[John Intoppa]: Thank you. It's no surprise to anyone that I'm super psyched about this because I was a member of student government at Medford High and then also all throughout higher education was involved with student leadership and student government and how do we advise and work to help form policy that we want to see every day that affects us every day. And it's what led me to being here. And I super appreciate the idea of expanding that and for bringing this committee back to life. I loved working with you all. two years ago a lot on some things and I'm really excited to see what you bring to the table moving forward. So thank you very much for doing this work and I really appreciate it.
[John Intoppa]: So quick question. Thank you for all this information. So we have on our agenda a policy on AI guidance and how that's gonna work. If we vote this into the handbook, is that the same ruling? Or are these two different rulings for two different things? Because inherently, if we vote yes on this, it automatically brings it in.
[John Intoppa]: I'm asking in terms of, no, I was just more of like if they were similar because I have opinions about generative AI, and I have concerns, and I have issues with it, specifically how it's being used in the handbook and in the policy. And I was just making sure that how we vote on the handbook doesn't affect the policy, because I get into my specifics in reviewing the full policy in the text that it's written.
[John Intoppa]: Cool. Yeah, because just my question was then, do I say my concerns now, or do I wait till the policy reading? But if I can just wait until the policy reading, I can more dissect it in terms of that. It's a good question.
[John Intoppa]: So thank you for affirming that.
[John Intoppa]: So, member Intoppa, do you want to make a motion to sever the MPS AI guidance from the handbook?
[John Intoppa]: Okay, if that makes the most sense, then I'll motion to, I'll take the recommendation of Member Ruseau, motion to table the handbook discussion.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you so much. I'm really happy to see this breakdown and also you know the clarification in terms of the language. I think one thing to make very clear and important to folks is that this is not the only basis of funding for the CCSR, that the CCSR actually, especially in the secondary education part of the CCSR actually encourages students to get grants elsewhere and to help fund the projects through that as a way of project learning and a way for folks to learn how to do that in the real world. I know that my project in the CCSR was mainly funded actually through Tufts and through Harbor Freight and that was done in with my advisor Michael Skorka teaching me how and Richard Trotta teaching me how to sort of do that. So when we see These numbers outside of the scope of, well, how does that fund everything? It's important to know that at the core of the CCSR they are teaching students how to be advocates and how to advocate for themselves in terms of what they want to get funded. So oftentimes they're reaching out to community partners for sponsorships and a lot of other things. So just kind of like a point of information, I guess, about this funding when we see this here and we go, well, how does 4,000 sustain the various grade levels and various intricacies of projects? Oftentimes we rely on our community partners and thank them for that. So thank you for the clarification and I appreciate all the information presented.
[John Intoppa]: My understanding for one for the in terms of where we find what those that is actually outlined in the 10 year grant contract executed in 2021 so we'd have to refer to that language to find out what that means outside of the scope. My understanding of the faculty and staff stipends when it comes to advising is more in the term of that this is the allotted amount and that it is earmarked for that. So that way every, you know, and I don't know what the number is. I know I was asked to be an advisor at some point. I never got to that point of asking what the stipend weeks I didn't ask ignored. that I care. But as far as I'm concerned, it's a baseline stipend of whatever the amount is, and then that $29,000 is basically reachable to them because we pay part of Mr. Trotta's salary through the budget. And as far as I'm concerned, it's for folks outside of that. But I could be completely wrong. I don't know the answer 100%, so I don't want to pretend like I do. But that is my interpretation of this letter and from past context, working with Director Trotta on this.
[John Intoppa]: everyone else's, all the other advisors and assistants, whether it's faculty or staff, is from this, but TRADA is the only one that is paid for in our budget.
[John Intoppa]: And one more not to like you said, I'm going to make maybe a dangerous assumption. What I'm assuming is And again, I use the word assuming strongly, is that the Cummings Foundation had guidelines on what they wanted the grant funding to be spent on. And now, with a lot of things happening federally with grant funding, what they're earmarked for, they are lifting certain recommendations to avoid becoming targeted. I'm going to assume that they are basically saying we had priorities and now it's whatever you want to do. Because that seems to be the trend that seems to be what's happening nationally. And I have a feeling that it was just more of or maybe it wasn't that deep. Maybe it's nothing like that. And maybe it's just, you know, hey, we wanted to use it for this, but now you know, whatever floats your boat, whatever we can do to make sure that students have student success and that they're doing the projects they want to do, and that we actually really don't care what you use it for as long as you spend it appropriately and responsibly.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. I want to say first and foremost, thank you member Reinfeld and everyone on the committee for putting their heads together, thinking about what this looks like, thinking about the policy. I agree. It is very clear on a lot of things. There's a lot of, you know, the policy is bulky in terms of that. There's a lot of guidance, right? There's some things we just can't avoid. It's sometimes like we want to make them as short and simple as we can, but you always want to make sure things are clear. There's clarity. There's clarity amongst other things that better less likely. The first question I have is, has the district identified what generative AI models are state approved, are district approved, are OK to use in the system? Because it mentions that in the DESE guidelines, they have to be vetted. And I was curious.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, in terms of what, because there's thousands of models and there's different third party softwares in terms of which- Only a certain number of them have the agreement.
[John Intoppa]: I was gonna say, because that is that's my biggest concern is in terms of student data privacy. Yeah.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, no, my question, it was more in terms of like, have we identified yet, you know what I mean, in terms of what we have. Obviously, like you said, things are fluid, things change, we find a problem with the software, we take it off the list, it happens all the time. I'm sort of breaking this apart in terms of, so I understand in terms of citing AI sources, I find it very interesting because it basically seems like the old adage of you can't cite Google because you can't cite a Google search. And that's exactly what an AI citation is through MLA and APA. It's just, you're writing what you searched up, what model you used and what day it was, which is funny because you go through primary and secondary education and they tell you not to do that with Google. And yet, This isn't our language, but this is what the language is across the nation in terms of MLA and APA, what is acceptable. So I think that's kind of hilarious, especially if you know how AI works in terms of machine learning that inherently it is plagiarism because it is pulling together a bunch of sources and spitting out a summary without any real citation. And if you've, you know, in college, they always teach you, even if you summarize, even if you don't use every single word, word by word, or even have two of the same, you still have to cite it because you're still using someone else's information to form your opinion. And so generative AI being cited is an interesting sort of, cycle of like, that's an interesting kind of thing. In terms of us implementing generative AI, I know that we as a committee stand on policies that are sustainable and making sure we're in our environment. And if you know about AI, generative AI, you know how much energy it uses and how much water it uses and how much fossil fuels it inherently uses to generate answers and to machine learn these systems. And so from a sustainability standpoint, not that sustainable. There are ways for them to, I'm sure, to get the energy from solar or wind. But for the most part, it's really not. In terms of ethical usage in the arts, there is no way to ethically use AI, except for if you code an AI system and feed it only your artwork, it is inherently plagiarism and not stealing like an artist, which you and I both understand. It is more of the stealing of everything else. So these are sort of some of my concerns.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I'm definitely pulling in from what the conversations are happening in the art world in terms of higher ed and these are the conversations we're having every single day in terms of how AI is implemented in policy in the classroom in higher education. Also, the part of bias and critical thinking should be checked for accuracy, bias, and misinformation. For me, it's at this point, what's the point then in terms of taking a shortcut to summarize these things and then have to go back and still check them to make sure they're factual and to make sure that they are appropriate? And then who is doing that checking? And I think my colleagues behind me have some opinions about that in terms of what then
[John Intoppa]: I actually, in opposition of the policy, I think that we shouldn't be, it is my personal opinion that we really shouldn't be implementing this into the curriculum in terms of its usage. I believe that Being aware, especially in terms of literacy when we look at political and also national literacy around what is generative AI what is real and what is not I think is a very scary thing it is approaching very quickly in terms of we look at AI models that are generated from last year until this year. So I'm sort of more nitpicking this in terms of that my amendment would be to only have a literacy aspect to it. And the only times that we use this is to teach about what generative AI is, but it is not my welcoming to incorporate this into the curriculum in terms of as a tool. I understand its benefits, but I personally do not have a positive outlook on generative AI and the future that it has in terms of where it will be going. So to that, I defer. to my colleague next to me. That's not even my job, but that is my job.
[John Intoppa]: Well, at this time, there is no motion.
[John Intoppa]: These are just comments and questions.
[John Intoppa]: I'd like to make a motion to sever the AI policy from the handbook as we are currently discussing a lot of the AI possibilities in another policy and I'm afraid that they will clash with one another in terms of development we have with the second reading of the policy.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, move for approval, but sever the AI policy.
[John Intoppa]: No further comment, motion to approve.
[John Intoppa]: Member Intoppa. Sorry, excuse me. As far as I'm concerned, the grants language means that it has to go to the CCSR and that it can't be put into the general rotation fund. So this money remains to the CCSR and is usually spread over a 10 year allowance.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, thank you. So quick question, because this made me think of it. And, you know, in particular to you said the cut through city, I know that living in the heights, my part of the heights is a huge cut through and it's always been a battle between Medford and Malden over what do we do? So that stems a question of the buses on the Fells Way. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are the tickets then issued by the state police because that is a state road? So then how does that money get back to us? Or are they still issued by Medford? They're still issued by Medford. So Medford, okay. So thank you for the clarifying point. I wasn't sure exactly how that all worked with state roads. This seems like something that I think it's funny. I was actually talking about this with an old colleague about at my other place of work, because they had actually been looking into this, because Medford tried to pilot this back in 2011. And we had tried to do this. And in speaking with former member Falco and former member Vanderkloot, it seems like it never kind of, especially when Vanderkloot and I were talking about it, it seems like it never really picked up because, and I don't want to misquote her about how, about like, who owns the cameras? How does it work? How does that all system? So I really appreciate seeing this. all laid out in terms of that, and I know that member Ruseau has a microphone on, but if there are no other comments, I'll motion to approve.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Are these positions, the two site coordinators that are being brought to this role, are they already inhabited roles and are these folks getting promotions or are these positions that need to be reposted and reapplied?
[John Intoppa]: Cool. And then, so are these jobs going to be posted and then those four folks are going to apply? Correct. Or is it going to be that they're posted, but then the job is posted to the public with preference to the four folks that are already employed?
[John Intoppa]: Okay. Okay. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: For sure. Happy to be here. So my name is John Intoppa. You see him pronouns. I am a current Medford School Committee candidate running for technically free election. And I am looking forward to continue doing all the work that we've been doing on the school committee. I am from North Medford, born and raised in the Heights. I was part of the, pretty much as many things I could get my hands on while in the Medford public schools. I, you know, was an art student, did the arts for as long as I could, athletics for as long as I could, and really had a blast sort of learning all of the community elements that popped up in both, you know, Student activism and the arts and athletics. And then after high school, I went to get my bachelor's of fine arts and industrial design at the Masters College of Art and Design, where I currently work for my quote unquote day job. I work in the student engagement office where I deal with student activities, family and friends, orientation, student organizations, and civic engagement and veterans, veteran affairs. So it's a, you know, dealing with people and working all the people to establish community and to really problem solve and figure things out. Um, has been a common, uh, goal amongst my time, both in higher ed, uh, working in higher ed, being educated in higher ed and on the school committee. Um, so yeah, that's me. Um, and I'm just, like I said, I'm happy to be here and happy to have a chat and conversation.
[John Intoppa]: So last time I was here, you know, I can't believe it's almost been two years already. I talked a lot about, you know, food allergies and finding places to eat. I can say that since we've last talked, I have found my favorite at the Ford. It has been the Cajun Chicken Alfredo. That has been my go-to there. And I'm also loving their new location, Mrs. Murphy's Pub. I've been loving that a lot. I did fail to recognize Goldilocks, because Goldilocks is my go-to Friday place. They're also phenomenal with allergies. really like the they're the only specifically bagel place that I can go to safely. And I love the staff. I love the folks over there. So that's kind of my Friday commute into work. I wake up, you know, a little bit earlier just to make sure I can get there. But otherwise, you know, the classics of I just love trying to get to as many of those. family-owned places as much as I can because, like I said, two years ago, they employ our students and also, like, they're amazing with allergies and it's just the greatest vibe. I'm a talker and I love having conversation and learning what they're up to and just seeing, you know, how things are going. Those are my favorite places. Also, Magnificent Muffins has the best, I think, local business coffee that I've ever had. They're really good. I don't get many of the muffins because of my allergy, but I always stop there for coffee to say hi to Joan and the gang and, you know, talk to them and see what's going on.
[John Intoppa]: Great place, though. It is my it's funny because you know, like I'm seeing it go from Medford electronics to then. So my dad actually was one of the painter. He was the painter. He painted the interior. And so seeing it go from Medford electronics to what it is, and then like, they have outside seating in the back, which is also crazy to be like, in sandwiched in between all these storefronts. Like it feels really weird and you don't realize it until you look up and you see the brick buildings and you're like, oh, I'm in the middle of the square where I didn't think I would ever set foot. Yeah, so that's awesome though.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I know it counts. I know. But we've been joking and you know, in the family of like, Oh, should I put reelect stickers on the signs? And we're like, well, like, technically you were, but technically you weren't. So like, I think I think the papers say candidate for renomination. And I like that. That's the phrase I've been using. That works. That works.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, no. So I, you know, it was a whirlwind. I mean, that whole time of, um, I mean, in my personal life, it was also a kind of time I had just gotten a second contract at MassArt, so I was a contract employee actually seeking my full-time job, which I got, and at the same time was also a contract employee in the housing department as sort of an on-call support for their resident assistants. And so at that same time, you know, I just accepted that contract. And then my phone started blowing up. And, you know, that's when everything kind of went down. So I really didn't have time to think it was just kind of like, we're doing it like it's happening. And that was also the time period where we had thought there was like, a few million dollars missing from the budget. And it turns out that wasn't actually what's happening. It was a spreadsheet error. And we had the awful budget passing that happened that year where a lot of our folks were laid off. And so it was really kind of this what's happening and kind of somber time to be on the committee and especially as someone who you know, kind of actually just came to peace with the fact that that might have been it. And then to get thrown into it. And that whole process, you know, I'm happy to see that the Charter Review Committee has a whole section on what happens because it wasn't in our charter. And we went off of past precedent from another, from a different version of the charter. And so, you know, there was a lot. I think the thing that I love the most right off the bat were the community events, and I knew that's what I was going to love. You know, one of the things that reasons why I ran and always I knew I wanted to be as present as I could be. And I'm very thankful to MassArt for helping me be able to do that, because, you know, as a kid, I knew who was on the school committee because they were at events and I knew who Kathy Kreatz was and me and Miss Stone and and a bunch of others. but there was this thing, and maybe it was just me, but you know, there was this thing of like, this feels like I'm doing something important because these people are here. This feels like, no matter what it is, a recital, you know, a sporting event, like this feels like a big deal because there are folks here who I view as a big deal that are here to celebrate with us. And that feeling was something that I always wanted to give back, especially, you know, to the arts and my folks, you know, who, you know, while the arts are being attacked nationwide, maybe really want that, really want that support. And so, you know, above all, no matter what legislation I wanted to pass, no matter my opinions, like that was something that I always wanted to do was be the present person to show up. And I think that I've been pretty successful with that. I'd hope so. You know, trying as many invites as I get to work with, to work with my place of employment, to figure out a way to do that and to support those folks. And so that's been something that has been my favorite thing is the community building and seeing, you know, the city rally around community. You know, it's what I do for work too. And so seeing the laughs and smiles and also attending events that I attended. Part of as a student is also surreal, like going to the fifth grade junior Olympics, like that was wild to to, you know, walk with the flag bearers and walk with them down the track with member Branley and to be that person that I saw as a kid, you know, that's been the most surreal thing. Now like in terms of legislation, I think that I didn't realize how much fun I would have writing legislation and writing policy It's been this kind of like I'm playing lawyer. I feel like you know Councilor Tseng I'm sort of playing lawyer with things. I'm sure it's Councilor Tseng as he finishes his begins and is in the middle of his you know a law degree but You know, doing that, so writing the water wellness policy, which, um, came out of a lot of the schools testing positive for lead. Um, and you know, it wasn't just, you know, for those who may have missed that, it wasn't just the high school, which was built in the seventies. It was the Andrews and the McGlynn all very buildings that were built when I was like three, you know, past the point of lead pipes being banned and manufacturing. And so, you know, hungering down and trying to figure out how do we prevent this going forward. Also finding out that we're now only one of three cities that have an actual policy on how water is tested. And we're the only one I believe that actually has numbers and says this is what happens if this number comes up. This is when you have to do it. This is what happens if it if it tests positive. How do you reconcile that? clear guidance so that way no one can kind of go, I don't know what to do, because you don't want to put anyone in that situation. You don't want to write policy and then be like, well, figure it out. Do your job. Figure it out. That's the last thing you want to do. So having these sort of backup and safeguards built into it, it makes it lengthier, but you thank yourself in the long run for that. So I found this love for authoring policy and figuring out and dissecting policy, finding things like adding things to policy statements or looking over job descriptions and knowing from my time writing job descriptions for students, the legalities of that and going, oh, wait, we actually are not in compliance with mass state law because of this. We need to fix that. We need to do that. And so pulling in that knowledge, that's something I've really loved. And I knew I was going to love it because that's why I would have ran. I didn't want to run just because I wanted the power and whatever. And I wanted to be an advocate and to learn this position that I had admired so much as a kid and figure out what that was like and keep moving forward. And that's why I'm running, seeking renomination and seeking it again is because I've really loved doing it. I love the invites, I love showing up to everything that I can and just seeing the city grow in that way, especially the children of this city. Just seeing all the achievements they have and being able to parade around that and celebrate that has been my favorite thing, for sure.
