chair so declares. If we could please mark Member Reinfeld present, and the Medford School Committee will convene in public session immediately following the executive session at approximately 6 p.m. Is there a motion on the floor to enter executive session?
[Mike Mastrobuoni]: Motion to enter executive session.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Olapade, seconded by? Seconded. Member Graham, roll call please.
[Paul Ruseau]: Member Mastroboni. Yes. Member Olapade. Yes. Member Parks. Yes. Member Reinfeld. Yes. Member Ruseau. Yes. Mayor Langevin.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, paper passes. Thank you, everybody, for your patience. We have our consent agenda, approval of bills and payrolls, approval of donations, Watts Water Technologies donation of $10,000, and approval of meeting minutes from our regular meeting on August 24, 2026. Is there a motion on the floor? Motion to sever by Member Reinfeld, seconded by? You don't have to sever them? Okay, motion to sever, I guess, is allowed. You sure?
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yeah, I just want to amend the minutes to include the full text of Member Graham's resolution. Okay, from that night. We lost, like, the whereas statement.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Okay, motion for approval as amended. Yes, I'll motion. So that's just you severed. You severed, so you want to just motion.
[Erika Reinfeld]: So I'll motion to approve everything else, and then I'll make the motion to amend the minutes.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: OK, I don't think we need to sever then. No.
[Erika Reinfeld]: You just want to amend the regular meeting minutes. You just want to amend the regular meeting minutes. Amend the meeting minutes so that it includes the full text of member Graham's resolution about the school building committee makeup.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: OK, so there's no motion to sever. There's a motion for approval as amended by member Reinfeld, seconded by member Rousseau. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. And welcome to our student reps. I'm sorry to announce you before the consent agenda. Thank you for being here. No reports of subcommittee. Report of our superintendent. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Galussi for our Mustang moment.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Hello. Welcome back to school year 26, 27. We're excited to be back. And as we started last year, we begin our school committee meetings hearing from the voices of our students. They are our why. They are why we are here and why we do what we do. So we are so excited that we actually have an author with us this evening from the McGlynn Elementary School. And I'm going to ask her to come to the podium. Mr. O'Brien, could I ask you to just assist for the microphone? Oh, it looks like it's on now. So we're going to have you start. Test. Perfect. Will you do us a favor? Introduce yourself, what grade you're in, and tell us a little bit about your book.
[SPEAKER_11]: Hi, my name is Andrea. I'm in grade four, and this is my book.
[SPEAKER_06]: All right, Sandy, tell me a little bit about your book.
[SPEAKER_11]: So it's about a girl that saves the world, like Rainbow World, and... He wants to say hello.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You want to let him say hello? He's proud of you.
[SPEAKER_11]: She defeats Grandin, the villain. Yeah. And she has the pig, the flying pig with her, and the crew and the Rainbow World, this is a castle where she slept in. So Xandy, where did you get the idea? I wasn't really planning to make a book. I was just, I was bored one day and I was drawing a picture and then I wanted to write a story with it. And then my mom told me to keep going. And we made lots of voice recordings, and then we wrote things down into this book.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Where can we buy the book? Where do we buy the book?
[SPEAKER_11]: Amazon.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Amazon. Nice. Congratulations. Fully published author.
[Suzanne Galusi]: So we bought some copies of your book so that we can send them to the school libraries, so they can be in each of the school libraries and on display. And I don't know if any of the members have questions, but after we take a picture, we do have some books that you will sign. so that they will be signed by the author when they go to our school libraries.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you very much.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Oh, yes.
[SPEAKER_06]: Do you want to? So along with each copy, we have a little gift. It's a feather that, once you read the book, you will know what the feather is about. And we will give it to each school so they can have a little precious memento with the book. Oh, that's nice.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Oh, we're going to take a picture with you. You're a celebrity, so. Wonderful. Well, while the books are getting signed, we'll continue on, because we have a few more reports of our superintendent. Honors Pilot for Career Technical Education, CTE, at Medford High School, presented by Dr. Kim Talbot, Assistant Superintendent for Academics and Instruction, and Mr. Chad Fallon, Executive Director of CTE. Welcome.
[Chad Fallon]: Good evening. I'm really pleased to be here tonight to share another exciting step forward for career and technical education at Medford High School. I want to first recognize how much our CTE programming continues to grow. With the recent Chapter 74 approval of plumbing and information support services and networking, we now offer 17 state-approved CTE programs at Medford High. And that's something I'm extremely proud of, and it means more opportunities and more pathways for our students. You'll also hear us using the word major much more intentionally this year. Each of these 17 CTE programs represents a student's major. They aren't electives or simply classes students take. Our students spend approximately 50% of their high school experience in their CTE major developing technical skills, completing rigorous coursework, earning industry credentials, and gaining real-world experience. As these programs continue to grow, I think it's equally important that we continue to recognize the rigor and achievement within them. That brings us to what I'm really excited to share tonight, our new career tech education honors pilot for the 2026-27 school year. We're beginning with engineering, health assisting, film and television production, and programming and web development. Honors will be optional, earned, and performance-based, with students demonstrating that higher level of achievement through either cooperative education or a rigorous capstone experience. We're also continuing to look for ways to strengthen the academic experiences connected to all of our CTE majors. One example this year is the addition of Design 1 for our Graphic Design and Visual Communication students, which gives them a stronger foundation in the principles of design and complements the technical work they're already doing. I'm really proud of the direction we're moving in, and as our CTE programs continue to grow, we want our students to see their CTE major as a rigorous, challenging, and important part of their future. Whether that future is college, career, apprenticeship, union, or further training, we support our students. So with that, I'd like to walk you through the honors pilot and what we hope to accomplish this year. And I do just want to say a special thank you to Dr. Talbot for her support and guidance through this project. So the vision for CTE is to be a defining part of the Medford High School experience, where students discover their strengths, develop real-world skills, and prepare for successful futures. A student's CTE program is their major, a rigorous pathway that combines academics, hands-on learning, credentials, and real-world experiences. Whether the next step is college, career, apprenticeship, union, military, or further training, our goal is simple. Every CTE student graduates with skills, options, and a plan for what comes next. I'm going to take this one. OK. Per the Department of Education guidance, Chapter 74 cooperative education and approved post-secondary articulation are considered advanced coursework, comparable to AP, IB, and dual enrollment. So in Medford, students who successfully complete a cooperative education experience are already meeting this high bar and are reported to the state and completed advanced coursework. But through the years, for a variety of reasons, not all students who have the prerequisite skills to engage in co-op are able to do so. So despite this reporting structure, the grades students earn are assigned a standard weighting. The challenge is that CTE students, as you probably know, spend approximately 50% of their school day in technical instruction. Advanced coursework currently receives standard GPA weighting, so all of our programs now receive standard weighting. And our students have fewer opportunities to earn weighted GPA than their peers that are enrolled in honors or AP courses. And this does create a structural integrity to student performance, unrelated to student performance. Coincidentally enough, in June 2026, Governor Healey affirmed recommendations for modernizing high school graduation requirements. And one of those components is a capstone project. So Medford was ahead of the curve once again. So the options are as follows. Students are gonna have two opportunities to earn honors in the four programs that we're piloting this year. Option one is through cooperative education, which we already do. Last year, we had about 65 of our 125 students who graduated career tech ed employed up until the day they graduated, and most students went off to work the day after graduation. Option two is a capstone project. You can think of it as a thesis. You can think of it as something the students will defend. Ultimately, it's a portfolio. It's related to their CTE major. We're gonna bring in industry professionals, most likely from our cooperative employers or our advisory committee to come in and judge the student's portfolio. And they can use this on their next step after high school, whether it's for employment or college placement. The selection criteria was that we, you know, we looked at, we had to start somewhere. So the four that we picked, they have a strong post-secondary alignment, they have articulation agreements, we have partnerships with not only employers but with schools. They have project and portfolio-based learning. They have the capacity to support this work and their college and career readiness for each program. It's also important to mention that this didn't just begin with an idea. There were students who came to see me. It began with our engineering students who wanted more out of the opportunities we had. They wanted an opportunity to learn to earn more credits above standard. It also was re-instilled by a belief that we all share that the work these students are doing is far above standard level. A quick example, we have students at Mass General Hospital, we have students in medical offices. This is work that students are doing that I think we could all agree is already above standard level, so they should earn credit for that. So the four programs that we're piloting for this year is our engineering program, health assisting, film and television production, and programming and web development. The honors component is optional, it's earned, and it's performance-based. As with any new pilot, we'll be measuring success through the impact on their GPA, the number of students that participate, the completion of the capstone project, whether or not they participate in co-op, what the outcomes are after they leave us, and of course, feedback from students and staff. I'd welcome any questions anybody has.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you for the presentation. It sounds like a great opportunity. Member Graham? Member Olapade, then Member Graham.
