[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. For all those joining us tonight, at tonight's meeting, I hope everyone did have a wonderful holiday season and a joyous start to 2025. We recognize there has been much excitement and curiosity within our Medford community since election day, when questions seven and eight were passed by the voters. We will use time during tonight's meeting to discuss the supplemental budget appropriation, and there are lots of exciting news and developments happening across the district. This week, kindergarten enrollment, it began on January 2nd. Building Bridges to Kindergarten is happening this Wednesday, January 15th at 6.30 p.m. at Medford High School. Parents can register for kindergarten beforehand in the registration office, and the Medford Family Network is offering childcare during the event. grade nine CTE students. They are set to choose their program. The students have explored all 15 CTE programs. They will choose their top three CTE programs or choose to take arts or technology electives for the rest of the year. Principal Fallon is offering an informational Zoom this Thursday, January 16th at 6 p.m. All that information can be found online. Also this weekend, Sunday, January 19th is the sixth annual Tufts University Classic. The girls games will start at 12 noon and the boys, their game will start at 1.30 p.m. It will be held in the cousins gymnasium at Tufts University. Also next week, Wednesday, January 22 at 7pm, there's going to be the fifth grade orchestra concert. It will take place at Medford High School, and the tickets are $5 at the door. So please come out to support those events. As a reminder as well, this Wednesday, January 15th will be an early release day for all of our students. Middle schools are dismissed at 1130 a.m. and all other students are dismissed at noon. Additionally, Medford Public Schools will be closed on Monday, January 20th in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Before we hear from Mr. McCue on the supplemental budget appropriation I'd like to use this space to say thank you. As you all know this is my last school committee meeting in my role as superintendent and Friday is my last day serving in this position at large. These past few weeks have offered an opportunity to reflect on the past seven years. Ultimately, what I keep coming back to is that the Medford Public Schools are in a better position academically, operationally, social, emotionally, and financially than we were when I joined in 2018. Together we created the district's first ever strategic vision built on the ACES model of achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. The vision included district wide alignment on measurements of academic success, alignment on observational and evaluative feedback, and alignment on instructional practice. culminating in the district's new instructional vision, which was presented to the school committee and all MPS staff last fall. Since I've started, we have hired seven new building principals across our eight schools who are each tremendous in not only what they do, but how they do it and how they treat people. A healthy school climate begins at the top. and I am so appreciative and thankful for the work our building principals and district administrators have done to guide Mustang Nation to where it is today. When reflecting on the most unforeseen challenge any of us will ever experience, the COVID-19 pandemic, my mind races back to one of the most famous quotes and messages from Dr. King. To me, his quote, the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy, speaks on how we approach the pandemic. We strived to not only meet the needs of all students, but we specifically championed to have our special education and English language students back in the classroom first. I am immensely proud of the work I have done in this district, in collaboration with so many others, to champion the civil rights and freedoms of all of our students. I know that this work, along with the other wonderful events and goals happening in the district, will continue and grow under the leadership of Dr. Galusi. Medford is a beautiful place to send your students to school. The work towards building a new Medford High School for the students in the city of Medford has only just begun. Tonight's agenda is reserved for explaining how we will use money from the city specifically earmarked to invest in education. Last but not least, the educators and staff in our school community are all deeply passionate and committed to enhancing the lives of our students. Throughout these past few days, I have visited our schools and seen our staff members in action. I'm happy to report they are, of course, doing a terrific job in visiting the schools, though I realized I am going to miss seeing pencils drop on the ground and the artwork that decorates classrooms. And yes, even at Medford High School, hearing the word bro 500 times in the hallway. However, these past few days and weeks since the separation announcement was made has truly shown me that the district is in a good place. It's a tremendous place to work, to live, and even a better place for students to earn an education. And so as I begin my final week and on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, I hope I have championed the rights and educational opportunities in a way Dr. King would have been proud. I believe all students have the right to an equal education across all of our schools through achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. I am honored to have worked in a community that strives and works towards those values. So in true Mustang fashion, I will share with you one final poem, the Mustang Alma Mater. by the starry mystic waters flowing to the sea. Rise our hallowed halls of learning, rich in memory. Bold traditions, truth and honor, alien to all fears, sheltering our fond ambitions through the toiling years. As we now in contemplation view the scroll of time, hearts astir with recollections, wake in worlds sublime. Sing of many sports triumphant, proms of courtly grace, deepening friendships without number, time cannot erase. In honor of final parting, this our prayer shall be, guide our strivings, broaden vision, ordain victory. Thus united, firm in purpose, resolute in might, stand we now in dedication to the truth and right. Hail to these our alma mater, long her praises sing, loyalties to proud traditions we in honor bring. As her stalwart sons and daughters hold fond memories bright, Join we now united voices to the blue and white. I thank you again and I am forever grateful for this opportunity to have served this wonderful city for seven years and I too am Medford. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That was one of the proposed recommendations for Mr. McHugh. to add a 1.0 position instead of the halftime position. And that person would fill in the two days at the McGlynn and be a floater for the remaining three days. So that would add a 1.0 FTE back to the nursing ranks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So by adding in the one more, we would have added the two positions back.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Testing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, and I echo the mayor's sentiments. Wonderful job to our orchestra students. Absolutely fabulous. Thank you, Ms. Cheng. Thank you, Ms. Suzanne Fee, our Director of Fine Arts, for a wonderful, wonderful presentation, performance, mini concert this evening. Thank you. So good evening. I have brief remarks this evening, but I would just like to share those remarks. First, I would like to say thank you for all of those joining us tonight at this evening's meeting. Since we last gathered here at City Hall, The Medford School Committee and I announced our mutual agreement that I will be departing on Friday, January 17th, 2025. Serving as a superintendent of schools for the past seven years in the same community that I was raised in has been my proudest professional achievement and such a blessing. The district will remain in very strong hands with Dr. Galusi's interim appointment and I look forward to supporting both her and the district during this transition period. Also, amongst news happening across the district, I would like to thank all those who have donated to our various December holiday donation drives in our school community. Any donation, no matter how small, goes a long way in impacting those around us this holiday season. If you are interested in giving, please contact your school or school PTO to learn about how you can impact your school community. Also, on Thursday, December 5th, it was a very special day at the Roberts Elementary School. as we welcomed Ernie Bach Jr. and the Music Drives Us organization to celebrate their donation of $60,000 worth of musical instruments and equipment. That's important, especially since we just had a wonderful orchestra concert and our wonderful band is here. The donated musical equipment included violins, ukuleles, risers, performance risers that the students can stand on when they perform, a U1 piano, a beautiful, beautiful Yamaha piano and an outdoor keyboard and much more. The generous gift is one of the largest donations ever given to a public school in the organization's history. As part of the ceremony, Ernie Bach Jr., the Music Drives Us team, city leaders, and district administrators were treated to a delightful musical performance by our Roberts students. The musical teacher, Mr. Stern at the Roberts School, the students, and the staff are all so very thankful for the new, beautiful musical equipment and are already hard at work practicing for a future concert. Congratulations to all of them. Additionally, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate all our grade six through 12 band and orchestra students who performed last week at our winter shows. Our band students, some of them who are here with us tonight, wild audiences with their holiday spirit and beautiful symphony on Wednesday night while our orchestra students impressed the audience on Thursday. As we look ahead to the upcoming winter break, the time off allows us all a welcome opportunity to spend quality time with our families and friends when celebrating the richness of this festive season. May the winter solstice, or Yule, the warmth of Christmas, The light of Hanukkah, the unity of Kwanzaa, and all our respective holidays bring you and those close to you happiness, love, and togetherness. I hope everyone with us tonight and those listening online have a happy holiday season and a terrific new year. Please note that there will be a half day on Friday, December 20th for all students and staff to begin the holiday break. Medford Public Schools will be closed for all students and teachers beginning on Monday, December 23rd and will reopen on Thursday, January 2nd. As a reminder, for those of you in the community who are getting ready for kindergarten registration, that will begin on Thursday, January 2nd. This is the earliest kindergarten registration has ever opened as the district eagerly anticipates welcoming future students to Mustang Nation. For those of you who are interested in learning about the process, please visit our kindergarten registration page on our website. Building Bridges to Kindergarten, our presentations where parents learn more about kindergarten across our four elementary schools and answer any questions they may have. Those events will take place in January, February, and March, more to come. Again, I want to thank Ms. Sophia Chang today for the wonderful concert, Ms. Suzanne Fee, our Director of Fine Arts, who is coordinating all of our arts programming, So during tonight's meeting, I am very excited that we're going to be able to welcome and recognize our students for their marvelous extracurricular achievements. Both our men's golf team and varsity football team earned GBL championships this fall. Yes, worthy of a round of applause. Congratulations. Additionally, our Mustang Marching Band won the NESBA Division II title for the second year in a row. We look forward to celebrating all of you and your accomplishments later this evening. Additionally, this evening, we are thrilled to welcome our Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, Ms. Stacey Shulman, as she introduces our newest member of Mustang Nation, beautiful, beautiful Kelsey, our assistance dog. Lastly, amongst other items on the agenda, we will hear from Dr. Cushing about the ongoing HVAC project happening in our schools. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Welcome. So Ms. Perry, I'm going to have you, we're going to start with which group today would you like us to start with?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, perfect. And since we have, we have a humongous pile of certificates I don't know if Miss Malone still has them. So we're going to. I will say your names when it comes to the respective teams, and we will have you come and line up in this inner circle, because it's going to be a lot of you. So when you hear your name being said, please come forward and know that your certificates will be given to you today. And then I know there are a few special announcements that Ms. Perry will be making, and those ones will be called up to receive their certificates in hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Perfect, perfect.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would like to ask all of the athletes, Josiah, Adam, Emma and Jonathan, plus your coaches to please come to the center circle space so we can take a group picture and all members of the committee. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're next. Thank you. Thank you. So, Gavin Bailey, please come to the center circle. James Camuso, Vincent Castro Jr., Carter Chavon, Emmett Chasteen, our GBL MVP, Evan Chialoni, David Crowen, Joshua Lamont, Anthony Mattarisi, James Montello, Michael Morando, Nathan Tremlett, Patrick Waldron, and Jonathan Wright, and Coach Citrano. Please come forward, all of you. And members of the committee, let's celebrate.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So thank you to both Coach Curley and Coach Murphy and all of the other assistant football coaches that aren't here, but I know it takes a village. And there are a lot of you that support our football team. So I'm going to try to go through all of these names. There's two pages of names. So as you hear your name being said, please come into this inner circle. Ryan Orojo, Will Batista, Nathan Brew, Devin Brown, Kenan Burke, Connor Cardoza, Brianna Cerullo, Jaden Caesar, Manuel Chavez, Nicholas Carenti, Samuel Juristeel, Leon Dimsky-David, Prince Xavier, Childheaven Xavier, William Fischera, Demi George, Hector Gutierrez. Gregory Jameson. Florentine Flex Jean-Baptiste. Brandon Jean-Baptiste. Arthur Jean-Baptiste. Wiki Jean-Noel. Moise Jules. Michael Jules. Nicholas Crocus. Giovanni Laurent. Darian DJ Lindor. Kaysen Lui-Jean. Cogliano Luca. Ryan Mabardi. Finn Manning. Justin Marino. Our MVP, again, Guillaume Martins, Gustavo Martins, Zachary Maynard, David Menon, Travers Moodle, Brendan Nobre, Brian Oliveira, Ernesto Orfa, Caden Reardon, Jayden Santiago, Joshua Santos, Devin Santos, Davin Savarino, Kaysen Savarino, Franco Supleveda, Chris Thiem, Julius Toro, and Darius Weeks. Mr. Dampier, I should have had you bring your drum line because it's like drum roll. We are saving the best for last. Everyone deserves great applause. But today, Mr. Dampier, can you please come forward? And we want to recognize. Our wonderful, wonderful marching band. And I just want to say our marching band, you got to play for our wonderful winning football team. So that was also, I know, motivating and encouraging because they won. So thank you so much for your wonderful music, which helped to inspire them and keep them going as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So wonderful Medford Mustang Marching Band members. Forgive me if I do mess up your names, but I'm going to try my very best. Elijah Ademach, John Marco Artates, Nobutaka Ashihara, Amelia O'Reilly, Oumania Benalia, Abigail Shelton, Mandy Chow, Andrew Colbert, Lucia Sataki, Adam Dangy, Beatrice Davis, Christine Desotel, Giovanna Donasimento, Ann Dups, Annabelle Foster, Charlotte Foti, Topper Fowler, Maggie Fowler, Violet Freimark, Davis Freimark, Gemma Gudino, Aria Guscott, Sydney Hamill, Alexandra Hopper, Talia Ingano, Declan Kane, Lennox LaFleur, Jovian LaFleur, Kian Lau, Tahia Leitz, T-A-J-I-A, please forgive me, Harrison Mumma, Colin Murray, Rowan Mustone, Aya Najjar, Maeve Nicholas, Addison Nietzsche, Peter Noel, Isabel Oliveira, Deja Parkinson, Bathaya Pierce, Stanley Tang, Benjamin Vurs, Jonas Vurs, Jane Wyman, and Maria Zasra. All coaching support, and Mr. Dampia, please come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Nothing to say. Good.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, congratulations on a job well done. I'm very proud of you. That trophy is quite heavy. So I am going to start with the girls team recognition. And if the person isn't here, we will just set them aside. So I have Lila Alberto. Abigail Charlton. Sabina Lee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Megan Mattarisi. Kaitlin Matarazzo. Gianna Purifori. And Sarah Youssef. Congratulations to the girls. And now I'm gonna start with our boys team. Daniel Alberti D'Andrade.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Owen Barzak-Kroll. Omnia Benalia. Alex Bress. Robert Kearns. Scott Campbell. Mason Charon. James Cluggish. Addie Cruz. Raul Gonzalez IV. Henry Gregor. Benson Hargreaves. Carlos Laredo. Dexter McIntyre. Nicholas Matai. Harrison Muma. Peter Padilano. Ewan Reese. Santana Rose Russell.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Congratulations. Adam Sayers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Matthew Stricker. Patrick Walden. And last but not least, Jaden Wu. Can we give another round of applause for our wonderful athletes? And can we have the athletes come in the inner circle with your trophy? So we can take a photo, a group photo. Either way, yeah, either side. Yeah, yeah, it's open, either way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight for this school committee meeting. I hope everyone enjoyed their wonderful Thanksgiving last week and that you were able to celebrate the holiday surrounded by family and friends. I want to start off this evening by saying how thankful I am for the great generosity from Mustang nation this Thanksgiving season. There were so many fundraisers and food drives held by all of our schools, all of which went to help those in need. last Tuesday truly showcased just how special our school community is. Middle school students and staff spent their afternoon following dismissal creating over 100 Thanksgiving baskets for those in need. The Andrews Cafeteria was filled with not only lots of items set to be donated, but seemingly just as many volunteers. Earlier in the day, our McGlynn Elementary School community donated all their food items raised as part of their 12th annual Thanksgiving food drive. Students helped hand off non-perishable and monetary donation items to the Medford Family Network, who came to the school to thank our students and collect the items. Photos from both events can be found on our district's Facebook page. Once again, thank you to all our families, caregivers, students, and staff for your kindness this Thanksgiving season. Your dedication has truly made our community a better place. Medford Public Schools also enjoyed Turkey Day the best way possible, with a football victory over the Malden Tornadoes. In the 137th edition of the longest continuous rivalry in the country, our Mustangs came out on top 34 to 14 under some very wet, wet conditions. Our cheerleaders finished off a great fall season supporting the players and coaches. While our band didn't play due to the weather, their tremendous spirit was not forgotten. I'd like to extend a special thank you to Member Branley, Member Intoppa, and Member Olapade who braved the weather and supported the Mustangs. I also would like to recognize members of our city council. Councilor Tseng, Councilor Lazzaro and Councilor Callahan for coming out to support the Mustangs on Thanksgiving Day. And last but not least, I'd like to thank State Representative Donato who was there, braving the weather and supporting both teams, but of course the Mustangs came out on top. Thank you for that. So this 20 point win capped off a historical season for the varsity football team. As a result, the Medford Mustangs clinched the Greater Boston League Championship for only the sixth time ever. And this was the first time since 1985. the Medford Mustangs are GBL champions. Additionally, it's the first time our football team achieved back-to-back winning seasons since 1991, and the first time we've defeated Malden two years in a row since 2001. Congratulations to all our players, our families, Coach Curley and his staff, and to all our supporters on a fantastic season. With Thanksgiving falling so late on the calendar this year, we all have even less time than usual to prepare for the busy holiday season. Our band got an early start to the festivities with the opening day of their annual Christmas tree and holiday wreath sale last Saturday. I just want you to know this year I got my tree, last year they sold out early. So all I can encourage everyone is come out this weekend, support our band, they're there from 10am to 4pm. It's at the Medford High School parking lot, they have beautiful trees, small, medium, large. ranging from $85, $95, and $105, and the wreaths are between $15 and $20, ornaments for $5. It's very reasonable. I went shopping this weekend for Black Friday, and I can tell you the stores are way more expensive than our own marching band fundraiser so please come out and support them this weekend. They will be there December 7, December 8, December 14 and 15, while supplies last so as soon as the supplies are gone. Our award winning high school in middle school band will be joining our beautiful orchestra later this month at their annual winter concert. The concert will be held on Wednesday, December 11, and Thursday, December 12. at 7pm at Medford High School. We invite everyone to attend and listen to the tremendous performances from our students. As a reminder, Wednesday, December 11th will be a half day for all students. Middle school students will be dismissed at 1130 and all other students will be dismissed at noon. Lastly, I'm really excited to share that kindergarten registration for next school year will begin on Thursday, January 2. This is the earliest we have ever opened registration, as we eagerly anticipate welcoming future students to Mustang Nation. In collaboration with the city information about the kindergarten registration process will be shared in the mail, and within the community, very soon. For those of you who are interested in learning about the process now, please visit the new dedicated kindergarten registration web page on our website. Building Bridges to Kindergarten are presentations where we welcome parents to learn more about kindergarten in our schools and answer any questions that you may have. They will be held in January, February and March of 2025. We hope to see you there. And again, go to our registration web page on our website. So during tonight's meeting, I am thrilled to share that we have already welcomed our wonderful crew team. We also rowing team. We also want to recognize this evening that we're going to have drive in safety course presentation from the executive director Mr. Dan Strollo and Dr. Cushing. We will also have Miss Paulette Van der Kloot, who will be presenting this evening as the MEF Medford Educational Foundation president and former school committee member. And I believe she's going to be accompanied by her wonderful grants manager as well this evening. Thank you so much. And we also will have Miss Marta Cabral, principal of the high school, who will be presenting on bathrooms at Medford High School. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, at the time, when we encountered all of the technical difficulties, I was in communication with Representative Sean Garberly. So he was aware. But at that point in time, everything had been lost. We thought it was in there. And it got lost. So he was aware of all of the technical difficulty that we had. So he may be a good starting point. When we start the process again to keep him looped in from the beginning.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just wanted to weigh in between the two schools. I would definitely advocate more strongly for the Roberts because the Roberts is our only elementary school that is really landlocked. And the one major distinction between the Missittuck and the Roberts is that the Missittuck does have the benefit of the Columbus Field Park that is, you know, it's, they use both spaces. So the students actually, although the playgrounds do need to be renovated, the students at the Missittuck are able to go up the stairs and use the additional field space at the Missittuck location. Whereas the Roberts, they really, you know, it's so crammed over there, they're landlocked, the students don't have that same option to have a park, a green space, which abuts their campus, immediately abuts their campus, that they could use on a daily basis. And so that would be one of the things that I would just say if a decision had to be made between the two schools. I do feel the Roberts has gotten the short end of the stick. They're using practically part of the parking lot for space because it's just so crammed and they have slightly over 600 students. So being the largest elementary school with the smallest footprint, I would prioritize the Roberts. That's all I wanted to share. if it came down to those two schools?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would love to let Ms. Nwaje Francis weigh in on how she has been supporting the schools. And, you know, I did make comments on November 4th, but I think the fact that she's here, she should be able to speak to the work that she has done and answer any of your questions directly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you. If you could see on my little notebook, I was just jotting a few things down. But as Francis was sharing, what I wrote down was the word collaboration, which I believe strongly in and is part of my core values. I see Francis as a true collaborator. And when there is a challenge or a question, Just for a quick consult, it's wonderful and refreshing to know that you just have to pick up the phone and you can collaborate with a colleague down the street at City Hall to say, you know, this is something from your area of expertise, could you provide a little feedback? And I know that different members of our team for different pieces do consult and collaborate with Francis. And so as she was trying to quantify, and even myself, I was like, oh, it's, you know. It could be a quiet week and there could be a week where she's on speed dial because it could be something that's pressing. And as you said, Member Olapade, certain things are situational. If someone gets injured unexpectedly or something were to happen and there is a major ADA need, We know we have an expert in that area that we could just call, consult, collaborate, and guide the individual to go and meet with Francis, or Francis would schedule to meet with the staff person and, you know, provide the official ADA support that needs to be given. And so I truly do see this partnership as a collaboration. And I just want to thank Frances for bringing her expertise and professionalism to the table all the time to support us in different capacities. And sometimes it's just asking for an additional colleague to be part of the process, even when we've done select interviews. our own Will Piposelli, who's our new comms director. When we were looking into bringing on a new comms director and we partnered and collaborated with Francis at City Hall, and saying, you know, we want to, you know, interview candidates and really bring on someone who was going to be the best match for us. And that best person was in the person of Will Pippaselli. And that's just an example though, of having an additional voice at the table, um, where it was, um, again, an opportunity for us to collaborate and, um, It wasn't, we weren't mandated to do it. It wasn't necessary, but again, through the relationship that has built over the years and talking with her and saying, would she like to partner with us for this particular role? Frances has always said, yes, she was willing to lend her expertise and come to the table and help us find the best individual for the job. So I just wanted to restate that we are truly appreciative as a district of the partnership with Francis and Again, I know there are DEI directors and there are different models which member Rousseau shared from many other communities. And some people want to collaborate and work in a true collaborative, in a true partnership and others sometimes it's just not a match. But I do feel in this particular context where Medford is concerned, And what I say to you as the committee, our partnership, our collaboration with Francis, who is currently housed at the city of Medford in the DEI, ADA, I can't remember all the other letters you said, EEOC, there were a lot of letters, alphabet soup, but I loved all of it. I truly can say that the collaboration that we have right now It is a true collaboration and it is worth the investment. And I would qualify it by saying it's in the person of Frances, who has really partnered so well with special education, with Suzanne in academics and instruction, with Peter in our operational realm, with human resources, with Janine, like really collaborating with the entire team and working with principals whether it's going to the Roberts and supporting DEI initiatives on a district level or at some of the particular schools where they've asked to collaborate, can we have the DEI director? And we say, yes, we'll let her know. And Frances has always said she's more than willing to collaborate with us. And she has collaborated on principal interviews. and just lent her expertise. So it is a true collaboration. I understand the caution that the committee is expressing. But in this context, I can say, rest assured, in the person of Frances, we do have a true collaboration. And anyone in the team on the team would, I think they would confirm and say that it's how she brings herself to the work that she has really fostered and nurtured the relationship that we all have now. So I just wanted to add those comments. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Learning communities, PLCs.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You could have it as me, but I always do it in consultation when it comes to finances. And then working with the team, trying to quantify As you can see, it's hard to do that because things fluctuate. But you can put both. I'm open to it, but I will consult with them.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it makes sense to me the way in which we are working and collaborating and knowing that there's opportunities for greater collaboration and more structured in a more formal way. you know, to meet, to reach more students, to reach more staff. I do feel that there's greater potential for greater collaboration. So, yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: books from 1924 to 2023 are now available on our website to view. There are many people with us tonight whose senior or staff pictures are featured in the digital collection, including our very own 1998 graduate of Mustang High School. Yes, our own Mayo Lungo-Koehn. Again, that's 1998, if you'd like to check her out. This project was managed by the Digital Commonwealth, a Massachusetts nonprofit funded by our state budget, and in collaboration with the Boston Public Library. Together, their goal is to both preserve and disseminate historic materials to the general public before they deteriorate and become lost forever. All your books, as well as a 1965 newspaper article discussing the fire of the old Medford High School can be found under the students and families tab of our district's website. Thank you to our library staff member Maria Dorsey, Medford High School ELA teacher and yearbook advisor Mr. David Ambrose, and our digitalization partners for making this project possible. Woof woof, I said. I am thrilled to share some great doggie news. the Medford Public Schools Counseling Department has been matched with an assistance dog. The assistance dog will be a member of the Counseling Department, working to support students and staff. Our newest member of Mustang Nation is expected to join us after Thanksgiving. Our Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, Ms. Stacey Shulman, will be the handler and primary caregiver of the dog. The dog will primarily stay in her office at Medford High School, but may occasionally be seen in the halls or lobby. When outside her office, the dog will always be on a leash. Given that the dog will primarily be located at the high school, we are asking families and caregivers of high school students to please contact your school nurse in relation to any dog allergies. When Ms. Shulman and the dog are scheduled to visit a classroom across Medford Public Schools, families and caregivers will receive prior communication from the appropriate staff member. A wider announcement about our newest member of Mustang Nation will be shared with the community in the near future. Looking ahead, to this coming weekend. Medford Middle Schools and High School Drama Clubs will each take the stage this weekend for their fall performances. Our Middle School Drama Club will be performing a vaudeville, take two, on both Friday, November 22nd, and Saturday, November 23rd, beginning at 7 p.m. at the MacLennan School Auditorium. Concurrently, the High School Drama Club will be performing their adaptation of Almost Maine on Thursday, November 21st, Friday the 22nd, and twice on Saturday the 23rd. The ticket links for both shows are available on our Facebook page. Please go there to purchase your tickets. Also tomorrow, I will be sending an email communication to all families and Metro Public Schools regarding safe gun storage. We are a proud partner with Be Smart Community Volunteers, promoting the messaging of secure and safe storage. Please be on the lookout for that communication and more safe storage resources tomorrow afternoon. So next week, all schools will have an early release day on Wednesday, November 27th to begin the Thanksgiving break. Additionally, Medford Public Schools will be closed on Thursday, November 28th and Friday the 29th. We want to wish everyone an early happy Thanksgiving. May you use this time to celebrate and cherish the moments and be thankful for the tremendous impact you've had on those around you. Tonight's agenda is once again filled with important topics that impact our school community. We will hear a presentation on our after school care for students by our director of family and community engagement. This is Megan Fidler-Carey. Next we'll hear from our principal of the vocational school, Mr. Chad Fallon, regarding our robust CTE enrollment. And our final report this evening will be from our budget analyst, Mr. Gerald McHugh, regarding the FY26 school budget calendar. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And good evening. Good evening to everyone. It is great to be with you all tonight for this evening's school committee meeting. While we normally hold our sessions in person, tonight we are on Zoom while our great city finalizes its preparation for tomorrow. Ahead of election day, I want to begin my remarks tonight by speaking about the importance of voting. Voting is essential because it empowers you to express your beliefs and shape the future of our local community. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and our country. It's not just a right, but a civic duty, allowing you to initiate change and advocate for your community. Your vote is your voice. Information on where to vote, what is on the ballot, and when polls open are available on the City of Medford's website. And as a result of election day tomorrow, Medford Public Schools will be closed for all students tomorrow. However, staff will be present at all of our school campuses as one of our scheduled professional development dates is taking place tomorrow. Our educators have been doing a marvelous job supporting our students' social, emotional, and educational journey so far this year. Myself and all of our other administrators are looking forward to connecting with our staff tomorrow during our Professional Development Day. So I'd like to just rewind a little bit over the past few weeks. I want to thank all of our administrators, elected officials, City Year partners, building staff, and community leaders for reading to our Missittuck students in late October as part of the Jumpstart Read for the record day. Our Missittuck students were part of over 2 million readers across the world who enjoyed this year's book, Piper Chen Sings. I'd also like to extend a special thank you to all of our community members who joined our students during last month's Walking Wednesdays. Students enjoyed the presence of fellow peers and caregivers on Wednesdays throughout October while all walking to school, including the National Walk and Bike to School Day on October 9th. These outdoor commutes to school took place at all of our elementary and middle schools. I am also very, very excited to share good news that happened yesterday afternoon, where our Medford Mustang Marching Band won the Division II New England Scholastic Band Association Championship for the second year in a row. Performing their 2024 show, After the Rain, our band won Caption Awards for Best Visual Performance, Best Color Guard, and Best Overall Effect. Additionally, students Qian Liao and Benjamin Verz received the award for Best Drum Majors. Congratulations to them. Our Mustangs also claimed the top spot with a Platinum Award and a score of 95.37, making them the only band in Division I, II, or III to achieve a Platinum Award. The band includes students from Medford High School, Medford Vocational School, and both the Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools. Congratulations to all of our students and our first year band director in Medford Public Schools, Mr. Michael Dampier, on a fantastic, fantastic fall season. So congratulations to them. And here they are with all of their wonderful awards. I also want to just quickly jump over to athletics to share some great news. Our football team continued their memorable season with another history-making performance. Yes, our senior, Brianna Cerullo, became the first female in Mustang football history to score in a varsity game. punching in a two-yard run during our 38-6 win over Chelsea. So that's a huge congratulations, Brianna. Brianna is just the second female to participate in football at the varsity level. in school history and the first one to find her way to the end zone. Congratulations to Brianna for having your name live in Mustang lore forever. I would also like to extend my sincerest admiration to our football team for fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our students. So congratulations to them. In the spirit of congratulations, I'd also like to take a moment to congratulate our Medford rowing team on a superb fall season that culminated at the MPSRA Fall Championship. Our crew team won two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals at the state championship. Medford High School also won the Massachusetts State Team Sculling Trophy for the first time in school history. And last but not least, hot off the press, just came downstairs from the game. Our unified basketball team just won their game upstairs. It was wonderful. And I want to thank Mayor Lungo-Koehn and Member Intoppa. for being upstairs supporting our unified basketball team and our wonderful band played. They sounded fabulous. It was a great victory, a great game, a great night for Mustang Nation. So I want to just thank and congratulate all of our Mustangs for a terrific fall season. Yes, we give them a shout out, clapping for all of you. Keep up the great, great work. As I continue with my announcements, just for everyone to be aware, next Monday, November 11th, Medford Public Schools will be closed in honor of Veterans Day. This Veterans Day, we honor and thank all the brave men and women who have served in our military. Their sacrifices and dedication protect our freedoms and ensure our safety. Please take a moment next Monday to reflect on their courage and commitment while recognizing the importance of supporting our veterans, both during and after their service. Thank you sincerely to all of our veterans. On Tuesday, September 12th, Medford Public Schools and CCSR, the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, will be hosting a dedication ceremony for the new Crystal Campbell Memorial Garden at three o'clock, which will be taking place at the front of Medford High School. The new garden will honor Crystal, a 2001 Medford High School graduate, who tragically passed away during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The Memorial Garden will celebrate her life and passion for bringing people together. Light refreshments will be served following the dedication ceremony and all members of the public are welcome to attend. Lastly, I wanna just provide some brief MSBA updates. I want to inform the committee and the community that MSBA will be visiting our schools beginning next week as part of the state's school survey assessment. The MSBA will be visiting all schools in the Commonwealth during the next year, except schools that are in the MSBA program pipeline. So as a result, they will not be visiting Medford High School, given the ongoing new high school building process, but they will be visiting all of our other schools. The school surveys of approximately 1,580 schools in Massachusetts will result in a published report by the MSBA, which will detail a shared understanding of the building condition and general environment for all of the Commonwealth's public schools. The assessment will evaluate several key factors including condition, capacity, maintenance, and educational environment. The last school survey of all schools in the Commonwealth was held in 2016. The MSBA school survey will begin next Tuesday and include walkthroughs of our schools and interviews with building leaders. These surveys, again, are independent of the ongoing process to build a new Medford High School. Rather, it is part of the statewide assessment. With that being said, we look forward to welcoming members of the MSBA team into all of our other schools. And for this evening's meeting, I'm excited to join Dr. Galussi in sharing about what's happening in Medford Public Schools from our instructional vision, also to our MCAS performance. And this evening, Dr. Chiesa, Ms. Faiza Khan and Mr. Rocco Sieri, our Directors of Humanities, Mathematics, and Science. They will be reporting out to the committee on our MCAS testing data from the late spring of 2024 and share about our key takeaways and the results. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I was gonna just, I will just tee it off and then we'll go back and forth. There is a slide deck. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. And this is a very brief slide deck talking about the instructional vision work that the Medford Public Schools is going to be working on, continuing to work on. The work has already begun, but this is just to formally introduce it to the committee. And this body of work is going to be introduced formally to all staff officially tomorrow in a joint capacity during part of our professional development sessions. And so Dr. Galusi, I'm gonna pass the baton on to you and we can piggyback off of one another. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just was going to actually piggyback and double down on the circle that Every piece of this circle depends on another piece of the circle and that it isn't a square and it's not, you pull one piece of the puzzle away, it's not going to work. And as we transition to the next presentation, when you hear about our MCAS data and how as a district we're making data informed decisions, And looking at what does our high quality instruction look like? What are the programs that we have in place? Everything is connected. If our students are not engaged, and they don't feel like they belong, they're not going to be interested in learning. So there are a few really bright points that are going to be shared shortly by our team. But one of the things that I am very happy about is our growth, our student growth. We know we have other areas that we're going to work on, but our students, their starting point, and their ending point, they are showing significant growth. in almost all of our schools as a district, and the following presentation will show what that growth looks like, and we want to build upon that positive momentum. by making data informed decisions and ensuring that our students are engaged in the quality of instruction that they are receiving. I also just want to recognize Suzanne Fee for her artistic work in designing this instructional vision. It's visually appealing, easy to understand, and we are working on giving our staff and visitors, as it gets published and posted in all of our schools, an anchor to look at, an anchor chart to look at to understand what is actually happening right now in the Medford Public Schools and that everything is interrelated. And again, our goal is to have all students feel like they belong and know that they belong and know that they are part of the Medford Public Schools community. Because if our students feel connected, they will feel engaged. and they will feel like they belong, they will continue to produce positive outcomes, and we're gonna see the needle keep moving in the positive direction. So I just thank you, Suzanne, for your presentation there, and we're looking forward to this work, this next iteration of the work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I did see member Rousseau's hand. I don't know if his question was already answered.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Reinfeld has her hand up. Oh, I missed that. Hold on a second.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Point of personal privilege, I just want to say more that I support 1,000% this resolution that has gone forward. The amount of work and support that Director Nwaje extends to the school department is clearly articulated in these bullets and beyond. And I understand there's a lot of discussion back and forth, but the capacity right now does not exist in the Medford Public Schools. And it would truly be a significant gap And in order to be able to properly address ADA concerns and DEI concerns that exist within the Medford Public Schools, you do need someone with experience. And so I, as a point of personal privilege, am saying that I support this resolution. I understand the committee takes their own vote, but I am living in the Medford Public Schools in real time, and the support is needed, seriously needed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This work is currently taking place and it's inclusive of last year as well. in different capacities. She's overseeing all ADA accommodations for the district and supporting the district with DEI concerns, district wide, all units. Supports us with interviews, supports HR, supports the office of the superintendent. supports us with building and grounds concerns, this tremendous support that has been offered to the schools. And these bullets detail the work that has been offered to the school. She supported the district, new teacher orientation, DEI training. Whenever she's called upon, she supports the district in any capacity that she can.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to tonight's school committee meeting. Since we last spoke, our students have continued to shine and thrive in our Medford community, and I'm excited to share their recent accomplishments, as well as upcoming events in the district. Thank you to all our students, staff, community members, and elected officials who joined us at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new universally accessible playground at McGlynn Elementary. We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate the new space for our students and community members. Our health assisting CTE students and staff members have been busy supporting flu and COVID vaccine clinics held in our schools for all students and staff. These clinics are scheduled for Wednesdays at each of our schools through early November. Our National Art Honor Society members recently joined the grand opening of the city's new Clippership Pop-Up Park. Students volunteered to paint the cement markers at the new outdoor play area alongside other community members. Their terrific artwork will further enhance the enjoyment of the new park. Switching over to athletics. All of our fall middle school sports teams captured greater Boston league conference championships last week. Congratulations to our baseball team, our softball team, our middle boys and girls cross country teams on fantastic seasons. I'd also like to highlight our boys high school golf team, who also earned a GBL championship since we last gathered. Well done to all of our student athletes. While we eagerly await seeing how the rest of the fall sports season plays out, it's not too early to think about our winter sports. Registration for our winter sports is now open and can be done at medfordathletics.com. The deadline to register for our winter sports is November 18th. As a reminder, all athletes must complete the online registration and provide an up-to-date physical within 13 months to the nurse's office before tryouts. Our schools, once again, will be busy this week outside of normal classroom instruction with events happening to support the futures of our Mustang students. On Wednesday, October 23rd, Medford High School will host our College and Career Night. Our annual college fair for all middle and high school students and families will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Medford High School Gymnasium. Over 75 colleges and programs will be in attendance, including four-year universities, community colleges, military programs, and others. Beginning at 530 on Wednesday, the same day, Medford High School will also be hosting a college information session for students with IEPs and 504 accommodation plans. Attendees will be able to hear from our special education team and college support experts about a variety of topics, including the college application process and the difference in services offered between high school and college. On Thursday, October 24th, grade eight and transfer students and families are invited to attend the Medford High School open house from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Students can meet building teachers, administrators, and current students to learn what it's like to be a Medford High School Mustang. Attendees will also have opportunities to receive further information about our vocational programs, athletics, and extracurricular programs. We look forward to welcoming the future class of 2029. Lastly, I would like to wish our Medford community and all of those who celebrate an early happy Halloween or Happy Harvest Festival time. Be on the lookout for safety reminders and other upcoming Halloween programming in this week's Friday memo. Tonight, we will have two reports from our administrative team. First, we will hear on the water testing recently conducted across all of our schools. And we have UMass Amherst representatives and DEP representatives that will be joining us this evening on Zoom. I will also be joined by Dr. Cushing for that presentation. Later, we will provide a report on our district-wide transportation busing. Dr. Cushing, Ms. Megan Fidler-Carey, our Director of Family Community Engagement, and the representatives from Eastern Bus Company, our partner. We have Mr. Chuck Winitzer with us, Ms. Jessica Guadalupe, and his son, Mr. Winitzer. Is it David? David, David Winitzer. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I would just like I would like to thank the team from UMass and DEP for partnering with Medford. I've had the opportunity to speak on several occasions with Ms. Marion Berkowitz, Mr. Alex Smith-Linn, and Ms. Yvette DiPizza, just with them sharing their expertise and the work that it is that they do. I look forward to hearing from the members of the team this evening. And they are prepared to talk about their programming and answer any questions that may come up. So without further ado, I believe all of you have been made co-hosts. So Alex, the document is shared with you. I think you should be able to do it right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I'm willing to let you you. I'll pull the slide deck up then. No, no problem. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is it big enough? Can you make it a little larger, maybe 200?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it's better now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It did, yes. That's a wrong spot.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Got it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And Member Graham, I just wanted to add a comment to Member Reinfeld's ask about if there is a different configuration, would it need to be capital projects? The answer to your question would be yes, if the committee deemed that a different configuration would need to take place with one of the other buildings. But between now and the next meeting, we might be able to have a little more information to provide. to that conversation, to that topic.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Motion to approve.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to tonight's school committee meeting. As the leaves have begun to change color, today's rain put a slight halt to what was a beautiful stretch of fall weather here in Medford. Whether you have participated in New England fall classics, such as apple picking, scarecrow designing, or escaping a challenging corn maze, I hope you and your families are able to enjoy the autumn beauties of what Middlesex County has to offer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to honor those affected by breast cancer and to spread awareness about early detection and treatment options. The American Cancer Society held their annual Boston Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk this weekend, and it was terrific to see so many members of New England come together for this important cause. Remember, regular screenings and self-exams can make a vital difference. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, when caught in its earliest localized stages, the five-year relative survival rate of breast cancer is 99%. I encourage you to visit their website and other resources for further information about breast cancer awareness. Also, October is Down Syndrome Awareness and Dyslexia Awareness Month. This month, let's come together to raise awareness and celebrate the unique strengths of our diverse community. Medford Public Schools staff members are here to support all of our students and families working to reach their educational goals. While there are lots of exciting developments across Mustang Nation since we all last gathered, this weekend was another busy one across Mustang Nation, with students, families, and staff members coming together to achieve goals and create long-lasting memories. On a very high note, our Medford High School football team scored a big victory over our next-door neighbors, Somerville High School, on Friday night, where captain Justin Marino broke a 52-year-old school record. the senior scored six touchdowns, eclipsing Babe Colonna's record of five set on Thanksgiving in 1972. In addition to his six touchdowns, Marino finished the game with 200 rushing yards, an interception, a blocked field goal, and a fumble recovery in a 48 to 12 victory for our Mustangs. I'd also like to thank Tufts University for hosting and to our supporters for their sportsmanship displayed throughout the game. After performing alongside our football team on Friday, our Medford High School marching band spent Saturday afternoon and evening at the New England Scholastic Band Association's fall event at Westford Academy. I am happy to share that our band finished in first place in their division. Perhaps even more impressively, the band also took home overall competition awards in both Best Visual Performance and Best General Effect. The Best Visual Performance Award showcases the stunning visual elements of our Mustang performance, which were brought to life by our talented guard and precise choreography. Similarly, the Best General Effect Award reflects the overall impact of the performance, from the music to the visuals, and how well the bands came together to create a cohesive and engaging experience for the audience and judges alike. Congratulations to our new band director, Michael Dampier, and all of our students for their amazing performances this weekend. We look forward to continuing to hear you shine throughout the school year. Among many other exciting events, yesterday, our Brooks Elementary School hosted their annual fall festival. This beloved event was a fantastic way to embrace the spirit of the season and support our school community. They had a wide variety of exciting games, food, rides, crafts, and vendors for kids and families of all ages to enjoy. I'd like to give a special thank you to the Brooks PTO and Principal Shannon Deimos and her school community for hosting this welcoming event. Tomorrow, Medford Public Schools and the City of Medford will be hosting the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the McGlynn Elementary School. Tuesday, October 8th, beginning at 3.30 p.m. to celebrate the official opening of our new universally accessible playground. Members of the public are invited to celebrate and most importantly, play on the new playground following the ceremony. The new playground has already been used by our school and surrounding community and the early enjoyment has been so heartwarming to witnesses. There are countless types of play opportunities for all children. The new and inclusive Gaga pit has especially been a roaring success amongst all the new playground equipment. If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in tomorrow's ribbon-cutting ceremony, please contact the City of Medford ADA coordinator, Ms. Frances Nwaje. As a reminder to our community, next Monday, there will be no school in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day. Tonight, you will hear a report on the Communities That Care Youth Survey from Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Peter Cushing, Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, Stacey Shulman, Director of Physical Education and Health, Ms. Perry, Rachel Perry, joining us online, and the Medford Manager of the Office of Prevention and Outreach, Ms. Catherine Dhingra. Later on, you will hear an elementary literacy update from Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Galusi, and Director of Humanities, Dr. Chiesa. And finally, Dr. Cushing will present on Medford Public Schools rate cards and on a recommendation to approve construction of the Brooks hot water heater. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham, my clarifying question in regards to number three regarding the waitlist Is that question saying if there were students that are currently on the Medford public schools waitlist and they're currently enrolled in the YMCA or RSK or Sigma, is it to say, remove those students from the list to see who's actually still left over?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. We'll be able to work on that. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our second school committee meeting of the academic year. We have seen so much social and emotional learning from our students inside and outside of the classroom compared to when we last met. I'm very excited to share the latest news involving our Medford school community. Last week wrapped up our school curriculum nights, which were held over a two week period. The turnout from the community was simply fantastic. I spoke with principals and teachers from different grade levels who raved about the attendance and engagement from parents. Dr. Galussi and I were at the high school's curriculum night last Thursday, and the hallways felt just as busy as passing time does during a normal day at the high school. Even if you were not able to attend your child's curriculum night, I want to thank all parents and caregivers for being so dedicated to your child's learning journey. Please continue to engage with your child, teachers, and administrators to best support that path. Last week also was our Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee meeting that we met for the first time this school year. We submitted all required paperwork for the first phase of the MSBA process earlier this summer, and Wednesday's meeting served as a great check-in as we await to hear from the MSBA on potential next steps. Thank you to our MCHSC committee chair, Member Graham, and all of our other committee members for their unwavering commitment to creating a new high school for our students. I also wanna provide an update to the community regarding bus transportation. last meeting we spoke about the need to improve our bus transportation for our medford students and families myself and the rest of the administrative staff continue to work to find solutions to our challenges chief among them overcrowding and the lack of busing for uh two specific after-school programs we spoke with eastern bus company owner chuck winnitzer again this week last week on friday this time in person and he he reassured his commitment to medford public schools he did let us know that if there is an available driver on a given day by 2 pm that that driver will be dedicated to medford to assist in the after-school bus programming Shortfalls in bus transportation are not a challenge unique to Medford. However, we continue to create solutions that best meet the needs of our community. For example, at the Brooks Elementary School, students in Sigma after school program have individuals that are volunteering their time to monitor our students while they wait for the bus to bring them to their respective programs. While this is understandably a short-term solution, we want to thank all of those involved, including RSK for sending Mr. Jesse. We thank everyone for their patience and their flexibility while we work through our transportation challenges. I'd like to reiterate that Medford is currently not being charged by Eastern Bus for the buses we are not using. So it is in the best interest for Eastern Bus to help solve this problem. Throughout the last few weeks, we have also explored alternative transportation options, including vans, coach buses, and other school bus companies to solve this ongoing challenge. I also just want us to pivot quickly because now we are talking about the beginning of fall. I want to provide an update from our school health department. which is working with the community in trying to keep all of us healthy during this upcoming flu season. So MPS Health Services is collaborating with Smiles by Rosie to provide in-school flu vaccination clinics for students. Consent forms will be sent home with elementary students and parents of secondary students can expect further communication in the very near future. The School Health Department and the City of Medford Board of Health are also hosting a health services fair this Saturday from 10 to 1 at the Andrews Middle School. Stop by to learn important topics such as behavioral and mental health, health insurance, fitness tips, nutrition, and more. Attendees can also register for a free flu vaccine clinic that will be taking place. I also wanna share some news from our vocational school. Our vocational school is ramping up their service to the community as we have settled into the year. Earlier this month, the Mustang Mall opened for business. Operated by our business technology and marketing vocational students. who run the Mustang Mall. This gives members of the community an opportunity to come up, come into the store and stock up on your Mustang apparel. Or you can also shop online. We also want to share that our wonderful Bistro 489 opened their doors today to the community and our wonderful culinary arts students will be serving delicious breakfast and lunch food options. So please come by and support our students in Bistro 489. I'd like to transition quickly to the greater Medford community. This weekend will be one to remember with so many terrific events happening for those of all ages. Run Medford Run will be held on Friday and Saturday. That's September 27th and 28th at Hormel Stadium with the kids run and the high school mile being held on Friday. 50% of the proceeds from these two events will be donated to our schools. There are also additional races throughout Friday night and Saturday morning. Interested participants can register for all Run Medford Run events online. Thank you to Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Dave McGillivray, the Medford PD, and all those who are involved in planning and the execution of this fantastic event. after finishing up run medford run on saturday head on over again to the andrews middle school for the previously mentioned health services fair again that's from 10 to 1 o'clock sunday will be another wonderful day full of celebration in medford at tufts community day join your neighbors family and friends on sunday september 29th from 11 to 2 p.m at the Tufts University Academic Quad. Enjoy fun activities, live performances, free raffles, food and drinks while supplies last. This is a reminder that next Thursday, October 3rd, there will be no school. It is in celebration of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Jewish New Year. It invites us to look back on the past year, celebrate our achievements, and consider the opportunities for growth in the year ahead. To our Jewish friends and all who are celebrating, I wish you a happy new year filled with health, joy, and peace. May this holiday inspire us all to embrace supporting each other in our journeys. Lastly, Medford Public Schools in the city of Medford will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the McGlynn Elementary School on Tuesday, October 8th, beginning at 3.30. Please mark your calendars. It's a time to celebrate the opening of our new universally accessible playground. Members of the public are invited to celebrate and, most importantly, play on the new playground following the ceremony. I do want to thank the playground committee, Dr. Peter Cushing, Mayor Longo-Kerm, the Medford School Committee, our consultation and design partners, and all those who helped create this outdoor universally acceptable space, accessible space for all. If you need a reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in this event, please contact the City of Medford's ADA coordinator, Francis Nwaje. A formal press release will be sent to the community later this week. So tonight, I am excited to welcome members of our City Year team. and Principal of the McGlynn Middle School, Mr. Nick Tucci, to hear about their experiences so far in Medford Public Schools. We'll also be hearing about a few grants that we are requesting approval from the committee, and those will be presented by our Director of Arts, Ms. Suzanne Fee, our Director of Student Services, Ms. Joan Bowen, and Dr. Cushing will be presenting on operations. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to thank City Year and all of the members that aren't here today for what you're doing thus far. But Principal Tucci, I wanted to just ask you to piggyback specifically on one of our conversations about future educators and how you are mentoring and how you see that work potentially.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Libby's having microphone problems, but she is present. Okay, great.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We can definitely add that to the weekly memo. And MSBA is actually doing a new logo contest. So they've been emailing me and our students. they want to rebrand and it's going to be a new logo for msba so our students miss suzanne fee our director of arts is going to be working with students to design potential logos for msba and that's from september 16th until november 22nd so we have such wonderful arts programming i am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe one of our students' designs will be selected for the new logo for MSBA, which would be fabulous for us. So we can definitely put an MSBA update, though, in this week's update, Friday's message.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. welcome to our first school committee meeting of the year i hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer and that you're as excited as i am to dive into a new school year full of possibilities before we get started i'd like to acknowledge the efforts of everyone who worked tirelessly over the summer to prepare for this school year Whether it was undergoing professional development, updating curricula, or getting our facilities ready, your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Throughout the summer and in the early stages of the school year, we were fortunate to receive multiple donations of school supplies from our Medford community. i want to thank mayor longo kern and everyone who donated to the mayor's annual summer school supply drive while also recognizing our medford high girls varsity basketball team for dropping the supplies off at the high school i'd also like to thank the Members Plus Credit Union located on High Street for donating 50 backpacks full of school supplies last week. To everyone who donated to our schools, we sincerely appreciate your warmth and kindness. I also would like to thank the Medford Family Network for donations to the schools as well. Again, thank you for your support of the Medford Public Schools. The 2024-25 school year unofficially began on Monday, August 19th, during new teacher induction week. With over 60 new educators and paraprofessionals across the district at that point in time, the week served as a tremendous opportunity to welcome our new staff to Medford. Among the many activities they participated in was a tour of our beautiful city. Our new educators visited Tufts University, the Medford Public Library, and here, the Chambers of City Hall, where they spoke with the mayor. I want to thank Tufts University Community Relations Director Rocco DiRico, the Medford Public Library, and Mayor Lungo-Koehn for hosting our new educators and informing them about our community. Also, I would like to send a special thank you to Medford High School assistant principal, Mr. David Blouk, and Brooks Elementary School kindergarten teacher, Ms. Maria Michelli, two longtime residents with extensive knowledge of our city for leading the tour. I'd like to welcome our new administrators as well, joining us for this school year. Many of them you've already met at the end of the school year, so I will not reintroduce them again. But I would like to formally welcome Ms. Katie Bradley, who was named as our special education coordinator for the Missatuck and the Roberts Elementary School. I also want to welcome Ms. Suzanne Fee, who is our coordinator of arts, who you'll be hearing from later on while recapping our summer programming. Lastly, but definitely not least, among our other new administrative hires, I'd like to formally welcome, again, Ms. Jennifer Silver, a longtime nurse at Medford Public Schools. who recently became our Director of Health Services. We're so lucky to have all of you here with us in Medford. So on Monday, August 26th, that was the first day of school for all of our teachers and staff members. We all gathered at Medford High School gym before staff dispersed to their respective buildings. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and feel the excitement buzzing through the air. On Tuesday, August 27th, that was our first day of school for our students in grades one through 12. and I had the privilege of visiting all of our schools across the first few days of the new year. Our students reconnected with friends, met their new teachers, and began to understand their new surroundings. The passion of our teachers, administration, and staff was evident throughout the district. With our MEEP program beginning on Tuesday, September 3rd, and kindergarten students following that Wednesday joining our hallways, our school community is officially all together again. So now I will transition to news happening across the district. Medford High School made national headlines this summer for their positive work in battling chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is defined as when students miss 10% of the school year. to battle this issue among many initiatives implemented by high school principal miss cabral and her team students had the opportunity to use the gym during lunch hours for organized sports and other supervised activities as long as they attended all of their classes This use of the gym space quickly gained popularity amongst the students, leading to Medford High School experiencing one of the steepest declines in chronic absenteeism among all Massachusetts high schools. This story was first featured in the Associated Press. and given that they are a wire news service, was featured across the country in various outlets, such as the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the US News and World Report, and more. NBC 10 also stopped by a few days later to speak with Ms. Cabral and our students in a video package that featured on the nightly news and in digital outlets. NBC 10 went on to inform us that this story is one of their most viewed videos on both TikTok and YouTube Shorts. So congratulations on going viral, Ms. Cabral. We are so thankful for the collaboration, Ms. Cabral and the staff at Medford High School and our students have shown towards tackling this important issue of chronic absenteeism. The tremendous reach of this story is gratifying for our school leaders and a marvelous example of the impact we have as educators. Last week, Moving to the sports realm, the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Achievement Award was presented to the Medford High School Mustangs Girls Soccer Team for the fourth consecutive year. recognizing their academic accomplishments over the 23-24 school year. The team's achievement of a 3.25 or higher composite grade point average encompassing all players earned them this unique distinction. Notably, they are one of only six Massachusetts high school girls soccer teams to receive the award this year. To our players and coaches, Coach Rocco Cieri, we are so proud of you for fostering an environment of success both on the field and in the classroom. Thank you for proudly representing Medford. Also, last week was the beginning of our fall sports season for our high school teams, and Mustang Nation has had a terrific start to the fall season. Last Thursday, our boys and girls varsity and junior varsity soccer teams won their opening matches of the year. we have also seen seasonal season openers for our boys and girls, cross country teams, our boys golf team and our own football team. This coming Thursday, you are all invited. Our football team will play their first home game of the year at Hormel Stadium. Show your Medford pride while cheering on our players, cheerleaders, band students, color guard, and all of Mustang Nation. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 12th. Throughout this week, Medford will be celebrating National Arts in Education Week. Our robust arts program, encompassing all facets of performing and visual arts, encourages students to express their creativity and let their personality shine through their work. As we have settled into the year, all art and music classes in grades K through 12 are in full swing. The marching band will be making its debut at this week's football game. All fourth grade students will be getting a band and orchestra demonstration this week. and signups for the instrumental programs will be open after that. Additionally, auditions for the Fall Drama Club presentation will happen this week as well. So again, please pay attention. A lot of wonderful things happening in the arts. For our listening community members, this week is the kickoff of all of our school curriculum nights. Curriculum nights serve as a wonderful opportunity for parents and caregivers to meet your child's teacher and school leaders. Parents and caregivers will hear more about what your child will be learning throughout the school year. The Roberts Elementary School and the Andrews Middle School, their curriculum night will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, September 10th. The Missatuck and Brooks Elementary School will host their curriculum nights on Wednesday, September 11th. The McGlynn Middle School will host their curriculum night on Thursday, September 12th. The festivities will carry into next week when the McGlynn Elementary School will host their curriculum night on Tuesday, September 17th. Lastly, but definitely not least, Medford High School will hold their curriculum night on Thursday, September 19th. All are welcome to attend. Please visit your respective child's school website for start times and additional information. I also want to just notify the community that next Wednesday, September 18th, will be our half day. Teachers will be undergoing professional development sessions in the afternoon. These professional development sessions often provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate with peers, share experiences, build a supportive professional community. And this collaboration leads to a more cohesive school culture and collective problem solving. So before previewing the rest of tonight's agenda and in reflection of the events that took place last week in Winder, Georgia, and ahead of the 23rd anniversary of September 11, I just want to take a brief moment to speak and share on these two tragedies that have left an indelible mark on our nation and on so many lives. we will always remember those who were lost, honor the bravery of first responders, and acknowledge the strength and resilience of all who were affected by these senseless attacks. All of our Medford Public Schools staff were reminded again earlier this morning of our school safety protocols through a communication. Staff are encouraged to reach out to building principals and senior administrators with any questions relating to our safety procedures. later this evening there will be a brief mention during the operations presentation later today in our schools we do strive to foster a community of empathy understanding and respect it is important for us to come together to remember and to support one another throughout the year we uphold the values of unity and compassion that were so profoundly demonstrated in the aftermath of these tragedies so today's agenda is packed with important topics that will encompass wide-ranging information about medford public schools We will hear about several grant opportunities that Medford Public Schools has been fortunate enough to receive. And we have school principals here with us this evening. We have Principal Miss Kroll of the Roberts Elementary School and our Principal Miss Cabral here this evening, who will be presenting at different points. We also hear about summer programming achievements presented by Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Galusi, our Director of Pupil Services, Ms. Joan Bowen, our Director of Arts, Ms. Suzanne Fee, our Director of English Learners, Mr. Paul Teixeira, and our Principal, Ms. Cabral from Medford High School. These individuals, along with many others, helped shape a great summer in Medford for our students and families. Immediately following that, there will be a report on enrollment and personnel update from Dr. Gallussi, and the final official presentation will be by Dr. Peter Cushing, giving us an update on operations happening in the Medford Public Schools. I also want to take a moment to congratulate Dr. Cushing and his wife, Megan, who earlier this summer welcomed a beautiful baby girl to their family. So congratulations on your new addition, Dr. Cushing. I also would like to just take a moment to say that there was originally a mistake in the first posted agenda that listed the condolences. And by mistake, we mistakenly listed Ms. Karen McGlynn-Devine. on the condolences section. I do want to share that Ms. Karen McGlynn Devine and myself, we had the opportunity to speak today. She is alive and well, has fully accepted our apology for the error that took place when we were sending condolences to her aunt, Ms. Pauline Leno Davis, Lennox Davis. But we want to just say, thank you, Ms. McGlynn-Devine for your understanding. And we apologize for the mistake that took place with the listing. I wanna just say to all, thank you for being here this evening, for your unwavering commitment to our schools in Medford. And I am looking forward to a great year ahead. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening again. This recommendation to approve in 2021, the Medford Public Schools was awarded $350,000 from the Cummings Foundation. We are truly, truly grateful for the partnership of Mr. Cummings and the Cummings Foundation supporting the Medford Public Schools in a variety of capacities. This $35,000 is one of the installments that we will be receiving for the next 10 years. And so this is just for the school committee to recognize that you did approve the full grant in the amount of $350,000 in 2021. But we want to acknowledge every time we receive this generous donation. from the Cummings Foundation. And so I just want to bring this before the committee again. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And I do believe part of the stipulation for the Cummings grant is that we formally state when we receive it. That's how it was explained to me. So I'll make sure to do that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can echo, there is no room in the end, no room in the cafeteria at the Roberts, everywhere is packed. And the Roberts has the smallest playground structure of all of the, just where they're physically located, they're landlocked. There is no room. So we really need to do something. But where the Roberts is located is also where we have the most triple deckers, the most apartment buildings along the Fellsway. So that is where we have a heavy, heavy concentration of families.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: sorry superintendent i cut you off if you were gonna address i just was gonna say it it definitely the the data for the msba which member graham was just mentioning and um really trying to There are easy solutions where you say you need a bigger building, but we're trying to focus on the high school. So we can't necessarily talk about another building, but how we could either look at different programs, which member Ruseau made mention of that our EL program has traveled to every single elementary school at one point or another. And so we have had to make programming shifts as well. so all of all of the above is something that we would have to look at specialized programs what are the numbers and um how can we do it in an equitable fashion but um the roberts situation we we are definitely aware that we need to we need to start at least trying to come up with a game plan. So I think once we have that, the final numbers from the MSBA, the enrollment projections to engage the community, the staff in being part of that process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I did speak with Mr. Chuck Glitzer, who's the owner of Eastern Bus today. They are facing the same crisis that's happening everywhere. They trained 16 new bus drivers, and two weeks before school started... 12 of those bus drivers moved on for different reasons. So they were down to four bus drivers and they are retraining again. So we spoke today in person. I was also with Megan who is over our family and community engagement. So he is working diligently. I expressed the pressing issue that Medford is facing and he is prioritizing Medford and said he wants to be able to provide us with an update before the end of this month, but I am gonna continue to check in with him. But he clearly expressed that they thought they were ahead. They have their own training, but I think there's a lot of poaching going on and people moving from one company to another company. So that was the information that he had today, but that they are working towards that. We do have 14 buses servicing the Medford Public Schools, the additional two buses that were requested. we are not being charged for those additional buses because they're not servicing the Medford public schools. And also because we are in collaboration or coordination with the Catholic schools, they have access to approximately three school buses. So that is inclusive of the total number of buses. But again, we're not being charged for the buses that we don't have access to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: He did say it was several weeks. I didn't ask for the specific number with the CDL license. They do have a small group going through right now, but he did say that the, you know, that large group of 16 that they were really counting on, you know, they didn't expect that they were going to lose 12 of them. So it's a very competitive field out there, and he is trying, so I'm going to continue to keep, City Council Chambers, advocating for medford and seeing if he can get us some harder numbers, but at this point in time. City Council Chambers, They do not have the bodies and again the money was already allocated so they want to have the drivers, so they can be compensated for the additional buses. City Council Chambers, So we don't have the drivers to service our schools and families and they don't get the compensation, because the buses aren't working for us and.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: so we could definitely we don't formally have monitors but that is something that i'm sure we could definitely um try to post and see if whether we could get paraprofessionals or other people who would be interested in being bus monitors for a morning run or afternoon run yeah thank you we are also running calculations um