[John Intoppa]: I had to learn a lot really quick. And I'm very thankful that my background as a trustee at MassArt got rid of all the Roberts rules worry. Like there's still some very niche things that I still have to ask about. And you'll see me ask about it, honestly, on the floor. Like, how do we approach this? What do we do? But that sort of open meeting law of Roberts rules thing being knowing that I was, I was really able to just learn or what are the rules of this specific committee. and how do we do this so that way I don't get anyone else in trouble? Because I would hate to get my colleagues in trouble for my rookie mistake. That's that. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
[John Intoppa]: For sure. I think one of the things is. You know, looking through our so there was actually an instance where this came up. I think it was the last meeting we had, not like the last, like the last meeting of the school committee for this. Now we're in recess, but it was around the MCAS policy. And I was looking for another policy in our policy bank, and I noticed we had a whole policy around MCAS being its own graduation requirement. And so even though we struck it from, another policy, like our graduation policy, there was a whole policy around MCAS. And so, you know, I don't know enough about law to know if that would cause a conflict, but being able to look through and understand like, oh, this may conflict, let's bring it to the floor. Let's sort of clean up that policy bank has been something sort of fun. But on a serious note, you know, looking at, I think the number one thing or one of the number one things on my platform for reelection is voter engagement. and voter education. And that is something that I think we don't have really an in-house system on how to train our students on how to be responsible, educated voters. And my time at MassArt, I was chair of the MassArt Votes effort, which basically picks up the pace where, you know, K through 12 didn't with voter engagement. So we take the students and we get them registered to vote. We tell them what to do in terms of, you know, can you technically register to vote here? Can you not? What does Mass State Law says? What does Mass State Law say? And so that's really one of the efforts that I think we need student input on. I said that a lot. two years ago was I'm running on we need student input. And what do they need, you know, I ran into issues. And I don't want to air them, you know, over the radio waves but of some but they were startling, you know, of what students didn't understand it ranged from students knowing who their you know, city clerk was, a register of voters was, but they couldn't get the registration to them because they didn't know how to mail a letter. Or, you know, they thought, oh, I can early vote in Boston because I live in Boston, I'm dorming in Boston, but I'm registered to vote in Quincy. But that says I can early vote here, so why can't I? And so sort of clearing that up and sort of trying to educate our students, because the way we're doing it, you know, we have a civics program in our middle schools. But what we're doing at the high school level is really some just really cool and responsible faculty members that are grabbing nomination, that are grabbing registration papers from City Hall and bringing them to class. And I don't think it's fair to rely on our faculty to do that. I think that we owe it to our students to have, you know, if we complain about low voter turnout, And we want to go down that road. We really need to make sure that we have systems in place to educate them. Because once they go to college, if they go to an out-of-state college, what do they do? Do they register to vote there? Do they do late voting here? You know, these are things really hard. I was on my I was on the phone on election day with parents, like trying to come up with solutions. It wants to vote, but like this is this and this is that and just trying to figure that out. And I don't want anyone that lives in any student that lives in Medford that goes to college having to have those worries and concerns, you know, on election day. I want them to be able to know what to do and how to vote. And so that's sort of one of the efforts that I really want to work. Cause yeah, two years flies by and you know, once you have community meetings and all that, Oh, it's time for reelection.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, so there's two. There's usually two. So the way, there's a student liaison who usually sits in on the meetings and gives input. There's also a student advisory council that is made up of students of all grade levels, and they meet internally at the high school. We really haven't, to be honest, we really didn't meet with them that much this academic year. Last academic year, we were meeting with them on some specific things that are escaping me at the moment. But I remember going, because I was in the dorm, so it was definitely last academic year. in calls with students about engagement. We're talking about extending the school day by 15 minutes. And we've been getting emails from students concerned about mental health concerns or other things about what will be offered for that. And so we are receiving input, but we're not meeting with them as much as I remember us doing. And I'm not sure why that is. I don't mean, I'm not trying to air out a grievance here, you know, that component was missing this past academic year. But I definitely loved meeting with them and, you know, seeing them in that spot, because I was in that spot as a student president in high school. But yeah, trying to figure out, you know, working with our civics department, working with our director of marketing, working with students to figure out how can we best, you know, talk specifically about voting. How do we push that? And how do we get them ready for that? So that way, I think we owe it to our students to get them as ready as we can for college or trades or the military, wherever they may go. So that way, once they leave us, they feel prepared and set up. And I don't know if we're there yet. I know I hear from. What I remember, I mean, I didn't learn how to write a check until I opened the business account to run for this office. I didn't know how to open a bank account because we did it a few years ago. But I didn't learn that in school. And I didn't learn how to write a check and do this and do that. And so, you know, looking at programs like the career fair, revamping that, looking at how we can, I mean, that was great. That was a huge reality check for renting. Are you kidding me? You go around, you have a set, you get like a random job and you go around to tables and they go, Oh, you want a car or a bus pass? Because now you can't pay rent if you get a car, but you can't do that. And you're like, wow, this is intense. This is scary. And now, you know, you get to be my age 24 and you're like, Oh no, that was, that was actually, it was better than now.
[John Intoppa]: It is the game of life. It was a big game of life in the gym. And that's what it was. And local businesses came and volunteered. It was awesome. I remember it very vividly. And coming up with more opportunities for our students to do that, I hate to say it like this, but at MassArt, working with student government funds for the MassArt Activities Council, which are the eight students that I directly oversee, we do a lot with nothing. Because the funds get spread around, and we try to fund as many organizations they can and so that's what I find myself feeling like every time I have to problem-solve in Medford is we have to do a lot with like not a lot because we have to figure out how can we make the best out of what we have and so for that it's like voter engagement like what are we doing are we are we doing pamphlets are we doing online QR codes what do we have to do to make sure it's budget-friendly but also having the impact of That will change students, you know, the career fair, how can we work with local businesses to make it happen to maybe donate part of their time or donate efforts. You know, looking for loopholes like that, because I mean for those. For those folks who, I didn't realize this until school committee training, 80% of the budget in most school districts is personnel, and rightfully so. But that's when people go, well, where's all this money? It's paying the people who are educating our students. 80% of that goes to personnel. And so you're dealt with 20% to do everything else. And so figuring out how we can do things amazing, but also set our faculty up for success, our students up for success, our administrators up for success, can be tricky and can be hard and you know that that's sort of what I've been trying to do is sit back and kind of look at all right where where can we do these small fixes that maybe have big impact.
[John Intoppa]: I think, you know, just keep on moving. We're in a really cool direction with, you know, looking at hopefully getting a new high school building, um, looking at new programs to bring into, you know, um, the schools themselves. But I think, you know, those are my main big things. I'd also love, you know, um, to see a larger emphasis and we're getting there with, I mean, we just had, we as a district just had our AP art exhibition at arts collaborative Medford. I'm loving the emphasis on local artists and the local arts. As a former, you know, board member of the West Medford Open Studios, as a practicing artist for both performing and in sculptural work, you know, empowering artists to make change is huge. It's a completely different, you know, mindset in terms of how they approach things and really pushing our students to, you know, show those off and to work when we've been making a lot of efforts to, you know, local murals. And, you know, I think the like the pop up the pop up space over by the senior center in Medford and Medford Square, you know, that was that was helped in part design murals were designed by the National Art Society at Medford High. And so, you know, really empowering artists, I think, is also a huge priority, I'd say that a lot of my priorities from two years ago are still going because I think that I know that this past year has been, you know, all right, learning all the realities and learning all the technical things and you know, when I was forming this slate, I'm like, all right, I'd love to be like, I want to create this and I want to do that. But the reality is we can't afford that. We can't do that right now, at least not in a two year span. And so trying to think of very specific, tangible things that we can work on has been my priority. And so bringing the arts into a lot of different areas and bringing them into different spaces, you know, maybe we do pop up galleries across which we have been doing with. Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry that the organization is escaping me at the moment, with Arts Medford. And I believe it's Arts Medford, and I'm sorry if I'm misquoting, but we had like a pop-up art walk all across the city. And doing that, you know, there were some, I believe some student artists, or maybe I'm thinking of last year, but that's a huge priority of mine. Advocating for our nurses has been a huge also priority of mine. There's some, They have had some pushback in terms of some of the policy or hiring, not hiring personnel numbers we've been giving them because of outdated practices and, you know, so continue to advocate for them to make sure that that doesn't happen again. And that doesn't continue to happen in, you know. as many budget cycles as I can say that I can be a part of.
[John Intoppa]: So there's there's a there when we were looking at the numbers, you know, there were certain, you know, full time positions that were designated for each school and designated there. And there was talk about how that wasn't enough, because if one one nurse is getting an epi pen for a student or getting an inhaler for a student then they're out there you know they're off the floor there's nothing i can happen so you know god forbid something two people get hurt, three people get hurt. There's not enough nurses there. So we have a floater that goes between buildings and stuff like that. But during public sessions, there were complaints that those were based off of outdated numbers. So we, as a district, thought, oh, we're doing what the standard is. But the position of the union and the staff was, that's not what those are the numbers. That's outdated. We need more. We need better. We need better staffing. And so, I mean, as a student who got attention deficit meds from them, you know, I saw that like, oh, I'll help you in a second. There's five kids in the waiting room, but they got to go help me in the back because even though I'm 18. I can't give myself my own meds, and I don't think people realize that. Or they have to get the EpiPen, or they have to go get Tylenol. So things like that, I think, is also a huge priority of mine. But still continuing to hopefully be, no, not hopefully, still continuing to be the present school community member who can show up to as many shows, or as many sport outings, or as many volunteer opportunities and give back, whether it's missing the opportunity to help donate for a 50-50 raffle, but giving an art basket for a student, or helping sponsor a t-shirt, things like that, where it's like, all right, I can't make the event, but how can I give you money to help make sure it happens well? That has been something that I've also loved to do and will continue to do in my hopeful next two years on the committee.
[John Intoppa]: I think, you know, I have had an amazing time being on it. It's also been a time where, you know, we talk about, you know, darker times with budget cycles and learning the reality of that. You know, you want to give – I'm trying to think of a way to say this. You know, making those tough decisions and having to be the one to say that and with a simple yes, saying yes, the impact that that truly has on families. a year ago when our budget that we passed because we were underfunded had to, you know, laid people off. And I was like, I need people to realize that we are saying numbers, but these are people, these are bills, these are homes that could be impacted by one of us simply saying yes or no. And, you know, you've realized that, but when you're sitting in that chair and going to push the button, it really, really hurts. And it really is something that, you know, I didn't, voting, there's a lot of hesitation because you've realized the gravity of what you're about to say. And I've also learned like really how much showing up matters. I mean, I've always known showing up matters and, you know, as from the perspective of witnessing it and feeling that, you know, love from folks, whether it's my parents or my siblings or members of the school committee, but really how much people appreciate their elected officials being there for them and showing that by taking time out of their day to do things that aren't, you know, their biweekly meetings. I never realized how much that would impact me seeing it on the other side and how much that also did a lot for me as a person. But I think the last two years, you know, I've always tried to lead with love and courage and just wanting to make sure that everyone has a seat at the table. and try to approach it from a problem-solving mindset that I, as an artist, have that unique perspective of. And it's one thing to employ artists because of what they do, but also the way they think. And when you put artists in charge, it's like, oh, that's cool representation, but it's also a different viewpoint and a different way of thinking at the table that is really special to those folks. I think I'm talking in circles, I feel like I'm blabbing, but there's just so much, you know, it's been such a privilege and an honor to be on the committee and to see that childhood dream come to life of doing the work that I've wanted to do since I was in the second grade. And I wanted to abolish the MCAS, which we did. We got rid of it as a graduation requirement because the Massachusetts voters said we could. There's a literal Facebook quote, I think, from my mom back when I was in the second grade of like, John wants to get on the school committee because he wants to get rid of the MCAS. Or it was either that or summer reading. It might have been both. I really didn't like both. I learned to love summer reading but still continued to hate the MCAS. And so, you know, being able to live out this childhood dream has been such a pleasure. And I mean, I can't do it without the voters of Medford. And I thank them greatly for putting that trust into me and allowing me to do that and realize just how much I love this work and just how much I love being there for our students and our faculty and staff.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah. So we the kickoff is currently being planned. It's in the works. I'm hoping to aim for the first or second, you know, middle of September, so keep your eye out for that. You can find me on pretty much every social platform besides Axe. I'm on Instagram and Facebook as Intoppa4Medford. I think it's either Instagram or Facebook. I'm Intoppa4Medford because they said I was trying to impersonate myself. So yeah, Instagram, Intapa4Medford, F-O-R, and then Facebook should be Intapa4, the number four, Medford. And then if you go to Intapa4Medford, which is Intapa, the number four, Medford.com, you can find my website and platform and all the stuff that I'm doing. And that's still under construction. So please have some patience. Hopefully it'll be done by the time this airs. that's where you can find everything that I'm up to. If you have campaign asks, you can email me at intapa4medford at gmail.com. If you have school committee asks and want to talk to me as an elected official, you can reach me at jintapa at medford.k12.ma.us. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: No, just thank you so much, honestly, for the work that y'all do for the community by doing these podcasts and by interviewing all of us. It's really well appreciated, especially as we lack a local newspaper, which we have some new ones starting up, which is really awesome. But this is really helpful, not only to us, I can say that, but also helpful to the voters to hear that. And it's nice to have a casual conversation and just talk about what we love about the city and what we want to do for it and stuff like that. And also plugging local food businesses. So I'm sure they appreciate it. I'm sure the restaurants really love you all for doing that.