[Aaron Olapade]: Thank you so much. This is wonderful to hear. I had two quick questions. When it comes to the options that you mentioned, either the cooperative education or the capstone project, are any of the students that are in the four CTs that are going to be piloted, are they able to decide which of the two options that they would prefer? Or is it a conversation with their academic advisor, yourself, whomever, to kind of just determine which of the two is more aligned with them? Or is it totally dependent on what they would prefer?
[Chad Fallon]: It could be a conversation, but it is dependent on them. Some of our programs lend themselves well to co-op opportunities. Others are a little more difficult. So we wanted to give options for a student in a program that maybe co-op isn't as easy for them. Maybe they don't have a license. Maybe they can't drive to a job. Maybe they don't have the same opportunities. within their CTE major to acquire a job. So that's why we gave both options.
[Aaron Olapade]: Thank you. I wondered about that. And then the other question is that, are there other CTE programs across the state that you're aware of that are doing this type of programming? And is there data to suggest how this is impacting CTE students' post-secondary plans and the success allotted with them? I know, obviously, you mentioned the measuring success of what this will look like. But is there information to indicate how this is improving outcomes for students?
[Chad Fallon]: I think the answer to that is when I meet with other colleagues across the state, all schools are looking at ways to increase rigor for students in CTE programs, but I think for us it became more of, you know, we are unique in what we offer. We do offer different schedules for students, and I think it was becoming challenging for students who wanted to access more and who were conscious of their GPA. You know, not all students are focused on that, which is okay, but other students were finding that there was opportunities being left on the table. So I think what we're going to find is that students will now find themselves being in a more competitive advantage when they're applying to schools for the work that they're already doing. But I can tell you that, you know, the colleagues that I have, we're all, this is still pretty much new. So we're kind of at the forefront here. So there's a lot of people watching us to see how we do, to see how they are going to do next.
[Aaron Olapade]: Yeah, sounds great to me. Thank you so much.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Graham.
[Jenny Graham]: Thanks for this. Is this available starting in 10th grade?
[Chad Fallon]: Not yet.
[Jenny Graham]: Is there a reason why it's not available in 10th grade?
[Chad Fallon]: I think we're trying.
[Jenny Graham]: I know it's a pilot, but I'm just curious because anything you do in senior year doesn't matter to your grade point average.
[Chad Fallon]: Well, this is junior and senior year, but not 10th yet. I hear you. I wanted to do it for every program, and we decided we had to hold back a little just to pilot. I don't see any reason why we won't be able to look into that. But for this year, we thought it was just a safe bet to start with 11th and 12th.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, and I think that's, like, from a piloting perspective, I completely support that. I just want to acknowledge that, like, if you have a kid who's going on to college, 10th grade and 11th grade are going to matter about their admission way more than anything you're going to choose to do their senior year. And I also maybe have a separate question that I will follow up with you about, about how we talk about the students that are in that place right now when we are talking about to their colleges about the rigor that they are experiencing in their current classes if they are pursuing post-secondary education. And I think I just don't know how we describe what we are doing and why those students should be looked at favorably for the work that they're doing and the achievements. So I'll follow up with you.
[Chad Fallon]: And I can just say one thing, too. For grade 10, what's encouraging is now with the new schedule, CTE students really benefit from that added period in grade 9 and 10 because they can now take an additional elective or an advanced placement course or honors. So I would say that that is at least one step in the right direction. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Absolutely. Thanks.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Mastrovoni?
[Mike Mastrobuoni]: Thank you, really appreciate this. Seems really well thought out. Within those four majors, are all students eligible, are all students eligible to opt in to the honors track or is there, are there a certain number of slots for the pilot program? How do we ensure that there's access for everyone? Completely open honors. Great, thank you.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Member Reinfeld. Is there additional training or support that teachers need to support the students in this? Because I know it's creating, I know a lot of these teachers are naturally differentiating and customizing. One of the beautiful things about the CTE program is that it can be customized to particular projects and interests and hands on. But what does this mean for teacher preparedness to support this and capacity?
[Chad Fallon]: Yeah, so on August 31st, we had a full day. I was lucky to have my team for the whole day. So a lot of our work was around this. We're also reaching out to partner schools. We have a really good network, and there's many other schools that already have a capstone in place. So they're going to lean on each other. We're working together. We're doing things a little bit differently the way we meet in our department meetings. We're meeting by cluster. So we have five or six programs meeting together, and one of the outcomes that they're working at one group is just the four programs that are working on this. And we're going to be working on that for the first month of school, just to make sure everyone's on the same page.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Great. This sounds wonderful. I'm so excited for these students and for the world that's going to benefit from this.
[Chad Fallon]: Me too.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you for the presentation. Oh, Ryan, do you have a question? Do you want to come up to a microphone, Ryan? Maybe Member Graham or Member Mastroboni could allow you. Oh, you have one back there. I'm sorry.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: First of all, this is wonderful for the CTE. This is wonderful for the CTE. I'm not in it, but I know a bunch of people that are in it and are in these shops. So thank you for the opportunity you're getting these students. It may have been, I may have heard it wrong, but did I hear that there's gonna be four options instead of two?
[Chad Fallon]: So four, four of our CTE programs and each of those programs will have two options. You can either do cooperative education or a capstone.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: All right, sorry. I thought you said that there will be four options. Yep, sorry. That was just a misunderstanding. It's okay. All right.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, Brian. Thank you again.
[Chad Fallon]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Next up, we have our opening of schools update from Dr. Galussi, our superintendent.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you very much. Just going to wait one minute for Mr. Pippicelli to. Thank you, Will. You can advance. So this is a brief update. I feel like there's been a lot going on in just two short weeks. But we have been working very diligently over the summer. So this is a brief update. We will be providing this body with other updates as the school year rolls on. But as we're welcoming our students and our staff back, this is just a brief opening of schools update. We're going to start with a little staffing update on these next few slides. Go ahead, Mr. Pippicelli. So we have welcomed 30 teachers, three nurses, 14 paraprofessionals, seven food service, including a central kitchen manager position, Mr. Rafael Rivera. He is housed at Medford High School. Two custodians, three instructional coaches between reading and math at the elementary level. And I believe three athletic coaches that are new to Medford Public Schools, one administrative assistant, two administrators district wide. So we also have welcomed two special education coordinators, one at the. elementary level, Teresa Fitzpatrick, and Gina DeVito-Moran was an ETL for us and she has advanced to a special education coordinator. She is assisting at the middle school level. On the next slide, there were 12 non-unit personnel also added this year. We have a new facilities director, Mr. Ryan Pike, a new project manager, Eli Medeiros. Both fall under our chief operation officer, Mr. Ken Lord. Haley Powers is our new payroll manager working with Mr. Noel Velez. Nathan Atwater is our new network administrator. Jacob Burns is our new network technician, also with Mr. Lord. And then you have met Katie Doucette, who is the managing director for before and after school programming. And speaking of before and after school programming, 16 additional staff have been hired to support the growing capacity that we have in our after school program. That includes two site directors. That would be the Brooks and the Roberts. Both the Missituk and the McGlynn have retained their site directors. Four kindergarten specialists, so there is one full-time kindergarten specialist at each school. There is one full-time STEAM specialist for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. One at each building full-time. There are two full-time sports specialists. that right now are housed primarily at the Brooks and I believe the McGlynn, but there's some sharing that's happening with the sports specialists, two group leaders and one assistant group leader. In line with some of the new hiring, I also want to provide some enrollment updates for you. So a quick sneak peek at our secondary enrollment as of today shows the numbers by grade level, secondary school for the Andrews, the McGlynn, Medford High School, and Curtis-Tufts. Andrews with a total of 428 students, the McGlynn with a total of 437 students, Medford High School with a total of 1,150 students, and Curtis-Tufts with a total of 17 students right now. Next slide. We have a snapshot of the elementary enrollment. You can see this also by grade. and by school building. You can see the Brooks has a total of 562. The McGlynn Elementary has a total of 465. The Missituk has a total of 415. And the Roberts has a total of 548. Next slide would be an enrollment update for the afterschool program. I thought it was very important to show you what last year's enrollment was for student participation for September of 2025, what the wait list was in September of 2025, and what those two things are this year in 2026. So you will see that the Brooks enrollment went up from 135 to 190 students. The wait list went down from 114 to 45. The McGlynn Elementary School enrollment went from 90 students to 108 students. The wait list went down from 9 to 7. The Missituk enrollment went from 91 to 128. The wait list went down from 31 to 6 students. And the Roberts enrollment went from 91 to 142. And the wait list went down from 58 to 13. So right now we have total enrollment went from 407 to 568. And our wait list went from 212 