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Present.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My apologies, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just wanted to say, I'm just so happy that we're making great progress. And I'm very optimistic about next week's meeting. So thank you member Graham for all of your leadership.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Seconded, Maria.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. And I did reach out to member Olapade. He is going to be joining us shortly, having some Wi-Fi difficulties in his location. But yes, good afternoon. Mayor Lungo-Koehn and members of the School Committee, I am very pleased this evening to have the opportunity to introduce Mr. Noel L. Velez. I enthusiastically recommend that the Medford School Committee vote to approve his appointment as Finance Director of the Medford Public Schools. Mr. Velez comes to us with more than 12 years of finance and managerial experience. He was previously the director of finance and business manager over accounts payable, payroll, and transportation for the Winthrop Public Schools. Prior to that, he was a financial analyst for the Chelsea Public Schools. Mr. Velez earned a bachelor's degree from Salem State University, and he holds an active state licensure as a school business administrator. He is also an active member of the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, which is called MASBO. And he participates on their vocational subcommittee, finding out new things that are going on in the vocational world to bring back to Medford Public Schools. He is very eager to expand his skills and improve the Medford Public Schools. Mr. Velez came to Medford Public Schools this year at the recommendation of Mr. Gerry McCue. who worked with Noel in the Chelsea Public Schools and they have had a partnership of more than five years together. Mr. McHugh will continue to work closely with Noel as he transitions out of our district next year and Noel transitions into this role. During the interview process, Mr. Velez impressed our team with his assessment of other ways to continue to enhance the district through improving and pursuing grant opportunities, as well as working to institute procedures to improve all aspects of the business office. In his new role as finance director, Mr. Velez will work closely with the superintendent and the district leadership team to monitor the budget for the benefit of all of Medford's students. In the upcoming year, we anticipate Mr. Velez will operate under the guidance of Mr. McHugh to continue the sound and balanced budgetary practices that have been recently implemented. We are thrilled to welcome Noel Velez to his new role in Medford and know that his skills and experience will be major assets to the work of our team and impact our students positively as well. So I ask this. body, the committee, to please feel free to, you know, ask Mr. Velez questions, but this is our recommendation for him to be our Director of Finance for the Medford Public Schools. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I'm sorry. I was going to grab the document. I'm going to screen share. The presentation this evening is going just to be providing the committee with an update on the goals that were approved at the January 8th, 2024 meeting. And so the district improvement goal for this school year is that the Medford Public Schools will improve systems and structures that directly impact student services, student and family and communications and school facilities and operations. And so there were 11 key actions that the committee requested to see movement on. And so I want to report out on the district goal, the student learning goal and the professional practice goal. So under key action number one, improve accessibility to facilities and develop a ticketing system. We have completed that first task. We have partnered with operations hero, which will be the system that will operations hero is a system that we will be using to manage our programs and ticketing systems that are being entered into the ticketing system for the district to address. That was one of the first pieces that we were able to secure this year. And so operations hero is the portal that will be used for our school facilities. And the team consisted of Dr. Cushing and principals and a few others who helped to say what the ticketing system could look like for the Medford public schools. Key action number two was regarding consistent communications to families. And three was effective, appropriate, and consistent messaging when there were also emergency scenarios. And so from a communications perspective, we are actively using some more. We are actually using final site, which is our website mass notifications and We are using talking points which are has been getting tremendous traction. And it seems like my computer's going a little slowly, but I'll try to explain what the links are that I've hyperlinked within the document for your review. But for Talking Points, this school year, we sent over 803,705 messages were sent out to families. And so this talking points is able to translate. It shows all the languages, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, simplified Chinese, Arabic, Bengali, Vietnamese, Nepali, Punjabi, Albanian, and there are many other languages, but also we use it for English, and as you can see, this turquoise blue, it goes out to the whole community and it's really being used effectively. Again, here, EL students is represented by the turquoise bar, non-EL, and then unknown, but again, it is being used effectively. a tool that we are using as a district, oh, a tool that we are using as a district, and it is yielding really great communication, quick communication with families.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I apologize, my... Here we go. Okay. In terms of a different outcome, which I didn't address, was to finalize the employee handbook. Hyperlinked within this document is an employee handbook that shall be completed. It is about 97% completed for the Medford Public Schools. There are a few areas that we are just receiving additional consult on, and I am continuing to work with Enough Abuse. They have a portion, a separate, employee handbook or an agreement about rules of engagement with students. And so I am also receiving consult from them. So our hope is to have this employee handbook fully finalized by the summer to be able to launch and start the new school year. Another area that we have addressed in terms of district improvement goals is accessibility of parking outside in front of Medford Public Schools. The loop at the high school here had limited ADA accessible parking on the loop. And so what we did was we took the side closest to the building and we added accessible parking in front of the entire high school loop. And on the opposite side of the loop is now visitor parking. So family members of the community, parents that are coming on campus, they can come to Medford High School, find parking on the loop, come in for meetings, come in to register, and come in and out. And so that was something that we did to make the high school a more welcoming environment, and especially where we are working on making the high school campus more ADA accessible by having multiple ADA parking spots at the front of the building. It is definitely more accessible for members of our community that need greater and closer access to the building. And we also have one reserved spot for our military veterans on the visitor side. In addition to that, a charge was to reestablish the capital planning committee and begin looking at building systems to create a replacement timeline for individual systems that may not be working properly. strategic and capital planning subcommittee did meet March 26th and there was a May 21st meeting. The agenda and minutes are hyperlinked and attached there. In addition to that, Bullet number five, seizing every opportunity to collaborate with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. We have an active school building MSBA group, and there is even a separate website which is buildingmhs.org. And so you can access it through the district's Medford Public Schools website, or you can go directly to buildingmhs.org. And that was work that was done this year to, again, secure the website for the work that's taking place with MSBA and the Medford High School Building Committee. So that was bullet number five. Number six, about enhancing human resource practices, job posting, hiring, payroll management, and labor relations. We have put different systems and structures in place, working closely with the finance office. We've added codes so that it's more easily identifiable for the district to be able to say where the funding sources are coming from, and that work is continuing to be done. This year, there was a request for a timely budget process. That budget process did take place. I hyperlinked in one of the slide decks from a timely budget process that took place. We also had an excessive heat protocol. That was an ask, that task was completed this year. And at an earlier meeting, that meeting was, I believe it looks like it was the 11th of May, where the school committee approved the excessive heat protocol for what we need to do when we have extreme temperatures. Revised middle school and high school schedules, we worked with a partner. And again, here, hyperlinkedin is the presentation of the Medford High School scheduling opportunity review. And this abbreviated slide deck explains the potential models that will provide greater scheduling, and here at the high school where we have the six-day schedule and the five-day schedule, what a potential schedule could look like with the five-day and the six-day merging and becoming a five-day schedule, a seven-period day is one of the proposed model that was recommended. by our outside partner. And there were several staff that also had worked on potential schedules, and the schedules were very similar. Bullet number 10 was implementing the new bullying policy, full implementation. In addition to having updated bullying form, which is hyperlinked in here, we also have bullying report slides, presentations that have taken place for administrators. Ms. Bowen, our director of student services oversees that and reports all information to DESE. Um, the 11th request was the outcome of the high school climate study, and within that, I hyperlinked in, um, the presentation from, uh, Principal Cabral, Ms. Cabral at the high school, providing an update on where the high school is with, um, uh, the high school climate, and it has improved markedly, and we're really, really, um, really, really pleased about the progress. In terms of the student learning goal, we have included what our students are doing here under key actions, things that are supporting the development and the implementation of the new curriculum into reading. Here is the elementary update that Dr. Galussi shared, which gives a lot of information that is related to inter-reading data, and this goes out to all elementary staff and the elementary level to let the community know as well where are students, how are they performing with their work and data. some of the outcomes that were asked to look at NWEA math growth data. The end of year testing window closed on June 10th, June 12th of this year. And so there is preliminary data for DIBELS and professional development. And at the start of next school year, Dr. Galusi will present you know, the most current updated information on how it ended, but we wanted to provide you with some data as this was an ask on how are we making progress with our student learning goals. Under professional practice goal, I am still working collaboratively with MASS, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, and DESE, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. I am part of the BIPOC Superintendent Network. And in addition to that, The BIPOC network is for superintendents of color. And I'm part of leading now, which is a national superintendents group. And I will be attending the leading now convening this July. In July, we will be meeting in Columbus, Ohio, for a retreat of superintendents across the country. And I've linked some pertinent information from DESE and MASS on what the sessions entail. I've hyperlinked some slide decks in here and what is happening with leading now and how they work with superintendents. to support school districts in the in today's era. And again, we do look at race, equity, diversity, and inclusion, which is just another way of saying DEI, but that's what REDI stands for, R-E-D-I. And then I continue to collaborate with our district attorney's office. And I included here in January, DA Ryan invited all superintendents and chiefs of police and chiefs of fire to a convening and we met in Lexington where they had a wonderful presentation to talk to superintendents, chiefs of police, and chiefs of fire just about our roles and the work that we're doing supporting our communities. So I just wanted to present that data to you, the committee, and I know that you will take it and work with it. And, you know, I'll be open to emails or any other, respond to any questions that I can respond to right now, but I can also respond to specific questions if you choose to send them to me electronically. That is my presentation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. So one of the potential partnerships, Medford Public Schools, we were approached by a former colleague that I worked with who is now leading City Year Boston. And This partnership would potentially bring two teams of AmeriCorps members to Medford, with each team being composed of five to six members. City Year AmeriCorps members are trained to provide high-quality support to students, teachers, and the entire school community to accelerate student learning and performance. AmeriCorps members work closely with principals and teachers to deliver critical services. These services, part of their whole school, whole child model, are delivered in schools by highly trained, diverse teams of young adult AmeriCorps members who serve full-time for one academic year. A few of the activities that they provide are one-on-one and small group instruction, supporting extended day programming before and after school, supporting small group social emotional skill building, supporting whole school activities for students, families, and the community. They serve as success coaches and mentor student leaders. And the near peer age and diversity of the AmeriCorps members, they are young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. Many of them, it's a gap year between finishing college and going out into the workforce. It gives them an opportunity to connect and relate to students that they serve. And as a result of being part of AmeriCorps, they are also They also receive benefits in turn from loans and things like that for volunteering their time. They are compensated. I shouldn't say it's volunteer. They're compensated at a small rate, but they do receive loan support or access to special grants for members that do support AmeriCorps. This opportunity, when it was presented, and we were approached, I immediately thought of two of our schools which serve some of our most vulnerable populations. and that would be the Missittuck school and the McGlynn school. It is not a free program, there would be a cost to the district and we are in the process right now of working on a Um, we are in the process right now of, um, it is considered a sole source, but we are working with City Hall. Um, Mr. McHugh has, um, sent it forward to look for procurement, to look at the cost and look at the, um, contract that, um, was proposed for the Medford Public Schools. So my recommendation is, um, the cost of the City Year team for Medford would be approximately $100,000. The normal cost is $120,000 per team. And through negotiating and working collaboratively with them, they are willing to work with Medford this year. for the discounted rate of $100,000 for a team of five to six individuals who would be supporting our schools. And if we are able to have the two teams, that would be my desire for us to work with two teams and pilot those two teams. And if for whatever reason we could not secure two teams, then I would ask the committee for permission to secure one team to come to the school and support our school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Yes, I just want to say the senior vice president, Monica Roberts, she is on the call as well. And I had asked Dr. Cushing to, I think, allow her to speak. I'm not sure if she was able to speak, but I wanted her to also be able to talk about City Year. Erin, member Olapade, I appreciate your sharing. And what I did not say to the committee is, Um, when City Year came out in the nineties, I was one of the fortunate teachers to have been blessed with City Year member core members in my classroom. And it was, um, they were such a wonderful addition to the school, the culture, the climate. Um, they were, uh, a force of positive presence. And again, helping with before school programming, after school programming, supporting instruction, and really building great relationships with the students. So I personally experienced it, and it was a very, very positive experience. And they were highly sought after, and there weren't enough teams to go into to be able to support. All of all of the schools. So I see member Ruseau has his hand and then maybe after member Ruseau, Monica Robert. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And thank you. Dr. Edmundson and then member Graham. Thank you. I just wanted to comment member Reinfeld that I have been in communication with Monica and in addition to that Miss Roberts. I have had a preliminary conversation with the new administration at the Mississippi and saying that, you know, we are presenting this before the committee. They both are eager and excited if it is actually a possibility that if the committee agrees that it's something that we can go forward with. They are excited about having the opportunity to have an AmeriCorps team supporting the school. And again, it's not to supplant anything, but it's truly to support the work that's happening there. And they have a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for the new year that is coming forward. And we would continue to plan. And as Ms. Roberts explained, that there's a lot of training that the Corps members go through over the course of the summer. so that if the committee were to agree, the court, the team would not be assigned to Medford Public Schools until August to have an opportunity to interact. And so while people are on summer break, again, I'm not sure if there's an opportunity to do something mid-summer or earlier in August to have know, an opportunity to do a meet and greet. But the benefits, there are so many benefits to having a city or team at a school. If it wasn't something where we had to be more cautious, I would have been asking for a team to be assigned to all four of our elementary schools if that had been an option. But to start off and to start off with a smaller pilot, that's what the thinking of our team is here.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I did have a preliminary conversation with Megan Fidler-Carey, and she was very excited about the prospect of having additional members to support the work that is happening. There are some stipulations, which Ms. Roberts was talking about with the team, but part of it is. that they are able to support that programming. So if a core member was, depending on the size of the space and depending on the total number of students, they could be supporting supervision and instruction if they were in a cafeteria space and there was still another adult there to provide additional supervision and support. So that is one of the key pieces of them having access to another adult administrator to support whatever the work is that they're doing. So even if it is the before and after school programming, they could be working with a group of students and you could still have the after school team leader you know, supervising the work that all the people are doing and that the core members would be able to be working with students under that same level of supervision. So it is, in essence, yes, it could work, and they would be able to increase capacity, keeping those parameters in mind.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I did not ask Ms. Fidler-Carey about what the wait list would look like and how many more people could potentially be added. I didn't ask that question. I just said that I was, I shared with her that I was presenting this evening to the committee and that I would defer to the committee and I would have additional information later in the week to let her know which way So she is aware, but I did not ask for that next piece of information. But again, based on the guidelines of how they've explained how we can use the City Year core members, we definitely would be able to increase capacity because they would be supervised by one of the after school leaders that are there. There are leaders and there are assistant leaders. So there is a ratio that is in place and they would be able to provide further support for our community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and I spoke with Mr. McHugh and where the city year model, the model that we were talking about includes expanded day before and after school programming. Jerry did say a portion of that money could be used. We could authentically use some of our before and after school programming money. to support City Year because they would be offering extended day support to our students and then we would look at you know, either other revolving accounts or other areas to supplement. So, and when I spoke with Ms. Megan Fidler-Carey, she too was just excited about the opportunity to have the additional support. And I said to her, you know, we could try to use a little bit of the before and after school funding. And she was definitely in support of that. And Mr. McHugh is right, right?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say through the chair that there is another neighboring community that is also on the table. And I was very excited and appreciative that Ms. Roberts thought of Medford and said, let Medford know that there is the possibility that other community is Somerville. And so I've been here six years, and this is the first time that we got a viable option to get a City Year team. They're not something that is normally readily available. And so, you know, I would just ask the committee to, you know, if you need additional information, I can try to get as much of that information as possible. But we're going to be in July, and if we're not going to be able to go forward, then I know they'll need to go forward with another community or another district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Where Ms. Roberts gave the ratio that each person could potentially supervise five to 10 students. So if it was 12 that the additional 120 seats, I don't have the exact numbers in front of me for the two schools, but what led me to look at the Missittuck and the McGlynn, those are our title one schools. Both of those schools house our newcomer English language learner program. And so Ms. Roberts talked about some of the core members being bilingual, and just thinking about the programming at the McGlynn Complex, which is a K-8 complex. And so I did speak to Ms. Roberts about, you know, there are nearly 1,000 students on that campus. So could we potentially have a team split between both sides? And so thinking, looking at demographics, those are our two schools that have according to DESI, they represent the highest needs. And so I was looking at it from that perspective, starting with the Missituk first. I don't know what the wait list is. I don't know if Ms. Galussi might be able to get a hold of Ms. Fidler-Carey to see if there might be some numbers in terms of, for those two programs, but I did ask Ms. Roberts, what happens at the end of the year? I said, if we get two teams and it's incredibly successful, and we would like to go with two additional teams, would we be able to get in queue to receive the two additional teams to support both the Brooks and the Roberts, which equally would benefit? And she said, yes, that would be definitely on the table as an option. I know there's a desire for us to have more seats. We have applied. Ms. Fidler-Carey is working with Tufts and other partners, constantly trying to see who would like to work those limited amount of hours in an afterschool program. And that's a very fluid population. We hire people, they're with us for a year, and then They go on to do something else or they may graduate from college. And so we're looking to hire new people. So that that work has not stopped. But it is something that's, you know, going to be ongoing. You know, I think families would be happy if they knew, okay, we have it this year. And if we know, I don't know at what point in time, Ms. Roberts, you notify districts that they're in queue for the following year so that we could plan accordingly. But I think families would definitely take advantage of this year while something is in place to increase coverage for more students after school care.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We can definitely schedule a meeting during the week of the eighth, and I'll have Lisa connect with the committee regarding that. But I defer to Ms. Roberts because I don't know what timetable you're on with your other obligations. So I appreciate the attention, the invitation from Medford, but I defer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It would still qualify under director one.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to say yes. Is Ms. Bowen on the call? I see her square. I know that due to IEPs, we must remain in compliance to serve all of our students. So I know there's an A side and a B side so that for all of our students on IEPs, they will be receiving appropriate services because we are mandated by law to do that. even if it's a different grade level, we are mandated to service all of our students that are on IEPs. So I can assure you that all students will receive appropriate services.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Cushing, are you able to... Oh, here we go.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Good evening. It's hard to believe that we've reached the last full week of school. As we count down the remaining days to summer vacation in single digits, yes, indeed, it is still hard to believe. I do want to provide the committee with a very brief update. Several meetings ago, Ms. Stacey Shulman shared that Medford Public Schools is in the running for adopting a trained therapy dog for the Medford Public Schools. So, as a district, we have moved forward, and miss Schulman will be interviewed at the end of the week, as they are thinking about matches, and the district will provide a letter of support. And we will find out hopefully before next school year ends, maybe somewhere at the midway point, whether or not the Medford Public Schools has been approved to adopt a trained therapy dog that will be part of our Mustang Nation. So I will keep you posted on that, but I just wanted to provide an update that the interview process is taking place. This week in news around the district as a school community, we are looking forward to Wednesday's eighth grade moving on ceremonies, when both of our middle school communities will gather to chair on the class of 2028, as they finish middle school and head to high school. The McGlynn Moving On Ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. followed by the Andrews at 7 p.m. and both celebrations will take place at Hormel. Our elementary schools will also have Step Up Moving On Ceremonies taking place both on Thursday and Friday. So congratulations to all in advance. This Sunday is a very important day. We would like to wish all of our fathers a very happy Father's Day to all dads, stepdads, grandfathers, uncles, other paternal figures this Sunday. Thank you for being role models, caregivers, confidants, and loving family members to our Medford students. Also, as a reminder to our community tuning in for this meeting, there is no school on Monday, June 17th, because of Eid al-Adha holiday. Tuesday will be the official last day of school, Tuesday, June 18th. It's the last day of school for Medford Public Schools. It's a half day. And Wednesday, June 19th is also a federal holiday. So Medford Public Schools will be celebrating that holiday. And Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It's also known as Emancipation Day. And the word Juneteenth comes from the combination of the words June and 19th. And there will be, in this week's update, there is an event taking place with the city's office of DEI. They are holding a Juneteenth celebration, and I will be sure to have that in this Friday's update. For tonight's meeting, we have several important items before you tonight. In particular, we have the appointment of our Director of Health Services to fill the vacancy left by the departure of our previous director. In addition to that key appointment, you will hear this evening from several members of the district senior leadership team on several important topics. Ms. Bowen will provide a report on the results of DESE's special education tiered focus monitoring review. Dr. Cushing will provide an innovative approach to youth tobacco and nicotine addiction prevention that will soon come before Medford for consideration. Dr. Galusi will discuss summer literacy offerings for our elementary and middle school students. And as this is the last regular school meeting of the school year, we will present a proposed meeting calendar for the committee for next year, which you will discuss. Coming up shortly, I will be making some very special acknowledgements to former school committee member, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, and to our principal of the Missittuck, Dr. Kathy Kaye, who will be retiring, and Ms. Linda Selinger, our director of Kids Corner, who will also be retiring this year. So I look forward to recognizing and sharing, celebrating all of you during the special acknowledgements. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, Ms. Jennifer Silva, please come forward. Thank you so much. Tonight, I am very pleased to recommend the appointment of Miss Jennifer silver as the interim director of health services. The silver has worked as a school nurse in Medford public since 2014 distinguishing herself as a talented medical professional. skilled advocate for families and children, and a qualified educator and leader. In addition to a Master of Education in School Nursing from Cambridge College, she holds a Certificate in Healthcare Management from UMass Lowell and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She is a licensed registered nurse and school nurse in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a nationally certified school nurse. She has consistently demonstrated her competence and readiness for leadership during her time in the Medford public schools, including two periods of service as interim health services director during leaves of absence taken by the previous director I am confident that Ms. Silva is ready to lead our health services staff in the coming school year, and I recommend her for appointment this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. We are pleased to just have this opportunity to recognize you and thank you, Melanie. Melanie served over four years as an elected member of the Medford School Committee, particularly distinguishing herself as a passionate advocate for equity and inclusion, the needs and priorities of our special education programs, disability access throughout the district, and the voice and perspective of Medford public school parents. Thank you for your dedication and service to the students, staff, and families of the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for the past 12 years, Dr. K, please come forward. Dr. K has been a vibrant and enthusiastic leader of Medford's Missittuck Elementary School. As an educational leader, organizational manager, and advocate for her school community, she never wavered in cheerful service to her students and families. Thank you for your 12 years of dedication and service to the students, staff, and families of the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Come forward, Miss Selinger and family if you'd like the family to come with you perfectly fine. Ms. Selinger has led Medford's Kids Corner for the past 24 years, shepherding the program through a period of unprecedented growth and success. Kids Corner has been a special place for so many of our Medford public schools and city of Medford staff as they entrusted their infants, toddlers and young children to the care and expertise of Linda and her team. Thank you for helping our youngest charges grow for over two decades. Congratulations on your retirement.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say thank you to miss Bowen into all the special educators and administrators who really worked on this tip focus monitoring visit that took a lot of time, a lot of meetings CPAC was involved. Teachers staff. As a district I feel like this is a very strong report that we should be proud of. And the fact that there are four indicators that are definitely partially implemented, if you look back at slide six, if it was a reverse, it would have been like everything needs to be done over so the fact that it's a specific area, we have to keep doing what we're doing that as well and then addressing all of the areas that are partially implemented. So I just want to say thank you for all of this work. I mean, to put all of the documentation together took close to a year of, you know, gathering documents. So it's a very, very lengthy process. And I just want to say thank you for your hard work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, I have shared with you the proposed dates for next school year. All meetings at this point in time scheduled to start at 6pm. And I'm looking for the approval of the committee if these dates seem like they will work for the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. We'll try that again. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Yes, for the end, I'll give you guys all a little opportunity to practice cheering on our wonderful Mustangs. But this evening, I am so happy to be here. I stand here as your proud superintendent congratulating this, the class of 2024. I start by saying thank you, as always, to your parents and your support systems, caregivers, relatives, friends, all of those that championed and stood behind you, pushing you forward. I want to personally acknowledge our principals, Ms. Cabral, Mr. Fallon, the wonderful assistant principal team, all the staff at Medford High School. Thank you for having a positive impact on this class, the class of 2024, and the staff of the Medford Public Schools that served you in the previous grades, both at elementary school level and the middle school level. So we are here today to celebrate you, the class of 2024. I want to open by saying that I received some feedback from some of the staff last week. I had time to talk with them while many of you were dancing and enjoying yourselves last week at the prom. And there was a recurring theme that really struck me. The staff of Medford High School kept saying, this is such a special class. This is a wonderful group of students. We're really going to miss them. I want you to know that you, the class of 2024, truly, truly made an impact. You touched the hearts of your staff, the staff of the school. And it was wonderful just seeing how everyone got along. how you guys supported one another, cheered one another on, whether it was back flips on the dance floor or trying new moves. I want you to know that you made a difference, this class of 2024. So yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Curtis Tufts graduation, and I wanna share some of my remarks, because those remarks apply to you as well. You are at a crossroads, getting ready to start the next chapter of your life. As you think about the next chapter of your life, think about your future. Dream about your future. So I looked up the word dream. I said, let me look at the definition of it. It's a noun. It's a series of thoughts, images, feelings, or sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal. As a verb, the verb dream means to indulge in daydreams or even fantasies about something that is greatly desired. I'm encouraging all of you to dream big, not to dream small. Have high expectations for yourself. Today, here we are on this platform celebrating you. And today at Medford High School, there is something unusual happening. We have a valedictorian and a salutatorian that happen to be sisters. That doesn't happen often. They're twins, of course. So Oprah and Eleanor, I congratulate you on accomplishing something that doesn't happen often in a lifetime. I want all of you to know, especially as you dream, reach for the stars. Try to shoot for something that's higher than what you can actually attain. I know that I normally like to quote a poem, and I do have a poem by Langston Hughes, which is about dreams. But I also want you to know that I sat and I reflected on the word dream, and I thought about this acrostic poem. The D, dare to be the change. R, reach for the stars or something that is unattainable. E, excel in college, career, life, work, whatever it is that you're going to do. A, acknowledge your roots. Acknowledge where you come from. Do not forget that. And the M, make a positive difference. Make the world a better place. make Mustang Nation and Medford very proud of you. And so I do want to close and encourage each and every one of you to pursue your dreams. continue to work hard, continue to make a difference in the world. Remember that blue and white will forever run through your veins because you are a Mustang. Bring that Mustang spirit with you. You are a leader. You are kind. You are in front and not behind. You are on top and not the bottom. Here is a poem by Langston Hughes. It's called Dreams. Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow. I want to ask Ms. Freitas Haley to come on up and join me. I want to say a special, special congratulations to this, the class of 2024. And in true Mustang fashion, when I say Medford, left side, you say Mustang, right side. One, two, three. Medford. Medford. Medford. Let's ask the audience, can we split you in half by the MHS side? One half will say Medford, and one half will say Mustangs. One, two, three, Medford. Medford. Medford. So when I say Mustang, you say pride. Mustang. Mustang. Mustang. Congratulations to the class of 2024.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. It's June 3, which means Pride Month has begun. Medford kicked off its celebrations with a wonderful Pride flag raising festival at City Hall on this past Friday, which I was pleased to attend. I want to thank our mayor, thank Ms. Frances Nwaje, the city's DEI director, the members of your team that helped to set it up. It was truly an enjoyable event for all. I also want to just let the audience know that this Saturday, students from Medford High School, GSA, will join the wider Greater Boston LGBTQIA plus community in the Boston Pride Parade. So we wish them clear skies, lots of fun, and don't forget to wear sunblock. Medford Public Schools embraces our LGBTQ IA plus community members this month, students, staff, family members, and all those who call Medford home. The diversity of our community is an incredible strength, with each individual contributing their unique talents and perspectives to the whole. We also firmly believe in and defend the civil and human rights of LGBTQIA plus Mustangs and all people, particularly at a time when those rights are often under attack. We all deserve the same chance to thrive and live freely and authentically. Happy Pride Month. I also want to share that last week, we had a wonderful Special Olympics that took place in Malden for our students with disabilities. It was a wonderful event students from other communities participated in that. And I just want to thank our special educators, Miss Bowen and all the members of her team, Miss Lauren Perillo, Denise DeJardins, and many other staff, Miss Principal Michelle Kroll, who was able to attend that event last week in Malden. It was excellent, and it was wonderful weather as well. I also would like to say that last week we had a wonderful event, the Junior Olympics for our fifth grade students that are moving on to middle school next year. And we had some pretty bad weather last week. So at the last minute, Tufts University was willing to let us use their Gancher Center. And we're very grateful to that. We want to thank Rachel Perry and all the athletic, the phys ed teachers that participated and the fifth grade staff, all the principals were there. We also want to thank the PTOs, Dr. Cushing for helping to coordinate that event as well. So those were two wonderful year end events for our students. At tonight's meeting, I'm looking forward to recognizing some of our district fine art students for their notable photography accomplishments and recognizing Medford students in the annual scholastic competition that recognizes teens in grades seven through 12. with regional and national honors for their creativity in art and writing in 28 categories. That will be presented this evening by Ms. Suzanne Fee. After that, we will have the opportunity to welcome and celebrate two newly appointed leaders in our school district, Mrs. Nancy Sherman-Hudson, who will begin next school year as principal of the Missittuck Elementary School, and Mrs. Christina Lungo-Dudley, the new director of Kids' Corner. Next, we'll also invite Ms. Stacey Shulman, Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, to tell us about the always inspiring Bloomsack Leadership Awards. This unique academic and professional opportunity is made available to Medford Public School students through the extremely generous support of the Bloomsack family. And we look forward to hearing more from Ms. Shulman and Ms. Nakera, one of our students who was the recipient of that award. Dr. Peter Cushing will provide updates on the exciting progress being made on the McGlynn Playground Project, the city's first universally accessible playground, and the District Student Opportunity Act. Thank you, and I look forward to this evening's. presentations.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would love for Mrs. Sherman Hudson, and Mrs. Christina Luongo deadly to come forward Thank you to the both of you. When we learned this year that Dr. Kathy Kay, we see you, long time principal of the Missituk Elementary School planned to retire at the end of the school year, we knew that it was important to engage the whole school community, including parents and staff in the selection of the next leader of our school, of the Missituk School. Our selection, Mrs. Nancy Sherman Hudson, has a long and impressive resume from her time in the Medford Public Schools, working as an inclusion kindergarten teacher for many years at different schools before joining Dr. K to lead the Missittuc as assistant principal in 2013. Earlier this year, miss Sherman Hudson acted as interim principal of the Mississippi elementary school, ensuring continuity and stability for the school community during the temporary absence of the principal. As assistant principal and interim principal, Mrs. Sherman has played an active role in the daily operations, systems, management, and routines of the school. She has also worked closely with teachers as an educational leader, supporting and coaching classroom teachers throughout the school. I am very pleased to first welcome The next principal of the elementary school, Mrs. Nancy Sherman Hudson.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you. And next, I would like to welcome another leader with an impressive history in our school community. Upon the retirement of Mrs. Linda Selinger, I am very pleased to appoint Ms. Christina Luongo-Dudley as the next director of Medford's Kids Corner Child Care Center. Ms. Luongo-Dudley is an accomplished early educator with experience ranging from infant care to pre-kindergarten. Since 2013, she has worked as a lead teacher at Kids Corner, augmenting her responsibilities in 2018 by becoming the Kids' Corner Assistant Director Program Coordinator in addition to her classroom role. Throughout her years working in Kids' Corner, Christina Luongo-Dudley developed a reputation for peer leadership, effective communication, and student enrichment. Please join me in welcoming the next Kids' Corner Director, Mrs. Christina Luongo-Dudley.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. Shulman. Ms. Shulman.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Second.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, I appreciate that it's mapped out the way that it is mapped out I just was looking at between phase one and phase two. Phase one, October one is when we have our first enrollment projections that are submitted to DC. So it, it definitely is a very early start, knowing that like September to October. I would love to be able to. for phase one and phase two where this, the work is mapped out, I would love to be able to just kind of unpack the timing of some of it. I understand the March one target date, like how you were backwards mapping. I'm just wondering if from October one to December 15th, with the start of school, will that give us you know, just for my own learning curve, honestly, that I would be starting the budget process in October and thinking about just the start of the school year and pushing it forward. If I could at least try to unpack the timetables for phase one and phase two, not what's listed within it. I am completely, you know, in support of the pieces that are listed within it. I'm just trying to think of, realistically with like the team, would they be able to get every every single piece done during that October, October one where we're still, you know, monitoring some pieces?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Ruseau?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in response to your question, what I started writing down and I think you were reading my mind. but I wrote down alignment, aligned strategic plan, curriculum review, and I also wrote down MSBA. And so we did have a different way of doing the budget in previous years in agreement with what member Rousseau was saying. And what we found at least this particular year, how the numbers were explained and how you have to work with what you're given. Our priority is to truly align our resources and work smarter. On behalf of the district. We do have a strategic plan that we are in the process of getting ready, ready to do the next cycle. However, we temporarily push pause in working with Member Graham and other members of the committee because of all of the work and the requirements that MSBA is asking for. So instead of having us, you know, in isolation, work on a strategic plan. And then MSBA says, we need X, Y, and Z. And it's like, oh, well, we did A, B, and C. And it's like, well, forget about that work. let's go do this. So instead of trying to do things two and three times, we're kind of trying to align the work, making sure that the work is coherent. And again, always keeping in mind that it's about what's going to be best for the students. And so I do feel that having everyone come up to present what their wish list is, isn't necessarily the best use of time because it may not be connected, clearly connected to our strategic plan so that if everything we do is aligned to our strategy, our strategic plan, the entire district will move forward in one direction and we will see greater results for our students and we will have a more effective running district and do things more efficiently. So I just want to say that that's the reason why there has been a pause in some areas, but it's really about gathering enough information in order to make a good decision once.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Maurice-Edouard-Vincent, Superintendent of Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And if I could piggyback on what Nicole just started sharing, to say that as I think about the NWEA map, the other assessments, in particular the MCAS, the common complaint about the MCAS is that it's only given once a year at the end of the year. And so you're not able to really target the areas that were identified as areas of weakness because the students change grades, The standards continue to evolve. So it's kind of like you're working backwards, but you're not working really strategically because every year there can be a shift. And I think in the absence of not having had a consistent assessment tool across the district at all, to finally have NWEA MAP as a tool that you can use as one measure, but a measure that you can use multiple times in a given year to get that beginning, middle, and end. And you can still do the mid checkpoints and there are a lot of other assessments. and different ways that the data can be sliced, that you can really use it to inform your instruction and make real-time changes instead of waiting until you get the MCAS results the following year and you're looking at different students that are sitting right in front of you. So as we're looking at data and the data is being triangulated, it's critically important to say we now have data, how can we make it actionable? I think that as we're looking at curriculum and different programs, the programs can always shift, but if everything is aligned to the standards and we are actually able to measure growth, those are the conversations that will happen with data teams. Those are the conversations that are going to give us improved outcomes for our students. Because with the absence of data, you don't know, are your students really making adequate growth? And so I will continue to champion NWEA MAP. And if the district were to choose a different assessment tool, it would need to be something that you could use to get multiple points of data so you could measure your progress and your growth. And I feel like the work that's happening now is the work that we needed to be doing. And now that we have it and people know what to expect with these assessments, you're really going to be able to be targeted, specific, laser-like focus in terms of You know what, my students did not get this particular standard we're going to reteach it. And those are like the really rich conversations that happen, either in grade level teams, or if you're looking at it from a school level, to be able to say, are there trends. that our students are not making progress with or look at everyone is hitting these particular standards and we're doing very well in these areas, let's keep up the good work here and make the necessary shifts. So I know we're talking specifically about NWEA MAP, which again is norm referenced and it's a national assessment, but even if it wasn't NWEA MAP, we would still need to have something that we could measure more than once a year while the students are still in front of their educators. So that's. Yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, Council President Bears and distinguished members of the City Council. I am pleased to be here this evening to present our annual budget. I am the proud superintendent of Medford Public Schools, and my name is Dr. Marie Sedgwick-Vinson, and this evening I am here with Mr. Gerald McHugh, affectionately known as Jerry. He is our finance director, and so he will be going through a slide deck. to present the school committee's recommended number of $79,399,774 to you this evening. And at the end of this presentation, we are prepared to answer questions. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Thank you, Mr. McHugh.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will try to answer it the best way possible so that if in fact we are granted the 79.4 million, I'm sure that there would be certain positions that would definitely be returned. However, that would be something that we would have to bring back to the committee to figure out which positions would come back. And of the positions coming back, if we were granted that number, we would definitely look at the other areas as well that the district continues to show need or areas of recommendations or suggestions to improve programming and other buildings. We would also take that into consideration. So I don't want people to think that if we get the exact number that everything that was listed as a potential cut is going to automatically come back. So I don't know if I'm answering your question, Councilor Scarpelli, but I want to be clear that if we're granted that amount of money, we would definitely use it to advance and further improve programming for students in the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, world language. Okay. The world language administrator position was one of the slated positions that was going to be cut. However, we are not cutting any of the foreign languages world language, we're still going to continue to offer world language. What we have done this year is we have looked at what students have selected class size. You know, there was a theater class at the high school level, just as an example, 11 students out of 1200 high school students signed up for it in three sections. that is not sustainable to maintain a 1.0 FTE for 11 students in three sections. So, like one section only had three students sign up for that. So, if it's something where there's significantly low enrollment, then that particular course would not be offered.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: One of the pieces of data we do have, and I can say that in full transparency, is that at this point in time, fewer students are signing up for Italian, more students are signing up for Spanish. So that's just, I think, a trend that they're starting to see that students are selecting other languages. So we are monitoring that, but it's not a decision based on saying we don't want one language or another. It's actually just based on student selection of courses. And then we go from there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I definitely want to just restate and double down that it's not, there is no intention or anything that out of the ordinary that the district is doing. It's the students that select the languages that they want to take and I'm looking at it and I'm seeing, you know, 44 students in one section of French to honors. And, you know, if I look at Spanish to CP 35 students, so the students are selecting the language, and the families are involved in that. And so as long as there is interest, and the students continue to select the classes, we will offer it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. having several presentations to recognize some of our student accomplishments. But later, after we get through our first additional four reports, we will be presenting the budget update. During this presentation, we hope that we are able to answer many of the questions that have come in to the district through email or through direct conversations, specifically regarding the arts and change in programming that is going to be recommended for the arts. So I am asking all of you who are here this evening to please let us get through the agenda. And once we're done with that we'll have a budget update and presentation in time for questions and for us to be able to explain the rationale work that went behind the decisions that did have to be made. I can say, just for the purposes of the audience that is here, there have been a lot of questions about no longer having a marching band or anything related to the performing arts, and that is complete misinformation. The student experience in the Medford Public Schools will be an identical student experience. The one arts related position that was cut was due to a resignation that we received, and that resignation has taken place already. The individual has resigned from the district and is no longer employed with Medford public schools, and that was a theater arts position. cut without a face or a name. So I do want to call that out because there have been many communications about arts programming, ending in midfield, and I deeply, deeply support the arts and so does the entire method public schools. So I wanted to just put that information out there. and try to correct some of the misinformation that was spread. I do recognize today we have our CCSR update. Mr. Trotter will be here with our students and recognize two of our Brooke students, Savannah McLaughlin and Adam Costello who will talk about their special project that they did this year. We're very excited and happy to hear about you. I want to recognize Dr. Nicole Hughes, our Director of Humanities, who will be recognizing many of our students that have performed a wonderful outstanding achievements over the course of this year. And then we will have a high school update from Mr. Brown, the principal of the high school and Mr. Chad found principal director of the vocational school, and Mr. Brown will be discussing the high school survey results. And then following those presentations, Mr. Chairman, the director of finance will be presenting a finance update to provide context and additional background, followed by a vote of the school committee. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say thank you again to all of you, you did a wonderful job. Savannah, Adam and thank you Jonah as well. I want to thank Mr. Trotter, I know we wouldn't have this program without the generous support of Cummings Foundation and our other partners but the Cummings Foundation truly keeps getting back to Medford, and this is a worthwhile program to continue investing in and so I just want to send another special thank you to them for their continued support of our school programming. Thank you again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we are definitely primary focus this year really was the high school to get it up and running and have it be a different experience for and staff within the building which this current survey reflects. The broad feedback from the Welsh report, we did not do panorama surveys in the other schools to be able to say this is concrete data, but we do have support for some of the new administrators who did come on board. global context, there has been support and implementation, but the real focus this year for us was the high school to really see this data shift and start to move in the right direction. And we're all very, very pleased that that's what is happening right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We still have an additional flavor position that will be part of the ranks. And so that is one of the other positions that we plan on using to support the McGlynn complex.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't understand the question. Can you restate that question, please?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That person would be allowed to move to other buildings. So case in point, if one of the secretaries were to be absent today, there would be one secretary in the office. And then if there was the opportunity to assign a floater there, the floater would be the second person assigned. So one of the things that we're still working on is having that floater based out of the McGlynn complex. And as we prepare to negotiate with the administrative assistant union, in the McGlynn complex, there is also an additional administrative assistant that falls under the special education umbrella. but is an administrative assistant. And so if needed, that individual could be deployed to support the McGlynn complex.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if I may, through the chair, I appreciate your feedback, Ms. Bradley. In situations which have happened this past year as well, when both administrative assistants are not available, we still have a fairly significant administrative assistant pool, and we tapped into administrative assistants that were located at the high school campus. And they, too, went down to support schools on an as-needed basis. It was not something that was temporary, a permanent fix, but on an as-needed basis. So I agree, and I'm not denying and saying that people are not working hard. But at the same time, if there is a problem and we need to redeploy an administrative assistant from the high school, which had nearly 20 individuals located on that one campus, we should be able to deploy them so they can go and support one of the other buildings or another department within the district. We are one district, we need to work together as one team. This is not an easy situation for anyone involved. And I don't want you or anyone in the audience to think that we're not trying to think this through properly. spoken with one another, we've looked at the numbers, we had to make some tough decisions, but we, in comparison to districts that are of comparable size, we still have a significantly larger administrative assistant pool than Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The position has been posted since February, when the director, previous director went to the Department of Public Health, and I have one applicant who has applied, and that applicant is. part of Metro Public Schools. We have an interview scheduled for next week to interview the one candidate who has applied and we will include members of the nursing team who expressed interest at the time of Ms. Hines' departure. So, the nursing director position still exists, it's part of the administrative unit, and that position will be filled for July 1. And the comment that you were making earlier, I just want it to be stated for the record that Medford High School will still have 3.0 nurses, and that the McGlynn Complex will have three nurses at the McGlynn Complex, but the FTE is equal to 2.6 FTE, but it's three individuals assigned to the McGlynn Complex. and three also assigned to the Medford High School complex.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Member Bradley in addition to the positions that were stated in Mr. McHugh's presentation we do carry 17 FTEs as adjustment Councilors, we do have BCBAs, We do have nexus specialists we don't even have school psychologists listed. So, under the leadership of Stacy Sherman, our director of behavioral health and school counseling, there are approximately 45 individuals, it could even be as high as 48 right now, that provide counseling supports to students. So if it's not in the person of an adjustment Councilor, it may be a guidance Councilor, it could be a school psychologist. We as a district actually have very robust offering in terms of cell supports for our students. So I know that there is a cut that was slated to take place. And if you look really closely at the numbers we truly tried our best to stay away from the teaching core and not impact the teaching core. Because the teaching core is the closest to the students. So I just want to say for the record that although there is one cut that has been identified. we still have the other support services that are in place. And through grant writing, we actually still have partnerships with outside agencies that are supporting some of our school programs as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to comment that the Brooks and Roberts schools, both schools which had high ridership on the buses, the elementary buses were really packed. And there was a lot of, we were trying to switch routes around. So we do need at least two additional buses in order to alleviate overcrowding on those bus routes. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm asking for clarification, you are asking if the directors and administrators have been informed about the potential cuts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we have had, I have had direct conversations with all of the impacted individuals. And what would happen is once we have the final numbers that we're working with at that point in time we will impact bargain with the union representatives and look at where the work would be redistributed. So, I've been in ongoing communication with their representatives as well. And so we're just kind of in a holding pattern right now, but there has been communication, and it has been clearly communicated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I hope I'm responding to the question appropriately, but I have met with her. We have spoken about other positions within the district that would be available where she would be able to have. some flexibility, basically some of the work looking very similar to what was happening like two years ago. So we have had discussions. We have not fully identified what that could potentially look like, but the idea would be that if she was in some type of a teaching capacity, whether it could be at the high school level or working with elementary band, she would still be involved in the arts, and we would work collaboratively to figure out the additional band responsibilities. There is impact bargaining, which I said earlier needs to happen because she is part of a unit, but prior to two years ago, we had one administrative role which covered the arts, and so We're going back to one administrative role working with the arts, but seeing how we could be creative to still allow our students to have an identical arts experience. And so based on all of the work that we've been doing and looking at from a student perspective, the students would still be having access to all of the arts. The one position that was reduced, we talked about at the high school level, that was one theater position where 11 students signed up out of 1200 students for three sections and that's just not financially sustainable. But aside from that, that is the only official position that had been reduced, but it was reduced due to enrollment. So even if we weren't in this predicament, there would have been a reduction there because it just wasn't sustainable.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you name and address for the record please?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, what I would be at liberty to say on the floor, not getting into specifics, both candidates that are currently in the room are highly qualified artists in different venues, or in different domains, I should say. In the past, when we had an arts role, it was one position, and that person oversaw, When we had the abundance of funding back to the arts programming and added to position so we essentially took the arts divided the arts into two sections. And brought on two coordinators. So what we're doing is going back to one administrator overseeing the arts. What I can say is that Miss fellow has been a public schools for 14 years. And this fee has been public schools for 21 years. So, they are both wonderful Mustangs. So we have been looking at just other pieces of data. We had to make a decision, and the decisions were really, really difficult decisions that had to be made. And they both have strengths in different areas. And they both value and support the arts. So a decision was made. But we are not impacting arts programming. I'm going to continue to say that we're not impacting it or stopping it, because we're not cutting programs. okay the offerings will still be the same for students if if someone were to choose to not do something then we would have to open it up to the other 20 staff members that are part of the or 19 members that are part of the arts programming to see if they would be interested in doing that so essentially you're saying that there is a possibility that there will be no competitive marching band season next year I'm not saying that, actually, I think that is not what I'm saying.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it's just a request. That's all it is right now, guys.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Marice Edouard-Vincent, superintendent of schools, and I'm happy to be here tonight to be part of this conversation as well and listen to the proposals regarding the Curtis Tufts School. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Bowen?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sure.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I have very brief comments. I too just want to recognize our teachers and nurses as this week is Teacher and Nurse Appreciation Week. We want to thank you for all the wonderful work that you do on behalf of our students and that you truly make a positive impact in their lives. Wednesday, May 8th is National School Nurse Day. and just encourage everyone to go check out our Mustang Mall for special things that they have going on. Also, this month is Mental Health Awareness Month, and as school leaders and educators, this is an especially important moment to pay attention to the mental health needs of students and youth in our community. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in six U.S. youth experience a mental health condition each year, and only half of them receive treatment. So I just want to point that piece out, and I want to recognize the good work that is happening with our mental health and social emotional health departments for our students. I wanna just highlight this week, this Wednesday, May 8th from 1 to 2 p.m. is kindergarten open house. This is in-person open house sessions from 1 to 2 p.m. at all four elementary schools. Please work with your schedules to be able to attend the open houses in person. Also this Wednesday is early release day for all of our students. So again, middle school students are dismissed at 1130am and high school and elementary students are dismissed at noontime. This evening, Mr. Paul Teixeira is going to present a brief report on the outcomes of our English Learner Tiered Focus Monitoring Review that took place by DESE, and there will be two reports presented by Dr. Cushing for the committee to approve an out-of-state travel trip to Florida and a building repair for the skylight at the McGlynn School. I also just want to recognize that we had a wonderful first meeting of our MSBA building committee under the direction of Chair Graham and Mayor Rungelkorn and all the wonderful members that were there. More information is to come, but it was an excellent kickoff. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Aye.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I hope that everyone enjoyed their April vacation and that the recent warmer weather that we're experiencing is definitely welcome. Spring is here and it comes with all of the exciting activities we've missed over the winter. Walks and bike rides, spring sports like baseball and softball, tennis and crew, gardening and barbecues, and many other warm weather activities. I have some great news to share that over the April break, Medford High School Ethics Bowl team finished sixth in the nation in the National Ethics Bowl. We are very proud of our students and send our congratulations to them and their families. Congratulations on a job well done. We also want to thank the community, students, caregivers, all who participated in the citywide cleanup this past weekend. This annual event directly benefits and impacts our schools with many volunteers helping to clean up trash and beautify the spaces around our schools and playgrounds. Thank you so much for putting your time and effort into supporting our community. Although we are at the end of April, I do want to mark that it is the conclusion of Childhood Sexual Abuse Month. In 2021, the most recent year in which data is available, there were 83,644 cases of child abuse and neglect reported in Massachusetts. Adverse childhood experiences, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, household substance abuse, household mental illness, and domestic violence can have lasting negative effects on health, well-being, and opportunities in life. At the Medford Public Schools, we are committed to protecting all of the children under our care, Recently, over 500 Medford administrators and staff participated in training with mass kids at the start of our school year to identify signs of childhood sexual abuse. Through the professional development session, awareness raising and close collaboration with local law enforcement, social service providers and nonprofit organizations, we will work all the time to prevent child abuse in our community. I also was recently working on a ed talk with and I want to say a special thank you to Jetta Bernier and to former member McLaughlin and state rep gobbledy who participated in a conversation about childhood abuse last week. I have a few reminders. This Wednesday, May 1 is the statewide walk, bike, and roll to school day. This great occasion coordinated by the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School program is a perfect opportunity for students and families to travel to school as a pedestrian. As we all know, it's good for the environment and our individual health when we can take the chance to walk, bike, or roll to a frequent destination. Check in with your school principal to learn more about plans for Wednesday. Since our last meeting, we have conducted our middle school placement lottery. The results are available and posted on our website. Grade five students and their families are invited to attend an orientation program at their assigned middle school to tour the building, learn about programs and activities, meet their principal and assistant principal, teachers, and other staff. The McGlynn Middle School Orientation is scheduled for this Thursday, May 2nd at 6pm, and the Andrews Middle School Orientation is on Monday, May 6th at 6pm. Also, this coming Friday, May 3rd, it's School Lunch Hero Day, an opportunity to recognize our wonderful staff who work in our school lunch programs. So for tonight's meeting, we do have another busy agenda. We're particularly excited to hear about all the wonderful things that are happening and performing and fine arts, and we have Miss Haley relo and miss Suzanne fee, who will provide us with an update. and also recognize our wonderful students for the wonderful gold medal that they received earlier this spring by our high school orchestra. I also want to thank again the Schmidt family for their generous donation to support our string ensemble. We will also hear about the trip to Puerto Rico which was approved but we know next spring our students who have the opportunity to travel will definitely have a wonderful learning experience. Also, I want to thank the presentation that will be coming this evening about our HVAC system. I want to thank all of the engineers and environmental experts that are here and thank Alicia hunt and her team for supporting us this evening. We also will share with you a proposed rate card for the next school year. And I will present a report on the district's report on suspension and discipline data. Finally, we'd like to remind the community that our next school committee meeting is on Monday, May 6, which will also include our public hearing on the fiscal year 25 budget. This important occasion is the main opportunity for us to receive feedback on the proposed budget, that meeting will begin at 5pm in person here or at at City Hall, and also available on zoom.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I just wanted to make sure that I recognize our student reps who are here today. Darren wrong, thank you for being here in chambers, and know what you're asking who's online. Thank you to the both of you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, the report that I'm going to present right now is suspension data and discipline report, covering the dates of August 28 2023 through March 1 2024. In working on this project, this report, I had the opportunity to work with several district leaders, including school building leaders and staff when developing this report to have the context for its data. In particular, we strove to ensure that the report doesn't convey identifying details about individual students. The disciplinary events which have been captured in this report cover a variety of incident types, student grade levels, and other relevant factors. For example, some of the suspensions are the result of pending felony charges. There are five official categories that the Medford Public Schools uses when addressing discipline. The first one is behaviors that are violent, which could be exhibited through words or the possession of weaponry. The second category is behaviors or language or actions that are hostile. grounded in racist or discriminatory beliefs that contribute to an environment that is plagued by experiences of marginalization and equity for students based on their race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification, or other immutable characteristics. The third category is bullying or retaliatory conduct through words or acts that have the intent of bringing about an intimidating impact on other students. The fourth category is for students that have been found to be in possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia, or the intent to distribute drugs to other students. And the fifth category is repeated or pronounced disregard for the academic integrity of the school environment through tampering, cheating, plagiarism, or other misrepresentations with respect to their purported work product. In this report, there is also a category called other, which could include violations of social media rules, safety guidelines, such as posting photos without consent, false reporting to authority, forgery, trespassing, and again, as I mentioned earlier, felonies outside of school. The data that will be presented shows a variety of disciplinary actions, including suspension days taken in response to different behaviors or infractions. The data does reveal that students of color students with disabilities and English learners are suspended at a higher rate than their white counterparts. This information can help us identify patterns and how schools handle disciplinary cases and highlight areas where additional support or interventions could be beneficial. The data also highlights the importance and applicability of implementing effective behavior management strategies interventions and restorative justice to address and reduce the occurrence of negative behaviors in school. Some of the things that Medford Public Schools currently uses are detention, Saturday detention, social probation, warnings, behavioral plans, conferences with assistant principals, restorative tasks or meetings, and school recommending referrals for school and or community-based services. And all of those strategies are currently deployed in the Medford public schools in lieu of suspension whenever possible. So overall, from the timeframe that I mentioned earlier, between the start of school and March 1, there were a total of 61 students that were suspended out of school. There were a total of 83 incidents, or 83 actual suspensions. So what that means is there are some students that were repeat offenders and we counted them more than once, but in terms of our entire student population. When we looked at our October Sims data, we had a total of 4,147 students district wide, and of those 4,147 students, 61 students were suspended over that timeframe, which is 1.47% of our entire population. I provide some historical data going back to school year 21, 22, 22, 23, and 23, 24. And so what I will share is that of our 4,147 students total population, again, 61 students were suspended during the six and a half month timeframe, which equals 1.47. In 2223 school year, we had 4393 students. There were 89 students suspended during that time frame, which was a total of two per 2.03% of our population. And during the 21-22 school year, we had 4,353 students. 90 students were suspended over the course of that school year, which results in 2.07% of our population. In looking at the data, District-wide, over 50% of our behaviors fall in the category of violent or threatening behavior involving fighting. The second largest category at 15.7% is obscene language and profanity. The third category falls in what we refer to as other. Again, social media rules, violations of social media, safety guidelines, posting photos without consent, false reporting. forgery trespassing or felonies outside of school. And the next area that we are closely monitoring is illegal drugs and paraphernalia, which was 9.6% as a school entire school district. I share some data about our ethnicity, our EL suspensions, and our IEP suspensions, and it's data that we are closely monitoring. Overall district-wide, our Caucasian students, 36.1% have participated or had an out-of-school suspension. black African American students that's 24.6% Latino Hispanic students are 23% are Asian students are 6%, and then other which could be multi ethnic is 9.8%. Overall, incident counts by grade level, as mentioned. At our middle schools, we had a total of 25 suspensions combined for both of our middle schools. Grade seven is the grade with the highest number of suspensions in both schools. At the high school level, there were 36 suspensions with grade nine and grade 10 students making up the bulk of those suspensions. Of the 25 middle school students, 14 students did attend the Andrews Middle School, and 11 students attended the McGlynn School. And due to FERPA guidelines, it dictates that we honor student confidentiality by not disclosing more information about these incidents that might make certain student populations identifiable. Again, of the 25 suspensions at the middle school level, we had approximately 976 referrals, which resulted in a total of 41 suspensions. So again, there were some students that have been suspended more than once because they were a repeat offender. At the high school level, we had 2,599 referrals that were made during the timeframe. Of that timeframe, there were 42 suspensions involving 36 students. There were eight incidents where the police were notified. And again, referring to the behaviors at the high school level, the majority of behaviors, 52% were involving violent or threatening behavior. And the second largest area 19% was obscene language or profanity, which was the second largest category at the high school level and other 16.7% other. At the elementary levels during the timeframe that we were monitoring, there was no data because there were no suspensions. So our key findings. In summary, there were 61 students out of 4,147 students that were suspended. which again equals 1.47% of our student population. We are truly committed to carefully reviewing our suspension data with the goal to continue to address discipline and employ alternatives to suspension. District-wide, we noticed that 50% of behaviors that result in suspensions fall under violent or threatening behavior. written verbal physical threats along with physical fights are included in that category. Nearly 16% of suspensions involve obscene language and profanity, which includes racial or discriminatory language. 13% falls in the other category, which includes violating social media rules and safety guidelines. At the high school again, in particular, 52% of behaviors that resulted in suspension fell under violent or threatening behavior. 19% of those suspensions fall within the obscene language and profanity category. And 16.7% fell in the other category. At the middle schools, Nearly 50% 48.8% of behaviors that resulted in suspensions in middle schools fall under violent or threatening behavior. Another concern for the district is that 17.1% of the suspensions involved at the middle school level were related to drugs and drug paraphernalia. This was seen across both middle schools. We are collaborating with our school Councilors and social workers. In collaboration with Mr. she Shulman, our director of school counseling and behavioral health to address this set of student behaviors 12% of the suspensions involved obscene language and profanity. In this area as well, we are working on providing students with effective tools to better express themselves without the use of obscene language or using violent or threatening behavior. Suspension is used as a last resort at all levels. And again, due to FERPA requirements, In the limited number of suspensions, the district did not identify any specific school due to our varied populations and their various needs. Actions. Out of school suspension and other ways that Medford Public Schools addresses student behavior do include Saturday detention. This is for the high school, at the high school level. Increased parental involvement, conferences, phone calls, et cetera. Detention, student counseling, social work support, meetings with building administrators, principals, assistant principals, et cetera. Referral to and coordination with community-based mental health care and substance abuse treatment. And so a lot of the things that I mentioned earlier do require significant involvement and support from our community based partners to provide our students with additional mental health care and substance abuse treatment. There were requests for additional follow up information and I did provide that to the committee about onboarding and training. The August Institute for administrators and staff are trained. through principal meetings ongoing throughout the year where they address at school based levels disciplinary challenges and issues that arise in each school on different levels and strategies that can be used to help our students on November 7, all staff participated in a bullying training, which touched upon discipline. And during the first weeks of six weeks of school our educators. at elementary levels and our teachers at the secondary level set rules and expectations for behaviors for the entire year. Students participate in morning meeting, nexus classes, and advisory classes at the secondary level to incorporate self-strategies to support our students. We, again for the purposes of this report suspension is referring to out of school suspensions. There was a request for additional data, which was provided in the three year historical data. And there was a question about police involvement. The principals do collaborate with the school resource officer, SROs. The SROs help to determine if additional police support is needed in any given situation. There were eight incidents during the timeframe that was documented where the police were notified to provide additional support. Please note that police involvement also takes place after school hours, and on the weekends. In those circumstances, we do not notify the police, the police notify the district. Since our students are juveniles, their rights are protected. Due to ongoing investigations that may involve court matters, the school district has no further comment regarding police involvement. And again, I provided some data about Saturday detentions and parent conferences, parent phone calls, detentions and conferences that are set up. All discipline referrals are taken seriously and investigated, while some may require a simple conversation with a student or teacher, other referrals may lead to deeper inquiry. And revisions were made to the charts to make sure that the colors were aligned. So that is my report for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. April is Autism Acceptance Month. Many of you remember this observance previously being called Autism Awareness Month, but thanks to the wonderful advocacy of individuals with autism and their supporters around the world, we're making an intentional positive shift to emphasizing acceptance of all neurodiverse people. Their perspectives and experiences enrich and improve our community every day. April is also Arab American Heritage Month. Throughout American history, Arab Americans have made so many contributions to our country and our society. And today, approximately 3.7 million Arab Americans call the United States their home. Finally, April is an opportunity to mark OT month. In Medford Public Schools, we are lucky to have skilled and compassionate occupational therapy practitioners in every school and serving students at every grade and age level. OT makes a big difference for our kids, starting with therapeutic early intervention services and extending all the way to post-graduation transition services for students with disabilities. Another reminder that this Wednesday, April 10th, schools are closed in observance of Eid al-Fitr. And next week, believe it or not, is April vacation week. All schools are closed the week of April 15th. We wish everyone a safe and fun break and look forward to returning to the classroom on April 22nd. April 22nd is also the date when many members of our Jewish community will begin to observe Passover. Some students and staff may take time away from school for religious observances, particularly on the first two days of Passover, when the Seder meal is typically celebrated with loved ones. I now have an update regarding our Performing Arts Recognition. Last weekend was exciting for many of Medford's Performing Arts students. On Saturday, the Medford High School Orchestra won a gold medal and the Middle School String Ensemble won a silver medal at the prestigious MICCA, Massachusetts Instrumental and Chorus Conductors Association. Concert Festival. Congratulations to the students, their families, and our own conductor-director, Ms. Sophia Chang, on these recognitions and accomplishments. Meanwhile, the Medford Mustang Winter Color Guard became the 2024 scholastic regional champions. Medford not only placed first in the division, but also received the highest scholastic score of the evening. We are very proud of our Mustang guard. and their accomplishments. Captains Maria Zasra, Mandy Chow, and Cindy Hamill led the team through this challenging and rewarding season. The guard is advised by Haley Rello and coached by Jackie Gaffney. Congratulations to all. Another reminder, middle school placement lottery. The lottery for middle school assignments for next year's sixth grade class will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 9th. Lottery results will be posted on the website at 3 p.m. Letters confirming each student's middle school assignment will be sent to all grade five students no later than Wednesday, April 24th. But again, the results will be posted on our website tomorrow at 3 p.m. Transportation Survey. Tomorrow is the last day to complete the online Safe Routes to School Family Travel Survey. Please take a moment to complete it. It will help us identify routes and other resources to encourage and enable more Medford students to walk, bike, and roll to school. The survey asks about a student's mode of transportation to and from school. It takes less than five minutes to complete and is available in 10 languages. The survey can be found on our MPS website and Facebook page. Schools with 50% or higher participation will receive an incentive from the Massachusetts Safe Routes to School Program. For everyone logged in on Zoom, Thomas will share the survey link in the chat. Thank you, Thomas Dalton, for doing that. Tonight's meeting, we have another busy agenda this evening. First, we'll present several generous donations offered by our community for the direct support of our students. We'll discuss each of these donations in more detail, but I wanted to begin by saying a warm thank you to the Medford Educational Foundation, the Medford Kiwanis Club, and the Medford Rotary Club for their reliable and impactful partnership and support of public schools. After that, Dr. Suzanne Colussi will present a report on substitute teacher pay and staffing. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate and reliable substitute staffing has been a prominent challenge for all public schools. Medford is no exception. So we look forward to this informative and important presentation. You may have also noticed that I called our assistant superintendent, Galusi, doctor. Yes, indeed, I did. As you may have read in my Friday memo last week, Dr. Galusi defended, successfully defended her doctoral thesis without any revisions, which is a phenomenal feat. last month at Boston College, the Lynch School of Education. So congratulations, Dr. Galussi, and her original research for her doctorate in educational leadership focused on transformational and culturally responsive leadership. We are so proud of you, Dr. Galussi. In your packets, You'll also find a draft report on the district wide suspension and discipline report that was requested by the committee earlier this year. The final report will be presented to the committee on April 29th. So I do look forward to you communicating directly with me to send questions, additional pieces of data that you may be looking for so that I can add that to the draft. District staff are also working with the school building leaders and staff to develop this report while providing the appropriate and useful context for all of the data that it represents. In particular, we are working hard to ensure that the report does not inadvertently convey any identifying details about individual students. Again, we invite and welcome your feedback and input for the final product to be delivered to you. Finally, in your packets, you also received school handbooks for all of our schools. And the high school version of the handbook that you received will be completely finalized in time for the high school presentation that will be taking place on May 6th. The high school handbook will include our Medford High School, which includes the vocational school, and also inclusive of the Curtis Tufts High School. So all three schools will be represented in that one handbook for your review. So these important guiding documents are developed by school principals, assistant principals, school site councils, input from staff, and again, we welcome your feedback and suggestions on the handbooks. Thank you, and I look forward to this evening's meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so the Medford Educational Foundation earlier this year, they already donated $13,000 to Medford Public Schools, which was a very generous donation. They received an additional $8,949 in requests from teachers and educators. They were able to fund $3,180. And of that money, one of the things they were able to help purchase from one of our music teachers, Ms. Sarah Grant, she requested four keyboards to be added to the Curtis Tufts programming. And so we're very happy and very grateful to the Medford Educational Foundation for their generous contribution to that program. And again, we also want to thank Needham Bank and their branch manager, Jean K. Lau, for their continued generous donations to the Medford Public Schools. through Medford Education Foundation. They recently donated $5,000. So I just want to ask the committee to approve this generous donation in the amount of $3,180.11 to be added to the Medford Public Schools coffers. Motion to approve with thanks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And just want to say thank you again in advance to the Medford Rotary Club for their generous donation supporting our vocational programming. And the media tech program will be most appreciative. And again, it benefits our students. So we thank them for this generous donation. And my ask of the committee is recommendation to approve this generous donation of $500.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to share that Medford is so blessed to really have both a wonderful Rotary Club and a wonderful Kiwanis Club. We want to thank the Kiwanis Club for their donation of $500 to our vocational programming. Again, Culinary Arts, our bistro, wonderful thriving restaurant, and I'm very grateful for their partnership and their donations. And I just want to ask the committee recommendation to approve this donation of $500 from the Kiwanis Club.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I guess as I was just listening to the description, on bullet number three, I completely agree with autism acceptance month, but where it's saying how students are identified, like there is a process that has to be followed legally. And so I'm not sure, I guess I need clarification or I'm not sure on the ask of saying do you want something that we legally have to do as a district to switch the way in either changing the wording or I guess I'm just not clear about point number three, because there are things that we have to follow legally by DESE, when IEPs are being developed. And I agree students should not be treated as if they need to be healed. But I just wasn't sure about what was being approved when it says how we go about identifying students. Because there's medical documentation. The medical community sends recommendations. There's official IEP testing that takes place. And I just want to be clear on what the ask is because I don't want the committee to be saying yes, they approve it and putting the school in a position where we are not following the appropriate regulations that we should be following.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I had just wanted to echo what member Graham and the mayor just said that the 104 applications they were absolutely, you know, outstanding the amount of architects and engineers and people who had like um authentic experience that could be you know the pool was so strong we could have had like five running committees i mean i know that's not what the ask is but i want the community to know that um it was not an easy decision um but from msba experience to architectural experience to communications experience um It was a wonderfully strong pool of candidates. And I know that we're gonna look for other opportunities to, even if you're not part of this particular grouping, to continue to tap into the expertise, knowledge, feedback, and willingness of all of the community members who really wanted to be part of this process. So I just wanted to echo that it was not an easy process, it was a rewarding process and I was just very impressed by the quality, how strong the entire pool was, very, very strong pool. So thank you to everyone who did apply.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may. Each school is required to have a handbook. The essence, the content of the handbooks are nearly identical, but it is a process that they go through with their individual school site councils. And so there are, the majority of the content is identical, same set of rules, and the councils have the opportunity to weigh in. And there could be very slight minor differences, but I would have to say like 90, more than 90% of the content should pretty much be identical. But there is a requirement for each school to have their own handbook.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so there are some, excuse me. They are essentially 90% the same, but There are a few caveats. So in the in the high school one, there will be a slightly different. The Curtis Tufts will follow what the high school does, but due to the nature of program requirements or needs, there are there could be some slight modifications. So it'll all be in one handbook where you can look at it, and you'll be, once it's finalized by that May 6th meeting, you'll be able to see where the slight changes are. But essentially, all of the schools are doing the same.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: What is it? It's something that every school does with their site council, they will work on their school handbooks. And even with their improvement plans, they are involved with their school site councils. It's just it's, I mean, for as long as I've been in education, every school has always had a handbook, which clearly talked about what are the rules so that the families, parents, caregivers know, oh, if you do X, Y, and Z, you're violating the code of conduct. And, you know, all of the, you know, we spent a lot of time, this committee, talking about expectations, whether it's around bullying and other things. So it's following the laws, but also just having it in one place so you could have an artifact to refer to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Cushing, are you able to respond to member Graham's question? He has been involved with safe routes to school. So let me just try calling him to jump back on. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, families. I'm very happy to be here. It's five o'clock on the dot. I'm gonna wait about one more minute to two minutes just to allow a few more people to jump onto the call. This call is being recorded, so it will be available after tonight's information session. So good evening to everyone on the call. I would like to open to say thank you first again for joining us this evening for our middle school lottery update. I would like to recognize Dr. Bernadette Riccardelli. who is the lead administrator where if there are questions or concerns regarding the lottery process, she will be responsive. Also, we have Ms. Kim Miles, who is one of our data analysts who works with us in the district. She also will support middle school lottery questions. I'd like to thank Mr. Thomas Dalton, our Communications Director, who was on the call this evening, and both of our middle school principals. I'd like to recognize Principal of the McGlynn Middle School, Mr. Nick Tucci, and Principal of the Andrews Middle School, Ms. Jennifer Skane. I just want to recognize the both of you and recognize that you're on the call. Also, parents know that we have both of our wonderful middle school principals supporting us on this evening's call. Dr. Riccadeli, I'm not sure if there are a few words or comments that you would like to share with the parents and community members that are on the call this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Ricciardelli. And Mr. Tucci and Ms. Gain, I didn't know if you wanted to just say a few words since you both are on the call this evening. Please feel free.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Tucci. Ms. Gain.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Ms. Gane. And so without much further ado, since I appreciate everyone jumping on the call, I'm going to share my screen and start a presentation for you. So good evening, again, this evening is going to be an information session about our middle school lottery process. Again, as I start this presentation, I'm gonna go through and share a little bit of our history with you. Medford Public Schools has two excellent middle schools. And when I arrived here in 2018, There was a challenge going on between our two middle schools. The two middle schools were not were not balanced. key differences that were highlighted between the two middle schools and it was a task that was given to me by the Medford School Committee to say how could the discrepancy and the imbalance between the two schools be addressed. The imbalance involved not only socioeconomic differences, income differences, but it also involved racial differences that the schools were not evenly balanced to the extent that they could be. And so that was what began the lottery process in 2019. So I'm sharing some data with you. To start on this slide, you can see 2019 and you can see 2024. Again, when the lottery went into place, the intention was to try to correct an imbalance. And so shifts took place at both schools. This is the data for the Andrews Middle School. 2019, and it shows race and ethnicity. Purple representing white, turquoise, green, African-American, light blue, Asian, a darker green, Latino, and a darker purple for all other races. And so at this point in time, when the lottery originally began, there was an over-representation of white students at the Andrews. And that was something that was noted by the community and by the committee at that time. This slide shows the McGlynn Middle School. This provides their race and ethnicity data in 2019 and 2024. So until 2019, non-white students were significantly overrepresented at the McGlynn Middle School. The 2024 current statistics at the McGlynn Middle School closely reflect the overall racial and ethnic diversity of the entire Medford Public Schools. And so this is similar data just for the McGlynn Middle School. So you can see that. From A socioeconomic standpoint, the terminology has changed. It used to be called economically disadvantaged, and now the official terminology, according to DESE, is low-income households. This is what the data looked like in 2019. On the left, your right Andrews was at 21%. The McGlynn was at 37%. And after the lottery, this is how the schools are more evenly balanced between the Andrews and the McGlynn in terms of low income households being distributed between both school buildings. So this is the policy summary. What happens when the middle school lottery takes place? This is what will take place. 