[John Intoppa]: Exactly. Exactly. Of course.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, thank you. I think I just wanted to, I think the, um. The voluntary aspect to clear up for anyone who might have heard that is at least from my perspective of advising students and seeing, you know, at least the college level students is. At least for the last 2 years, students have been faced with the. split decision of do I go to sports or do I work? And so for them to do volunteer work, you know, it can become a little tricky, especially if, you know, they're helping work with their family. But I just wanted to give, you know, commendation to Mr. Trotta and the whole team for doing this work. I mean, project based learning is huge. You know, we've seen such amazing things for the district come out of this. So I'm just happy to see that the great work is continuing and Yeah, I just wanted to give my thanks to Trott and the team.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. Well, I understand why we want to pardon me, If part of me feels that the administration says they can do it with 11 or whatever, I'm sorry, the number's right here, 1140. I don't know how, I mean, I understand it's, I don't want to say just 15, but I'm curious to see how that works. And if the administration says 1140, we could support off 1140. I don't see why, I mean, I understand why we want to raise it to 15, but I would be more in support of the 1140 number as opposed to the 15, just because I know that, This is a huge pain point for our families, and this may help bring some new folks in, and I understand there's financial assistance, but I don't know. That's sort of my two cents on it. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Just a new member. Yes, it's
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I was kind of elaborating on that, Member Ruseau. I think, you know, I don't I do think, um, you know, I concur with the mayor's point. I think that. I know speaking, so this might be a point of personal privilege. I know being hired through the state system. I was hired to sub in on a contract basis and it had to be posted and I, you bring up the point of contract. Like, I don't know if the APA was the reason why we had to post it or for his mass state law. So I do think we should go. I think we should look back into what the law mandates in terms of job postings, because we had to do that for that reason. We knew the candidate, and that was me, but it had to be posted for it for that exact reason. So we have to figure out why that is moving forward, obviously. But again, defer to not keep this held up.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Okay, I'll defer to Member Graham, because Member Graham had the question pop up while we were voting on the first reading. So I'll defer to Member Graham first, if that's okay.
[John Intoppa]: John, you're up awesome. Thank you. Um, thank you for putting this together. It was a very nice read. It was also nice to read that from my experience and from talking with. Um, some of our, um. Lunchroom workers for lunch appreciation day that a lot of these protocols already being followed and a lot of these are already kind of. being done. I know that, correct me if I'm wrong, Director Silva, when it comes to coaching staff and allergies, the majority is already being implemented, especially with epinephrine in training. Aren't they supposed to be going through all this training already?
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. And then, um, so if I may, because, you know, member Graham brings up the question of policy, how much of this is already. Practice that is being done and how much of it is. Newer in terms of what we'd like to see the district move forward with. I mean, I don't know if that's a loaded question. Is that's a larger answer than what we can do tonight, but I'm just I'm just curious.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, absolutely. I think some of the things that came up for me that seem newer I'm assuming the PTO guidelines are of that other 25%, right. And so, you know, I think, for me in terms of bake sales. Um, I think that some of those policies in place and, uh, you know, for the sake of this, I mean, I lost it already because acrobat went all the way to the top. Um. You know, in terms of what happens within the buildings with allergen awareness, I think we have that jurisdiction to say, look, like, you need to put this post as you need to put this signage, because that is something that, um. Maybe overlooked in terms of, like, we can't guarantee anything and sometimes that feels like. As anyone who has an allergy feels like a scapegoat like they're just doing this to cover their butt, and that you know it's probably fine but now you've put this fear into me that it's not, but we really do for liabilities that we need to say this. But also because you know gluten is airborne, which some people may not know is that a gluten free kitchen, the airborne so you can clean all your pots all you want but it's airborne it's airborne. I think that was it in terms of questions for now. I think the only thing I also had was an amendment to the policy statement where it says it's literally the first sentence for some of our students. I would also include staff because staff are going to be caught in the crossfire with some of this stuff. So in declaring that we acknowledge that allergies are a problem for our students, also acknowledging that it's a problem for our faculty and staff. because if a student improperly washes their hands or a student improperly does something, and then they interact with the educator who has an allergy, I don't know how many cases we've had of that happen within the district, none that I've heard of, but I would like to see that be seen just in the, that's the only amendment I really have currently is to just add and staff to the first sentence. But thank you for doing the work. And now I think the mayor's back, but I'll say defer to Eric, member Rentfeld.
[John Intoppa]: I believe it was Member Ruseau first, if that's all right.
[John Intoppa]: So I'm trying. I don't know. No, it's not your fault. It's obviously the platform.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, I was just going to say I did notice in the policy. One thing I forgot to mention, I sort of mentioned this of, like, some of the new things we saw during lunch here today. I really do appreciate, by the way, the section that is sort of tidbits of what children may say if they're experiencing an allergic reaction for the first time in terms of what How they feel because they may not be able to articulate that and the fact that that is if I'm not mistaken posted on the like refrigerators and ovens at the at the elementary schools. So that way it is of ease of access for our lunch servers to sort of in prep workers and chefs to see that So I did want to make that note as someone who was behind that wall for the first time ever. That seeing all that information readily available, which is being put into this as well is super cool. So just a small note of appreciation. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: I was just going to say for a note for the motion there was also a motion made by myself that to amend sentence one to add and staff next to students.
[John Intoppa]: Ms.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah. The intent is not to infer that five-year-olds are gonna be responsible for a 43-year-old staff member to go into anaphylactic shock. What it is saying is that staff will take care of staff, but also the way I interpret the reading, it's not saying, it's just a background is what it seems like. So it's merely stating that we're keeping everyone safe. That's the gist of it. And that's why I included and staff. I don't intend to think that a kindergartner will be held liable because their teacher goes into anaphylactic shock because, yes, they pose that risk. They know it's the same thing as getting sick with cold season. There is that thing. But this is a policy statement. This is part of the policy that it's just a mere statement saying that we're trying to keep people safe, which is why I asked for that. But if the committee is not comfortable because it'll be somehow legally binding to include and staff, that's fine. It's not a feel good. It's not a I don't want to try to sue first graders. It's just that's the mere fact is it's a statement that we're trying to keep everyone safe. And it's not just students to staff or staff to students. It's also staff to staff and students to students. So that's it. That's all it is really. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. Member Ruseau, is this just the policy that you were talking about? A few weeks ago where it's like we had one and then we've been going by it, but it wasn't in the policy bank and now this is the reupload of it. Or is that is that what this one is with the field trips? Or is that a different one?
[John Intoppa]: No, I think that's the one, because I remember something about field trips, and I saw Director Sullivan nod her head, and I see the superintendent has her hand raised, so I'll be quick. Okay, that was just a clarifying question, because I remember you said one of them were coming down the pipeline, and I wasn't sure if it was this one or not. I don't think I have any questions, and I'll defer to the superintendent. Dr. Galusi, do you still have a comment?
[John Intoppa]: I don't know why this is so sensitive.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, we can start discussion. So, basically, what this is, is, as I was looking through our policy bank for another policy in terms of just informing the community on what's been kind of going on. I found this policy in our wrong tab in our policy bank, which basically still says that. MCAS is still a requirement. It's a policy around the MCAS as a whole. It's a very outdated policy. So the idea was bring it to the committee so we can either strike it down here or refer it to some committee because there are other elements in this policy. It is not just MCAS. It seems like it seems like there's some like attendance and AP exams and credit for award of certificate of mastery and stuff like that. So this isn't to, for anyone reading this, it's not to implement this policy. It is that this policy is in our policy bank and we don't want it to conflict with our IKF graduation requirements. So it's to strike it or amend it so that way it no longer says this.
[John Intoppa]: We definitely need to strike the language around MCAS, but I guess I wasn't sure what the best what the committee feels is the best procedure for this is to either just strike down the policy as a whole and rebuild it, or if it's to. Refer to subcommittee to then edit and then bring back.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, so this sort of came up. Uh, actually speaking of director at the disability, the disability fair, um, at the McGlynn complex, it was brought up by several members in attendance. Um. To, uh, the, the, the, those of us that were there, um, about the accessibility needs specifically, because we were in that building of the McGlynn complex and how the front door wasn't ADA accessible because of the lip, um, and that, um. who was there actually had a ramp in the back of her vehicle and laid it out. So that way, those who were in wheelchairs or other mobility accessibility, you know, devices were able to get into the building as opposed to going around the back and, you know, to wherever that more accessible entrance is, which is a huge pain point for the members of the community who have to access that. It's important to note that it was also brought to attention that it isn't just for those who need mobility aids, it was also for, you know, if EMS comes in and brings in a stretcher, it's easier to get them all with a lip, but then when they leave, if there's someone on the stretcher, it's not so easy. But it also just needs to be looked at anyways, because I myself will say from a personal point of privilege, I nearly fell out of the door, leaving the NJHS ceremony because my foot got caught on it, was almost fully horizontal to the pavement. So I don't have a physical disability and I nearly fell. So I can't even imagine what the members of our community that have to use that entryway go through. So this is sort of to look at not just the McGlynn complex, but also to look at the other entry points of our buildings to assess if there are Ways that we can address these I'm sure some of them may be addressed. I understand. As we do work to the buildings that may get triggered by NDA. Oh, my gosh, the ADA. And so these things might already be set into motion for the McGlynn complex and the Andrews. Um, but the thought was to take a look at, so that is fully acknowledge that this may be happening. Um, but that, you know, miss a tuck and Brooks, like, looking at to see whether or not something as simple as. Lowering a door lip or things like that can be addressed. So I understand that this is right at the heels of the school year and that the ask is to be right at the beginning. Um, so please, if the, if the timeline needs to be adjusted, please feel free to make any suggestions administration, but. The goal is to just sort of look at what the needs are across the district in terms of this, so thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, thank you, Dr. Glucy. I put the first day of classes with the thought that it would be amended because picking a random date like October 3rd would just, wow. So that was just because that was a point where we could put it. But yes, so yes, speaking on mentions this and my colleagues have said, yes, the report that we got, I do remember, but that was only for McGlynn and Andrews, if I'm not mistaken, in terms of all the accessibility needs. So that's why this motion covers all of the buildings, because that report lives of McGlynn and Andrews, but we don't know I guess the point of the motion is more to see, are there easy fixes, like just switching out how thick that door lip is? Because again, I'm not talking about how wide the doors are. I'm talking about specifically that lip, because that's the issue that people are having, are getting over that. It's not fitting width-wise. It's the actual lip of getting through the door that is the issue specific to the McGlynn complex. And, yes, I completely agree that when we start to replace fixtures like sinks, we should start doing it the new way and be proactive with that. So that way we save it. You know, as you mentioned member Graham. And I think that's the only thing I wanted to mention other than the fact that completely acknowledge that we did get that report. I have yet to read it. I know we received it because I acknowledge the receipt of it. But this is to go sort of get like a high level timeline of like, all right, what fixes are feasible? What is it going to cost? What are things that we acknowledge are issues? Because until that meeting, or until that event, there hadn't seemed like there had been an acknowledgement that there was a major accessibility issue at the front door of the McGlynn, from my perspective, at least. So I take the amendment of, I don't think we have a set timeline in terms of when it is due, just that we are requesting the report. Dr. Galusi, if that is the amendment I'm assuming you'd like to be made to the motion.
[John Intoppa]: Absolutely understandable. Thank you for the input.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I was going to say, if I can, coming from personal experience I know so for a lot of like the field trips yeah I agree that having those sort of expectations of what something may cost what I will say with like the proms is it changes year by year, because it's based on how much the class fund raises. And so that one is one that will always be kind of like a heaven full of like there might be a range but like. It really is like, we were able to bring it down below a hundred for the first time because we had very successful Yankee Candles, but then it can shoot back up. And so, you know, I think also there's also that thing of like making sure people are involved in helping with fundraisers. Yeah.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. I just echo all the comments of my colleagues. Thank you both for doing all the work you've done to make the Medford Public Schools a better place for our students. The framework you guys have set up will continue to do so even while you are both in your respective roles. You know, it was funny, I think reflecting on the past not exactly two years of being here, you know, some of the two first thoughts I had was what exactly is Peter's job description because of the amount of hats that he wears and the amount of things he does, is he Marcont? What is he doing? And then the second, when I state, you know, oh, I work for the Metropolitan School Committee, it's like, isn't Paul Teixeira just great? Isn't he just phenomenal? And so you both really are very key figures in our school system. And I just want to thank you both for doing, you know, the work that you've done. Like the mayor said, it is bittersweet, but excited to see what you guys do next. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. So quick question. Thank you all for doing the work and trying to figure out this very large issue of space capacity that we have within the district. So I was not able to attend the meeting and I didn't get a chance to watch it yet. So I just wanted to ask a quick question. Was there a specific reason as to why the Missituk was chosen? Was it just because of the space?
[John Intoppa]: I just wasn't sure, because I know we have a good amount of, I believe, services going on at the Mississippi, so I just wanted to make sure that that wouldn't cause an issue of introducing another, like, again, just wanted to cover all bases because I just don't want it to, I just want to make sure that that was accounted for, and also the fact that those folks were consulted on that decision.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome, yeah, no, I think what I'm pulling from is, I believe it was, while we're talking about budget cycles, last budget cycle, the Missittuck came up quite a bit just because while there is lower enrollment in certain areas, there are higher needs. And so that's why I sort of was curious if folks from the Missittuck were consulted with, how much disruption, not disruption, but how much bringing it in would cause, but if that has been considered then.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. Thank you. I'm sure this all was answered in the meeting. It's just not something I had a chance to look at yet. So I just wanted to ask it on the floor. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Sure. Thank you, Mayor. My first question, right off the bat, so what, I probably should know this, but what sort of defines a club team? Is it just anything not within MIAA? for a club sport. Cause seeing it's more of like the fact seeing crew labeled as club is what throws me off a little bit. Um, cause we have like an official crew team. It has an organization that it belongs to. It's not MIA, but it's, it's more of a confusion thing.
[John Intoppa]: what defines a club sport? Because like, I know that we don't have like an official rugby team. We don't have an official Pulse McFrisbee team, but like we do have an official crew team. So I know that might confuse, I mean, it confused me, but it might confuse some members of the public of what that is defined as. Because I know like, I'm not sure if rowing is the only one that's not under the MIA umbrella. I know that they're under MPSRA, not under MIA. So I'm not sure if that's what the qualifier is. But I mean, obviously it still counts. That's the big thing is it still counts under this because it's sanctioned by the school and runs into that. But I think it was just more of like a point of information question.
[John Intoppa]: Right. Yeah. That's where my, that's where kind of my question was, because I know that, you know, when we were under, when I was on the rowing team, you know, it wasn't MIA, it wasn't part of that, but there's still a sort of a state competition. There's, and it's technically two different sports in the fall and the spring. but that was sort of what defines a club sport and also what does that mean for students who want to pursue the, because I love the independent study option. I think that that's phenomenal. And I'll get into that in a second, but that makes sense. So thank you for that. So I sort of, you know, I echo the thoughts I think of my colleague member Graham in terms of giving people more of that flexibility and choice, you know, We talk a lot about purpose-driven leadership when it comes to the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility and students sort of picking that, charting their course, if you will, in how they navigate, you know, high school. And then, you know, if they pursue higher ed, you know, there's all these options of what you specifically study and all that fun stuff. And I know that we do it, I've seen the benefit to the, art school version of a rotation where you have students come in that wanna be two-dimensional, but then they end up becoming a glass major. And we've had discussions with our graphic design department and graphics department about students not realizing the full potential because maybe they're not done through that. Maybe like this is what they're interested in, but they don't realize the benefit of like working corporate graphic design or working public in terms of the way that they're doing what they're doing. So I think giving them the more flexibility there, I would agree to a lot of that, those choices in terms of, you know, we encourage, you know, we still offer health or we still offer PE, you know, you know, for four years, but, you know, giving yourself that flexibility where, you know, maybe if you could use that time to focus on the arts or focus on some other things within the CTE program like that might benefit, you know, I know that I think, The way we used to do it was it was two quarters health two quarters fitness or. So i'm wondering if you know when we're looking at scheduling if we decided that you know, because I still think a health program in the first year is essential, you know there's a lot of things that are going on, especially. we've gotten talks about, we've gotten emails from students about mental health concerns. And all of a sudden you're in high school and that's a whole different ballgame. And how do you navigate that? How do you know how to sort of cope with that? And so even if it's as simple or I shouldn't say simple, but even if it's as, all right, half the students as first years, you go to fitness, half go to health and then switch. Cause I think that's what we did. when I was in high school.