collectively to 68. Katie Doucette has a forward facing waitlist tracker for families that are on the waitlist so that they can track and see how that is going. I will say she has more than hit the ground running, worked extensively this summer on hiring, on programming, on professional development. I do want her to come to this body and provide a kind of state of after school update sometime next month. We do want to thoughtfully have a task force meeting with the after school task force and have her come next month. I do think it's important to note just quickly that the wait list is something that is ever flowing. So even when I first created this slide I had to update it with the phone calls that she's been having for families back and forth whether they would like to accept coming to the program or they have other other arrangements made. As we did last year, it's very important to make sure that you are aware of our collective charge. This year, last year, I want to make sure I show the arc of this. Last year in my first full year, our collective charge was about belonging. we knew we had to create a foundation of expectations, a foundation of nurturing for our students so that they felt very connected to their school, to the staff, to everything that was going to create what we are really referring to as the roots, hence this image here. And so we really, our goal was to make sure we were creating environments in where the students felt, I belong here. I feel safe here. And so those are the roots. And much like a tree, the roots create the stability. They are what the tree thrives off of, what the tree needs in order to survive. But they're also often invisible. And so we're not going to ignore the roots. The roots have to be nourished. We have to continue with that. But really, our charge this year is what we're calling belonging through. But that is to really make sure we're also pushing the intellectual identity of our students so that students can say, oh, I belong here. But they can also say, I belong in this learning. And so we want to make sure that our classrooms are places where students know what the expectations are, that those expectations are high for our students, and that they know their teachers are there to support them in reaching those expectations, not lowering those expectations. We want students to feel that when they are in a math class, they are mathematicians. When they're in an ELA class, they are writers, they are readers, they are problem solvers, that we are equipping them with what they need for college and career. So on the next slide, you may have seen we have some posters around that visually represent what our collective charge is. These were, I'm really proud of this. We partnered with Director Fee from the arts department and she helped create and find some artists in residence. who created these visuals for us. They totally understood the assignment and what we were trying to display here about belonging through. And what you see here on this slide and what you see around the chambers are some visuals that allow teachers and students to really kind of dig in to what it means to belong through expression, to belong through connection, to belong through perspective, through innovation, through discovery. And to make sure we're providing autonomy, there is a poster that is blank. And this allows students and staff to open it up for what they are working on in the classroom. What does belonging look like or look during this semester, during this unit, during this year. And so, thank you to Suzanne Fee, thank you to the artists in residence, Violet Baxter, Ella Cushing, and Adam Tomaloso, I hope I said that correctly, Tomasulo, Tomasulo, for creating these wonderful posters. And I would also say thank you to Mr. Spagnola and the Graphic Arts Program because they have printed all of these posters so that they get to the schools and get in our classrooms. Thank you, Dr. Lucy. Yes, and I had just. Oh, sorry, sorry. That's okay, I'm almost done. No, take your time. Go ahead, Mr. Pippicelli. So this next slide talks about our administrative retreat that we have each summer. We spend two days off campus. so that we can really engage in professional development, in coalescing, in culture building, with the administrative team. We were very fortunate this year. Last year, you know, we also were very fortunate, and our partners at the Barr Foundation provided us a space. This year, the AC Hotels by the Marriott, Boston North, over at Wellington, provided us with a conference room for two days. It was very gracious. We felt very well taken care of. They were tremendous community partners, very attentive, and I just want to say how much we appreciated that. It's quite meaningful to be able to get off campus and dig into the work and not feel like you are Torn to your professional responsibilities and just able to really engage in the learning. And so we were very busy in these two days. And so this is just a list of what we had our administrators engaged in so that of course there was team building. There's always a need for team building and coalescing. But we also had specific targeted feedback in Stop the Bleed from Director Jen Silva, who led the administrators in the management of injuries that involve severe bleeding. Mr. Lord led us through emergency planning and reunification training. We also had student cyber safety training by two FBI agents to help support and protect our students. We also did, I think it's very important, my next presentation I'm going to talk about my goals, but one thing we did in the June administrative retreat is Dr. Talbot walked through her data story and showed the administrators how she was writing and developing her goals. I did that in August. So I walked through my data story and we really worked with the administrators on their own and did some goal setting and how we can use that to support our students. We had training from open architects. We have presented to this body about that data platform last year. So we had specific training in open architects. We also talked about the collective charge and what that will look like in schools and in departments. We had training from Safe Schools. Two members from the Safe Schools program came and provided a training to the administrators as well as what gender support planning will look like. We also had LineWise training. That is the platform that is on our student computers and it is making sure that we are monitoring the computers to make sure students are safe with how they're interacting online. Also, again, the collective charge of belonging through student supports. That was led by our new assistant superintendent, Kim Clinton, and she provided a training specifically on supporting our students, the DCAP and 504 and MTSS models. So now you'll see kind of the arc. So that started the summer in preparation for this school year. Then the following week, we welcomed new teachers during induction week. And so I always love to show just a few pictures of what that was like. What we did this year was we brought in a student panel of students ranging from incoming grade 5 to grade 12. And you can see that in the pictures. The one on the left is maybe a far picture. They're in front of the teachers. And then the group of students is in this picture to the right. And they came to talk about belonging through. So they came to talk about how they have felt. teachers setting expectations for them in the classroom, how they feel supported by that, and where they have felt that intellectual identity within their classrooms. And some mentioned teachers also by name for those that they felt very connected to doing that for them as students. Then we transfer over to the opening of schools, so August 31st and September 1st. So that first day was all professional development for teachers. And that first day showed some of that arc that I spoke about for the administrative retreat. And so I think it's very important. You're going to see some slides in a few minutes but Dr. Talbot has worked really tirelessly and in full collaboration with the teachers union on professional development planning. It is called the Professional Development Advisory Committee and so So, we worked with them also in partnership for this professional development day. And the teachers worked together on a lot of the professional development that you saw the administrators. So, the first day was full professional development directed by departments. content specific. Day two was in school buildings and led by principals. And so between the two days, teachers have had open architects training. They've had safe schools training. They've had training on, and for myself on that second day for the convocation, on the collective charge. They have had professional development on curriculum, instructional practices, educational technology, and the shifts that we have made in educational technology in order to keep our students safe. If you advanced to the next slide, I think it's important. This slide right here was developed by the Professional Development Advisory Committee. This slide is embedded and part of every professional development that we offer in the district. And so every, whether it was a consultant that was external or whether it was a facilitator internally, this slide is part of the presentations. This shows the collaboration between the teachers union and the district. And on the next slide, which I'm very excited to say, The exit ticket for that first day saw 877 responses from staff. And I think it's very important to note that prior the highest response rate was 530? About 530. And so I think this is just a living, breathing representation of the partnership that we're really trying to cultivate with the Medford Teachers Association. And you can see out of those 877, the overwhelming response around Was this applicable to my craft and what I do in classrooms on behalf of students every day? And you can see it was. Next slide. Then we go to the convocation. So on that second day, I also welcome the entire staff back. We're in the gymnasium. It's very exciting. It's great to see everyone. And out of that student panel, we welcomed some of those students back to address all the staff and talk to the staff about expectations how teachers have helped them, how teachers can continue to help them grow their intellectual identity by holding expectations high and supporting students to get there. And you'll see all the students below on this, so thank you. In order, starting from the right, down to the left is Tracy Tima, Oliver Faust, Colin D. Martino, Thanmaya Aman, Ellie Casier, and Chrisley Cornett. And then I do have two quotes on here that I think were very powerful that came out of these speeches. And one was, I have felt the most success in classes where teachers don't expect us to be perfect, but continue to raise the bar. And then one that said, these opportunities, meaning coming to speak to teachers, contribute to this feeling of belonging, the feeling that our school system is shaping itself around us rather than the other way around. You can guess who said that one. And I would say it's really important to note none of these speeches were edited or, you know, given feedback to. They were all the original true words of the students. So it's very powerful. They did an excellent job and it's just a great way to start the school year. Next slide. This is just the first two days. I think we all know. WBZ was here at the Misatoch welcoming the students back. It was a great day. We also had a lovely, this picture in the middle