50% of students in fifth grade at each school will be assigned to the Andrews and 50% will be assigned to the McGlynn. Now there are a few exceptions. If a student has a specific program level educational need, they're going to be placed at the school that offers that program. Again, this is on an individualized basis. Program level educational needs supersede sibling preference. Parents may opt to have their fifth grade student attend the same school as a sibling, or parents may choose to have their fifth grade student enter the lottery. The condition is that the older sibling must still be enrolled at that current middle school in August of 2024, meaning that they're currently a sixth grader or a seventh grader, and they would be moving up to those grades, seventh or eighth grade in August. This year, sibling preference will not include younger siblings attending the McGlynn Elementary School. And that was, again, because there was a significant uptick in the amount of siblings that were there in the lower elementary schools that would impact the numbers and a lottery would not be able to take place for McGlynn families. And in our attempt to provide 50% of seats at both schools to do our best to balance them equally, that was the reason why we had to stop younger siblings attending the McGlynn Elementary School. One other key piece about our policy is that for each school, we do add three buffer seats for our English learner population. And I will continue to explain that on the next slide. So this slide explains a sample school. In this sample school, we have 103 fifth grade students. We add three buffer seats. These three buffer seats are for people who don't exist, but we know that they may be coming on a rolling basis over the course of the year. So this simple school has a total of 106 seats that are allocated. And I want to just show you how these 106 total seats would be entered into the lottery. In this particular sample school, 20 students are English learners, EL. They will attend middle school A, which houses the EL program. One student has a middle school A sibling preference, meaning a student that's either in sixth or seventh grade at the time of the lottery. and the parents have chosen to activate sibling preference. Seven students have a middle school B sibling preference. So seven families from this particular school have activated sibling preference and they would like their child to attend middle school B. Two students have a special program requirement to go to a middle school A special education program. One student has a program requirement that allows them to attend middle school B. So those first set of students right there are going to be excluded from the lottery process in essence, because they have specific programs that require them to attend middle school A or middle school B. 12 students have an IEP, and those students will need to have their own draw. So this could be students that might receive resource room services, and resource room services are provided in both schools equally. So where there are 12 students that are on an IEP, those 12 students would be entered into a separate drawing where six students would be assigned to middle school A and six students would be assigned to middle school B. Once all of those deductions are made, 60 students will be entered in the general lottery. Again, we were working with 106 total seats. So the next slide I'm going to show you is the exact same information as a table. Oops, I spoke too soon. 50% of students from each school will be assigned. So I explained middle school A from the previous slide is going to receive 20 EL students two special education program students, one sibling preference, and six IEP students from that number of 12. That means 29 students are already accounted for at middle school A. So there will be 21 students drawn from the lottery plus three buffer seats, equaling a total of 53 students. Again, the number we were working with was 106 total students. Middle school B is going to receive one special education student, program student, seven sibling preference, and six IEPs from a separate draw. They will have 39 students that will be drawn from the lottery for a total of 53 students. Again, 53 plus 53 gives us that 106. This is the information as a table. So when the lottery takes place in Medford Public Schools, all of these data points are taken into consideration. So each school will receive 53 students and the lottery takes place, middle school A, 21 students will be in the lottery and for middle school B, 39. I want to note that the Medford Public Schools, we do have a growing EL population. That's our English learner population across the entire district, K through 12. So Medford Public Schools has specialized programming for our newcomers, students who arrive new to the country who do not have any English skills or maybe very limited English skills. So during the lottery, we reserve 12 seats for students that can attend the Medford Public Schools. And in this context, it would be the McGlynn Middle School because the McGlynn Middle School houses the EL program. And so when the lottery takes place, we hold open 12 seats for students that are to come. And I can assure you, we receive more than 12 students, but we hold 12 students in order to try to maintain as much balance as possible. And That allows the two schools to remain fairly balanced. And currently right now, our two schools, in terms of their enrollment numbers, they're fairly balanced. Andrews Middle School currently has 457 students in attendance, and the McGlynn Middle School has 454 students. So the difference at this point in time is only three students. In a month's time, it could be the reverse. The McGlynn could be three students over the Andrews. But I just wanted to let you know that by allowing these buffer seats, it does give us that little bit of wiggle room to keep the two schools as balanced as possible. So here's a timeline of key events. Today is Wednesday, March 20th. Again, I thank you all for jumping on this Zoom call to provide the information about what to expect with the lottery. This Friday, March 22nd, The sibling opt-in, opt-out form will be sent to parents through email. The email is going to come from MS Lottery. That stands for middle school lottery at medford.k12.ma.us. And that sibling opt-in, opt-out form will contain a Google form link. Kindly click on that link and complete the form electronically. It will go to specific households. Again, I wanna just remind everyone on the call that sibling preference will not include younger siblings attending McGlynn Elementary School. Friday, March 29th, The sibling opt-in, opt-out forms are due for submission. Again, it's a Google form, so we'll be on the lookout for that electronically, but we do need to put in a deadline. So Friday, March 29th, that form needs to be submitted. And there will be communications to remind you, all of our fifth grade parents, to be on the lookout for those things. Thursday, April 4th, each grade five student entering the lottery will receive a lottery number in a letter sent to you, the parents and caregivers. Students will carry this letter home. On Tuesday, April 9th, that is the day that the drawing will take place. The drawing will take place on Tuesday. The results will be posted on the district website at 3 p.m. You will receive an email with a link to the results at three o'clock, and it will also be on the website, and you'll also, for fifth grade families, get a notification if you use that function, the text message notification, you'll receive that on Tuesday as well. Wednesday, April 24th, that is the day that the official letters will be sent out with your middle school assignment. So you will know your middle school assignment on Tuesday, April 9th, and on Wednesday, April 24th, those school assignment letters will be sent out to you, the parents and caregivers. Please mark your calendars. The two middle school open houses orientations, as both principals stated earlier, Thursday, May 2, is the McGlynn Middle School, and Monday, May 6, is the Andrews Middle School. Both orientations will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. It's a fun time. to be had for all. And again, I just want to end this presentation by saying that we know the lottery system is not perfect. However, it's our attempt at balancing the scales and correcting the imbalance that was once in Medford. And at this point in time, I will stop the screen share and say thank you for being an excellent listening audience, and I will respond to any questions or comments that you have, because we have. more than one page of, as I'm looking at the Zoom link, if you're able to use the raise hand function and you're on the second page, please use that so you pop up to my front screen. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Dr. Riccidelli has kindly added her email to the chat box. If you are looking for Dr. Ricciadelli, it's B-R-I-C-C-I-A-R-D-E-L-L-I. Briccidelli at medford.k12.ma.us. Any questions? Don't be shy. From Deepa. So the afterschool clubs, students definitely when the open houses take place, there are a lot of clubs and opportunities for students to actually participate in both programs. Mr. Tucci, I don't know if you would like to like take a small stab at that one.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Tucci for that, and I see we have two wonderful hands lifts live, raised. I do want to just respond, thank you I hope I say it the right way deeper Thank you deeper shot for throwing that question in there. Ken Ho has asked, are the two school buildings roughly the same age? Yes, they are. And different layouts, but approximately the same age. And Angela Mercer asked a wonderful question about twins. And it's funny that I talked about twins earlier today when we were preparing for the presentation. We love twins in Medford. We love all kids. But twins are, if you have twins, You have double the opportunity. Both of your children are given their own lottery number. And as a parent, if you are the parent of a twin, If by chance, both of your children do not get assigned to the same school, which has happened, then at that point in time, you as the parent, working with your children are able to keep your twins together, essentially activating sibling preference at that point in time. But we do allow each student to have their own number. So I just wanted to say that each child goes into the lottery and some years both students get assigned to one school, some years one gets assigned to one school and another gets the other school and then we figure it out to keep the twins together. So thank you for asking that question, Angela. I definitely didn't have that in on the slide. We probably should add that for the next go around. And I want to ask Shelly and then Michelle. Shelly, would you... Oh, it's Shelly, good to have you. Okay. Are you able to unmute yourself? I'm not sure.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. So definitely for our students that do have IEPs and for any parents who are on the call, there are definite you know, depending on the program that the student is part of, that will take place. Once the assignments are made, the special education teams do work together. And of course, we always encourage the parents to be involved as well. But that is something that, you know, we take into special consideration. and work closely with the special education teams and the administrators on that. So rest assured that the information, the appropriate and necessary information will travel with your child. Thank you for that excellent question. Michelle Clark. Oops. Michelle, are you able to unmute? I'm not sure.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There really isn't that much of a difference. Some of the schools have different programs, but in terms of curriculum, the schools are aligned. That's something that we worked really hard to do in terms of Each teacher delivers the instruction in an individualized way, their own personal style of delivery, but the content, the standards, the state standards that are being followed, everyone is following the state standards. And again, if a student's on an IEP, then there will be accommodations made for those students, but they are the same programs that are being taught. The teachers participate. when they have district level, department head level meetings, they are together with the same department head. So it is similar, the same program, just the delivery may be different. Thank you for that question, Ms. Clark. Well, I want to say thank you to all of you again for jumping on this brief call. Dr. Riccidelli has left her email. in the chat box. So you're able to grab her, um, contact information. And, um, you also should have received, you know, the letters and the notification. And again, this Friday, um, will be the first form going out to, um, specific parents that have siblings that are already current, um, middle schoolers. And that really is the end of my presentation for you. I don't know, Dr. Riccadeli, if there's anything else that you wanted to say. Mr. Tucci, Ms. Gain, I don't know if there are any other comments you wanted to say to our wonderful fifth grade parents and caregivers that are on the call.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Mr. Ho, I saw that you raised your hand. Are you able to speak?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I was glad I was able to answer all three of those questions. Thank you so much for raising your hand, Mr. Ho. Anyway, families, caregivers, thank you so much for jumping on the call. I look forward to seeing you. And next year is going to be a great year as your wonderful young people enter middle school. Have a great evening. Good night.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I'm Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent, Superintendent of Schools, and I wanted to say, Member Ruseau, that all of our members on Zoom today are brand new members, effective January, so please, Member Reinfeld, Member Olapade, and Member Intoppa, introduce yourselves to this wonderful group of students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Let me run across the hall quickly, and then I'll come right back.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'm not sure if you heard me, but Dr. Marie Sedgwick-Vinson, superintendent of schools. I did pop in to say hi, and I just was taking it from this office here. Thank you again to all of you for volunteering and being part of this great group. Thank you, Ms. Greatest-Haley, for also being the administrator representing all of our high school students. We truly appreciate your contributions to this special grouping. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to applaud you guys as well. I think the visual is excellent. And not just words, but for those who can follow the pictures and follow the dots and see the connection, I think you guys really did a great job designing it and making it user-friendly and accessible for all levels. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I'd like to begin by wishing Ramadan Mubarak to our Muslim students, staff, and community members. Ramadan, a month-long observance, which started last week, is a time for increased religious devotion and self-examination. During this time, many Muslims fast during daylight hours, abstaining from food and drink until night. We're wishing everyone who observes this holiday an easy and meaningful fast. I also want to share that yesterday I hope that everyone enjoyed the St. Patrick's Day holiday this weekend. This holiday holds particular significance for many Irish and Irish American families in Medford and around the world. It's time for corned beef and cabbage, parades and musical performances. And my favorite part, delicious soda bread. Erin go bra. I would also like to take a moment to thank and acknowledge Ms. Melanie McLaughlin, a former colleague and member of the school committee. Melanie, we are all extremely grateful for your four years of service on the committee, in particular, your dedicated and tireless advocacy for equity and inclusion, the needs and priorities of our special education programs, disability awareness and access throughout the district, and the voice and perspective of Medford Public Schools parents. I am confident that you will continue to make a difference as an advocate for the Medford community for many years to come. As we bid farewell to Member McLaughlin, we also warmly welcome our new school committee member, Mr. John Intoppa. Member Intoppa is a Mustang through and through, even serving his Medford High School class of 2019 as class president. We're excited to welcome his perspective to this school committee and are looking forward to our work together. We want to remind our community about two upcoming religious holidays. All schools will be closed on Friday, March 29th, in observance of Good Friday, and on Wednesday, April 10th, in observance of Eid al-Fitr. I also want to just point out a few highlights that took place across Medford Public Schools. Congratulations to our Medford High School World Language and Culture Club and the World Language Department for hosting the school's first ever World Language Festival. I'd like to thank member Reinfeld who attended that event as well on a Friday evening. The festival did take place earlier in the lobby of the high school and featured performances from Medford High School students, our world language class, all of our world language classes, raffles and food sales collected from the event were all donated to world language student scholarships. It was a great event and the event ended with amazing homemade dishes from a variety of world cultures and the celebration of world language learning. Make sure to visit our Medford website to look at write-ups from our junior, Claire Gingo. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make it happen. Also earlier this month, local author, Maureen Harrington, and her inspirational pup, Ivy, joined Medford Elementary School students and their families at the Roberts Elementary School. for an interactive reading and discussion of Ivy, the very determined dog. Thank you to Ms. Harrington, Ivy, the elementary reading department, and elementary principals and assistant principals for facilitating this great event. Photos from the meet and greet can be found on Facebook and on our website. I have an important announcement. Middle school lottery is coming up. We're actively preparing for the April middle school lottery. In 2019, the school committee voted unanimously to implement a random lottery system with the goal of balancing our racial and socioeconomic differences between the Andrews and McGlynn middle schools. This change in policy has resulted in progress toward this goal, with the sixth grade enrollment more balanced than in the past. The 2024 lottery will follow the protocol established in 2019. Grade five students from each elementary school will be assigned to one of the two middle schools, with some exceptions in place for sibling preference and specialized program offerings for English learners and special education students. It is important to note this year that sibling preference will not include younger siblings at the McGlynn Elementary School. Because of shifts in demand and population, the lottery cannot include the younger siblings this year. However, the lottery will still take place. I will be hosting a virtual information session concerning the lottery for all grade five students and their families. This information session will be held by Zoom this Wednesday, March 20th at 5 p.m. The lottery will take place on Tuesday, April 9th, and the results will be posted on the district website at 3 p.m. Letters confirming each student's middle school assignment will be sent to all grade five students by Wednesday, April 24th. Also this week, there's going to be a very important Medford Malden Transition Fair. The Medford and Malden public schools will join together for a transition fair to provide students, families, caregivers, and professionals with information about community based services for our adults with disabilities. This event is free and open to all Medford and Malden residents and surrounding communities. Students between the ages of 14 to 22 years of age who receive special education services through an IEP along with their families and caregivers are welcome and encouraged to attend. This event has exhibitors, the event exhibitors serve adults with a number of disabilities, including autism, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disabilities. I hope that you take advantage of this great event taking place on Wednesday, March 20th in Malden this year. At tonight's meeting, we have a packed agenda, including updates and reports from Stacey Shulman, our Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, and Paul Teixeira, our Director of English Learners, and Title III. They'll be sharing insights and news from their respective departments, both of which are crucial to our day-to-day school operations and the overall educational mission of our district. I'll also be sharing a recommendation to the committee regarding the state school choice law and an update on behalf of our director of finance. Lastly, there will be a report on the resolution of, I'm sorry, there will be two additional reports, a recommendation to approve donations to the Medford Public Schools, and I'll be asking for your approval for those reports as well. Thank you, those are my remarks for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So donations to the Medford High School Medford vocational school fund for the 2425 school year, the JS limb science and mathematics prizes. This donation totals the amount of $4,000. There is a $1500 amount mathematics prize for a student, a $1500 amount for science. and the prize collation and award pack which is plaque which is $1,000. This request will be announced this year at the school award ceremony in May of 2025. Each award will go to a grade 11 student. in entering the 24-25 school year. And so you have a brief one-page report, but my request of the committee is to accept this generous donation from the J.S. Limb Foundation. That is my request for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I do not recall presenting on these two awards, and I'm not sure if anyone on the team is aware of that. It may be the very first time. These are continuous donations. So the JS Slim is for $4,000, and the Mabit and Associates is for $2,100.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Medford public schools. We are doing a significant amount in every year. We are required by Jesse to come before the committee and ask my recommendation to the committee is that we remain know school choice district. that if we were to participate in this program, we would have to accept students from other communities in the Commonwealth, receive baseline tuition, which could be well below the actual cost of the services that students may need. And such acceptances would be on a seat available basis. They could also affect enrollments selectively throughout the district, and as a result, increase costs that would add to our budgetary burden. And so I do feel that Medford right now is doing a very good job of servicing our student population. We have a very diverse community, and it would not be in our best interest to become a school choice district so my recommendation is that the committee vote to reject the school choice for school year 2425 motion to approve motion for approval by member Ruseau seconded by second member Graham, all those in favor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so in your packets, you received a succinct summary from Mr. McHugh, our finance director. I will quickly go through this report so that you can hear what the findings were on the resolution for our budget shortfall. Mr. McHugh appeared before the school committee on February 12 to report a potential shortfall of 2.5 million in the annual budget. This was based on the first projection of what our spending versus budget would be by year end. We began a process of reviewing spending, reviewing encumbered funds and identifying resources that could be utilized to ensure a balanced budget by year end. This review identified the following. One account was over encumbered by $265,000 due to a contract that crossed fiscal years. We identified spending that could be postponed to FY 25. The city identified a balance in the FY 23 school budget that could be used for any FY 24 expenses that could be properly charged to FY 23. We have a $173,000 balance in an account that holds state reimbursement funds for homeless transportation. We have a balance of 291,000 in the state funded circuit breaker account that can be used for special education tuition. We are projecting a balance in our final year of ESSER funds of $200,000, which can be used for eligible expenses currently being charged to the general fund. There is a balance in the vocational tuition revolving fund, and I've targeted $200,000 from this fund to pay for vocational program teachers being charged to the general fund. I created a charge back to our school lunch program of $57,000 to recover the proportional share of natural gas and electricity used by the program. In addition, with the assistance of the city's finance director, an error was identified in the projection model, which was causing the deficit to be overestimated. After correcting this error, correcting the account that was over encumbered by 265,000 utilizing the FY 23 budget to fund the final August 23 payment of the teamsters settlement of 212.5,000. In creating the school lunch fund charge back of 57,000, the projected deficit now stands at 216,000. We will use the extra balance and other budget management initiatives to ensure we finish the year with a balanced budget. Any of the identified resources that are not needed for deficit reduction in FY24 are eligible to be carried forward into FY25. They will be carried forward. Attached is an additional document showing reconciliation. And so that was just to give an overview of how the FY shortfall was addressed for Medford Public Schools. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Reinfeld, so just from a clarification perspective, on the actual agenda you're asking that we place the channels as well, is that what you're saying? I am. So in this box the table that we have on this first page, where we have the Zoom link, if we add one more bar that says TV access channel, Comcast, Verizon, that would be sufficient if we add an additional row? Yes. Okay, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, you're on mute. Thank you. The same situation happened to me. Good evening, everyone. I want to extend a very warm welcome to Mr. John and Tafa. Thank you for joining the team today. And we look forward to continuing our work together collaboratively. So welcome aboard. This evening, this is our first Budget Committee of the Whole. I want to just point out that this evening's presentation will be taking place by Mr. Gerry McCue, who is our Finance Director at Medford Public Schools. He has been working um incredibly hard in collaboration with the mayor and city hall and I thank our um vice chair Graham and member Ruseau who have been um working and just providing consult and so um I would like to pass the baton on to Mr. McHugh so he can begin his um budget update for the committee and um Mr. McHugh is going to um present. I should ask, Mr. McHugh, do you want to do all of your presentation first and then take questions at the end or pause in between the different pieces of presentations? Yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Is there anything else you would like me to share, Member Graham?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Not yet, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you and good evening. Yes, it's hard to believe we're already here at March, and this month marks the beginning of Women's History Month. So I look forward to all the things that we're gonna learn about the wonderful accomplishments and contributions of women throughout history, with our female governor and many other wonderful women leading in Massachusetts, our own Mayor Lungo-Koehn, the nation and the world. March is also the wonderful time that we start official spring. And as all of us are hoping for warmer weather we can see that beginning this evening, we're going to be in for quite a bit of rain over the next few days but we'll make it through all of that. A friendly reminder to the community that next Wednesday, March 13th, is an early release day for all of our students. The Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools will be dismissed at 1130, and all other schools will be dismissed at noontime. Our faculty and staff use the early release days for professional development workshops throughout the afternoon. In the athletic area, Mustangs continue to compete in state tournaments. Last week, Medford student-athletes competed in state tournament games around Massachusetts. On Monday, a Mustang girls basketball team showed tremendous effort in a state tournament matchup at Lincoln Sudbury High School. Although they came up short in a tough 59-40 final result, we were proud to watch these Mustangs fight for victory. Congratulations to our Mustang girls basketball team for a 15-5-0 winter season. Also on Wednesday, our Mustang boys hockey team faced off against Pope Francis Preparatory High School in West Springfield in a first round state tournament slot. The Cardinals may have beaten our Mustangs, but spirits were high among the Medford contingent after a strong 11-9-1 winter season. Also coming up this Friday is our World Language and Cultural Festival. So we hope that you will be able to join us for our first ever World Language and Cultural Festival this Friday, March 8th at 5 p.m. The World Language Department and the Medford High School World Language and Culture Club will host fun celebrations of world languages as a fundraiser for student scholarships. All are welcome. Also coming up later in the month, but I wanna just give everyone ample notice, on Wednesday, March 20th, that is going to be Medford Malden Transition Fair. Medford and Malden Public Schools joined together for a transition fair to provide students, families, guardians, caregivers, and professionals with information about community-based services for adults with disabilities. This event is free and open to all Malden and Medford residents and surrounding communities. Students between the ages of 14 and 22 years old, years of age, who receive special education services through an IEP, along with their family and caregivers are welcome and encouraged to attend. The event exhibitors serve adults with a number of disabilities, including autism, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disabilities. Again, all are welcome. Please mark your calendars for March 20. At tonight's meeting. I'm looking forward to welcoming Dr. Nicole keys and Mr. Eric Esner, who are seeking school committee approval for student travel to the University of North Carolina for the National Ethics Bureau. Our Medford Ethics Bowl students have continued a successful streak of several years in reaching this national competition, and I hope that you will approve this exciting and enriching travel opportunity for our students. We'll also hear from our Director of Family and Community Engagement, Ms. Megan Fidler-Carey, for an update on our district's popular before and after school programming. These programs offer extended day, school day, for many of our younger students. Dr. Cushing will also present a revised excessive heat protocol for the district, reflecting our well researched and evidence based recommendations for the district's approach to keeping school open safely during times of extremely hot weather. As we observed this past September, in particular, we've been experiencing more and more hot weather in recent years, causing us to consider a plan, consider and plan our approach to handling sweltering conditions. Lastly, which we just approved, I truly am very, very excited that the committee has approved the vote for the MOA with our Teamsters Local 25 school administrators. The journey began last year in the fall, and the school district and school committee, we worked closely and really worked in a collaborative, cooperative spirit to get to the approved MOA that we just did this evening. So I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations for a job well done on all of our parts. Thank you and I look forward to this evening's meetings.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, you accurately portrayed it and where again, wasn't expected. We talked about looking to see if there's something we can figure out with Mr. McHugh and because last year we were able to fund it through, I believe some of the ESSER. So if there's a possibility to, you know, pull a little bit of that to support them and then moving forward, where we've had four consecutive years where we're on a wonderful streak. And I don't see that streak going away to start doing fundraising so that we could have a separate revolving account that the Ethics Bowl team could just kind of have there and do fundraising over the course of the year. Because to come up with that money in about one month's time would be a really, really quick turnaround.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Happy Lunar New Year to our Asian American and Pacific Islander community members and all who celebrated it. Saturday marked the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. Lunar New Year celebrations are often focused on festive meals, gathering with family and loved ones and preparing for a healthy and fortunate year ahead. Also, it is that time for the lucky red envelopes, which are given out with money or special treats for children and everyone. The red envelopes are always welcome, and if you're fortunate to receive one, accept it with a big smile. I'd like to thank the Medford Human Rights Commission and the Medford Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the city for hosting a fun New Year celebration this past Saturday at our new library. Also, I'd like to take this moment to introduce a Harvard University education fellow, Miss Kimberly Lewis. I'm very excited to briefly introduce a new member of our Medford Mustangs team. Miss Kimberly Lewis is joining my office two days a week as a Harvard doctoral fellow. Miss Lewis is an experienced secondary educator, who was taught in Texas, California, Maryland, Washington DC, and the United Arab Emirates. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Ed. Through an extremely competitive process, Medford Public Schools was selected to be one of the highly sought after districts for Harvard residency. This fellowship is fully funded by the generosity of HGSE, and this partnership will provide our district with an additional opportunity to better meet the needs of all of our students. Ms. Lewis will be involved in our district's work and learn about the demands, opportunities, and challenges that face a superintendent on a daily basis. She will utilize this time to learn about the complex role and work of a superintendent of schools. I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity to work with Ms. Lewis and look forward to our collaboration as colleagues. Ms. Lewis is on the call and we are welcoming you to just greet the school committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Ms. Lewis. Also this evening, I would like to just provide a brief update on our tiered focus monitoring review. Last week, DESE, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, conducted its triennial review of our English learner education programs. We're very grateful to Mr. Paul Teixeira, our EL director and his team, as well as all the Medford staff and faculty who helped facilitate this important oversight visit. So at tonight's meeting, I'm looking forward to inviting the committee to approve a generous donation by Tufts University to support Medford's Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, And next, we'll move on to a mid-year budget update from Mr. Gerry McCue, our district's finance director. Over recent years, we have talked at length about the significance and positive impact of pandemic-era funding sources, such as the federal government's ESSER program, usually known, it's the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, which we call the acronym, sir. So we'll be discussing that a little bit. But we've also talked about how eventually those funding sources would be depleted, and our budgets would face a fiscal cliff. So this evening, we're going to have a presentation from Mr. McHugh, and he will cover the challenging news that we are facing a shortfall and provide a little more additional detail. But I do want to begin the conversation by stating clearly that our team is all hands on deck to respond to this situation. We will work actively every day with administrators and educators to weather this difficult scenario, communicate its significance to our community, and most of all, to ensure that Medford students continue to receive the high quality public education services they all deserve. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I am asking the committee to approve a generous donation of $1,000 to the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, CCSR. CCSR is funded by the Cummings Foundation, the Crystal Campbell Community Betterment Fund, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and relies on thoughtful donations such as this. So my request is, will the committee approve the $1,000 donation from Tufts University?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It would be the director of building and grounds, but also the overtime is closely linked to community schools. So with all of the rentals that are happening on weekends, and it's not the normal Monday to Friday weekday. So some of those, some of the time would be automatically, it would need to be overtime because it's happening outside of the school day. And depending on the number of people that are using the facility, or if it's happening after school, there are large groups of people, they have to go back and clean those areas that normally would not be used. So the facility is used a lot, especially the high school campus. So yes, and the McGlynn Complex is the other building. Those two have, I think, the highest rental costs.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: for its triennial review of our English learner education programs. Our EL director, Mr. Paul Teixeira, and his team will be working with DESE evaluators and Medford staff and faculty to facilitate this important review. DESE was out visiting schools today, the Mississippi, the McGlynn Middle, the McGlynn Elementary School, and Medford High School. and they'll continue their work throughout this week. Also, just another reminder, it's critically important for us as a district, kindergarten registration. I will continue to mention that kindergarten registration is ongoing. It's critically important for us to be able to start the school year strong and have as close an accurate count to the amount of students that will be enrolling for next year. There will be a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, February 27th at 6.30 p.m., and an in-person meeting on Thursday, March 28th at 6.30 p.m. Child care and interpretation services are available for those meetings. And thank you to all of those who already participated in our first session. Just a few important save the dates. Again, this week, February 5th through February 9th is kindergarten report card conferences. Again, this is the first time that parents of kindergarten students get to meet with their teachers and get caught up to speed on how their student is doing. That is taking place this week at all of our schools. On February 6th, tomorrow, that is our 100th day of school. So students will be celebrating 100 days and a lot of fun activities for our students scheduled for tomorrow. Also, February 19th through 23rd is our February break. There is no school. So for tonight's meeting, during this evening's meeting, we'll discuss a number of ongoing projects and important district priorities. The McGlynn Playground construction and fundraising drive, the status of this year's school committee goals, and the timeline for Medford's participation in the first phase of the MSBA core program for the renovation or rebuilding of Medford High School. But first, through you, Madam Chair, I'll invite Assistant Superintendent Dr. Peter Cushing to take the floor to present a recommendation on the creation of a job description for an important new post in the Food Service Department. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. This presentation, shortly, we will project for you. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. The MSBA building process, and I want to thank all of you who have been supporting this work, and I know people may wanna know where are we as a district in this process. So this is just to give you just a brief update on that. So Medford Public Schools has been accepted formally, we announced it into the Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA eligibility process. As you can see in the table that's being displayed, it's that first blue box. This is a significant first step to determine the future of Medford High School's physical structure. A little more background information. This journey began for us a little bit ago. The MSBA Statement of Interest, our SOI period, it opens annually. for districts across the Commonwealth to submit applications to MSBA. Medford submitted another application in the spring of 2023, last year, and provided updated facility information in the fall of 2023. Just in December, late December, the Medford public schools was formally invited into the eligibility process, period that first blue box by the MSBA Board of Directors. So there are officially seven steps that each district needs to go through. We are currently at step number one. So under the eligibility period for Medford Public Schools, our eligibility period begins on May 1st, 2024. So we still have a little bit of a runway, but it begins May 1, 2024, and it's for 270 days. So again, that'll run from May 2024 into the beginning January-ish of 2025. That will be our first eligibility period. a certification of the school district's understanding of the grant program rules by executing an initial compliance certification. Later today in the agenda, there will be a resolution regarding the formation of a school building committee, which is also a critically important step in meeting the requirements during this eligibility period. While the MSBA allows for local communities to govern the overall composition of the school building committee, there are specific roles that are required. The district must complete an educational profile, a questionnaire to keep MSBA informed of what's happening. We have to talk about our current and proposed educational facilities, we have to share with them the teaching methodologies that we use in Medford, discuss our grade configurations, and all of our program offerings. All of those things are required during the eligibility period. We will also provide a summary of the school district's existing infrastructure repair practices. We have to agree on the enrollment estimates, along with MSBA, because that's critically important when they're thinking about the size of the new facility, and the community is required. This is important. to authorize spending by a vote during step three so eligibility period is step one step two is forming the project team which is still part of the eligibility period but also transitioning that's step two and um During step two, one thing that's important is although we were invited and we are going to work to complete all of the eligibility requirements, it does not definitely guarantee us a spot in the MSBA's capital project pipeline. So it's critically important that we do not miss any of our deadlines, that we meet all of the deliverables, all of the requirements during the 270 day window, in order to be able to move forward to the next phase. If we do not, for whatever reason, hit all of the deliverables, then as a district, we would have to go back to resubmit another statement of interest. So we don't want that to happen at all. And we are determined to hit all of the deliverables ahead of the deadline. So step two is forming the project team. That's what you see, the blue and the green rectangle. And at that time, one of the key pieces that will, key individuals that will be needed is the owner's project manager, OPM. And the owner project manager provides project management and guidance. So that is a new position that we will need to seek and hire to have someone be the OPM of the project. That happens during step phase two, step two. Step three is the feasibility study where they actually look at the initial space summary, look at the district's programs once again, look at existing school conditions. There are a lot of look at parameters. So they go through all of that during step three, the feasibility study. and approval by the MSBA Board of Directors is required for all projects to proceed to the next phase. After step three, or phase three, we move to phase four, which is the schematic design. Step five is funding the project. Step six is the design, development, construction, documentation, and bidding. And then step seven is actual construction. So again, as we have our upcoming meetings, we wanna just be able to give a little bit of information at each meeting to update and keep the community informed on the MSBA process. Again, we are only right now in the eligibility period, step one, which is a 270 day process. So that's my report for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would, I mean, I know sometimes if everything, if all the ducks line up in a row, construction, if the votes and everything goes through, it may be as early as five to six years. Sometimes it takes seven to eight years. I mean, we're gonna try to, this is Medford we're talking about. So we're gonna try to make sure that we hit all of our deliverables early and we will be able to get to that point of construction, member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Back in October. October 16 was the meeting where we had a lot of technical difficulties and we had to people couldn't hear audio there were all kinds of problems happening that day. So we actually had the goals. And if it's possible. Thank you. We'll get we'll get them up in a moment to for you to look at but These goals were voted by you the committee approved on March 6 2023 of last year. And so. It was March six that you during the 2223 school year. March six you put out seven key actions that you as a committee wanted to accomplish. And the hope was that by November of 23, that all of these goals would be accomplished. And when we originally were reporting out, the committee at that point in time had already accomplished, fully completed six of the seven key actions. And so I'll just run through them very quickly, but all school committee agendas would be translated in the major recognized languages of the district starting in September of 23. That was completed and starting on the September 18th, 2023 school committee agenda, it was available and translated for the community. I will say the second key action was for us to host additional town hall meetings and provide opportunities for community feedback. And so that one is the only goal that is still in process. And now where we have so much MSBA work that's going to be taking place, I'm sure that we'll be having plenty of opportunities to engage the community in other ways over the course of the school year. The third key action was expanding the arts, through increasing programmatic offerings for students. and for us to strongly consider the addition of a theater teacher. And that was completed, and we did add the additional staffing. We did offer Jump Start Camp to our students during the summer months. So that went well, and that was, again, during late August for two weeks. It was offered for students in grades four through eight. The fourth key action was to create an action plan for Medford High School, and Miss Cabral did come and present to the committee on September 18 at a regular meeting, and she will be providing another update. Later in the school year. For number five, creating an updated superintendents evaluation process. The school committee completed that in June of 2023. Number six was replacing the finance director in creating an earlier budget process that to was completed. Our finance director is Mr. Gerald McHugh. He was appointed by the committee at our August 14 2023 meeting, and for number seven. submitting the MSBA core program application, which we did and we were selected. And so that was also completed. So I just wanted to provide the committee with what their goals were from the 22, 23 school year, and just to officially give you an update on that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have it in English, English of course, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Arabic. Those are the four languages that we have been translating all of our documents in those four languages. And so the agenda, effective September 18th was when that started.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't know exactly the specific posting, but when it's posted, it has the language. It's similar to the Friday communication. It's there. It has the languages at the top. They just have to click on the language.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, if I may. And it was only where the committee suggested three, or that was what was put forward. So I just tentatively was just thinking about having it spread out. But that's up to the committee to decide It was just a suggestion. And again, this would have been presented in October, so it would have made more sense at that point in time. So that was the only one that was in process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, and if I may, we did have Ms. Cabral back in December when she gave updates and highlights on the high school during the high school presentation. So again, when these goals were written and trying to just fill in the table with where we were at that point in time, it was October. And then since then, as a committee, we had the committee of the whole, where the committee approved. When Miss Cabral would be coming back because there's still a lot of things happening I mean, even this week they're, they're having the el desi is there. So there are a lot of. just a lot of housekeeping things that are taking place right now at the high school. So I wanna be able to give her that time to be able to come do a substantial presentation and another update. But in October, she hadn't yet provided the December update. So there is more information about the high school that has been shared with the community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Seven.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When I created this, when I went back to the meeting and those were the seven that were set at that point in time on that particular day. So I did not capture anything about the website at that particular meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. After a rainy weekend, we're back for another week of school, the storm that wasn't last night. Thank you to our building and ground staff for diligently monitoring the forecast for snow this weekend. I'm sure that some of us are grateful that this weekend did not bring a major snowstorm in the end, and others truly are disappointed that today was not a snow day. I can reassure all of you that there are many weeks of winter remaining, and that I'm sure there will still be more opportunities for a possible snow day in the coming months. This evening, I'd like to extend a special congratulations to Dr. Vilma Bobo. Congratulations to Dr. Bobo. She is Medford's Coordinator of World Language. She was elected as the 50th President of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association. Dr. Bobo began her term this month as the 2024 President of MAFLA, M-A-F-L-A, a statewide professional association of world language teachers. MAFLA was founded in 1967 with a mission to empower language educators through advocacy, learning, and support of world-class language instruction. The organization's work is focused on professional development for world language educators and advocacy for language education opportunities for Massachusetts students. The entire Medford School community should be very proud that world language educators throughout our state trust Dr. Brabeau to lead their collective efforts to prepare students for global citizenship. Once again, congratulations, Dr. Brabeau. Also another important highlight that I'd like to share this evening, which is a free opportunity for all of our students, is the crash prevention training for student drivers. Hands-on crash prevention training is available for free to all Medford High School students with a learner's permit or driver's license. In Control Crash Prevention has partnered for years with Medford High School and the Medford Police to offer driver safety and crash prevention training to novice drivers. Graduates have a much lower chance of crashing and qualify for auto insurance discounts, up to 10%. More information is available on our website. I also wanna highlight kindergarten registration. So if you know a caregiver of a child who will be starting kindergarten next year, please let them know they are invited to attend one of our two remaining informational sessions to learn about our kindergarten program here in Medford. They have the opportunity to ask questions directly. On Tuesday, February 27th, that will be a Zoom session. And our next in-person session will be on March, Thursday, March 28th. Both sessions will take place at 6.30 p.m. I also want to thank the 60 plus families who attended our first informational session at Medford High School about a week, last week. Childcare and interpretation services are available at these meetings. I also want to highlight this week, today was day one. DESE, our Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is in Medford, and they are conducting their triennial special education and civil rights tiered focus monitoring review. It started today, and this special review that DESE is conducting is reviewing all of Medford public schools. DESE visits each public school in Massachusetts every three years to monitor compliance with federal and state special education and civil rights regulations. So all districts are visited, and this is our turn. They're here today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. I want to thank all of our special educators, our special education faculty and staff for their important work in supporting this review. Lastly, I want to bring two key dates for you to keep in mind this year, February 6 will be day 100 of school or 100 day of school barring that there are no snow days. So as of right now February 6 will be a very enjoyable day for many of our youngest learners celebrating day 100. And also mark your calendars February 19 through the 23rd is our February break vacation week so there's no school during that entire week. So, at this evening school committee meeting. We're going to cover a variety of topics, including a presentation from the Curtis Tufts High School, presented by Ms. Laurie Hodgdon, the principal, and also a presentation about the Brooks Elementary School, presented by the principal, Ms. Shannon Demos, There will be an update from our math director, Ms. Faiza Khan, and a discussion on the district's proposed excessive heat protocols. Dr. Cushing will be providing that presentation this evening. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: question. A while back, the committee chose the dates.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening and Happy New Year. I would like to begin by welcoming our three new school committee members, Nicole Branley, Erin Olapade, and Erica Reinfeld. I know I speak for the entire Medford Public Schools community when I offer our warmest welcome, congratulations, and best wishes. Welcome back to the committee. Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Member Graham, Member McLaughlin, and Member Ruseau. I look forward to continuing our innovative work together for the Medford Public Schools. Because of the weekend snowstorm, the city's formal inauguration ceremony has been rescheduled to this Wednesday at 6pm. I'm looking forward to joining everyone to celebrate public service and the start of the new term for our mayor, city Councilors and school committee members. Now transitioning to school affairs. Kindergarten registration, it's a critically important time. This is very, very important for how our elementary schools function. So kindergarten registration for the 24-25 school year opens on Tuesday next week, January 16th, one week from tomorrow. If you know a caregiver of a child who will be starting kindergarten next year, please let them know they are invited to attend one of the upcoming informational sessions to learn about our kindergarten program and have the opportunity to ask questions directly. So the meeting next week in person meeting will be on Wednesday, January 17, and Thursday, March 28 at 6.30pm. Again, those are in-person meetings at Medford High School in the library. The February meeting on Tuesday, February 27th, that meeting will also take place at 6.30 p.m. That meeting will be by Zoom. So again, in person next Wednesday, January 17th and Thursday, March 28th at 6.30 p.m. and by Zoom on Tuesday, February 27th at 6.30 p.m. critically important, please spread the word so we can get accurate numbers of our kindergarten students, and for the new members that are here today. This past school year we had an unusual rush in August, increased kindergarten enrollment. that we were required to open for additional kindergarten sessions. So to the best of your ability, we're going to really try to make sure we register our kindergartners earlier. I do want the community to also know that during our information sessions, child care and interpretation services will be available at those meetings, and more information will be available on our school website. Another wonderful topic to just share some key highlights with you is in the area of athletics. I want to do the special recognition Medford High School's girls soccer team received national recognition by United soccer coaches. We received a silver level team ethics and sportsmanship award across the country 72 fall season boys and girls teams received either the platinum gold, silver or bronze version of the high school team ethics and sportsmanship award. which recognizes teams that exhibit fair play, sporting behavior, and adherence to the laws of the game, as reflected by the number of yellow caution cards or red ejection cards. They are shown by referees throughout the season. Medford girls soccer was one of 31 teams that claimed the silver award, which is given to teams that accumulate a percentage of cards, ranging from 11 to 30%. Only nine other Massachusetts teams were recognized with team ethics and sportsmanship awards this year. I want to send a special congratulations to coach Marco Siri, to our captains, Vivalyn Chavitana, who's grade 12, Josiah Kuyate, grade 11, Grace Mastromatteo, grade 12, and Isabella O'Brien, grade 12, and all members of the varsity and junior varsity teams. For the winter athletic season, our teams are off to a great start, and we're proudly cheering on our basketball, swimming, track, hockey, and gymnastics teams. Also another critically important announcement, our CPAC team, there will be a special CPAC workshop and upcoming tiered focus monitoring review. Please consider joining the Medford CPAC's parent workshop on executive functioning to be held by Zoom at 6 p.m. on Wednesday of this week. Mass General Hospital Inclusion Specialist, Elise Wolf, will discuss concrete strategies parents and caregivers can apply to help teach and foster independence for neurodiverse students at home and in the community. More information is available on the Medford Public Schools website. Also, a very important update. This is related to our special education triennial tiered focus monitoring review. This is taking place during the week of January, 29, the department the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education desi. Office of Public School Monitoring, PSM. They will be conducting a review of Medford Public Schools special education programming. DESE visits each public school in Massachusetts every three years to monitor compliance with federal and state special education and civil rights regulations. In addition to the on-site visit, parent outreach is an important part of the review process. The review chairperson from the Office of Public School Monitoring will send all parents of students with disabilities an online survey that focuses on key areas of their child's special education program. Survey results will contribute to the development of a report. And if caregivers would like to contact the review chairperson to arrange an interview, contact information is also available on our website. The Medford Special Education Parent Advisory Council, CPAC, will host a caregiver orientation to learn about the upcoming special education and civil rights review in our district. The Caregiver Orientation will be held on Tuesday, January 16 next week at 6.30pm by Zoom. Please join us. There are a few upcoming events this week. January 10 Wednesday is early release day for all students, middle schools release at 1130 and all other schools release at noon. On January 14. which is Sunday, it'll be the fifth annual Tufts Classic Medford against Somerville basketball games. That will be starting at 12 noon. And on Monday, January 15th, there will be no school in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So tonight's meeting, This evening's meeting will cover a variety of important topics, including a presentation from a recent Medford graduate. an update on the Roberts Elementary School from our wonderful new principal, Ms. Michelle Crowell, and a discussion on the school calendar for the school year beginning next September. I'm also looking forward to providing an update on my superintendent goals for the current year and recommending the approval of several generous donations to the Medford Public Schools. Thank you for your patience this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. Bowen, can you please come forward? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to say thank you so much again for coming back to share your report with us. Would you mind, and I want to just once again thank Miss Marilyn bloom sack for your generosity, your partnership your collaboration with the Medford public schools, and you're continuing to do it. This presentation that I didn't say at the beginning. is a little deferred because you are out of the country. Would you mind sharing with the committee your wonderful learning experience?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much. And I just also wanted to say thank you again. student that's receiving this special scholarship to participate in this program. And we look forward to hearing her presentation at the end of the school year. But thank you, and thank you for sharing your wonderful learning with us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. So this evening, in your packets you should have received on over the weekend, you have highlighted sections in orange. So I did first present my goals back in October to the committee. And when I originally presented my goals, the committee gave feedback at that time. Everything that is listed in orange is either a revision or redaction or an addition. So under the district improvement goal, During the school year 23-24, the Medford Public Schools will improve the systems and structures that directly impact student services, student and family and communications, and school facilities and operations. And so the goals listed are in the left hand column, and under key actions, I'm only going to speak specifically to the changes that were made under key action number one, we eliminated the word physical and just said improve accessibility at school facilities and develop a maintenance ticket system. Under number four, reestablish the capital planning committee to examine building systems and create a replacement timeline for individual systems. Bullet number six, enhance human resource practices, such as job posting, hiring and payroll management, and to also be inclusive of labor relations. Bullet number seven, preparing and presenting to the committee a timely budget process for FY25. Bullet number eight, or number eight excessive heat protocol for the Medford public schools to be presented to the committee. Number nine, a revised middle school and high school schedule revised middle and high school schedules. Number 10 evidence of full implementation of the new bullying policy. Number 11 outcome of the high school climate study including measures of improvement in number 12, the strategic plan developed with the engagement of a wider audience of stakeholders. Those were all of the additions that were recommended by the committee under key actions, and then outcomes to finalize the employee handbook, which is significantly underway under increased accessibility of parking. pedestrian routes, restroom facilities, building signage and navigational aids, ASL or language interpretation, and closed captioning for video content. So additional verbiage to be more explicit about what the outcomes could be for that bulleted outcome. Under the communications platform, the feedback was to communications platforms such as some more and final site mass notifications are used regularly by all schools and to eliminate the language and student servicing groups because I think it just didn't belong there. Under outcomes on the back of page two on the final bullet was to have increased two way communication with families with a minimum of five additional events for this school year. Moving over to student learning, learning goal under literacy. The goal was to remain intact, but the committee requested that when the data is presented at the end of the year, that the data be disaggregated to show at each school under accountability. And so that language was added at each school for NWEA MAP and at each school for DIBELS, showing the growth from September of 2023 through June of 2024. And my professional practice goal was approved by the committee. So I apologize for the delay in not being able to present these goals before December, but I wanted just to let the committee see this, everything that's highlighted in orange. was the specific feedback that the committee provided at that time. And we carefully replayed the video and the audio to make sure that we captured all of the additions. And so my request to the committee is it's recommendation to approve so that I can actually start executing this work. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We would definitely need to have Yes, I it and from city building and grounds, working with. Maybe you could ask for Paul, Ricky or someone from the city team to support us and as many members as possible, who would like to be part of the capital planning, and the feedback last time was to make sure that it was about the individual systems. based on the video. But I'm I am open to having other other stakeholders be involved, just, you know, for certain meetings. If it gets too too large, then it's it's it's hard to manage and it's hard to accomplish as much as you would like to accomplish.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was actually going to suggest as you were asking about that, which subcommittee could it possibly be folded into or kind of repurpose one of the subcommittee or ask two members of a particular subcommittee to be sitting members or permanent members.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, definitely.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I support that. That recommendation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, through the chair, at the time when I presented in October, we hadn't yet received the wonderful news of December that we were actually approved this time for the MSBA. When I originally presented my goals, I had six key actions. and the six key actions jumped doubled from six to 12. And member Ruseau kind of shared at that time with the committee that there were so many hours in a day. But I'm not afraid to list if there were 25 things that are listed by the time June rolls around, it's either I can make all 25 or you do or you don't. So we're gonna try to do it. In terms of the strategic plan, I have been working with administrators, we have started new programs, curriculum programs. So there is work that is happening, but the fact that we have now been approved to participate in MSBA, there is a lot of work that we're gonna have to do for that. So it's, strategic plan it's not that it's going away that is still our kind of guidebook our blue book that we're referring to, but at the same time, it would make sense to defer it. Like, you know, I can focus on the 11 and then for the beginning of next year which we, you know, will be in that MSBA. phase one process. So all of this work will end up being done like almost again. So we could do something and then what ends up happening as a result of the MSBA is like, throw all of that out and let's start over with something new.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But under outcomes, we did add five additional family community engagement events that will be, those could be about budget, like creating additional opportunities for the community to have that two-way communication. So I do think that there will be additional opportunities for greater community engagement.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Aye.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I was going to say on the school side. Once we had access to the resolution. I was working with the business office and they are working on creating a playground, a playground account where people would be able to go online. Since there will be a press release and all of the other steps that were kind of detailed in the resolution we are working on having something where if people want to give to the playground there will be a specific account created for that so the money would go into that particular account and it is tax deductible so it would be properly documented and so we're working on that but again we just started the ball rolling on that but we would be able to have it on the school side so it could be properly documented, and then kept in that one area, specifically earmarked for the McGlynn playground. So, you know, anyone, any entrepreneurs out there, Miss bloom sack and others. Other wonderful friends and members of the community who want to be part of donating towards the equipment, it'll be there and kept in that sacred account.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Ms. Chen, and wonderful job, wonderful job this evening, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Welcome, Darren. Darren Truong is with us tonight, and we're very happy to have a student representative here this evening. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening and happy holidays. In the midst of the December holiday season, many of us are reflecting on meaningful Hanukkah celebrations that took place last week, or looking forward to the winter solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and a happy new year. On behalf of the Medford Public Schools, I wish the entire school community a safe, restful, and fun school break starting next week. As a reminder, this coming Friday is an early release day for all students, and we will return to classes on Tuesday, January 2nd. 2024, believe it or not. I have a brief MSB update. So before moving on to some special acknowledgements, I want to preview some exciting news regarding Medford's application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority's core program. On behalf of Medford High School, I'll be discussing the latest developments later on this evening as part of tonight's agenda. For our outgoing school committee members, I want to extend special thanks and acknowledgement. Tonight is a special and bittersweet occasion for the school committee because it's the final meeting for three of our dedicated school committee members. In order to recognize and thank them all, I'd like to take a couple of minutes to highlight the impact and accomplishments of each of these members. Ms. Sharon Hayes. Sharon Hayes joined the school committee after being elected in 2021, facing the daunting task of co-leading our school district through the post-pandemic recovery and readjustment period. Throughout her two years on the committee, member Hays has always prioritized her values of transparency and equity. Sharon promoted transparency in her work on formalizing the superintendent evaluation process and in sharing and explaining the work of the school committee in general. She also maintained a strong belief in community voice, particularly the voices of students in school governance and leadership. She has challenged our entire district to always include the voices of all stakeholders through formal channels like surveys and advisory committees and through informal engagement by way of direct conversations and personal contact. Member Hays, I know that our school district will continue to prioritize this kind of vital community voice even after your tenure on the committee. Most of all, Sharon Hayes has been a constant advocate for equity in our school community. Sharon always strives to consider how decisions will affect stakeholders at every level. This commitment to equity is particularly apparent in Sharon's active and earnest advocacy for school counseling and social emotional learning. She is dedicated to prioritizing these sometimes overlooked but essential parts of how our schools care for and educate the whole child. Thank you, Sharon member Hays, for your dedication to the students, employees and educators of the Medford Public Schools. Now the mayor has a special
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On behalf of the Medford Public Schools and the Medford School Committee, we do have a token of appreciation should be due. Member Hays, would you like to? Dr. Fisher? Now I would like to recognize member Kathy Kreatz. Kathy Krutz has diligently served as a member of the school committee for the last eight years. Throughout that time, Kathy has always been a representative and advocate, deeply engaged with the needs and priorities of Medford students. She always shows up for Medford's kids to support them, advocate for them, and cheer them towards their bright futures. As a noted champion of our district's highly lauded career technical education programs, Kathy is known for her strong relationships with CTE staff, students, administrators, and others involved in these incredible and impactful programs. She is our community's ultimate advocate for experiential, hands-on learning. Member Kreatz is well regarded throughout the Medford School community as a consistent, clearly spoken, reflective, and measured leader. Someone who listens carefully and makes thoughtful and even-handed decisions. Speaking for myself, I am deeply grateful for the ways in which Kathy shares her abiding compassion and her particular love for both children and animals. During stressful or eventful times over our tenure together in Medford, Kathy would sometimes share a photo or an anecdote about one of her beloved pets with me. creating wonderful opportunities for us to connect on a personal level, even during difficult moments. Thank you, Kathy, for your eight years of service to the students, employees, and educators of the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Can you please come forward? Last but definitely not least, Mia Mastone. As an eight-year member of the Medford School Committee, member Mia Mastone has made a deep mark on our school community as a true servant leader and an advocate for all students. recognizing that every child is unique and that we must seize every opportunity to improve students' success and well-being. Member Mustone is always realistic, grounded, and focused, making sure that we never miss the chance to attain improvements and success in our schools. Throughout her tenure, Mia always kept track of the pulse of the community across grade levels and disciplines, particularly as a constant and active champion for our fine and performing arts. As a parent and school committee member, Mia is deeply involved in and committed to student life. In addition to her commitment to Medford students, Mia always prioritized making Medford Public Schools a great place to work. Her fair-minded approach and commitment to all staff, from classroom teachers to paraprofessionals and cafeteria staff, have helped make our schools stronger and better. Mia is a leader notable for her humility and thoughtfulness, sometimes the least likely to speak up in a meeting. All who know her share the confidence that anything she does, have to say, will be concise, direct, clear, and respectful. I know I speak for all our school leaders when I thank member Mastone for always trusting and empowering our administrators and educators to do their jobs and to do the right thing. On a personal level, I share a great deal with Mia. We have a common high school alma mater, and Mia graduated with my sister. So we come from similar landscapes of experience and perspective. I have always admired Mia's deep conviction and her personal faith, which have clearly guided her work and service as a member of the Medford School Committee. Thank you, Mia, for your dedication and service to the students, employees, and educators of the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'm so excited to share this news. Last week, after years of applying for the program, Medford High School was invited into phase one of the Massachusetts School Building Authority's core program, which provides substantial reimbursement as high as 60% of all project costs for the renovation or rebuilding of schools. We are grateful to Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg, the MSBA Board of Directors, and our state legislators, Senator Pat Jalen, and Representatives Christine Barber, Paul Donato, and Sean Garbally, for their commitment to city-state partnership on this important priority. Thank you also to the countless Medford High School, MHS and district staff, educators who worked hard on our statement of interest to the MSBA. We also extend a special thanks to the school committee and the city of Medford for your continued support with this process. On Thursday, Medford participated in the first orientation session with MSBA. We're beginning to learn about the timeline, criteria, and process for phase one of the core program, and we're ready to hit the ground running in 2024. We're only at the very beginning of this process. which will truly kick into gear next spring. But for now, we are excited and pleased to celebrate this milestone. In the new year, we'll begin to discuss in greater detail the timeline, priorities, and other steps to advance this great opportunity.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Because it was sent as a requested report, so that was why I hadn't put it as a resolution, because we were using the numbers for resolutions. But we can actually start maybe a new number for requested reports.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: and caregivers, so welcome, welcome, welcome to our school committee meeting this evening. So good evening and happy holidays. December is here, marking the beginning of the holiday season for many different religious denominations and cultures. Many members of our local Jewish community will begin the observance of Hanukkah for eight nights beginning this Thursday evening. Hanukkah, sometimes called the Festival of Lights, is timely and welcome, coinciding with some of the shortest, darkest days of December. Regardless of your religious beliefs, this is the perfect time to seek some extra light and warmth to your dark evenings. So we have many wonderful ongoing holiday fundraisers and I just want to take a moment to recognize them. Our wonderful band members that are here, they are still selling Christmas trees and holiday wreaths. This, this particular fundraiser is a personal favorite of mine. I get to pick a tree and with my daughter and pick some leaves and if you can get out there, they're wonderful quality trees and leaves, and I'm not receiving any commission for this wonderful. Shout out to the band fundraiser, but it is great. It happened this weekend and next weekend. So Saturday and Sunday come out between 10 and four. You can buy a tree or a wreath. And it takes place in the Medford High School parking lot. Again, all proceeds will benefit our wonderful award-winning band and color guard team. Also, we have our sophomore class at the high school. They're working with modern pastry this holiday season. And again, if you want to avoid the crazy lines in the stores, please put in an order. I shared the link last week in my Friday memo. All orders will be accepted until December 14th and all proceeds will support our sophomore class. Also, just for those of you who are here and for the Medford community at large, if you've been anywhere near the McGlynn Andrews Complex campus, the McGlynn Playground has fencing around it right now, and that's for everyone's safety. So we're really excited because the McGlynn School Playground is going to be our new universally accessible schoolyard. So there aren't many in Massachusetts, but it's going to be universally accessible. And I do believe we'll have a lot of visitors from neighboring communities coming to use our new park because it's accessible for all of our young people. So the construction was originally scheduled to begin in the spring. However, the timetable got moved up and demolition is going to be taking place this week with the hope of still completing the playground on time. And if we're lucky, they might even finish a little early. So while the construction is taking place, the playground will be closed to the public during construction. That's the sad bit of news I know for our young folk, but it needs to be closed because it's no longer safe. So we do know that it was short notice, but we were given short notice. And as quickly as we found out, we turned around and made sure that we communicated that to the community. So if the McGlynn Playground was your playground of choice, you now have many other options. Harris Playground, Magoon Playground, Logan, and the newly renovated Morrison Playground. So there are many other options nearby. Work will be taking place between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., and we are working with the construction company, so we want to make sure that we minimize disruption to arrival and dismissal times when you're dropping off and picking up your children. So please, you know, keep us in the loop. Let us know. I do want to extend a very special thank you to our mayor, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, and to the Medford School Committee. We want to thank City Hall staff, teachers, our staff in the schools and administrators. We want to thank our family and community partners. And we also want to thank Shanine Pellequin, who is a parent and a great advocate and expert in the area of playgrounds, lending her expertise to really help us get the best playground possible for our students. So we thank all of you and the community at large for your support. Also, another important update for the community. It's about our elementary literacy screening. Elementary caregivers and families are invited to join our assistant superintendent, Ms. Suzanne Galusi, over there, and our literacy coach, Kristen Howell, for a presentation on early literacy screening for elementary students. You may have already received a message from Ms. Galusi and your student's elementary school about results of your student's screen results and the presentation that will take place will be an excellent presentation and it's going to happen tomorrow, Wednesday, Tomorrow's Tuesday, correct. Wednesday, December 6th at 6.30 p.m. in the McGlynn School Library. Again, this Wednesday, December 6th at the McGlynn School Library, it's on the second floor. There will be an in-person presentation to really help families unpack the assessment. So thank you, Ms. Galussi, and thank you, Ms. Howell, for the presentation that you'll be doing this week. And we just want you to know that administering the early the universal screening. It's crucial to promoting reading success for every child, and we value our partnership with you. Just on a side today I was in a McGlynn school kindergarten classroom. And I got to see some students reading their early readers. They were so excited. I think I was more excited because I'm like, oh, it's only December 4th and you're reading. So our students are doing wonderful things. So have your little ones read to you at home and encourage early literacy and reading. I also just want our listening audience to know that kindergarten registration, which is critically important for us to have accurate numbers of students that are going to be coming to Medford Public Schools next year, that kindergarten registration is going to begin next month. in January. So we start in January and it continues for a few months, but if some of you remember, we did have a surprise this summer at the 11th hour. We had a lot of kindergarten students come and register and we were forced to open additional classrooms, you know, with a very, very short turnaround. So please be on the lookout for those, kindergarten registration opportunities and we will be providing child care and interpretation services. So again, the first event will be taking place on January 16. There are a few important upcoming events that are going to be happening district-wide. On December 5th, which is tomorrow, there is a financial planning webinar with the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority at 7 o'clock on Zoom. please go to the Medford High School website, or you can contact Stacey Shulman for additional information. So for juniors, for seniors, parents who wanna find out information, and possibly if you have even a freshman or a sophomore, and you're an early planner, take advantage of this college financial planning webinar. December 7, as I said earlier, it will mark the first night of Hanukkah, so happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends, families, and neighbors. December 13 and 14, our wonderful band once again and our orchestra holiday concerts are gonna be taking place at Medford High School at 7 p.m. Save the date, mark your calendars, charge your telephones, get ready to take nice pictures and video, record them as well. So December 13th and 14th, save those dates. So I'm gonna just share with you a quick overview of what's gonna happen this evening. Tonight, in addition to welcoming and recognizing our wonderful band and color guard students. We're also going to hear a wonderful presentation from the Missittuck Elementary School today by Principal Kathleen Kaye, and she's here with her assistant principal, Ms. Nancy Sherman Hudson. And we're also gonna hear a wonderful presentation from the principal of the Andrews Middle School principal, Ms. Jennifer Skane, and her assistant principal, Ms. Farrah Riley, is here as well. So we look forward to hearing both of your presentations this evening. We're also gonna hear a presentation this evening by Ms. Galussi, Mr. DeLava, and Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli about our district's NWEA map results. So that's our, again, in-district assessment. I wanna just go now and recognize, because we're getting ready to tee up for our wonderful band members and color guard. Last month, our Mustangs placed not third, not second, but first place at the NESBA finals. Can we give them a round of applause? We're so proud of you. They received a platinum medal. And in addition to being the New England Division II champs, they also took home an award for best music, best visual, best overall effect, and best color guard. This is a first in Medford band history. And as a community, we're so proud to celebrate these exemplary Mustang musicians and performers. Can we give them one more round of applause? So, in recognition of this huge accomplishment, we're very pleased to present each of our students with a certificate on behalf of the entire Mustang community. Many thanks to Ms. Haley Weller, Coordinator of Fine Arts and Band Director, and Ms. Jackie Gaffney, assistant band director, for their hard work in supporting the band program, and our deepest gratitude to the parents, caregivers, and families of our band and color guard students for being their biggest fans and boosters. So thank you to all of you. At this time, I'd like to present with Mayor Wendell Kern, each student with their certificate, and then we'll figure out a way to take a photo with the entire school committee. So please hold your applause if you can until all the names have been read, because I do believe we have 48 wonderful students to recognize. Elijah Adamink. I apologize.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Gian Artaris. Congratulations. Nobutaka Ashihara. Kenza Balula. Alana Bruno. Micaela Callahan. Mandy Chow. Angel Colbert. Lucia Sataki. And Christine Dezotel. Lucia. Ann Doops. Charlotte Foti. Margaret Fowler.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Topper Fowler. Davis Frymark. Violet Frymark. Gavin Dania. And Gemma Giardino. Gagney. Thank you, Gavin. I thought it was French, my bad. Julia Halam Baker. And Sydney Hamill. Benjamin Hayes. Alexander Hopper. Taria Indana. Lennox Lafleur. And Kian Lau. Marcella Lucas. And Carmela Nogori. Charles Nguyen. Harrison Numa. Declan Mustone. Nevin Mustone. Lauren Mustone. Aya Najjar. Aya Najjar. And Maeve Nicholas. Addison Mitchie. and Isabel Olivera. Deja Parkinson and Bethaya Pierce. Lindsay Quinn. And Nathan Quinn. Desiderio Sessa. Magdela Rae Takeli. And Stanley Tang. Matt Delawid. Benjamin Roers. And Jonas Roers. Jane Ryan. And Sarah Youssef. Margie Vesra. Maria, I apologize.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You guys want to come up here?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, all seven of us. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Missituk is first. And Ms. Sherman-Hudson, you're more than welcome to... She's here. Thank you for being here tonight.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin. I just wanted to restate that as I was listening to the conversation that was being had, when I think about the MAP assessment data, it was said earlier at the beginning that this truly is a tool that should be used by the teacher to help inform her instruction To member McLaughlin's point how she's going to differentiate with students. I received this exact same parent report for my own child who's in elementary school, and when I've had my parent conference meetings. where they pull out the, they talk about the quadrants, but they also end up saying, these are the areas where your child has strengths, and these are the areas where you need to continue to monitor and work with your child. And so, Alexia, ST Math, those, you know, in my where the braid my daughter is currently in everything is online for homework. So it's, you know, part of its Lexia part of its math part of its I ready, and they are monitoring the progress, and earlier on, I believe it was Dr Riccadeli talked about. how some of these supportive programs like ST Math, they adjust Lexia, they adjust to where the child, if you're doing well on the assessment, then you will continue to do well. They make the adjustments on an individualized basis. So what is, I almost feel like where we're getting a little caught up is that, yes, a teacher is able to look at that quadrant graph and see where her whole entire class falls, but she also was able to drill down and see how each student is performing. And before in Medford, we never had a system or an internal assessment system where we could monitor students' progress across the schools and have it be normed data that we were referencing or using that. So I do feel like there is a place for NWEA MAP to support instruction and to help teachers be able to say, oh, I am gonna need to spend a little more focused attention or do another mini lesson or a reteach because I had so many students that struggled with the concept or the opposite. wow, my students are doing fabulous with operations and algebraic thinking. So that's not an area I can share that data with the students, congratulate them, say pat yourselves on the back. We need to spend a little bit more time on measurement and data or number and operations and really target it that way. So this is just to really share with the committee because initially the committee, you know, did ask for demographic data, EL data, special students with disabilities data. So trying to pull as much data as possible to just share on a global level to say this is where the district is. but in the opening when the RIT scores were shared to show where is Medford Public Schools in comparison to the nation. And for the most part, we're on par, and in some areas we're outperforming the national RIT scores, and in other areas we are not. The MCAS data that was shared, where it kind of gives you the predictor of where they think you're going to perform, and then we don't find out until we actually take the MCAS. So, I feel even that predictive aspect of the NWEA map is really beneficial because yes, they're saying what students are not meeting expectations, what students are exceeding expectations, and then the students that fall in the meeting and partially meeting. So it gives you a ballpark. It's not set in stone, but at least you do have an idea of the direction that you're moving in for the time being. So I just wanted to say that this really is a tool that should be used and is being used at the school level by the teachers and it can be shared with parents during report card conferences, during SST meetings. Data might even be taken into some of the IEP meetings or EL meetings, progress report, progress monitoring on English language development. But I just wanted to stress that this is a tool to help us better gauge where our students are at. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you and good evening. I, too, want to welcome all of our new members to your very first member elect to the Medford School Committee. So welcome aboard and welcome to our students. And I know we'll be able to meet the other students in the coming weeks, but welcome to all of you. So good evening, Thanksgiving break is almost here. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to thank all our parents, caregivers, students, staff, everyone in the MPS community who has truly been generous this time of year. We've had multiple drives at almost all of our schools, collecting canned goods and really giving back to the community and to those in need, to food pantries, to churches. And it's just been extreme generosity of our Medford community. And I want to thank everyone for thinking of others during this Thanksgiving season. I also wanna say that this week being Thanksgiving week, Wednesday, November 22nd is early release day, early release for everyone. So please keep in mind if your child is at the middle schools, they get out at 1130, the high school and elementary schools get out at noon. So that's important for this Wednesday. Thursday, as you know, is Thanksgiving. Friday, Black Friday for shopping. So it's a wonderful long weekend. If you're traveling, please be safe on the roads. I have some great news to share about some wonderful accomplishments across Mustang Nation. So on Saturday, 13 students from the Model United Nations Club from Medford High School, they traveled to Catholic Memorial slash the Ursuline Conference in West Roxbury. And over 200 students from across the region attended this conference. The students did wonderfully, and our team earned five awards. So congratulations to all of them. On the 30-year award committee, Evan Russell and Shane Chaudry earned honorable mentions in their delegate roles. On the Venezuelan crisis committee, Brian DePosito earned the People's Choice Award and Outstanding Delegate. And on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Darlene Truong, who's here today, congratulations, earned Outstanding Delegate. So congratulations, yes. Congratulations to our wonderful students. Also at the high school, the robotics team was invited to demonstrate their roof, their auto view, their underwater robot. At today's ribbon cutting for the Blue Tech Lab in Bedford, a state-of-the-art all-weather maritime test facility. Some of the dignitaries in attendance were Senator Ed Markey, NOAA NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad, and Rear Admiral John W. Mauger, U.S. Coast Guard, Dr. Spinrad of the U.S. Coast Guard. Thank you. Dr. Spinrad, the NOAA Administrator specifically asked for an audience with our students. very proud of them. We also want to say good luck to our Andrews Middle School student. This is a first time, Nathan Betancourt, who is one of three young athletes representing the United States this week at the 2023 Mini GP World Series Motorcycle Race in, I'm ready for this, Valencia, Spain. Nathan qualified for the race in Valencia, his first international competition. After finishing among the top three racers in the NATO America Mini Cup Series earlier this year, Nathan has been featured in the Boston Globe just this past weekend. So we wanna say good luck to Nathan overseas and we know he'll do well. So congratulations to our middle schooler, Nathan. In the world of athletics, all eyes are on our football team as we look forward to, yes, the 136th matchup of Medford and Malden. So we want to thank everyone who's able to come out and support the game this Thursday in advance. We want to wish the best to our football team, our cheer team, and our award-winning Medford-Mustang marching band and color guard. And so again, this is the second oldest matchup in the United States. 136 years is amazing, nothing to sneeze at. So I wish our Medford Mustangs success as we've had such a successful year this season. Also, we had many, many festivities that kicked off last week. Our senior class defeated the juniors in a Mustang Puff flag football game at Hormel Stadium. and both our JV and United Unified football teams had great wins against Malden on Thursday. So congratulations to all of our athletes. With the end of the fall athletic season, we want to congratulate and commend all of our Mustang student athletes on another great season of great sportsmanship. Whatever sport you play, We also want to sincerely thank our dedicated coaches, caregivers, and fans. Also, I just want to recognize A special donation of a partnership and a discount program. K&G men's company of Somerville has donated. The amount is small. However, it was a percentage of what was purchased. And this is something that will grow. But they did donate $34.20 back to the district based on a percentage of what was sold. And we want us to continue to work with them and they will continue to give a percentage back to the district. And this was for prom clothing purchases. So we're very grateful for that partnership from the spring of 23 with K and G men's company of some of our. And again, because the donation was less than $50, the school committee is not required to formally approve the contribution. But we wanted to definitely acknowledge a great program and say thank you, a special thank you to K&G. Again, if people use K&G, they provide a 10% discount for our students. So we hope that that is something that continues to grow for year 2024. I want to recognize some of our speech and language pathologists. They attended the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. ASHA is how it's referred to. It took place in Boston this year. The ASHA convention is one of the largest professional development events for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech-language and hearing scientists. bringing together approximately 15,000 attendees. The annual convention offers more than 2,500 sessions eligible for ASHA Continuing Ed credit. It's covering the latest research, clinical skills and techniques in communication, sciences and disorders. So our Medford speech language staff will share what they learned with one another at upcoming staff meetings. Thank you to all of our Medford educators and staff who are committed to being lifelong learners and advancing their professional knowledge and skills. I am bringing the announcements to a close. Please remember this November 22nd on Wednesday, it is early release day, 1130 release for middle school, noon time for high school and elementary schools. Also at the high school, we will be having our wonderful traditional pep rally that's at the high school only. Again, on Thanksgiving day, our game will be taking place at 10 o'clock. It's a horn game at Hormel. If you're able to buy the tickets in advance, you get a discount, a slight discount, $5 at the gate. Also, tonight's meeting, just for you to know what's coming up, I am very happy to welcome two of our wonderful principals, Mr. Andy O'Brien at McGlynn Elementary and Mr. Nicholas Tucci, who are our principals who will be sharing exciting news from their schools. Over the next few school committee meetings, we'll continue to invite our principals to present to the community so that you and the entire community can hear directly from our schools. Following that presentation, Dr. Cushing will present the always anticipated school year calendar for 24-25. And once again, I wanna wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and a cheerful start to the holiday season. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if a student were to feel uncomfortable, they could use a different single stall, a separate changing area. So that's an option for all students. So if they don't wanna be in a large area, they have access to smaller areas where they could change privately. So we do have that available private spaces that students can go in and use to change if they would like to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think with April of 24 deadline. The exception I would possibly ask if I were to push it to me first would be if additional policies were added. So case in point this year. the committee met during the summer and we had a policy that was approved in August. So because it was approved in August, this April 1 deadline, if the handbook had been finalized, we would be doing either addendums or reprinting and doing it over again. So if we were to maintain that April 1 date, then we would need to make sure that policy subcommittee meetings that would need to be added into the handbook happened prior to April 1 so that we wouldn't be doing work two and three times over, just making one revision. If we think we're able to maintain that by April of April 1st of every year, then I think that's reasonable. But if we think we might need the month of April and make May be the cutoff so that we could have the handbooks finalized and ready to go for the start of the school year in August, then that would be my one consideration to the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with the March 1st, 2024 deadline, where the committee wants to be able to review revisions, my ask would be of the committee from March 1st to April 1st, that gives 30 days to essentially review the entire handbook and make sure like, if anything else is gonna be, is that enough time for the committee?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you, Mayor. And thank you, students. I just wanted to say that I was just really pleased listening today, hearing your three major topics of homework policy, backpacks. And I'm excited about the school spirit week that's going to kick off next week. I am interested to hear what you're going to just say about what else you would like to see at the high school. But I'm just looking forward to having more sessions so that we're really taking your feedback to make the high school become the best high school in the state. And I also want to thank your assistant principal, Sheila Freitas-Haley, and your principal, Ms. Marta Cabral, for their leadership I'm working with you and Dr. Cushing from my senior team working with you as well. So just thank you for bringing your authenticity. And I do look forward to reading your homework policy document more carefully, because I know I wasn't able to read everything online, but thank you for taking the time to actually produce a beautifully written document to explain your rationale. So I just wanted to comment and say thank you, and I'm really pleased with what you've done thus far. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Switching back and forth between the screen, so I apologize. I was on the document.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just was going back to read the section that you were saying, Democrats, you said page