[John Intoppa]: What's currently happening, yes. So even if it's one per week for that, you know, like, or if people can choose to go on the track of, I mean, that might be even more of a scheduling nightmare of you know, they opt into staying for the whole academic year to be in PE, or they wanna do the switch, or they wanna, you know, just, again, giving them that flexibility. And I know we don't wanna create too, too many options. I know that that becomes then a logistics nightmare, and, you know, we don't wanna put a strain on our staff, but, you know, if there are students who, you know, are like, I think that I'm gonna go to college, and I'm gonna play football, and I wanna, you know, play PE, and I wanna stay active, and I wanna do that, because that's the course I wanna go, or even if they don't go through higher ed, whatever, you know, then they do that. Or, you know, someone's like, Hey, I got a lot of things going on and I want to know more about that. Then they have that option to do that. Um, so I sort of echo the comments, um, about member Ruseau and Graham of giving people that flexibility. Um, and if you already have the expectation that they're both running for the academic year, you know, it's just a matter of spacing in terms of classes, you know, like their health is always going to be running and PE is always going to be running. So then, or maybe I'm thinking about it too broad. I'm not gonna pretend like I understand what I'm saying. Then they can either stay concurrent with those two, I'm staying in health first half, second half, or I'm switching. So then that still benefits the plan that we're doing. I'm just trying to think more, I don't think holistic's the word, but trying to think more broad of again, we're getting close, we need to get the schedule down. What is the most creative fix that we can maybe pilot and see like, does this work? If it becomes a scheduling logistics, we know we've got to come back this time next year and go, all right, maybe we need to fix that. But I think we do need to stress because it could be miscommunicated that say we take up member Graham's amendment three years PE, two years health, that doesn't mean that health isn't only offered those two years, that that is just the requirement, and you have to complete it. I think for arts, what is it, one year? I did it for four years. I did orchestra first period every year, except for when they made it second period. and Mr. Zegna got really mad about it, rightfully so. So they, like just making sure the public is aware that that is the case, that it is still being offered. We're not taking gym away for a year. We're not taking health away for two years.
[John Intoppa]: Well, I think that's great because, you know, I think, yes, they don't exist. And, you know, we just had food allergy awareness week, you know, like, do we have a whole curriculum of health about how to deal with Narcan and epinephrine and all these other life-saving drugs that we don't talk about? Is there a health elective that is just life-saving medication? how to administer it, how to help someone in need, or how to help yourself. Is there stuff on sex ed? Is there stuff on mental health? It kind of gives it that for people to, for students to make that choice where they can have the option, but also to be comfortable with that option and to maybe, I want to you know, high school might be the place to learn of like, hey, do I wanna become a psychologist? Do I wanna become a psychiatrist? Do I wanna go into this? Maybe let me, or sports training. Maybe let me take that health class on mental health. Let me take that health class on life-saving medication. Oh, I didn't really enjoy that class. Maybe that's not for me. That helps limit my horizon.
[John Intoppa]: Of course.
[John Intoppa]: So I might have missed it. Was that part of the amendment, was there the talk of looking at health being offered in the first year?
[John Intoppa]: Then I don't. I was wondering if I needed to add another amendment or motion to amend. But if it's in that motion, if it is technically ingrained in that, thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Sorry, I stepped out for a second. But did we talk about what the salary range was going to be?
[John Intoppa]: Okay, because I do know I, I shouldn't say I know, but I'm pretty sure there's a new state law that we have to put the salary range on all job posting so I don't think competitive salary convention with experience will cut it I think they need hard fast numbers. So I just want to make sure we're in compliance with that. which I should have caught that for I think for some other ones we've looked at but I just am now hiring students for my day job so I know that I've had to put, you know, very specifically, this amount, this range of hours in order to be compliant with mass state law so just making sure that when we do. I know like you have here like bracket insert Medford public schools application portal I think that. Um, we just need to make sure that we have that salary range, however big it may be, you know, like you said, commensurate with experience, I think in order to just be compliant, we need to just have like actual numbers and we could be, we shouldn't do, you know, like, I don't know, like 80 to 160 K, but like that is technically compliance as far as I'm concerned. But I think like making sure we're as close as possible to what realistically is that. And then that I think has to come in front of us. I'm pretty sure. Um,
[John Intoppa]: OK.
[John Intoppa]: I think to simplify the amendment just I think the simple line of and other duties as assigned by the superintendent so that way it is clear where that instruction is coming from. But, you know, that is, I think my job description even says like other duties as assigned, which is pretty vague but I think including them at by the superintendent of schools or interim superintendent of schools will be
[John Intoppa]: So I think, yeah, that's what we said. Yep.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. So I'm excited. I'm excited to see the, that's the boring part, decrease in cost. So on the state side, at the state institution I work at, we actually use PaperCut as a printing platform, and there are a lot of positives. There are a few drawbacks, like you said, Internet goes down, what's good is that the way PaperCut works is it sends to all the printers. So realistically it's because it's tied to your ID badge. If you go to print to the nurse's office or on the third floor of C building or even in the Brooks, like it still goes through and you're able to print from wherever. This is a no means an endorsement of PaperCut conflict of interest law, but because we don't use it, we use it, but it's not an endorsement. What's also good is that we can set up specialized accounts. We know where the money's coming from. So there's way people can, if people hold multiple hats or hold multiple roles, you can actually assign different departments. So when you go in and you go to print, it says like from a dropdown, like from a shared department. So, you know, at my place of work, you know, I could say, oh, this is coming from student government, or this is coming from student engagement, or this is coming from housing and residence life, you know, wherever it will be. So the only, I think, pain point we have for users is getting used to loading money on. So I'm not sure how that logistical work, but I do think that this is the, from personal experience of using the paper cut platform, I do think this is a good print management solution. So I can put the motion on the floor to approve the recommendations.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. And thank you for the context. It's really good to know. We've done protocol, which I remember in the rowing team, there was protocol when someone got a concussion. My question is, so looking through, it looks like the sort of the pre-agreement that students have, I'm sorry, the specific language is the MIA Pre-Participation Sports Candidate Medical Questionnaire. Is that we just using that as a because I have a feeling this question might come up. Are we just using that as the standard? Or is it only for MIA sanctioned sports? or is that going, is that form? It is the, so it's on the second page, it's under purpose, it's under, I'm sorry, pre-participation requirement training, page four, it's like the big body paragraph, the first big body paragraph right there, where it mentions how the students, oh, it just says extracurricular athletic activities, okay, so. It's just anyone who's participating extracurricular athletic activities. It's not just specific to MIA. It's club sports, rugby, whatever have you. Correct. Okay. Thank you. That was just, I didn't see that first sentence, I guess. Thank you. That's my only question.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, it's no surprise to anyone that this is a huge, you know, aspect of my life as someone who suffered with an anaphylaxis, you know, tree nut allergy for all my life. I think it was actually the first meeting with that whole chaos of me coming onto the committee where I promised I wasn't gonna say anything and lay back and then ended up going into a whole tirade about how I went through therapy as a child. And I did that. I ended up going through therapy as a child because of an allergy incident within my elementary school where that was a safe haven for me. That was a place where I felt like I could be safe and eat food and not have to worry. And I found something with nuts in it in the school and it was being served by the school and I spiraled. And I was put into therapy for it. And that shouldn't happen to any child. And the school took abrupt action. I actually remember the vice principal at the time, Ms. Brenner, sitting me down in her office and made me look through all of the food information sheets. Didn't make me, but was like, this is everything. I would refuse to eat anything because I didn't trust it in the school system. And so we've evolved and we've changed. And yeah, it's real. Gen Z is showing. really alarming statistics of the increase of those with food allergies. And the awareness level does not match the increase that people are suffering from it. You know, some people still think hand sanitizer kills those germs, or I can eat it two seats away, or if I just wipe it with hot water, I'll be fine. And it's not. It's not okay. And you know, how do people use epinephrine, you know, auto injectors, my entire senior thesis was in epinephrine auto injectors and the lack of people knowing how to use them. And it's no fault of their own, they just weren't taught. So looking at ways that we can better make this aware, you start with a proclamation. I want to thank the Pellican family for sending this our way and making us aware of this and telling their story. But yeah, I just wanted to put this proclamation forward so we can get the ball rolling on, you know, better ways to make sure that the community is aware of how to deal with this issue. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, so thank you so much. And I actually meant to mention that in my whole, you know, speech on top of the speech of, so like many of us, I got to go serve lunch for, you know, I'm going to lunch service hero day. And I got to visit my old school, the Mistletoe, and they sort of gave me a tour of the building and I got to feel like, you know, principal for the day. And it felt really wrong to be back there because that was a no go zone as a student. And one of the things that I was really happy to learn about was that the nut, the, you know, the peanut tree nut free table is now the peanut tree nut table and where, you know, I used to have to sit there away from all my friends and I used to sit there and eat, you know, lunch every day. And now that's not the case. And that those students don't feel ostracized from the group and separated from the group because of something they can't control. So I was really happy to see that. And they showed me the bathroom that they lead the students to so they can properly wash their hands. So they're not bringing it back to the classroom where they may sit next to that student. So thank you Nurse Silva for bringing that, Director Silva for bringing that to all of our attention. It was really nice to see that on Friday. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Sure, I just have a motion to sever the motion and the two separate motions, one for the approval to send it to discussion and then the other one to approve. They are two already? Okay, cool. I couldn't hear that well, thank you. I rescind.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. On the same aspect of Missitook, for that second five day, according to this, the price goes down by $2. Is that the correct rate? Because it goes from $5.52 to $5.50? Or am I just reading this wrong? For MEEP for the second five day, MISTITUC for monthly is 552, yearly 5525. And then on MEEP 2025 to 2026, that second five day is 550 and then 550.04, so it's less. Is that the actual rate or?
[John Intoppa]: Because the monthly and yearly are both, both options are less than what is the 2024 and 2025 number. So I'm not sure what the actual 25 and 26 number is, if that is the actual number, but all of them go up except for that one.
[John Intoppa]: It's more of a point of clarification. What is that? Is the 2526 number correct, or is the 2425 number correct?
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. I think that's the only one I've noticed so far.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Similar point of clarification. I'm assuming it's just another clerical issue of if you're looking at the before care program, the 3% increase is less than the 2% increase. It's more of an ask that I'm assuming it's my math is not awful. It's probably 122.57 instead of 112.57. So if that could just be corrected for our families at home, if they're using this as a point of reference, that would be great. On the back page, before care programs, school year 2025 to 2026, the number for 3% is less than the number for 2%.
[John Intoppa]: On monthly, for day three.
[John Intoppa]: In before care program school year 2025 2026 the 3% increase for monthly three days should read 122.57 not 112.57. I'm just noting that I understand that but I'm just noting that so if this infograph is sent out, that we correct that similar to the one that was mentioned for me. OK.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, I was just going to say that if there are no other questions from the committee that I can second the motion as written. I think that, you know, the addition of the know, clarification on who will walk at graduation. I know that that is a huge, I'm sure, stressful point for, you know, members of the community who, you know, that may be an issue for us. So, I'm just, I'm happy to see that that's inclusive. Passing of geometry, it's all pretty written out. So, I, if there are no other questions from the committee, then I, it seems like we do. Then afterwards, I'll second the motion. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Just a quick point of clarification. So on page three, this was something I was actually gonna ask and I completely forgot. So last bullet point, former MHS students without CD, is this, I'm assuming this is what this is, but I just want to clarify. So this is basically saying, if you did not graduate, you can retroactively apply for either a certificate of completion or a diploma, or is it just certificate of completion?
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. No, I love to see that because I saw, I believe I'm going to, I'm sorry, I'll talk less loud. So it doesn't echo. So I think I saw another district within the state or maybe even, yeah, head of the state because we passed the MCATs ruling, like really publicly mentioning this. So I think we have a lot of work to do to work with our MarCom team, as well as our alumni association to really push this and be very clear about, yes, it's an immutable basis, but we'll help you get there. So that way, you know, this is an unfair thing. We're fixing it. The state has entrusted us to fix this. Like, let's not, like, let's go back and do that. And just to make that very clear in any way we can. So thank you. That's really nice to see. And obviously I still second the motion on the floor.
[John Intoppa]: I also just yeah I really want to echo that point of like while these things I guess what I want to say is when this list is sent to us, I really do welcome any community input about a lot of these issues because like, again, while they may be small to some people who may be a little more able-bodied or may not run into these issues, it's good to know like if someone has like, oh, I'm not crazy. Like this is actually something that significantly impacts my mobility, or this is something that, you know, just the day to day like this is a small frustration like yeah my knees get colder like they get burned from that like this is, these are all really good things that I would hope that the community would also be able to take a look at and say I used to I frequent this building this is something that affects me on a daily basis I thought it was small but I'm not crazy. Just that little affirmation of like no this needs to be changed. And we acknowledge that. Um but II do want to get a little bit away from the like, well, it's a little small like it does seem small to some people but like it really is a huge thing for a lot of people's day to day. So, just welcome that community input whenever that list is made available. So, thank you to my colleagues for for raising that that concern and ask and thank you for doing the work and thank you for acknowledging it.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, my God.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, was I unmuted for that? Sorry, I'm yelling at my dad because he said something about it. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And it's not, I'm not there because I'm gonna smile about my birthday. I'm not there because I just got back from New Orleans from a conference, so. Thank you everyone for doing the work and for meeting today and talking about the budget.
[John Intoppa]: Assuming this is a motion to go into executive session. Sorry.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, just one quick question. Just looking at the climate and especially with traveling and, you know, everything that's going on, do we expect that any possible executive orders or any of the already written executive orders may have an impact on the implementation of this program, just so that we're aware and we understand any risks that may come with it?
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Just wanted to just double check on that. Obviously it's ever changing, but for the time being, before we vote, I just want to know. So appreciate it.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. I don't really see any, uh, distinctions at the moment that I would change, although I would. Um, with respect to vice chair Graham push a little bit back on the on call manner, because as someone who has served in on call capacities before, I feel like being pretty blunt about the demand is almost better to, like, have it outright. Like, I understand the appeal and trying to make sure that it's phrased in a way. But, um, I think something about, you know, just general on call support. Maybe, maybe, maybe don't say 24 hours a day, because that I mean, it's kind of just implied with the phrase on call support. But I think being very, very blunt with that maybe, in my opinion, I think is a better course.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, if we could sever that amendment, that'd be great. I mean, I mean, I'm also I'm also open to amending the amendment and just saying, to just be available in an on call support manner throughout the year. as opposed to in an on-call manner, 24 hours a day throughout the year.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, no, that works for me. I think that's what I'm trying to imply. I think I was just held up on using the on-call support language and keeping that consistent. But yeah, no, that works for me. It works for you.
[John Intoppa]: I did.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Mayor?
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Yeah, I believe that was the talk that we had back in December when this is originally put that it would be bringing down from 10 to 15. And I also know Member Reinfeld had a comment, and this may be her comment about that number being changed. I'm open to amending and would encourage an amendment, actually motion to amend, to go from where it states lead results to go from Anytime 15 is mentioned to go to 10 parts per billion, because it looks like looking at Google and you know, whatever comes up, like according to mass.gov, it's still 15 parts per billion. But if that's in progress, and we can be progressive about it and get ahead of the game, so we don't have to revisit this and then say it's actually 10. I'm more than happy to amend the motion. So that way it actually reads as 10 instead of 15.
[John Intoppa]: Motion for approval.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, today replaced March 10th as far as I'm concerned.