here. Every principal, we did it at the convocation, but every principal was given a frame and asked to take pictures of all of their staff, of their students. And Mr. Pippicelli did a great job. putting that all together in a nice little montage because MPS is nothing without the people that make it this wonderful community that we have here. So we're really proud of it. And I would just extend that Dr. Talbot, Kim Clinton, and I walked to every single school in that first day. And that is part of the learning walks that we do. We are in schools weekly, but it was just great to welcome people back and see everyone. And then I believe I just have one more slide. Oh, two more slides. So I know that this has been in my Friday memo, and you may have received a separate email about it. You can go to the next slide, Mr. Pippicelli. But I just think it's very important, because it's a very important topic. And I know some of these have already happened. But Kim Clinton in her new role is in the middle of her entry planning. And so she is doing listening sessions at all of the schools in person. She is also doing virtual listening sessions by level, one for elementary, one for middle school and one for high school. And these are agenda free. These are for caregivers and for staff. to come and meet with Ms. Clinton, to speak with her, and for her to gather as much feedback and input as her hands can possibly write, although she might have some scribing assistance there, so that she can take that data and be very well informed about goal setting for special education and student services. So I would just encourage for the sessions that are remaining that people take the opportunity if they can't get in person. We understand people work and it might be difficult to arrange schedules, but the Zoom links are in the evening and it would be great if people could hop on. And then the last piece, there's the ever moving, ever changing world of facilities for Mr. Lord. And so When I spoke to Mr. Lord about this, I want to say this was probably five slides. I have tried to bucket it a little bit so that it's a little digestible for the community. But Mr. Lord's department does not sleep. It does not rest. And so for people that may just need the reminder, he is the chief operations officer, so that is facilities, IT and security. And so over the summer and in the beginning of the opening of schools, some of the things that he has been working around is safe and comfortable physical spaces. So that is everything from getting the classrooms ready to the continued work on HVAC. In some of our schools, he's had to, some of our schools have needed fire alarm updates or fire alarm fixes as well as intercoms and the defibrillators have been updated in all of our buildings. Technology I think has probably seen some of the biggest improvements. So he has, we now have Let's see if I can get this right. We now have some security. overlays on our infrastructure to support and keep our network safer than it was before. We did not have any of those things. The other pieces like the line-wise that we have added to our student devices to keep a level of protection there. This year with the help of administration and then the conversation with our teachers There are some platforms that have been blocked from students. So students cannot access YouTube or Netflix. And there are a few others, but those are kind of the two big ones. Teachers, however, if they have something educational on YouTube, they can push that through to students on Google Classroom. But there are some safeguards being put into place now that have not been there before. Also, this piece, he's been continuing the work to update our network refresh and our infrastructure with First Light. If you have questions about this, he can come to the podium. The other piece is continued work on our capital investment. We have been doing the facility condition assessments. evaluation, a structural evaluation for Curtis Tufts, and the CPA grant for, he applied for the CPA grant so that we could do an assessment of the Brooks, Misituck, and Roberts playgrounds. We have talked about that before, but he filled that out and submitted that. And then the last page for Mr. Lord, oh, that was it. I fit it all on one slide. But that really doesn't cover everything that he's been doing all summer long. And he could probably talk for 20 minutes about those four simple bullet points. But I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you for the presentation. I don't know who went first, Member Ruseau, then Member Reinfeld, then Mr. Antopra. Okay, sorry, Member Graham, then our student rep.
[Paul Ruseau]: So, I feel like it's an annual tradition that there's not enough bus drivers. Can you explain to me what happened this year where we have not received any emails about this? Like, I'm not trying to like jinx it, but everything has been fine, which has never happened in my nine years here.
[Suzanne Galusi]: You know, I'm going to knock on wood.
[Paul Ruseau]: Yeah, I'm not superstitious, but I was kind of like waiting for the barrage of where are the buses and is something different that we should know about.
[Suzanne Galusi]: You know, I'm so glad you brought that up because I'm sitting here remiss that I did not give our transportation manager, Ina Williams, the flowers she so deserves because that is why you haven't heard anything. She is another new-ish hire who is quite effective at what she does and quite collaborative. She has a true partnership muscle that she uses every day and it's wonderful. I would say there has been, I don't want to even call it a hiccup, but what wound up happening a little bit is that the North Medford High School run had a little bit of a hiccup only because people weren't really registering on the survey. And so what wound up happening is I want to say maybe, you know, 50 people signed the survey, but 70 showed up at the bus stop. And so we did quickly realize that we needed, we had one more bus. in our contract that we had not utilized. And so we did work with Eastern Bus to say we need this other bus. And in the meantime, until they could secure the driver, which happened today, this week, they did do a double run. for North Medford last week. And so she, with the help of Mr. Pippicelli, communicated to those families. And basically, she just took the route and divided it in half. And so this half, you had to be at the stop at this time. And then if you lived at these bus stops, you had to be to the bus stop at this time. And students were on time. Now, some students may have had to leave a little earlier than they were used to. She did make it work. And so we are monitoring principals. This is a very busy time for principals because sometimes that survey data is not accurate for the registration. And so principals and teachers are constantly vetting and checking the ridership. And so that's that's where we are right now.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Reinfeld, then Member Graham, then Member Parks.
[Erika Reinfeld]: So I will say thank you for this report and thank you to all the people behind this report. Opening schools is a tremendous undertaking and I see hard work reflected in that, so thank you to everyone. You mentioned at the administrative retreat that leadership, that's building leadership, department leadership, did a goal-setting exercise. I'm curious to what extent that's personal goal setting versus goal setting for the department. I know we'll be seeing some of that in the strategic plan and really with specific milestones and benchmarks and roadmaps and all of that. And where I'm going with this is, when will we get to hear what the goals are for the departments for this year, for the schools for this year, to kind of know what everything is supporting?
[Suzanne Galusi]: So that's a great question. So Dr. Talbot and I, in our planning for both of these retreats, we were kind of going around the phrase, what are you paying attention to? And so in other words, where are you gathering your data? What is it that is resonating or that you have to pay attention to in your departments, in your schools? And where are you getting that data from? And as we all know, data is quite wide. And so now we have open architects, and that supplies us with a lot of great data at our immediate fingertips. There's benchmark data. There's also street data. There's observational data, and so Some of what we also have been working really hard on is we have a really robust walk-through protocol that does involve department leaders, school leaders, central administration. And one of the things in collaboration with all those partners that we've been working on are aligned look-fors so that when we're in classrooms, What is it we expect to see students doing? What is it we expect to see teachers doing? So that we are all aligned in that so that also our feedback to teachers is consistent. And that's where we start to build that coherent structure that we really aim to have. So when Dr. Talbot demonstrated her data story and I demonstrated mine, it was what are we each paying attention to in our respective portfolios, and where are we pulling the data from? And that is to model for the administrators in that room what we want them to be doing, not only in their own goal setting, because they have to also write personal goals, But it is also for their modeling with their schools and departments. So it's, it's twofold. If, I mean, I think a lot of the goals of the departments, goals of schools, that is 100% going to be so visible with the strategic plan, which is a long time coming. And will provide that consistency. and coherence that we need, but specifically if I can, I can, we can talk after this about providing something of that work. that the school leaders and the department leaders have been doing.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yeah, because I think it's really important that the school committee be aware of that work and so that that alignment can go out through those channels as well and supporting. We're not on the ground with the students, but we are supporting that as well. And so I think it's really helpful for us to hear that. And then my second question was just, Are there some top things that have changed this year that if somebody were coming to Medford schools and they were here last year or years in the past, what could they expect to be a little bit different?
[Suzanne Galusi]: I'm going to say to you, I think one of the greatest compliments I got from a teacher who stopped me in the hallway after the end of the first week was this was the smoothest back to school he's ever had in over 10 years. And I just think it might sound simple, but we are really trying to just build systems and structures on behalf of our students and our teachers who work so tirelessly for our students. that we can take some of that off of them so that they know what's expected of them. Students should know what's expected of them. Teachers should know what is expected of them. We want them to be fully giving all of themselves to their teaching, their practice for students. And so we're trying to take that burden of holding those expectations and some of the back operational needs off of the worry of our staff so that they can be here and be present for students. And I would say that I'm really hoping with each year, you are seeing some of that come into play. And I know it might sound simple, but it is not. Not at all. Simple to build consistent practices. and have a district that's coherent and fully aligned to being here for students.