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in response to several of your questions, member Pritz, for students, depending on what grade level the students are at, the principal is deeply involved. I know Mr. Tucci has his hand raised from the middle school level, but at the elementary, middle, and even at the high school level, the parents, families, work closely with school administration, the nursing office, our guidance, our, you know, counseling and behavioral health, Stacey Shulman's department. So we work collaboratively with families at that point in time in terms of if we have students whose names are officially changing, that will go through registration, again, working in collaboration with the principal. that information will be done through the registration office. So in the official database, the child's new name would be recognized, and that's what we would have officially documented. And as the students go through the different levels, when they come to the high school again, member Hays was just sharing what the students can do, but some of that information the district is already aware of. And again, we do have a lot of Councilors available that work with our students and work with families combined also our health services. So our nursing department would be also deeply involved. So it is something where depending on the age, of the student. If it is a younger age student, elementary age, the parents are usually the ones who are expressing that desire and working collaboratively with the principals to let them know this is you know, how I would like my child to be addressed. So there is significant communication with the principals, with school administration, the health services department, and our counseling department, and working collaboratively with registration. So it is something that we've had to deal with, and it's been dealt with appropriately, you know, I would say. I hope I've responded to your question, Member Kreatz.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so I'm gonna just take it. I was referring, when I was looking at it, I was looking at it in our original agenda. So just give me a minute. I'm gonna throw it into a clean Google Doc. So it'll, I'll try to do pages four, five, six, seven, and I'll pull it up right now. So just give me one moment and I'll pull it up that way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't have a problem. I'll pull it up in a separate doc. I won't have your suggestion. So if you're willing to just say them again, I can do that and start writing in a different color.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Right. Member Graham?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just made it a little larger, so hopefully people can see it on the screen. Thank you, superintendent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. I was trying to find that exact location.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. Right there. And in this section, can you just repeat that?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Or could the comment just be in compliance with the state's regulations so that, or to specifically spell out K through H, or younger than 14 years old, in collaboration with parents?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm sorry, member Ruseau, can you just point me to where that is so I can make that correction?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, Amber Graham, what do you got?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I, I just wanted to say in. With the work that's happening already on the other policies that it would be in our best interest just to have it one place, because based on the comments that were made earlier. If we have certain portions of a policy listed multiple places. The likelihood of having it be the exact same wording is when you just get into having policies that end up contradicting one another. So I too am in support of striking those two sections. We have a very robust dress code policy already in place. And the health and wellness PE policy is actively being worked on right now that I think it doesn't need to be here. And just based on our own past practice, whether it's phys ed and the sports, we already have teams on our football team. We do have, you know, female students who have participated on the team as well. And so MIAA works with the districts. So I kind of feel like it's not necessary. And we've made substantive revisions thus far on the remaining sections. So I just, you know, wanted to just add that as my two cents, but I defer to the committee. Member Hays.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to begin this evening with a reflection on the challenging week that so many in our community have experienced with the outbreak of war in Israel. As this conflict continues to escalate, we should take some time to think about how the news from Israel and Palestine might affect our students. More and more of the devastation and violence is being shown on social media, from news outlets to individual accounts. Content moderators on many platforms are overwhelmed and ill-equipped, meaning that all social media users are likely to encounter graphic or misleading content. We strongly, strongly encourage our caregivers of our younger students to closely monitor any online activity to ensure that children are not being exposed to inappropriate content. We also agree with advice from experts that older children with access to the internet should be encouraged to be skeptical of videos shared on social media and offered help with evaluating the news sources that they are using. We are here for all of our community, especially those with loved ones and friends facing the atrocities of this war firsthand. We strongly condemn the terror attacks perpetuated by Hamas. Moreover, we join our community in grief for the lives broken and lost in this last week. Amid these upsetting events, I am reminded of how fortunate and privileged we are to live in a safe and loving community here in Medford. I hope we can all stand together to support our neighbors and community members in this difficult moment.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Medford High School will be hosting an open house for our eighth graders. Grade eight students and their families are invited to attend the Medford High School open house on Thursday, October 26th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the high school. Students can meet the principals, administrators, teachers, and current students and ask them questions about their experiences at Medford High School. There will also be opportunities to visit and tour vocational shops, learn about athletics and extracurricular programs, and enter to win giveaways. Medford High School is excited to welcome the class of 2028. Also for the community to know that there are free English classes for caregivers of English learner students. In collaboration with the Welcome Project and the Medford Public Library, Medford Public Schools is hosting free English classes for Medford families starting tomorrow, October 17th. Please visit our website, mps02155.org, to register for classes or obtain more information. All information is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Haitian Creole. Classes will be held in person and virtually. More good news in the area of athletics. Our boys and girls cross country bested Chelsea in home meets last week. Girls' and boys' varsity and junior varsity soccer teams notched wins last Thursday against Malden, with girls' varsity continuing a strong winning streak. Mr. Rocco's here, Sieri, coach. The middle school baseball and softball teams both bested Somerville in games on Tuesday. After Mustang football's 20-0 victory over Somerville on October 5th, the Boston Globe High School sports section recognized two students from Medford Public Schools, our defensive end, Sam Nazair, and running back, Stephens Exeter, as players of the week. Congratulations to these two senior student athletes and the entire team on a terrific showing. Also, Medford High School Unified Basketball had a big win over Everett on Wednesday. Great work and congratulations to all of our unified athletes. A few key important dates I just wanna share with the committee and the community. Wednesday, October 18th is our early release day for all students. Again, middle schools will be released at 11.30 a.m. and all other schools, it's a 12 noon dismissal this Wednesday. On Thursday again, October 26th is the grade eight open house for all rising ninth graders. in Medford Public Schools and those that are in private or charter schools, they are all welcome. Other events are included weekly in my Friday memo, so please make sure to pay attention and read that as well. So I just want to foreshadow what is to happen this evening during tonight's meeting. I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off at our last meeting with an update on the implementation status of the committee's goals for the current school year and a proposal for my own superintendent's goals. The Medford School Committee has a uniquely prominent role in long-term planning, goal setting, and visioning for the district. And I look forward to working with the members to develop superintendent goals, which harmonize with and complement our districts ambitions and priorities. I'll also provide a presentation on the results of the Medford High School climate and culture survey conducted last spring. As I will discuss in my presentation, the survey represents a snapshot in time, which I hope we can utilize as a benchmark and a point of comparison against future student-oriented surveys and feedback. I want to say thank you to the members for recommending changes to the presentation of the data in the full report to improve clarity. I hope that the updates we have made will make this data more useful to the committee and the community. With that, I would like to turn things over to Dr. Cushing, who will be providing an update on the formation of the Student Advisory Council at Medford High School. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Based on the students requesting immediately after school, I can work with Ms. Malone to send out calendar holds for like a 2.30 to 3.30 block of time, maybe a one hour block and then everyone will get it if that's helpful.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm willing to reach out to MASC and if we need to post it as a, I don't know, special meeting, student advisory special meeting to be held at the high school, maybe we can use the library or a larger open space.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm not sure if Dr. Cushing you're able to share it, if that's a possibility. Thank you. So these are draft goals for school year 23-24. And the first goal is our district improvement goal.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The district improvement goal for the draft goal, again, I'm waiting for additional feedback from the committee, is that during the school year 23-24, the Medford Public Schools will improve systems and structures that directly impact student services, student and family and communications, and school facilities and operations. Our goals are to continue to maintain a learning environment built upon the pillars of safety, equity and consistency, creating a culture that values consistent communication and safe and accessible school facilities for all. So there were six key actions that were proposed. And the first key action was again, improving physical accessibility at school facilities, and developing a maintenance ticket system. That was recommended by the committee as well. Consistent communication to families across all schools, including student services such as athletics, counseling, career services, and student governance. Three, effective and appropriate and consistent messaging during any emergency scenario. for reestablish the capital planning committee to examine building systems in creating a replacement timeline. Five, seizing every opportunity to collaborate with MSBA to improve facilities and building systems. And we do have another meeting scheduled this week on October 19th with MSBA. Again, informational meetings for all districts that have applied to MSBA. And number six, Enhancing our human resource practices, such as job postings hiring and payroll management. And so some of the proposed outcomes would be increasing accessibility and parking pedestrian restroom facilities communication platforms, such as some more and final site. Our mass notification systems that are going to be used regularly and consistently by all schools and student servicing groups. We would like to have well documented model communications and templates that are going to be utilized by all school administrators. and officials so that, again, things are standardized and streamlined for any kind of emergency communication scenario. A capital planning committee, reviews of every single school would be one of our outcomes and streamlined and more effective job postings and onboarding procedures for our staff. So these were the draft recommended district improvement goals. I want to just move to our student learning goals, which are, we continue to use literacy as our student learning goal, an area that we really want to focus in on and continue to develop greater strategies and strengths. So again, our student learning goal would be to assess literacy skills and implementing interventions in literacy to improve outcomes by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of literacy practices. while maintaining a district wide focus on instruction and assessment through the continued use of our in-house system NWEA map dibbles, and our newly adopted literacy program into reading. And so the goal is similar to last year. However, we have catered it to really be specific to where we are at this point in time. So we have six key actions. Again, many of them were repeated from last year, but the work continues. So this is kind of now that we've officially selected our literacy program into reading. We want to do all of the things possible to continue to make sure that that programming and the significant financial investment really has the opportunity to get really strong traction within the district. So we will continue as a district to follow DESE's, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's dyslexia guidance, which we've been doing for multiple years. So we're using inter-reading. We're also doing ECRI, which stands for Enhanced Core Reading Instruction. And we're using DIBLS, which I mentioned earlier, but it stands for the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. And those assessments are used, DIBLS is used with our youngest learners. Again, tier one ELA blocks in all grades for kindergarten to grade two. district wide, and we have a continued partnership with Hill for Literacy. During the 23-24 school year, there is embedded professional development. Last week I had the opportunity to participate in professional development with the Missittuck School, third grade. And so coaching is being provided that's going to really support instruction and help teachers to look at their specific literacy data. We will continue to use NWEA map again as our district in-house district assessment so that we can have baseline beginning of year data, middle of year data, and then end of year data. So we can monitor our own progress and growth. And we will continue to work with our elementary district literacy leadership team, the DLLT. So there's a lot of work happening in literacy it's critical work right now. And we are beginning to see really positive payoff outcomes from that. So we list some of the outcomes, scope and sequence for grades K to five. Medford Public Schools is establishing data cycles that are going to be measuring our performance. Again, this is a new area that we are really formally entering, working with partners and collaborators. And one of our outcomes where we're saying visible implementation of the science of reading the best practices that are taking place during our literacy blocks. We have that listed as an outcome because again we've made a significant investment with every hill for literacy, and now with into reading. And so the expectation is that this is what is being used every day in all of our classrooms. So accountability measures, we would like to see under NWEA map, 65% of our students in grades two through 10 to meet or exceed their projected growth targets on the NWEA map assessments. We would like to see for dibbles 90% of our elementary students, that they will make at least 10% growth in oral reading fluency. And that's words read correctly by June of 24. And for professional development, Medford public schools will continue to provide targeted targeted professional development for our elementary staff with inter-reading training every month during the 23-24 school year. My final goal is the professional practice goal. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. And that is to engage. I am continuing. No, Dr. Cushing, I'm actually using the screen share. Thank you. I am part of the superintendent, the BIPOC Superintendent Support Network of Massachusetts. And I still am participating with Leading Now, which is a national superintendent network. And so participating in these two particular networks are providing me with a lot of current information to be able to continue to do this work. In modern day times, we support one another, we work with one another, we look at race equity diversity and inclusion in education. We, I attend monthly sessions. Earlier today, I was part of the superintendent support network, where ma SS. Mr. Tom Scott and Mary Bork, they participate as well in the first half of those professional development sessions, and we tack it tackle current problems of practice that Massachusetts is facing, or. challenges that are happening across the nation. And so that is the work that I'm doing. The key expected outcomes, again, are to leverage the expertise and collective knowledge of other colleagues in the state of Massachusetts and nationally, continuing to lead and learn about the impacts and the importance of REDI in education, and participating in continued collaboration with Middlesex County DA, Marion Ryan's office, who presents current problems of practice and challenges that Middlesex County is facing, not only in Medford, but again, across the county to be able to better support our students here in Medford and the community. So those are my proposed goals, and I await your feedback. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely add under outcomes increased two-way communication over the course of the year, because there are some events that take place at schools Depending on what is happening where I may be able to go and attend as well. I, and I appreciate you sending this to me. I just was waiting for you to share it with the entire committee. So, I think it can be a combination. of either coffee hour, or the PTO meeting some some take place virtually, or other types of parent engagement events. So I am open to that, and I can have that added as increased under outcomes, increased two-way communication opportunities with families, including coffee hours or special events at schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So do you want the entire goal to change?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what I'm writing right now is increased two-way communication, increased two-way communication with families, with a minimum of five events over the course of the school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, I think where my, my caution was just where some of the schools do have different programs, and we do have some different demographics. Our goal is definitely to see growth for all of our students. I was not sure if it would end up. potentially showing the data that maybe one school may outperform other schools. But we want to see progress and growth at every single school. So I was trying to see if we could just combine everyone and see how are we moving as an entire district because we are looking at our data. We do disaggregate it and look at it through other lenses as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would just, if that's the will of the committee, I just would want us to be sure that we have a disclaimer knowing that some schools have different populations. So students are maybe acquiring English at different rates. And so they may not perform as well as some of the other schools. And just that that's taken into consideration, that they are making progress. but they're just making progress at a different rate. And some of our, so that was where there was reservation on my part, but, you know, that is a possibility.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't have the growth for oral reading fluency for last year's data at hand right now. So I can definitely work on getting that data to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely can remove the word physical and just have it say increase accessibility. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for some pieces of equipment that might be near their end of life.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, systems.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we do, we do have, we don't have students right now using some more, but We have principals, we have some administrators that are using this some more and the final site. So anything that would be communicating outwards from the district perspective, we would be having it all looped in to some more and final site. But if the student servicing groups is just needs to be wordsmith, I can take that off and just say, communication platforms, such as some more and final site mass notifications are used regularly by all schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I couldn't tell you. Yeah, definitely. I mean, that's only on the, I'm not even looking sometimes at the other email. So 100 is fair.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, my days are long. I actually am a night owl, so I stay late and I continue to work at home.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But for other people, I mean, 16 hours, 11 o'clock, and I'll time them to go out at in the morning, like 630. So I usually don't go down until close to midnight on average.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I have and so have members of the team.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The committee received a packet, and the packet gives a more detailed breakout. But for the purposes of this presentation, I would like to go through this slide deck and present the key highlights from the Culture and Climate Survey that took place last year at the high school. The survey questions were developed last year by Medford Public Schools and the Medford Department of Health It was open to all of our high school students between May 18 and June 6 of this school year. 736 students participated in the survey, just over 60% of our students. At that time, we had 1,222 students enrolled. Students were given designated times during their English classes to complete the survey. The survey was also translated into five languages so that students who were English learners had the opportunity to participate in the survey in their native language. And just I want to share that the results of this culture and climate survey are truly a snapshot. and don't necessarily reflect what is happening right now at the high school. So during the survey, there were eight categories, cultural awareness and action, diversity and inclusion, school belonging, school climate, school engagement, school safety, student teacher relationships, and valuing of school. As I said in my previous remarks, but I do want to preface before I go further with this presentation, that this survey was a benchmark, and we want to use the results of the survey as the beginning point so that we can measure progress and growth and use this data in a most meaningful way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The eight categories, as we analyzed and looked carefully at the data and the responses, the areas as a school that we felt were strong areas, our strengths, were school belonging, school engagement, and valuing of schools. The area that was varied right in the middle was cultural awareness and action, school safety, and student-teacher relationships. The areas for growth that were identified from the survey, according to our interpretation, were diversity and inclusion and school climate.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It was varied. The question was, how often students learn about, discuss, and confront issues of race, ethnicity, and culture in their school? A significant minority of respondents, our students, agreed that students at Medford High School were teased or picked on about their race or ethnicity or based upon their cultural background or religion. An area that we identified as an area for growth fell in the category of diversity and inclusion. which talked about the level of diversity integration and fairness for students of different races, ethnicities cultures and abilities or identities, about 40%. responded that they agreed that at Medford High School, students were teased or picked on based on their physical or intellectual disability, or based upon their real or perceived sexual orientation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The Medford School Committee proposed and approved the new bullying prevention and intervention plan for this school year. So our next steps as a district, October 15th, principals reviewed our bullying plan, the revised bullying prevention and intervention plan with their staff during school-based staff meetings. at our upcoming November 7th meeting on there will be a bullying presentation during the morning session of district wide professional development. And later during the month of November, we will be having a parent presentation by an outside presenter who will be coming to present to our greater community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm sorry. Under school belonging, we identified that as a strength. How much students feel that they are valued members of the community, 90% felt that they belonged and they were accepted in the community. It was clear for us that the majority felt that they had many chances to be part of class discussions, extracurricular activities, and school-sponsored events and activities. Two-thirds of the students felt that they are part of the school. At the same time, an area for growth was school climate. That was the overall social and learning climate of the school. A substantial number agreed that people of different backgrounds get along well at Medford High School and more and that was really saying about greater than 80% and more than two thirds didn't feel that students are often bullied. An area that students clearly identified as an area for growth to support a healthy climate had to do with school bathrooms and school grounds and that they didn't feel they were sufficiently maintained last year. So there were mixed results, measures related to healthy and effective conflict resolution and discipline. So that is an area we know that we will continue to target and work on specifically. Moving forward, our action items for that Student bathrooms, including gender neutral bathrooms are available on each floor throughout this throughout the school day assistant principals and building monitors and engagement specialists conduct regular walkthroughs of the hallway common and bathroom spaces so we have. additional structures in place where we're receiving timely feedback in order to ensure that those areas are being maintained. Custodians are conducting regular cleaning schedules on all of our bathrooms and facilities and grounds. They've adopted a new landscaping routine to improve the Medford High School campus. Also Medford High, we have submitted an MSBA application for the renewal to have a new and improved high school with the desire of long-term improvements. Page 11, please. Under student voice, Medford High School is committed to continued events is committed to continued efforts to build school community and expand opportunities for student voice and leadership. So there are regular student advisory blocks with community building activities built in. There are facilitated activities now during lunch and other opportunities for students to engage using the gymnasium. We are building, continuing to build community through the house model and additional student feedback is going to be gathered through follow-up surveys and student group sessions. Our assistant principals are also going to be trained on increasing student voice, opportunities for greater student voice. Page 12. Another area of strength was school engagement, student attentiveness and investments in the school. Nearly all respondents indicated that there were positive measures on school engagement. 88% agreed that a teacher or another adult at school would notice their absence. And 90% felt that they have the opportunity to participate in class discussions or activities. And 93% reported that there are many opportunities for student involvement in activities outside of the classroom. Again, that was a great area of strength. varied, again, student physical and psychological safety within the school. Again, we did have 60% of students agree that they feel safe at school, but many also felt that students at the school regularly fight, steal, or use substances such as drugs or alcohol at school. 80% of respondents said that there is a teacher or some other adult who students can go to if they need help because of sexual assault or dating violence. So they do feel that there is a trusted adult who would be able to provide support in the event of those situations. Under student-teacher relationships, that was identified as an area that was varied. And this is the strength of social connections between students and teachers within and beyond the school. 70% felt that they had strong social connections with their teachers within and beyond the school. And most of them felt that their teachers cared about them. However, at the same time, there was a minority of 45% of respondents that felt adults working at the school did not treat all students with respect. And so that is something where we are working on all of that together. And we identified that as varied because there were different results. Another area that was identified as a strength was valuing a school, how much do students feel that school is interesting, important, and useful? 55% of the students indicated that the things they're learning in school are important to them and connected to life outside of the school. And 90% responded that their teachers expect them to do their best. And 73% felt that they could talk to a teacher or adult at the school about something that was bothering them. So when we opened, I showed this screen, and again, the areas that we identified as clear strengths were school belonging, school engagement, and valuing of school. The areas that were varied were cultural awareness and action, school safety, and student-teacher relationships. And the areas for growth were diversity and inclusion and school climate. I say once again that this survey was given at the end of last school year, and that we are looking at this data as a benchmark, and not a report card. Our intention is to continue with the reforms that have taken place thus far. remedies and improvements that are clearly underway at the high school to lead to more favorable responses in the future culture and climate surveys that will be given this year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, the rate the race equity task force, and we have not reconvene this year. So we need to select new students, and, but we have not started this year yet, the race equity task force. This is the first time this data is being presented to the committee first. We have not shared it with staff or the greater community yet. We wanted to present the data here. And again, even as we looked at all of the categories, you take the information, where the pluses were, where the deltas were, and where there were mixed results, and look at that and say, okay, where are we going to improve? You know, where were the low-hanging fruit? What was the low-hanging fruit? What few things could we do immediately? Where some of the areas where we had some of the really low marks, we were able to put some changes in right away to start tackling those areas. And then some of these areas which are more complex, working collaboratively, you know, using our advisory blocks and other opportunities where students are together to be able to have conversations with our students. Again, you don't know until you get the data. And then once you have the data, you say, okay, how are we going to use this to inform our next steps? you know, we realize that this was a snapshot in time, but we also realize like we still have work to do, but we need to share it with the other stakeholders as well. So they can look at it and unpack the data for themselves and see the responses of the students and then, you know, go forward with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I know they're thinking about somewhere around the halfway point in the new year to potentially do another check in with the students to see where now that they've been in school for a full semester. I do, I cannot say the specific date for the next survey administration. And even with taking this data. You know when when we started to present last week and it's a very valid point, depending on which question was being asked. it's it was confusing was it favorable or unfavorable so. If we give it exactly the same way, as it is, then we could just be comparing apples and apples if we do. make the adjustments, then it's going to be different information. I don't know if the questions could be asked in a different way, but so that's something that I would definitely have to bring back to the team to just see do we give the exact same questions as is and just see how they respond. So then we'd have two sets of numbers that are Even though the favorable and unfavorable is confusing, it would be the same exact way it was given the first time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Attendance last year, once we were dealing with the situation at the high school, we kind of went into a different mode. We had fluctuating attendance. We were meeting by Zoom on Mondays. So sometimes we would have some students attend. Sometimes it didn't work out with their schedules so there was a lot of scheduling challenges. Sometimes people's work schedule didn't always work out. So, I want to. reach out to the families or the parents and caregivers that originally said they want to be able they want to continue to be part of the equity task force and see how many people we end up with. And then do we need to open it up to others. So we can have a manageable number. And we talked about different, different topics. This data again, is new information that we didn't have before. So this definitely would have been data that would have been shared with the Race Equity Task Force to have a conversation with them as thought partners and be able to say this is some of the data that students are saying and, you know, get feedback and suggestions from them as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just requesting approval from the committee for the 10,000. The implementation plan is going to be developed by assistant superintendent Lucy and our coordinator Suzanne fee. And it is expected that the plan will be completed in the very near future. So my recommendation is that the school committee approved this generous and appreciated donation to the Medford public schools for CCSR.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Like it could go either way but I do have more data to provide that's not my preference would be if they could present the full packet, and then I think it will, it'll tell more of a picture of the entire district. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. If I may, through the chair, I just want to really stress that The new elementary schedule allows for common planning time on a weekly basis, and that never existed before in Medford. And that's a critical lever, a critical tool that if you're able to meet weekly with your grade level peers and look at data, look at student work, bring different writing samples, compare, use rubrics, conduct the learning walks, all of that is the critically important instructional work that moves the needle forward. And if those things aren't happening, if ILTs are not able to meet because the schedule doesn't allow for it, you're not going to be able to go back and do all of that important reteaching. So I was so happy that we were able to make the elementary schedule work and to use larger blocks of time to provide quality professional development. So Again, even though we are on par with the state, I agree with you, we should not be satisfied at that point and that we want to perform so much better and we can, but now we have new systems and structures in place where it's going to create the best learning opportunities for our educators to learn from one another. and to receive quality planning meetings, quality grade level team meetings, and using data to inform instruction. It just, it didn't work under the old schedule and now it is able to work. So we'll be able to do so much more as a district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just want to say thank you Miss Miller for your leadership and for holding down the entire web. All the work that's the back end on the website that we have and working with the students who are doing fabulous work I also wanted to share that I believe some of our students have had the opportunity to work with City Hall as well. In the past. So I hope that that work is able to continue happening, doing continued web work. So I just want to congratulate them and encourage you to keep doing the wonderful work that all of you are doing. So thank you. I look forward to seeing your brief presentation. I also just want to recognize, too, as part of the team, Thomas, who's working closely with all of us on the senior executive team side, helping us with furthering our communication. So I'm very happy for the collaboration and partnership in how we are working to communicate as clearly and as effectively to the entire Medford community. So thank you to both of you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I do believe Dr. Cushing made you a co-host, Ms. Miller, so you should be able to share your slide deck to just point out some of the key highlights of the work that you're doing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When interpretation is required for meetings, we work with Paul Teixeira, our director of EL, so we do have interpreters available for specialized meetings that do take place. I want to say with Bay State interpreters,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have Mr. Bonbon who is- No, no.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, you are accurate. For the regular meetings, we, in September, that was like the deadline that we were given. So we started translating all of the regular meeting agendas with the hyperlinks in the header. So that just similar to the way the Friday communications go out, the translations are also available.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That would be, I think that's a great suggestion. I would have to defer to Lisa or Thomas like to say if we get the content possibly in a different way, would that be possible?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oops, can we? Got it. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and I just wanted to comment that I definitely would need to bring in Mr. Fallon into the conversation, but also from an equity perspective, I really would just want to say, as I think about all of the vocational programs, From robotics and engineering to our CNAs to automotive and construction, craft, labor, depending what year students are in. and what they're doing. I just feel like it's a much bigger topic because you could also have shifts in students selecting different vocational programs based on based on the compensation. And like in, I'm just saying it like in culinary and everyone's learning different crafts, different trades in every single area. And we do have to look at it on a case-by-case basis, but I would really wanna have Principal Fallon involved in the conversation and really just think about how, doing something like that, how it would impact any of the other programs. So I just want to say I think it's important for students to definitely get real world experience, but I wouldn't want it to be something where we end up pitting, not intentionally but unintentionally, one program against another. And so I just wanted to put that out there because I support all of the programming and all of the different opportunities that students have to learn and creating those co-op experiences where students do get to go out into the field and receive compensation for it. So I just want to put that out there because we need to have a lot more people at the table to have a meaningful discussion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening. I just wanted to share that I can't believe that it is already October. And as I shared in my weekly memo last week, I've noticed the shifting leaves in our beautiful Middlesex fells, the chilly mornings, and of course the many football games on TV. So autumn is officially here for us. I also want to acknowledge that October is breast cancer awareness month. Approximately 300,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, but early detection is a key to successful outcomes. This month, everyone should take time to learn about the signs. Consider visiting NBCF.org to get lots of helpful information from the National Breast Cancer Foundation or to get involved in their national advocacy work. And yesterday was the big breast cancer walk in Boston. So let's just remember that. I also have some sad news to share from the education community. We will mention it later, but I just want to take a moment to mention the recent passing of Mr. Charlie Lyons. He was the esteemed former superintendent of Shawsheen Technical High School and a well-loved and experienced public servant. He was actively involved in Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. He was an incomparable advocate for all public schools, particularly career technical education, and his loss is keenly felt by those of us who are lucky to be his peers, colleagues and beneficiaries. I remember the last time meeting with him at the Medford High School campus. And so I just want to share that may his soul rest in peace. And, you know, I wish, you know, comfort for his family as they deal with his loss. I also want to share with the committee and the community that this Monday, October 9th, all schools will be closed in observance of Indigenous Peoples Day. Also on Saturday, October 7, we have the disability fair, and the Malden Medford transition fair. So on Saturday, October 7, please join the Medford community at Brooks Elementary School to learn about resources for those with disabilities. This event hosted by the city of Medford commission for persons with disabilities will highlight resources and opportunities for participation, education, employment and public and private services in the city of Medford for individuals with disabilities. Also, save the date, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. That is when the Medford and Malden Public Schools will join together for a transition fair to provide students, families, guardians, and professionals with information about community-based services for adults with disabilities. Under the Department of Athletics, we have a lot of good news to share girls varsity cross country is in the midst of a for me winning streak undefeated so far this season. The boys golf team won their most recent meet handily playing against Everett. Boys and girls soccer have been busy with schedules. And I wanna just say kudos to our boys and girls junior varsity team, which won their most recent matchups. Middle school boys baseball is also playing a very busy schedule with a notable nail biter win nine to eight over Everett last week. Our middle school girls softball team continued their undefeated winning spree in games last week against Everett and Malden. Congratulations to all of our student athletes and coaches for their efforts, good sportsmanship, and love for the game. As always, go Mustangs. This week, Wednesday, October 4 is our unified basketball season kickoff. It's at Medford High School in the gymnasium at 4pm. All are invited on Thursday, October 5. It's the unveiling of our rainbow mosaic at Medford High School, right on the side of where our Medford family network is by the purple door that will take place at 3pm, all are invited Monday, October 9, again there's no school. and other events will be included in my weekly update this Friday. So for tonight's meeting, I just want to frame what you will see this evening and hear this evening. There will be a recommendation to approve generous donations to the Medford Public Schools, public private partnerships between our schools and the wider community make an immeasurable difference for our students, providing resources and opportunities which might otherwise be out of reach. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of this community. Next, we look forward to welcoming Medford's own CPAC this evening. Medford Special Education Parent Advisory Council will be presenting their interview report. Working closely with our special educators and our Director of Student Services, Ms. Bowen, CPAC is an important bridge between our schools and families of children with special education needs. CPAC's advisory CPAC's advocacy and educational roles ensure that Medford parents can productively and proactively engage in the education and development of their children with disabilities. This evening, the presentations will take place with Ms. Tanya Sullivan and Alex Lorick, who will be the joint co-chairs of Medford CPAC. So we look forward to your presentation this evening. Thank you for coming out. After our CPAC presentation, Ms. Bowen is going to provide an update on the implementation process of the district's bullying prevention and intervention plan. I want to thank Ms. Bowen and our school principals and administrators for their work in implementing this important new policy. which this committee finalized earlier this year. We're eagerly anticipating upcoming professional development opportunities for all of our teachers to ensure that this policy reaches the entire Medford Public Schools community. While we're discussing school climate and safety, I wanna pivot and provide a brief presentation on the results from last year's Medford High School Culture and Climate Survey. I also will discuss in my presentation a snapshot in time, which I hope we can utilize as a benchmark and point of comparison against future student-oriented surveys and feedback. And lastly, I look forward to presenting to the committee this year, my proposed goals for this school year, and to share an update on this school committee's goals, the first set of goals that they have created as a body. So I look forward to providing an update on that. And those will be my reports for today. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. We have a slide deck that I'm going to go through the slide deck this evening to discuss our results from last year's Medford High School culture and climate survey. I want to thank member Hays for working with me and with members of our team throughout this process. and helping to make sure that we were on track to present the outcomes of the Culture and Climate Survey. So I'm pleased to share this presentation this evening. So this is going to be, you know, the key highlights from the Medford High School Culture and Climate Survey, which was conducted in the spring. So on this first slide, It's important to note that the survey questions were developed by the Medford Public Schools and in collaboration with the Medford Department of Health. It was open to all of our high school students and the survey window was open from May 18 until June 6 of 2023. We had 736 students who responded to the survey, which is just over 60% of our total population. At that time, it was 1,222 students at the end of last year. Students were provided designated times during their English classes to complete the survey. The survey was available in Arabic, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish, which are the four most popular languages currently in the district. And I wanna note that these results reflect a snapshot in time from spring of 2023, and do not necessarily reflect up-to-date attitudes and perspectives on Medford High School's culture and climate. So the survey question categories, there were eight categories that the students responded to questions. Cultural awareness and action, diversity and inclusion. So under cultural awareness and action, it was how often students learn about, discuss and confront issues of race, ethnicity and culture in school. Under diversity and inclusion, That address the level of diversity, integration and fairness for students of different races, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, or identities. School belonging addressed how much students feel that they are valued members of the school community. School climate was the overall social and learning climate of the school. School engagement looked at student attentiveness and investment in school school safety addressed students, physical and psychological safety within the school student teacher relationships addressed the strength of the social connections between students and teachers within and beyond the school. And the eighth category was valuing of school, how much students feel that school is interesting, important, and useful. So those were all of the categories that all of the questions fell between. I wanted to state that this survey is a benchmark I think it's critically important, it is not a report card. The responses will be most meaningful and impactful when used to measure change over time. We believe that the reforms, remedies, and improvements already underway at Medford High School will lead to a more favorable response in future culture and climate surveys. So the next slide shows you how we as a district performed in the eight categories. Green is identified as our strengths. The areas where as a district we performed very well were school belonging, school engagement, and valuing of school. The yellow area varied were areas that we had mixed results, cultural awareness and action, school safety, and student teacher relationships. And the area that was an area for growth, the red area, is diversity and inclusion in school climate. And so I'm going to share key highlights from the survey.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, I would like to present My hope would be that I could present it and provide some of what my thinking was about the results, because even under students at the school are teased or picked on about their race or ethnicity under cultural awareness. Even the fact that 30% actually feel like they're being teased. and picked on because of their race and ethnicity. And if you think about the totality of the district, and if it's 60, 40, and if 30, if 30% potentially of the 40% feel like they're being picked on, I didn't feel like that was.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think based on some of the questions that were starting to be surfaced, again, as I said, I interpreted this data as a benchmark, not a report card, but hearing some of the questions and concerns, I do not mind going back over the data again to review it one more time and see if the information can be looked at or presented with a slightly different interpretation. I don't mind going back to the drawing board to do it again and bring it back before the committee at our very next meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just want to recognize the entire team both Suzanne, Joan, and Tom Thomas for helping with the presentation and the language to be able to try to keep the language, clear and understandable. But I will definitely take that feedback I hadn't The packet that I gave you says favorable, I don't have a problem presenting it as, going back and representing it differently so that the numbers are there, what it says, either remove the favorable completely, the percentages, or add both so that people could look at it I'm definitely willing to go back and do that. If it will provide greater clarity, and not lead, make people lean one way or the other. I will say that I did try to do the color coding to kind of simplify based on feedback that we've received other times of kind of what we felt was really strong in the middle, an area for You know, varied responses and then the areas that clearly were areas identified as serious world, but I'm willing to go back and shuffle.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The essence of it but take away those percentages if it's definitely confusing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also would be remiss I want to thank Mr. Paul DeLava as well who's been working with us in a data capacity, helping us look at data, a little differently as well so I just want to recognize him as well for working with us so we will continue. I will go back to the drawing board to. Try to take the feedback that you have just given and see if that will help to make. substantially change the ratings that I had, but at least the numbers that the essence of what we felt the survey was saying. Again, there were clear areas that we were very strong. And again, areas that we want to work on. And then areas that need immediate attention. And I'll also be working, continuing to work with the high school team because they also, Ms. Cabral and Ms. Schulman also helped to look at this data as well. And they're just helping us to look at it and see where are we going in terms of next steps. So I will take it back to the drawing board and represent it again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. We're meeting here today in the midst of the Jewish High Holy Days. This past weekend was Rosh Hashanah, the start of the new year, 5784. And next Monday is Yom Kippur. We wish all of our Jewish community members a happy new year and a meaningful holiday. As a reminder, school is closed next Monday, September 25th in observance of Yom Kippur. This evening, I'm looking forward to welcoming our high school principal, Ms. Marta Cabral, who will be providing us with an update on the start of school. Ms. Cabral has helmed the exciting and positive start of the school year at Medford High School. She'll be discussing several important school policy plans and the ongoing and upcoming opportunities for student engagement across grade levels, cohorts, and experiences. After the report from Ms. Cabral, members of the district leadership team will present the results of the comprehensive review conducted by AIR and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This report published earlier this month by Desi highlights many great accomplishments and strengths in our district across a variety of measures. It also points out several key areas for growth, which I hope will help to guide this committee's strategic vision and leadership. Curriculum nights across the district. All four elementary schools in the McGlynn Middle School hosted curriculum nights in the past week. Principals have gratefully acknowledged a high level of family engagement in these open houses. The two remaining curriculum nights will be held at the Andrews Middle School tomorrow at 6 p.m. and at Medford High School on Thursday at 6 p.m. Early Release Wednesday. This Wednesday, September 20th, is the first half day of the school year. Middle schools will be released at 11.30 a.m. and all other schools will be released at noontime, 12 p.m. The district will be providing students with a cold food option on half days this year. The food will be provided during snack time at the elementary schools, and after dismissal at the middle and high schools and elementary students who prefer an alternative they're always welcome to bring in a healthy snack to school from home. The cafeterias will be open for students to sit and eat and students will be asked to sign up in the morning, so kitchen staff can prepare and have an accurate number of meals ready. Breakfast and lunch continue to be served free for all students. Thanks to the state law that was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Healy earlier this year. Families do not need to sign up to receive free meals. With the exception of qualifying homeschooled families who can apply for a special P EBT food benefits until September 30 families can contact my office with questions. Athletics, I have lots of good news in the department of athletics. Boys and girls varsity cross country won their first meet last Thursday against Lynn English. Boys golf recorded an early win over Lynn English last Tuesday and gave a strong effort in a matchup later in the week against Lynn classical. Boys soccer notched a commanding victory over Lynn Classical and a close loss to North Andover in games last week. Girls varsity soccer shut out Lynn English 7-0 and contended against Lynn Classical in a scoreless draw. Girls' varsity and freshman volleyball ended the week on a high note with Friday night wins over Salem. Our boys' freshman football team defeated Cambridge Range and Latin at home on Saturday. At the middle school level, our girls' softball team earned a 7-0 triumph over Chelsea Middle Schools. And congratulations to all of our student athletes and coaches for their efforts, good sportsmanship, and love for the game. As always, go Mustangs. I also have some news to share about our Mustang mall. If you wanna show your support for the Medford Mustangs, consider picking up some Medford gear from the Mustang mall. The Mustang mall, is a school store run by our business marketing students at Medford High School. The storefront is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. You can also shop online at mustang-mall.square.site and follow the store on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at the handle MHS underscore Mustang Mall. There are a few selected upcoming events that are happening. Again, this Wednesday, September 20th, district-wide early release day for all students K through 12. Friday, September 22nd, and Saturday, September 23rd is Run Medford being held at Hormel Stadium. And Mayor, you said Friday evening is at what time?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: HAB-Danny Teodorua here. HAB-Masyn Moyer): fabulous 630. Also, on Monday, September 25 I mentioned earlier there is no school again, all Medford public schools will be closed next Monday in observance of Yom Kippur, and other key events will be as always included in the Friday memo.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and I just wanted to just make a comment in regards or in support of not using the backpacks. I don't think about the backpacks in terms of bringing weapons to school per se, but we do have some students that are very entrepreneurial, and they may have ideas about bringing maybe certain liquids to school, or, you know, using entrepreneurial skills. And sometimes they bring things to school and they bring them in their backpack so it may not necessarily be a weapon but they may want to bring certain beverages, or we were dealing with a little bit of vaping and at one point in time, I know that the assistant principals and staff were confiscating a lot of vapes that should not be at schools. So by them not having a big backpack that might have inventory, the teachers can really closely supervise and monitor and ensure that the students have their books or whatever is needed. And so I think it kind of creates an honor system, in case they were tempted, and no one has to worry about that. And so I just wanted to present that as a possibility I know we have wonderful Mustangs but we do have a few that try to test limits. And I was thinking more of that in terms of if the backpacks are secure in their lockers, and they travel to class, we don't have to worry about that. That's one less thing or something fewer to worry about than with a large backpack. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Miss Cabral, I just wanted to also say in terms of surveys I want to thank Miss Hayes member member Hays for communicating with me. Last year we completed this high school culture and climate survey, and at our very next meeting on that data. was partially presented in the late spring and we want to be able to do a thorough presentation of what that data says, so we can have the data from the culture and climate survey that took place in the spring, and look at all of the changes and use it to continue to inform the important changes that are happening. So I just want to thank member Hays, who has been working with me patiently. Thank you, member Hays. And at our next meeting on October 2nd, we will have a comprehensive presentation of that survey data. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanted to comment. I too, in thinking about the three reports. The three reports, all of them were valuable in different ways. The first report by Cindy weeks was really a deep examination of human resources and the systems and structures that we actually ended up being revealed we did not have in place that we needed to put in place as a district to ensure that we're bringing in and recruiting and maintaining dynamic staff. The second report from Michael Welch in regards to the high school. I do feel with that data being published. Ms. Cabral and her team and everyone within the district has had the opportunity to look at that report and see some of the key areas that definitely were identified as areas, growth areas. Many of those areas have been addressed even in the presentation that Ms. Cabral just gave to us this evening about a lot of the shifts and putting systems in place and having that consistency and accountability. This DESE AIR report, prior to coming to Medford, I was getting DESE AIR reports a lot, especially when you're working with schools that are underperforming. This report, I see it as the glass is half full. There are areas for growth for us as a district, but there were so many areas that DESE did identify that the district was doing well. This school year, the new calendar, the new schedule that is in place with early release happening for all schools K-12, allowing for greater, more meaningful professional development that used to not have happened K-12. Only our secondary students were exposed to that. And even working on the new schedule that's going to happen for the high school, because we still have the six day schedule of the comprehensive high school and the five day schedule of the vocational school. Five and six, they don't talk to each other and it's like we've been force fitting for I believe eight years prior to my arrival. And so that's finally going to happen for the 2425 school year, and I was on one of the calls with the consultants and the team, where they're going to be pulling in a lot of data to say, how are we going to make Medford High School function like seamlessly? That yes, we still have a robust vocational program, but the comprehensive side of the school, that they will talk to each other and it will be a win-win for everyone. So when I look at this data, it has been nine years since Medford Public Schools was reviewed at all in this type of a capacity. Even when we were doing instructional rounds, and some of you participated pre-pandemic, when we were just looking at the five core actions, the pandemic caused a lot of changes. The pandemic did impact everyone in different ways, but we made shifts. At the elementary level, we did not have weekly grade level team meetings. And the team can tell you, I had been saying it to them for five years. If we cannot get the teachers to meet at the lowest levels, progress is going to take significantly longer. This is going to be the first year that all teachers will be able to meet with the new schedule and the added specialists, that that work is going to be able to happen. So seeing Desi talk about what we can do with instructional leadership teams what more we need to do with student support teams, I feel like the pieces of the puzzle are clearly laid out. So yes, it's a dense document, but what those 89 pages say are like, this is your roadmap. If you implement these particular areas and maintain the things that are working well, the district's going to move forward at an accelerated rate. And as we talk about change and changes sometimes difficult for people to wrap their heads around. But as we talk about change we do have to pace it. Desi came to see us after nine years. And so the changes that are happening right now, we're basically. This is our ground zero, we're starting with significant change. And I do feel optimistic, like when we read this report and when I read it, I saw the areas that were identified as deltas, but I really left feeling reassured because I felt like it was attainable that the new systems, the new structures that are in place, the new schedule, K-12, that we're gonna see the benefits and reap the benefits with the changes that are happening. They talked earlier about whether it's the DEIB work, what's happening for our most vulnerable populations. Mr. Tesheira talked about what they identified for EL and, you know, the whole thing of equality. And yes, we're meeting the needs of our students at the McGlynn School. We don't have that population currently at the Andrew school, and for us to look at other options. So I don't want people who haven't yet seen the full report to feel like the district's falling apart because it actually isn't. And even in speaking with Jesse they're like, you know, This is it's it's a decent report in terms of like we know what we need to do as a next step. And I just don't want people to leave feeling like the district is failing and run pack up and run, because that's not what it's saying. It's saying, if you do these strategic things instructionally, meeting the needs of all of our diverse learners, the district will continue to move forward. And I felt that it was optimistic. And for the strategic plan, the feedback from member Graham, that first strategic plan, six years ago or five years ago, four years ago, right now the years are blurring together. But we spent like a year and a half just trying to get the entire administrative team together to say, these are all of the things that are happening in Medford. And so now that we have that plan, we're able to say, okay, it's true. It doesn't need to be as big as it is. Let's focus in and decide what are we gonna hone in on. And the instructional priorities, which was the second to last slide, that's going to be what's going to really be our driving force moving forward. So I just, I just wanted to provide that context because we should unpack it, we will continue to unpack it. But the data that we received from this really said to us, wow, we started earlier doing DEI work, and we're going to continue doing that. And this summer, with the 35 other districts at Tufts University. our team was able to see how much work they were actually doing that was in line with what was being presented at Tufts University with 35 other districts. And the question now is, how do we take this new data, this new information, and continue to propel the entire district forward?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. It's wonderful to be back. So before I begin my update, I invite you all to join me in a moment of reflection on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It is a very sad day for many Americans, especially those of us with ties to Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D.C. The anniversary of 9-1-1 is a reminder for all of us that things can change unexpectedly in a moment. We need to remember that over 3,000 individuals who died an untimely death, untimely and senseless death at the hands of terrorism. May all their souls rest in peace and may their loved ones find solace and comfort in their memories. Furthermore, we want to honor all of our firefighters, police, EMS, and other first responders who run into danger when most of us would run away from it. There is no better time to say thank you to our first responders than today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I invite you all to reflect on a poem which one of my superintendent colleagues shared with me and all of the superintendents in Massachusetts this morning. It's called The Power of One by Cheryl Sawyer. As the soot and dirt and ash rain down, we became one color. As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building, we became one class. As we lit candles of waiting and hope, we became one generation. As we fell to our knees in prayer for strength, we became one faith. As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno, we became one gender. As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement, we spoke one language. As we gave our blood in lines a mile long, we became one body. As we mourned together the great loss, we became one family. As we cried tears of grief and loss, we became one soul. As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heroes, we become one people. We are one color, one class, one generation, one gender, one faith, one language, one body, one family, one soul, one people. We are the power of one. We are united.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: To honor the memory of all the lost, I respectfully ask that we all rise for a moment of silence to remember those who died on that dark day.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I am going to shift gears because I would like to take some time to talk about our school opening and just coming back to school. So although teachers and students reported back to the Medford Public Schools the week of August 28th, administrators and new teachers and staff returned the week prior. Central administration was happy to welcome back our administrators together. We're so excited and fortunate to welcome over 50 new staff to the Medford Public Schools community this school year. On Wednesday, August 23rd, Dr. Bernadette Riccardelli organized a tour of Medford for our new teachers and staff. The tour included stops at Tufts University, the Medford Public Library, and Medford City Hall. This tour wouldn't have been possible without the following individuals who I'd like to thank by name. Rocco DiRico, Maggie Carril, and Lorena Denise Liza from the Tufts University Government and Community Relations team. Nicole Perrault, our librarian and head of youth services with Medford Public Schools. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, and School Committee Vice Chair, Jenny Graham. Special thanks to Joseph's Transportation for the coach bus, and Lisa Evangelister, the former Medford Public Schools Public Information Officer, who helped to organize the tour. We are so grateful for our partnerships with our community members. So thank you all for that support during that launch week. Later in the meeting, I will acknowledge many of our new administrators, principals, and staff who are able to join us this evening. I also wanna take a moment to talk about the heat. Last week threw us an unexpected curve ball with unusually warm temperatures for New England. The heat showed us that there still are several pockets of HVAC challenges that have resurfaced across the district. Our maintenance and facilities teams have been working tirelessly to keep our systems online. And Dr. Cushing will discuss these items in more detail later on this evening. But despite the heat, our teachers, staff, and students made the start of the school year a great one for our students especially. And we're so grateful to all of our students and all of the educators for making it work despite the heat. I also have some good news to share about athletics. We were thrilled to start our fall athletic season with a big Mustang victory. This game took place at home at Hormel Stadium. Last week, it was our first football game. And yes, we did win. We stampeded to victory, as I said, playing on our Mustang mascot. 19 to seven, we played against Brookline. I wanna take a moment to thank our wonderful band that played wonderfully. They did a great job. our color guard with their flags and dancing and all the moves that they had to do, our cheerleaders who cheered their hearts out. And I wanna thank all of their coaches, all of their participation, even though we may not always think of them as sports, they're all our athletes and part of extracurricular activities with the schools. Medford students, Stevens Exeter, was even named the Boston Globes Player of the Week. So that's another just exciting piece of news for our Mustangs. Other early Mustang victories include two four to zero shout outs against Chelsea. by the girls varsity soccer team, and the boys JV soccer team. So congratulations to all of those athletic teams that really brought victory. Last week, in recognition of extraordinary academic achievement Last year's Mustang girls soccer team was one of 317 soccer teams throughout the United States to earn the special recognition. The United soccer coaches. presented our team with the high school team academic award this month for exemplary performance in the classroom as a team. During the 2223 school year. This is the first time that I recall ever mentioning this. athletic academic award. So essentially they're looking at our athletes and our last year's Mustang girls soccer team achieved strong academic outcomes as well. And they were recognized along with 317 other teams throughout the United States. So I just feel that's a great accomplishment and I would love to give all of our athletes a round of applause. Thank you. School meals. I hope, oh yes, and I see Rhetta here. I just wanted to let you know, Rhetta Smith, we'll be introducing her shortly as well with our new administrators on board, but food service, the kids are gobbling up the lunches. They're really happy. It's a definitely new menu. I hope you can look at the menu online. We're really happy getting healthy nutrition and the students are happy and they're eating their food. which is wonderful. So we're really optimistic and we look forward to hearing much more good news in our food department. I also wanna just share with the community that the Medford Public Schools has adopted a new messaging system. I did mention this in last week's communication, but we have migrated to Blackboard Connect. And so when we migrated and we sent out the first message on the new system, We were initially told that it would look the same so that our understanding was that it would be seamless. You would receive it in your inbox and just receive a new message. And it was quickly brought to our attention that it was saying no reply at notification. So for some people, it ended up going into their spam boxes. So once we got that information, we wanted to let everyone know that we migrated to a new system. And that signature that said in the past no reply at notification.com will now have a normal email address. So again, we have migrated to Blackboard Connect and this new messaging system will work collaboratively with our website and our other platforms. So I just wanted to notify the committee and the community of that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for that feedback. We hope that as we continue to work on our official communications that everyone will see the quality of communications improving and the presentation of the communications really being beautifully presented as well. So that's going to continue to happen with the new platforms that we have, which now talk to one another. So thank you for that. Last week was a celebration of Brazilian Independence Day that took place on Saturday, and Medford hosted it at the Andrews Middle School, we want to thank Mayor, the mayor's office, the Board of Health, and Marilia Barrosa and Samia Bennett for helping to organize the event. And we are very lucky to have a thriving Brazilian American community here in our city. So I hope they had a wonderful Independence Day this past Saturday. Also, for the community to know, we have several curriculum nights coming up. Tomorrow, September 12th, there will be curriculum nights at the Roberts Elementary School and the Missituk Elementary School. September 13 at the McGlynn middle school, September 14 at the books elementary school in the McGlynn elementary September 19 at the Andrews middle school and September 21 at Medford High School, and they are being held from six to eight o'clock. And we have on September 19 as well. Mrs. Michelli's class and Mrs. Capraro Gentuso's classroom, Ms. CG's classrooms at the Brooks School. They will be holding their open houses on September 19 from 530 to 630 p.m. I just want everyone to know that on Wednesday September 13 is our first kickoff meeting for the Medford special education parent Advisory Council CPAC, they will be meeting in person at Medford High School at 6pm. Also, this Friday evening, September 15 until September 17 is the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. So we wish all of our Jewish friends in the community a very happy new year as they begin that celebration on Friday evening. And the additional updates will be in this coming Friday's memo. So I would like to pause there and ask, are there any questions based on what I shared this morning, or this evening, I should say.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, definitely look as, as I introduced if the principles are here and they heard the incorrect time, please let us know. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we can, we can definitely be explicit about that in this Friday's communication as well to let, let the community know so we can work together to do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this is, I'm really excited. We have a lot of people here tonight because we have a lot of new people on our team, which is wonderful. And so there's really no particular order, but as I call you, I'm gonna ask you to come forward. So the entire committee gets to see you and the community gets to see who all the new administrators are, the new members of our team. So I'd like to invite the Andrews Middle School principal, Mrs. Jennifer Sking to come forward. Yes, perfect.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Can we have from the Brooks Elementary School the new assistant principal Michelle Burke.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There it is. There we go.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you, Shayla. So Medford High School, Ms. Marta Cabral. the new principal, and then we have three brand new members of your team. So Marta, what would you like? Yeah, as long as the lights on, you're good.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Marta. So we have three new members of the high school team. So I'm going to ask for Ms. Allison McDonald, Mr. Patrick, without a K, Hamilton, I love to say that, and Ms. Sheila Freitas-Haley. So these are three new assistant principals at the high school this year. Allison since I mentioned you first you can have the floor first.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you Patrick.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Roberts Elementary School, this is Michelle Kroll.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you, Michelle.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have one administrator who couldn't be with us today, Mr. Gerald McHugh. He is our new interim director of finance, but he is another very welcome, positive addition to the team. I also would like to, at this moment, welcome Ms. Gabby DaCosta, who is our registration specialist at the PIC. Ooh, Gabby.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Gabby, can you share with us how many languages you speak?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you share with the committee your four languages?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Gabby, thank you. Thank you so, so much. I wanted to make sure that everyone knows who Gabby is and she's able to, you use your multilingual skills every single day in the PIC. So thank you so much. I would also like to introduce Mr. Thomas Dalton, who is our new communications director. Thomas.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Thomas. And I'd like to invite up, last but definitely not least, Mrs. Reva Smith. our new food service director. Come on up, Brenda.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So can we just give a round of applause for all of our new administrators? Thank you for coming out. Thank you for joining Mustang Nation. We're so glad to have you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and then in addition to for the heat, a lot of the classrooms and hallways used reduced lighting shades down, we recommended kids were loose light fitted clothing, and no one was being encouraged to go outside and like run like you're running in the, you know, running a marathon. It was really, if they went outside, they could get some fresh air, but not to overexert themselves. But if students didn't feel well, they definitely had access to water to stay hydrated. And if they needed water breaks, they definitely could go and get that. And then the nurses again were there. So everyone really tried to not have the students become overexerted or to overexert themselves. And if that were to happen, the nurses were able to support those students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good afternoon, school committee members. I'm very pleased to introduce Mr. Gerald McHugh. I enthusiastically recommend that the Medford School Committee vote to approve his appointment as interim finance director of the Medford Public Schools. Mr. McHugh comes to us with more than 40 years of extensive hands-on experience in the educational and municipal finance administration and operations. Gerry McCue retired from the Chelsea Public Schools in July of 2018 after almost 30 years of work as their executive director for administration and finance and school business manager. Since 2018, he has continued to work as a school finance consultant. His wealth of experience will be a great benefit to our district and community. During the interview process, Mr. McHugh impressed our team with his steadiness and experience. As a seasoned school finance professional, we're confident that he will complement and aid our central administrative team across a variety of relevant work areas, including accounting, revenue and expense forecasting, budget development, and financial data management and reporting. Mr. McHugh earned his Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Bentley College, Bentley University, and his Master of Science in Administrative Studies from Boston University. We are thrilled to welcome Jerry to Medford and know that his skills and experience will be major assets to the work of our team. Again, I present to you Mr. Gerald McHugh and I am asking the committee for approval of his appointment. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Same agenda. We just changed the date. So Monday, June 26th, it was posted for Wednesday, June 28th. And the time change that said for people.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I just was saying, Mayor, that this, uh, On the previous meeting, it was listed as minutes only and it needed to be it needed to go to an official vote. So that's, that's why it was listed on the special meeting today. Yes, of the revised, there were slight revisions. There were some numbers that had to be revised. And I believe there were a few comments that hadn't made it into the final evaluation. And I want to thank member Hays for coordinating all of that and sending the final revised version, which included all of the amendments or additions that the committee requested.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we, we are looking. I've been in contact with MASS and speaking with other superintendents and just trying to see if we can get, it's a very, very limited pool. And there are a lot of candidates that have financial backgrounds. They have like a CPA licensure, but they do not have school finance. And there are so many really critically important innuendos with school finance that the school finance administrative license is very, very limited. So I have been working with colleagues and have put out several feelers, and we do continue to have That position posted, but the majority of the applicants do not have the proper credentialing they have financial credentialing but they don't have school finance experience at all. And so we are looking at all options. including like possibly trying to get retirees or other financial school finance administrators who would take the job even if it were to be for interim like a one-year interim basis. So we are looking at you know different options but The pickings are slim and there are other districts that they found themselves in the same exact position. So we're trying to think creatively about getting someone with the proper credentials to be able to come in and help us because next year will definitely be a year where we have to really start planning early. to make sure that, you know, everyone is informed in a timely fashion and they know where we are, what's the status of our finances.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There is a little space where we have compensation allocated for non-unit employees. How much? Well, if we were to be looking at all of The totals, depending on what the committee will end up approving or not approving, we should be able to cover it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For the majority of non-unit employees, we have 2% allocated. And there are a few individual contracts that are in the process of being renegotiated as we speak.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: With the non-unit increases, we would have that coming out of the undistributed account, our undistributed errors and omissions. That is where we place