[John Intoppa]: This may just be a small, so in the phrasing, is it, and you said roughly, but I just want confirmation. It's not, it's 60 cumulative, so there could be like 20, okay. Yes. Just wanted to make sure, because some people may have questions. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: I'll also add that.
[John Intoppa]: Try.
[John Intoppa]: and broadcasting to YouTube.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Member Ruseau. So my question, so I know I had to do the disclosure because of my own cousin-in-law, long lost union. But to me, this seems like direct conflict of interest law, like the disclosure is only if you're not affected by conflict of interest. And someone may think that you, like, that's just my interpretation. So while I do think it would be, you know, beneficial, I don't understand how us voting goes around the law and what it's set forth by. I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure, Dr. Galusi, you've seeked, you know, legal counsel on this, but I just don't understand how Because if the mayor has to recuse herself, member Branley might have to both because they have siblings like that doesn't bring financial. It doesn't affect the finances of the household. And this does. Right?
[John Intoppa]: this training for like four years now and I just never knew of the safety net because it's been something that's been a concern of mine as a city and state employee but I'm glad to hear that because that makes sense there had to be there'd have to be some form of safety net built in because again like if everyone had conflict on the committee we didn't have quorum what we do um so yeah I just had a question that that was that was a question is how what is the the statute and precedent set forth by this so that makes sense though so thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, sorry. I just wanted to also, so thank you to my colleagues for explaining the voting piece, because that wasn't explained when I spoke with the attorney the other day. So this makes complete sense. So I just Yeah, I factored into every other conflict of interest saying we have to recuse ourselves, but that makes sense. So with that being said, I can second the motion.
[John Intoppa]: No, I think these two had it.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Um, yeah, I guess I just want to really support, um, voice my support of the thought of the sliding scale, the sliding scale option, as well as, um, director Petrelas mentioned the aspect of even bringing it from 275 to 250. Um, because I would, you know, I'm echoing really with the mayor's comments earlier. about affordability and making sure that we could sort of serve our community the best we can. And also the words of Member Reinfeld in terms of seeing more of a differential between the residential and method employee rate as well as the non-resident rate. So I believe you said that we can't make an amendment on the floor in regards to this to vote on it, to make it down or to even talk about bringing it down to 250, but I would like to see I would urge that decision to be made to at least bring it down to 250. Excuse me. I don't know what that is. Um as opposed to the proposed 275 because if that, you know, we need to look at cost of living for our treasured employees as well as, you know, the director of Petralas as a educator within our system. Um you know, making sure that we're able to continue to have staffing, comfortable staffing, as well as, you know, I would hate to see it go up. I think I would prefer to see it go up to, you know, 225 or 250 in that area as opposed to the proposed 275. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: If I can clarify, and sorry if I'm mumbling, I'm trying not to talk too loud so we don't get feedback issues like I normally do. Like that. No, the amendment is more to look at, if we cannot implement a sliding scale, it was more to look at trying to keep the rate as affordable as possible for the residents and employees of the Medford public schools and to widen the margin between the non-resident option that is implemented from trying to differentiate the two. What's the specific phrasing? Not resident, non-resident. So it's to entertain both the option of a sliding scale to see if that will work or if the 225, 250 rate is more feasible. It's to compare the two and to see what that'll do.
[John Intoppa]: That was the point I made. It's not just me voting together, but to see which option is more feasible.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. I think my only amendment is also just to make, under discrimination, harassment, and bullying, bullet points one and bullet point five match up correctly because their bullet point one has some of the race, ethnicity, color, national origin, immigration status, but it doesn't include gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, disability status, just just to make the amendment is to make bullet point one and bullet point five more reflective of each other, and just to make sure that they And then my other amendment was with number four, but since that is gone, there's no need for that amendment. But other than that, at this moment in time, I don't see any other amendments on my plate. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Here.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. Um, so it came up the other day about possible conflict of interest due to some familial ties within the schools, especially since we are going into union MTA contract negotiations. I'm here to say that after talking with the lawyer of the day with the state, they have advised me that due to the severance of how far We are in terms of, you know, being family that and because there's no financial gain on my end. The only thing I have to do is file disclosure of appearance of conflict of interest as required by general law 26 a section 23 b3. And I basically just have to file that that's been filed with the city clerk and I just have to read this on the floor and then we're fine. But I do not have to abstain from union negotiations with the MTA. This is just the thing I have to do in order to actually be a voting member when it comes to that. So it's basically, this is on file with the city clerk, but I basically am just an in-law relative to Ms. Jacqueline Gatto, the teacher at the Brooks Elementary. I'm a second cousin or first cousin removed. I'm not really sure to miss Nicole Sulo, teacher at the books elementary. I'm also technically a member of the math teachers association, but I'm in the association of professional administrators, which at the state level. So there's a completely different subgroup than the MTA Medford teachers association. My union gets no financial gain from any, you know, negotiations that happen between the city and the teachers. So we've read this on the floor. I'm fine to continue, but just wanted it in record. Um, and if people want to see the full thing, they can contact the city clerk, but thank you.
[John Intoppa]: And because of that, I have talked with a lot of parents, especially about the need for bringing a lot of our services in-house and how we need to have programs for students that can equal the playing field, have an equitable experience in our schools, because it's just not there. So I want to thank you personally for a lot of the advocacy work that you're doing and for coming here and giving your point of view and thought process. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: over the years that I've been involved in the conversation that I'm just really happy to see where it's at right now. And I'm excited to see where he's going forward. Yes, yes.
[John Intoppa]: I know that some of our staff representatives from our nursing union were here earlier and they had sent an email asking for support because, you know, looking at how the budget's been and the positions that have been reestablished just really isn't doing it for them. And, you know, personally, you know, I have my full support for reestablishing the positions that we lost. That was one of the big talking points that we had talked about, or that had been happening. So I would actually motion to pull from the undistributed to either restore at least one floater position, motion to amend the supplemental appropriation of the 2024 just to give them at least, I know that probably having all four positions back isn't something we could swing, but I feel like having at least one other additional floater within the unit might be, especially because as it relates to question eight, with extending the day, we may need some additional staffing needs when it comes to that.
[John Intoppa]: Right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. So then it would go from, so we lost four. We brought in one more. So then three were missing.
[John Intoppa]: We lost three. So then now we're missing two.
[John Intoppa]: OK.
[John Intoppa]: If I could just add, you know, I share very similar thoughts of minimal disruption, you know, in particular with students. When I think of who I would want in the role of the interim, you know, I want someone who I'm trying to figure out a way to really phrase this, but, you know, someone who during negotiations can work with our, with our, with our, you know, bargaining units, someone who can really work to striving some repairing some relationships and just working towards, you know. just again, like while we're going through all of this, just minimal disruptions. And I guess I just echo a lot of the same, but wanted to throw my two cents in there of, you know, observing behaviors, looking at who, you know, embodies that spirit of the Mustang Way and the spirit of who can lead, you know, the district in this interim period and possibly, you know, if they choose to apply and get appointed through the search. So those are my thoughts.
[John Intoppa]: Could I just, you know, point of clarification ask how, because we mentioned us all giving nominations. So, if our nominations differ, how do we go about. Presenting that effectively and how do we do that as a motion? Do we just do we vote on. Do we do 7 different motions is that 1 motion to a point if you could just clarify that would be great. So I fully understand what is going on.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, I would like to additionally nominate Mr. Paul Teixeira to be our interim superintendent of schools. I really liked Member Ruseau's language of, I believe, effective January 18th through June 30th, 2026, contingent on a successful contract negotiation.
[John Intoppa]: Teixeira.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I don't think that's going to change, so it's fine leaving it as is.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, okay, I understand.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: If I could just say really quick before everyone leaves, I have a long history with Medford rowing. I actually was on one of the inaugural middle school sculling teams. So I actually learned how to scull before sweeping and went through the team in my seventh grade year and eighth grade year at the Andrews and then all four years of high school. I don't remember a time we've meddled this grand. First of all, during the fall season, kudos to you for being able to do that in a fall season, rolling those three miles up to the start and then the three miles all the way back and still being able to pull ahead. That's absolutely insane. But I was super proud and super impressed just to see this from you know, my time as a rower, my time as a coxswain at this height, which was crazy. Um, but then also my time as a coach during the pandemic. And then now like my favorite time of the year is getting to come and dock Marshall, the mayor's cup. Um, and I just, just absolutely so proud of you all just keep doing what you're doing and just see this. I didn't even think about it. So I was sitting here, this grand of an achievement in the fall season, just keep doing what you're doing. I'm so happy to see the team still going strong, even through the pandemic, now that we're, you know, where we are now. So just congratulations and keep doing what you're doing. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Sure. Thank you, Mayor. I think it goes without saying why this is on the agenda and why this is being proposed. A lot of what this does is it affirms the actions we have taken to the ongoing incident with the lead being discovered in our school buildings. And it takes the recommendations of the MWRA and the state of Massachusetts, as well as some federal guidelines and determinations of frequency of testing, what happens if we identify that there is presence of said metals in the buildings. I will say just for point of clarification in the policy reading, the policy states for in the presence of lead results in the range of one to less than 15 ppb. And then there is there is a less than sign just to that just is mainly also for the copper level because there wasn't an identifiable range. Obviously, the pipes are made of copper. It's more of like one that starts to really, really leak into the water, usually due to age, if I'm not mistaken. So it's just a matter of making sure that once it hits 1,300, that's when they need to be disabled. And there wasn't really like a safe, like, oh, it's hand washing only. I couldn't find that anywhere, which is why it's a little less detailed. But this is to, reaffirm our commitment to making sure our community is informed, to making sure that it is clear the action to take when this is discovered, and how long we should be really kicking it into gear. But I don't think I really have any further comments. I welcome as many questions as there are.
[John Intoppa]: I don't, maybe, hold on.
[John Intoppa]: It's just disabled as in like it cannot, that was following the guidance of what we followed through our testing and through what we've been doing, where if it was above 15 parts per billion, the fixture was disabled until we could figure out a cause. And so it's not, it's removed, not physically. And that, if that, maybe I'm misunderstanding the phrasing. But the idea was that that was way too high of a level of lead and that it could not be used. And that furthers the philosophy that we've been using of we want to make sure that even if flushing is available, we cannot be certain that that is happening at an adequate time. And we need to just take proper action. So that is following the philosophy of what we are currently doing. And that is a concern of mine. And I agree with that philosophy of, even if it's flushing, like, let's just get it down until we can figure out the best way to do it. Because it's not even like a comment of, there's no good faith that people don't know how to time it or people know how to do it, but it's just not giving the opportunity for that to possibly happen. And I hope that clarifies the understanding.
[John Intoppa]: The ranges were through the MWRA. And then it was mainly to reaffirm the ranges with the MWRA as well as, so according to the 310CMR2, the Massachusetts drinking water regulations as well as what we have been doing with the recommendation from UMass Amherst and MassDEP.
[John Intoppa]: And if I may, that is why I really appreciate the, and it was, it crossed my mind as writing the policy to put the frequency to a year just to see, I have a hope and a feeling that we will not have to go into that realm of testing everyone twice a calendar year if it's lead detected after we fix and solve the issue that is happening within our schools now. because those are a lot of areas impacted. And I'm hoping that once that is fixed, we won't have to go into the realm of doing it every year, once a year, as stated in the policy, which is why also they're separated between two and four of the priority of really making sure ones that we are consuming are being tested. And that range comes from also, I believe was the MWR's range of three to five years for just testing in general. And so around the side of caution of doing two and four. So I appreciate that, because again, if we find that we do not simply have the people power or the funds to do this at this frequency, we at least know that we've done our part to help fix the issue we have now. And then we can revisit it and figure out what the problem is and how to amend that.
[John Intoppa]: No, 100%.
[John Intoppa]: To me, if I may, Mayor, the part of the policy where it says what the plan is has already been started. So to me, this is the start of that two-year cycle of we've already done all the testing. So if the policy is enacted, we are already within that cycle. So we now have two years to retest. That's when that started. And I think that that is a comfortable date to start. because we did it. We tested them all. We're going to have to keep testing them to make sure that our solutions are permanent solutions, that we didn't just fix a small issue, that we actually got down to the root of the problem. We figured it out. Good. But in my eyes, that two-year calendar has started. And if we have to push it to be in two more years when it gets like that's when it officially gets, whatever. I don't understand the logistics of that quite yet. But to clarify that, that is my thought process with it. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I just wanted to say, you know, in in that same vein as we were talking about, about, you know, the arts department, how do we work with them? My point was actually going to be about the graphic design department who I've had the fortunate ability to work with as a student in doing stuff with the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. But this may not be a, maybe not a topic for tonight, but the question of, we're seeing enrollment in the graphic design department and possibly helping alleviate that sort of wait list, you know, if we can get more people into the graphic design department. As you know, we have two educators in there, making sure we're not overwhelming them. But I know that in my time as a student at MassArt, I was a design major, but I was not in the Graphic design department, but they switched from graphic design to calm design communication design and doing so. brought a bit more of opportunity for their students, mainly our. students who are from other countries, because that helps with visas. By changing it to com design and by changing some of the GL class identifications, it actually makes it part of STEM in some way. So that may open us up to some other grant opportunities, whether that be a future educator who's a visiting artist or maybe a part-time employee but also to upgrade what we have as a shop. So that discussion of possibly, and when you change the comm design is more, I guess, theory based and it is more, you know, a lot of the education is more surrounding the whys and strategy which when folks go if they choose to go to places like MassArt or other higher education institutions, It almost better serves them if they are getting that communication design, which is still very similar graphic design education, but it almost gears them up more for that thing. I know like, you know, it's one of the smallest here, but at SR it's the largest department. And I don't think people fully realize the benefits to a graphic designer communication design education. I don't think people view it too much as an art thing. But I know some institutions, it's almost looked down upon in their vocational schools. But I feel like the opportunities are very, I mean, you can't go anywhere without a graphic designer. Everyone's hiring them.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: I mean, I also just wanted to share my love for Director Intoppa. Francis is phenomenal. But also, I guess it's a question for you, Mayor. So we heard concerns about This being a huge undertaking and using this to train our administration as well. Wouldn't we have to vote yes on this anyways to give her. To be able to allow her to train school members or in any way, like, would we have to allow. Um, consolidation language for support regardless to enact that or to, um. Give her some of those, those resources to train staff and to make that happen.
[John Intoppa]: I have no doubt. That wasn't, I'm sorry, that wasn't the point of my question. That was just a hypothetical, just like a question of if that route were to be explored, where it was just a support and like a training factor, if we needed to take that vote anyways. That was just my question, but no, I completely understand and I can only imagine. But it sounds like Superintendent Edouard-Vincent has some pointers or Member Olapade. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But I yield my time.
[John Intoppa]: I was just going to make another amendment to, um. A lot of the temporary work until January 1 alongside sending its committee. But, um, that's dependent on if you want to. Take the amendment or not, but just to revisit it, if it's as dire as you're saying, and I are the same, you know, if this is unauthorized work. You know, I don't, I can't wrap my head around that right now, but if this is work that needs to be directly done and needs to make, ensure that our families are getting the needs that they need, then I would be comfortable authorizing temporarily to be revisited on January 1 after findings from the subcommittee. And that's the, I motion to amend that original motion.
[John Intoppa]: I was just going to say that I accept the amendment to the amendment of including the language of July 1 through December 31.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Second.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Mayor, for also the clarification on the possible, the fact that we just still don't know what's going on. And I find that deeply unsettling, and we gotta figure that out. My questions with the data presented, do we know, It's listed here, the Medford High Complex is listed as one item line. Do we know the breakdown of faucets or fixtures, I guess is the better phrase, that are impacted in the high school versus the vocational buildings? Do we know the proportional difference between the two if one was more impacted than the other? Okay, no, that was just one question.