[Erika Reinfeld]: And I would really like to see that communicated out to families about what they can expect and have those expectations clear about who's doing what and where to go. Yes, I'm going to talk about that a little bit.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And I know that's coming, so I will defer to colleagues now, and I'll turn off my microphone. Thank you. Member Graham, then Member Parks.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. At the end of the first day of school, one of our state reps said, how was the first day of school? And I said, I didn't get one complaint about the bathrooms, the buses, or where to find the school lunch menu. And that is like the first time in seven years that's happened. So that's a very big deal. The opening of school was so incredibly smooth. It's a huge testament to the work that you're doing. And I really appreciate it. I haven't yet had to talk about the bathrooms this year, which is special, that holds a special place in my heart. But I also just wanted to- Ken's just buffering that for you. But I also wanted to point out the exceptional change that we are experiencing in the after school program. We went from year after year after year of the wait list growing because our community is changing. and the need increasing increasing increasing. And like we decimated the waitlist this year and it's not perfect right. Like we still have 68 people on the list but but there were 68 people in like one building. last year so that the amount of, you know, if you can put the right people on, on the bus, so to speak, you can move really fast. And I think this is a testament to like, this was a problem We took our time to plan and then we moved really fast. And I just I'm so excited for all of the families who got off the wait list. And I'm so looking forward to like seeing zeros on the slide in the near future like that actually feels attainable to me. And I have never felt that way before. So thank you.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. Member Graham.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Parks and then Member Olapade.
[Jessica Parks]: say I think was already said so I'm just going to say that I want to thank everyone who is in here and everyone who is not in here because this is a monumental amount of work and as you can hear it was done incredibly smoothly. So thank you very much. I also want to say I love these posters. I still love these posters. So we'll get that thing.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thank you. Member Parks. Member Olapade.
[Aaron Olapade]: Thank you. Member Parks, you took what I was going to say. I also am loving these posters. I think something that I'm just observing is the collective charge that you've talked a lot about last academic year and this upcoming one, of course. Recognizing that belonging is not just a word that we use, you know, to sound like we're trying to do something, but I think really implementing that in all parts of the academic year and the school day I think is incredibly important. And seeing that we are not just letting go of that belonging, moving to a new word or a new collective charge, but we're taking what we did last year and then moving through that to the next phase of that idea of belonging, I think is incredibly important. Not just because our students are understanding that this is a part of their experience, but we want them to feel like we're really establishing this a part of the experience. And then going more so that I see the convocation that you had where we were able to hear students recognize that. we're trying to create an educational system around them, not them fitting around our educational system. And that's something that's incredibly important for students of any age and any grade level. And I think I'm hearing that from students, I'm hearing that from parents in the community, that they're seeing those changes that you're implementing and that we're trying to implement in the district. So it's just incredibly exciting to see. And then I think these posters are a prime example of that. We're really trying to emphasize. So thank you so much for this.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thank you. Our student rep, Leo.
[7eh2EusWqec_SPEAKER_02]: I was just going back to the student protective services, like the LiveWise. With the ban on the streaming services like YouTube, like teachers sending them out to the Google Classroom, students can't access that. So it's only concern just because I've had teachers that use it to win part of their curriculum. And if they can't send it out, it will disrupt the planning. And I didn't want that. So I didn't know if that was a concern or not.
[Suzanne Galusi]: I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly, Leo. Are you saying that in a classroom a teacher has put, as I see Mr. Lord coming up, tried to push a YouTube video through Google Classroom, but students still could not access it?
[7eh2EusWqec_SPEAKER_02]: So this year I've had one. That's been like a homework assignment that you've had to like take notes on it, and it hasn't been accessible.
[Kenneth Lord]: We had a glitch the first few days getting new LineWise and our Google blocks to work all together, but that's been resolved. So the teacher has to publish that YouTube link in their Google Classroom, and then it works now. But there were some bumps as we got our new internet provider, had a new filtering system, plus LineWise, plus the Google changes. It was a lot to coordinate.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Thank you, Leo. Thank you, Mr. Lord. And thank you, Dr. Galusi, for the presentation on the opening of schools. No further questions, we'll move on to number four, superintendent schools for school year 26-27. Dr. Galusi, superintendent. Oh, Ryan, go ahead.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: Again, I know you heard this a lot, but thank you, Dr. Galusi, for this presentation. Um, couple questions. Um, first of all, the central kitchen manager, like, I just want to know, like, what is the specifics of that, specifics of that job? Like, do they manage, like, the food schedule and that stuff, and the, and the delivery of the food? Like, what's that like?
[Suzanne Galusi]: So I will first say that Food Service Director Retta Smith would probably be the best person to answer this question, but I do know that that position is housed at Medford High School, but that position is someone who works with all of the kitchen managers at every school. making sure again what we've spoken about here that all the schools are aligned that if they have any issues or questions they can go to that kitchen manager who goes from school to school making sure everybody has what they need and that they're following what director Smith wants them to do.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: Also I saw this the I saw on the Oh God, they're like training, leadership training, they're open architects. And I was just wondering, what is that? Because I haven't heard of open architects. Is it like a website from technology, or is it just like a company who does leadership kind of drills?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yeah, great question. It's a web-based platform that teachers, administrators can log on to, and what it does is it pools a whole bunch of data sources, so it could be attendance, it could be grades, it could be MCAS test results, it could be NWEA test results, it could be your course selection, so we could see who's in honors classes, who's in advanced coursework, who's in CTE. There's a bunch of ways we could filter it, but it's just one place to store all of our data so that we can use that to help us support students.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: What's the difference between that and the school brains? Because I know on school brains, teachers can see the students' grades, their classes, and all of that stuff. They just added, like, the NWEA testing.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yeah, so school brains is not as flexible. It's like a, almost like a static platform, right? Yeah. You can put all that information in there, but a teacher or an administrator can't really, and I hate to use the word manipulate it, but like use it to say very interactively, like create a graph for me that shows the attendance of students for the first month of school.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: Oh, yes. One more question, and this is more for the long-life director. I know, I totally understand the blocks of like specific websites like Netflix and YouTube during the school hours, but Have you guys talked about at all uplift of the blocks on those websites after the school day is over or on the weekends? Because it's like, I know you guys have a say in the building, but outside the building it's like not really your business, and I feel like I know teachers can see what you are on, and I feel like outside of school, there's kind of a privacy kind of boundary for the students. And the students should have the freedom outside of school to go on what they want.
[Suzanne Galusi]: I hear that. teachers, administrators, they have a collective charge to keep students safe. And those aren't your personal devices, those are MPS-issued devices. So there is a big difference to what you're doing on a district device that Medford Public Schools gives you to use for your learning than a personal device that you might use for something different. Does that make sense?
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: Yes, that makes sense. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You are welcome, Ryan. Thank you, Ryan. We'll move on to number four, superintendent's goals. I'll turn it over to you, Dr. Galusi. Thank you.
[Suzanne Galusi]: So Mr. Pippicelli is going to, I just put them in a slide deck. I felt like it was easier for viewing purposes. You can go just right to that very first slide. Thank you, Will. So I kind of spoke a little bit already about the framing and how these goals came to be. I am happy. It's interesting in going through the previous presentation that there was a part of me that wondered if I should have started tonight with my data story. And maybe I'm remiss in that I didn't. But happy to come back next meeting and share my data story if it helps kind of provide or via email to this body if it helps provide context. But what you are about to see are goals that were created collaboratively and through multiple data sources. So these data sources include everything from, you know, course enrollment to benchmark testing to operational information to street data and feedback that we get and instructional walkthrough data around our look for us. That's really where this is coming. This is a vision that spans the whole district clearly from pre-K to 12 plus. And you are going to see the double down that you will also see in the strategic plan about aligning and making sure that we are building a system that is grounded in belonging, consistency, and coherence. And so the way I have formatted this, those three pillars are part of every goal that you will see on these next few slides. So the first three goals are the student learning goals. These are much more measurable, and these came from data surrounding the goal. So this first focus is deepening instructional coherence and enhancing academic opportunities. And the first goal, the first student goal, is that by June 2027, Medford Public Schools will increase the percentage of students in kindergarten and grades one who reach core and core plus reading benchmarks. at 80% measured by DIBLS and progress monitoring data. And there is a belonging statement, a consistency statement, and a coherent statement. And you will see the belonging is completely centered around students. The consistency statement is always about how can we position teachers on behalf of students so that they are consistent with their practice, And a lot of the coherence statements are really going to be situated at central level and how are we now supporting the rest of administration and teachers so that we feel that there is a line of coherence across the district. I would say that I think there's been an early literacy goal on the superintendent's goals is definitely pre-COVID. And that is because this is ever-evolving work. And so this benchmark here at 80% shows an MTSS approach where we want 80% of our students to be in Dibble's language, blue and green, and that means they're reading. And then you want like 15% to be at that yellow range where we're really close but we have some work to be doing and there may be areas where they are grade level and then there may be skills that aren't and they're working on it. And then that 5% is really your intervention level. And we have seen the data. definitely trend in the right direction, but there is still work to do to get to that 80% and that's why this is a goal. And so how are we going to get there? We want to align resources and equip educators to support targeted foundational skills. So again, this is what are we doing to instruct teachers. We are continuing with HILFA literacy. They will be coming back strictly on observational rounds, but like building that muscle for our department and school leaders to be doing what they need to be doing to move the practice. And that means aligning all of those resources. So one of the other things that we have seen is some inter-department collaboration. on this goal. And so Mr. Cieri in the science department has been working with elementary teachers. not only on FOSS curriculum, but also on how can this adapt so that it can be part of the literacy instructional block, especially during tier one. So he has, part of the professional development day on the 31st, he worked with K in one, Dr. Talbot? Was there any other grade, just K in one? All the way through, so all elementary teachers on creating a way to bridge science into literacy and have this provide more opportunity for instruction in both areas. And he's going to continue that initial training and conversation in common planning times throughout the year at each grade and at each building so that he can continue that work. Leverage the math coach. So this year we have a math coach and part of what this person is going to be doing is also pushing into kindergarten and first grade and really helping during center time so that there is a full team emphasis on supporting this goal. And I did speak to the Hill for Literacy and then also, as always, continuing to foster a culture of shared learning, identify those highly effective teachers that are doing an excellent job during centers, which is that targeted instruction, during ECRI, which is that whole group instruction. for explicit reading instruction and highlighting some of those like pro moves and instructional practices that we want other teachers to be doing. So that's the first goal. I don't know if it makes sense to stop after each goal or should I go to the end?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I think you go through. Go through.