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Right now, it's slightly over 500,000, and we're still negotiating a few of our contracts, unsettled contracts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Approximately for all, for the non-unit employees, we're probably in the vicinity of 120,000 to include the raises from the different departments across the district and level setting some salaries that were not level set for several years. So right-sizing salaries that are not competitive with our neighboring districts and colleagues, which is something where, you know, we're subject to people being recruited to go to other districts, good people that you wanna hold on to because other districts are able to recruit them at significantly higher rates.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would be remiss if I did not discuss today's Pride Month contest incident at Medford High School. We were made aware that a teacher's decorations for the Pride Month contest were torn down. This type of incident will not be tolerated and has no place at Medford High School. I have spoken with Ms. Frances Nwaje, the city's Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, as well as Chief Buckley, Chief of Police for Medford, to initiate investigations into this matter. It is painful to have to report this, but the Medford Public Schools, we pride ourselves in fostering a safe environment for all. Hate will not be tolerated here. A safe and supportive learning environment is what our Mustang community expects and deserves. We are here for all. If anyone needs support regarding this incident, please see one of our assistant principals or use the Say Something anonymous reporting system.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: First, I would like to congratulate all of our graduates, the class of 2023. I wanna thank all of those who organized and worked hard for the ceremony that took place at Hormel Stadium and thanking all of our community partners for being there supporting us. Special thanks to our DPW for setting up the stage and chairs and Medford Police, Medford Fire Department, EMTs, the entire community for their support. The administration, the administrative team at the high school. Thank you for all your work. And thank you for the school committee for supporting that event, and your participation last week. I also wanna share that as the school year is quickly winding down, this being our last regular school committee meeting of the year prior to our summer break. And again, a future date will be set for us to meet briefly once all budgeting steps have been completed on or before June 30th. I also wanna share that there is going to continue to be much celebrating happening this week. Our fifth graders will be moving on up to middle school, and there are multiple ceremonies taking place this week, and you should have received communication from all of your school principals, but you can also look at last Friday's communication where all of our moving on ceremonies are listed. In addition to that, Andrews and McGlynn, their moving on ceremonies will be taking place this week on June 15th with the Andrews ceremony starting at 5pm and the McGlynn ceremony starting at 7pm and those ceremonies will be held at Hormel Stadium. Also, I just want to invite all eighth graders to a very, very special event that's going to be taking place tomorrow. The red carpet, yes, indeed, the Hollywood red carpet joint celebration is going to be held at Medford High School for all rising ninth graders. It's an opportunity for you to go to the high school, be treated like A celebrity. I want to thank the Andrews and the McGlynn PTOs for coordinating that effort, and it will be a fun time for all. Also this Wednesday, June 14. from six to 7.30 p.m. It will be Medford CPAC is hosting the general meeting and CPAC elections. So again, that is this Wednesday. Also, I want to share some summer programming summer school registration is now open summer school is not good news for some, but our students in grade six through 12. If you participating in summer school your parents have been notified as well. Registration is now open, and you need to go to the school's website in order to complete your registration for summer school. I also want to share that there are still openings for our summer camps and sports camps that are going to be held over the summer months. Again, you can refer back to my memo to get additional details. I want to share that. This Thursday, June 15th, the City of Medford will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration. Although Juneteenth is Monday, June 19th, which is a federal holiday, there will be no school. On Thursday at City Hall from three to five o'clock, the City of Medford will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration in collaboration with the Community Center and a raising of the flag, there will be music and guest speakers, all are welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: 3.30 p.m.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to share that June is Caribbean American Heritage Month. And since 2006, the United States has officially officially celebrated the official achievements of people of Caribbean origin, who now live in the United States. And a few people who identify as Caribbean, which is a mix of cultures, languages and religions that create the diversity of America, Alexander Hamilton. The first Secretary of the Treasury, Colin Powell, the first person of color appointed as Secretary of State, Vice President Kamala Harris, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and your superintendent as well. We all celebrate Caribbean, at least I do, Caribbean American Heritage Month, so happy June. I also want to share a special date if people can mark their calendars. This is July 14th at Hormel Stadium at 5 p.m. The Medford High School football program, they are planning their kickoff for the summer, and it's going to be the inaugural blue versus white foot off white flag football game. The Medford Police Department will take on the Medford Fire Department. This is a fundraiser for our team. Tickets will be $5, and there will be a concession stand and T-shirts for sale. All ages are welcome. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this fun-filled event. Additionally, the 23-24 school year marks the 85th anniversary of Medford High School approving the Mustang as their mascot. So the Mustang was approved on November 24, 1938. So for further information, reach out to or email jcurley at medford.k12.ma.us. I would also like to just close by saying this Sunday is Father's Day. So, although President Wilson celebrated the first Father's Day in June of 1916. It wasn't made official until 1972, when President Nixon officially declared Father's Day would always be celebrated on the third Sunday in June. to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and all other father figures. We appreciate your support and wish you a relaxing day surrounded by your family. So those are my announcements and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just was going to ask when you showed the three tiers of support because I know we have director O'Connor and director showman, I didn't know. I didn't know that that was your second to last slide. So I was going to ask if Stacey showman wanted to just say something regarding that particular slide, Dr. Cushing if you could show that one but I don't know. Remember, so if your question was about that or is it okay for.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Could you give an overview of just what are the services, the schools are currently providing for our students to, especially with all of this data, what is available for students that may have difficulty with vaping or alcohol or depressive symptoms, just so that the community can have an idea of what it is we are currently doing. whether you use the tiered, the multi-tiered system of support, or you just kind of see some of the key areas that the district, how the district is supporting students?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Green light to chill on the microphone. Yeah, it's on. You should be fine.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: motion to receive in place on by I just wanted to say thank you for. It seems like it's been like two and a half years I'm not sure, but it's been a very very long journey to get to where we are today but I'm really happy that, although it took a long time that Everyone was able to be involved in particular the teachers who have to execute it. And so by finally picking and it's true the data clearly showed that this was the front runner that I think that'll make it the implementation of the program, all the more easier because they realize it was clearly a front runner so thank you to all of you into our community caregivers our parents everyone was involved in this process. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And I just want to thank our community members, parents, caregivers, for the tremendous expertise. I want to thank Marianne, Director of the Board of Health for being also deeply involved. Another great collaborative partnership that led us to where we are and I look forward to hearing what the new program will be in the fall. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so the draft schedule was shared in your folders. And based on some of the holidays and how some of the vacations fell. We had to do. There were a few times where we had to have like a back to back weekend because of all of the different holidays and things like that. So, this is the draft schedule, but we kind of went through it and did our best to try to space it out as much as possible and not have too many conflicts with existing holidays that are coming up in the next school year. So I hope that it's amenable to the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we were trying to stay away from, as my leadership team, to stay away from the Monday after February break. We had just felt that that was a little exhausting when it's back to back. The January 8th, with the 15th, so January 1st, that's the last day of break. School comes back on the 2nd. The 8th, would be that second Monday, the 15th is off because it's Martin Luther King, then the 22nd and the 29th. I don't know. We were trying not to have like a three-week window.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think with the new members that are going to be on boarded I was going to recommend trying to do a retreat or something in December because they will, we will know who they are by November and to actually give an opportunity for the outgoing members to be able to kind of mentor and talk to the new people that would be coming on board for January, because it's. Is it going to be January 1 or the 31st, the inaugural?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The first Monday in January is the first, but since that's a holiday, it would be the 8th?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Hays.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and just in response to Member Hays's question, we have been looking at MSAA, which is the Massachusetts School Administrators Association, because by the end of the summer, we're not sure what the total number of administrators will be, but we wanna be able to, where we're bringing in almost half of the district, we are aware that it's critically important that a good foundation is set. So we are working on that. We don't have all of the details, but that is something that we've been working on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't, I can't speak specifically if they asked about the scheduling piece, but that is something that I can definitely follow up with them on. And again, once we have the new people on board, there'll be an opportunity for us to be doing some work this summer in order to prepare for a strong start.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was just going to say where the administrators will be starting effective July, but we do not have all the teachers that will be back for those respective groups. So I just want to say that as Marta comes on in July and she is trying to you know, get to know the staff and doing little things. We're gonna just need her time to come in. I would say September, by our hopefully second September meeting, I would at least be able to report because she will be able to have, you know, communicated with the staff and figured out which staff would like to be part of which groups. Because there are multiple groups and they need to know the schedule, the the times that they're going to meet and just be able to plan accordingly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: just in response, the team we've been with my leadership team we've been working diligently and just trying to figure out how the start of next year is going to be so our first priority really has been primarily on getting the administrators first and foremost assigned so that we have a complete administrative team. So that's what we've been focusing on right now. And then we were creatively looking at the dean positions, but we do not have a final answer for you just yet.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I am really excited to welcome to have our three new principles, we have Miss Jennifer scheme here. If you wouldn't mind coming forward, as well as Miss Michelle Cole here. Miss Jennifer scheme is our new principal of the Andrews Middle School. has something to display, thank you. And we are very excited to warmly welcome you to Medford. Those are some of your wonderful students that you'll be meeting come next school year. And this game brings over 27 years of educational experience. As a teacher, a guidance Councilor, and an assistant principal, you've developed a philosophy that is rooted in the care and attention to individual needs of students, with a focus on developing strategies and protocols to increase academic achievement and social development. We warmly welcome you, and I know you're already calling the Andrews your new home. And we are just very glad to have you here this evening with us, and I wasn't sure if there were a few words that you would love to share with the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I too, I want to thank Member McLaughlin and Principal Nick Tucci and all the teachers, parents, Ms. Joan Bowen, yes, part of my Director of Pupil Services for being part of phase one and phase two. I want to thank the teachers and the parents that were deeply involved and truly committed to this process of really putting forward strong candidates. And I am very grateful that We have Ms. Scania as part of the team and that she accepted our call. So welcome aboard again. Thank you so much. Yes. And so now, I am pleased to announce Ms. Michelle Crow, who is the new principal at Roberts Elementary School, effective July 1. And Ms. Crow brings over 22 years of experience as an assistant principal, a principal, curriculum director, and teacher, a wide portfolio of Educational Experiences. She's currently the Director of Teaching and Learning and Assessment and English Learners for the Wayland Public Schools. So we warmly, warmly welcome you to Medford Public Schools. And Ms. Poole, is there anything that you would love to share with the committee?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And also for the Roberts, I want to thank Susan Lucy, Dr Kathy K. I want to thank member Hays for being part of phase one, the teachers the parents that were deeply involved in the selection process and really bringing forward. strong candidates so a very special thank you for your support and collaboration for us to be here today and I'm really excited that you accepted the call and you're going to be part of the team for next year so congratulations and thank you again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so she said she's still going to try her best to swing by so she might come. depending on how things and at a different point in the meeting, but we are very excited to have her on board and respond to convert Cabral is the new principal of Medford High School, and she will be starting in July as well and I want to thank member Graham. I want to thank Dr. Cushing. I want to thank We had so many different members of the team, Dr. Riccadeli, Bernadette Riccadeli, who helped with the selection process, and the teachers that were part of the process, parents, students that were all deeply involved and going through a very long process for us to get here. And so we warmly welcome Marta. And if she is able to come, we'll introduce her in person. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so good evening, Miss Cabral, come forward. I am really excited to introduce Miss Marta Cabral, who will be the next principal of Medford High School starting in July for school year 23-24. Miss Cabral brings with her she's currently at Malden High School as a house principal, and she brings a wide range of leadership experience as well. She is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language. And she credits growing up in a multicultural and multilingual family with shaping her educational vision. And she has stated that all students can achieve their academic potential when encouraged and supported by strong adults who model perseverance and determination. She endeavors to create and foster a culture where students feel secure, welcomed, respected, and academically motivated. So welcome, welcome, welcome to Medford Public Schools and to Medford High School. And Ms. Cabral, is there anything you would love to share with the community, the committee?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, and I know today it's been a very very busy day but I am excited just to share some positive news about wonderful things happening in the district. First I'm very excited that we were able to welcome our three new administrators, and looking forward to that. happening. This Wednesday, we are going to wish our class Mustang class of 2023 success at home El Stadium, they'll be getting getting a donning their caps and gowns and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate for us on Wednesday. So, Might be a little cooler than expected but it's going to cooperate so I'm happy graduation will take place. Last Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the senior prom which took place. at the Renaissance, and I just have to say my bucket was completely filled. We had over 340 students participating in the prom, and the majority of them. I think they were all high school students, significant number of our seniors and we had a few underclassmen juniors. And maybe one or two sophomores that were able to attend the prom, and it was a wonderful event. They rolled out the red carpet for prom students they got to display their, you know, walk down the catwalk or whatever you want to call it at the West courtyard. And we had school buses transport. All of our seniors safely to the Renaissance to the prom and safely home. So it's just a wonderful event parents didn't have to worry about it we did have a lot of families come out to support and take pictures but it was an absolutely wonderful event to see the students. dancing, jumping, singing, laughing, and really just enjoying themselves so it was a wonderful send off and I know Wednesday will be a continuation. So congratulations again to our class of 2023, I look forward to seeing you at home now, Wednesday evening. I also want to just congratulate many of our teams that just did absolutely outstanding work this year. Our spring sports teams. And these are the ones that qualified for the state tournament included Mustang boys tennis Mustang girls tennis Mustang boys volleyball Mustang boys and girls crew. Mustang boys lacrosse Mustang boys and girls outdoor track and Mustang girls softball. I just want us to give them all a great round of applause for a wonderful, wonderful spring season. Congratulations to all of you. In addition to that, we wanna recognize the Mustang crew team. They meddled at the state tournament. The boys novice, there were two girls novice, there were two, and boys novice, there were four. All of them won the bronze medal. Congratulations to them. Our girls outdoor track four by 400 relay team of Emma Casey, Eastman D'Souza Vieira, Anna Casey in Savannah Nash, they broke the old school record with a time of four minutes, 19 second 19.11 at division two state tournament. The boys must embrace four by four outdoor track team. consisted of Dimitri Charles, Will Kelly, JT Mastricola and Jacob Stecker. They also broke the old school record with a time of three minutes 32.10 seconds at the division two state tournament. They also have qualified for the Nike National Tournament. Just a reminder, anyone out there who would like Mustang gear, the school store is open until June 13th. On Wednesday of last week, our first combined Andrews in McGlynn mock trial middle school team competed at the locally federal courthouse, the judges were tough but the Mustangs one. These students put in an incredible eight weeks of work preparing for this amazing opportunity. We are all so proud of you. We wanna thank their advisor, Ms. North, Mr. Tucci, Mr. Downs and Mayor Brianna for serving on the judging panel. So congratulations for a job well done and I'd love to give all of them a round of applause as well. Also, I just want to share some good news just a little bit around the district. Our eighth grade students in Mr. Michi's Italian class, they were able to take a fabulous field trip to the North End. Yes, not far, but very enjoyable and educational for them. They got to see Paul Revere's statue, the Christopher Columbus Park, the New England Holocaust Memorial, and the North End Library. They went to the new improved City Hall Plaza, and they even went behind the scenes at Mike's pastries. They enjoyed lunch at Humberto's and later gelato. Mr. Michi is grateful to the Andrews administration and the PTO for assisting with the cost of transportation for them. Continuing with our talented middle school students, our middle school students did a fantastic musical this weekend. The production was called Rock of Ages, both the Andrews and McGlynn Drama Club. They performed for packed audiences and the student actors and stagehands hit a home run each night. Special thanks to their advisor and director, Mr. Hubbard. Bravo. Also, we want people to know that summer fun camp still has openings and summer fun camp will start on July 5 at the miss attack. If you're interested, contact community schools at 7813932226. Also, last week on Thursday June 1 here at City Hall we came, and the pride flag was raised Congresswoman clock came and spoke, and really shared some positive remarks, state rep Donato was here, member Graham member so. Other members city council members were here as well it was a wonderful event. Our students GSA students spoke from Medford High School, and it was a great event last Thursday on the first also on Friday, this past Friday. It was national gun violence awareness month. And it was where orange weekend. And it was presented by moms demand action group Medford chapter is very active they were here at City Hall with the mayor on state web Christy barber came out and several city Councilors as well. Again Medford standing against gun violence. wonderful speakers and it was inspirational as well. And this past Friday, we had the Junior Olympics, and we had unprecedented heat on Friday. It was definitely a scorcher. We had participation from Mayor Brianna, member Hays, member Mustone, and I'm not sure if any other members were able to add the Junior Olympics, but it's been a tradition for a very long time, where we recognize all of our fifth graders where they compete in Olympic events and torchbearers to students got to carry the torch up the stairs. And really a special time for our fifth graders as they prepare to move on to middle school. So, it's a nice event that's only for them, and it's been around for a very, very long time. And, you know, we're going to do our own after action review but it definitely was a scorcher but the kids were happy to compete and run against one another. So in closing, I want to just share that June is LGBT q i plus month. And as President Biden noted in his 2023 LGBT q i plus proclamation. We honor the resilience of LGBTQ plus people who are fighting to live authentically and freely. We reaffirm our belief that LGBTQI plus rights are human rights. Equality for LGBTQI plus families makes everyone realize the full promise of America. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Cushing, are you able to start the deck? Thank you. So good evening. This evening, I'm going to present a very short slide deck just to provide the budget update. And so, this just shows the budget process and tentative timeline. Today we are at June 5. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. This evening's budget objectives, it's going to be the public, the official public budget hearing which we are statutorily required to do and listen to the public for any feedback and comments on the budget that will be presented. So our last meeting in May, on the 15th, the budget recommendation that I presented to the committee was $71,835,165. This number came after a comprehensive budget review. So this particular slide shows some of the recommended investments that the district made. We were tasked with looking at the budget and presenting a level budget of $71 million. And so these recommended investments These were the key investments that totaled 480,000. The implementation of the Medford High School climate recommendations was a budget neutral recommendation, so there was no adjustment necessary. We recommended the addition of two literacy coaches, a second PIC specialist, conversion of library aids to librarians, and 1.0 theater arts teacher. Our proposed ESSER balance at the last budget presentation was approximately $525,000 in a proposed balance that would remain with our ESSER funding. So in order to achieve the 71 million, we needed to look at the $835,000 differential. So on the previous slide where I showed the recommended investments, they totaled $480,000, which left us with a balance of $355,000, which will be covered by sir. Next slide please. Subtracting the 355,000, the 480 from the original 525,000 left us with 170,000. The literacy coaches. I put it in green, because we know that it's critically important for the implementation of the new literacy program. So we subtracted the 160,000 from that funding with so leaving us with a balance of 10,000 on so at this point in time. which brings us to the 71 million allocated amount. And I am prepared to take any questions from the committee or the community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: for the implementation of the new program. And we landed on the two coaches. It's going to be a new program at the elementary level, and we would like to have one coach share two buildings so that the two literacy coaches would be between the four elementary schools. And although we had the recommended investments, we went back and subtracted those two coaches and added them back in under ESSER, which left us with the ESSER balance of $10,000. So there are two coaches included in the recommendation of the $71 million balance.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This presentation was just demonstrating how we would arrive at the 71 million.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe the committee is going to give their recommendation I just was tasked with demonstrating how we would arrive at 71 million that that's all the slide deck represents.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm from my member, this Lucy did have just a conflicting appointment. But from the time when we originally started planning it had been to have two coaches in collaboration or in conjunction with the work that was happening with health for literacy where they would be providing additional professional development and additional support. to the schools. So, I know ideally the, the, the. You know, the more support that you're able to provide one coach per building was one of the proposed recommendations but we were prepared to implement the new program with two coaches and working with health literacy where they would be sending their experts to also come in and support the instruction at the schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: 71 million? Yeah. That was the last slide.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so for that 355,000, we were looking at five FTS that were on the budget five open positions at approximately 70,000 per FTE. So that was where we were transferring those five additional positions to go on to ESSER. And that was where, so the 355,000, when you subtracted that from 525, You had $170,000. Then from the $170,000 balance, tentative balance, we also went back in and added the two ELA coaches. which were 160,000. So that left us with a balance of 10,000 left on ESSER for FY 25. So we almost zeroed ESSER out.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we have like, these are all open positions. So like a BCBA, we have an adjustment Councilor, I wanna say at the McGlynn Elementary School. We have a few teaching positions, world language position. So there were like three positions at the high school. One was a district-wide BCBA, an adjustment Councilor at an elementary school, and then three, three teaching positions at the high school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, they would be able to be covered by ESSER.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say students who, for ESSER, if we're able to demonstrate that it's addressing cell, social-emotional learning needs, bringing joy or support to students, you are able to demonstrate that. But what we did though was look at open positions and not filled positions. So those, there were five, And it just kind of worked out with the math. That's how we got to that number.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: we were cutting and seeing if there were just creative ways to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Correct.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is that right, that is correct.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so currently right now in the budget, we were allocated the high school had three ISS is or building based substitutes that were allocated for and under. The proposed structure from Mr. Welch. It was a principal associate principal and three assistant principal roles. Currently we have a principal. We have four assistant principals that work within the high school. And we also have Principal Fallon on the vocational side. So when we were saying it was budget neutral, even though there was a recommendation of an associate principal, it was still four adults, four additional principals, associate or assistant principals, supporting the structure. So it was still the same total number of people, just One was given a different title. So the title of associate principal doesn't currently exist within the structure that we have. We have principles and then we have assistant principals. As it stands right now where when we said it was budget neutral we're still maintaining the same number of supporting adult supportive adults. So that was where the budget neutral language was recommended. And for the dean position. We are. As we've been looking at the structure that we currently have in the supports that we were giving to schools and getting feedback from principals in terms of how we have been using some of our existing positions such as engagement specialists, the Dean position, we were creatively looking at Expanding either the job description and working with our engagement specialists that also work with the schools. We do have an engagement specialist down at the. middle school levels and those administrators in meeting and working with them, we said that we're going to look at reallocation and they were in full support of that. That when they need additional support, they would request the additional support based on the structures at the existing schools. So that was why when you saw budget neutral or cost neutral for the high school, we felt that we could, we could get there, we could get fairly close to the recommended proposal but in terms of the amount of administrators, we would not be reducing the total number of administrators assigned to the high school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, and I will work with member McLaughlin to get some additional clarity and guidance. But we should be able to work with that with our revolving account for those special programs. So I'm in agreement with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I, I just was going to say that with bullying as well it's, you started to answer it. It is repeated, like a repeated pattern so it's just not one off, not that we would want anything to happen 10 times, but it's like a repeated pattern of like targeted abuse. That's one of the, I think, the key distinctions is that it is repeated. And I don't know if any of the other administrators or principals on the call or assistant principals want to weigh in on the difference between the two. But the definition member Graham that you provided for conflict, I did agree with it. And I just was thinking maybe the inclusion of the word repeated in contrast, bullying is repeated abuse. I don't know if that's too similar, but just that would be my only recommended tweak.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The, the only suggestion I was going to say member Graham to one of the comments in the sidebar about what are we doing to address. I do feel that with our nexus classes, and some of the focus on the responsive classroom work. And during those blocks of time where it's self focused that students are being given strategies for self regulation strategies to be able to address. you know, being cognizant or more aware of what they're feeling and what their reactions are. So I do feel like that the cell work that is happening, it was never maybe explicitly called out, but that it definitely is addressing, like getting to the root cause of behaviors that start bullying so I just wanted to say that that is something and I could get work on getting the official cell language but I do feel that the intentional focus on social emotional learning within the district is. At the same time, addressing bullying, giving equipping students with tools to be able to self regulate and to be able to identify behaviors, whether it's their own or the behavior of someone else that like this is a dysregulated behavior. And I need to speak to an adult like to see something, say something, talk to a trusted adult, all of those, it may look different at different levels. But we can specifically call those out. Like what's at the elementary level? And you know, what's the equivalent at secondary?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think in the spirit of providing clarity, one of the things when we were up, I don't know which page it was on, when we were, where you gave the definition between bullying and bullying being the repeated abuse. And when there are other situations that are, deemed like an incident. I think that our hope would be that false reports or false bullying reports are not being generated. But sometimes, unfortunately, when you're working with young people, young adults, sometimes people do things out of retaliation. we could end up with situations where false reports are coming in. And there have been situations where people have been accused. And when an investigation took place, it was found that the information was not credible. And so I'm just saying, as we're creating the official policy, that we're not opening an additional door for this to be abused.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I do, in a different context, there are, uh some things that are kept personal that are not part of the official record or the official file um so i i am aware of that on the on the school side and that's usually when we're working with legal counsel um and so i don't i don't know if that's something that i you know, should just get clarification on. Not everything is kept electronically. So I wasn't part of the creation of this first document, but I'm just wondering if it's related to that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I. The only piece, and I know we can consult with legal guidance, but when a district finds officially, you know, declares bullying, all formal bullying documentation is reported to DESE. And on those forms, it does have like the Massachusetts general laws that are stated on those forms. So I do believe even if someone were to do an initial form saying that they're reporting it, that at some point, even if that clarification is given, it really should go on that legally binding document because it's an official document that needs to go to DESE. It's like a legal document. So I just wanted to say, if someone were to start the process and put it down that they eventually be given the official paperwork so we are in compliance from a paperwork perspective. So I just wanted to say, I don't know if that could be added or an asterisk somewhere in this new policy that I do believe we're gonna have to, we need to submit that official paperwork and have it down properly documented with the official general law, et cetera.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that's amenable. Yes, it sounds okay. Great. So, sorry, Margaret.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: By next Wednesday,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, next Friday, I was going to ask for the just the additional two days.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would love to be able to go all the way through.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I look forward to presenting the budget slide deck to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as I begin this evening's presentation, I wanted to share the Medford Public Schools funding sources. There are four areas where we receive as a district funding sources. There's the operating budget from the municipality, which is approximately 81%, We receive grants, such as IDA, and our title grants, which amount to 12% answer, which was a one time funding source 2% and revolving accounts, which account for 6%. These percentages are representative of fiscal year 22 spending. So I just wanted to qualify those percentages, but to let you know that there are multiple funding sources that contribute to the Medford Public Schools budget. So for funding sources, Medford public schools operating budget is funded by the city of Medford general fund allocation. This amount is comprised of the chapter 70 state aid plus state determined minimum required local contribution. The city contemplates all available financial resources and provides a general fund allocation to Medford public schools. The state defines net school spending as the minimum amount a community must spend on education. Medford has historically allocated substantially in excess of the net school spending minimum amount. In addition, Medford Public Schools receives federal and state grants for its educational purposes. The total fund allocation is historically comprised as follows. 20% of funding comes from the Commonwealth. That's our chapter 70 allocation for education, our local aid and circuit breaker. 5% comes from the federal government. The federal government funding often includes or comes in the forms of the special grants which I mentioned earlier title one title for ID a food service, etc. These grants are not part of the general fund allocation and are separately managed. 75% of our funding comes from the city of Medford. It comes from a general miscellaneous revenue, which does include property taxes, meals and hotel taxes, excise taxes, and the like. So thus far with our budget process, the FY 24 process, today is May 15th, and today I will be presenting the superintendent's recommendations. Again, the remaining steps on this timeline, we started back in June, the strategic planning goals were approved, budget surveys took place during the month of March, Those surveys were for department heads district administrators school committee members to weigh in. We had budget meetings. And now today is the recommendation, our next meeting on June 5 will also be the school committee requests to the municipal government. And sometime in June will be the municipal appropriation and the school committee adopting the budget that meets the appropriation. And as of July 1st is the official implementation of the new budget, the new fiscal year. So our budget objectives today for May 15th will be the superintendent's recommendations on the strategic priorities of Medford Public Schools. So our FY23 budget numbers. The Medford Public Schools adopted operating budget, which was approved in June, was $69,294,776. As we move forward, And as I frame the district's priorities and present my recommendations, I want us to keep in mind what is Medford's future. The aim of the Medford Public Schools is to equip our students higher education and professional pursuits. This objective is the driving force behind all of our efforts. So the key priorities for school year 23-24 are going to fall into four categories, which are aligned to our strategic plan, the ACEs. Regarding achievement collaboration, equity and safety and support. So stabilization is one of our key priorities. We're going to focus on the culture and climate district wide. stabilize operations at Medford High School, plan for integrated scheduling at Medford High School for the 24-25 school year, in addition to the new schedule that will also be implemented this year for our elementary schools, which will no longer be having the early release Wednesdays, but a different schedule. Under the bucket of curriculum and instruction, This year, we will be implementing new programming in literacy to fully integrate the science of reading. And that presentation will be coming to the committee by next month. In addition to a new literacy program that will be chosen is a new health program. And there have been many, many meetings with the HECAT team. So we'll be looking forward to hearing what their recommendations are as well. And again, this is to provide enhanced offerings for our students. Our third category is recommitting to the arts with the integration of an art rotation in the traditional CTE programming. So this is the programming that takes place in our vocational, with our vocational programming, vocational programs. CTE stands for career technical education. And this year, For grade nine, we will be introducing the fine arts in a theater, theater instruction, taking place this year. So, again, it's going to be enhanced offerings. In addition to the, the, the vocational offerings that students normally receive. The fourth category is going to be expanded CTE, which is, again, growing our CTE programming and expanding to meet the Medford demand, which is ever increasing. Some of our key priorities, again, similar to what you saw in the previous slide, just presented differently. The categories, strategic staffing investments, focused on our most vulnerable learners, literacy interventionists, social workers, adjustment Councilors, the theater teacher, CTE expansion, occupational therapy, and speech and language services. Professional development and training is going to be critically important, especially for the new programming that we plan on bringing on for next year. We will be offering building-based professional development, district-wide professional development, looking at restorative practices, responsive classroom, and continued training in the new literacy program and continued training in math, because those are both new programs at the elementary levels. Summer programming again grant dependent, but we are definitely moving forward this summer with fine arts, to add to our traditional array of summer programming options for our students. And the fourth category is miscellaneous departmental supplements. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it's critically important. Our high school. We have two different schedules, six day rotation on the comprehensive side of the high school. and a five day rotation on the vocational side, and we need to carefully merge the two different schedules so that we will be able to maximize offerings for all of our students. and consideration for our elementary new schedule in order to provide the maximum amount of teacher time together, common planning time, grade level team meetings. We needed to add an additional 4.0 specialists in order to make the new schedule work and in order for us to be in compliance with our new CBA. So that's just the historical overview of what the superintendent's key priorities are. And so we're gonna move into the operating budget. And as I transition to the operating budget, I will begin with what the superintendent's budget recommendation is for the next school year, 23-24 school year. The recommendation that I'm putting before the committee this evening is 71,835,165. This new number reflects comprehensive budget review, following meetings with principals, directors, senior leadership, really, really looking at anywhere where we could bring about savings and seek other sources, financial sources to make our budget work. Here I have a list of some of our fixed cost increases that are expected for next year. Under the line item of salary and personnel, we're expecting a fixed cost increase of approximately $2.7 million. This number includes the six completed CBAs and presents 2% for the remaining CBAs and non-unit personnel. And we have special education, transportation, maintenance, and athletics. Here is another way to review the FY24 to maintain level services. So for salary and personnel, as I discussed just on the previous slide, there's a $2.7 million increase. So in FY23, it was $56.7 million. And for next year, it's going to be approximately $59.4 million. Out of district tuition, for FY23, it was 3.7 million, and for FY24, we are expecting it to be $4.2 million. For school bus transportation, FY23 was approximately 1.2 million, and that anticipated increase is 1.25 million for FY24. for utilities and gas 1.85 million for FY 23 expected 2 million for FY 24. Our outside cleaning contract, I gave the historical overview of 400,000 in fiscal year 22, 445,000 is FY23. And we are anticipating 45 to a $50,000 increase for FY24. And for our specialized transportation which is our van special education vans we are expecting an increase there from 1.5 million to 2.2 million. So for our operating budget reductions. We really took time to look at budget identify areas where we could make reductions, and we have approximately $772,000. identified as reductions thus far for the 23-24 school year. That includes things such as a double head count when there was a leave of absence, necessary reductions in positions due to lower enrollment, cancellations of unnecessary technology platforms that might have been relevant during the pandemic but right now we're not having, you know, significant user subscription use. So that amounted to $772,000. are recommended investments. So implementation of the Medford High School climate recommendations to help support and provide guidance under a different structure. It will essentially be a budget neutral shift But we, we want to move forward with implementing those climate recommendations for literacy where we are going to be approving a new literacy core program and continuing our work with the science of reading shift. as well as to provide embedded professional development, mentoring and coaching, assisting our educators and school leaders with data tracking and analysis. We are asking for one to two coaches with a possibility of an adjustment of 80 to $160,000. In our PIC, our parent registration Center we would like to maintain the current level of service with one additional registration specialists, totaling 50,000. We would like to convert our library aids to librarians. to establish a library media position that will incorporate maker space investments and simultaneously ensure calming planning time at the elementary level with the new schedule. So we're thinking that approximate amount. And then, again, adding. 1.0 theater teacher to support our freshmen rotation with CTE during the CTE rotation at the high school. That was a $70,000 recommended investment. Future considerations. These are things that are not included in allocation but our future considerations that. We have identified as areas in math, because we know that we still would like to continue that work in the providing additional support to teachers to provide additional coaching support in mathematics. Providing additional coaching supportive, if possible, at the elementary schools. If, if this this again was a future consideration. Some curriculum resources zaner blows are. Additional professional development on math differentiation, adding well padding for the middle school gyms stipends for the fifth grade Olympics under fine arts. additional art supplies, a lead teacher stipends for under guidance and counseling to support the exam coordination, AP exam coordination, a lead teacher stipend and safety care coordination. professional development and science additional staffing in vocational programming finance, an additional halftime position to support our human resources department. Some restoration of supply budget in science and. classroom screen monitoring. So that's another area that we listed as future considerations.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For ESSER, on this slide, It just shows the three so grants and the total that we received. So one was 668,052. So two was 2,372,520, and so three was 5,309,620. So, again, our total so funding that we've received over the course of the, when the pandemic took place was $8,350,192. We have approximately remaining at this point in time. $3.2 million in ESSER funding to date. However, that number will be changing. So the key investments for ESSER Several of them that are listed here master scheduling consultant. We need to bring in an expert to support that work at the high school level, the culture and climate RFP to support culture and climate district wide, and that money was allocated by the school committee. CTE materials and supplies required for the continual implementation of our current programs is 185,000. And then elementary literacy, district-wide health, we're gonna be looking at ESSER and grant sources. That total amount is to be determined because we don't have a hard number just yet. Additional proposed ESSER funding on that slide is showing personnel, 1.3 million. This includes adjustment Councilors, behavior specialists, re-engagement specialists, ELL newcomer teachers, instructional support staff. EL support, 25,000. COVID-related one-time stipends, 800,000. Personal development and subscriptions, care for literacy, restorative justice, bystander interventions, counseling programs, talking points, other subscriptions district-wide. The MBTA PASS program, which has cost us $200,000. And this number has increased significantly since we started, and we are reviewing that number. But the estimated total of ESSER spending this year is in the vicinity of $2,675,000 by year's end. That would leave us with an ESSER balance of $525,000. And again, this is the amount that is reserved for FY25. This amount can be reduced due to an unforeseen expenditure. The next portion of the presentation that I'm gonna bring us to is just give an overview is on our grants and revolving accounts. What I've done is I've listed, I've listed some of our key grants and our revolving accounts. So we receive grants from the state and from the federal government. We receive comprehensive health coordinated family community engagement hate crimes prevention, special education circuit breaker. Those are significantly large grants that are awarded to us from the state. And the following are key federal grants, IDEA, our special education preschool program, Title I, Title IIA, Title III, Title IV, and we receive Perkins federal grant for vocational CTE program programming, which is our Perkins grant. And then we have several revolving accounts. And those revolving accounts, related to vocational programming CTE programming, things such as such as the rental of our field of dreams. by community partners we have community schools. We have kids corner as a revolving account we have our before and after schools program, and we have drivers ed, so there are multiple revolving accounts. And again, both tables represent a selection of the grants and revolving accounts. These amounts are subject to change and numbers can fluctuate, depending on new grant program initiatives. So I did not list, sir, which was a federal grant opera, which was also a federal grant, because those grants are ending in FY 25, but those are also additional funding sources. And so this concludes my presentation to the committee. And I just wanna say thank you for listening to me and I am ready for questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think it's a, it is a combination of both future considerations are things that we can continue to do at another point in time, and if we are able to use different funding sources, then we could potentially. cover them through using a different funding source. So we might be able to cover some things using a revolving account if it's a one-time expense. So there are some things that we can try to maneuver and we would be able to do that. And then there are some other things that would have to be in future fiscal years.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We currently have one official coaching and any member of the team. We have two coaches that are, two literacy coaches that are officially in the official allocation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the the budget neutral. I'm looking at the recommendations that were made in his report, and looking at the current structure that we have in place. some of the exact personnel, but shifting the structure of the high school, it ends up essentially being a budget neutral, repurposing and shifting some of our human resources that are there. So it is something that we really sat down, looked at, and realized we could go with a new structure. And it essentially would be budget neutral, there would be very limited, it would just be a reorganization of the structure that we currently have in place.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, the, the, the shift from library Paris to librarians and having it, you know, eventually shift toward media technology that's like a longer, a longer term. but we needed to have at the elementary level, we needed to add an additional specialist at each school in order for the new schedule to work. And in order to create common planning time, grade level team meetings for the teachers to have the opportunity to work together, to collaborate together, to look at data, To review, you know, all of those things, it needed to take place by creating a new schedule, and the only way that new schedule could be created was to add a specialist, the, the elementary schedule is significantly different than how the 612. secondary schedule works, because again at the secondary level, all teachers are content area specialists. So, all the math teachers always meet, you know, in a math team or they can meet together that way or they meet by a cluster, but at the elementary level, the teachers are experts in every single area because they teach reading math science social studies history, you know spelling penmanship, they teach all of every single content area. So they need that time as well to be able to work together and further their practice. So that was definitely a high priority for us to be able to have that and to give them that time by giving them the half day early release as opposed to the, you know, 45 minutes or 35 minutes when they had the previous schedule of the early release Wednesdays, when it was all said and done. So that that was like something that was necessary in order to really give them that opportunity to work and collaborate together as professionals.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On Wednesdays.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's the connection.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So when the budget book is completed, all of the grants are inside the final version. The formal grants are inside the actual budget book. So as it's being built, it will show IDEA, it will show that that one was for FY22, the total was 1.2 million. You know, title one reading for FY 22, it was 712,000. So, You know that the grants are a significant amount, but some of the grants to change the, the SR three was 5 million so that you know that was one year but it was 5 million added next year. That number will be there in the overall so it does, it does shift from from year to year. So,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, exactly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, we can definitely, that number fluctuates. So with the revolving accounts, with CTE programming, for example, where we have nine different programs and the restaurants are starting to kick off and some of those things, the number may shift. When Edgerly Field is rented, what is that? We have the rental, for example, The Japanese language school, they are our largest rental that comes in, but that all goes into like the bucket of community schools. So we can definitely try to get more information, but the numbers change. You could have a rental and then someone finds another location and you were thinking that you were gonna have a certain amount coming in and now they're renting elsewhere. So then you have to subtract that. MEEP programming is a revolving account. It depends on how many, you know, families choose to send their child to that preschool program. Some families choose to use other vendors, other preschool providers. So that changes from year to year. So that was kind of why I was saying it's a fluctuating number. You can have an idea, a pretty good guesstimate, but those numbers do change. They go up, they go down, depending on what's happening at that point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I can definitely work with that fall timeline because I know as the year is going to come to a close, there's probably going to be a lot of, you know, shifting and moving parts. So I can take note of that to be able to to present something like that in the fall as the new school year starts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for FY, our title grants, normally it's August, and I can defer to Joan or Suzanne, they're nodding yes, that it's August of the next, so we will already be in FY 24 when we find out the allocation. But sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down a little bit, depending, and we don't know until August when we get the official allocation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so what I can do is send a communication to the committee to see if we can do the public hearing on June 5, and the school committee requests to the municipal government. So if we're, I'll try to send a doodle poll or coordinate with the entire committee to see when we can have that because We need to post the budget hearing two weeks in advance just to make sure that we're following the rules.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At the June 5th meeting?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We will begin the process with my team. We'll be working on trying to meet to see how we can get to that number.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to share, based on the question that was being asked about the specific data related to are the demographics of the students being monitored. And I have said it in maybe different arenas, but as we were working on stabilizing the high school and looking at the behaviors that were happening, we were truly dealing with, if we had students cutting classes, If it was a higher number that happened to be students of color. It was, we need to get students back into the classrooms to ensure that the building in everyone was safe and in a secure space. When you were just asking about the DEI perspective, I want to just say that yes, we do look at the work through diversity, equity, and inclusion, but we also looked at how the high school was functioning and making sure that students were where they needed to be. I want to say that yes, we can look at it. Always keep that in mind, but also keep in mind that we do want students to be inside their classrooms. and not in the hallways. So I just wanted to say that that was something. As I've spoken to students in the hallway, I escorted students back to a class and they weren't doing anything. They were just sitting on a bench, talking and laughing, but they needed to be in class and their teacher was waiting for them. And their teacher was grateful that I escorted them back to the classroom. So I just wanna say that, that even if we go and we disaggregate it by that, it's really just trying to make sure that all students are where they need to be.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely am in support of that. I just came from. a listening session at one of the elementary schools I was over at the Miss attack and working with them there, I think, as, especially here at the high school, as the year is winding down. Freshman semi formal and senior coming up and senior prom coming up graduation the first week of June. that as the year is winding down, it would be a great opportunity to reach out to the high school staff to offer some additional listening sessions to get feedback from the teachers about what strategies or what structures that were implemented this year that they felt had a positive impact and made a difference and a change so we could gather that information. And that is something definitely we can do. We have a little bit of time when the school year ends at the high school level. We have a few, half days for students so we can try to work creatively with some of that time. Because some of that time is also used for planning for the summer and for the new coursework. So we could try to figure it out. But I think that is something that I can definitely work on gathering the data and working collaboratively with Mr. DeLeva and Mr. Fallon. to gather some of that informal feedback and even do, possibly see if you can do surveys. But I do feel there is something about the in-person, personal, like face-to-face conversation that when people talk and share their ideas, you actually can capture more information from that. So that could definitely be, an action item to meet with the staff and talk with the staff about that. So as we, you know, get ready for a new year, we'll be able to start that new year strong and learn, you know, we've learned a lot. We have learned a lot, but to continue to build upon that learning. I don't know if that is amenable to the committee members, but it's something that I definitely would be willing to just, you know, let, communicate to the staff that, you know, we want to hear from you so that, you know, as we go into the summer and we're planning, that we learn from their experiences and hear what it is that they want to share with us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, I was going to say, especially where we are with two meetings left to regular meetings left for the year, and they were going to be, you know, the, the, the. current amount of subcommittees that we already have, plus the budget meetings that we're doing. Just from a data perspective, I think gathering the data from the teachers at the end of this year, giving us time to look at that data when we receive the other student survey data, and to be able to digest it and look at it. And I think to actually be able to digest all of that data and to be able to, you know, coherently say this is what everything is saying, you know, by the last meeting of the year, I just think it would be rushing critically important data. And I think we can have it, look at it and think about what is the data saying, and it would be appropriate to report out to the committee on some of those data points at the start of the school year. Or share with the committee, this is what we have thus far and like do a summary analysis of like, this is what the data said and this is what's, these are the changes that, you know, are being in place. These, you know, these are the changes that aren't gonna be, you know, we're gonna keep this and stop something else. So I just feel like it's not that I don't wanna report out, but I just don't wanna go and report for the sake of reporting and not have the opportunity to really digest what the information is saying, what is the data saying, and what does it look like? And I do feel with some of this information, this will need to be shared. with the incoming principal for her to be able to also think about what her vision is of the school and how the data makes sense in terms of what will be happening next year at the school. So I just wanna like say, I just think it wouldn't be a wise move to rush to get you know, to be able to check the box and say, yes, we did it, but not able to properly say, you know, as a result of all of this information, these are the things that are crystallized. These are the shifts that are being made and we're going to continue to progress monitor what is happening. So even with the start of the new school year, you know, probably a little more restrictive at the start and then do a gradual release to see what can happen. That's just me, you know, quickly talking off of the top of my head, but just saying like, there's a lot of thought and strategy and, you know, coordination of the team that needs to take place.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, I think I'm open to both. I wouldn't mind presenting it at a regular meeting. And just as you were talking about data collection, by conducting the listening sessions, doing some kind of a survey with the teachers, looking at the data, letting the school year start in September, we could once again do a teacher listening session at the start of the school year and just ask them for quick feedback and report out to the larger committee to say, this is what the data has said. We gathered this at the end of the year. This is what they're saying right at the start of the school year. This is what we're seeing right now. And we will continue to progress monitor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was going to say I was looking at the September calendar because I don't have. We haven't put the dates on September 4 is Labor Day so there's no school. So, we'll, we'll definitely have a meeting on Monday, September 11. because it's first and third, we're at the second week. So it's either gonna be the 11th and the 18th or the 18th and the 25th. So the first Monday in October is October 2nd. So I actually was gonna say, since school starts on Wednesday, the 30th, we literally would only have, there's two days of school in August. And then we have that short week and we do, that I was gonna ask if it could be at the October 2nd meeting, which would just give us between... Yeah, I think that's reasonable just to collect a little bit. It would give us some time to start school, have a few weeks of data, and then to be able to report out to the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, I am truly pleased and honored to present this Mustang hero award for special recognition to Mr. Kenneth Thompson Rodriguez, who is an 11th grade student at Medford High School. I am pleased to present him with this award. Last week on Tuesday, May 9th, the high school nursing office received an emergency call on the walkie-talkie during student lunches. When nurses Jennifer Silver and Sarah Kelly arrived at the scene, Kenneth had stepped up and given a fellow MPS student the Heimlich maneuver. And his fast action really helped that student who was choking. And just an important fact for everyone to know that the nursing office shared with us that in the United States, choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury death. So we are very, very proud of you, Kenneth, that you took the initiative, you stepped up and helped your fellow Mustang. So we would like to present you with this special certificate, and I will pass it on to the mayor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Fallon, can we have Mr. Sam Christie, the wonderful teacher, and I know Mr. Noah Lukowitz isn't with us, but please come forward as well for your wonderful leadership and instruction of the students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Fabulous.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, come on up, Mr. Christie.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Don't be shy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Christie.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Christie, can you say who we're in competition with? You were mentioning.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would love for us to take a picture as well. And we will definitely get certificates to all of you as well for your wonderful accomplishment. But I'm so glad you were able to make it so quickly. So do you want to come forward so we can take a picture together? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. As I announced last week, we will be welcoming a new principal at Medford High School for the 2324 school year. Miss Cabral. Currently, she is a house principal at Malden High School. And I will be creating an opportunity as we have three openings to bring all of the new candidates to present before the committee before the end of the school year, but I did want to officially think. Dr. Cushing, Dr. Riccadeli, Member Graham for their dedication and hard work on the High School Selection Committee. I also want to recognize Ms. Joan Bowen, Principal Nick Tucci, and Member McLaughlin for all of the work that they put forward on the Andrews Middle School Principal Search Committee. And I would like to recognize Ms. Galussi and Dr. Kathy Kay and member Hays for all of the work that they have put contributing to the Roberts Elementary Search Committee. So I just wanted to publicly thank all of the different teams and to thank all the school committee members for your collaboration and partnership. as we are undergoing all the researches. So thank you so much for that. I also want to just share this past Saturday. The mayor, myself, we had Congresswoman Catherine Clark and state representative Sean gobbledy attend the Haitian flag day celebration at the Andrews Middle School. I would like to thank the Haitian task force, and the Medford family network. And Francis and all the other liaisons that were really involved it was a fun event and to thank all the community partners Cambridge Health Alliance was there that came to support Medford so it was a great afternoon, and a great time for all. This coming Thursday we will be having a school based Haitian flag day celebration in the Karen theater school committee members you are invited to join us last period. If your schedules permit. Also, on Thursday, the Medford Public Schools will have 25 students participating and competing in the Special Olympics in Malden, which is absolutely wonderful. The student athletes are representing our K to 12, and the competition begins at 9 a.m., so let's go Mustangs for our Special Olympics. On Saturday, May 13th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I'm sorry. It's gonna be at the McGlynn field, not in Malden. Thank you. But Malden and Medford participate in the Olympics together. So it will take place at the McGlynn school. Thank you for that member McLaughlin. On Saturday, the 13th, the Mustang crew team competed in the annual Mayor's Cup tournament against Everett, Somerville and Malden at the Tufts University Boathouse. the Mustangs took home medals in the following. The following students took home medals. Julie Desotis and Coral Chavez, they placed first in the girls' varsity double. Tegan Restone, Amy Nguyen, Sara Youssef, Francesca Russo, and Jalen Richardson placed first in the mixed quad. And a week, and we can matters, Charlie or cut Matt stricker, James Sloan, and James cluggish place first in the varsity novice squad. The team will compete this weekend in the Northeast regional in the hopes of qualifying for the national tournament in Florida. So I just want to say congratulations to our crew team. Athletics athletes in in Medford don't cease to amaze me, and neither do our scholars, just like our robotics team. So a lot of travel from it for this year, potentially. I also want to just share with the committee that last Thursday in Bistro 489 vocational high school students were inducted into the junior students. The juniors were inducted into the National Technical Honor Society for demonstrating excellence in career in technical education. Students were selected based on leadership skills, scholarship, citizenship, service, and responsibility. So congratulations to all. Also, for any of our students that are interested in helping with the final finishing touches of our rainbow mosaic, please sign up with Ms. Fee. The last session is this Wednesday, May 17th from three to five o'clock p.m. I also want to recognize the Roberts school, the Roberts elementary school was awarded a garden grant from the whole kids foundation. to establish a kindergarten garden outdoor learning center. On Saturday, volunteers worked from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and helped to set up garden beds by the door facing Salem Street. This will provide a great opportunity for our students to learn outside the classroom. Congratulations, Robert students. Also, recently at the Brooks Elementary School, students enjoyed the History of Hip Hop Dance brought to the school by the PTO Enrichment Committee. Become Your Dreams Hip Hop Company celebrated the art and movement of hip hop and included a funky blend of locking, breaking, popping, tapping, and house dancing, vocal percussions. There was DJ and modern traditional dance forms principle demos told me the students absolutely loved it. So thank you for the to the PTO, and for partnering with the history of hip hop dance. A few key upcoming events that are happening this week. This week on the 16th, our fourth and fifth grade students, there will be a string concert at the Missittuck and McGlynn schools. And that concert will take place at the McGlynn Auditorium, 6 p.m. Also on the 16th is our National Honor Society induction. That will be taking place at the high school in the Karen theater from seven to 830 p.m. On the 17th Wednesday, the mistletoe PTO PTO is hosting their dinner fundraiser at premier Broadway in Somerville. And also on the 17th our fourth and fifth grade strings, there'll be a fourth and fifth grade string concert for the Brooks and Roberts elementary schools, including hand chimes that will take place at the McGlynn school, and I believe that's going to be Mr. Connors, the beloved music teacher. We have all of our music teachers but he's incredibly talented with all the work that he has done with the hand chimes. I believe that's his last public concert. So I hope people are able to get out and visit the fourth and fifth grade concert on the 17th. Also on May 17 the GSA is hosting their coffee house at the bistro from 630 to 830pm on the 17th. And on May 19, McGlynn fifth graders will be playing against the teachers basketball game that is going to take place at 545pm. And also on Friday the 19th is our high school freshman formal so last week. The juniors really had a fabulous prom day last Friday. This coming Friday is going to be the freshman formal from six to 9 p.m. That's going to take place at Medford High School in the lobby, which they, you know, every time they do it over, it looks absolutely fabulous. And our seniors, their prom will be coming up soon. So those are my announcements. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Kremen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, before this presentation begins, I wanted the committee to know that we met. Mr. Trotter came and met with central office and we met as a team. We collaborated we really worked collaboratively on the presentation that you're going to hear this evening in your packets you did receive one of the beautiful flyers, which will also be shared. So I'm, you know, I know they're getting the presentation up and ready to go but I do want you to know that it is a collaborative effort. And we are all working together to, you know, continue the great work that is happening and that continues to happen with CCSR. Thank you, Mr. Trotter.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to. I received a message just saying that on Thursday May 18 at 9am the Special Olympics will be taking place in at McDonald Stadium. So for anyone who is planning on attending the Special Olympics this year, it is taking place back in Malden at McDonald Stadium, and I believe we're gonna alternate back and forth. Okay, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I look forward to presenting under this new format. So dear mayor longer current and members of the school committee, as the year winds down to a close, it is hard to believe that there are only six weeks of school left to this academic year. As I had the opportunity to gather data and reflect on this past year. There was so much to be proud of. And yet at the same time, during the most difficult times, there were many lessons learned from crises. I can say that looking back, I have grown both professionally and personally this school year. As I forge ahead, I am determined to stay focused on what is important and positive, our students and our staff. The Medford Public Schools, currently we are at an important crossroads and through thoughtful community and family collaboration, we will continue to improve and thrive as a district. I will provide a few brief highlights now, but I look forward to taking you on my journey with the Medford Public Schools this year. The Medford Public Schools continues to be an inclusive school district, rich in history and diversity, which offers so many educational opportunities for our students. We encourage our parents and caregivers to collaborate and to partner in their students' educational processes. My aces of achievement collaboration equity and support guide me in my duties daily. Additionally, social emotional learning continues to be a cornerstone of our district, along with responsive classroom and restorative practices. This year we work to hire additional guidance Councilors and social workers adjustment Councilors school psychologists, teachers and many more. We join the Sandy Hook promise to teach our students to start with hello, see something say something initiative, and new to us this year, we implemented the new say something anonymous reporting system. in an effort to empower everyone, students and staff to help create change and promote safer schools. We also implemented a 10 point action plan at Medford High School for safety, transparency, culture, climate and accountability, which did include the Sandy Hook promise, updating the handbook and implementing new hall and bathroom passes for students. Additionally, we offered viewings of screenagers presentations for our middle school students and parents and caregivers to help them be aware of the dangers of too much screen time. In my practice, I continue to bring an equity lens to all the work that I do. I stand in agreement with this quote from Maya Angelou. In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength. In Medford, there is so much beautiful diversity and strength. I continue to work and support Medford Public Schools' work on race, equity, and diversity across the district. I continue to serve as well on the Melrose Wakefield Hospital Tufts Medicine Board of Trustees, and also as a member of District Attorney Marion Ryan's anti hate anti bias task force, to name a few. In closing, for this portion, the sea of aces represents collaboration. Without the collaboration, thought partnership, and input from my senior leadership team, Peter Cushing, Suzanne Galuzzi, Joan Bowen, and MPS administrators, this work could not exist. I'm truly grateful that I have such a talented team to work with collaboratively with and on behalf of Medford Public School students, staff, and the community. So I am going to take you through my evaluation self guide self evaluation, and I'm going to ask Dr. Cushing, if he would be willing to start the slide deck. As I begin the slide deck, please know that the self-evaluation is based on my goals, which I will share shortly. And also all the work that we do is linked and connected to the district's strategic plan. So the district improvement goals. When I presented my goals for school year 22-23, the overarching goal was that during this school year, the Medford Public Schools will improve the systems and structures that directly impact student services and operations. Improved outcomes or plans to improve outcomes will be seen in student transportation, communications, and facilities operations. and I listed key actions and outcomes under the district improvement goal. I am going to, I'm sorry, Dr. Cushing, would you mind just going back? I'm gonna just highlight a few of the proposed outcomes that were stated under the district improvement goals. Bicycle racks updated at middle and high school complexes. I am pleased to report that we are currently designing new bike racks. Our metal fab students are doing the design and fabrication of the pipes. And our CCL students will be doing the excavation and installation. walking school bus routes. Last week, we just participated in National Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day. Bicycle lanes being painted on the streets and school access, providing school access. This will be finalized when Winthrop Street is completed. We will have a designated bike lane leading to the high school as well. Purchasing a communication platform, such as talking points some wars, etc. We have 50 licenses for some hours to be implemented. That will start in between August, September of 23, and we are actively using talking points. The launch of a new district smartphone app. We did launch that on at the April 3 2023 school committee presentation meeting, and the school bus contract that is ongoing. capital planning committee reviews at schools we are working on security upgrades and air can doing a air conditioning review across some of our older buildings that need that review to take place. I am pleased to report that the panorama survey for our high school students will be administered this Thursday, May 11th, 2023. I received confirmation from Principal DeLeva today, and it took a considerable amount of time for the survey to be uploaded into the panorama portal. And for the translations. There was a lot of back and forth back and forth. So we did not expect it to take this long, but I am pleased to say that it is in their portal, and our students will be taking that survey on Thursday. Dr Christian we can move to the next slide. I'd actually like you to go forward one more and I'm going to have you go back. Thank you. Our student learning goal was to assess early literacy skills, implementing interventions and literacy to improve outcomes by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of early literacy practices while maintaining a district wide focus on instruction and assessment through the continued use of NWEA map. And so this student growth goal is a continuation from last year. We started the early literacy journey, and we are continuing with that this year and we've continued to make substantive changes. Four key actions were identical to last year and we added two additional key actions of continued use of end of the map, which we are doing in our core program review, which is taking place right now with health for literacy. And so, some of our proposed outcomes. We proposed that there would be full implementation of equity across all the key to two schools. Yes, it is fully implemented. And equity. In addition to being fully implemented K to two. This year, our great three teachers have been trained, so that they to have a greater understanding of the instruction that their students received from K to two so continuing to build upon that. principles and Hill for literacy consultants continue to complete monthly rounds and going deeper on visible implementation of the science of reading across all of our elementary schools. Intentional analysis is taking place with our early literacy programs that includes ECRI, DIBELS, and NWEA MAP growth. Student supports are analyzed and adjusted as a result of this benchmark data. Also, the new literacy program being selected The programs that are being vetted are Wonders, McGraw-Hill, My View Literacy Sabbath, and Interreading by Houghton Riefling. There will be publisher and user roundtable session that's going to take place next week on May 18 with a selection of the program by May 30. So we are right in the thick of things right now but by the end of this month, a final selection will be made for the new literacy program. Under accountability. The assessment window for NWEA map testing will be closing on June 7. I will be able to have that data to you. hopefully by June 9, because it takes about 24 hours for the data to turn over after the window closes. The measurement again for students in grades six through 10, that assessment window is going to close on May 17. And again, we will need a 24 to 48 hour window to be able to get some data regarding that. And 65% of students will meet or exceed their projected growth on the NW EA map assessments by the spring of 23. Those reports for the winter progress. We would like to have a presentation to you. If it's not May 15, it would be the following meeting by Miss Lucy, and we'll be able to have samples for your reference at that time. Dr cushion Can you go to professional practice. Thank you. The professional practice goal was for me to continue to further develop my skills in strategy development, data analysis, instructional leadership, and district-wide communications through participating in superintendent-level professional development sessions this year using Leading Now and MassReady, which is Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Professional Development. And that has been, there is ongoing work that is taking place and I will have some additional information that I will be able to share with you regarding my professional practice goal. Dr. Cushing, thank you. So the next slide shows the focus standards. And this is new this year, working with the committee. The committee identified the following standards that they would like to focus in on as you look at the pieces of evidence that are provided as evidence for all of the listed indicators. So the focus standards are instructional leadership, data-informed decision-making, environment, engagement, sharing responsibility, communication, commitment to high standards, cultural proficiency, and managing conflict.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It ensures that practices in all settings reflect high expectations regarding content and quality of effort, and work engage all students and are personalized to accommodate diverse learning styles, needs, interests, and levels of readiness. Some samples of support, the level of readiness, we have new schedules for the 2324 school year. Every student will be participating in wind blocks in what I need in literacy and mathematics, looking at diverse learning styles. language-based learning groups and different specific learning groups that we are trying to provide targeted professional development for our staff and community under student engagement activities that also involve instructional leadership. We do have CCSR, our clubs, our sports, and we participated in the DESE district review with AIR. Under our next standard one e data informed decision making. This is just a highlight to show that multiple sources of evidence related to student learning, including state district and school assessment results and growth data to inform our goals in to improve organizational performance. These again are just a few of the assessments that have been taking place. Equi, DIBLS, the NWEA map, and MCAS. Also, we continue to use tiered instruction. Under section 1E, data informed decision making, continuing uses multiple sources of evidence. All ninth grade students will participate in an exploratory rotation that now includes all 15 shops at the vocational school, as well as music, art, theater, and computer offerings. And Dr. Cushing, I'm not sure if you're able to click on the hyperlink.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, there is a slide graph showing you some data for our vocational programming and how that data is continuing to show increased interest in our career technical education offerings vocational programming at Medford public schools. And so as a result of seeing that using the data and seeing that there's increased interest. And one of the areas where it was woefully neglected was the arts specifically. And so using the data, looking at how we could creatively incorporate the arts and being able to have that become part of the rotation is really wonderful for our students for next year. We can move to the next slide. Under category to environment develops and execute executes effective plans procedures routines and operational systems to address a full range of safety health emotional and social needs. And so a few samples would be school-based evacuation plans, responsive classrooms. We are using, at the middle schools, cell programming and Nexus class offerings that we offer within the district. Also, I have additional pieces of evidence for standard two We're, we're talking about environment but there are many other things that fell under standard to under management and operations. And one of them that I highlighted was that we made significant improvements in the traffic flow and congestion that had been taking place at the high school and at the start of this school year. We. moved from school starting pick up and drop off at the front of the building, everything kind of shifting to the West courtyard, which has really alleviated the congestion that would go all the way on to Winthrop Street. And so now dismissal there is probably about 15 minutes of a little activity whereas before it was significantly longer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Under category three. which is family, community, and engagement. Category three, there are three indicators. Under-engagement actively ensures that all families are welcome members of the classroom and school community and can contribute to the effectiveness of the classroom, school, district, and community. We have unified basketball. We had the Women's History Month celebration, the Black History Month celebration, middle school open houses that just took place last week, our eighth grade course selection night, which I was hugging our mascot at that event but there were a lot of families that came out a lot of questions were asked and it was really an exciting time. to think about engagement and when we think about engagement. There are many many events between the middle school lottery the middle school open houses which I said elementary events, which will be coming up field day fun day kindergarten open houses which just took place. Our sports programming and camp Mustang that will be coming up. We had our veteran presentations to honor Veterans Day that was engagement with members of the community partners. We are just receiving a new autism communication board at the McGlynn and those are going to be rolled out at other schools. Again Thanksgiving flag football inclusive team, and just many other events including the football game that took place at Fenway. Building bridges to kindergarten jumpstart music program which happens in the summer. So there are definitely opportunities continued opportunities for engagement, sharing responsibility. continuously collaborates with families and community stakeholders to support student learning and development at home, and in this community. We just recently conducted our budget Zoom. At principal meetings, we meet to discuss best practices during our rebus professional development trainings to ensure that we have consistency in the evaluation process. We are currently, I am pleased to announce that we concluded the high school principal search but we had three concurrent principal searches taking place, which included the voices of parents and community and student involvement, family surveys, which will be upcoming for the end of the year. We're working on a community wide project which involved all schools within the district, and we have active PTOs parents supporting parent volunteers, supporting all of our athletic teams field trips enrichment events and we had the blizzard basketball game which was a sold out success. And we support and always advertise for all of our CPAC events that are taking place within the district. So those are some examples of sharing responsibility. The next category of 3C communications. which I mentioned earlier in my opening remarks, we engage in regular two way culturally proficient communication with families and community stakeholders about student learning and performance. The weekly memo, although it is one sided going out in one direction the weekly memo does. We ensure that it is translated in the four most popular languages that are in the district, which are Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Arabic. And for talking points, it's a two-way application that we use with our non-English speaking families. So that has really gotten significant traction. where messages can be sent out to families through talking points, and they are able to respond right away and communicate with teachers or administrators. So that is one of the areas where we clearly, I feel, are making strong inroads with communications and with our families. The next standard is for and for a is commitment to high standards. fostering a shared commitment to high standards of service, teaching and learning with high expectations for achievement. We had our ethics school, we had our students that traveled down to North Carolina, our robotics team, which just was recognized for their wonderful underwater robot. We had mock trials, athletic accomplishments this year, which were many. and expansion of after school offerings and programs for our students to participate in enrichment activities for be cultural proficiency. It ensures that policies and practices enable staff members and students to interact effectively. in a culturally diverse environment in which students backgrounds identities strengths and challenges are respected. And we just had a wonderful trip to France that took place for many of our students to learn about a new culture. This committee has already approved travel next year to Italy and Spain. We had the Black History Celebration, the Women's History Month celebration, the Haitian Flag Day celebration is upcoming next week. And I also participated in the Japanese New Year celebration in Arlington. And I spoke to our Japanese partners and friends. and at their graduation as well. The next category, category 4F, managing conflict, employ strategies for responding to disagreement and dissent, constructively resolving conflict and building consensus throughout a district or school community. So we had many, many negotiations. We still have four more to go. But I did list that that, you know, negotiation sometimes can be contentious, and it takes time to get to the finish line but just being able to work through it and get to that finish line I wanted to cite that as a piece of evidence. When we had the crisis that took place at the high school. We offered listening sessions for students. staff and we held assemblies and those took place, multiple events and we offered additional support sell support to our school community as well. We brought in Mr. Michael Welch as an administrative consultant to work with the district. to support his to support us and to provide his expertise in that area. We held Q and A's and also just to help bring about a greater systems and structures as well. We implemented the new hallway and bathroom system at the high school with the passes and e-hall passes and there's just a sample here of the listening sessions and when they had taken place, and also the say something app which was presented to the committee already, but this is again something where students, staff, if they want to be able to report something anonymously, they are able to report it and we are able to follow through with that. And so those are all of the indicators and I just wanted to thank the community, and the committee for this opportunity to present my. self-assessment to you and provide evidence. And I just wanted to close in saying that in order to continue the work of leading this district, it could not be done again without the support of a team. And I wholeheartedly thank the support of my senior leadership team again, and the administrators who manage all the schools. This takes collaboration and coordination of teams, administrators, teachers, and staff, to create the best learning environment for all of our students. And so, I close by saying I am still the very proud superintendent of the Medford Public Schools, and I am very grateful to be a member of this community. And those are my closing remarks. And I thank you for this opportunity to present, and I just put in an additional note that there are a few additional hyperlinks that I would like to add between over the next 10 days. so that the supplemental document which I just sent as an email, but I will continue to add to that document because it is a living document and we have the proms coming up and there are a few other things that I would like to include for your review before we come back on May 22nd. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Did we get an invite on that? I don't know what you're talking about.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Hays? Yes. Member Kreatz? Dr. Cushing, can Member Kreatz unmute herself?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I just, I just wanted to say we definitely value and believe in inclusion. I'm just thinking with the timing of it being the end of the school year with transitions happening, is this something that you'd be recommending for the start of the next school year or something that you're saying you want to see happen like tomorrow? Because I just feel like what the statement is saying is it's a you know, it's a value statement. There's nothing wrong with what's being said to be added to what's already there, but I guess I'm going to just need, I've been processing, but I'm going to need a little more clarification on where This additional statement needs to be like on like you said on the Friday communications, you just were saying on the websites on every single piece of communication going out. I just feel like where we don't even have we don't consistently. use the non-discrimination statement as well, district-wide, that I almost feel like there needs to be training, you know, to let our secretaries, administrative assistants know, like to properly rule it out and say that this is something now we need to make a concerted effort to make sure that we're doing it. So again, the essence of what the statement is saying, I'm not opposed to incorporating it. I'm just thinking about the rollout and if one person gets missed and then the next thing, the inboxes are gonna be inundated because someone didn't add the statement or. Yeah, I can appreciate that. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My answer was going to be that this to my knowledge, at least since I've been here the students did not meet with the school committee members I know that Dr. Cushing has been, but since there is a standing schedule in place, I don't see why it happens during the school day. So, depending on availability or flexibility I don't see why we can't extend it. to school committee members, I'd have to go back and look at the policy, and I don't know if it's one member or if it should be a rotating member, but we definitely could add that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, there is a revised agenda. Just give me a moment to find the right version.