[John Intoppa]: OK, cool. No, I just wanted a clarification on that. And then also curious as to why, looking at the numbers again, why the two middle schools with the Andrews being impacted the most with above 15 parts per billion with 52 fixtures affected and the McGlynn Middle School with 33. I guess that has to go with the investigation when it comes to why it's happening and what it's happening. But that is a stark number and difference compared to the rest of our schools. So I'm not sure what that says for the data, but I just want to make a comment about that. And then in terms of turnaround with data, do we know what the appropriate time is? Because the last number I saw was June. Do we know when the turnaround is for when we should be getting this? Like when we do testing, how long does it take to usually get results back?
[John Intoppa]: Sounds good. I think that's all I have, but just wanted to thank MassDV for doing this great work and for helping us figure this all out. Yeah, that's all I have to say. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Hello?
[John Intoppa]: Is this still feedbacking? No, we're good.
[John Intoppa]: Second.
[John Intoppa]: I sort of piggyback, thank you, Mayor. I also piggyback the comments of my peers surrounding the MCAS. I used to be joked about that I was gonna run for school committee when I was at the Missatuck because I was so against the MCAS and it's actually my grandfather who was a long time educator in Wilmington retired early because of this becoming a requirement for graduation. I've also heard horror stories of students who were capable and were great students, but you know, due to whatever, you know, it's an equity issue. It's a quality issue of accessibility and they could not, almost did not graduate because of that. So I am very much in support of that first question, 100% of, not to, I mean, I was able to afford higher education because of the MCAS because I was able to get a scholarship because of it. So I'm very fortunate and privileged that that was a thing. So yes, the unfortunate misconception that we're just getting rid of it and like, what happened? if we get rid of it. We're just getting rid of it as a requirement to move on to higher education or wherever you may want to go. So for question two, I'm a huge, huge supporter of that. So yeah, thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Member Intapa? Thank you. This probably isn't an important question. This is just me being curious. What CAD program are they teaching the kids? Are they teaching them SolidWorks? I have no idea what the name of the program is. Because it looks like the program that I was taught in college. So the fact that we're teaching these students such a, I mean, like it might not be, but it looks just like that program. I use it at a college level and at an industry level. So I just want to...
[John Intoppa]: I wish I had that when I was, like, that's crazy.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah. That's the only time you can get, but it's... I wanted to take that, I'm sorry, my mic is echoing. everywhere um i'll speak softer um i just want to echo how great that is um because again like this is these are this is the time to learn these programs and you know it'll excel the future um through that so that i just wanted to send my regards is awesome thank you great thank you very much
[John Intoppa]: Point of clarification. Thank you. Sorry. Point of clarification. My sincerest condolences to the family of Robin Irving, who was a McGlynn Middle School educator.
[John Intoppa]: Just wanted to point that out. I also just wanted to say real quickly, because I know some of his family might be on the call and as a representative of the class of 2019, just really echo my sincere condolences to the family of Wade. I've been trying to figure out how to really feel about this whole situation as we've all seen it play out. But I wanted to just tell a quick story because I feel like it's an important message. I know it's late, but I'll make it quick. When the class lost a Pervative Coda in 2019, we were all extremely grief-stricken. And about two years later, Wade actually reached out to me because he had known me working on scholarship. And he was like, hey, man, I'm sorry to bother you on your personal. I was like, it's fine. You can always reach out. And he was like, I'm really, you know, I was really close with him and I really wanted to do something for him. And I don't know what to do, but I really want to do this thing that as a man of faith, he wanted to do a proxy baptism. And he had said, you know, but I really want to make sure I do this right. And I really want to make sure that I go through the proper channels and I talk with the family because, you know, I could go to their door if I wanted to. But, you know, I don't I don't want to do this right. And so we talked with the family and we we got their approval and he went through with it. He was able to do it. But, you know, something that Wade really stood for, you know. making sure we care for and consider for and love one another even when no one is looking because he didn't have to do that but he did and he made sure that he was at peace and the family was at peace through no incidentals and i really just employ everyone listening that as we sort of navigate this grief to use the power of community and to check in on one another And I implore you all to text or reach out to in any way that you can, however you feel like you can, to someone you haven't talked to in a while. And to just really, really build that sense of community through what we have. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: So moved.
[John Intoppa]: And thank you everyone for giving this valuable information. I think, you know, from what it sounds like the city, your program is a phenomenal program to help, you know, professionally develop students, you know, at a time in their life after high school, uh, my initial concern was about the funding portion, but the a hundred thousand or the 200,000 and, you know, scraping from revolving funds or from the before and after school program, because I know we're still, we're, it's on the agenda tonight to talk about the budget and we're, you know, It's not ideal what we're doing in the budget, and we're trying to fit in a $100,000, possibly $200,000 program. that I don't know if spend budgeted for in the budget. And that part sort of just concerns me a little bit, I guess, to put it out there before we vote. And also, is this vote to start negotiations, to start talks, or is this vote to approve the actual program? Because while it seems like an amazing program, and from what I could tell, it really is, I just have concerns about bringing it in a time where we're doing layoffs and scraping revolving funds to just get by for a level service, and we're trying to introduce more. So I'm sorry to be so negative about that, but that's just sort of where my concerns are at.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Abstain.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: I second.
[John Intoppa]: Second.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you vice chair. Graham Jerry. I just want to take a moment and make a few thank yous 1 for creating this detailed report and giving a history lesson. So that someone who missed everything and may have been like, wait, what happened? And, you know. This tells the story of what happened and sort of what's been going on. So I really want to thank you. I was actually talking to someone the other day about transparency and with budgeting. And they were like, well, is it going up? Is transparency going down? I'm like, it seems like it's going up with the packet I just received. We're getting all this information. And that's conversations on record, all these things. So just thank you. And to also hear that.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, of course. I also want to say, as I I don't want to sound nonchalant when I talk about cuts, but I do want to acknowledge that these are people's lives and positions. So I don't want it to seem so casual when I, when we discuss this. Um, so I want to acknowledge that and all the people who made their voices heard, but Jerry, just a quick question. So in here with page 13, it talks about adding back positions that were cut. Um, So the, and maybe I just misread. So this is why, this is why we asked the questions. Um, so the performing arts director, the assistant director of athletics, are those all positions now funded through the budget because they're not listed here anymore?
[John Intoppa]: So the director of performing arts is still is still out.
[John Intoppa]: Understood. Okay. Um, just wanted to double check because as much as I just talked about transparency, that just wasn't clear and wanted to double check with that. Um, I think at this moment, that's all I have, but if another question arise, I will let it be.
[John Intoppa]: I was hoping to possibly make an amendment to also add into the language to find a way to increase the stipend pay for the band director with the idea that the pay that it is at may not be attractive to external candidates and that there will be a significant decline in the program's activity.
[John Intoppa]: Is it contractual?
[John Intoppa]: All right. Thank you very much.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you. Thank you for the clarity, Vice Chair Grammich. I could actually make an, I don't know if this is an amendment making an amendment, if Member Ruseau is making the amendment herself, if I could second the amendment to increase funds available.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, I would be willing to adapt that language, amend my amendment to amend to that language for the amendment of your motion. So be it there.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: So moved.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, thank you miss Bowen for this report I just had a quick question just because it's my first time sitting on this committee or these. So the ones that are partially implemented in terms of trends in the past years, is this something that is abnormal normal that were partially implemented in these areas, or just curious to see if there's a trend going on of us. missing the same things or are we or is this all new, so it's all new information that Jesse was looking at.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah I just want to make sure yeah because these things you know like I understand there's a lot but these are sort of things that we need to make sure that we are fully implemented all the time. And I just wanted, I was just curious to see if this is something historically the district has lacked on.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. I just want to say thank you very much, Director Fee for presenting all this. I just want to also say that I have the distinct pleasure of working at an art institution and being a graduate of an art institution. And by doing that, I get to see what everyone from around the state and around the country is producing. Watching our Studio Foundation students go through the the system, working with students all the time. And I can comfortably say I think for the first time that Medford is excelling in the arts and I'm really, really pleased to see all the work that's presented, I mean these are just the award winners. We don't know what people are crafting personally what's in their full portfolios, and just, it's really refreshing to see this much attention to the arts. and seeing how many people were involved in the level that they're at, at grade 10, grade 11, seniors. So whether or not they pursue to do an art education, which I know some of the winners are, but I just want to say like, this is phenomenal work and thank you and congratulations to everyone who won an award and hopefully we'll see what you do next. So thank you.
[John Intoppa]: I also just wanted to take a second and just recognize how important this program is to our students. I actually, unfortunately, only got a chance to be a part of it my senior year in high school, but that was the cohort that witnessed it go to the elementary and middle school level. And just seeing how much it's grown in only what I like to say two years, but it's been like five or six now, is absolutely amazing. And I'm so proud of you guys and everyone who's involved to get up here and speak and do what you do. This program really takes you know when you take a moment and look at students special interests and you look at what they want to do to give back to the community and you fund that and you encourage them to do it, you see such an increase in their overall academic success and their participation in our community. the social emotional learning skills that you get. And I just, I really, you know, seeing what happened and seeing the unfortunate incident that happened and just immediately coming to action and then doing this. I just, I can't commend you guys enough and I can't wait to see what you guys do next. I really can't. So thank you. Thank you so much.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you very much. I again, want to just say that my comments are more comments than questions, maybe a little bit of both, but wanted to take the opportunity to sort of give my concerns to also let people know that they are heard because a lot of them are from the many, many emails that we have gotten over the last two to three weeks, I believe. And I just want to take a moment and apologize to those who I wasn't able to get to. immediately right away but really appreciate you reaching out with your personal experience and things that are going on and your concerns. Again, some of the things, I'm really concerned about us bouncing back and sort of, not bouncing back, really relying on the staffing recommendations. I feel like, you know, May is mental health awareness month and we are in a mental health epidemic in crisis. And I'm really, really concerned about the amount of nursing, the health cuts, as well as the guidance Councilor cuts. I know there are adjustment Councilors. I know we still have 17 of those in this proposed budget. However, The ease of access to students are the nurses, those are the people who if you are having a panic attack, you go right to the nurses, I have done that numerous times at the high school, it is someone where if you don't know where to go, that is a safe haven, and I know the high school still has three, but that's just an example of, you know, later on, however, I worry about the ones that you know the one full time I know there's some sharing going on. I made the comment at the last meeting and we'll make it again about how one can be a little dangerous, especially when it comes to medication at all levels, you know, you can't be administered education, I mean, you can't be administered medication without a nurse present you can't not give it to yourself, whether you are seven or you are 19 that is just not a possibility. And so I wanted to really push back on that. You know, I'm, you know, seeing go from six to four but still really concerned about that. A lot of my other concerns have already been echoed. When it comes to the performing arts I'm really happy to hear that you know there's going to be a stipend position. I'm really concerned about a stipend position to fund the marching band and color guard because that is such an intensive program in our education system. I was an orchestra kid, so I got to witness firsthand how much, you know, work they put in. And I also want to make a comment that I didn't make earlier, but, you know, we made a comment about how many people were repeating and repeatedly standing up with our students, but I want to notice how many of our humanity success stories had a performing arts marching band and color guard garments on. It's a lot, it's a lot of work, and I've seen it and I worry that when we start to stipend or we start to do that the work may not be, I don't want to say appealing to someone but it's not enough. And oftentimes what that happens is it creates a work environment that is too tiring and then people leave and then we don't want people you know that we've had here for 14 years that really love the work, but then can't afford to do the work anymore, so they make that tough decision to leave, and then we can't find someone to replace them because no one wants to do that work for however much money that is. So those are some of the big concerns. That was a lot of the concerns we had gotten in emails was about the performing arts position directly in the state of that. I know there was a lot of misinformation. I know there was a lot of talk about the performing arts program being slashed or cut entirely. But that's one of the main concerns I have as someone who sees that sort of on a day-to-day about, you know, people being underpaid, people wanting to have these ambitions and not being able to fulfill them because of that. The performing arts, there's a huge, you know, it was actually said in an email that reminded me of the term social-emotional learning and, you know, how the academic access, again, what we just showed, the academic success that our our students have when they are in that. So that's sort of where my now new concern is with the stipend positions. I appreciate there's money being put there, however, that condition. That also translates to the Missituk. I was talking to some of my former teachers, which is crazy to think that, you know, seeing them here today. I was reminded by one of my teachers that was pregnant when I had them, and they showed me a photo of their 16-year-old son. And it made me just really, really think back to the time that I was there, and it was the Missittuc, really concerned at the number of positions that's being cut there, especially, you know, a lot of people had said that the class sizes aren't what are as advertised, that we have a lot of staff members really doing the part of their job description that's other duties is assigned, covering for each other. And how many of our, you know, language learning students are there and how we are cutting down at a school where we send a lot of people who need maybe extra aid there. And so that's a huge concern of mine, and one that I wanted to echo from the thousands of comments and people who are here today to talk about that. I feel like there's definitely some more comments that have definitely been reshared, so I won't go through some of that, but I just want to, again, thank everyone who's here today. And thank you, Jerry, for, again, being transparent. I know this isn't easy to do, and I appreciate being able to look at the numbers and see them. But those are sort of some of my high-level concerns, so thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Point of clarification before we move on.
[John Intoppa]: Point of clarification. Yeah. I just wanted to not to stir the pot, but in reference to student members' wrongs with the payroll managerial positions, I think there was some also concern from the union about those usually being administrative assistant roles and then them being non-union. Is that? still a proposed effort? I just want to get clarification if that's changed.
[John Intoppa]: Point of clarification, vice chair. Point of clarification. I know that we made a motion earlier to strike the addresses of our student members in the minutes. Would it make sense to suspend the rules or make a motion to strike the students who have to speak further to give their address when they speak at the podium for minutes or?
[John Intoppa]: I just want to clarify and make that note to the students that they don't have to. Sure. Thank you. They have your name and address for the record.
[John Intoppa]: point of clarification, is this number with all the cuts or without the cuts?
[John Intoppa]: So this number that we're putting forward is a request to the municipal government.
[John Intoppa]: It's a request, but it is the first step. What I should clarify in my clarification is, is this number, because I'm getting confused with the language again, I'm on the job. Is this number one that reflects the cuts in our packet or is this one that is the level one that is? This is level service. This is level service. If we do not, so this does not include the cutting of the director of performing arts. Correct. That's all I would. Yes, thank you very much.
[John Intoppa]: It's very important to know what we vote on. Everyone else understands what we're voting. Yes. I do not feel comfortable voting on a budget that has this many cuts. But if this number that we are putting forward, then yes, the bottom number, not the top number.
[John Intoppa]: Can you turn on your mic? Yes, thank you so much. So point of clarification for the fifth time, recommendation on the consent agenda, we did not vote to recommend to approve the $3,000 grant.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, yep, I will. OK, we are live on YouTube, and let me record it locally. Record to the cloud. And make host. All right, have a great meeting. Thank you. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: I can read it out for you if you'd like.
[John Intoppa]: Sure, so the meeting ID is 91810757989, with the Zoom meeting link being mps02155-org.zoom.us, forward slash J, forward slash 918177, 757, sorry, 989.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, so quick question. So I guess it's more of like a point of clarification. I'm assuming this is sort of the point the school council's made up of like students, staff, faculty, is this the point for them to kind of give their feedback on like, we're finding that this isn't working or this like we've noticed this uptake in this and we need to do something about it like is this the community's chance to sort of
[John Intoppa]: Okay. Yeah, because I guess I'm more thinking about when the users of the handbook can give feedback on what they're seeing made, like when that period would be essential. And I wasn't sure if that was the time for it or not.
[John Intoppa]: Could we say singular complete approval, meaning it's a, like, it has to be complete, a complete approval of a singular handbook. Could that phrasing just before approval, make sense, or is there like some caveat.
[John Intoppa]: I guess I mean, singular, complete. By singular, I mean, like, this is the McGlynn handbook. This is the Brooks handbook. If we approve one of them, that is a singular, complete approval.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, that's a good message, really, really good.