[Suzanne Galusi]: I don't see any questions. Okay. So the second student practice goal, is around high quality instructional materials at the middle school. And so this completely aligns with the work that we have been doing in the district. And so in some areas, there are pockets of teachers having and students being exposed to grade level, high quality instructional materials. There are some disciplines in which they are teacher created, and so we want to move the needle to make sure we are supporting students at grade level and supporting them where they need to achieve grade level expectations and standards. And so last year, Dr. Chiesa started the conversation with ELA. And so the Department of Education this is part of Dr. Talbot's work, puts out the protocol and the cycle for curriculum that we should be following. It's called Implement MA. And so Dr. Chiesa began that first piece last year, which was around launch, ready and learn. And so they did a lot of that work last year. And so this year, she is ready to move into the pilot and research area. Mr. Cieri, on the other hand, is just beginning this process, so he will be in that launch phase where he's going to be working with his middle school teachers, they're going to be creating a committee, they're going to be having conversations about what this should and could look like. And so by the end of this year, Dr. Chiesa should have a program pretty much selected so that we can move on to the implementation phase. And Dr. Seary should have, excuse me, and Mr. Seary should have a committee formed and be ready next year for that kind of pilot exploration year. And then the third goal is advanced coursework completion and equity. This goal by June 2027, Medford Public Schools will increase the percentage of 11th and 12th graders completing advanced coursework and decrease the disproportionality among student subgroups by using PSAT and assessment data to expand equitable enrollments in honors, AP, CTE, and co-op pathways. And so this is data that we have had at our fingertips. This is data that we want to make sure that we are living by these branches and offering our students the opportunity to have high expectations for their intellectual identity and give them the supports they need so that they can try to push themselves. If we go to the next slide, the actionable steps, here is another place where open architects helps us create this coherence because we're able to really look at that subgroup data and see what they have taken for coursework, what the composition has been in these courses so far, and increase the opportunity for students. Using an MTSS model and just opening up the opportunity through student course selection, we're creating more opportunity for them to join advanced coursework. Ms. Marta Principal Cabral has been working to recruit, and this year she's going to be very intentional with her staff about recruiting rising juniors and seniors into AP by using the PSAT result data. And then what does it look like to really support students in co-op placement through the CTE program and being really intentional about that? We know that there are gaps in the co-op opportunities for students. A lot hinders around transportation, but what more can we be doing to offer and open up these opportunities for our students? And then really, this is continued work, but really looking at the grade level standards and tasks and instruction of what's happening in classrooms. And this is really where we're going to be using the observational data, the aligned look fors, so that we are having conversations with teachers around, again, supporting students so that we can raise the bar, not lower it. Create common, content-specific look-fors. I spoke about this. These are nearly finished. Curriculum directors have been working on these. But we also have been working with administrators on creating shared look-fors with the teachers that they evaluate. So that it's also very clear when you walk into a classroom and they can have that kind of collaborative relationship. And then really kind of create the data that we are all aligned and looking for when we talk about opening up access for our students. So, that's the third student learning goal. I'm happy to stop here per Member Reinfeld's suggestion about if there's any questions around student learning goals before I move on to professional practice goals.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Reinfeld?
[Erika Reinfeld]: And Member Parks? So I told myself I get one question about each goal. So on goal one, which is kindergarten and first grade literacy, I'm interested to know, this sounds very intense for kindergarten who is also entering into the school environment for the first time and this is an expansion of the social emotional so I worry personally about the over academicization of kindergarten and so I'm how do we ensure I think literacy is foundationally important it's critical it's Absolutely, this is the foundation that students need to move through school and come into themselves as students, but how do we make sure that this very intensely academic goal isn't coming at the expense of play, of joy, of that social-emotional kindergarten entry process?
[Suzanne Galusi]: That's a great question. It's all aligned by state standards. Right.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Which I will say that's a whole conversation about how the standards have become more intense at younger and younger grades.
[Suzanne Galusi]: That's a different conversation. It is. It's a philosophical conversation. It is. Right now this is all aligned to state standards and grade level standards. So of course we do not expect students to be at the same place at the end of the year that first grade students would be at the end of the year. And Dibble's is aligned that way. And so when we say core or core plus, it depends on what is expected of a kindergartner by the end of the year. So like, you know, kindergartner might be more like letter sound correspondence, but then when you get to like first grade, you know, it's more like you're talking about like consonant blends and now you're talking about like spelling sound correspondence. So it really is aligned. to what the state standards are. It's not like we're pushing kindergartners to do first grade reading expectations.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Yeah, and I think kindergartners are coming to this with a wider range of experience. And so I love aspiring to this 80%, and I worry about that initial meeting of kids where they are and ability to... I don't wanna water down the rigor, but I want to So embrace the kindergarten experience.
[Suzanne Galusi]: And I think it's important for anybody listening, some of the things that Dr. Talbot has been very intentionally doing is, I mean, there's a lot of research on what it means statistically for students if they don't know how to read by the third grade, by the fourth grade. And so what we are trying to do is flood K in one. And so as part of this goal, There has been a restructuring of what the reading and literacy block looks like in kindergarten and first grade so that our reading specialists and our reading teachers that we have in our elementary buildings, no one is really pulling out. Everyone is flooding in classrooms so that students have multiple ways to get support. Students have multiple practices or like at bats with these literacy skills and reading within their classrooms because it's extremely important to get to that 80% in K and one. That is the MTSS model. And so that is what best practice should be.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Thank you, and thanks for making that explicit. So on goal two on the middle school HQIM, sorry, high quality instructional materials, can you talk a little bit about the teacher buy-in and the contributions? I assume the curriculum review committee of critical stakeholders, that includes teachers, but what does this look like for teachers who've been teaching a huge range of things, some of which are aligned with this, some of which could maybe be in different grades. There are a lot of great practices. There are a lot of habits out there. So what does teacher buy-in look like at this middle school level?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Yes. So first and foremost, I would say, again, this is the same goal or work path that we have to be providing our students with the grade level standards per the Department of Education in Massachusetts at each grade. high quality instructional materials that are on grade level are well-researched and vetted. And that is no disrespect to teachers. It's just that teacher-created materials are not verified or third-party research. So in the case of ELA with Dr. Chiesa, she worked all last year in her department on this shift. We're starting intentionally at middle school, because there is HQIM in elementary. And so after middle school, we will be having conversations about high school, what courses, what subjects, but that kind of vertical line is there. So she spent all of last year having those conversations. in her department meetings and with her teachers. It also fully aligns to the work that the secondary principals, all three of them, have been doing around GLEAM and making sure that instruction, and not just the lesson planning, but like what we're asking students to do with that learning. And I think that's the biggest piece that HQIM will give you, is the task that we're asking students to do that needs to be grade level.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Great, thank you. And then on the last goal, I really appreciate in the in the articulation of the goal and the values that underlie it, that support for historically underrepresented student groups. And so I guess as I'm looking at this, as these are the goals against we're going to be measuring things, are there particular actionable steps that specifically address that underrepresentation, the disproportionality that we're seeing? I think you said open access to everyone, but I think that intentional recruitment, I'm curious what that looks like on the actionable steps.