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as we meet tonight, first day of May. We do so on School Principals Day. I must wish all of our principals and assistant principals our sincere thanks for all they do for our students. Additionally, this week will be both Teachers Appreciation Day and the beginning of School Nurses Week Appreciation. The nurses actually get a full week from May 6th through the 12th. All of our staff's dedication and attention to detail make them an integral part of our Mustang community. They're our top priority. And since education, their top priority is always the education and health and safety of all of our students. We want to commend and thank them for always going above and beyond the call of duty. So again, congratulations to all of our principals our teachers our nurses. Last week we recognized our secretaries and so it's an administrative assistance, a time just to say thank you for all of their hard work. Also I want to bring to everyone's attention that on the Friday communication, the adjustments to the school calendar, this past Friday we linked the updated school calendar for next year that elementary schools will no longer be having the early release Wednesdays, that their dismissal time will be 235pm on Wednesdays. Please be advised that we're also going to be keeping a similar schedule as our secondary schools, which means there will be one noon dismissal. Each month, there are two exceptions during December, and in April, there are none due to vacation week. Please refer to the school calendar posted on our website for a listing of the dates. Also in order to accommodate transportation needs middle school dismissal on half days will be at 1130 am high school dismissal will be at noon. And we hope that everyone understands the new schedule, if you have difficulty understanding what the new schedule is stating, please reach out to your respective principal. Also I want to just give some positive highlights athletes are continuing to do wonderful things. We want to first congratulate our boys outdoor track team. In the 4 by 200 relay, we had the following students, JT Mastracola, Dimitri Charles, Ricky Gomez, and Will Kelly for setting a new school record of one minute and 36 seconds. So congratulations to our outdoor track team. on the four by 200 relay, and the girls were not to be outdone at the distance medley. We want to recognize Emma Casey, Anna Casey, Yasmin D'Souza Vieira, and Maria Colombo. They also set a new record with a time of 13 minutes and 24 seconds. So congratulations to our girls medley long distance team. excellent efforts on both of their parts so keep up the great work. I also want to just recognize our drama club, this past weekend they performed you're in town. They did an excellent production Bravo to all of our actors stage hands and of course, their advisor, director, Miss Jones and I know Miss rebel, helping to oversee as well so congratulations to our MHS drama club. I also wanted to recognize that on Patriots Day, one of our CCSR classes, Mr. Coates, at the Brooks School, his CCSR students took on the challenge of cleaning the Korean War veteran gravestones. Despite the rain, over 112 stones or able to be cleaned. This thoughtful gesture honors our veterans and lets their families know they have not been forgotten. And I want to thank all the community members who also volunteered to help with that cleaning event. Thank you to all of you. We also want to recognize a brand new e sports team, the Mustang eSports team. This is new, I have to catch them in action but thanks to their advisor, Mr. Maldonado and miss later late in the director of technology, they work together to make this a reality. Medford had both a varsity and junior varsity team. And the game that Medford competed in was Super Smash Brothers. Next year, the goal is to expand both the teams and the games. Medford was a member of the plays league, similar to the GBL in sports and finished in 17th place out of 60 teams. So for the first time out the gate, that's not too bad. And there's always room to move up. So congratulations to them. Our junior varsity finished in 30th place out of 60 teams. Congratulations to our varsity members, Dominic Catino, Dante Suchecki, Chauncey Alabre, Samuel Buxton, Chase Smith, and to our junior varsity team members, Terrence Russell, Gage Gagne, Gabriel, and Nathaniel Hopper. Mr. Maldonado would like to thank the team manager, Liam Antoine and Henrik Roni for his technical support. Esports is one of the fastest growing school sport programs in the country. So go Mustangs and keep up the good work. I also wanted to just share that members of the McGlynn middle school global scholars were honored for their exemplary work by global cities, a program of blue bird philanthropies. The students worked on a curriculum world of water. which studies the importance of water in our lives, our cities, and our world. The sixth grade students whose projects were selected are Gianna Dip, Fuad Aldib, Isaac Hull, Jack Jomgatchian, Maria Eduardo Justino, and Jennifer Viana. Their selection means that their projects may be utilized on the global cities website or social media as an example of exemplary student work. Congratulations to Mr. relied in his hard working students. I also want to say that last Friday I did say in the memo that we are continuing to work on the school budget. We want to thank the families who participated in the family budget listening session that took place last week. Your ideas and feedback were important to us as we continue to build the budget for next year. Please note that our next budget meeting will be on Monday, May 15 from 430 to 6pm. Moving along the month of May is a busy busy month. And so I just have a few key updates to share key events that are taking place between now and May 15. Tomorrow, May 2. is going to be the McGlynn middle school open house from six to 8pm. So again, any rising sixth graders that are invited to the McGlynn middle school. I hope you're able to attend the open house it's interactive and a lot of fun. On Wednesday of this week. Excuse me. It's national bike walk road to school day. So I hope we have many students that are able to participate in that. And it's, it's a wonderful event and it takes place nationally. Also, on Wednesday is our all city. Citywide middle school orchestra in the high school string orchestra. They're hosting their spring concert at Chevalier at 6pm. On Wednesday, to avoid standing in line before the concert you can buy tickets ahead of time at the high school lobby from three to 4pm this week. $10 per ticket cash only. And Medford family network is going to also be presenting think outside the book of virtual meeting to discuss race, gender and disabilities for young minds, please sign up with the MFN to obtain the link. This week as well Thursday, May 4 is the McGlynn Middle School, excuse me, not the McGlynn, the Andrews Middle School open house for students and caregivers from six to 8pm on Thursday. Also the McGlynn Elementary School on Thursday is presenting their Festival of the Arts, 530 to 7pm so there's going to be a lot of activity. I hope parking's okay between the two schools. But hope you can come out and support those events. May 5 is happy Cinco de Mayo. And that evening the McGlynn Middle School will be hosting their neon dance for sixth graders from six to 8pm in Medford's community choral youth and young adult chorus, they're going to be presenting at our current theater at 7pm. This Saturday, high schoolers get ready, it's SAT Saturday. For our high schoolers, SAT begins at 7.30 in the morning. For our younger students and families, on that same day, MFN will be hosting a character literacy breakfast at the McGlynn Playground from 9.30 to 11 o'clock in the morning. Reservations are required. May 9th, Mustang Girls Lacrosse. They're hosting the second annual Mental Health Awareness Game at 6 p.m. at Edgerly Field. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the team hopes to erase the stigma associated with mental health needs. This is a great example of our Mustangs leading in our community. Also on May 10th, we will be welcoming our kindergarten students and their families to our kindergarten open houses, which will be taking place at all of our elementary schools from two to 3 p.m. And in the evening of May 10th, on May 10th, our fourth grade students, fourth through 12th grade band concert will also be at the Chevalier Theater, 6 p.m. on May 10th. May 11, the National Honor Society is hosting the Mr. MHS event. It's a big crowd pleaser, it's taking place at 630, it's a fundraiser, and I believe the proceeds go to support Children's Hospital. May 12th, I can't even believe it, but May 12th is Junior Prom. That's gonna take place at the Woburn Hilton. Again, May 12th from 6.30 to 10.30 p.m. Finally, I just want, oh, I want to just give an early announcement. For those of you who love music, our musicians out there, at the end of the summer, we will be bringing back Jumpstart Music Camp. It's going to run from August 14 to 18 and August 21 to 25. Those are for our students in grades four through eight, who want to have an opportunity to be introduced to instrumental camp. And it has been a big success when it's happened in the past, I will be putting it in my weekly update but I just want to get it out there, so that the community knows jumpstart music camp is going to take place at the last two weeks of August. May also is Jewish American Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Haitian American Heritage Month. We in Medford are an inclusive community that welcomes all and celebrates all. As the author Maya Angelou once said, in diversity, there is beauty and there is strength. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The brief summary is that Medford at this point in time we are no school choice district so other communities that may want to enroll or other communities that have medical programs and things like that those are school choice districts. We are not one of those districts. And so it's required by Jesse that every year. This memo comes before you to ask the committee into ensure that the committee is in agreement that were no school choice district. And so the vote that you take this evening will be reported to Jesse and added to their portal. So it's it's that's the requirement. I don't know. Do you need any additional information? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just was going to suggest maybe just after my name, if you're able to put a comma, I know it will make the font get smaller, but maybe if Medford could fit right there, comma Medford, if that could be a compromise.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just a suggestion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just was lowering my hand right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sorry, technical issues.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I just was gonna agree and say that I thought that that was a very beautiful compromise to everyone's gonna submit their individual evaluations and just to compile it, the representative comments and just have it bulleted. So it's whoever the final person is, it makes it a lot simpler and then it's just bulleted. So it represents what everyone said. All right. So that's, that's, that's all I was agreeing there. I don't know if you needed to type that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: May 8 is the subcommittee where I'll be presenting with with artifacts and links. I'll be presenting to you. Do you mean this that that's the cow? That's the cow. Right? Is there another I don't think there's another subcommittee on the 22nd. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, so. Question. Since. Yes. I apologize. On the May 1st agenda, we do have the minutes. For this, we have it because on May 8th is the meeting that I'll be presenting to you. And I think May 8th is where if the committee approves this, they would need to approve it by the 1st in order for you to use it on the 8th. Is that correct or not correct? Was it? Yes. So it's it's already on the agenda for Monday at the minutes to be approved for this meeting is listed. So you'd be able to report out on it on Monday.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So under new business, or would you like it under the approval of the minutes? Where would you like me to have it added so we can work on that immediately? I would put it under the minutes. OK, motion to approve superintendent evaluation instructions and process. OK. I'm sorry, Member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was going to add that if an anonymous complaint did come in, we would conduct an investigation. So we would be able, the district can always take an action. I just wanted to provide that clarification that, so if it's, you know, if legally it's not supposed to be in there, that's fine that it's removed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you. I just wanted to weigh in just to say this is definitely a very rich conversation. But I also wanted to just say this is now our fourth time we have official legal counsel on the call helping us pass through this bullying document. And I actually feel like even though the original document was too long, We should probably really make a concerted effort to see how we could really get the document down to be a manageable size document, so that it isn't overwhelming to families and to parents. And focus on the key, the key pieces that need to be in the policy, following the law, because I think it is true, if we end up echoing what was just shared by member Graham and member was so that if we have. We can make references to other policies, but we haven't gotten into the habit of just being able to clearly cite a policy because the policies are on, you know, that's the whole point of the subcommittee, trying to get us to a place where we're going to have clean policies that people will understand that are easy to translate, that are digestible for all stakeholders, for them to understand, okay, this is what I need to do when bullying takes place. So I almost feel like now that we have the language or we have highlights for the areas that need to stay legally because of the law, let's stick with those pieces. And then again, if it means creating a separate policy, but freestanding, I would be in support of that because we're only on page five and if at this rate, we'll be lucky if we even make it to page eight by six o'clock and there are many, many, many comments that need to be adjusted. Some of the comments I think instead of student member of the school staff, you know, like some comments might be able to just be tweaked and everyone will be able to accept those comments, but also just for us to feel like we're able to make progress because May is next week. And to member Ruseau's point, like if, if we can't at least, you know, make a decision to get through this one policy during this school year, um, We're going to be still working on this policy come September, so that that was just my. I encourage us to kind of like. focus on the bullying, focus on the key pieces that we need to focus on and not mix multiple policies. This was our attempt a few years back trying to update it. And as we can see, there were many flaws. There were areas that were repeated unnecessarily. And I just feel like we should really try to get this document down to at least half its size if that's possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I was definitely in support of removing the scope and sequence. I think probably in 2010 or when that was added, it was appropriate, but where we're gonna be changing programs and I don't think any of this is really necessary for what we're doing right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to comment because when the bullying investigation takes place and you follow the flowchart, there are pieces that you have to look for to make the differentiation between is it truly bullying or is it a disciplinary incident? And so sometimes In some people's interpretation, it could be defined or interpreted to be bullying. And in some situations, it's a disciplinary incident. And I just want to say that we do have some students within the district that may need additional supports based on their specific learning needs. And so sometimes in those areas, we might have higher incidents or higher occurrences of certain things that take place. And as a result of the IEP, for example, and we realize that it might be identified as part of a child's disability, we're not going to be identifying every single incident as bullying. So I just, I don't have a problem with greater accountability, but I also just want to say that sometimes we're dealing with situations that there's an area of gray that has to be taken into consideration. We had specialized training with all of the administrators around bullying. We worked with Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, and Lehane to really understand what is it that administrators legally can do. And I don't have a problem with having them come back to redo the training, but I do feel that they, you know, they clearly explained to all the administrators, you know, what was acceptable and kind of helping us really parse out the law. So if there are other situations that, you know, family members have a concern about maybe how something was handled, they can always bring it to the superintendent's attention. But I just don't want to have like blanket statements written into a policy and then there are other documents or other pieces of information that we have access to that, you know, aren't going to be, taken into consideration the same way. I just want us to be careful that we're not trying to over legislate this bullying policy. I think we need to be clear that this particular document is specifically about bullying and what the law says. And we truly are trying our best to follow the law. And if there are disciplinary incidents which don't rise to the level of bullying, then they're going to be handled as a disciplinary offense. a disciplinary incident. And I just want to say that because, you know, there are limitations when we're dealing with discipline. There are some things that we have to keep in mind, and I know it might not be the answer that everyone wants to hear, but we do have to follow the law for all students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that the language that Member Graham just, not Member Graham, Member McLaughlin just added about, you said students with disabilities. I think if we leave, if we add that language, I still do feel that we should leave the IEP and 504 language in there because there are students that are on maybe an IEP or a 504 where you know, self regulation may be listed as an official disability. And so those students are entitled to additional protections according to their IEP. So I just didn't want to remove the words IEP and or 504 from the bullying report and add what member McLaughlin said to include students with disabilities that may not have an IEP or a 504. But I just want people to know that there are some things legally that we have to take into consideration. And if we don't take into consideration, then once again, the district is liable and the district is at fault for not following the IEP or 504 plan. So I just wanted to add that piece so that those who may come back and watch later understand that there are some other things that we do need to keep in mind. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, Mustang family. I am so excited to be here. We have right now 77, probably more than 77, because I see some of you are with your parents right now on the call. I'm really excited. We are getting ready to do our middle school lottery. I am Dr. Edouard-Vincent, your very proud superintendent. And with me today, I have our data manager, Ms. Kim Miles. who is going to be working magic in the background on the table right behind me. And next to me is Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, who is our director of professional learning and student assessment. And Dr. Riccadeli is here as well. And as we go through today's process to actually select the schools and do the actual lottery, if there are questions, We will be putting it in the chat box. If you have questions or you need clarification or support, either Dr. Ricciardelli or Ms. Kim Miles, you will be able to email them with questions. So we will make sure that we get that into the chat box. So I want to thank you all for your patience. We have a couple of different technology. We're using the Zoom room and we're using our individual computers. So we're muted at different points. So I want to end the suffering and hopefully have lots of rejoicing that's going to take place. We're going to start this lottery process. We're going to do it in ABC order, alphabetical order with our schools. And as soon again, as the schools are picked, we will be working very diligently to get those numbers online. So that you will be so give us about an hour, but we may be able to get it online, you know, maybe within 30 to 40 minutes. So that depends on how quickly we are able to get everything done. I am also just gonna pass the baton to Dr. Ricciardelli and give her a minute just to address you as well. And then we will start The lottery process. Thank you again for your patience and good afternoon to all of you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Also in true lottery fashion, I've had the pleasure of always playing our Jeopardy music because we're kind of waiting. So please enjoy the music from Jeopardy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I apologize. I apologize for the echo. The first draw just took place for the Brooks, and the second draw will be taking place as well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Second lottery just pulled lottery to Brooks. So it's complete. Brooke School is complete. So for each school, for each school, there will be two draws. The first draw and the second draw is for some of our students that are that have some of our students with disabilities that there is a draw to evenly balance the students between every single school. So, for every single school, there will be two draws. And right now that we've completed the Brooks, we're going to move on to the Glen, but both draws just took place. Thank you. McGlynn McGlynn first draw is complete. It's printing right now. And we are going to wait for McGlynn second draw to come out next.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Missittuck Elementary School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: First draw for the Missittuck is printing. And second draw for the Missittuck will begin shortly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is printing right now. Mr. Tuck. Second poll is Robert's school first draw is being pulled. First draw for the Roberts took place. Second draw for the Roberts is taking place right now. said you want to let people know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, people are waiting. Good. Good news. We know that families are waiting. I hope. Can I see a thumbs up if families can hear me? Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. Um, good news. Miss Miles said she she will be able to get the all the numbers up onto the website within 30 minutes. So let's hope for that. I actually see that we have some of our principals on the call as well. Oh, Jessica Sa, I love you too. I love all of you. Thank you. I just wanna see, now we have 86 families on the call. So all of our draws took place. I'm gonna look at our reactions. If you are from the Brooks School, let us see how many clapping hands pop up on the screens. I just would love to see that. If you're from the Brooks School, all right, I see clapping hands. I see clapping hands. I see Ida and Jessica and Lily and Grace. I see Rosa. I know some of us don't have our cameras on. Poma and Sophia. Fabulous. I'm trying to swing to jump through. I wanted to just give you a shout out for being on the call. This will be available to you. If you are from the McGlynn school, can I see a thumbs up? Um, under reactions, McGlynn school. All right. I saw, um, Oh, Lally. I got clapping down there too. Great. Jessica, Victoria. Um, Let's see who else. Wonderful for the McGlynn. If you are from the Missittuck, can I see some hearts? Can I see any hearts go up? If you're representing the Missittuck Elementary School, Kim D, Tom Ye, I see you. I see you. I'm flipping through, so I'm not, I just wanna recognize you. If you are from the Roberts School, can I see the hooray little horn, like the party horn? Let's look. I see you, Lynn. And I see AK. I see, I just saw George. All right, let's have everybody who's on the call, whatever school you represent, And what I asked was, clapping for the Brooks, thumbs up for the McGlynn, heart for the Missituk, and the little party horn for the Roberts. Can I see everyone respond all at once? Fabulous. Erlandy, I see you. I see you, Ben, and Ida, and Michelle, and Miss Deimos, and David, and Lynn. Wonderful. I see all Mary and Victoria and Jenna and Courtney and Wally. Wonderful. I see Kirk. Oh, Kirk Davis. I miss Hayes. I see Oh, warrior. Wonderful. So I just wanted to give any of the principles a quick opportunity if they if they just want to say hello and Kim I saw you. Thank you for your wonderful reactions. So we don't announce the numbers because the numbers are personal to every single student and family. So we pull all the numbers, the numbers will be posted, and no one's name is affiliated with the number. But you have your personalized number, so that will happen. Ms. Demos, I'm not sure if you wanted to speak. I'm just here for the excitement. All of them. Yes. Equally excited. And of course, principals will be receiving the list as well to be able to confirm once it's done. And I was looking to see if I saw a different administrator, but miss demos, I think you are on the call today. Thank you for representing all of our elementary principals. And, ah, Principal O'Brien, there you are. I didn't see you. Would you like to speak, Principal O'Brien?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Super, super happy. Thank you. Principal O'Brien, there was a wonderful question asking, where is it gonna appear? So our website team, we're gonna be working with them. They're gonna try to have it prominent, like a button or something like that. So when you go to the main page, there will be something that is gonna say middle school lottery, and then you'll be able to go into that and we will have that information available front and center. So you will not go on a wild goose chase. Go to Medford Public Schools, our main website, and you'll be able to do it that way. And I'm just trying to look at... Okay, I want to say thank you. You'll see the number. Some of the questions I'm looking at. Yes. Each student was given a number and Dr. Riccadeli, I'm going to ask if you are able to just put your email in the chat box for both you and for Ms. Miles. And again, if for whatever reason you need to speak with an administrator, both Ms. Miles and Dr. Riccadeli, they are going to be available to help support you with this process. But thank you for jumping on the lottery. I could see Lynn is so excited. I know this is like, it's exciting. I can't wait till all of you get your wonderful assignments. And thank you to so many of you for jumping on the call today. And your numbers will be up within 30 minutes, within 30 minutes. So it's 328 by four o'clock. We will have the numbers up and available for everyone to find their assignments. Thank you, parents. Thank you, family, caregivers. Thank you, principals. Thank you, team. Have a great rest of the day. Enjoy the beautiful weather outside.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, Madam President Morell and esteemed body of our city council. Thank you, City Councilors, all of you for having me this evening to present our resubmission of the MSBA statement of input statement of interest application. We submitted a year ago and we've submitted many years in the past. This past year, we were very close, but based on the feedback that we had received, the amount of schools that were approved this past year was a smaller number. And as a result of that, we just weren't able to make the number. We didn't make the cut, but we were given very positive feedback to resubmit our application, which we have done. This evening, I'm requesting the entire city council if you would approve Medford Public Schools reapplication for the statement of interest for the core program for Medford High School. Thank you. I'm available to answer any questions. Councilor Knight.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, we had a very strong application, again this past year, and because the number of schools that were awarded this year was a reduced number. Unfortunately, we, we just missed that cut. and we were encouraged by the MSBA to resubmit for this year. There is one key difference. In previous years, MSBA was having two programs, the accelerated repair program and the core program. This current year, They are not accepting applications. They're not doing the accelerated repair program. It's only the core program. So we're resubmitting our application from last year with the addition of a few things that have surfaced at the school. We had pipes bursting and some asbestos work for tiles that had popped on the floor. So we did have additional work that needed to be done because the building is aging. And so we are reapplying for the core program and MSBA will come back out if we're approved, if our statement of interest is approved, they will come back out and do a senior study and follow the appropriate steps. And I also want to say that this is just, today's request is permission to, reapply with the statement of interest. But as we continue with MSBA, there will be multiple opportunities to come before your body and respond to questions and let you know the status of what is happening. MSBA just does not want a school district on their own to go and say, we're putting in this application and not have the support of both the school committee and the city council. The school committee did approve it last week for us to move forward, and my request is that the city council will allow us to apply. I think we should continue to apply. We know that the high school needs work, and I feel very confident in our resubmission and based on the feedback that we received that we should not give up but move forward. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The additional pieces that I just shared were things that happened this year since we applied.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So that's what it was, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, it's not identical year before last year's application was was significantly different brought in consultants and had additional help in terms of how we structured the application. And so last year's application was looked upon very favorably, and we did advance to the next phase of senior study, which is promising. Some districts do not advance even to that phase. So we were able to advance to the second phase. And again, we did receive positive feedback from MSBA to definitely reapply. And so, That's, that's why we're reapplying resubmitting the application was the additions, what was the consultants cost. I do not have the cost of the consultant right now but we did secure additional support. And I don't, I can get that number to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just waiting for the slide deck to be pulled up.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing. This evening, I'm going to be presenting before the committee this budget update. And based on questions that came in from the members and were asked last week, I have attempted to respond to provide answers for the majority of the questions. So I'm going to start the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So the first thing, for those of you in the community who are just joining for the first time and are not certain how school budgets function and the different funding streams that are available to school districts, this slide shows that these are the different ways that funding comes. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the governor's budget, submits an allocation to the municipality. That funding goes to the municipality, the city of Medford, and the city of Medford's chapter 70 allocation, that's what the city, local aid, local contribution, that's what comprises the city's funding sources. Based on the allocation from the city, that funding funnels and goes to all of Medford Public Schools. And it allows us to address our district priorities and goals, departmental priorities and goals. It includes the superintendent's recommendations. This process, the budget meeting process, which is a multi-step process, school committee requests. We receive again the municipal appropriations and then eventually school committee adoption. Also federal funding is involved in this process. And the federal government provides supplemental grants and again it's intended to supplement, not to supplant. So we receive federal and state grants, our title grants, our Perkins grants, our IDEA grants at the time of the pandemic. the additional COVID-19 grants. And I want to state that these allocations, the federal government grants, they fluctuate. So it does not remain the same exact amount every year. Sometimes there's a slight increase and sometimes there is a decrease. So I just wanted to say this is kind of where the funding streams kind of come from that come to the district. Next slide. In particular, for Medford Public Schools, all of our funding sources are as follows. The general fund allocation, which we talked about the Chapter 70 allocation. Grants, again, IDEA title grants. ESSER, which is one time funding source. And the fourth funding source is revolving accounts. The revolving accounts are accounts that are based out of Medford Public Schools. It's not part of the official operating budget, but it is a funding source that we do use. So everything that is happening within the district comes from these four funding sources, so I hope you can see that there are funding sources coming from these four areas. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So in response to the budget process, right now we are at April 10th, and there were several steps that have already taken place. The school committee has approved the district's strategic plan. There were budget surveys that were administered during the month of March that went to school committee members, department heads, administrators. We are now in the process of having budget meetings discussing funding and where we are. And right now we're at our second budget meeting. This process will continue where the superintendent will give formal recommendations coming up at the May 1st meeting. School committee will formally put in their requests by the May 15th meeting. And in this context, the municipal appropriation was given to us a little earlier. So I do need to slide that block up forward. The committee will adopt it in June, and there will be implementation in July. July 1 is the implementation of the new fiscal year. So the previous budget objectives at our April 3 meeting, which was just a week ago, it was the introduction to the budget process and reviewing our FY 23 allocation. Today we will be looking at some funding requests, reviewing the available FY 24 ESSER funds and highlighting some priorities. Upcoming on May 1st will be the official recommendations on our strategic priorities for Medford public schools. So our FY23 budget, the budget that we are currently in right now, we were allocated 68,994,776. So these are our FY23 budget numbers that we're currently working with right now. Our anticipated operating budget that was given to us from the municipality is $71 million for FY 24 budget numbers. So our anticipated operating budget to be approved in June is totals a $1.7 million increase over the operating budget that we received last year, which is the equivalent is a 2.5% increase for this coming fiscal year, FY 24. One of the key budget drivers, which I will talk about later, is our employment agreements. And just for a refresher, our FY22, based on our contracts that were settled, 2.5% increase for FY22, 2.5% increase for FY23. and for FY 24, 2.5% plus an additional 1% on the 100th day of school. So again, we're talking about a $1.1 million fixed cost increase based on FY 23 increases, and that is inclusive of the teachers only. I reviewed some of the fixed cost increases, and again, I wanted to just go back to kind of restate some of the fixed costs that we know are going to increase and where some of them are going to have impacts on this budget process. So we are aware that for FY24, which starts on July 1, that our special education costs are going to increase, and that projection is around $1 million. And again, that is a projection because we know that there is an unanticipated, unknown piece to those numbers. Our FY 24 contractual increases across the board, our increases to personnel, we are anticipating that at a $3.3 million increase. A significant portion 2% in FY 22 and 2% sent in FY 23 of these increases were incorporated into our last two budgets in anticipation of our negotiations. still with FY23 and 24 increases, exceeding the budgeted amounts, that has really impacted our flexibility that we previously thought would have been, that we previously thought would have existed. For FY 24, we do have anticipated vendor increases. And I'm saying anticipated because we are still working on some numbers for outside contracts, transportation, and maintenance. So those are anticipated, but we know it's going to increase and not decrease. And we are still working on additional CBAs for our custodians, our monitors, our administrators, our security monitors, and our food service workers. Here is another way of looking at our anticipated increases. And I will kind of restate this again later in the slide. Out-of-district tuitions, we're expecting again from 3.7 million, which was allocated for this year, FY23, we're expecting that increase to be approximately 4.2 million. Again, that number can fluctuate our transportation and van services as a 10% increase there from 1.5 million. We are expecting or anticipating approximately 2.24 again that number can fluctuate. Our transportation and school bus, our big yellow bus transportation, we anticipate going from 1.2 million to approximately 1.25 million. And again, we are looking at that anticipated that our current contract and also looking at the possibility of other contracts to look to see what's going to best meet the needs of the district. We have a few more anticipated increases, utilities, gas and electric. Those are increasing as well from 1.85 million for FY23. We are expecting it to come in around $2 million for gas and electric next year. And our cleaning contract, FY23, we paid $445,000 for that contract. We are anticipating an increase in that, a similar increase of $45,000 to $50,000 for our cleaning contracts. So I just wanted to say where some of these anticipated increases are coming from. So to total all of that, we're looking at approximately $1.4 million increase in ordinary expenses, things that are non-salary. So a $1.4 million increase in ordinary expenses, a $3.3 million increase in personnel expenses. And those are our settled CBAs. So we are anticipating a $4.7 million increase, which is about 6.8%. So just based on the increases that are in place and our approximations, we would be anticipating a $74 million potential request So there is a gap that we will definitely need to address moving forward. So I want to address the FY23 and FY24 ESSER budgets. I did mention this in our previous presentations, but I just wanna say how some of our ESSER funding is currently being used. for cell and counseling programs, for supervision and evaluation, professional development, for talking points and other subscriptions. And we are doing analyses on subscriptions that are not being used to the highest levels about dropping those. So that number, Although you see a TBD listed, we are really working at looking at the usability of all of the subscriptions, and we're still in the process of calculating those numbers. For our MBTA PASS program, we will probably, this will be one of the areas that we will talk about. We anticipated $150,000. We are thinking we're going to be closer to $202,000 for next year as an anticipated expense. The connectivity fund, we still have as TBD. And for summer programming, we have those listed as TBD. Continuing with our FY 23, 24 estimated budget, we have some numbers that are fairly similar. Currently right now, our engagement specialists. We've had some were engagement specialists we did have a vacancy we had some turnover, and we had some engagement specialists that are not 1.0. They are working in supporting the district, but they are working for us in a point six capacity. So that also attributes for the lower number that you're seeing for behavior specialists were anticipating 130,000. We have the 1.0 reading specialists. If we are to carry two of them on our ESSER funding, it would be approximately 200,000. Our ELL newcomer program, we do have newcomer, we currently have five newcomer staff, and we're looking at that number as well. And then we have another, payout of $, that will be coming out of our funding. Hill for literacy, which is our intensive professional development that we are offering for are elementary educators who are participating in that professional development. We still have it at approximately 90,000. We are working on a final number. But as we have new staff that also come into the school, those staff need to be trained and to come up to speed. So that's taking that into account. And for restorative justice, responsive classroom, those best practices, we have approximately 100,000 set aside to be addressing those professional learning opportunities for our educators. So, our proposed so budget through the calculations. At the last time I presented to you. I had $250,000 that we're showing for the mathematics program that funding, it said the operating And so our ESSER balance right now is 3.2 million for FY 24. And the curriculum, which I talked about, I mentioned at last week's professional, at last week's committee of the whole, our new elementary literacy program. We initially thought the literacy programs were going to be approximately $600,000. In actuality, the literacy programs that are currently being reviewed by the literacy team is in the vicinity of $800,000 to $900,000 for the adoption of the new programs. So we have been awarded $200,000 from DESE as a grant. And depending on which program ends up being selected by the literacy team, we would still have an estimated cost of approximately $600,000 because the cost of the programs that are being considered are significantly more. So I just wanted to provide that clarification that two of the programs that made the final cut are 800 and 900,000 respectively, and the literacy team is working diligently to pick the best program for Medford. So it would still be an ask of 600,000 to potentially 700,000. If the most expensive program is selected so I just wanted everyone to put a little pin in that number to know that that is something we are thinking about. Again, the restorative justice, which we talked about on the previous slide, bystander intervention at the secondary level, that's approximately 100,000, and the Hill for Literacy, again, which is our professional development programming at the elementary levels, and would be supporting, through our partnership with them, whichever new literacy program is selected. With that, that's a slight modification from 1 million, we could say to almost 800,000 but if we do go with the more expensive program. Instead of 600,000 that number would be 700,000. 800,000 900,000 so we're still kind of creeping very close to the 1 million mark. We do have 3.2 million allocated for FY 24. So a special request last week was to show the ESSER funding that Medford Public Schools received. ESSER 1 we received, we were allocated $668,052. Zero, as of right now, the end of year, fiscal year 23, that ESSER 1 funding is at zero. ESSER 2, we were awarded $2 million 372,520, and as of right now, that is also at zero, the balance remaining. ESSER III, we have 5,309,620. Our anticipated balance at the end of this year will be $3.2 million. So our total allotment allocation for ESSER funding to the Medford Public Schools was $8,350,192. In response to the mayor's question about so three funding all so three funding must be spent by September 30 2024. That is during the first quarter of FY 25 because the new fiscal year would start on July 1 of 2024. So we have also begun thinking about that and looking to see for some of the programmatic needs. such as the costly literacy program that we're going to be bringing on. We know that we have the $250,000 balance of the math that we're paying out of the operating budget. But even if we were to try to leave 3 quarters of a million, approximately $750,000, left on ESSER funding three to carry us over, it could help to defray the cost of some of the programs. So again, it's just a possible suggestion as we go through this budget process and we look at what is ahead of us. So our FY budgetary priorities, which I talked about last week, I, I have highlighted two sections for the committee under strategic staffing investments focused on our most vulnerable learners. We have identified a necessary need, not an optional need to provide an additional occupational therapist, and an additional speech and language pathologists, so the OT and SLP, a 2.0 FTE. Those positions are needed for our IEP needs. We've seen significant increases in speech and language and OT with our youngest learners that are in our MEET programming. And so in order to balance the needs and balance the caseloads, that was an identified need that we need to have in place for next year. In addition to the literacy interventionists, maintaining social workers and adjustment Councilors, the expanded school day staff under professional development and specialized training, which I talked about, building-based professional development, district-wide professional development, that is critically important for us to continue to sharpen our skills so that we can really provide the best education for our students. And summer programming, which is grant dependent, but we want to continue to provide summer programming, and we are going to continue to pursue any additional grants that Desi may offer for literacy, math, fine arts, and cell. programs to our traditional array of summer programming options, and then under miscellaneous departmental supplements. I mentioned it before, but I'm going to stress once again that as part of the signed CBA with the teacher's contract, we have a challenge at the high school with the five day schedule on the vocational side and the comprehension comprehensive side, having a six day schedule. And although the two schools are merged and they are one school. We're still having a six day schedule and a five day schedule that do not speak to one another. So we have looked into high school scheduling consultants and the best rate that we received thus far is $64,000. So we are looking at other options, but our reputable consultant is $64,000. And that is required as part of the negotiated contract. but we would need to have this schedule completed by the spring of 2024 in order for the schedule of the high school students, by the time scheduling comes along for us to have what the new schedule would look like for the day. So again, that would involve minutes changing, how long the blocks are, and it's a very, critically important and comprehensive process. Also, as part of the agreed contract. When we change the schedule at the elementary level, and we sunsetted the early release Wednesdays. And we added the half days as part of that sun setting of the early release Wednesdays. There was a need for for additional specialists. So, that is not. wish or want, it's something that is truly needed. We will need four additional specialists in order for the elementary schedules to function. So I highlighted those two sections in bold so you can just see that those are 6.0 FTEs that were added from last week to this week. So, as, as a result of looking at all of these. Looking at what's before us, we realize that as a district, we're also going to be looking at where we can reconcile. Is there a reconciliation process? Where is there waste? For example, I know member Graham mentioned that about like if the subscriptions aren't being used. So if there are areas for reconciliation, We are looking at those areas right now very carefully to make truly informed decisions. So, looking at our budgetary capacity, where we can find savings with those instructional materials. If there are areas where grade level strands need to collapse that if there is a very very low class size to really start looking at areas to reconcile, so that we are able to bring in all of the new things that we would like to bring in for next year. Identification of external funding sources as appropriate. Identification of revolving funds. As I mentioned, it is a funding source not to supplant, but to support work that is happening. And sometimes looking at potential reduction in positions where necessary. That is something that we may need to be looking at. and looking at identification of capital expenditures appropriate for one time funding sources, if that is something that we are able to look at. And last but not least, possible deferral of some strategic priorities. So we have that listed as well. So our FY 24 budget drivers, I shared this with you a year ago, not a year ago, I'm sorry, last week, but I want to share what we know our growing student needs, cell, social, emotional learning, and we also are stressing the importance of intervention. Our biggest arrow, our rising costs and expenses, our new CBAs, our collective bargaining agreements, our MOAs. We've ratified the teachers, the nurses, the paras, our secretarial, carpenters, Kids' Corner. And to be determined, we are still working on our administrators, our admin, our custodians, our monitors, and cafeteria. And using special revenue funds, we are using ESSER, which is one time, but we're also using grants. And where necessary, not to supplant, but to supplement, we would use our revolving accounts. So that is just an additional budget driver. I just want to reiterate that message. As a district, we are going to continue to look at keeping students at the center of all that we do. We're gonna keep students at the center of our decision making. We're gonna provide data to support student-centered learning. Educators, which I've highlighted before, we are still providing them with important, necessary professional development. We wish to continue to partner with our community to support our students. families and caregivers to partner with the district. And our goal is always to be preparing our students for college and career. And we want to continue to thrive and create a true sense of belonging for all of our students. And again, tiered, multi-tiered system of support Tier one, addressing all students. Tier two, for our at-risk students. Tier three, for those that are our most vulnerable, our highest risk students. So we're always keeping that in mind, that we're trying to meet the needs of all of our learners. And all of our strategic priorities are based on our strategic plan. And our priority number one is implementing implementing curricular assessment instructional strategies to support all of our learners priority to. is building culture through community engagement. Our priority three, looking at equitable supports for our students, both academic and cell, meeting the physical needs of our students. And priority four, looking at our infrastructure and providing supports for all of our students, safe and supportive learning environments. So those are our ACEs. And so my final slide is our Q&A ending with our students. And I am prepared to respond to questions from the committee. Mayor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the budgetary priorities, they're not there. And that would be with the...
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you tell me what side you're on?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, the Director of Communications and the Finance position, they are still open. Okay, so those will need to be added somewhere as additional costs here as well? Yes, we hope to have them, the Director of Communications would, it would end up being like a, because that would not be perceived as a new, because we have a retirement that is coming, so that would, hopefully one would,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, for HECAT, we're still moving forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we are really thinking creatively. We would still like to have theater offered at the district. So we're gonna look, With reconciliation, we're also gonna just look at potentially creatively looking at some of our existing staff. Maybe it might not end up being a 1.0, but we still wanna be able to offer it to students. So we are in the process of trying to look at other ways where we would still be able to provide, offer our students this as another opportunity for them and look at. So that again is still, We're committed to providing the greatest amount of opportunities for our students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, with our partnership with Hill Hill does provide some coaching and counseling. I don't know if Mr. Lucy you want to share a little of the supports that he'll has provided. We don't have a total number of. coaches just yet, is it something where we would need to add 2.0 literacy coach? So I don't have a hard number for you, but I do want you to be able to say from putting on a new program and providing professional development in training for teachers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For the restorative justice and RJ bystander, the approximate 100,000 does include professional development. And Dr. Cushing, you can speak to the bystander intervention, if in fact.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the 90,000.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: A portion of it, because that was where I was saying we were looking at where the ESSER money technically ends on September 30th. that if we were to take that 600,000 and potentially say we're going to pay 200,000 this year on answer and defer 200,000 to f y 25, because the money has to be spent by September, and you can't pre encumber a person's salary, so that if we were to set aside a little bit of money It would need to be on a program so it would make sense like you could on July 15, you could make a $200,000 payment and be in compliance with what answer is like the rules, making that final payment before September 30. Again, that's just a, I didn't even do it as a separate slide but the 3.2 million which is the current balance right now. We were like maybe we could set aside 750,000 so I, and I don't even know if the key cat team would have a recommendation potentially coming up for something so it could be. $750,000 set aside to help pay for a little bit of programming. Because we had the $250,000 for the math, that was on the operating budget. But this literacy, we were trying to put it on the ESSER because it qualifies. So that was, again, it will be up to the committee to decide, but this was one of the things we were just looking at.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We would have to look at all, like we would have to look at it from soup to nuts. If there's redundancy or, again, I think I had said something about looking at class size, looking at, you know, If, if there could be a classroom that has like very very low enrollment numbers and then you know one school has a class size of this amount and another school has a larger amount could we look at. we just have to look at all of the possibilities. And so if redundancies were identified, you might say, you know, I don't need this, but I need to add that. And so, you know, just as you're advocating right now and saying like, you're bringing on a new literacy program, we need to be able to have like literacy coaches to support the implementation of a brand new program. So if we're going to add literacy coaches, we most likely need to look at where we could cut something just to bring about some kind of reconciliation. So we would be looking at the entire district. That's why it just says potential. It doesn't mean guaranteed, but just based on what we are working with right now, what we're looking at, we're trying to look creatively and see what we can do.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so that is one of the pieces that we always look at who's closest to the students and look at positions that don't directly impact students. So that is definitely taken into consideration. But when I'm saying class size, I'm not talking about increasing class size to 35 students. But if you might have a classroom that has a very, very low teacher student in one building, and then the same exact grade level in another building has a fuller portfolio, just looking at where we could kind of be more equitable. So that is part of the analysis. This week, having back-to-back meetings, and it was a short week last week, so we're still in the process of pulling numbers and trying to calculate. And with now having a clear anticipated allocation, municipal allocation, that also made us think differently and start saying, okay, we need to think creatively because this is, we have a proposed number. And so we need to start looking at how we can reconcile, in what ways we can reconcile where possible in the areas, like all of the things that were being said, the positions that I said were definitely required. And some of the positions member Rousseau was just talking about, those positions that we are wanting to add to our cadre. It's going, you know, it is going to go back to those scales, I probably should have, my scales will be back for the next one, saying that we're adding here. where is it that we could make a possible reconciliation if necessary, just being prudent. And again, with the subscriptions, if during COVID, you know, we had hybrid, we had 1300 students that were remote. So with that, we had purchased a lot of online programs and platforms. And so some of them just aren't having the usability that we thought would have continued post pandemic. So we are getting the actual, Ms. Layden is calculating the actual hard numbers for us right now of usability of the programs for us to be able to make an informed decision and say, you know, we have 30% participation where, you know, during the pandemic, it was 100% or 17%. It doesn't make sense to pay for an entire district if we're just not getting we might keep something, but just keep it in a very limited capacity. So just looking for those areas where we're being fiscally prudent and wise in that regards.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The communications director is that was, I never had it listed because, um, we have a retirement, so we. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That was in, but I will be able to, yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, so that we're looking. So, currently at the high school, as we look at it, there are technically for people that are sitting in the role title role of assistant principal. including the vocational side of the house. So we are looking at the high school very closely and at our May 1st presentation, May 1st meeting, Mr. Welch will be presenting a recommendation, his recommendations as well for a potential structure. for the high school, but there are other ways where we could get to the same amount of additional coverage, but might not be through, it could be that we add an additional assistant principal, it could be through the addition of a different position.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the high school isn't, the short answer is yes, the high school is included. It's just there, there could be more than one option that's presented to the committee that's presented as a potential structure.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, it definitely does not include the HECAT.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, the 74 million would include what we were currently at right now. It may not include if it was some. So, so there is some consideration there. So, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So May 1st, it'll be a budget meeting, and at the May 1st meeting, I will be presenting my formal recommendations to the committee. Just the way that our schedule ended up being back-to-back meetings, And it was a for a four day week, and we had a meeting last Monday so it really only left us three days and then we received the official. The anticipated allocation. When we had the anticipated allocation. I. wanted the committee, just to be able to see that this is the anticipated number that we received. This is what we're thinking, just, you know, just between our ordinary expenses. and our personnel expenses, we were anticipating a 6.8% increase. So I just wanted to provide the committee with that number to say that we were thinking that 6.8% came up to about 4.7 million, which is why I was showing the approximate $74 million request. But we- I think I still have the floor, right?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On slide five, I did, I tried to map out the objectives. My slide five was an homage to you, Member McLaughlin, where you were just saying to kind of pass out what we were anticipating has been happening in terms of what the objectives have been thus far. So at the May 1st meeting, My hope was to present my recommendations to you at the May 1 meeting that was going to give us time. And we still have our community engagement meeting on April 26. to hear from members of the community who want to provide feedback or things that they would love to see happen. So I wanted that meeting to happen and just gather that additional data so that I would be able to fold that in to my presentation on May 1st. And if we need to add, another meeting, we can always do that as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We intentionally were vague on that one. We are looking at a lot of options. We're looking at STEM, we're looking at STEAM, we're looking at potential literacy. We have a couple of options on the table. We're trying to look at which additional specialists will enhance the elementary schools the most. So not just for right now, but like long-term. So that's part of the conversation that I'm having with the central office team. And one of the reasons why I said STEM is we did invest heavily in FOSS. science, and we've just been thinking about stem and saying like we made a big investment in stem and are we providing students with the maximum amount of stem exposure as well so I. We don't have it fully defined for what that position is going to be just yet in terms of part of our greater strategy at the elementary level, but we know that we need an additional 4.0 FTEs so that one would be assigned to each school in order for the new schedule to work next year. Point of information?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Four new teachers, four new teachers to cover an offering that we would be providing our students with at the elementary levels. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say to you we have slide 15 is again our best, our best estimate of where we think we are and we do have a few TBDs. And we are looking on our end to see what has to be on ESSER, what could potentially be on operating, so that that's why there was a little a little wiggle room, not much, but our current ESSER, when we did that calculation, it was, we're at the 3.2 million as a balance.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And you're saying you're not sure, you're calculating 2.2 million.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Yes, that is correct. And when we were meeting, when I said the $750,000, when we were meeting and trying to say, could we carry a few of the programs onto the FY25? So we were trying to see if we didn't if we did not spend all 3.2 million right now during FY 24. Could we like squirrel away 750,000 to help pay for some of the programs and not people. And that way, you know, that would leave us with a little bit of extra cushion for FY 25 operating budget, because as of September 30th, 2024, ESSER III is gone and it's not coming back.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For the ot the SLP the specialist those who are thinking would be coming on on the official operating budget, so these are just other budgetary. priorities that are needed, so we would want them on the regular operating, the general fund. This was not allocated, we weren't thinking about these for ESSER, and again, with this being year three, or the final year of ESSER, these positions we wanted to have on the operating budget, because ESSER, we just have it for one more year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the 74 million is, let me just go to the right side, is inclusive of how we've anticipated The, the colors the increase the fixed costs. That's how we got to that three point. Let me just find the right side. The 1.4 in the 3.3 million. The 1.4 million is the ordinary expenses the non salary, all of the things that I was. The out of transportation those things which are non salary positions, and then the 3.3 million is for our settled CBAs are memorandums of agreement, our contracts, those personnel expenses so those are like guaranteed those aren't maybe Those are guaranteed the 3.3 million is a guaranteed amount, so that 3.3 in personnel expenses, the 1.4 in you know the gas the electric and transportation and the cleaning contracts, all of those ordinary expenses. That's just giving the 4.7. So, what I was trying to show was that ordinary expenses our personnel expenses alone with nothing really new was a 6.8% increase totaling 4.7 million. which is where I just was saying approximately 74 million. That is not including the new positions of the elementary teachers, the four elementary specialists teaching positions, the occupational therapists, the speech and language pathologists. Those are just six positions right there that we know we currently don't have right now, and their positions that we will need for next year. So, that number is just letting you know, this is what our calculation is for Medford public schools to continue functioning the exact way that it is right now. just increased bills and all of the settled CBAs. And again, we still have four more that we're working on. So that number, the 3.3 million will go up by the end of the year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Hays was communicating with me earlier today. We had some, there were some additional supplemental, I'm gonna just look at the list of what we had that was deferred from last year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: An example of a deferred position was like we had something, a transportation coordinator. That was a deferred position that didn't end up happening. So there were other positions that we kind of really hoped for and just, you know, when we prioritized a year ago, that's one of the positions that was deferred. And some of the interventionists at that point in time ended up being deferred positions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hey, good evening. I hope that everyone had a joyful Easter and Passover gatherings this past weekend. I just wanted to inform the committee that last week, our AI are completed their Jesse completed their visit with Medford public schools that approximately 100 classrooms. were observed, they conducted countless interviews of administrators, school committee members. And so we look forward to getting that report back and learning from what Dessy has to share with us from the district. And this special review takes place about once every 10 years or so. So I'm hoping and looking forward to the results of all of the work that they did, our review. I would like to thank Professor Regina Millen from the University, from UMass Lowell, UMass Lowell's Graphic Design and Illustration program, who came to speak to both our art students and our graphic design students. She did talk about the UMass Laurel program and spoke about different career paths that are available to our students in the graphic and design and illustration fields. Similar to the women in the construction, electrical, robotics, and welding fields, as well as the women leaders who spoke to students to celebrate Women's History Month. So these speakers present real life future options for all of our students. I also want to talk about our one of our vocational programs which is working collaboratively with the Medford family network. Some of our graphic design students have been working very very diligently on designing. with special permission from the authors, they have scanned and taken books, 10 books in total. And this project involves students using a special machine where they print the books. They use Adobe Illustrator. The special machine is a Roland 54 inch VersaCam. and they laminate the books and they add granites. And these books are going to be posted to fences in some of the parks throughout Medford. So it's wonderful to see our students working collaboratively with the Medford Family Network and making a difference in our community. So we're very excited and happy about the work that they're doing there. I also want to recognize our Mustang marching band, because they will be traveling to Florida. Yes, yes to Disney Springs at Walt Disney World next week so they're leaving on Saturday, and. Oh, thank you, Member Mustone. They leave on Wednesday, and on Saturday, April 15th at 1230, I believe that's their performance. So that's their big performance. And this is the group of students that are going by train. So we talk about trains, planes, and automobiles. We look forward to them performing well and coming back to maybe share with us a highlight or two about the adventure on their way down to Disney. So we are going to be cheering for our Medford Mustang marching band. Congratulations. We wish you the best of luck. I also want to congratulate Kyla Magris and Allison Waldron from the Brooks School. They are fifth grade students working with CC, they are fifth grade CCSR leaders, and they organized a school-wide coin challenge to benefit the American Cancer Society. They asked students to bring in coins. And the pennies and nickels quickly quickly multiplied, and they raised a total of $1400. So I want to say great job and congratulations to both Kyla and Allison and thank you to the book school for donating that funding to the American Cancer Society, you did a wonderful job. Also last week, right before our long weekend, sold out crowd at the high school. The Wizards, the Harlem Wizards came to play. It was a fundraiser for Medford Public Schools. All of the elementary PTOs collaborated. So it was wonderful seeing the high school auditorium jam-packed with kids, with families, basketball competitions, teachers, administrators, students, they got to compete and play and it was a wonderful time and I truly hope that it was a fabulous fundraiser for all of our PTOs. I also want to thank our Medford Cultural Council for providing funding for the following projects at the Medford Public Schools. Connecting the Community Through Art, the Roberts PTO Art Night 2023, and the Brooks Third Grade Songwriting Project. So again, we appreciate your support, Medford Cultural Council. There are a number of events that are going to take place between now and our next meeting, which is May 1st, bearing in mind that we have April vacation. So, tomorrow, April 11, it's evening with our poet laureate poetry as protests protest and peacemaker with Terry Carter at the method public library from seven to 830. He will also be recognizing some of our students that participated in the poetry contest. So, once all of these preliminary celebrations we will recognize them at a future meeting. On April 12th, I wanna say MEAP, our Medford's Early Education Program, will be hosting an open house. On April 12th, this coming Wednesday, is our middle school lottery. That's gonna be held by Zoom at three o'clock. Also on Wednesday the 12th, our spring program advisory committee meeting for the vocational side of the house. That's at 6 p.m. Also on April 12 Wednesdays a very very busy day CPAC is going to be meeting, and the theme for Wednesday's meeting is understanding and managing anxiety in your neuro diverse child. On Thursday, April 13 is the method high school science fair from nine to 12 that's taking place in our science lecture hall. Also on the 13th National Honor Society hosts, Mr. MHS fundraiser. That's gonna be from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Caron Theater. On April 14th, Medford Family Network hosts the Friday Family Fun Night from 4.30 to 7.30 in our gym. On April 15th, Saturday, it's One Boston Day. It's the 10th annual Crystal Campbell Softball Tournament. begins with the opening ceremony at 930am at Columbus Park, and we will be honored to have crystals brother, Bill Campbell and marathon bombing survivors, Patrick and Jessica downs roseanne's Doria and jack Jackie webb and Paul Norton. participating in the ceremonial first pitch. The first game begins at 10 o'clock, Medford plays Arlington Catholic, and the second game begins at one, Billerica versus Swampskid. There will be a concession stand, and part two of the tournament takes place on Sunday, April 16th, and at 10 o'clock and 1 p.m. are the games on Sunday. On April 15 as well Saturday, Mayor longer current is going to be holding the spring city wide cleanup from 10 to one o'clock. Anyone, any and all are welcome to join and be part of our city wide cleanup. On April 16 Sunday, Medford police hosts the community inclusion day from 11 to 1pm. The Medford police welcome everyone to their headquarters for a free sensory friendly day for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and any other developmental and intellectual disability. The event will feature meet your police officers, take a tour of the new station, touch a truck, and also how to enroll your child in the safe watch program, as well as learn how to keep your child safe. So please take advantage of that event on April 16 from 11 to one at the police station. On April 16 as well. It's our interfaith community if tar. It's the daily breaking of the fast. During the holy month of Ramadan. It's hosted by the city of Medford and our office of diversity, equity and inclusion, it will take place at City Hall from six to 8pm and all are welcome. Oh, it will take place at ICCM from six to 8pm, and all are welcome. April 17 to the 21st is our April vacation week there is no school for that entire week. Yes. April 17 is also Medford's annual Patriots Day ceremony at 10 o'clock at the old burying ground on Salem Street, and the arrival of Paul Revere. April 17 is also another day for a special CCSR project. Our fourth and fifth grade students at the Brooks School are asking for help for us to help clean our Korean war veteran gravestones at Oak Grove Cemetery from 1230 to 1.30pm on April 17. So during the vacation, the Medford Family Network will host drop-in playtime at their center at the high school. Tuesdays, nine to 12, Wednesdays, nine to 12, and Thursday and Friday. That whole week, nine to 12 will be drop-in time. We're almost at the end of the line. I got three more to go. Medford Kiwanis on April 19th. They are holding registration and first meeting for individual high school aged students, and up with physical and or intellectual disabilities. The goal is to provide a once a month meeting place for members to meet new friends and socialize, it will take place at the Medford public library on the second floor from 630 to 830pm. On April 22 and 23 Tufts University athletics presents free community sports weekend for our students in grades K through eight, and there will be game day on the 22nd at 10 o'clock women's tennis. men and women's track and field at 11 men's lacrosse softball tennis. Again, there are a lot of activities taking place both on Saturday and Sunday. So please look into that if you're interested in the free community sports weekend for students, grades K through eight. I'm at the high school they'll be presenting a performance at Karen theater on the 27th and the 28th you're in town. And in closing this Friday, April 14 is the glisten day. or the Gay Lesbian Straight Network of Silence. This is a day that started back in the mid-90s by two college students. The Day of Silence is when LGBTQ plus students and allies all around the country and the world take a vow of silence to protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ plus students in schools. This is expanded to reach hundreds of thousands of students each year, and students share their experiences to bring attention to ways their schools and communities can become more inclusive. Those are my announcements for this evening. Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Busy, busy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I thought Principal Fallon was gonna be on Zoom. I think they were.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can present his request for SkillsUSA.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham, would you kindly read it because I'm not seeing it right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I said thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good morning, everyone. Yes, I've been listening. It's been such a rich conversation this morning, and thank you again, Terry, for your wonderful poem this morning. In terms of diversifying the school force, we are making a concerted effort. Every time we publicize and advertise jobs, not only do we do it on the district school website, but we also use NEMNET, which is another organization, where candidates of color, they could be from other states, also have access to jobs that are posted just to see if there's interest. And most recently we are working collaboratively with a few of our neighboring districts. Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, there's going to be a upcoming job fair April 26 so we're working with five other communities and Medford will be represented at that one to see if that will increase our chances of having other candidates participate so we did do it last year with Chelsea and we did have other candidates but more bilingual candidates that came through but again once they have options and you're working with four or five other districts the candidates have to decide what districts maybe where they live. So, those are other factors. So, we are trying to be intentional about partnering and collaborating with other districts. We're all in the same exact boat. And so, when I say that everyone's looking for teachers, so it's about what is most special about your community, that someone will say, oh, I want to come to Medford instead of going to, another district. Also, we are partnering with universities and trying to work with Lesley, UMass, and some of our other local schools to say if we're advertising and looking for candidates, please advertise and post for us as well. So we are trying to find Unusual interesting ways if we're able to bring in interns that could potentially be trained with us for one year and then if there's an opening in their specific area, then they would be able to come but Right now with education and in other areas that the numbers there isn't as much interest as there was in the past And I do think the pandemic did make a lot of people fearful in terms of working in a school environment or Some people, like, I don't want to be in a classroom anymore. I would like to do something else. A lot of people have chosen work from home options. So they're working remotely in all sectors. So we are going to have our work cut out for us. And even at the state level, DESE with the department, our department of education, elementary and secondary education, they are also aware of that. trying to think about ways to be able to recruit and allow people to come into education. So we are looking at waivers for people who may have special licenses in math or physics or even languages that are being taught. that they may not yet be fully licensed, but DESE is willing to work with them and say, OK, we'll give you a waiver. But with with that waiver, you have like a one to three year window to go and get all of the official credentialing in line. And then you would be official with the state. So we are trying all different avenues, but it is something that's going to take time. And so I do want people to know that it's not for a lack of trying. It's just that there are a lack of candidates or a very limited number of candidates. So I just want everyone to know that as well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I would love to see some of the changes that you had and some of the pieces that you just were talking about. And knowing that, unfortunately, Attorney Greenspan isn't able to be with us today, maybe we can at least look at some of what the suggestions were and then know that moving forward, we'll have that other legal counsel regarding the document. Great, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. dilemma just raised his hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Graham, if I may, through the chair, Member Ruseau, I agree that here right now, especially with the changes that we're trying to make, we definitely are providing people with bullying paperwork. If families feel that bullying has taken place, So in that regards, we're not trying to run away and not conduct the investigations. Even if the determination is at the end that it might not be bullying, it could be something else. But maybe Principal DeLeva could speak to it. But I am aware, and I do know that sometimes a bullying claim or something could be reported. And then there's evidence, maybe cell phone evidence, texting or things that were on social media that might show otherwise. It's not the norm, it is the exception, but it has happened within the district. And I don't know if you could give a very kind of vague example, Principal DeLeva.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Um, I just also wanted to say that I'm similar to DCF if I can make this scenario that when 51 a is filed. It is ruled in for 10 days, and DCF does the investigation, and at the end of their determined investigation they determine whether it's ruled in or ruled out. So, if a family is going to complete the bullying paperwork, we are going to look at it from the perspective of, we have to rule it in. conduct the investigation, and then at the end come to the determination. So I don't want people to think that we don't want to go through the process. It's better to be safe than sorry. So complete the paperwork, submit it, and we'll conduct the investigation. And it will either be the rule in or the rule out. And so with DCF, What they say to us, Department of Children and Families, is when in doubt, file, and let them make the determination. So if a family is in doubt, they should complete the paperwork, and then let us do the investigation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was gonna say, depending on the age of the child and like the, you know, at the high school where the kids are much older, but if it were to be in the younger grades, we definitely would have to have, you know, parent involvement and consent for them to know what was going on. But the high school, I think, you know, Some students are 16, 17. I can't thank you, Principal Tucci's on as well, but I would definitely say, depending on the age of the child, and as we're revamping this, it could be something where we just say, no matter what, as part of the policy in Medford, parents, no matter what grade level, whether you're 11th grade or sixth grade, parents have to be notified that the bullying paperwork is being completed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Anyone can fill out a form, any staff person at all. And then I just wanted to respond to member Graham's question about getting a little more information on the anonymous reporting. And I was just going to say that I'll follow up with Stacey Shulman. So she's the lead administrator working with the Sandy Hook Promise. So she'll be able to provide more information specific to your questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, I was gonna say member who so I was going to suggest trying to use the key headers but if the headers on a line to what's in the document, then I was going to say just for simplicity sake, because we know that it's over 30 something pages. that if we were just able to focus in and look at the headers, there could be a particular header that jumps out at a member of the team that's on the call that would be able to say like this is a particular area that we need to focus in on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, um, I am in agreement with that I believe in putting as much information as possible that isn't relevant. to the families that wanna use this document to put all of that in the appendix and really make the first portion of the final document just be user-friendly. So kind of like who's filling it out, what are the forms? I feel like there's a lot of information. It's like a thesis, it can be overwhelming, but if people know that it's all of this, that historical information, those pieces, if it can be in the appendix, and that the actual document is significantly smaller, that will make a big difference. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so it in the event, I know we had talked about the flow chart before. But if, for example, conflict was the determination, it wouldn't just be that oh there was a conflict and nothing else is done, depending on. what the situation involves, counseling is an option. So working with the families, communicating with parents, whether it's writing to the parents, giving them a letter, speaking with them, emailing them, Zooming them in this modern day. And then there are follow-up meetings that can happen with Councilors or teachers or other parties that are involved. So it isn't just kind of like, oh, it's a conflict and you never address it. There is some, I would say, follow up, but it would depend on, again, what each situation is. So it's on an individualized basis. But I think once a bullying investigation takes place, you're now on the administration's radar in a more substantive way. And if conflict is determined, you also would be aware because there were students that aren't dealing with bullying at all and aren't having any conflicts. So I do feel that there would be additional supervision or additional scrutiny to just make sure that things are. staying calm the way you want them to be and not heading back in the direction of bullying. It's just, it would be an appropriate response to what the outcome is. But for DESE purposes, when we're reporting to the state and it's meeting what the law states, they want that information documented. from a state perspective. And for conflicts, restorative circles, working with Councilors, guidance Councilors, adjustment Councilors, school psychologists, the teacher, the administrators. So there are a lot of potential offshoots that the conflict could be addressed. I don't want people to think that it's a conflict and you never follow up, never deal with it again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I just think that there, there definitely was a lot of information or suggestions shared today. And I just was thinking where there are so many sections that either need to be moved to an appendix. or completely deleted to condense this report that I just was saying I'm looking forward to the legal counsel so that we can actually get to a more substantive document and then really dig into it because even though we're having a lot of rich discussion, some of what we've been discussing, maybe because of the law, it either has to be in or it should be out. And so I'm just thinking that like the next meeting that we have to make sure that we're able to have Attorney Greenspan support us so that we can just work on a more condensed document that I'll be able to share with administrators and try to get feedback from them as a collective. And then just say, this is our collective feedback regarding the new and improved policy so that we'll be able to get through this entire document.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I was just saying the 25th is more open for me at this point in time, but I'll make it work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I see a lot of families still logging on, so I'm gonna give us maybe one or two more minutes just to give a few more members of the community a few minutes to jump on to this afternoon's presentation. I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful spring-like weather, and hopefully very soon we won't have to worry about any more snow.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dr. Maurice-Edouard-Vincent. I am the proud superintendent of the Medford Public Schools. And this afternoon, I am here with my colleague, Dr. Bernadette Rigodelli.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you very much for joining our informational session this afternoon. I expect that this presentation may take us about 20 minutes to go through the slide deck that we have. And then once we go through the slide deck, we will be willing to answer any questions that you may have. And if by chance you have a question that we're not able to answer right away, we will take your information and get that in response to you as quickly as possible. So I'm glad to see that we have a great number, a growing number, and a great number of families that have jumped on this call. I just love to interact with everyone. So those of you who are on, whether it's your phone, I'm going to just ask if you can raise your hand. and lower your hand when I say your school. So if you are representing the Missittuck school, can you please raise your hand?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If you are representing the McGlynn Elementary School, please raise your hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If you are representing, oh, we still have families signing up for the McGlynn, so I'll wait a second. I know your children are the experts on Zoom, but I'll give you a second to figure it out. Welcome, McGlynn Elementary School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Fabulous. Thank you so much. And you can lower your hands if you are representing the Roberts Elementary School. Please raise your hands.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much. And I see some of our wonderful little Mustangs right next to you. Welcome, our wonderful fifth graders. You're going to be sixth graders next year, going to middle school. So it's a big, big transition, but it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful experience for you. Thank you. So all of those, I see you, Bill and Rosarda and Carl, and it looks like Sweeting. I see you. You can lower your hands. Thank you for indulging me and maybe later at another point in time, I'll give you an opportunity to use the reaction bar and you can react with a thumbs up or react with a happy or laughing or. hopefully something wonderful that said. So we're here today to discuss the Middle School Lottery for the Medford Public Schools. And what I'm going to do is I'm gonna take you through a slide deck, an informational slide deck with data kind of telling you where the Middle School Lottery started, the beginning, and then where we are right now. So just give me a moment. I'm going to share my screen with you. I also saw that we had some administrators on the line. And so I wanna thank those administrators for jumping on. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. I saw Ms. Demos online and I'm not sure some people don't have their names showing, but thank you for jumping on and I'll keep my eye out to recognize any other administrators who may join the call. Thank you for that. So just give me a moment to share my screen and hopefully everyone can see it. And I'm going to begin the slide deck. So the name of the slide deck is Correcting the Imbalance. And in 2019, That was the first time that the lottery was actually done. So what I'm gonna share with you is the history of why Medford Public Schools has a lottery. This, what you're looking at right now is a demographic data for the McGlynn Middle School in 2019. And if I just move to the next slide, This was the data for the racial breakdown of data for the Andrews Middle School. In addition to the racial breakdown that there was a noticeable disparity between the two schools, We also, at that point in time, were able to show you the socioeconomic status breakdown. And so this was the McGlynn School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this was data. This was a problem of practice that was presented to me when I came to Medford. with how would you propose finding a way to better balance the two schools? Because there were significant discrepancies between the two schools that you could see that there were differences, not only in racial breakdown, but also in the socioeconomic status of the students that were attending the schools. And so there was an ask of how could we make the two communities become better balanced? And so we knew that we wouldn't be able to have both schools be exactly the same, but how could we bring about greater balance between the two schools? And as a result of that problem of practice, that challenge that we were facing, the middle school lottery was birthed with the intention of balancing, better balancing the two schools. They're both middle schools, which you know, they're both essentially located on the same campus. You can look out the window and you see one building, you look out the other window and you see the other building. And so there were a lot of questions about why was there such a discrepancy? And let's do a lottery and see if we did a lottery, would the data change? And so the next two slides that I'm gonna share with you are this year's current data. So with the birth of the lottery, it did change. This is the 2022-2023 data for the McGlynn Middle School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so, although we were not able to again get them to be exactly the same. You can see that the needle definitely moved significantly. From the previous slides, if I just go back and show you the original two slides, when you looked at the breakdown of the schools, this being the McGlynn in 2019, where it was 46.1% of the student population were white students. And the following slide Excuse me one second, the following slide showing the Andrews where it was 73.6% in 2019, and if we advance once again to. The McGlynn right now it's 56% of our population is is comprised of white students and all the other races are also identified and 61% of our students at the Andrews are. of Caucasian descent and all of the other subcategories have also shifted. So there is definitely greater balance between Native American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, African-American, and then multi-race. So again, you can see that the schools, again, although not perfectly balanced, but better balanced in the McGlynn, 13% African-American, 10% Asian, 15%, 15.6% Latino, Hispanic, and 0.2% Native American. So this is just to share with you again, kind of what was behind the lottery taking place for the Medford Public Schools. So what does the lottery look like? This is a summary. 50% of students at all of our fifth grades at every elementary school will be assigned to one school, the Andrews, and 50% will be assigned to the McGlynn. Again, to the best of our ability. Now there are a few caveats that I wanna explain to parents. If a student has a program level, a specific educational need, whether they're an English learner or if they were to be a student with disabilities, they would be placed in the school that offers that particular program. So with the lottery, we have something with sibling preference. If you have a child that's currently at the school and will be at the school at the same time as a parent, you have the option to select sibling preference. And also for parents that have twins or children that just wanna be separated, you also have the option to opt out. So if you have one student at one school, and you're like, I don't wanna activate sibling preference, I want it to be an authentic lottery experience, then if that is the case, your child will go into the lottery, and as they go into the lottery, you take your chances, and it's a 50-50 chance. Please note that for sibling preference, the sibling does need to be either in sixth grade or seventh grade. So you would essentially have two children in attendance at the same time. And there was one other tiny note that we had for our English learner population. We allow buffer seats, and I'll explain that a little more as we go forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Here is an example of a sample school because the rules essentially apply. So at this point, you'll hear me say middle school A, middle school B, but it's essentially two schools. So there are 103 students in a fifth grade class, in a fifth grade at one of the elementary schools. We add an additional three buffer seats for our English learner population. Some of you may be saying, why do you need to add buffer seats? Well, our English learner population, they enroll within the district on a rolling basis. So it's not as if all students are able to start on the first day of school in August. Some students may transfer to Medford in November, others may come in January. And so as a result of it being a moving number, we added three buffer seats in for each school for a total of 12 seats for the district. I can say to you now that we've done the lottery multiple times, we have exceeded those 12 seats. So the sample school has 106 seats total. In this model, the lottery is taking place, 20 students are classified as English learners. and they will go to middle school A because middle school A offers the English learner program. There is one student that has a middle school A sibling preference. There are seven students that have a middle school B sibling preference. Two students have a program requirement to go to middle school A special education program. One student has a program requirement to attend middle school B.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And for that group of 12 students, we do a separate lottery because we try to balance the caseloads between the two schools. So in essence, those 12 students would be in a lottery and six would be assigned to middle school A and six would be assigned to middle school B. So once we do all of those deductions from the 106 students, there are 60 students that enter the general lottery. So those 60 students do not have a sibling preference or their parents opted out, and they do not have a special program requirement. So what I've just explained to you in words, I'm gonna show it to you in this table.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: 50% of students from each elementary school will be assigned to one of the two middle schools. So what I explained to you based on the 106 students, we divided that to be 53 students attending school A and 53 students attending middle school B. And the breakout shows you the specific requirements. And so for middle school A, 29 students were already accounted for. So of the 29 students, the remaining 21 students plus the three buffer seats would give us a total of 53 students per middle school A. And for middle school B, the breakdown is similar. And there would be 39 students drawn from the lottery.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For those of you that are visual learners, I know that I said a lot of words, but this is what it looks like. Total 106 students and how those 106 students got divided based on their programmatic needs or requirements. And the highlighted yellow bar shows you how many students entered the general lottery after the required categories were addressed. 