[John Intoppa]: Okay, sorry. Thing I have to notice, which is the typo on phase 3.2 mandatory.
[John Intoppa]: Yes. Oh, I googled it just in case I didn't understand linguistics for a second, but member member and Tapa has been finding Dory.
[John Intoppa]: Google Docs does it automatically.
[John Intoppa]: I mean, the timeframe seemed logistical to me. I appreciate the cushion to an RN of like, hey, if these things need to get moved back, ours is significant so that way we're the ones who are kind of paid to do the work and can kind of speed things along if we have to. But like in my experience of drafting policy and drafting Dates, we did it with elections with our student council and like, it was like, it looked great on paper. It's like, this makes sense. And then they just executed the constitute the new constitution this year. And it was like, no, we need to, we need to do this a lot earlier. So it'll be something we live and learn that we can. But logistically, having a month for initiation.
[John Intoppa]: I don't really have any further questions or comments.
[John Intoppa]: No, that sounds about right to me. If it's outside of the time we're dialoguing. But no, that does make sense to amend it. But right, if this was April 28th, we'd be having a different conversation, I think. In fact, it's May 8th. I think we're OK. That's my sense. But I didn't even think about that, member Ratcliffe. Thank you for bringing that up, because that would have been fun.
[John Intoppa]: We just got an email saying that we have them and that physical copies will be given to us.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, no, like, like literally 20 minutes ago, we got the three of them, and we will be giving hard copies out for the May 20 meeting.
[John Intoppa]: So moved.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you very much. Thank you, Jerry, for putting this together and very transparent. While I don't agree with, you know, all these cuts that we're doing, I really appreciate being able to see where we are. There's not a lot of guessing. We can actually see it. I am very new to this. I've been in two months to the day. So my apologies if my ignorance or my lack of understanding precedes what I'm about to sort of talk about. It's the only way you can learn it. I know. I dive into the deep end. Thought possible two and a half million deficit. Now it's 250. Like diving in the deep end real hard right now. Some emails that I've gotten in particular are around performing arts, athletics, nurses. And I thought, I guess these are more comments than questions. And again, I wish I knew how to find the money. I wish I understood that, but I just don't. So I apologize if I'm not giving too many solutions, just more of the concerns that I have. Performing arts is on a decline, and by cutting that, I'm really nervous about the direction we go. Performing arts aren't just an activity. It is how we integrate culture, how we keep tradition, how we keep things alive in the city. And, you know, we just had a great performance from our drama club with Mama Mia, and also just some other initiatives. You know, we're seeing them give back to the community in ways that, you know, I couldn't even have imagined when I was at Medford High. So I really... You know, we just named the office after, you know, former school committee member, Lita DiGianto-Masso, and I'm afraid by going down this path, we're sort of going back what she was fighting against. You know, the performing arts are a huge staple to how we keep the users of our schools there. In terms of, what was I talking about, nurses, I was a student with, medication that had to be stored. And one of the things that I think I am not seeing sort of brought up is also, you know, we cut nurses, we're also cutting the facts that I even in the upper levels could not take my medication without a nurse being there. That includes epinephrine. If I don't carry an EpiPen on me, there's one stored there. We need someone to be able to run around the maze that is Mephiti Complex to find someone who may need to administer it, as well as I need to find time out of my day to go and meet with one of those nurses, hoping there's one not helping another student to take the medication that allowed me to help me learn every single day. So that's sort of one of the things that I just wanted to say in support of the nurses here and just wanted to give that insight because I'm not really seeing that being mentioned, but no one really sees that unless they experience it like I do. Sorry.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah. And it's just, it's not even just the high school, it's the elementary. I've been taking medications since elementary school, um, elementary school, middle school and high school. Um, and so that, that doesn't really change. So it was always packed to even back then when I was there in 2019. Um, so I'm really, really concerned about how many, you know, employees were cutting, uh, in terms of athletics, um, that department in terms of it's already thin enough. And I, I'm not sure what position was cut in the athletics department.
[John Intoppa]: One of the administrative?
[John Intoppa]: Because the assistant athletic director that I know that's in there is like the backbone of that entire athletics department. And that is no diss to anyone in that department at all, but the individual who is in that is at everything I've ever been to and is there to make sure that that program stays running. So really looking at, you know, it's numbers but it's also people and support, and who are they going to lean on if they're the ones there all the time anyways. And then in terms of, you know, looking at technology spending, we've sort of digged ourselves into this hole of relying on Chromebooks and technology because of the pandemic. I guess when it comes to technology, as someone who's used that technology pre-pandemic, knowing how unreliable it can be, I'm a little concerned about pumping more money into it until we figure out a solution. Because I feel like every other Chromebook had a missing key. And also, I'm a little concerned about putting so much money towards tablets for kindergartners instead of the support that they need to help teach those kindergartners. hands-on learning tactile that, I mean, I'm not an educator, but I just happen to be a designer and an artist and know just the value of tactile hands-on learning. And I would almost rather look, see that money, if that money had to go towards something, be more towards school supplies or hands-on learning than electronics. And I don't know how that makes me sound, but I don't feel like our kindergartners need tablets, they need people. And so that's a lot of what I have to say. And there's a lot of things, obviously, you know, I'm happy to see more increase in special education services. But there are a lot of alarming factors that I don't know if I fully wrapped my head around in the last 48 hours. And, you know, thank you to everyone who's here to speak on behalf. And I'm sorry by taking up more of the time that doesn't allow you to. I just wanna say that there's, I may have more questions or comments going on. For now, that's what I have, so thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Right, and I think, I'm sorry, just a point of clarification, I guess on my point, is it to cut technology? It's more to look at and consult our users who are administering it to see where they might find it best. Do we need to invest more in technology? I don't have a teaching degree, so I don't really know what that is like, but. definitely leaning more on our professionals that are our faculty to see where there are technological gaps and fixes on a day-to-day classroom basis. So thank you for the clarification as well. Again, appreciate the work.
[John Intoppa]: Hey all, sorry. I had a question as well for the previous, well not a question, more of a statement for the previous presentation as well. Thank you both for presenting all this really wonderful information as someone who actually holds a bachelor's in art and design education with a design degree. as Miss Rowland knows, as I went through the many programs she hosts as well, proud product of, you know, the theater and everything. I'm going to be guidance over Tony's idea as well. But just wanted to really echo my, I can't say speechless because I'm talking too much right now, and also apologize I can't be there right now. I'm coping well with somebody here as well. Yeah, I just really want to reading through the slideshow was really happy and also really cool to hear that the band actually needed to be replaced and put in another division. And even then they still did really well. So thank you to both for all the work you do. And yeah, that's all I have. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Remember, we're mostly the table. I'm not sure what the motion is.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Sure, sorry. Just a quick question of clarification in the motion. Thank you, Member Graham, for putting this forward, for seeing this. So should we motion to amend to invite current and former, also parents, guardians, caregivers as well? Would that be something we need to do or should? I mean, I feel like we should as well for students and staff, but I'm not sure if it's implied in the motion already, if that is the case, but figured I would put that out there.
[John Intoppa]: Oh, awesome. Thank you. I knew it was a it was an open meeting, but I wanted to make sure that the formal invitation was sent to them as well, along with their students, but sorry if it's hard to hear me.
[John Intoppa]: Yep. I don't know what's going off my mic again, but I'm here.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Of course I am. I'm also just noticing another error in the minutes, so I'm gonna abstain from this one, which might be the same thing that, I'm sorry, clarification, Member Reinfeld, are you mentioning the vote on the stabilization fund?
[John Intoppa]: Okay, so yeah, so as amended, then yes, I vote to approve, sorry.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, with thanks.
[John Intoppa]: Motion for approval.
[John Intoppa]: Second.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you very much Chair Lungo-Koehn. Yeah I just wanted to put this motion forward to sort of recognize and also I guess more amend our current calendar so I know we have we take a vote in November to put forward days of observance. I also want to clarify This is not a day off holiday I'm looking to put forward. It is more of a day of observance, day of acknowledgement. Currently as it stands, the last calendar I had checked, it is referred to as Autism Awareness Day, Autism Awareness Month. And this motion looks to amend that and to change that language, whether it has to get tabled till November or if we can do it right now, which would be preferable. So it's where it's already labeled and where it needs to be changed. The third part of the motion, the clarification about identifying students is how we're looking at how we are screening, screening techniques, as well as looking at ways that parents can come to us as a district to look at receiving services, however, they may need it. This is something that I would like in writing and to sort of get a report on. I have a personal, this comes from a, and the explanation kind of talks about it, of looking at how we make change and how we are impacted as a former student in the Medford Public Schools with an IEP who belongs in the neurodivergent community on the spectrum of the attention deficit disorder spectrum. This is something that I witnessed. I witnessed students who had 504s and IEPs, their struggles, how some of them would lose them because they were doing better, which to me makes no sense. Because if you're doing better on a plan, you're doing better because of the plan. It helps you. So, I'm really looking to see what we are doing. And this is sort of the 1st kind of steps and looking at how we as a community. can become allies within the autistic community. I'd like to make another point of, um, the use of disorder, um, uh, is not so popular. And my apologies for using the official language. Um, but also, um, you know, this really, really comes from, um, my personal experience working with those, um, within the autistic community. Um, as my buddy Dan puts it best, it's pretty easy for me to make you aware that I have autism and that usually proceeds to do it. But it's really hard for members of the community to accept me. And I would like to mitigate that harm. We're talking at a higher education level. Mitigate the harmful effects that this has on our students before they even get there. And as someone who's been looked at funny and scrutinized because of my diagnosis, this is my way of putting steps forward for better allyship. But we also want to look at the success. We want to look more at the success, not so much as a disease needs to be healed, as mentioned in the motion. But I feel like we can't do that until we look at how we are helping and how we are aiding the community. So that is all I have on the motion.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I think, thank you, Dr. Edouard-Vincent for bringing to your concerns. I think that's what I'm just looking to see is what are the procedures we have to follow? That's really, I'm sorry if the phrasing is, this is my first motion. My apologies if the phrasing is weird. But yeah, I'm looking to see what protocols are from DESE.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, that would be good as an amendment. I would say a better method would be reports to the Medford School Committee on steps being taken with the Medford Public Schools to support students on the autism spectrum, due to just recommendations from the community on language surrounding how we address it.
[John Intoppa]: have a motion to amend the calendar. I may. Yeah Member Reinfeld had their hand up.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, absolutely. That would be great to have that conversation with CPAC as well as bring that to the subcommittee. And also to answer, sorry, to answer the question at hand of the school's calendars to reach the public. Yes, it would amend it to where it is already written to where that to where days of observance are listed. Because it has also been brought point of singling out 1 holiday is a concern, which I fully understand. So, wherever this would naturally be. Written is where we would like to see it amended. So yes, all recommendations of amendment are taken into consideration for the motion.
[John Intoppa]: Getting it now.
[John Intoppa]: You should be good to go.
[John Intoppa]: Sorry, the thought was there and then it quickly left. I yield my time to Mr. Guillen if possible. I'll re-raise when I think of it.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you Madam Mayor. I would just like to, I've realized the point was more on the lines of the question of Member Branley, but I would like to echo the point made by MTA President Guillen, as well as Chair Lungo-Koehn. It does feel a little politician heavy, and I would love to see if we do have a non-voting member addition, because again, the guidelines said one, minus, you know, the, You know, the 2 being, you know, member Graham and member. And this is no, this is with all due respect. This is not a shot. I want to make that very clear member. So it was a very, very intelligent person, especially when it comes to open meeting law. I have I use it as a resource for many questions. It's just a matter of me wanting to have more of our community members who maybe don't have that say that maybe this board would have. And including, especially our teachers, whether that be paraprofessionals, whether that be the people who walk those buildings daily. Because they will tell you the ins and outs that evolve every single day. So, yeah, I would say that, you know, obviously it's 2 different motions, but I would echo the concerns of chair and would probably want to put to get more 4 to 5. I don't know what the legality of having teachers that don't live in our district, because from my understanding, we have quite a few teachers who don't live within the Medford Public Schools who may be eligible to want to do this. I don't know the legality of that. That's just my own ignorance. But if we can open up it to having more than one school member, even as a non-voting member, I don't see why we couldn't do that. But I think that's all the collective thought I have right now. before I just start talking nonsense.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: I don't know what an alternate means, Mayor. Point of clarification.
[John Intoppa]: I think the point is, is that member Graham in presenting was saying about how MSBA may have a cap of a certain amount of the working groups. The idea was, is that we approve three, and if we need to cut down to one non-voting member, then we look at the pool of who we want to put forward. The idea is to have three, and if we can have two, then we have two. And if we have three, then we can have three.
[John Intoppa]: I'd second that. Could I add on to that in the statement that they should be priority sent to faculty members of the building that is being built?
[John Intoppa]: Right, right, from that pool, yes, from the applicant pool.
[John Intoppa]: Okay, thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: I will put forward the motion.
[John Intoppa]: I'm sorry, if I can call a point of information real quick. Jerry, when you mentioned long term sub pay, did you say that they were making $275 a day?
[John Intoppa]: Yeah.
[John Intoppa]: Sure. Sorry about that. When you mentioned long-term substitute pay, you mentioned $275 a day. Were you mentioning to this current budget or the proposed budget?
[John Intoppa]: Right. Okay. Sorry, I just wanted to clarify because I wasn't sure if I heard.
[John Intoppa]: It's $100 because I will give a personal connection that my partner is a long-term.
[John Intoppa]: Absolutely, because it's like $80 a day with tax. So I definitely could see the burden of that. But I wanted to clarify because I wasn't sure if I misheard you. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you very much. John Ellen Toppa, 12 Murray Hill Road, Medford. I just wanted to take a moment and voice my opposition for the current bill as it stands. I feel like while I appreciate the amendment of having two to three minutes, I feel like that the especially have strong disregard for the 90 minute cap. In terms of I understand where it comes from, I can sympathize with a lot of the issues that come with 1 a.m. meetings. I also worry about the discomfort of someone who has waited those 90 minutes and their opportunities cut off. I'm lucky that I have spoken up here a few times and can get my point across in three minutes. I know that for a lot of people who may wanna speak for the first time, a two-minute conversation can take five, and that's sort of where I'm at with that, but wanted to appreciate the studies that were brought in and appreciate what was going on. However, I feel like this proposed motion as it stands with the single amendment does not seem fit and I'd worry about the effect it may have. The timing, of course, is a huge thing. That's why there's a lot of discomfort. There's a lot of anger. And I wonder where that would be, if this would be proposed later, as well as other future sort of amendments that may differ at shorter agenda, caps on agenda time, things like that. I don't know the legality of that. I didn't run for city council. I don't understand any of that. However, I appreciate you giving me the time to speak and would like to voice my opposition for the 90 minute cap and decrease from five to three. So, thank you very much.
[John Intoppa]: It's really far away. I know.
[John Intoppa]: Hi everyone, hopefully you can hear me all right. I've been having some mic issues, but my name is john and tapa. I am a also a recent grad of Medford high graduated in 2019 I also served as the class president of the class of 2019 so the senior class president. I just graduated also in May from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Industrial Design. which is all basically product design, toy design, medical design, you name it. Also, informational flowcharts. So, Darren Truong, really appreciate the graphic you have made for us that we will look at later in the agenda. But that's what I'm all about. My work, I work at MassArt now and I work in student engagement. While I was a student at MassArt, I also served as the student trustee for a year and a half, and then the student body president for another two years. So, for the last nearly decade my work has been in student advocacy and student success. So I'm really interested in working with y'all and treating y'all as a member of the table, because that's what I fought so hard for at MassArt, pulling the students out of the pandemic, because I was a freshman first year when the pandemic hit. So really excited to work with y'all, because that's what my background is all about. So thank you for taking the time to be with us and join this really important committee.