[Suzanne Galusi]: That's a great question. I think, are you asking specifically about the subgroups? Yes. Okay, so first and foremost, I think, and I want Dr. Talbot to maybe correct me, but first and foremost, we are looking at low income. Mm-hm. Students that fall into that subgroup, and we are also looking at students of color.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Okay.
[Suzanne Galusi]: And there has been, am I missing a subgroup? And there has been an underrepresentation of those two subgroups specifically. Okay.
[Erika Reinfeld]: And I guess I'm wondering what's being done to work with those students and encourage and support that access because I think a lot of, I really appreciate that this goal includes that there's work to be done K-10 in order to get to this advanced coursework. And so this is all a cumulative effect. baked in in the beginning. Correct. And so I would just like to see the steps specifically identify how that work is being done.
[Suzanne Galusi]: We can do that because some of this will evolve. So some of these action items will be met by the end of the year and some systemically may take longer than the one year.
[Erika Reinfeld]: This one's really hard to measure in a year.
[Suzanne Galusi]: I think we've made some strides last year. We made even bigger strides for this year. And I think we do have some really great data points in where, right, which we can share at a meeting or share with this body that where we did open up some of that access the last school year, students did exceptionally well on AP exams. And so We have a little bit of data to go by, but I think systemically we have to look at student course approval process. That is something that may take longer than just this one year. But within the year, I think we can see a change in participation in AP courses, and with a little bit more intentional, to your point, conversations with students. If you want to call them recruitment efforts, I think we will see a big jump in- And with the educators about- Yes.
[Erika Reinfeld]: Some of the implicit biases or- And student course approval- What we're looking at as measures.
[Suzanne Galusi]: I think and I think some of that is very unintentional because I think we've created a system for course approval that creates those barriers sometimes unintentionally. And so we really have to look at it's daunting for a student to maybe see where their teacher put them and then want to advocate to say no I can do more. And so we do have to open opportunities where the we're not creating those you know ceilings for them to be able to, again, belonging through, say, I can do this because people believe in me. Thank you so much. Thank you both.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Member Parks.
[Jessica Parks]: Thank you for all of this work and the detail. Great, and there's a lot here. I have kind of two overarching questions. The first is quick. Is all of this work able to be done within the current budget that we have for 26, 27? Yes. Awesome. And then the second one is kind of thinking about what does success look like for each of these, and how do you track them kind of throughout the course of the year? And this is not necessarily. in common to these it is in common to these specific goals but more thinking about as you check in along the way how are we going to check in and kind of track progress towards these or how will you be looking at progress towards these. Is there benchmarks along the way towards this 80 percent or is it just you know we look at the dibbles mid-year. Are we at 80 percent. Yes or no. Or is there a way to track the progress towards 80 percent. If we're looking at the subpopulations for, you know, the 11th and 12th graders, is there a certain percentage we're trying to increase to or is it just, you know, we're just trying to increase it? What do current numbers look like? Is it just enrollment? Is it performance as well? How are we looking at that? Things like that and kind of. baseline and then what are we trying to get to and how we will look at that and kind of timetable. If that makes sense.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Totally. The first learning goal around reading. There are multiple ways that we can kind of track that progress and show. So there's, we use dibbles in two ways. We use it as a benchmark tool. And so students are assessed beginning of year, middle of year, end of year. And the beginning of the year is happening right now. Dr. Talbot was at the Roberts. We have streamlined that process quite nicely and it's done within a half day at every single building, I think, right? So, we have that benchmarking that we can monitor and see how it's going. But we also use DIBLS in a progress monitoring capacity as well, so that, and I know we've spoken to this body about this before, but we use an online portal very similar to Open Architects through Hill for Literacy called Continuum, and that helps elementary teachers when the DIBLS data is in there and the MAP growth data is in there to come up with the instructional focus to really target for what those specific literacy skills are that the student needs. And so progress monitoring could look different for different groups of students. It could be that they are being progress monitored, I don't know, every two weeks, every four weeks, every six weeks, every eight weeks. So, we do have a lot of intervals in which we can check the data of how this goal is proceeding. I would say kindergarten does look very different than first grade. So, kindergarten, even through the Department of Ed and even through dyslexia guidelines, they recommend not looking at the beginning of the year. benchmark Dibble's data for kindergarten and we're only sharing out the middle of the year because kindergarten is, you have students that are coming into school for the first time, transitionally, all of that. And so the biggest gains in kindergarten are made at the end of the year. And so the progress monitoring, that frequent progress monitoring is more important to look at for kindergarten for sure than some of the benchmark data for first grade. And then I think by having the reading specialists and teachers in classrooms working with classroom teachers and having that data available to them really allows for a lot of flexible grouping depending on the specific skill that they need to be working on. When we look at the third goal about advanced coursework. I did not attach a number to that for sure, because as I just mentioned, there are a lot of systemic pieces we have to be looking at. But I think what we're looking at are, where are the classes that we can have students enter? As we did last year, Dr. Talbot, I'm forgetting the name of that class, the computer tech class. computer science principles. That is where we saw when we kind of like removed some of those barriers and the students did quite well that last year in that course is an AP course and did quite well in the AP exam. So I think what we're looking to do is start with this like small number over here that doesn't really include our low income students and enough of a data set of our students of color. And so we're looking to see growth in that area. If you want it more measurable I'm happy to go back and add that and put in a measure. Happy to do that.
[Jessica Parks]: I think I'm just more thinking about even if there are report outs in the future, just kind of, you know, midyear, just what does it look like, you know, to date we've seen X, you know. Absolutely. That would really be great. Just so we know that there is progress towards these goals. Yeah. If that's possible.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yep, absolutely. Great. Thank you.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: So I want to focus on how you say in the goal or in the belonging intentionally recruit, like how do you do that recruiting? Like do teachers just come up to students and say, hey, you should do this AP next year? How would you do the recruiting for that?
[Suzanne Galusi]: Oh, that's a great question. Oh, Dr. Talbot, can we turn on the podium microphone, please? Thank you, there you go.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: That's such a great question. First of all, what's your position again?
[yGcuIBQZTjc_SPEAKER_00]: I'm the assistant superintendent of academics and instruction. And so right now, our policy for students choosing AP and honors courses is students self-select. Recruiting is a different way of looking at encouraging students from early on, as member Graham said in our CTE discussion. Recruiting students early on based on some measures such as the PSATs. The PSATs provide a report that says how likely a student will be to be successful in a range of AP courses. Teachers can use that report to challenge some biases that member Reinfeld mentioned so that students know early on their teachers believe in them and they have the skill set to challenge themselves with AP courses. So that's one example of what recruitment looks like.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: So you would just mention the idea of the AP class to a student and that's it?
[yGcuIBQZTjc_SPEAKER_00]: Well, some students need a mention. Some students need a teacher to look them in the eye and say, I believe in you. You belong in an AP class in this discipline. And there's an opportunity that we have to encourage teachers to be intentional about doing that so that students see themselves as successfully intellectual beings in an AP class.
[a17_UOV__Vs_SPEAKER_20]: All right. Thank you, Dr. Talbot.