21 students would be assigned to middle school A, 39 students were assigned to middle school B. And this is the process that will take place When we actually do the lottery, and it will take place for every school. So again, this is a an imaginary school, but I want you to see what the processes that will take place. So on April 12, when we do the lottery. and it's a random lottery, a number generator, and there are a lot of other specifics. I'll have Dr. Riccadeli talk about those specifics to you, but I wanna just continue to take you through the slide deck. And hopefully, again, if you have questions, we're gonna take questions at the end, but I hope I'm being clear. I mentioned earlier about our English learner students. We do have a growing EL population across the entire district. We have newcomers. And so we reserve 12 seats at the McGlynn Middle School because the McGlynn Middle School houses our EL program. So I want parents to understand that that's the building where all the English learner educators are assigned. And that particular program is housed at the McGlynn Middle School Complex. So the three buffer seats that are added, in the end, it's 12 seats that are coded as a buffer for the bodies that will be coming over the course of the entire school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This Friday, March 24th, there's going to be a special letter going out to you. And that's the sibling opt-in, opt-out form. So I'm gonna have Dr. Riccardelli just talk about that for you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All right, so I'm going to go back to our screen share just to finish up the slide deck, and then we will take any questions that you may have. So, Dr. Riccadeli just went through the entire timeline of events. And again, Dr. Riccadeli, Bernadette Riccadeli, and Kim Miles, that's K-M-Y-L-E-S at medford.k12.ma.us, our data manager, they both will be overseeing all of the background work related to the lottery so if there are challenges, you can use this email Ms middle school lottery at Medford k 12.ma.us and. they will be able to help you very quickly. And as Dr. Riccadeli already shared, the principals of each school will also have the official lottery numbers assigned to your child. So there'll be another way to keep track of that special number that you're gonna be assigned prior to the lottery. Next slide. Again, we discussed it. I also will be putting this in my updates moving, continuing to put it in the updates moving forward. Wednesday, April 12th, the lottery Zoom is at three o'clock. It's actually very, very quick. We play Jeopardy music and we try to have it be an enjoyable process, but it's something that is generated fairly quickly and we probably are able to complete the lottery within, I would say like 20 minutes. So if you don't see the lottery, you're not able to catch it live, it will be available and the numbers will be uploaded as soon as it's done onto our website. So the Zoom link is there. And then finally, the, April 24th is the date where you will receive your official, Monday, April 24th, right after April vacation, you'll receive your official notification of which school you're assigned to. And then the following week, both middle school communities are ready to warmly welcome you again, Tuesday at the McGlynn. and Thursday at the Andrews. So those are dates. And again, I end with the purpose of the lottery was an attempt to balance the scales, balance the two schools to the best of our ability. We know that it's not a perfect system and you can never get it to be exactly 50 50 because we're dealing with some numbers that are fluctuating. But this is what the lottery has been doing for the Medford public schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Wonderful. I'm going to stop the share.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And we really respect student confidentiality. And so, again, with the spirit of transparency, we want you to know that there is a separate draw to balance those numbers between the two schools for some of the assignments, but everything just gets added. When the lists are put together, you're not going to see any names. the number that you are assigned for your family, that's your personal number. So you do not have to say my number is, you know, X, Y, Z, that's a letter, but my number is one, two, three. That's your personal number. That's why we wanted you to know when they go home, they're gonna go home by backpack on Thursday, April 6th. And if, again, if there's a challenge, the principal, has the principal will have a master list. You can also email middle school lottery, mslotteryatmedford.k12.ma.us. And Dr. Riccadeli and Ms. Kim Miles, they also will be supporting any of logistical questions that you may have regarding the lottery process. So that was an excellent question. And thank you for asking that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Provided they get two schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Delphine, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: the Medford public schools, we would not be able to say what the assignment is. So the open houses, we hold them on two different days. So Tuesday, May 2nd, and or Thursday, May 4th, each school will be offering the open house, but the original lottery takes place for all students that are currently in the system.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Because they're currently attending another school. So because they're attending a different school, you've begun the registration process. But registration is officially complete when the students All of the prerequisites, what needs to be there, all of that documentation would be there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And some, the answer is yes, and some families actually, you know, opt to say, I would like to go through the lottery experience and, you know, take my chance 50-50 to see what school my child will be assigned to. So that also has happened.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There are different there are there are different specialized programs the Andrews. has one specialized program and the McGlynn has a different program. So again, depending on the needs of the students and those students, if their IEP requires them to be placed in one of the specialized programs, then we are obligated to place them in that appropriate placement. So the schools do have, They both service students with special needs, with disabilities, and they both, the McGlynn is the only school that does service our students that are English learners. So that is the, I think the one key difference that the English learner program is not at both of the middle schools. There are special licensed teachers and they work together as a team in helping our students move through the English language development levels. So that is how they do work. I hope that answers that question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And if additional guidance is needed in the area of special education, we can definitely have you speak with the ETLs in your respective buildings. And Ms. Joan Bowen is our director of student services. But we want to make sure that we do respect student confidentiality. So when the lottery was created, we wanted it to be as equitable as possible. But at the same time, we are required to make sure that we are providing the required services for students in the right programs. And so the schools do house different programs, slightly different programs. And so if there are specific IEP type questions, we definitely can make sure we have special educators involved in that part of the conversation. So I didn't know you were going to have such wonderful questions. So this is a wonderful, inquisitive bunch. I can only imagine what your rising sixth graders are going to be like. But I want to just say thank you for jumping on the call this evening. And thank you for all of the questions. I see, Sarah, you've raised your hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the first piece that I would definitely wanna just share is that if we're anticipating about 300 or so rising fifth graders, it could be a little over 300, that number is split in half. And when you think about class size, you're not going to be able to have a class, one class of 150 students, you know, taking grade six math. It's not the, you know, the college level. So once you get to that number of 150, it has to be broken down into smaller classrooms, homerooms, if I can use the term homeroom, since you just left, like groups of 25 as they move, to math and history and ELA and world language. So when you're hearing A and B or the different groupings, it's just taking the large number of 150 and putting them into respective classrooms. And so the classes have to rotate. Which is one of the big differences between elementary and leaving elementary school level and entering secondary. So from six through 12. The students will be rotating and the teachers that they will have will be content. area content experts in a specific domain, whether it's science or ELA, humanities, math, etc. So the students will be divided into homerooms because, you know, it's just impossible to have the entire cohort travel as one. So it's not a a subdivision in terms of something bad. It's really just breaking them up into manageable numbers so that they can rotate. through the different content, the different classes. In terms of opportunities for the middle school students to actually engage and see one another, those would be primarily afterschool opportunities because we have, both schools have a significant amount of club offerings and we're a part of the GBL, the Greater Boston League of, So sports are also available at the middle school level. And at the respective open houses, they will talk to you about all of the programs and afterschool offerings that are available for the students. So both schools offer afterschool programming and there is a late bus. And so you have from arts, you have sports, you have, you know, chess, I believe there's a chess club, there may be like acting or drama. There are a lot of, there's a diverse array of offerings for students to participate. And so if you were assigned to the McGlynn School, but your friends or someone in your class was assigned to the Andrews, And the after school program that was a greater interest to you was offered at the Andrews, then during those days you would be able to go to the Andrews so they, you're allowed to cross register for just the purposes of saying there are those opportunities. where the students can see each other in many of the extracurricular events and activities. Also, because of how transportation goes, if students were taking the school bus transportation, then they would be on the same buses in the morning and in the afternoon. because the buses drop off at both schools. So they're on the same transportation. So they could see each other at the start of the day, see each other in extracurricular afterschool programming activities, and then be together when they're leaving or be together playing sports. So there are definite opportunities for the students to be together.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for jumping on the call this evening. Thank you for the wonderful questions that you've asked. If there are more questions, please email mslottery.org. at medford.k12.ma.us and your questions about programmatic offerings and all of the other specifics of the schools, once you get assigned, which is on Monday, April 24, you'll know which open house you'll be attending. So again, those are not open houses, which orientation you'll be attending. And those dates are Tuesday, May 2, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the McGlynn, and Thursday, May 4, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Andrews. Thank you to everyone again on the call and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. So I will preface that I do have some lengthy remarks this morning, this afternoon, or this evening I should say, but a lot of good news to share a lot of wonderful things happening this month. And so I'm going to get started. March is National Disability Awareness Month, and tomorrow is World Down Syndrome Day. National Disability Awareness Month began in 1987, when President Ronald Reagan proclaimed it to raise awareness about the importance of inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life. It also brings to our attention the barriers that people with disabilities can sometimes face when connecting to the communities in which they live. In Medford, we are proud that we are an inclusive community for all, but we are constantly learning about how we can do better. And again, as tomorrow being World Down Syndrome Day, it's a global awareness day officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. This year's theme is With Us, Not For Us, which means people with disabilities have the right to be treated fairly and have the same opportunities as everyone else, working with others to improve their lives. As you are aware, those with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome. So often people will wear crazy socks on March 21st. I'm told that chromosomes are shaped like socks. So get your craziest socks ready to wear for tomorrow. On behalf of the Medford Public Schools, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of our state representatives, Christine Barber, for receiving the Legislator of the Year award from the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council and the Arc of Massachusetts. For her work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Representative Barber serves as a member of the Massachusetts Autism Commission and works directly with advocates to address challenges facing the disability community. So congratulations State Rep Christine Barber. Yes. Thank you. Today, the Medford Vocational Technical High School students in the Early Childhood Education Program begin a story, song, and art activity event with the Medford Family Network. This program started today and will continue on March 22nd, March 27th, and March 29th. The early education students will lead the children in sing-alongs, art, and STEAM activities. They will also read them stories. Truly, this is a win-win partnership for both our students and our young student group community. This coming Wednesday, March 22nd is Crossing Guard Appreciation Day. We can't thank our crossing guards enough for keeping our students safe and helping them get to and from school. Remember to thank them, especially on Wednesday. Also on March 22nd, we'll be hosting a Zoom informational meeting for parents of incoming middle school students. These are our fifth graders rising up to sixth grade. We will discuss the lottery and middle school curriculum. Please join us from 5 to 6 p.m. The lottery will be live on Zoom on Wednesday, April 12th. Also on March 22nd, our CTE programs, our career technical education programs, will be hosting a showcase at Medford Vocational Technical High School from 6 to 8 p.m. All 8th graders and their families are welcome to attend this Wednesday, March 22nd. March is also National Women's History Month, and both Medford High School and the Vocational School have planned informational events for all of our students. The Vocational School kicked off Women's History Month on March 2nd, when they presented six guest speakers from the construction and technology industries. This panel focused on women and individuals who are non-traditional employees in their field. Students in grades nine through 12 from the construction cluster, electrical, carpentry, construction craft labors, and metal fabrication, and the technology cluster, which includes engineering, robotics, and programming, and web development participated in this event. Panelists shared stories about how their personal career paths led them to their current position. As one of the panelists stated, you have to get comfortable being the only you in the room. So get comfortable with being uncomfortable in educating others that you belong there. We thank the following panelists for taking the time to address our students. Whitney Crooks, who is the manager system test development at iRobot Design Assurance Engineering. Mackenzie Grammer, an electrician for IBEW Local 103. Stavrula Orfanas, a building inspector for the city of Salem. Kasai Sensel, technical program manager, RDST, Amazon Robotics. Nikki Slaughter, senior operational excellence manager at Vecna Robotics. And Shalini Vates, project manager, FBN Construction. I thank all of those panelists who came out to support us during that National Women's History Month event, and we will continue to have more events. Continuing with that theme, on March 31st, the Medford High School will present its second annual women's panel. Those participating will include Chief Justice Kimberly Budd of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Commander Billy Fowler of the USS Constitution, WBZ News Reporter, Tiffany Chin. Dr. Jamie Chia of the Broad Institute. Lisa Flores, Director of Sales and Marketing, Columbus Hospitality Group. Dr. Asima Mohanty, Engineering Professor, Tufts University. our own Congresswoman, Catherine Clark, small business owners, Page Buldini and Kelly Rose Sano, and our own Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn and myself, Superintendent, we look forward to another exciting event for our students on March 31st. I would also like to take this time to recognize some of our outstanding athletes. The winter athletic season has come to a close, and a number of Mustangs have been named GBL All-Stars and recognized for other outstanding achievements. For boys basketball, Sam Orcutt, Justin Marino, and Anthony Teixeira-Kugler. For girls basketball, Bella O'Brien and Marilyn McInnis. For boys hockey, Devin Page, Luis Pachilo, Nick Pasquarella, and Tyler Taddea, who was also named the MVP. For Girls Hockey, Avery White and Juliana Staritti, who was also named All-Conference. for gymnastics, Alexa Baran, Sebastian Karakabu, Alexandra Lombardo, and Jocelyn Marujo. In addition, the team won the GBL championship. For swimming, it's Clark, Barayuga, Marcos Pereira, Anaya Osius-Johnson, Lindsay Quinn, Kaitlyn Truong, and Sarah Youssef. For girls, indoor track, Anna Casey, Yasmin D'Souza-Vieira, Maria Colombo, and Savannah Nash. In addition, the team won the GBL Championship. And for boys indoor track, Dimitri Charles, Richard Gomez-McDonald, and Will Kelly, who qualified for the Nike National Indoor Track Championships held in New York last weekend. Can we give all of those wonderful athletes a round of applause? I do wanna share that Will placed 20th in the boys 400 meters, emerging in the elite division. By qualifying for indoor nationals, he also qualified for the outdoor nationals in June. Athletes that qualify for this competition often go on to be college stars and some represent their country at the Olympics. Congratulations to Roe and all of our winter sports student-athletes. You make us so proud. Today, spring sports begin their tryouts, so good luck to all of those trying out this week. Also, last week, I want to recognize our Director of Counseling and Behavioral Health, Stacey Shulman. She served as a panelist for our District Attorney, Marion Ryan's presentation, Dealing with Gun Violence in Schools. Over 130 people from law enforcement, education, and nonprofit fields attended from Middlesex County. Stacey spoke of the Medford Public Schools commitment to the Sandy Hook promise, which began with our partnership in 2019. As Stacey mentioned at our last meeting, prevention strategies such as start with hello and say something have been shown to significantly improve perceptions of school safety, foster socialization, reduce bullying, and begin to change culture from within. Stacey has been fully committed to providing the very best for our students. Her presentation provided great information for all in attendance. I would like to also say that the Mustang Physical Education Department has received a Project HERE grant from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. The grant will be used to teach physical education teachers the sport of archery in June. It will be added to our curriculum for the 23-24 school year. Additionally, the physical education department is pleased to announce that it will be adding a unified physical education class to the high school electives for the 23-24 school year. So I'm very pleased with that new addition for next school year. I'd like to let the community know that on Monday, March 27, the McGlynn Middle School will once again host screenagers, the next chapter, in the school auditorium from 6.15 to 7.30 p.m. So there will be a second showing of screenagers for families that were not able to attend the first showing. Next Thursday, March 30th, is our final Building Bridges to Kindergarten presentation. It will be presented at the high school library from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. All are welcome. Again, this is for incoming kindergarten students that will be joining Medford Public Schools in the fall. Also, our Parent Information Center will remain open until 6 p.m. for any parents or caregivers to support them with their student registration needs. I want to recognize our spotlight productions that just took place. Wonderful, wonderful production of Annie Jr. I heard the students singing and practicing and they sounded absolutely fabulous. All the shows were wonderful. It ended this past weekend. I want the community to know that another presentation production is coming next weekend. That production is going to be Beauty and the Beast, and it will begin on Thursday, March 30, Friday the 31st, and on Saturday, April 1, there will be two shows, a 2 p.m. and a 7 p.m. I will also put that in my weekly update. Tickets went on sale today via Eventbrite, and I want you to know that many of our high school students are part of the cast, so it definitely will be a wonderful opportunity to support Spotlight Productions. I also want to recognize our Brooks 4th and 5th grade CCSR students that are leading a community headstone cleaning event for the graves of Medford's Korean war veterans at Oak Grove Cemetery on Patriots Day. That will be taking place on April 17th at 1230 p.m. They are hoping that many in our community will come out to join and support them. It should take about 45 minutes to clean a marker. The more hands that are available, the better. And I will continue to advertise that, but I just wanted people to know, save the date if you would like to support a community event. Mr. Coats at the Brooks School. His email is mcoats, m-c-o-a-t-e-s, at medford.k12.ma.us. Please email him by April 6th if you would like to participate. I would also be remiss if I did not mention that this coming Wednesday at sundown is the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. During this month, Muslim members of the community fast from pre-sunrise to sunset in the hopes of achieving greater consciousness of God, wishing our Muslim families a peaceful Ramadan. So in closing, Spring officially began today on this beautiful day at 5.24 p.m. And tomorrow is World Poetry Day. So I would like to close with this very short poem from an English poet, Robert Browning's poem about spring. The years at the spring and days at the moon. Mornings at seven. The hillsides do cold. The locks on the wing. The snails on the thorn. God's in his heaven. All's right with the world. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When you hear your name being said, first congratulations to all of you. Please come on up and we will shake your hand. Clay Canavan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Come and share. Oh, fabulous.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so the following report is in response to some specific questions that were asked about some of the changes that have taken place at the high school. And so there were a lot of questions regarding how long are students waiting to use the restrooms, you know, regarding the, the new structures that are in place at the high school. And so at lunchtime, we have the cafeteria bathrooms open on all floors. And sometimes during that time, due to the volume of students that are eating, a line of three to four students can be there waiting anywhere from two to three minutes. But usually the lines are moving fairly quickly. As for other periods throughout the day when we don't have a large number of students eating at the same time, I'm not really noticing lines and neither are the administrative teams aware of that. At the end of the day, sometimes during period six, there are some students that do request to use the bathrooms at that point in time, but we've been working with them. on that. The next question that was asked was, how do we know that it's working? The two-person maximum for the time being right now, we really feel that it's truly ingrained. The students know what the expectation is. And so they go in, it's two students at a time outside of all of the larger bathrooms. We now have hooks that the students come, they hang their placards and they go into the restroom. So at any given time, you can see there are two placards outside. And when they come out, they take it and they do that. We've added the hooks because it helps to keep track. but also we just felt that it was more sanitary to keep the placards outside of the restroom as opposed to inside the restrooms. So the next question was, is there evidence that fewer students are outside of the classroom? And so the administrators pulled the data going back to the beginning of the year, and you can see the noted reduction in cuts that were taking place. And so not only do, when you're physically walking the halls, it's completely different experience, but there is hard data to support what we're seeing. And so we're very, very encouraged by that. Moving along, there was a question regarding about the availability in our last meeting and how do we solve this problem in a permanent and sustainable way? So we currently have seven building monitors at the high school. And so between the cameras being monitored and supervision and support throughout the high school and a designated monitor, at least at the front door, as students and guests or guests come into the building, we do feel that we have a good amount of coverage at the high school. in addition to the teachers that signed up to take on some of these additional duties. We've encountered a few glitches when we've had coverage where maybe someone was absent and that could be one of the building monitors or if someone was feeling ill, not well. So in those cases, we've had to shuffle around And if we're short coverage, then the additional administrators will step up and support with additional coverage. But again, we do feel at this point in time with the seven monitors that are currently working at the high school, that we feel that it is a manageable number and sustainable. So question two, again, was about do we see fewer students roaming the hallways? And again, if you refer to the same table that was in question one, yes, it is definitely very obvious and there is a difference. And a culture shift is taking place at the high school and we are paying close attention to that. So the next question was about the sustainability and the distribution of the school IDs. And that which I shared in my last update is an area where we are looking at other options and one of the possible suggestions was is there an opportunity to provide electronic IDs or some kind of ID, given that smartphones are everywhere, which we thought was a, you know, excellent suggestion. And so we are, you know, willing to look at other options and that could be because again, Almost every student has a telephone, so it would just be a question of them potentially being able to show their identification through an electronic ID of some sort. So we are trying to explore and look into that as an option. Question three was, has there been an increase in the report of bullying? And so for the 21-22 school year, there were seven reports of bullying. And as of March 15 of 2022, there were two confirmed bullying situations. During the school year. We have had 10 reports of bullying, bullying, two of them have been confirmed at the high school. And so, some of you may wonder why is there a discrepancy. With the reports that go forward. There could be a variety of solutions. There have been restorative circles they have been meetings with students and families where bullying report was. submitted but you know the parties came down, came together sat down, had conversations and families chose not to go further with the bullying investigation that happens sometimes. We also have some students that a bullying report may have been started for a student and over the course of the investigation and looking into additional supports for those students, that some students may currently be placed in other settings. So they received other settings that would provide additional support to them. And so in those cases, sometimes the bullying report, because the student was receiving additional supports elsewhere, that that's why that number does not show. Also, sometimes when the bullying investigation takes place and it runs its full course, that in the end, it may not be identified or found it to be bullying. So that's also another factor. But at this point in time for the high school for this year, there are two official confirmed bullying reports that are on record at this point in time. The next question was, has there been an audit of appropriateness of prior decisions to ensure that prior decisions were made in compliance with our definitions and policies? So the administrative team debriefs regularly, including conversations with our medical staff, our school Councilors, engagement specialists, and other building administrative members to ensure that appropriate disciplinary measures are being meted out based on the needs of the specific child or student. So I can say that not every situation is a one size fits all. There are special situations that are taken into consideration. And so we do collaborate consistently with other members of our team, again, including our medical staff, our Councilors, our adjustment specialists, our engagement specialists, our adjustment Councilors, school psychologists. We bring in many different stakeholders as we look at situations that arise. Has the district been responding in a timely way? So the district is responding in a timely way. The responding administrator follows up with the reporter within 24 to 48 hours or sooner, depending on what the situation is. So there is frequent communication between teachers and administrators, and there is a response within 24 to 48 hours. And again, decisions are made as soon as practicable based on the details and complexity of what is being reported. Question four, when will the handbook be presented to the school committee for review and approval? So the high school site council reviews and makes final recommendations at the beginning of May. This handbook can be presented to the school committee anytime once the site council review is completed. We anticipate bringing an updated version before the committee with revisions by late May to early June of this year. And again, the date can be changed at the discretion of the committee, but since it is something that the site councils do look at, there are periodic Revisions that may have been done but in light of the greater substantive changes that took place this year. We want to be able to just work with the site council and then bring it to the committee by late May early June. And the percentage of acknowledgement forms, they have been signed by students and families. The hard copies are kept in the assistant principal offices on file. So each house has approximately, you know, 400 students, give or take. So we are just working on getting those tallies. And I can work on getting that to the committee, what the final percentage was. How will we know that this worked and what will be or look different if this action was effective? So I do feel the hard referral data to the assistant principals has gone down at a significant rate. This has allowed them to effectively manage and address student behaviors in a timely fashion. Students are reporting during monthly listening sessions that they feel safer now at the high school with the changes that have been made since January. Staff are also reporting that they visibly see less roaming in the hallways. and students spending more time in their classes. Students are following the protocols, using the placards when they need to use the restroom or if they need to go visit one of the other offices. So that is really being fully used. And the eHaul pass system is also giving us additional accurate data. When a student leaves the classroom and returns. So, the other piece is the change in tardy check in process. It's allowed us to consistently see which students are coming to school late in real time. And I think all of these changes have significantly contributed to more calm and greater consistency and clarity around expectations at the high school. So I just wanted to make sure that I responded to all the questions that I had received. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So there were only three stalls, but not only that, I think now that there are the new rules in place and the students are hanging their placards, they're going in, they're doing their business and they're coming right back out. I think before they were going in and Yes, that level of socializing, if you don't have a group of people to socialize with, there are only two people, you're gonna just go in, do your business and come out. So even the times that I've done bathroom duty, it's pretty quick. They go in, they know they might see two or three people waiting, they go in, they come out, they go in, they come out. And where you have the bathroom stacked, If one area were to have a slightly longer line, they know they can just go up one floor, which some students have done. Okay. Or up a floor or down a floor. I mean, I've seen it happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the answer is yes, the survey is in the Panorama portal and the translations, Dr. Cushing, are the translations in the portal as well? That was the last piece we were waiting on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. So I know I can't believe that March and spring is just around the corner, although snow is continuing to try to poke its head, but that's all right. But I do just bring to the community's attention that there were some special celebrations that are taking place. And this evening, the Jewish holiday of Purim is taking place. Purim means the Feast of Lots. It is a joyous festival commemorating the survival of the Jewish people in the fifth century BC. I'd like to wish all of our Jewish students and families a wonderful Purim. Also this Wednesday, March 8th, begins the Hindu Festival of Holi. Holi marks the beginning of spring and has been celebrated in India for centuries, dating back to the fourth century. It is one of the most popular Hindu festivals, also known as the festival of colors, the festival of spring, and the festival of love. To our Hindu students and families, I hope you have an enjoyable Holi. I have some wonderful announcements to share with the community this evening. This past weekend, 12 of our Mustangs represented Medford at the Region IV Science and Engineering Fair held at Tufts University. 22 schools were represented. The team of Dan Khoi Nguyen, Vina Lee, Owen Lau named their project, I Lost My Marbles. Does more randomness increase the accuracy of statistics-based measurements? These students won the Tufts University Science Fair Prize as the best Medford project, and it ranked 13th overall. They won $250 and qualified for the State Science Fair. The following students, Morgan Reynolds, Oprah McHara, Rakshita Shankarganesh submitted the project, How Does the Weather Affect Cosmic Ray Moons? Julie Desautels, Charlotte Yamamoto, and Marie Loren submitted J Prize, which deals with physics. Mary Schmidt submitted, How to Get Rid of Tea Stains? and Clay Canavan submitted, The Lifetime of Muons Before Decay. All of these students were awarded Starbuck gift cards. Congratulations to our STAR students and special thanks to Mr. Cieri and Mr. Wagnus for their assistance. So congratulations to all of you. I'd also like to say congratulations to our Mustang teams who made it to the MIAA winter season tournaments. The boys hockey team beat Agawam High at home last Monday, 7-1. On Thursday, they traveled to Canton. A power-packed team, and despite a tough fight, lost three to zero. The boys' basketball team lost a heartbreaker at puberty. Are you ready for this? 67 to 66. So that definitely was a heartbreaker. The girls' hockey team traveled to St. Mary's of Lynn And they fought hard as they battled the top ranked team in the area, losing six to zero. We are so proud of all of our winter sport athlete students. We are Mustang strong. Just a note, tryouts for spring sports begin March 20th. Students do need to register on the athletics website prior to tryouts. And speaking of teams, Medford High School just added a new one. This is hot off the press. It's eSports, which stands for electronic sports and is not to be confused with video games. The team takes video gaming to another level with organized competitive gameplay between two high school teams. Our students are so excited to begin competing And we want to thank Mr. Maldonado for bringing this sport to our Mustangs. And this has existed for about two weeks, so it is a brand new team at the high school. More congratulations from our music department. The following Mustang students performed at all states. Joseph Shimon, Jason Taha, Lise Shogren, Ruf Nakatande, Alistair Smith, and Jack Bolito. In addition, Angel Sol's original composition was recognized by MMEA's Contemporary Creators Festival, All seven of the students participated in a composition and songwriting forum that included feedback on Andrew's work from composition and songwriting professors from Berkeley, UMass Lowell, and Boston Conservatory. What a wonderful opportunity for these students. We have a few upcoming events. Our Middle School Unified Basketball Clinic began today at the McGlynn School and will continue after school each Monday in March. This Wednesday, March 8th, CPAC will be hosting a general business meeting by Zoom from 6 to 8 p.m., and there is a Zoom link for that. And on Wednesday, Medford High School will be hosting an advanced placement information session in the Caron Theater at 6 p.m. On Thursday, March 9, CPAC and their partners are hosting Bullying, What Parents Need to Know. It's going to be by Zoom from 7 to 9 p.m. The registration link was sent out by school messenger this afternoon. Continuing our partnership with Spotlight Productions, this weekend, Annie Jr. opens at the Caron Theater. The performances are scheduled for March 9th, 10th, and 11th. On March 18th, Annie Jr. Adaptive Cast will perform at 1 p.m. They sound wonderful, we hear them practicing after school, so I think it's gonna be an excellent treat. I hope you're able to come out and support that production this weekend. On March 12th, the Medford Family Network is hosting a clothing and book swap from 1 to 4 p.m. at Temple Shalom. Please register with the Medford Family Network in order to attend. On March 15th, Medford High School will be hosting two important information events. The Medford-Malden Transition Fair will be held in the gym from 6 to 8 p.m. The fair is designed to provide students, families, caregivers, and professionals with information about community-based services for adults with disabilities. There will be over 25 exhibitors representing vocational job training and support, adaptive education programs, recreational opportunities, and supported housing. The event is free and open to all members of Medford, Malden, and surrounding communities. Students between the ages of 14 and 22 who receive special education services through their IEP are encouraged to attend. The exhibitors will be reaching out to adults with autism, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disabilities. If you have any questions, please email Charlotte Heim, our OT transition specialist at Medford Public Schools. That's cheim, H-E-I-M, at medford.k12.ma.us. Also, on March 15th, the postponed 8th grade course selection night will begin in the Cannon Theater from 6 to 8 p.m. It's a very important evening for parents to come out to find out about the course selection for your rising 9th grade student as they prepare to enter the high school. So in closing, March is Irish American Heritage Month in the United States. Beginning in the middle 1800s, Irish immigrants began settling here in Medford. Like so many immigrants before and after them, they sought a better life in America. While Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day on March 17, we all celebrate along with them, for they helped to build the country as well. I would like to share with you an old Irish blessing. It says, may love and laughter light your days and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures. May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing. And so to start to kick off our budget process for this year and talk about our timeline, I just wanted to take a moment to go through the slide deck with you. You can advance Dr. Cushing. Thank you. So for last year in June of 22, our operating budget was $68,994,776. And as you can see, our wonderful students, our wonderful programming here in Medford, our arts, our teachers, our students actively learning, engaged, involved in, looks like an art class, and The money that we use, the money that we use to run the district is to provide our students first and foremost with the best quality education possible. The next slide takes that 68.9 million and it kind of just gives you a general breakdown of how that money is divided up. is allocated toward general education. 9.1% is allocated towards security and maintenance. 25% is allocated towards special education. Student services equal 5.25% and administration is 6% of that pie. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. I just wanna share a few numbers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And then, cause I may end up answering a question on a future slide, it's possible. And then we'll go back. And I have a hard copy with me as well. So right in front of you right now what the slide is showing is our ESSER estimated budget for this year. And it talks about some of the key investments that we made under personnel, engagement specialists. We had 1.05 engagement specialists, one school nurse, floating nurse. three behavioral specialists, reading specialists, ELL newcomer instructor, contractual stipends, professional learning, literacy, Hill for Literacy, responsive classroom. Camp Mustang, we have that as a TBD. Our MBTA pass program currently right now is about $15,000 a month. So for the 10 months, that's 150,000 coming out of ESSER funding. Emergency connectivity fund, there was an additional 90,000. And then under miscellaneous cell counseling programs, our rebus professional development training for our administrators, talking points and other subscriptions, that was approximately $50,000 that we spent on ESSER funding for this year, estimated budget. So moving forward to fiscal year 24 for next school year, you see before you four key priorities which are aligned to our strategic plan. Implementing curricula, which you heard earlier about our literacy presentation, there are important shifts in curricular investments that need to be made. Looking at assessment, instructional strategies to support all of our students. Our second priority is going to be focusing on building culture through community engagement and fostering collaboration. Our third priority equity, but looking at equitably supporting the academic, the social emotional learning needs and physical needs of all of our students. And our fourth priority would be looking at school infrastructure, student supports and safety of creating a safe learning environment for all of our learners. So those are kind of the buckets that we're going to be focusing on as key priorities which are all aligned to our strategic plan. And to go a little deeper on, again, this slide, which is showing next year FY24 budgetary priorities, we will be sending out a budget survey. And there's an asterisk next to the word needs. And at the bottom, it says it reflects the preliminary information. So we do not yet have the survey. The surveys have not gone out as of yet. But as we receive the survey data, as that data comes in, it will also help to shift our budgetary priorities. But this is just a draft. We're still looking heavily at strategic staffing investments focused on our most vulnerable learners. professional development and training, which is critically important. We're investing in talking about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the literacy program alone, it's estimated to cost about 600,000, which will appear in a later slide. But to spend that kind of money, more than a half million dollars, and not include professional development for our educators, it doesn't make sense to bring in such an expensive program and not provide the training. So professional development and training is critically important for our academic success here in Medford. Also, we want to continue with district-wide professional development on restorative practices, responsive classroom, and further curriculum training for the elementary math and literacy. And as we continue to look at other programs, such as the HECAT program, any other programs that we may be thinking about bringing on board. In terms of summer programming, it's something that we do feel is very important. We know that there is significant cost with that. So we are looking at pursuing grant opportunities to continue several summer programming options for our community here in Medford, from literacy to math, to finance to sell programming during the summer, and then a few miscellaneous. supplements that we will need as part of the newly negotiated contract. We will be working on the high school scheduling, which is finally fully merging the vocational school schedule and the comprehensive school schedule, having the two schedules talk and be aligned because we still have the five day, six day schedule. So it's a lot of force fitting. And so we agreed to have a consultant come in to support us with the high school scheduling and at the elementary level where we have also shifted where our elementary schools will be having the additional early release half days. So for that, we had to do some shifting. The meetings are still taking place, but for elementary scheduling, we will need to have a slight increase in staffing. So where elementary scheduling is concerned in order to make the new schedule work for all of our students. That's something that we're aware of. So we just wanted to put that down. Again, it's a draft, but just for you to start kind of chewing on some of the ideas that we wanna put forward during this budget process. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. I also want to just highlight a few FY 24 initial budget drivers. We are currently, we have four collective bargaining agreements that we're still working on. We have potential unanticipated maintenance costs where, you know, I shared with the committee, you know, that the high school has a lot of, old pipes and, you know, freezing and just different things that have happened. So we've, we've been dealing with several unanticipated maintenance expenses and we know that those kind of kinds of expenses will continue to pop up. So we just have that listed there for something to really keep top of mind. I also want to share that out of district tuition costs for FY 24, we are expecting a significant increase of 14%. This is not exclusive to Medford Public Schools. This is across the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts that all districts have been notified to expect an increase of 14% for special education out of district tuitions. And so that is a significant increase in one year to be able to make the necessary adjustments but I just again wanted to put this out before the committee for you to be aware that this is a new piece of information that all districts are dealing with and I do believe that there's been a lot of legislation and working with members of the delegation to try to see if something can be done with that number of 14%, but as of right now, the communication that did go out to all districts is that that number is expect a 14% increase. So we're also keeping that in mind. And there are also just ordinary anticipated financial challenges that may come along. In Medford we were hoping to be able to add a theater teacher, a 1.0 that is one period that one position that we were thinking about trying to add, but again, we have the wonderful theater, we wanna make use of that. I did mention on the previous slide about the high school and elementary school schedule consultancy, that's critically important and it was negotiated in the CBA. So it's something that we must work on to make sure that we're in compliance with our CBA. And then we're looking at augmented bus transportation costs to plan for high school yellow bus routes. If that's something that still ends up being part of where we land when it's all said and done. Moving on, for next year, it's critically important that our proposed final ESSER budget next year, FY24, is the final year of ESSER. We have approximately $3 million left. This is the final rollout of ESSER. And there are a few items that are already listed. The curriculum for the new elementary literacy program is approximately $600,000, which I said earlier in the presentation. Ms. Galussi and the literacy team, they have pursued a grant. If that grant, if we are able to secure that grant, it's for $300,000. which would be a significant grant. And as Ms. Galussi mentioned, it's already at the governor's desk. So we are keeping our fingers crossed and really hoping that that is good news. So that number there of approximately 600,000 would be cut in half. The restorative justice and the bystander intervention. This is training that we would love to have at the secondary level. It is approximately $100,000 for literacy, which we've been working with partnering with them for multiple years, helping us with rollout of literacy instruction. Their programming is approximately 90,000. So those three pieces would be potentially coming out of ESSER monies. And the $250,000, the balance of the elementary math program, that's the remainder of what is due. Those monies came out of our general fund. So just so you're aware, that 250,000 came out of the general fund. So these are just proposed costs for the 3 million. And as you can see, just in some of the programming, it could be nearly $1 million. So for FY 24 planning, some additional planning that we're doing, we have some wonderful, happy students sharing, telling us that they can be the best you can be. We have to still think about transportation. the summer of 23 planning, which I mentioned a little bit earlier, the governor's budget proposal. We know that that is pending, but we're going to be working with that. And then we're going to be scheduling committee of the holes. On the final slide, we have a tentative timetable Our strategic planning goals were approved in June of 2022. And we will be sending out budget surveys between March 7th and 17th. We're doing a 10 day window with the budget surveys to gather data and look at that data and see what is available for us. Budget meetings falling between March 28th and April 25th. recommendations to the committee for me around May 1st, May 15th, approximately, school committee requests. And the municipal appropriation, we know what that is in June TBD. school committee adoption. We have two meetings which are on the 5th and the 12th of June and implementation of this budget would take place on July 1. So this is just an overview to hopefully whet your appetites and I'm ready to take any questions. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The pie grant was reflective of the $68 million operating budget. It was not showing all of the other grants.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So great minds think alike member Rousseau, because today prepping with the team, we were talking about providing a bus contract update at the March 20th meeting, am I correct Dr. Cushing? And we're working closely with Fiona here at City Hall so we are those talks have already begun preliminary conversations and that was one of the things that we said we know that it's. You know we wanted to list it so that you're aware as just all of the things that were, you know, taking all of these pieces and starting to just chunk them and say, you know what are going to be our huge priorities. So we do want to get that before the committee. to be able to just focus in on the transportation piece. So we did want to have a report to present at our next regular meeting. And if after that presentation, you know, the committee decides they would like a committee of the whole or a different specific meeting, then we definitely would be more than willing to do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Madam McLaughlin, I can do that. Again, I wanted to get a draft schedule out to the members to at least have an idea of when the request was made to set the timetable forward. So we can definitely do that with translations and have additional, yes, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This one in April, I was thinking the official budget hearing would either be the late May, early June. Normally we do it closer to the end. This virtual listening session was more to like give the community or other people an opportunity to see what direction are we moving in and then we will have the survey data. So it's just another opportunity to receive feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're saying within the regular meeting or do a COW?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Linda McLaughlin. I'm just asking for a little greater clarity. I guess I'm trying to make sure I'm following. You would like school committee documents Translated or we're saying to hold special meetings with translation available.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening. In preparation for our district review, DESE would like us to have, DESE would like to have at least two or three members that would participate and be part of the review. It's scheduled to take place that first week of April. So we don't have all of the specific information, but I just wanted to put it out there to all. of the members and find out if there was any interest, or if your work schedule would permit you to be available to be part of the DSEE review. And if there's a member McLaughlin, you're interested? I would like to know what the time commitment is, but I need to leave now. It's probably one hour, Dr. Cushing, do you know? One hour, two hour? 90 minutes. 90 minutes, a 90 minute commitment. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: During the school day, yes. So that's member McLaughlin, anyone else?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so we'll have Mayor McLaughlin, Member Graham, and Mayor just in case as a backup. Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can have another presentation. I can have a update on bathrooms at our next meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I just had wanted to comment a little earlier when you had added the definition with the other pieces about video and what the other administrators were sharing and saying that first it was bullying and now we're dealing with the cyber bullying and This is truly a problem, but there's also like a limitation because when you think about bullying, it's about someone wanting to show power. They want to be the powerful one and take advantage of someone else in that particular point in time. And so technology and media or videoing is now being manipulated in such a way that whoever the videographers are or the person who's actually doing the bullying, they feel empowered by that and I just feel like it's As we create this and kind of say what our expectations are, I think there's so much about education that needs to happen. And member McLaughlin, I hope she will share, but there is going to be something taking place next week on March 9th about bullying with our, special education, I want to be able to say it the right way, but Medford's going to be doing a bullying workshop and it's about what parents and professionals need to know is the title of the workshop and it's being done in collaboration with the Federation for Children with Special Needs and I just feel like We need to continue to educate demonstrate and show our students that are in front of us what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. And I just wanted to add that piece to the conversation because there were some things you know we can have the best intentions, but if someone truly has malicious intent. You know, we need to be able to say that this is wrong, and also get that person the necessary help that is needed. And I just kind of feel like bullying has existed for a long time but the way in which it presents itself now. with these videos getting liked and I don't know how people do it, but they resurface it, they share it with different people, they do the airdrops, you know, the images, students taking images of themselves. with limited clothing or no clothing. And it's, it is a form of bullying and sometimes it ends up classified as child pornography. And so I'm just saying that these are the things that the administrators, especially at the secondary level 612 world have to deal with. on a consistent or not a consistent day, but at least they've encountered it enough times. And I just feel that the education, educating parents, helping parents to become partners with the district, for them to understand, like, when we're reaching out to you to say that this is what's taking place, we truly do need them to partner and collaborate with us. get the appropriate supports their child needs. And sometimes the cell umbrella I just, I can't stress it enough because it's something that we're all dealing with and we shouldn't pretend that it's not happening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I just was going to let member Graham know as well. The shorter version, which is strictly the forms, is like an eight-page document. I think it's eight pages or six pages, which has the actual forms. So thank you. Thank you, member Rousseau. So I do know that there is repetition in this document, but there, at least based on what my understanding was, there was a certain amount of information that did need to be included. And so like the revision of member was so adding like videos and, you know, I'm not sure what the next technological advancements going to be but, you know, moving from phones there's probably going to be. you know, recording eyeglasses or something like that, where, you know, in the next five years, it's probably not even going to be the phone, it's going to be some other, maybe it's going to just be the watches that people are wearing, where there's still going to be video, videoing and recording what's happening, but it's, it's just going to be some new, updated electronic device. And, um, So I do feel like we will always be adding whatever the new things are, but I think people need to understand how wide, like the breadth of this topic. It, it, it really is expansive, everything that could fall under the umbrella of bullying. That was all I want. So I know this is the longer version, but people may opt to use the shorter version, which is, you know, the form packet, and then go to this one to kind of read the details.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I had wanted to share that there is a flowchart. I know remember Graham you were saying something I just shared that flowchart with you. And it kind of talks about the steps in a visual way I don't know if it's. something that maybe as we continue to go through at some point, if we stop the screen share, you might be able to screen share.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that is it, Member Ruseau. Are you able to make it larger, a little larger? I hope so. This is kind of what happens when bullying when a bullying report is submitted, it's a visual way of kind of showing which way it goes, but it's just something that we also use internally that could end up making its way into the revised document that we're working on. So I just wanted you to have that because I did Here you remember McLaughlin saying something about like for people who are visual learners or, you know, they could better understand what are the steps that happen, what are the steps that are taken when bullying is reported to the district. So this was just one other piece that I wanted to make sure that you were able to mention.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was gonna say yes we're definitely open to the feedback member Graham where you were saying the accountability piece. Sometimes, it will be bullying can be reported by a parent or a guardian a caregiver who could be completing the initial form. sometimes it will be initiated from the school side going out. So we also have to just keep that in mind of who the initial reporter is. And so that was just, again, something to at least let us know what were the preliminary steps, but we are definitely open to feedback and getting this document updated and reflective of the work that's taking place right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd like to request for the administrators that are on the line, that's going to put many of them at exceeding a 12-hour day. Is it possible that we could keep the same time for the 16th on a Thursday? We cannot do the 16th. Oh, you cannot do the 16th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, yeah I will reach out to him. I, when I spoke with him earlier today it was regarding other matters, but I will let him know that this meeting is taking place, and you would like him to be able to attend so I'll try to get this on his calendar as soon as possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I know member Ruseau said he was going to generate some questions as well. So, yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So hot off the press, right now while we are here in Chambers, our boys, our hockey team, they're playing inside La Conte rink right now. And the score that I received is six to one. We are playing against Agawam. So it looks like it's going to be a wonderful victory for Mustang Nation. So we're really proud of them for the wonderful work, sportsmanship that they're displaying right now. We wish them all the best. So congratulations thus far. I know it's their period, but I'm very excited for them. So it is my hope that you and your families were able to enjoy some fun and quality time together over February break. Our cold weather has returned as everyone is aware, we are closely monitoring the news. And, yes, the groundhog did show his shadow so tomorrow, it's still kind of up in the air. anywhere from one to three inches up to six inches. It's going to be a very potentially treacherous commute in the morning. So the city has already put in the parking effect, effective 7.30 for this evening. So 7.30 tomorrow morning. Okay, 7.30 tomorrow morning. And as of right now, Metro Public Schools is open, but we are continuing to just monitor the news and try to get accurate information in terms of how much snow we're really thinking may come to us tomorrow. Also, I would just like to share that the Friday before February break, Friday, February 17th, was our Black History Month celebration at the high school. It was a great celebration that took place in the gymnasium. The entire high school community packed the gymnasium, and it was a wonderful celebration, our mayor spoke I got to give remarks and there was an inspirational guest speaker in the person of Mr. Brian Owens who really spoke about his great accomplishments and overcoming odds and being successful in what he, you know, from being an athlete and now being a successful businessman, and really just gave an inspirational speech to our students. We also had many of our students in the Black Student Union, BSU, that one student shared poetry, others performed dance, fashion show, really just showing their culture. And I really wanted to thank Ms. Walker, Shavos Walker, who is one of the high school assistant principals. and two of the advisors that were working very closely with the students, Ms. Jackson, Ms. A, and also Mr. Dello Russo working with the students in the BSU. That was a very successful event. We also had some of our students from the Black Student Union attend a leadership conference And Miss Walker was one of the presenters. So I just want to recognize Taliana, Talia, and Zanea, some of our young people at the high school who attended that leadership conference, and they truly have great leadership potential, and they also were very actively involved with all of the students that participated in the Black History Celebration. So congratulations to all of them on a wonderful celebration of culture and bringing the entire school community together. I have plenty of good news to share. I want to say a special congratulations to our Mustang girls hockey player, a junior by the name of Juliana Storetti. She was named the 22-23 Northeastern Hockey League First Team All-Conference. as well as to the Mustang Girls hockey grade eight player, Avery White. She was named a Northeastern Hockey League All-Star so congratulations to both Avery and Juliana. I also wanna share that the Medford High School Ethics Bowl won the New England Regional Conference, beating the Windsor School in round one, which is an independent school, Deerfield Academy in round two, Concord Academy in round three, the BU Academy in the semifinal, and then Lexington High School. Later that week, they beat Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, which made them eligible for the Nationals Ethics Bowl, which will be taking place at UNC, University of North Carolina. We are so proud of our Mustang team members, Eamon Costello, Tegan Mastone, Abigail Sloan, Vishal Romero, and Claire Gingle. The alternates are Mateo DeVita, Sonia Benapal, and Andre Doherty. They are coached by Mr. Esner. Congratulations to all of them. Also, I want to recognize Ms. Dineo. Oh, they're all as well. Oh, you're ready? Okay, they're going to come up with, wonderful, wonderful. I did not realize some of you already here in the audience, but congratulations, and we look forward to hearing from you ourselves, from your report, but congratulations. I'm also excited to note that two more Mustangs received the Scholastic Art Awards. Julia Hanratty won a Silver Key Award and Maggie Fowler won an Honorable Mention, so congratulations to both of them as well. So the Mustangs begin the MIAA Winter Tournament play today. We talked about our boys playing at Lakanti Link. Tomorrow, the boys' basketball team travels to Peabody for a game at 7 p.m. And Wednesday, the Mustang girls' hockey team travels to St. Mary's for a game at 6 p.m. So we're wishing good luck to all of our Mustangs out there. Just so you know, earlier this month, on Wednesday, February 8th, the Roberts Elementary School hosted WBZ News meteorologist, Sarah Robleski. I hope I'm saying it the right way. Anyway, she came to the Roberts Elementary School. I almost wish she was here today to give us a really pointed direction about the weather. That would have been wonderful. But she talked about the changing weather with our students. And she talked about climate change with the third grade classes. So thank you so much to WBZ news reporter, meteorologist, Sarah W. It was an informative and fun discussion for all of our students. Also right before the February break, the Brooks Elementary School held their monthly food drive. They collected 234 bags of food, which is more than 100 bags collected last month. The classroom with the most donations received the Can Man award. And that was Ms. McIsaac's third grade class. special congratulations to that classroom. Special thanks to the parent and student volunteers from Ms. Pires' class and Mr. Allen's classes, who helped to sort and bag the food items. We also want to thank our community partner, Whole Foods, for providing the bags, and the vocational school for printing the colored flyers. So thank you for that collaborative effort. Also, I just want to recognize prior to vacation, the Andrews and McGlynn PTOs hosted a middle school skating party on Wednesday's half day. We do love this type of collaboration and the students who attended the skating party had blast. I have a few important upcoming events. Tuesday, tomorrow, February 28th by Zoom is going to be a building bridges to kindergarten session. It's from 630 to 730 PM on Zoom. Grade eight course selection. I wanna just thank member Graham for reaching out to the office today, giving us some important feedback. The grade eight course selection was originally scheduled for this Wednesday, March 1st. It's being postponed until Wednesday, March 15th. It's from six to 8 p.m. This is a critically important event where parents will be choosing the academic course pathway that you want your child to take when they come to the high school as a ninth grader. Yes, your student can come with you, but it's important for you as a parent to be there in looking at the classes that are being offered and thinking about where your child is. And meeting with both Principal DeLava and Principal Fallon, who's here with us, they will be talking to parents and giving parents the importance of selecting the courses for next school year when you're rising eighth grader is a ninth grader. So we will definitely be putting that in the weekly update. And again, it's postponed until March 15th. So those of you who are watching March 15th, 6 to 8 p.m., very important day for parents of eighth graders, rising ninth graders. Also, Thursday, March 2nd, it's Read Across America Day. The elementary schools will be hosting events and having special guest readers. Additionally, the elementary schools are beginning their scholastic book fairs. So please check with your child's PTO for dates and times. Saturday, March 4 is annual trivia night. That's for the high school NHS and NVTHS PTO groups. It's $25 per person. It's going to take place from 7 to 10 p.m. at the American Legion Hall. Again, it's annual trivia night. I'm sure it's gonna be lots of fun. $25 per person, and the funds raised directly benefit students, teachers, and staff at Medford High School. If you want more information, you can email the PTO for further information. Their email address is nhs.nvths.pto at gmail.com. On Sunday, March 5th, Read by the River. It's an annual literacy carnival for students in grades K through five, hosted at Tush University from one to 4 p.m. And since February is our short month, next Monday, March 6, the school committee, we will be meeting again at 6pm here in the chambers. And tomorrow, Tuesday, February 28, is Rare Disease Awareness Day. Rare Disease Awareness Day seeks to shine a light on rare diseases and advocates for health equity for all. Over 7,000 rare diseases impact over 300 million people globally. The theme for 2023 is show your stripes, show your colors, which encourages our community to visibly come together to support those with rare diseases. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can definitely have that information for you for the next meeting. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just wanted to say congratulations also to you and your team for pursuing that grant and lending an additional $300,000 to improve the vocational programming, which is just absolutely wonderful. So congratulations. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I wanna thank our students. I know that our high school advisors, Ms. Nyland and Ms. Simone Elias are not able to be with us this evening, but we have a wonderful cadre of students here who are actively involved. So I'm gonna first recognize our co-presidents, Naomi Pierre and Sophia Sanwu. Can you just take a step forward and wave? They are not only our co-presidents, but they are also co-advisors. So this is definitely new and you'll hear about it in the presentation, but high school students advising other classmen on projects for CCSR. So we're really, this is really building that student leadership. I also want to call for Jonah Segal, who is our CCSR historian. Thank you, Jonah. I would like Dan Khoi Nguyen, or Dan Khoi Nguyen, please to step forward. He is our web and social media. And your jacket shows it on the sleeve, wonderful. Thank you so much, Dan Khoi. And then Baban Gill, who is our communications coordinator. Please step forward, yes. And our vice president of CCSR. So these are our future leaders of tomorrow, and Mr. Rich Farter, who is our director. So please present to us, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanna say my bucket is so full right now. Ms. Demos says that all the time too, but my bucket's really full. I am so proud of all of you. Thank you for being courageous and coming up here and speaking. Future historians and, I don't know, media tech and advisors and Councilors, you're doing the wonderful work that needs to happen. There were great things happening at Medford High School. and those great things are also happening with this wonderful CCSR team. So congratulations, and I'm very proud of all of you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We don't have, from what I understand, this is very new information. So it's only been about a week, so I don't even believe anything's been posted yet. So I'll try to find, at least to have the opportunity to get more information, but we will definitely work on the posting for, definitely the numbers warrant it. And again, I didn't realize that, but to get the male coaches for the boys team, girls team try to just bring on. And we want to not just have a coach based on all the testimonials that were shared today. And it's such a great testament to both Donlan and Donlan senior, Donlan Q squared, I should say. But at the same time, whoever the individuals are that are going to apply to those positions, I don't know if it's staff or whether it be bringing in totally new people, interviewing them, and trying to have student voice and parent voice and coaches voice as well. So that we can bring on people who really want to do it because sometimes you can find someone and it's just not a right match. So we want to do it the right way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And we would like someone with a positive track record of success that they're actually winning. that's gonna be something we need to do definitely.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I don't know if Dr. Cushing or someone else can look to see when it was posted, I'm not sure.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Actually, just listening to everything, I'm actually very curious myself. I got to wish the track team success the day they were going to Reggie Lewis. And there was great energy. They have this great song that they play. It's like their fight song, their winning song. And it was a great, great time. And so I will definitely take this on as a project.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: financial side of the house, we should have a track, a record of the stipends going back on the previous three years and how many coaches.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I can definitely say, after listening to our wonderful student leaders, our CCSR students and our student athletes who were speaking today, truly, my bucket is full. When we can just see the right things happening, students being strong student leaders This 10 point action plan was implemented as a result of what transpired at the high school in December, and I'm here to give you an update. And Dr. Cushing, I'm not sure I shared one of the documents with you, Dr. Cushing. I'm hoping you can screen share that. On a weekly basis, I've had it linked to my Friday communications, the 10 point action plan. And I'm here today to just inform the committee of all the things that have been happening, what's working, and where are the areas that we do need to see additional growth.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The first area on the 10-point action plan is our school resource officer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I am pleased to report that we now have two full time school visas officers working at the high school. We have Officer Conway and Officer Patia both working at the high school and Chief Buckley. has two other additional SRO officers that have also been trained to be school resource officers, and they will eventually be cycled through between the middle school and the high school so that they are exposed to more students, and students are also exposed to them. So Officer Poitier is a female school resource officer, and Officer Conway is a male. and Chief Buckley shared that one of the other school resource officers that was trained is an officer of color. And so really trying to be intentional and inclusive of the school resource officers that will be supporting all of our students. And so for that immediate action and support, very, very grateful. to the partnership with Chief Buckley. So that was point number one, and Officer Poitier came on in January. So that was the first bullet. For bullet number two, what we ended up doing at the high school, having clear and consistent protocols for bathroom occupancy, Now we have blue and red language or tags. I had shown them back in January, but when students are going to use the restroom in their inner classroom, they will be given a blue tag. We also have the eHall pass system, which is the online system as well. So it is, that system is working, it's being used. The red house is for students that will be going to a different part of the building, it could be the nurses office, it could be to go see guidance or maybe going down to the library for something but students when they're traveling in the hallway. They are carrying either a red or a blue pass, so it's easily identifiable and you can speak with them and they will show you, I have this pass, this is where I'm going and I'm returning. So that has, that was implemented. I met January and then as of February 3rd, everyone is aware of the new process. It's, I feel it's now, it's just, it's part of the routine. It's part of what happens at Medford High School. So bullet number three, clear and consistent protocols for students, for student identification, check-in and hallway presence. So one of the shifts that did take place in January, in the past, students used to report to the three different floors, the house offices. And so now when students are checking in, they report at the main office. Dr. Cushing, can you, I'm using your screen share, thank you. I was on number three, thank you. So for student identification, check-in, and holiday presence, again, the tags that are being used, check-in is taking place in the main office, and student identification is handed out. So I'm going to give you the key highlights of what has transpired, and then I will also talk about the areas that we've identified where we need to continue to do some additional work. Bullet number four point number four was the bullying prevention reporting and investigation. And so, in January. We have assemblies for our students. The students know that they are expected to report something to an adult or to the assistant principal or to a guidance Councilor or an adjustment Councilor. There's paperwork that can be used. So they have been fully informed about that and can use those documents. Number five, the anonymous reporting system. By the end of January, we had all students in grade six through 12 that have been trained in the anonymous reporting system and staff are also aware of that. And next week at the March 6 meeting, Stacey Shulman will be presenting specific data on what has happened with that, but it is up and running. It's been used. And so... she will be able to give some specifics to what we've seen thus far, but this is now again an opportunity for students to report anonymously and not have to worry about, you know, someone saying that, you know, they're snitching or they're telling on them and for fear of any kind of problems that could arise. So the anonymous reporting system, I'm very excited about that, and that's through our partnership with Sandy Hook Promise. On point number six, the student handbook. Again, the real student and faculty staff meetings, student sessions, listening sessions, advisory meetings. The students are aware of what the handbook says, what is acceptable, what is not acceptable, and we're continuing to work through that with them. Point number seven, reminding families that counseling support is available. We know that social, emotional well-being and health is critically important and that students respond, whether it's impulse control or whatever challenges they may be facing. We can definitely refer to families and students to all of the counseling supports that are available. And if you go to the website, there is a listing of additional outside counseling if families were to choose not to have their student participate in counseling, whether it's with a school psychologist, an adjustment Councilor, a guidance Councilor, if they choose to have outside counseling, but that is available to all of our families. We have been working collaboratively with Mr. Michael Welch, who is a retired superintendent and former high school principal. He has been working at the high school level and that has been going very well, providing consult, meeting with staff. meeting with the administrative team, providing guidance and support. So that has been a very positive experience having Mr. Walsh as a consultant and giving us feedback on the high school. Number nine, administering a confidential school culture and climate survey. Dr. Creshen,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Actually, let me, member McLaughlin, is that okay? Because I'm on, and Dr. Cushing, you can stay there because I just have to go to number 10 and then we can take all the questions at once. So point number 10, we have posted for the communications director position that was posted on, I believe, the February 17 right before February break. So we're in the process now of gathering resumes and looking at candidates who would be interested in coming to join the STEM team and supporting the work that we're going to do. But that is where we are. I wanted to at least give those first 10 points and then I wanted to just make a A few, a few points about what were key positives and then what were the key areas. Again, one of the great positives is now having to assign those at the high school. you know, I was very happy to have and it's just wonderful having two additional support people in the school to help us. Check-in process has really expedited, you know, students realize that they have to report to the main office and so we're seeing a significant decrease in the amount of late arrivals, and students are getting to classes much quicker. The anonymous reporting system is in place, it has been used a few times, and again next week, Ms. Sherman will talk about that. At the high school level, I believe there was one report, and at the middle school level, I'm not sure if it was one or two reports, but a few came in, I think, at that level. But just allowing us to have that opportunity to respond very quickly and address it anonymously. And the hall pass system has really, the blue and red tags, that has really, really worked very well. So some of the challenges that we found when we implemented the hall passes, we also implemented bathroom monitors and hall monitors, and we asked staff to support us at the high school in addition to the building that we have so we have hired additional building managers we're still trying to hire at least one more. Sometimes because we have staff that are helping with closures, if we have people who are absent, some staff have consistently asked to be part of the rotational schedule. And some, because it is, although they're being compensated, they need to volunteer to say they want to take on that additional task. So sometimes we do not have some coverage issues. So that is something that we're watching. There's been an ask of students and we're trying to see at this point in time we have two students at a time using the bathrooms, no more than two. So the students have been asking and we are considering possibly increasing that number to three students being allowed to go into the restrooms at one point in time, but it's something that we are just monitoring because we don't want to go and rip the band-aid and end up with some of the challenges that we faced before. So that is something that we're looking at because it's been working fairly well and the students are respecting the total number of people in the bathrooms at a time. The check-in process sometimes, although check-in is taking place in the main office, because it's now taking place in the main office as opposed to the house offices, sometimes there was a slight delay for the assistant principals that are in each of the houses to be able to quickly check in. So there was a slight delay because it's no longer happening in the respective offices. So we're trying to work on that piece, which is a glitch. And then this is the final piece that I wanted to say, which is a challenge, but it's something new that didn't happen at Medford. So we did pass out the student IDs. And I would probably have to say when I'm in the hallways, I would probably say, I don't even think it's 50% of active involvement. The students who wear their IDs, I will say to them, great job. If I see them wearing it, but a lot of the students will say, I don't have my ID, I left it at home, it's in my binder, it's in my locker, but they respond respectfully. And I know that it's a new, was a new protocol that we put in place. So that is the one area that I can clearly say, and I know we have our student reps here, that the students are not consistently wearing their ID all day. But I can say that, In behaviors, the students are respectful. I see students in the hallway, and they're saying, where are you going? Are you on your way to a class? They respond, when I speak with them, they do respond respectfully, and then they will make sure that they're moving in the right direction. So I just wanna be fully transparent, because I know that that was something where people were asking specifically, what's going to happen if someone doesn't wear an ID? And we wanted the students to wear the ID, but we also wanted to see a change in behaviors. And so seeing the significant change in behaviors, that was most important to me. And so although we're not having full participation with the IDs, at this point in time, the students are, I feel, comporting themselves in a respectful manner. I just feel such a significant difference from talking with students what they said to me themselves. And so it is something that, you know, we're going to continue to work with, but if, if you're walking in the halls and member Graham member Graham member McLaughlin was with me right before break. Students were going to class, they were doing what they needed, they were being students, but not everyone had their ID on. So I just wanted to make that known to the committee that that is the one area where I feel if they're in school, they're doing their work, they're reporting to class, that's something that we're aware of. And it was such a significant shift to take place in the middle of the year. So we're trying to look at other options. There's gonna be a lot of things that we're doing with like food service and trying to think about other things where if you need your ID and you can have it, like your ID is used for other things, then everyone would need to have it on them. So we have not ruled that out. But at this point in time, that's the one area that we're not seeing consistent implementation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At last count, when I had the number of IDs, that students who never took school class pictures, it was 97 students. So over 1,100 students had ID pictures. And we ordered backup. So we had IDs for like over 1100 students. So the number was very small and I was told that the students that didn't have IDs that their pictures were being taken on the computer and they were going to have. It wouldn't be the same exact idea because even new students that are enrolling if they're moving, you know, you move from New Hampshire to Massachusetts, then you wouldn't have taken pictures, and the photography vendor, when they tried to see if we could get the vendor to come out again. the vendors were booked months in advance. So that was the reason why we could not do like, you know, another picture day and say, okay, these 97 students are, you know, it could be 105 by now. So that was the information that I had, but we did get duplicate IDs made for the students, but I can definitely follow up on that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, because I also spoke with Mr. Spagnola, who's from Graphic Design or Media Tech, either, or we have the two departments. And he also was interested in trying to design like a temporary ID.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. The Medford public schools will be closed. In light of this this storm is truly unpredictable. But due to the significant amount of surrounding communities that are also closed, we're really concerned about our staff coming in and taking care of their own families and children because many of our staff live in the surrounding communities. And so they would now not have childcare and it definitely could end up being a significant impact. So we have not, put it out yet, but we'll be putting it out on the media and sending out a communication that tomorrow the Medford public schools will be closed due to the timing of the storm with the morning commute. In addition, the governor did ask for DCF involved families that DCF will be closed tomorrow. So we already received notification that Some of our most vulnerable families would not be receiving transportation to school. So that was going to be an excused absence, but just in light of, again, so many of our surrounding communities that have already closed, it would be, I could see it being a significant hardship for the district for us tomorrow. So there will be no school for the schools tomorrow.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But because of the break, we're just trying to get ahead of it right away. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, okay. Thank you. I was going away and you were reading my mind. Because the first normally it's the first Wednesday of the month is high school graduation, which would be June 7 Wednesday the seventh times the rain date would be that Thursday. So, with our two meetings being Monday, June 5. graduation is the 7th, and our next meeting being June 12th. And we know what happens as we get to June around the budget season. I, you know, I would propose If it's going to be a committee of the whole for that committee of the whole to take place that last week of, of, I mean, it could be June 1, Thursday, the first or something like that to do. I don't know if that's enough time though, if you'd want me to present on Thursday, June 1st, or do you wanna bring it back at least one more week? Because school right now, I believe it's scheduled to close on June 16th for students. And so we would be focusing primarily on any last minute budget things, which budget meetings do end up taking time. I'm thinking with the idea of mapping, working backwards and mapping it out. To Member Graham's point, because the 12th is our last official regular scheduled meeting, we may end up having other special meetings or whatever the case may be. It really should be prior to June 5th. even if it was the, and I don't know how much time you as the committee membership think you need to complete the tool. So if you're thinking, if we want to announce it at the June 5th meeting or the June 12th at the latest, If it's announced at the June 12th meeting, what was discussed at the committee of the whole for that to be approved, that is bringing us into like the second week of May, third week of May potentially. So do you have an idea of how long you think the members would like to have the tool in hand?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was gonna say, it's about 13 weeks between the last week of February and bringing us to the last week of May. So, You just said you want to do how many weeks, Member Graham?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if that's- I was gonna say most likely it's gonna be more realistic to have me present at some point in May. I know it will shorten the timetable, but then if I present to you in May and you as the committee take about two weeks to process the information and do everything, that'll bring us back to early June.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm muting myself. Yeah, no, I just was looking at the calendar since it's not a scheduled meeting, I could definitely do that on Monday the eighth, and be prepared to present the evidence that I have.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Try typing in Parker.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is, it's useful just to hear what are the types of pieces of data you're gonna be looking for, for the specific indicators, so. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We call them walkthroughs, we call them rounds.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, you know, we're going to be doing the survey, but I have not. I don't have like a concrete. about student feedback unless you could be talking about like exit tickets that taking a sampling of exit tickets that are used, primarily at like secondary level of where students are giving feedback on content that was being taught, but. the indicator of student feedback, if it's something like that, I could definitely start gathering samples of student feedback for specific instructional content area so people could see how students are responding, like what did they learn, what stood out for them in a particular content area. But in terms of, if you were to ask me today, give me a document that shows student feedback, I've never captured student feedback on instruction, aside from looking at their outcomes. But to have students saying, you know, I think I got a B minus because I didn't understand, blah, blah, blah. To give their rationale, I would have to hear what you were thinking about for that type of an indicator. Because it's not something, even with the rounds, and we would do the five core actions, That was looking at the instruction and looking for key indicators that were taking place in the classroom. And so, yes, we would be looking for evidence of productive struggle, for example, or listening to the questions, discourse, the student discourse that was happening. But that would be an adult. you know, using the tool and looking at, oh, there was evidence of productive struggle. There were, you know, the students turned and talked six times in a 40-minute block. They, you know, worked with one another. They created a poster. They created a chart. So I would need to know specifically what student feedback what you would want as student feedback, because that is something that I have not been gathering. And exit tickets are, like in my mind, it's a check for understanding when they use the exit tickets. Did they understand the concept? And then, you know, they do it before they leave. And then the teacher scores what was on the exit ticket or reflects on what the students wrote. And then they may make, adjustments to teaching the following day based on what was said on a type of exit ticket. So I want to be honest about that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, um. Having said that, thank you for that feedback. Member Hays, if it's possible, I was gonna ask if I could just, where I know you were going through the key indicators that the committee identified, if I could just quickly share my screen for a second. I want you to stop sharing yours temporarily. If you stop temporarily, I could share my screen because