[John Intoppa]: If I could chime in, because I remember if I'm correct, if the students can correct me, the current policy is there's a square chart in front of every door that says the bag can't be bigger than this, that you're allowed to carry around. Is that still the policy? Because that's how it was in 2019.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, because I know the struggle like I when I was a seat when I was there, my floor was C2 and even C2 to be 3 was kind of crazy between classes with the 3 minute a lot of time. And I can't even imagine what the class below us, which I think was C1, I think 2020 class was C1 or C3. Because I know that's where the struggle was always talked about was with transporting stuff but now it's member or so as mentioned with most students having school issue devices like the Chromebooks, it's, it's an issue of carrying so many objects but also the fragility of if you drop that you're going to get charged if it breaks. So I think it definitely would be worth having a discussion, especially with students. especially making sure we have students who know that experience of getting from, again, dramatically from C1 to B3, seeing what that is like and where the struggles are and if we need to, how big we need to expand that policy or if we need to talk about just regular backpacks or if we, you know, I think the allocated size is only It's like eight by 24. It's some weird like basic purse size, I think, if I remember correctly. So it definitely would be worth, again, because of the new added responsibility of maintaining that piece of technology, it would be definitely worth relooking at in terms of making sure that that can be done safely and effectively. So I would be interested, as a note, as a petition. Also, like with an added element of the petition to see student comments specifically about what their specific struggles are so we can self identify right off the bat, too. So when that petition goes out, I'd be I'd be curious to see what the specific needs are. Because I don't want to try to solve a problem that no one has and waste so much energy on something that's like, no, we don't have this issue. It'd be great to see what, like to hear from y'all what that is specifically. Is it timing that's causing the issue? Is it amount of stuff you have to hold? It may be evident, but I would like to know specifically just so that way we can work efficiently. to design a solution to this issue that you guys are facing to the point where a petition does have to go out and we do have to have this conversation.
[John Intoppa]: Could another, you know, we talked about informational hierarchy and informational services would another element of this of the interest of the students would be of, I hate to use the word life hacks but other suggested ways of cutting down time between classes of like past precedents of what other students have found effective. Like, I know that doesn't, it's not meant to be proposed as a cop-out of reforming the policy, but in addition to looking at the policy, would students find it helpful for there to be some kind of information on what other, you know, students, alumni have found effective to go between? Like, I know for me, my cheat was that I always had my locker set to the first two, and then I could set it to the third and pull it and go, which isn't the safest option sometimes, and I learned it from a TV show on Nickelodeon when I was eight. And that's the classified. But something like that where it's like where people find opportune times in their schedule, where people, because once I had a rhythm going, I knew what to do. But that was bestowed upon me by another peer. So if they don't have that, so would an informational suggestion be of other usage to the students, essentially? In addition to re-looking at the policy. But I wouldn't want to exclude that. Informational sharing is a beautiful thing. Just curious if that would be of interest as well.
[John Intoppa]: No, that makes sense. Thank you for sharing.
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, I think that'd be great. Meeting with Mr. Guillaume, Mr. Green is also at a former position was also a proofreader so he'll be able to help. If there's anything that he feels like should be added as well. I love how much thought has gone into this, especially I think I heard someone I think might have been knows like quantifiers in terms of. missing homework, especially on snow days. And then, you know, at what point do we go, okay, we kind of need to start instruction back up. I think that's an incredible thought to be brought into it. I did have a question. There was a comment made about homework assigned. Is our, backtracking for one second. Was a point made, has this been happening where faculty members will assign homework like way after hours to be completed for the following day is that what that was referring to where like homework will be assigned at like four or 5pm to then be completed during the school day is that like I don't want to get. you know, into something if that's not the case, but is that, was that, is that a reoccurring thing that's been happening?
[John Intoppa]: I gotcha. So it's more of looking to, especially in those lecture hall, which are usually like the last worst case scenario situations of having the work be assigned so that way you're not sitting there playing with playing cards and just kind of doing other classwork. It's in that instruction period where your mind is set to work on American history to be working on a push homework essentially is what the thought is with that so it's more about that and less of like. you're getting an email at 4pm that saying hey this is actually doing eight now okay just just checking to see what that was I wasn't sure what was going on, so I appreciate the information. But overall, a lot of thought has been going into this, and I really appreciate the research that's done with the National Parents Union, within district and local wide, within quantifiers looking at, sometimes there may be certain situations where, thinking about the faculty member, if there is an extreme case in their end, they may just not be able to get it. So the understanding of working with people, I'm talking in circles right now, overall just really appreciate the work that's being done and looking forward to seeing what will be presented in the discussions we're having.
[John Intoppa]: So in terms of pick up, I don't recall. So drop off to the school, I don't recall. I drove or got driven in full transparency in terms of hiccup. The side where community schools is where that like stone courtyard is, that is what we're talking about in terms of like students funneling in. It's always been a mess. I remember students like standing on the hills. They used to line up on the hills and try to balance themselves. But also in terms of the buses, I am a victim of the North Medford Heights. I live in the North Medford Heights. I live right on the border of Malden. So if I had to take the bus home, I was on the yellow school bus. So I also know that and that picking up at a way different location was always weird to me of why that picks up by the Vogue automotive shop where the MBTA buses pick up at the community schools entrance. So yeah, it's always been crowded. It's always, I don't, I never viewed it as a safety issue at the time. So I don't, I haven't been up there during drop off. So I don't know if it's getting worse in terms of like people just not knowing where to stand, how it looks. It sounds like from the student representatives that it is getting a lot worse. So if we can figure out ways to channel students to understand where to go or if the line gets too long where to wrap around and make sure you're still in the same line of the 95 versus the 101. But yeah, also wanted to give my thanks for this for the students who are working on this issue because it has always been an issue. It was an issue when I was there. It sounds like the safety part is a bigger issue that I had never heard of. So thank you for bringing that up. But yeah, the whole the North Medford bus is a whole nother issue with the MBTA not offering their services really up in our, our neck of the woods, so.
[John Intoppa]: No, I think this is great. Like I said, my, my education, my background is in user interface user experience. How do we tell people what the information is. So I'm looking, I'm looking at it right now. That's why I'm on my phone. I love the color coding. I'm just going to like The fact that we're talking about state level changes how that because what this does is it does a great job of how you know how would you connect the mass legislature to an elementary school, like, how does that work that feedback gets there and this is a really good job of showing how this actually goes through the channels and the ways we need to get it done. definitely support having this in terms of on the school committee website in terms of how student voices are heard, and how that process happens. Because it also helps empower the students to show that you know your voice does matter and sometimes that can be hard to convince students of how. you know, even at student government level, like, why does it matter? Why does it matter what I say? Nothing gets changed anyways. Well, this is how it matters. This is how it goes up the ranks and we work together and we get what we need to be done changed. So I really applaud you all for taking the time to actually take a lot of complex information and ideas and put it into a very visual, very visual chart. So thank you for doing that.
[John Intoppa]: Thank you, everyone.
[John Intoppa]: For sure. Thank you, Director Schulman for presenting all this information. I guess the first question is a clarification on the STEPS program. It's very similar to the BRIDGE program. Yes. It's like our chapter of like we've renamed it. Exactly right.
[John Intoppa]: that's huge, and that's proven in other districts to really help a lot of our youth, especially, well, not our youth, but it is, seems to be helping our youth, but youth in other districts, especially as the mental health crisis and epidemic, as people were calling it, is increasing. And we saw that in an increase in numbers, and then, you know, we're slowly seeing them come down. In terms of tier one, tier two, two and tier three in terms of, I noticed that, was it suicide screening and prevention was on all tiers and different approaches with that? How are we approaching it at a tier one versus a tier three?
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. And then love to see that a lot of things were starting in middle school. I was curious to hear about some of the things that were starting in elementary school in terms of, sort of education with this, because obviously you don't want to like put all these topics on elementary schoolers, but I know I was a student who suffered with severe anxiety and was put into therapy as a third grader. And a lot of that was the unknown of what I was feeling. So I'm curious to see, there's two parts to this, curious to see where we're going in terms of possibly seeing in some soft integration of possible mental health education within our elementary schools, because that can be one of the scariest parts of when you're eight, you don't know what's happening, why you feel a certain way. I know that was certainly the case for me, as well as looking at, and we talked about it, I believe you talked about a little bit in the program about the self-reliance skills, not self-reliance, but it was social and emotional learning outside of the classroom and looking at other programs, sort of, I know that some universities are adapting Things like headspace subscriptions for students, you know, obviously institutionally wide but maybe for us case by case basis ways for students to learn how to I hate to use the word deal with these things but off hours of how students are able to get support and resources. Because a lot of these issues are still stigmatized. There's still an issue of why are you stressed, you're 13, what's going on, what's stressing you out so much. But for a lot of these students, it really is a huge, huge problem. So curious to see the direction possibly we're looking at. of out-of-class help, support and resources, you know, even just like a brochure of phone lines to call if you're feeling this way in the middle of the night. Who do you get into contact with? Because I don't, again, I've only been out of the public schools for five years now, but I don't ever remember seeing that. Maybe it's because I didn't need the resources at that time. But that also says I feel like Or I am under the impression of, I feel like this information should be present without needing it. Like we should have these ready. It should be nowhere to go before we even need to, you know, think about the bridge program. Sure. So that's a lot. But I guess the two, the too long didn't read of all that is looking at possible integration with, you know, the elementary school, seeing where we're at in terms of screening there. because that's also where I was screened for ADD, and that really helped set me up for my further education, as well as the, as it's put in the report, social-emotional learning integration throughout. So where we're at with that?
[John Intoppa]: Yeah, and I guess the more part of like, I know this would probably be more for high school or would integrate starting in the high school, but again, that looking at other programs outside of the classroom for students to access, whether it's a portal online or even like, again, like a brochure of resources outside of the Medford Public Schools that they may utilize, looking at integration of that as well within this.
[John Intoppa]: Awesome. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
[John Intoppa]: Yes, thank you, Director Zahara for coming and giving all these numbers. I'd be interested to see at some point sort of our statistics. I know this probably pertains more to our high school students who come in as English language learners with their sort of integration into the arts and athletic departments and how they are sort of coexisting in those spaces. I know that at least my time at the high school, it always seemed very sectioned off in terms of not just academics, but also in terms of culture, like the culture of just leisure and existing in these spaces together. And that's really unfortunate. Even at, we had a lot of EL students participate as stage crew, And the drama club and they always stuck together and we're off by themselves. And I'd love to find out if there's a way that we can minimize that culture of things I mean it's a very scary thing of. you know, learning linguistics and settling in. And for some of these individual students, there was an individual who was on the crew team with member Olapade and I, who had just landed in the US in Somerville their first year, and we met them their second year. And they didn't know the word for screwdriver. And then by the end of it, you know, they were, The growth that we witnessed with that individual because of how integrated they were and how socialized they were with us and how the program really benefited them. It was a really beautiful thing. So I'd love to see sort of what we're doing as a As a division, I don't know the right word, at the moment to push students to sort of more coexist together because it's benefit for both sides. It's benefit for all involved. So I'd love to see that at some point.
[John Intoppa]: Love to see that. Thank you.
[John Intoppa]: Sorry, my apologies. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I share a similar concern with Premier Reinfeld about section two. Each new member will present to the committee secretary official certification. I I'm not sure where else it's done. But to me, I feel like this as someone who just went through the process of policy not existing and policy being vacant and a week of anxiety around what happens next. This, I, it almost, it, I don't want to say it feels unnecessary, because I appreciate the work that's been done. But I don't see what the committee secretary has to do with the process. And again, that could just be my naiveness of this. I'm two weeks into this. But to me, I feel like striking almost this from the policy, I don't see it's Like you said, less is more. And to me, again, if we have a total rehaul of our school committee, which could happen, what does this do? And what happens then? But I would almost move to have, like the rest of the policy, very understandable, makes sense, especially the Massachusetts Ethics Commission summary of the common interest law, making sure we're up to date on that information. However, section two, to me, feels almost like it could be striking out of this policy.
[John Intoppa]: I was going to say, because I believe that is the protocol we had to follow, was we had to present the certification of election, or in my case, appointment to the city clerk.
[John Intoppa]: I was just gonna say, does a motion to amend need to be put on the floor? Because I can do that right now, is what I'm asking.
[John Intoppa]: have the channel links, but to have the community media link, the YouTube link, as well as the channel numbers, because again, it helps if you're trying to watch that on the TV.
[John Intoppa]: Channel numbers and YouTube, correct, yes. So that would be my motion to amend, would be to strike that and include channel numbers and YouTube link.
[John Intoppa]: Then, yeah, with that, that information makes complete sense. Then I would move to make a motion to amend and just have the YouTube link on the agenda circling back thousands of times. But if the if we can't rely on the channels being consistent, even if they're next to each other, we do open ourselves up to that liability of, again, false advertising, where the it's being broadcasted. So I was thinking from a standpoint of people who may not have smart TVs, maybe using, you know, the educational platform, but then again, we don't want to run into that issue.
[John Intoppa]: If I can, I'd like to waive my time. I believe a member of the public would like to speak. So if I can waive out of order and then circle back, because I don't know if I have some questions about impact. So if the member of the public has any answers about that, I can reassess my questions, I believe. So I waive my time.
[John Intoppa]: Well, first off, I just want to thank you for coming forward and sharing your story. That's not easy. And I apologize that that happened. My question surrounded the effectiveness of what we're proposing, but it almost sounds like we need to take a reassessment of what we look at in terms of the disciplinary practice of suspension looking at the cases. and also just to do the work looking at the claim of who's being affected higher in terms of suspension rates, as you had mentioned with IEP students. So my questions have greatly shifted, but I'm wondering where we have to look at, reassess the language and to see what fits in best practice.
[John Intoppa]: Present.
[John Intoppa]: That's right. I don't know what's going on, but I'll just go for it. It's fine.
[John Intoppa]: No, I was just gonna, to member, thank you, to member Rousseau's point of the Cummings Foundation, that large grant funds the CCSR over an expanded amount of time, so that might be why, and I don't know if they have to give it back, but I do know they have to apply, I think, every 10 years or so, it's like somewhere between six to 10. But I was curious about the gift fund and if that had any in time in with the alumni association and where those funds are handled, where the overflow of SGA funds from the previous classes, I know some of them, sometimes they're retained, sometimes the SGA funds go into like the alumni association so that way they can do their own private scholarship. So I'm curious to see how much of that may be attributing to that, if at all. Or if it's purely outside, if it's purely outside donations of people who wanna give back to our schools.
[John Intoppa]: I know, my apologies. figure out my mic, but I would be interested to see where the MHS gift fund, what is funding that, if it's anything with the alumni association, if it's in terms of like overflow of SGA funds, the student government funds with fundraised funds. And then the beginning point, again, I don't know how much was heard, fixing my mic situation for next meeting about the Cummings Foundation being a grant that's spent over a few years. And I think we're actually, in year one or year two of it. I think it was just replenished, which might be why that number is so large, but that is the predominant funding source for all of the units of CCSR and all the projects.
[John Intoppa]: Yes.
[John Intoppa]: Hello, it's good to see you all again. My name is John Intoppa. I'm the senior class president of the class of 2019 and a member of the CCSR. I run Project Little Library, which is goal is to bring the love of literature and more reading towards the Heights and North Medford area. Through the CCSR, I have been able to fine tune and work on my social responsibility and leadership skills. And by doing so, I can proudly say that Project Little Library is 100% locally business funded from businesses such as Modern Hardware, Fabrizio Wood Products, and the Vogue graphics department. And I couldn't have done it without help from the mayor's office and the Bill Cummings and Crystal Campbell Fund.
[John Intoppa]: So there's one right now and I'm working on many more. The one that I'm working on will be on display at the project fair on April 25th. The one that we're doing right now will be on Murray Hill Road in the North Medford.