[Suzanne Galusi]: Thank you. Please continue. OK. Now we move to the professional practice goals. These are a little bit more analytical. So these goals are about my professional practice goals, but they are for the district and they range in areas of work from around the district. So the first one I'm very excited about. we did put in here for the strategic plan. And so this is work, as we know, that we've all been start, that we have started that is very important because we need this, this guiding North Star document. So, as we know, I, I think I have mentioned this before, but we are using and leaning on one of our external partners, the Lynch Leadership Academy, who we already work with. They are already working in a coaching capacity with all of our department leads and our secondary school leaders. They're working with them on how to work with teachers in like a coaching stance to build that instructional practice. So we are using them to help us with some of the organization and the nitty gritty so that the district, all of the people that are kind of participating in this process really have a little bit of release and we can engage with that, you know, heavy like cognitive lift that is involved in this work. As I've mentioned before, very important that this work is framed in belonging, consistency, and coherence. And the work that's been brought into this, I highlighted in my entry findings as well as in my self-evaluation report. So the next page has, if you can go to the next slide. The next slide has the action steps. I want to be very clear that right now these are somewhat in a draft form because we are still working on solidifying this with the Lynch Leadership Academy. But this is their preliminary kind of work for the strategic plan from where we are now in phase zero all the way to phase six. which is like when it's been approved and we get to kind of like publicize it and do those like final touches as we like push it out. Um, so this has the preparation and discovery being where we are right now, which is kind of getting together like a core team, working on that, moving to phase one, um, discovery and visioning all the way to phase six throughout. the phases rather than just like reading to everybody. Throughout the phases there are going to be moments for small group work from a core team and also work where we are asking for varied stakeholder input. So this work is going to have small groups You know, medium-sized groups, large groups, where we're constantly like getting feedback from caregivers, from students, from teachers, from administrators, school leaders. That is... part of this work because we want there to be input from all the varied stakeholders. But there will be a core group that is working like a little bit more directly on a regular basis with the Lynch leadership folks that will be kind of comprised of district and school administration. The next goal, and so by the way, all of that, sorry Will, will you just go back one more? I think it's important for people to see that what we want to have is kind of like a draft presentation to this body so we can give you like an update of how the work is going and then give it to this body in March for approval. So we would come to you, I want to say it's like December-ish with kind of like how it's been going, like a status update, and then in March come with full approval of the strategic plan so that then throughout the rest of the spring we're talking about really fully implementing this. All right, well now you can go to the next slide. Second professional practice goal is this collective charge, and it is all the work, all the professional development, and all the conversations about developing the branches of belonging through. You can go to the next slide. Action steps for this kind of much like the branches of a tree, branch out a little bit. So part of this work is Kim Clinton's entry planning, and really listening to the community about things that have gone really well for them and things that maybe have not. And pieces in where they feel they'd like to see more support or more communication or what have you. And that information is going to be critical to our belonging through collective charge. And then it also includes the ongoing kind of vetting of student support structures. So this is something we're always looking at, but need to continue auditing. Dr. Talbot and I have worked with Dr. Shulman specifically around support plans. This year, we fully have implemented a gender support plan. So really auditing what we have to support our students and where are there gaps. And that is part of that work. Also, just continuing to elevate student voice. in student experience. So you see that here at school committee we're continuing. A lot of district meetings we're continuing. I also have been in conversations with Miss Freitas Haley who is kind of the contact person for our student reps. So I need to make sure that I'm more involved meeting with students on a monthly basis. And then our partnerships with City Connects is invaluable. They are tremendous assets to us and have partnered with us every time we reach out to them. But one of the things that we kind of brought to the finish line last year with a lot of great people at the table through Catherine Dingra and City Connects, Dr. Talbot, Dr. Shulman and I, Miss McNiff, is the Caregiver University. So really like continuing to deepen these relationships and partnerships and building up the caregiver university. And right now we kind of have like street data and Catherine has at her fingertips a lot of data through City Connects and through the student liaisons that she has around what what the community wants to see in Caregiver University, but we also need to kind of, as a district, look at that and see if there are other ways that we can be eliciting feedback around what people want to see out of Caregiver University through like a survey or something, so we have a little bit other concrete data than just street data. And then two more goals. This one is around communication coherence. This one I think was also very, this came up in my evaluation. This is a goal that forever needs to have a focus on it. And this is about communication and it's about communication norms, protocols, transparency systems. And so if we go to the next slide, there's a wide array of action steps that are associated with this goal. One is to continue reviewing and streamlining our current systems. And so what does it look like across all communication channels? It's a little fragmented, maybe what one school is doing versus another. We really want to kind of add some consistency to that and maybe expand the ways in which I know Mr. Pippicelli has already kind of done this a little bit but also improve the timeliness and transparency. I mean this is one I'm constantly working on. We're really great with. with, you know, forward facing information that needs to get out to the community, I feel. But I have been working on internal structures to make sure I'm responsive with email. So that is something that is important. And then something that has come up time and time again that we have started to work on that we're hoping to finalize soon is the creation of a communications flowchart. so that it's very clear, forward facing to the community. If you are experiencing this issue or this situation, here are like the, you know, six tiers of who you should contact first, move on to, move on to, move on to. So trying to make, if you have an athletics question, you know, you should go to, you know, the coach first. Then maybe you go to the assistant athletic director, Rachel Perry, or the athletic director, Mr. O'Leary. You know, if it's like a medical question, you know, we should, where should you start first? I think not only is it important to give that information, but it also helps to, maintain and foster relationships. Sometimes when people jump a bunch of chairs, that can hinder relationships. And so I really want very much to be fostering that sense of belonging. And we think that this would be helpful for the community to see. And with that also is the lovely continuation of the facilities rental policy, which will come to fruition this year. If you just mind going back one more, Mr. Pippicelli, I think some of this also as we spoke about is Mr. Pippicelli is just branching into an Instagram account for Medford Public Schools. We haven't had one of those. So, trying to expand the ways in which we're reaching our community. Not everyone's on Facebook, not everyone reads my memo, and not everyone's on the website. Can you believe? So trying to make sure we're reaching broad audiences is really this action item. And also really, we've been having a lot of internal conversations about how we are showcasing learning. academics beyond here at the chambers and so really making sure that you are hearing more also from directors because there's some amazing things happening and we need to get it out there more. Okay next slide, last one. Call this the Ken Lord slide. So operations, district stability, all the things that are part of you know what is in creating the ability for everyone else to do their jobs on behalf of kids is really captured in this goal. And it may be lofty, but it is work that is ongoing. And so I have broken it down by the three buckets that live under Ken. So the action items are within those buckets. So the action items for facilities are, of course, the MSBA project and completing all that work through the schematic design phase. It's the accelerated repair projects that have already started. It's near finishing, I think by November, right, for McGlynn and Andrews. All right, fingers crossed. And then moving to the outside elementary schools, it is continued work that was identified on the capital planning. Next slide. Technology, we've already done a lot of this, but there is still a lot of work to do as he is still in the middle of the work with First Light, doing the new firewall and filtering systems, the network refresh. That also is still going on. Yep. Cybersecurity is a big one, as we've seen in the news. And so the detection, the response plan, the best practices, the increased cybersecurity training that is ongoing, and the awareness. And then he has created, I'm very happy for this, but there is a committee that has been established to review our student information system, which is School Brains. More to come on that update. And then in the world of security, you saw it in some of our work with the admin retreat, but a standard response protocol. is work that we need to be doing, the reunification part of that, as well as just working with our partners, identifying the standard response protocol, and making sure it's implemented with consistency. We do have to identify reunification sites for each school. And then I would say there's the ongoing work with like the Protect Act that was recently established. And we have worked in partnership with Medford Police on a set of expectations for our teachers, whether they're, and I'm correct, all staff, not just teachers, but whether they're on campus with students versus off campus with students and what the protocols should be. And I think that's all. So if there's any questions.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you Dr. Galussi. Great presentation. Great goals. Motion to approve by member Rousseau. Seconded by member Reinfeld. All those in favor. Aye. All those opposed. Motion passes. Thank you, Dr. Lucy. We do not have any presentations of student advisory council or the public. Continued business, new business reports requested. Next meeting? Okay. Okay. We'll work on that. Thank you. And we do have two condolences. One I just want to change. We have the members of the Medved School Committee express their sincere condolences to the family of Lorraine Miles, the mother of former school committee member Kathy Kreatz. She passed away peacefully in late August, surrounded by her family and loved ones. Lorraine was a mother of eight. grandmother of seven, and a newly great-grandmother. She was also a wife, sister, daughter, retired teacher at St. Joseph's and Medford Public Schools, substitute teacher, auntie, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, great-aunt, cousin, niece, friend, and neighbor. Her caring heart truly shone through in everything she did. Her joyful smile and vibrant, compassionate personality made everyone feel welcome and eager to share their stories with love. She will be forever loved by her family, who we all know. Ms. Kreatz served on the school committee, Ms. Kathy Kreatz. So if we please may take a moment of silence for the family of Lorraine Miles, and also the members of the Medford School Committee express their sincerest and deepest condolences to the family of Gerald H. Wadness, the father of Michael Wadness, science teacher at Medford High School. Member Mastropone.
[Mike Mastrobuoni]: Mayor, if I may, I'd like to express condolences for a member of our community, Derek McGuire, who's a neighbor, a friend. He was a Roberts School father who sadly passed away August 16th, a member of our community, as we want to push our condolences to the family as well.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. Thank you for sharing. If we all may rise for a moment of silence, please. Our next regular meeting is on September 28, 2026, here in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall, and via Zoom. Motion to adjourn by Member Reinfeld, seconded by Member Graham. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion to adjourn.
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