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I'm not able to, I don't have that. It's saying that the host didn't allow me to do that. So what I was getting ready to do was I was gonna pull up my goals and say that last year, one of the challenges was I presented the goals. I know it's in the drive. But Jenny and Sharon are co-hosts, so they should be allowed to let you share your screen. I don't know how to do that. It has to be Dr. Cushing and I'm not sure. He might've stepped away. But essentially what I wanted to do was I wanted to show my goals. Just one second, please. Dr. Cushing said, I'm now able to. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So in the past, when I would present my goals, I presented the goals and then I would provide evidence. But at that point in time, we were using the entire DESI instrument, which is massive. And there are a significant number of indicators. So for this year, now, even though we did it in reverse order, but moving forward now, it will be more logical because we came down to the agreed upon, I believe, eight indicators. And what the indicators are, I will look at what the goals were the district improvement goal, the student learning goal, and the professional practice goal, and I will align these goals. to the indicators that you the committee said these are the indicators you want to focus on. So, where you specifically said about student feedback, and at this point in time I don't have a way of getting student instructional feedback I'd have to go back and really look at that in a a specific way to see how could I gather this, that might be an indicator where I'm able to say I wasn't able to provide evidence. And so you, the committee, would give me feedback saying this is an area where we want you to provide greater evidence moving forward, but I will, you know, take the goals and look at what were the key actions that were actually able to be accomplished, which I had hoped to have accomplished over the course of this year, and then what were the proposed outcomes, and I would be able to, you know, provide some data supporting some of the proposed outcomes, and then keeping in mind the specific indicators that the committee selected to see how much of that I can align, like dovetail together to say these fall under 1B, this falls under 1E, 2, and possibly just take this document and put the indicators and provide the evidence for you, the committee, to be able to look at and say, OK, this is what's happening district-wide. You know, across the district. So, And right now where there are rounds taking place right now, but they are content-based rounds right now, those specific rounds are taking place with Ms. Galusi right now in the department heads, especially where we have had so much curriculum that's being revised and we're switching it over. But again, those would be pieces of evidence that I would also be able to share with the committee. So, I just wanted to quickly show that when I did do the goals and submitted them that I did list actions that we wanted to the key actions that we hope to accomplish this year, and then what those outcomes could look like. what's the SMART goal of saying like, what do we wanna see with our data for this particular year? So I will also report back on the status of these goals. And then again, you, the committee, now that we have the agreed upon indicators, you'll be able to give me feedback based on that. So I hope that that helps in terms of evidence that I'll be gathering and presenting to the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can definitely provide a greater narrative because some of the. I think where some of the data is presented over the course of the year through school committee meetings and different things like certain pieces of the indicators, it was like, oh yeah, this is this indicator. So I can definitely provide greater narrative and also where it can happen. clearly call out what the indicator is now that I know the specific indicators, which it was trying to cover everything. Now that there's greater specificity, that's gonna help to be able to say like in this area, this is what was done or it wasn't done, due to different reasons.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If we could, please let us begin with a moment of silence for all those affected by the horrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The earthquake was a powerful magnitude of 7.8 and was one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years. As a Haitian American, I know firsthand the devastation of an awful earthquake. As many members of friends and families are still recovering from the deadly earthquake that took place in 2010, which registered a magnitude of 7.0. Can you please rise for a moment of silence for our friends and neighbors.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you again. I have a lot of good news to share and wonderful things are happening in Metro Public Schools. And I want us just to be able to focus on some wonderful things. First off, Saturday, which I believe was the coldest day in 57 years or so, our winter color guard placed first in their division, taking home the New England Scholastic Band Association Trophy. So congratulations to the Winter Color Guard for a job phenomenally done. Very proud of you. Additionally, I want to recognize our Mustang Gymnastics Team, the Mustang Girls Indoor Track Team, and the Mustang Boys Hockey Team. They have all won the Winter GBL Championship. So congratulations to all of them as well. Also on a kindergarten note, our first building bridges to kindergarten event took place on January 18 and assistant superintendent Lucy, Megan for the carrier director of family and community engagement and kindergarten teacher. They hosted a packed library, it was a packed house. It was the most that I've ever seen in my five years they just kept coming and coming, and we had to keep pulling out more chairs, and I believe we ended up with over 60. Members of parents and caregivers who came and attended that first kindergarten open house which is absolutely wonderful. I do want people to know that we have another building bridges to kindergarten open house, which is going to take place on Tuesday, February 28, that open house will be taking place by zoom from 630 to 730pm. and the Zoom link will be posted to the school website. Our final Building Bridges to Kindergarten open house will be an in-person event on Thursday, March 30th at 6.30 p.m. And when we have the open houses, the Parent Information Center also stays open later so that parents can register in the evening. I would like to recognize our Project 351 ambassadors, the class of 2023. These students were selected to represent their middle schools. And on Saturday, January 14th, Project 351's 13th annual lunch and service day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King took place. Eighth graders, Hannah Brauch, the daughter of assistant principal, Mr. Brauch, at the high school, from the McGlynn Middle School, and Aviva Diaz from the Andrews Middle School. They represented Medford at the statewide service day. They worked on a project that benefits cradles to crayons. The project 351 seeks to build knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead the change they wish to see in our world. It was the first time in three years the program got to meet in person. The students began the day with our new governor, Mary Healy, who expressed her support for this program. We are proud of Hannah and Aviva for their exemplary service and for their values of kindness, compassion, gratitude, and gratitude as they serve as ambassadors for the school year. Also, I'd like to recognize six of our Medford High School art students who were selected for Scholastic Art Awards. The students who received honorable mentions include Stella Heinig for her ceramics and community service submission, Dakota Mahoney for her drained submission, Ethan Sowell for his materialism submission, and Liz Shrestha for the Halloween submission. Abigail Sloan received the Silver Key Award for her Follow the Yellow Brick Road submission. And William Verhagen received the Gold Key and American Visions Award for a Glance Back submission. Special thanks to our art teachers, Ms. Van Wicken and Mr. Smith. Congratulations to these students. What a great accomplishment. I also wanna recognize one of our students, Matteo Davida, a senior at Medford High School, who currently takes AP Italian with Dr. Bebeau. He won an Honorable Mention Award for the Italian News Click for his submission, written in Italian, La Fenice. He is one of four students honored in the creative writing competition sponsored by the Harvard-based Italian language website. Matteo received his award at a ceremony at the Italian Consulate in Boston. Special thanks to Dr. Bobbo, Director of World Languages, and congratulations to Matteo. Fabulous job. Also, CCSR community service students are currently accepting gently worn shoes for the nonprofit organization, Soles for Souls, whose goal is to provide to those in a crisis situation, the very basics, such as shoes. There is a collection box inside the doors of Medford High School's main entrance for any donations. Also, to all of our parents and caregivers, I want to let you know that the extra COVID Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, created during the pandemic to help families buy food, will end on March 2nd per the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So the Mass Department of Transitional Assistance has launched a new website mass.gov extra covid snap to help residents plan for the end of these temporary federal benefits. I also wanna just encourage our middle and high school students who love writing that we have a wonderful poetry contest taking place by Medford's own poet laureate, Mr. Terry Carter. You can go to the website and you can get submission details there and all submissions need to be received by March 15th and all genres of poetry will be accepted. Just a few upcoming events that are coming up. This coming Wednesday, February 8th is early release. Our middle school PTOs are welcoming students to skate at the La Conte Rink from 1230 to 2 p.m. The PTOs will be selling pizza and snacks for purchase. Also on Wednesday, February 8th, CPAC will be presenting IEP writing strategies and upcoming IEP format changes with Mr. Alan Bloom from 6 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. This coming Friday, February 10th, MFM, Medford Family Network, will be hosting Friday Night with Knuckle Bones at the high school in the lobby from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. Also this coming Saturday, the Medford Family Network is hosting their Valentine Fest and Ice Cream Social. It normally takes place at the McGlynn School in the cafeteria. Reservations must be made. So the number is 781-393-2106. And the event runs from three to six p.m. Since we will not be meeting until after February break, I wish all of you on February 14th a happy Valentine's Day. On Friday, February 17th, at the Medford High School, Medford High School and the vocational school together, there will be the Black History Celebration in the gym at 1.30 p.m. And Mayor Longo-Curran and myself will be attending on Friday, February 17th. And for February vacation, it begins on Monday, February 20th, President's Day. It runs the whole week until Friday the 24th. School resumes on Monday, February 27th. We also have our next school committee scheduled for that day. Thank you. Have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening. Based on our January 9th meeting, where there was a recommendation from the committee to create a form where incidents could be documented. I shared with you a draft document It's in your packets. I wanted to just share some key pieces of information. During the time that we created this forum, senior leadership met, we met also with principals, and I had the opportunity to meet with principals at all levels, and the assistant principals as well at the high school. I had the opportunity to meet with them. And through the rich discourse, it was really discussed at that point in time, that the recommendation for the incident form would really be used with grades nine through 12, that that's where it would be most appropriate. And so we created the draft form, but from the time of this original report being created back in January and now, we have been able to access or increase access to our school brains portal. And so on this incident form, where it had a limited number of areas, Now on School Brains at the high school level, if a referral is written for a student and the parents are notified by the teacher or the staff person of record, parents and students now have access to the referral portal that is a part of School Brains. So there are multiple categories, you know, over 50 categories. I mean, the mayor is next to me, so she's able to see, but I'm gonna just, what is available online as the referrals are being generated, it's, It's extensive, whether it's challenges on the bus, attendance, inappropriate language, truancy, lack of cooperation. There are cutting class, which is documented in this referral process, disruptive behavior, distribution of substances, or illegal drugs, failure to identify self, failure to report to Saturday detention, if there were to be the sale of tobacco, if there were any kind of smoking materials, it's very expansive what's actually available in the actual portal. And so the staff person of record who is creating the referral goes in and clicks on the boxes, the respective boxes. And then once they click on the boxes, they're able to add comments. So when they reach out to the family, both the student and the parent are able to go in and say, there was a referral created. And it clearly shows once the staff person clicks on the indicator, It has a blue checkmark, and it identifies exactly what took place. So, we were able to get access to this portion which before we did not have access to that so this is a new. It's new and the students report cards, the students that were in the portal, they are now seeing their referrals. And so it's clearly spelled out. And so both the student can see what was documented as a referral and the parent can see it as well, because the parent view is the same as the student view.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the talking points activity has increased significantly. So the staff person of record is sending a communication to the parent stating that your child did not show up for mathematics today, or your child missed Johnny missed science period two. And we know that Johnny's in school and then he attends the rest of the day so they will see the talking points message, and the parents are now back on talking points. But now that we were able to not only will they get the talking points notification but when they go to the portal, they can actually see exactly what the infractions were that are checked off, and the staff person who is reporting the student. they get to see a referral was entered in what it was that took place.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with School Brains, again, at the secondary level, at the high school level grades, there was definitely active participation from parents at the high school level. Midterms and other key communications happened through the School Brains portal. And now seeing When I actually was able to see the actual list of, you know, it's probably about 90 different indicators. The fact that it's already housed in one place so you could see. One of the reasons with adding separate documentation like this. First, it's, it's not going to be able to capture like 90, almost 90 different indicators that I'm looking at. But secondly, In School Brains, not only does it let you know, okay, this happened on February 6th, but if there's more than one referral made, it keeps track of all of that. So you actually have in one spot from the start of the school year throughout, you can go and click and count and say, oh, There were 15 referrals for, you know, inappropriate behavior or cutting class. It's all in one place. And you can see who the different staff people are. So having it within the portal, you're able to keep the data in one place and parents are now able to see who's sending it, you know, they would have received a talking points or a phone call depending on what, you know, what transpired from a staff person, a guidance Councilor, an assistant principal, a principal, reaching out to them to say this, you know, this is what ended up taking place. And they can also now go into the portal and see what the actual referral was about and what was, you know, the time of day, who was the instructor who sent it. So this is now, a new ability that we did not have before. And so I actually, now that it's working, and the students are realizing, like, this is being documented, they can actually see what the referral is for, it's also great with accountability. When you're working with the students and saying, well, this happened on this particular day, and now this is the third event or the fourth event, you're able to just Yes, you're able to better monitor you're able to keep parents up to speed, and parents are able to see, oh, you know, there was a computer violation, or, you know, you know, you were smoking today, or you were attempting to do something that you shouldn't have done and parents are now able to see what the infraction was and support the school in meeting out discipline.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's not for K through, was it middle school or was that elementary school?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I do know at the when I met with the principals, especially at the elementary level, they were all together. Some of the schools use a slightly different form, but they definitely focus on communicating with parents at the elementary level, because it really should be what's appropriate if it's, you know, a younger child, letting the parent know immediately this is what happened. This is, you know how we're handling it and trying to handle it at an appropriate level in this situation. Yes, there are suspensions that do take place. Not often at the elementary level, but sometimes there are some extreme behaviors that, you know, there needs to be a serious consequence. But that is like the exception and not the norm. Usually, if it's something at that level. You know the parents would receive a phone call the parents may come in for a meeting to speak with the administrator or speak with the teacher to say like this is what the appropriate the inappropriate behavior was and this is our expectation. Next go around. So, you know, you said you received a form about you know. Maybe, you know, excited behavior in phys ed, and then as a mom you were able just to support the district and say like I expect perfect behavior. When you, you know, travel to special specialists or wherever it is. And so that's the hope of definitely trying to have. communication and collaboration, supporting one another in this process. I think at the high school level, where we're dealing with young adults, and in dealing with young adults who are going to be going out into the real world, that what's happening right now, reaching out to the parents through talking points, completing the referral, and the administrators following up on, if it's a staff person, the administrator following up with the parent as well to say this is being addressed, but it's clearly being documented, that it's what is developmentally appropriate. At the middle school level, Again, I do feel that communication with the parents is critically important. And again, if the behavior is truly a behavior that's unacceptable, then there will be consequences for that behavior. But a lot of the behaviors that are being addressed, the administrators and or teachers or staff work in collaboration with the parents.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, with the training I would actually I'm going to ask for assistance with tenant Susan glues and Dr Christian if they would wouldn't mind coming up to speak specifically to. how things look differently at the elementary level. In terms of training, I would even ask maybe member Rousseau or member Mustone, do you recall having a special training with school brains? I think some of it's intuitive. I know we have the translators available and Talking Points does translate. But I'm not sure if there's a formalized training so I'm deferring to you guys to also chime in.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm not sure. I just know that they were able to get access on the referral portion to get it opened. I wasn't on that back end piece to say, how could you let families see referrals that were in the system? And that aspect got opened or unlocked. I'm not sure of the specifics of how it happened.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That was in addition to what was already there. That was an additional form that was created. So the other forms that are already at the high school, those ones would continue to be in use, and that was in addition to it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This was just a draft based on what had been said and trying to bring the administrators together to see what else could be created. But then, again, now that we gained the additional access, it was like, This actually gives more information than what the form could ever give. So, I am fully in support of not using that additional time at all and continuing with the talking points. Now that the referral portal is open and parents can actually see, oh, you know, This happened, I received a message, I looked in, I saw it, and the student can actually see it. So they could never see it before. So I actually feel like this is eye-opening for them as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It just, I want to say, is it a week, Dr. Cushing or Ms. Galusi? I don't know. I think it's been about a week. It's fairly recent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: have all these little tiny boxes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say the training for families to learn how to use the talking points. Thank you, school brains.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I was thinking definitely by March in order to get the training created, whether it's gonna be a video, I'm not sure if it would be, could it be on Zoom and then have it on video or do it like a webinar and then send it out so that everyone knows this is what it looks like with the screenshots and so that they know where to click and again, If you're using a telephone, it's gonna look differently than if you're on a computer, but to at least highlight those key areas for families to be able to look at. So I'm thinking like March, we should be able to have families, the training completed, get families trained, and in March as well, have a working group going. So by the end of March, to be able to report out some information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think I had the wrong mic. It's not working. Okay. I apologize. What I was just sharing with the committee was that goals can be multi-year goals and that when I originally came on board, I had a multi-year goal looking at elementary mathematics at that point in time, that was a decision, was a data informed decision based on where we were performing. So if the committee were to select a goal that could expand over multiple years, we could just put in benchmarks to say at this point in time, this is what we would like to see. And then, you know, year two, this is you know, what else we would like to see. So there are a lot of options of multi year goals. And even if the superintendent's evaluation timeline had to shift to be aligned with the school committees, that that's an option as well, that it doesn't have to be September to June, it could be January to November 30th or January to December and say, this is what happened during the calendar year. So there is a lot of, I think, flexibility available, but I think the fact that you as a committee are going through this exercise to think about your own goals and how they align to the superintendent's goals, even if they change and they evolve, and how they align to the district's goals, that that is a step in the right direction. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was going to say the version that I emailed to the committee is November 2022. So that there was a 2019 and then Desi updated it. And so I'm not sure if that's the same page member member McLaughlin is on right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if I don't see you raising your hands, anybody, please just... I just was going to comment that I felt both of those indicators are aligned with the work that's taking place, the work that we're doing. So I do I do feel that that's there, and we'll probably be able to provide additional data, some assessment data for our early literacy assessments, but we're doing that. So indicators B and E, I'm in agreement with those two indicators.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I feel, you know, I feel significantly relieved knowing that we're identifying the specific indicators, which are fairly closely aligned to the goals, so that I think this is going to make it more manageable. And I think you said right now we're up to nine I feel like that's probably a good amount and that I will continue to gather and compile evidence in those areas, you know, to the best of my ability. But I think, you know, when you're looking at every single indicator, it's just too much, it's too much content to be able to cover everything and try to cover it well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it's good just to have a clear plan and to know what the expectations are. So I know we didn't get into the specifics of the indicators, but now that I know the areas to focus on, I'll focus on providing evidence for those key indicators and try to get feedback along the way between now and the end of the school year to see if I'm moving in the right direction.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yep.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to weigh in when member Graham you started sharing about potentially having a inclusive art experience, and right now we are working on, I talked about it last week in last week's memo the mosaic. And this past Wednesday, students went with our coordinator of finance, Suzanne Fee, and they're gonna do a middle school day and they're going to do a high school day as well. And so some of those mosaics she shared with me for families that weren't able to come to the high school to work during that timeframe, they are going to provide some opportunities for additional pieces of the mosaics to go to the respective schools. So by the time this piece of art is completed, students from all of the schools will have had an opportunity to at least, maybe not every single student, but students will have had an opportunity to have participated in this beautiful mosaic that's going to be created. And so as you were talking about the different ways to include the community, and not thinking about cost per se, exception of the arts materials, I was thinking that that could be another beautiful way to beautify the space and have it be inclusive of the students and members of the community and you know, art is beautiful. Maybe it could be something where the art is interchangeable, you know, twice a year or something like that. They could switch it up for the seasons. And so I'm thinking that there could definitely be a lot of creative ways to have that community footprint and have it beautify the space through the arts. So I just wanted to share that as a possible suggestion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think you should probably have four levels. You should just include a platinum level because you never know. You may have a extra generous person who wants to give at that level and If people are willing to do that to support the schools, to support the community, I think we should recognize them. I don't know what the monetary amounts would be, if it would be like 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, and 100,000 plus or something. I don't know how you'd want to do that. If people are willing to be generous, they could be spending the money on a trip around the world or something else. If they're willing to give back to the community, I, I, I, I feel strongly that we should be able to, um, acknowledge them. And, um, you know, we may end up with so much that there's extra money to, to go towards another playground. I mean, wouldn't that be wonderful. And put that in that, you know, if we reach whatever the goal is, whatever the magic number is that, um, people wanna get to, if we reach that number, then say, you know what, let's tackle the next playground that's in desperate need of an upgrade or something like that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, everyone. Sac passe! Sac passe! Sakpase. That's good. Sakpase means it's good. What's happening? How's it going? Napule, even though if you take it literally, It says like it's burning, but you don't really use it literally that way. It's just, it's good. So it's good to hear everyone knowing that phrase. I'm so excited to be here, always to come before you. As I begin my remarks today, I want to say thank you again to the BSU. I want to thank all, Ms. Andrea Pierre-Paul, Ms. Walker, Charose Walker. I know Ms. A, Ms. Jackson. I'm not sure of all of the other advisors that helped, but thank you for coordinating today's event and just giving us an opportunity to share with the larger community about the Haitian culture. And so, as I said, I'm going to share very, very brief remarks, and then I have a special citation from the mayor from the city of Medford to share because she was not able to be with us today. Today, I am going to do something a little bit different than what I've done in the past. This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to be at the city of Medford Haitian Flag Day celebration as well. And I shared a few key proverbs. And I want to share a few of them with you here as well. Because within the Haitian culture, proverbs are used a lot. And for my staff and people that I work with, a lot of times when I share, I give visual images. And I do feel it's because of my culture and how I was raised that usually there is either a proverb or a visual image to connect to something that you're trying to say. So as you can see, the wonderful red and blue today represents the flag. And on the flag, the statement on the flag says, L'union fait la force, which means our unity, our strength is being in unity or being in accord. So that is a guiding principle of Haitians. And as superintendent, there are many times when I have spoken in the past, I've said we are one Medford, one district, because we are stronger together than we are apart, and you can take that on all levels. So together we stand strong, but divided we will fall. Medford and Haiti are similar in that we have diverse and historic populations. Many of us in the room have different skin color tones. We practice different religions. We speak different languages. We have different traditions. But together, we are a blend of cultures, much like our mascot here, the Mustang horse. I've said many times that mustangs come in a variety of colors. Some have patches, some have spots, and some have stripes. They are intelligent, peaceful horses who are hard workers and live in herds led by a female. We are all Mustangs, no matter our color, heritage, or creed. And our Mustangs happen to be led by a female, me. As we come together today to celebrate, I want to share a quote with you from Maya Angelou. She said, we all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color. I say that to you because I feel it's symbolic of Medford. No matter what color you are, what creed you are, we are stronger together and everyone has equal value. So I want to just share a few proverbs with you. One is this. It's three words. If you can repeat after me, I'd greatly appreciate it. The first word is shita. Pa. Bai. Shita, pa, bai. Excellent. A plus for all of you. A plus. What does that mean? It means sitting doesn't yield. What it means is if you're sitting down, you're not able to produce. So it's an encouraging proverb that tells you get up, get out there, do what you need to do. Shita pabai. Another proverb I want to just share with you, which is a short proverb, Tutmunsemun. It's four words. Tut. Mun. Se. Mun. People are people. It means we love one another. We care for one another. We are all people. Everyone has equal value. Tutmunsemun. One more time. Tutmunsemun. Wonderful. I just want to say I am so proud and grateful for this opportunity to stand before all of you and share a little bit of my culture, which all of these wonderful students are sharing with you as well. And I thank you for that. I want to share the proclamation from the city of Medford from Mayor Brianna Lungo-Kurd. Haitian American Heritage Month. Whereas Haitian American Heritage Month is a jubilant celebration in the United States, embracing Haitian heritage and culture, And whereas first celebrated in Boston, Massachusetts in 1988, Haitian American Heritage Month is now observed nationwide in the month of May from Florida to Massachusetts with parades, festivals, and school activities. And, whereas, Haitian American Heritage Month salutes Haitian and Haitian American communities who exhibit appreciation for their culture and heritage that has immeasurably enriched the lives of the people of Medford, our state and our nation. And, whereas, As educators, authors, community leaders, activists, athletes, artists, musicians, and politicians, Haitian Americans have made their mark in every facet of society and have contributed to the betterment and diversity of our city, state, and nation. And whereas May 18th is Haitian Flag Day, in Haiti, which celebrates the culture and heritage of the Haitian flag, which honors their forefathers and replenishes their resolve for Haiti's future. And whereas the city of Medford and the United States of America have thrived as a melding of immigrants, united by common values and the promise of a better tomorrow, and whereas there is a strong connection between Haitians and Medford's community and I encourage all of our residents to honor this observance now therefore I Breonna Lungo-Koehn, Mayor of the City of Medford, do hereby proclaim the month of May as Haitian American Heritage Month, signed with the seal of Medford by our Mayor, Mayor Breonna Lungo-Koehn. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, everyone. I can't resist sometimes, so I just want to give a shout out right now to my seniors. So seniors! June 7th will be here sooner than you can think. But I'm so happy to be here to celebrate with all of you, Black History Month celebration. I want to give a great shout out to our PSU advisors, to Ms. Faye and Ms. Jackson. Please wave so everyone can see you and Ms. Jackson. So in preparation for today's remarks, the leadership and guidance that we've been giving to the students all along. And I know that as we kind of talked about the theme of this year being about change agents, I wanted to take a few minutes to actually just share with you who some of the great change agents are from Medford. We heard from our mayor, She gave us the names of some change agents, but I think that this is really important because these were normal people who ended up doing extraordinary things and they became change agents for the world. So many times I've spoken to you in Medford, in particular West Medford, It's one of the oldest African American communities in the entire United States of America. And that community was established in the early 1800s just after slavery. I talked about in the past about the Underground Railroad and the wonderful abolitionists that were here in Medford, George Stearns, and Lydia Marie Child, where people know her for her famous poem, Over the River and Through the Woods, but she wrote a book called An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans. She was an abolitionist. But I also want to tell you about some change agents of African descent that came through Medford and made an impact not only in Medford, but beyond. I'm going to talk a little bit right now about Prince Hall. He was born in Barbados. And I know we have students here that are of Asian descent. When people were wearing their flags on a Wednesday, I talked to one of our students. He was born in 1735, but he came to Boston at the age of 17 and he settled in Medford at the age of 25. What he ended up doing, he bought real estate and he ended up joining the Continental Army. What I can say to you about Prince Hall, he served as a change agent because he started the Freemasons and he used his status to help liberate slaves. So Bedford was part of his story, and his story was part of freeing slaves. If you go into Boston, in a section called Roxbury, Grove Hall in particular, it's a predominantly African-American community in Roxbury. There is a hair school there called Lyell In School of Beauty Culture. Elizabeth Oliver Newton started her business in Medford and from Medford she was the first African American person to be able to open a hair school for African Americans because at that point in time, they weren't accepted. And she was an hairstylist. So she's just someone that I wanted to just highlight as someone who came through Medford but ended up creating an establishment that supported African Americans and or Afro-Caribbeans to do something that they wanted to do when it wasn't accepted. And if you're in the Brokaw area, between Bowling Alley and Lawrence Street, her hair school is still there. I also want to just, because you know, I may have said to you I grew up in West Medford, if you ever go by the fire station in West Medford, Mr. Charles Booker, He was the first African-American firefighter in the city of Medford. Mr. Alonzo Fields. He was the chief usher. He served five presidents of the White House. Then there was also a change agent, Mr. Ansel Alexander, known as Bud Colbright, Jr. He was an orphan, and the city of Medford reunited him with his mother and siblings. He went on to serve in World War II, and he was so appreciative of what the city of Medford did. As an adult, in 2003, he donated $100,000 to bring new play equipment to the Duggar Park community because that was where he grew up. So as I think about change agents and people who make a difference in the world, I think about all of those people who make a difference who have come through Medford. So I want you to know that Medford has a rich history. All of you who are in here are part of Medford's history. I am part of Medford's history, and so are you. I encourage you to know that just because I mentioned a few change agents, I want all of you to know that you can be change agents of tomorrow as well. So I want to close with a quote from Dr. Rae Jameson. She was the first African-American astronaut to fly on a space shuttle. She once said, by other people's limited imaginations. Dr. Jameson speaks the truth. And I want to thank you, Mustangs. Happy Black History Month to you all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, everyone. Let's try that again. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. OK. We're here for this wonderful, auspicious event today. We have so many phenomenal women on the stage. I'm not going to steal the thunder, because I know we have many students that have practiced and are prepared to read their opening remarks. I do want to say a special thank you to Ms. Walker and to Ms. Evangelista for all of their coordination efforts in getting this special event off today. I want to say I'm very happy to be part of this panel and to be able to celebrate the positive contributions of women. I thank all of our special guests, but I also thank you, the audience. We've received wonderful questions, and we look forward to hearing from all of you, staff and students, and anyone else who's here. I want to just say thank you for supporting us. And just in true style, if I say Medford, you say Mustangs. Medford? Mustangs! Medford? Medford. All right, good job. Thank you. I would like to just invite our mayor up, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, who's part of the panel today, and she also has a few opening remarks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. And so we are ready for our student introductions of invited guests.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, one piece of advice that I would give to myself if I could rewind the clock back would be to have taken even greater advantage of all the different opportunities that were before me starting in high school. I do wish that I had played more sports. I was in drama, I was reading, I was more kind of on the academic side. But I do wish that I had pushed myself in other areas just to be exposed to other people. Because the more that you're exposed to, the more well-rounded you are, and the better it is for you in the end to be able to interact with all different kinds of people. So that's what I would say. Take advantage of all of the opportunities that are here, because you don't get a redo of high school. So take advantage of it. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. It is my hope that everyone had the opportunity to spend quality time with their family and friends over the holiday break. We at the Medford Public Schools have been diligently working to bring forth a plan for a new year that provides a renewed sense of safety and a means to highlight the many accomplishments and opportunities provided at Medford High School. Often a tragic situation takes the focus away on what is good. And I feel compelled to state that the Medford Public Schools, in particular Medford High School, has a tremendous amount of good going on daily. As I had stated prior to school break, so many of our students were actively involved in helping others to have a nice holiday season. The Friday before the holiday break, students at Medford High School were decorating gingerbread cookies, playing holiday carol music with their guitars. The senior class of 2023 enjoyed their senior breakfast, complete with their pajamas on. There was a bagpiper strolling in the hallways at the end of the day to bid farewell to one of our teachers. and there were plenty of blow-up characters in the hallways. Seeing all of these things, it definitely made my heart sing that our high school students were able to leave for vacation on a positive note. Our teachers, working with central administration, wanted all of the students to leave for the holiday break with a positive experience, and they truly went above and beyond to make that happen. I thank them all. While it doesn't wash away what has happened, it does allow me to focus on a quote by author Melanie Beatty. The new year stands before us like a chapter in a book waiting to be written. As a community, we must come together in order to write that new chapter. I know that the mayor, the school committee, central administration, our counseling and behavioral health office staff, along with teachers, administrators, and the Medford Police Department had not stopped over the holiday break. Our school community can only achieve peace and greatness if we do so collaboratively. As I announced last Thursday, we produced our 10 point action plan for safety, transparency and accountability at the high school. I plan to discuss that plan more in depth later this evening. However, let me state once again, that our top priority has always been to provide a safe and secure learning environment for all our students and staff. As Mustangs, we know a positive school culture is paramount to providing quality and supportive education. This is our time to move forward together with attitudes and knowledge to help our students reach their academic and personal potentials. Our students, staff, and families require nothing less. On that, I would like to share an important information note. that the Massachusetts Behavioral Health, the helpline is now available, it's live. I wanna thank member McLaughlin for bringing this to our attention. Whether there is a crisis or you are unsure where to turn, Now there is a number that you are able to call or text, and that number is 833-773-2445. Again, that number is 833-773-2445. 773-2445. Additionally, please note that there are 25 designated community behavioral health centers across the state, which can be accessed regardless of your insurance. These centers can be utilized for all behavioral health evaluation and treatment. The center that will assist Medford residents is located at Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street. And their number is 833-222-2030. Again, the number is 833-222-2030. And if people want to look and do research for additional information, you can go to mass.gov slash community behavioral health centers. I'd like to transition and just share a few key updates of things that will be going on in the district this coming week and next week. This week on January 11th, our rec department will be inviting all students with the half day to skate at La Conte Ice Skating Rink for free until two o'clock in the afternoon. Skates are available to rent for $5. So if families are looking for something to do with their students, that is available and we thank the Medford rec department for that. Also, on January 11 CPAC will be hosting their monthly meeting featuring Tom Santacondro on making transition documents easy. That's a Zoom meeting. It's from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11. This Friday, Medford Family Network will be hosting Family Fun Night at the high school gymnasium with knuckle bones and that's going to be from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. at Tufts University on January 15. It's the fifth annual Tufts Classic Cup for both Somerville and Medford High School basketball teams. It's taking place at Cousins Gym. The boys will play at noon, and the girls will follow at 1.30pm. Admission is free, and Tufts is requesting if you are able to donate a non-perishable food item, which will be donated to the Mystic Community Market in Medford and Project Soup in Somerville. Again, donations can be canned food, household cleaning items, feminine hygiene products, baby diapers, and toiletries. On January 16th, there is no school in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration will take place at the West Medford Community Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And that's in partnership with the city of Medford, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and the Royal House and Slave Quarters. All are welcome on January 16 at the West Medford Community Center from 11am to 1pm. Also, on January 18, all new families or families that are looking to find out information about kindergarten building bridges to kindergarten, we will be hosting. an in-person information session for parents, guardians, and caregivers at the Medford High School Library from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m., and it will be facilitated by Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Galusi and our Director of Family, Community, and Engagement, Megan Fidler-Carey, and one of our kindergarten teachers, Ms. Maria Michelli. There will be two other opportunities for families, Tuesday, February 28th. Our second session of Building Bridges to Kindergarten will be available by Zoom. And again, Thursday, March 30th, that will be in person at Medford High School Library. Also, a PIC registration office parent information center will be open late until 6.30pm on those days, so parents can get information and register at the same exact time. On January 18, it is also our elementary winter concert, so please come out, it's at 7pm in the Karen theater. Come out and listen to our elementary musicians, it's a great fun to be a great event, and lots of fun for all. Lastly, in closing, I just want to recognize that prior to our next meeting. the Lunar New Year will begin. It starts on January 22nd and it lasts for seven days. It is the year of the rabbit and the rabbit embodies the yin or the passive principle of the universe, which means the new year will bring with it the hope that people will be able to lead a more relaxed and balanced life. I would like to wish our Asian families who celebrate Lunar New Year, a happy and healthy Lunar New Year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening again. So this evening, I wanted to share with the committee the key steps that we have taken at Medford High School. The first piece being, this is a black and white version, but this is an updated student guide to the school safety procedures that we have at Medford High School. And so, many of the in light of what ended up transpiring we realized that there were a lot of things that we could do in the immediate to ensure that the school would get right back on track and instill a greater sense of security and safety for all, which is what our primary goal was. I'm going to start with the 10 point action plan, which highlights some of the key initiatives that we did as a district from December through where we are right now with the start of the school year. The first step, and this was in collaboration with the Medford Police Department and working closely with Chief Buckley. We were able to add have an additional school resource officer assigned to the high school. So we now have two full time school resource officers based at Medford High School, providing support and You know, again, right now we have one male and one female school resource officer and Chief Buckley does have a few other officers that have been changed, but at any given point in time we will have two officers. So, a few others have been trained and we may. rotate some of them as time goes on, but we will always have to school resource or school resource officers assigned to the building. So, I was very pleased we were able to work on that over the break, and with our return to school on January 3. Since then, we have had two assigned and Ms. Julia Pottier is our second school resource officer and Mr. Conway has been our school resource officer as well this year. One of the second areas where we made significant changes were related to the bathroom occupancy. At the time of the incident that took place. There was definitely an incredibly large number of students that were in the restroom. I still ask myself how did they fit in there, but there were a significant amount of students that were in the restroom. So one of the things that we did immediately was to look at the structure of the high school, identify the most frequently used restrooms that are there, and to have bathroom monitors. There is signage on the bathrooms right now that say occupancy, no more than two students at a time allowed in the restrooms. I have been administrators, teachers, building monitors the rotation, everyone all hands on deck. And so, when we're doing the bathroom duty or monitoring the students are also self monitoring as they're coming in and coming out, you know students have said oh two people are already inside. I'll wait my turn. and they wait patiently and that bathroom occupancy putting a limit has really helped to make sure that people just use the facility go in and go out. And that has made truly a significant difference since we've been back. A third shift that has happened is in regards to identification. Now we are going to be having all of our students wear their school based IDs. And we know that some identification or school IDs may have been lost. So new IDs were ordered for all students again, and they should be coming in shortly. And we're waiting for the additional lanyards that will be coming in as well. So that is something I happen to have my ID on me, but all the students will be wearing their ID and they will have breakaway lanyards. So that's something that was important for us to be able to do. In terms of supervision in the hallways, In the cafeterias, and in the bathrooms, we do have increased presence increased duty schedules, where we look in staff and administration have filled in those blocks to continue to supervise and monitor what's happening in the hallways what's happening at check in. Students, when they come to school if they are tardy. They now report to the main office. So when they come in, they go up the front stairwell, and they go into the main office and that's where they're processed in the past. We used to welcome students at the individual house offices, C1, C2, and C3. Now we have it in one central location where all students are processed if they are tardy, and then they are able to go to whatever classroom they need, period, that they should be attending. Number four. Ensuring that all students and adults are aware of procedures related to bullying prevention reporting and investigation. student sessions, the first day, the following day when we had come back from school, we had student sessions by ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade. Also within the updated guide, we have active links regarding bullying and what steps And there's an appendix, and it says properly investigating claims of bullying. And they give the page numbers as well, pages 44 to 46, which refers to the hard copy handbook that all students received. In addition to that, step number five, the anonymous reporting system. On January 18th, next week, our students are going to be trained with the see something, say something anonymous reporting tip line, where students will be trained, they'll be able to download the app on their phones if they have it, and it will be anonymous, and they will be able to report something that they're aware of and that it will, again, if people felt intimidated or they were worried about it, this is now an additional measure where they will be able to report it. And it's not only something that could be happening, it could be evidence of seeing inappropriate graffiti or hate speech or other things that shouldn't be taking place. This, again, is an opportunity for students to be able to report anonymously administrators have been trained, and we are continuing to train teachers will receive training so they'll understand how this program works at when this coming Wednesday's professional development session, Michelle men will be rolling out that training. And then students will be trained next week. I believe it's the 18th on how that program works so we're looking forward to that anonymous reporting system. Again, as I mentioned earlier, number six we updated the student handbook. and gave an abbreviated 10 page section, which, you know, gives the key areas where they have either been shifts or adjustments made to the student handbook. For number seven, we're reminding all families and students about all of the counseling support services and in my remarks today. In addition to care solace. I did mention that there is now the Massachusetts behavioral helpline which is available for the entire school community as well. Bullet number eight, which will be part of my next presentation as well. We have hired and are working with the person of Mr. Michael Welch to support our high school administrative team. And really look at the high school in particular focusing on culture, climate, looking at discipline safety for the remainder of this year providing consult and guidance to us. We will be administering parent and student surveys through panorama education. This is, it's a confidential school culture and climate survey, and our high school students. My parents and guardians and some of our school committee members met this week with today's Monday so they met last week with Dr. Cushing, and we're giving additional suggestions in input for things that could possibly be added to the survey so we are continuing to take that feedback. Also to help the school with. emergency communications, we will be working, looking to hire a dedicated communications director who will be able to help us with comprehensive communications district wide. So those are the 10 key points of the action plan of things that have been taking place since school started last week and things that we're going to continue to work on. but I also want to just highlight a few things. First, you can see these are one of the measures that will be going out to students. This blue bathroom pass is for the restrooms and all teachers will be receiving these passes. So as students are in the hallway, if they're going to the restroom, they will have a pass, it will be labeled, with the classroom that they're coming from, so that they're able to go to the restroom, and it's easily identifiable, they can go and return to their classroom. If a student needs to leave the classroom for a different purpose. We are also instituting The red hall pass, and the red hall pass can be a student going to the nurse's office, going to visit a guidance Councilor, possibly, you know, they need to go to the library for something or the main office. So teachers will be given these passes, they will be labeled. And as students are traveling through the hallways, we'll be able to identify why they are in the hallway. Any adult who's monitoring at that point in time will be able to just know that we can give an account for where they are at. We also still have the eHaul Pass system, which is an online system where the students can go online, they can have the app on their phone, and they can use that system as well. and that can be checked by teachers or administrators who are on duty to look at the E-Haul Pass system. So since the event took place, we have had the information system meetings with students where we did discuss the key shifts that were taking place with the guide, but we also had several listening sessions and we are going to continue to provide students with opportunities to share their thoughts, and I can say that I had students come and visit me I met with students in my office I met with students in the library. The mayor also attended one of the listening sessions in the information session for students When school reopened, we also had listening sessions for staff. And we are just continuing to provide those opportunities. I had the opportunity to walk the halls one day last week with member Hays, who was able to kind of see the new system in place. And so I can positively report that there is a noted shift, a noted difference at the high school. The hallways are clear. The hallways are quiet. The bathrooms are orderly. We're not having overcrowding in the bathrooms at all. It's two students at a time. And the feedback has been fairly, fairly positive. One additional shift that I didn't talk about was students who were cutting class. One new thing that we did institute working with the teachers is if a student were to cut a class or not be present the teachers have been using one of our. special platforms called talking points, and they just send a little message to the parents to let them know that a student may not have been in the class. And for that reason, they're notifying them. So these are just some of the slight shifts that have taken place. But I can positively report that it has made a drastic difference just in this short period of time. And I look forward to seeing continued shifts and improvement as we go forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So one of the things that we did when we asked for support and help for all hands on deck. When we asked for the teachers to provide additional support we did include compensation because some of the teachers, it could have been a prep period. So where they would have been preparing during the day. They have volunteered. They've given up that particular period of prep, and they said okay I will be part of monitoring the hallway. So that was something which. bathroom monitoring in the hallway monitoring. That was something that we weren't really doing to that level we had teacher support during lunches, there were teachers who were providing additional lunch support and that's something that happened in the past, but asking for specific support with naming the different areas of the building. So it is something that we're, you know, when the incident initially took place, we really, it was everyone. There were a lot of, almost more adults in the hallway than there were students. As we are getting back into the routine, of going to class once the bell rings and passing period has happened. It hasn't been necessary to keep as large a number because we do have our building monitors that are already in the building. We have two SROs that are just walking and just making sure that things are peaceful. So we do have staff, we have five building monitors right now, and we are still looking to increase that. So at any given time, and we have seven administrators at the high school. So when you add all of those school-based administrators, and that's not talking about our other administrators that are central office-based. So from a sustainability perspective, I don't think we're going to need to have a large number of people You know, all hands on deck I think it's cool we're going to be able to get to a manageable number of staff, supporting the high school. So, you know, that that's what I would say so from a sustainability, we may end up saying we might need, you know, one or two other teachers or someone to help like in the lunches we did add an additional person, and the teachers have graciously, you know, signed up, and, you know, I've, we've been very appreciative of the support, and just looking at what we can do with the staff that we have, and having a reasonable number of additional staff at different points throughout the building.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Definitely. I fully am on board with that as we are continuing to just look at how the high school is, how it's functioning, what's working, what isn't working. And we're continuing to meet today, all of central office and all of the administrative team, including Janet Connors, who's with the building monitors. We sat down and we are meeting, we are talking, we are giving feedback to one another. and just saying okay what else can we do to approve. Mr. Michael Welch was there as well as you know, a listener and observer and just, if so it's it's a group effort. And really, Michelle man was there, looking at what we're doing and how we can continue to improve and tweak. So it is a work in progress but we are not going to shy away from asking for additional resources in key areas. during the budget season.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Schedule. Okay. Prior to the end of the school year. We'll do.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So when I went through the training, it's an online platform that is affiliated with the Sandy Hook, see something, say something. And they had us as administrators, after we got trained, they had us do like a mock training where you had to like log in and each person would report in. You'd have like a specialized identification for for administrators, and then it goes to like a reporting system where the information is taken in, and you can follow up with it without knowing So we're aware that some information will be timely, some information might be this happened, or the information may be a little more vague. So there is kind of like another layer, I should say, where there's analysis that takes place. So the students, when they get trained, they will download the app onto their telephones. So it is not... It's not something that you're writing like paper longhand, it's like a digital, it's essentially an app. And when you put the information in the app, it gets logged and then it gets sent to the key individuals who would need to be alerted that something was added to the platform. And depending on the level of seriousness, It will go to like a 911 level or something like that and I don't know if anyone Dr crushing if you want to jump in.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Do we have a date for the survey yet I, I feel like maybe that was already answered because you said you're taking a little extra time to try to buy the end of January, we would like to administer that Dr. Cushing is working with panorama, and the end of January first week or so of February, we really do.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, the listening sessions that I attended there, they were made up of like a diverse group of students so we had English learners we do want to, for those that have limited English, we do want to get some translated sessions for them to make sure that they're understanding all of what's being said. But we did have smaller group sessions, and we are going to continue to get feedback from the students. And the things that the students said, some of them were quite comical. They had interesting perspectives on the new rules that are coming down. They're aware of what's happening. But after they said those pieces, honestly, majority of students that I've spoken with and have asked them, you know, how do you feel? They all have talked about definitely feeling safer and feeling like the bathrooms, which used to be an area of, you know, large congregating, large groups of students. Now that there are only two students, they feel like that's kind of like a stress-free experience for them.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it is being recorded, it is being recorded notes are being taken on the guidance Councilors, Michelle men, the different Councilors who have been present for those as well they have been taking notes and just capturing like the key ideas key themes, some of the students keep, you know, they may be repeating, you know, the same thing over and over again. If that happens, they're not gonna record it over and over again, but it's just noted that this is something that they would like us to definitely pay attention to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I should make sure I'm not sure if the slide deck if we had posted that but I can definitely get the informational slide deck or make minor tweaks to it so that parents can also know who's serving in what capacity.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, yes, yes. I can definitely get that in a different format. So people will know these are additional resources that are available for the community. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So there, there is I what was coming to mind as you were talking. We do have students that have been identified for different reasons. Sometimes it is, they may be a family that has higher needs. potentially they could be homeless and we're making sure that they have additional supports. We also could have students that have, especially in light of students that are skipping class or cutting class, which is something that, you know, we were like, we need to put additional layers in because we kind of had given a little more leeway and we needed to say, no, no, no, no, we need to like, communicate with parents a lot earlier. So parents would just be in the know. So there are students that we're watching. We do have student support teams like an SST for students that for different reasons may start to tick different boxes. And we say, okay, we need to keep our eyes and start providing additional supports. But there are always a few students that could slip through the cracks one way or the other. And so that is why we really are like with the presentation that we had with what the training they're going to have next week. I think we're making a real concerted effort to say like help is available, we have a lot of. You know Councilors and adjustment Councilors and guidance Councilors and school psychologists we have them located in like suites at the high school on every single floor. So that was something that I think was clearly articulated so I didn't think to ask me showman. Has there been a significant uptick. But we do have a lot of supports available and. We want to continue to make sure that those supports are being accessed by the students so we can continue to kind of drill down in those areas.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We're going to do an after action review we have not done the formal after action review regarding that. I mean we we've met. And as I said like today's debrief has been more on where we are right now but for us to go back and go through all of that. And when we do that, not only as our team, I would like to have. chief and his members of his team that were there, members of fire team that were there, so that I could really hear from all stakeholders that were involved while we were in the middle of the crisis. So we have not set that up, but we do plan on doing that before this month is out. We're going to do it during the month of January.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When you're saying when they don't, can you, I didn't hear the first part of the question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so if a student forgets, there's not a consequence.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so we're gonna have a temporary pass for them, a temporary ID, and each student will be given a lanyard, a breakaway lanyard, and the breakaway lanyards will be colored based on the lunch that they have so that's another added security measure. So we'll have blue lanyards and gray lanyards and you'll be able to identify if the students in first lunch or second lunch, and for students that have schedules that change, they'll be given a different colored lanyard. So if a student were to just rush out the house and forget their ID, they would have a temporary ID for that day. But we are, we have ordered all new IDs for the students because we knew some of them may have thrown their original ones away or just misplaced them.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, there had to be like for offenses, like they were they were given a larger runway. And so it was on the fourth offense that. When the administration was notified, then the assistant principals would be following up with the students and so we've now had it if there's a cut on the first offense. The teacher can send a talking points message. to the parents to notify the parents that, you know, Johnny wasn't in math class today or we missed his presence, but there are some students that may be in the guidance office so there's there's a little gray area for some students but for those students were cutting class.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So now they're much much. There's greater scrutiny and sometimes parents might even end up getting two or three messages in a day if their child decided to not stay in class.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's by the period that we've been doing that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So depending on each student once it goes into the talking points it's notifying the fam notifying the parents, and then there will be opportunities for you know to have, we would still like to have conversations with the students about like why did you skip. You know humanities or why did you skip this particular class, so there will be some opportunities for that but then clearly. Once you hit a certain threshold there, there will be detention there Saturday detention there's like progressive discipline that will end up taking place but parents will just be notified. Earlier, so that parents can partner with us and say hey. I got a message today you were in math class I don't expect to get that message tomorrow. So that's what we're also hoping. And so, when I met with administrators today after school. One of the administrators said that they only received five. alerts today for students that weren't where they needed to be. So the improvement, it's like huge. It's really significant.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the talking point is just like the parent receives a text.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: in house, I want to say that it has to be logged into school brains. And I don't know, I might ask for that's correct. Once it's logged in school brains, then that's when the administrators both parks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: you know, they log it in school brains, and then that's when the administrator will get.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Once it's entered into school brains, the administrative all the administrators who work with the students can see that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, I notified the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents, and I spoke with me SS and I asked them for a recommendation of a retired superintendent or retired administrator, who would like to come and be a neutral consult to come and look at Medford High School, and look at our systems our structures and see where we are to help us. turn things around to get it to where we want it to be to ensure safety and stability at the high school because sometimes when you're, I keep thinking of the for breeze commercial that you can become nose blind to something, because you're just used to it. And so by bringing in someone who's neutral who has not been in the district, They can come in and say, oh, this is something that I see. This is a best practice. Keep maintaining this particular thing. And oh, this is something where you can make an adjustment. And it'll work much better or much more smoother. So that's what it was.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, he is. And he's highly recommended by Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. So that's where I got my consult. And I've been very pleased with his support thus far in helping us to give us feedback and help us to just gather our information and really put our best foot forward. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. I would like to ask Mr. retired superintendent Mr. Welch to come forward as well. Michael Welch, thank you. Mr. Welch comes highly recommended from MASS he has come to support us and conduct interviews observe provide feedback expertise. He has over brings over 15 years of principal experience at both Newton South and Framingham High School, large high schools within the Commonwealth, and just completed nine years as superintendent in dead and public schools. So Mr. Welch, would you like to speak please? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I was just jotting down some notes based on what you were saying. So I can definitely go back to the contract to make those revisions and then send it back to you, the committee, to see if I can highlight the areas so you can see if I captured what it was that you were saying properly. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can definitely do that. We can schedule it, it's, it's part of getting feedback from parents and the community and students so we will include all stakeholders mask question from the chair.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with the two months, we came up with the two month timeframe to see how long we thought it would take for Mr. Welch to be able to gather all the information that we had and we did not want it to be something that was going to be, you know, so spread out that you weren't able to do something actionable. So I definitely am willing to be flexible with the amount of time and extend the time and we could... Sorry to interrupt.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So that's the, that's the amount based on the consultant fee based on the two months of work. So that's how we got to that number saying how long did we think it would take. And we were, we would be using SR funding and. But again, I'm open. I would have gone longer, but I didn't wanna go overboard also knowing that we needed information, we needed the guidance. MASS, he was the first one that was recommended. So that's what helped to make the decision for me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in regards to this resolution, the fourth statement about within 24 hours of the incident, I would like to request that an amendment be made because not in all circumstances or in all situations, depending on the nature, of what has transpired, especially if it's something that could be involving police involvement. If it's an ongoing police investigation or situation that is. of a very difficult matter. So I would like to have that where you say within 24 hours of an incident, or when reasonably possible, because it is not always possible to receive an incident report within 24 hours. of something taking place. And that is also just to protect the district, and to, to make sure that we're not giving out information because we've also received incident reports with other students names listed. and sometimes inaccurate information has been given. And so we do need time to be able to also conduct investigations and make sure that what's being listed in the incident report is accurate information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think that would be reasonable because that would give us time to conduct an investigation. But in terms of trying to submit the incident reports the paper ones that you're talking about within a reasonable amount of time. Again, I just wanted to make sure that that caveat was there because. Some situations are something that it's very simple and then there are others that are deeply complicated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It will go to the administrators of the school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It will go to central staff, I believe. The principal, assistant principals,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Madam President and council members. I am Marisa Edward-Vincent, Superintendent of Schools. I am here this evening to first represent the district and to say that the incident that took place yesterday is not something that we want to see repeated ever again in the Medford Public Schools. I don't endorse or support any kind of weapons coming into the school that is not the Medford Public Schools that I am here representing. So what happened yesterday was a terrible, terrible incident. It was not something that we knew was going to happen in advance and working with communications to get that message out and trying to keep the entire community safe. Working collaboratively with the police, we had many, many police officers on campus yesterday, and there was a lot of investigating happening. There was a lot of information that as things were unfolding, we had to wait for more information to become available. So I know that we had two medical emergencies yesterday, one earlier in the morning, which was a separate event, and then the second event that took place. And that incident and all students that were involved a significant number of students. Again, looking at the video cameras and figuring out how many people were actually involved. It's a significant number. We had plenty of police support today. We also had fire support in the schools. Our fire personnel, additional administrators were at the high school, teachers, staff, everyone. It was all hands on deck working together to keep the community safe. We did have a higher absentee rate. It wasn't 400 students, but we were in the high 200s today. Normally we hover around 10% in terms of absence. I am here today to just say that we are doing everything that we can do to address the situation that happened based on the students that are involved. And because of the nature of yesterday's incident, The police again are continuing their investigation at MPD and we are working collaboratively because it is an ongoing investigation. And again, it was a significant number of students that were involved, others that were just bystanders. And so that's the reason why there's been limited information because it's still an active, very active situation. I do also want to report that we did have the opportunity speak with the family today and with the student on campus. And we are continuing to pray for his speedy recovery, but we are in communication and we are working collaboratively with the family as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is a vocational student in one of our programs.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So again, that action was surprising to everyone based on some of what's been shown on some of the video footage. We're not sure. There were comments about other interactions happening at other times. Since it is an active investigation, I have to be, I'm not able to say too much, but what I can say is it's an active investigation. The police are deeply involved and any situation involving weapons, which are not allowed in schools, discipline is being meted out. according to what is said in the law regarding any kind of weapon. So I do want to say that it's not being taken lightly. It's being addressed appropriately. And because of FERPA, we just, I still need to be careful with what is said publicly on the floor, but what I can assure this body and the community that is listening is that it is being addressed and we are making sure that we have all of the individuals that were involved or were bystanders.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We are following the law, yes. Any kind of weapon that's- You're going to expel the kid, he's gone. We follow the law.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, obviously.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That specific, um, comment that was made yesterday, it's still being under investigation and there's another, uh, there are other things that have come forward, which are also being fully investigated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Councilor Caraviello, I agree exactly with what you're saying right now. The professional videographers, events that are taking place where it appears to be staged, we are having very similar conversations with the police. All of the individuals that were involved in yesterday's event, based on what we could see from the video footage, they are all being addressed, including the bystanders. So all of the individuals that we've been able to identify, discipline is being meted out. Discipline is being meted out at the district level. So again, students videotaping it, students that are just watching their bystanders.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Social media is a challenge. Social media is truly a challenge.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't, I just know that there was a medical emergency earlier in the day, I was not told that there was a drug overdose.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, providing additional support.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They were supporting in the hallways. They were just available and also conducting the investigation as additional students' names became available that did not appear on some of the videos. So they've been providing additional support in conducting their official investigation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say both. They were present. They were present in hallways, but they were also conducting the investigation. I mean, we probably had maybe six. Maybe there were six police officers there providing support. I'm not sure of the final number today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But nobody is making policies for students to get injured. So there were bigger issues that need to be addressed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to respond to your comment, Councilor Knight, regarding what is the high school doing? We have additional social emotional supports at the school. We had outside support available as well at the school. We had additional police presence and we redeployed several of our administrators who were also present at the high school today. So there was an abundance of administrators, staff, police presence, fire presence, additional Councilors. We were all hands on deck. working collaboratively to keep everything running smoothly at the high school today. And we had a very quiet day today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But it's the... How many?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So all the administrators that are there are providing additional support and supervision in the hallways during passing, during transition times for the students. So that was part of what took place today because students did express that they did not feel safe. There was a lot of extra presence and extra support today and extra counseling support. All of that is going to be available for the entire week. We are there to meet the needs of our students, The staff and teachers, many of them were also on duty. They volunteered and they were providing additional support and supervision in the hallways today. And things were, it was a quiet day today. So we were very happy that it was a productive day for the community. We know that it's going to take time and that's why we do also have the additional counseling support available for any student and staff that require that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They are not happening over and over again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But that is not over and over again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I have been, I was in the hallways today as well. So I don't know exactly what point in time that was. Students were allowed to go between, some students maybe needed a break. I'm not sure the information that you're receiving, because that's not the information that I saw firsthand today, and I was with the administration, Principal DeLava, Principal Fallon, the assistant principals, we were together today, and there was significant, significant adult presence in all of the hallways, including additional teachers and staff. So that's not the experience that I saw today at the high school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so what you're talking about, we are working on meeting with the students. We would not meet with all 1300 students at one time, because it's just too large a number. So we have already been planning to meet with the students by grade level teams and in smaller groups of 100, so that it's a more manageable number, and that students will have an opportunity to speak back. So we are actively working on that as a team.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Madam President and council members. I am Marice Edouard-Vincent, superintendent of schools. I am here this evening to first represent the district and to say that the incident that took place yesterday is not something that we want to see repeated ever again in the Medford Public Schools. I don't endorse or support any kind of weapons coming into the school that is not the Medford Public Schools that I am here representing. So what happened yesterday was a terrible, terrible incident. It was not something that we knew was going to happen in advance. And working with communications to get that message out and trying to keep the entire community safe. Working collaboratively with the police, we had many, many police officers on campus yesterday, and there was a lot of investigating happening. There was a lot of information that as things were unfolding, we had to wait for more information to become available. So I know that we had two medical emergencies yesterday, one earlier in the morning, which was a separate event, and then the second event that took place. And that incident and all students that were involved a significant number of students. Again, looking at the video cameras and figuring out how many people were actually involved, it's a significant number. We had plenty of police support today. We also had fire support in the schools. Our fire personnel, additional administrators were at the high school, teachers, staff, everyone, it was all hands on deck working together to keep the community safe. We did have a higher absentee rate. It wasn't 400 students, but we were in the high 200s today. Normally we hover around 10% in terms of absence. I am here today to just say that we are doing everything that we can do to address the situation that happened based on the students that are involved. And because of the nature of yesterday's incident, The police again are continuing their investigation at MPD and we are working collaboratively because it is an ongoing investigation. And again, it was a significant number of students that were involved, others that were just bystanders. And so that's the reason why there's been limited information because it's still an active, very active situation. I do also want to report that we did have the opportunity speak with the family today and with the student on campus. And we are continuing to pray for his speedy recovery, but we are in communication and we are working collaboratively with the family as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is a vocational student in one of our programs.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So again, that action was surprising to everyone based on some of what's been shown on some of the video footage. We're not sure. There were comments about other interactions happening at other times. Since it is an active investigation, I have to be, I'm not able to say too much, but what I can say is it's an active investigation. The police are deeply involved and any situation involving weapons, which are not allowed in schools, discipline is being meted out. according to what is said in the law regarding any kind of weapon. So I do want to say that it's not being taken lightly, it's being addressed appropriately. And because of FERPA, I still need to be careful with what is said publicly on the floor, but what I can assure this body and the community that is listening is that it is being addressed and we are making sure that we have all of the individuals that were involved or were bystanders.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We are following the law, yes. Any kind of weapon that's- You're going to expel the kid. We follow the law.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That specific comment that was made yesterday, it's still being under investigation. And there's another, there are other things that have come forward, which are also being fully investigated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Why aren't those kids being suspended too? Councilor Caraviello, I agree exactly with what you're saying right now. The professional videographers, events that are taking place where it appears to be staged, we are having very similar conversations with the police. All of the individuals that were involved in yesterday's event, based on what we could see from the video footage, they are all being addressed, including the bystanders. So all of the individuals that we've been able to identify, discipline is being meted out. Discipline is being meted out at the district level. So again, students videotaping it, students that are just watching their bystanders.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Social media is a challenge. Social media is truly a challenge.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't, I just know that there was a medical emergency earlier in the day. I was not told that there was a drug overdose. You did say that the police and the fire department were there today? Yes, providing additional support. What kind of support? They were supporting in the hallways. They were just available and also conducting the investigation as additional students' names became available that did not appear on some of the videos. So they've been providing additional support in conducting their official investigation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say both. They were present. They were present in hallways, but they were also conducting the investigation. We probably had maybe six. Maybe there were six police officers there providing support. I'm not sure of the final number today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They're the ones that are responsible, but nobody is making policies for students to get injured. So there were bigger issues that I want to go to the bathroom.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to respond to your comment, Councilor Knight, regarding what is the high school doing? We have additional social emotional supports at the school. We had outside support available as well at the school. We had additional police presence and we redeployed several of our administrators who were also present at the high school today. So there were, There was an abundance of administrators, staff, police presence, fire presence, additional Councilors. We were all hands on deck working collaboratively to keep everything running smoothly at the high school today. And we had a very quiet day today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: How many?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So all the administrators that are there are providing additional support and supervision in the hallways during passing, during transition times for the students. So that was part of what took place today because students did express that they did not feel safe. There was a lot of extra presence and extra support today and extra counseling support. All of that is going to be available for the entire week. We are there to meet the needs of our students, the staff and teachers, many of them were also on duty. They volunteered and they were providing additional support and supervision in the hallways today and things were, it was a quiet day today. So we were very happy that it was a productive day for the community. We know that it's going to take time and that's why we do also have the additional counseling support available for any student and staff that require that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They are not happening over and over again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But that is not over and over again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I have been, I was in the hallways today as well. So I don't know exactly what point in time that was. Students were allowed to go between, some students maybe needed a break. I'm not sure the information that you're receiving because that's not the information that I saw firsthand today. And I was with the administration, Principal DeLava, Principal Fallon, the assistant principals, we were together today. And there was significant, significant adult presence in all of the hallways, including additional teachers and staff. So that's not the experience that I saw today at the high school. Okay, that's good to hear.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so what you're talking about, we are working on meeting with the students. We would not meet with all 1300 students at one time because it's just too large a number. So we have already been planning to meet with the students by grade level teams and in smaller groups of hundreds so that it's a more manageable number and that students will have an opportunity to speak back. So we are actively working on that as a team. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I too would like to open by just saying that I'm very pleased that our teachers contract was ratified this evening, and there will be further labor update later on today's agenda. I do want to just start with saying once again that during this month of December, we want to first recognize those that started celebrating Hanukkah last evening, and that Hanukkah will be celebrated for eight days, and again, we wish all of our Jewish friends a happy Hanukkah as they celebrate the Festival of Lights. The winter solstice, sometimes also referred to as Yule Day, that will begin on Wednesday, December 21st, which is the shortest day of the year. And in some cultures, the winter solstice signifies renewal and fresh beginnings. Following that, Christmas Day this year falls on Sunday, December 25th, and Kwanzaa begins on the 26th and lasts until January 1st. No matter your celebration, all of the holidays mentioned celebrate with the lighting of candles. Maya Angelou once said that we are more alike my friends than we are unalike. So in the spirit of the holiday season, I would like to extend thanks to the following who have helped to make sure all of our families within Medford have had a happy holiday season. The Andrews Middle School and the McGlynn School are both hosting Trees of Warmth, which collect donations of hats, new hats, gloves, socks, scarves, and even coats that will be accessible to students in need before the holiday break and throughout the winter season. The book school hosted their monthly food drive donations and collected over 160 bags of food. Special thanks to Whole Foods for providing bags and our vocational school for providing color flyers that went home with every student. I'd like to recognize our Director of Arts, Suzanne Fee, and our high school teacher, Medford High School teacher, Kaylee Lanzilli. They are determined to make numerous students' holiday wishes come true. Working in collaboration with the Medford Family Network, as well as all of our K to 12 families, they reached out to our teachers, administrators, parents, administrative assistants, and others in the school community to help provide them over 15 families with wonderful holiday gifts. So thank you for your work in that area. I also want to recognize the Mustang football team. They are busy collecting gift cards for the Medford family network families, and the Mustang boys basketball team are also collecting non perishable items for all of the micro pantries in our city. For those who attended the home opener this Thursday. and bring a brand new non perishable food item, the ticket price to attend the game will be waived. Again, if you go to the home opener this Thursday and you bring a non perishable food item, your ticket price will be waived. I also want to thank Teamsters Local 25 for providing bags and bags of toys to the Medford Family Network, as well as Gilbane Company, the Medford Kiwanis Club, the Medford Fire and Police Departments, Toys for Tots, and the Wonder Fund, of which the mayor is a big supporter. We are so lucky to reside in a diverse and historic community that remembers to take care of those in need. The goodness in Medford reminds me of a quote from the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. We have a huge village of friends who take care of each other in our school community. We are not called the mighty Mustangs for nothing. Great job, everyone. You make me very proud to be your superintendent. I would also like to take a moment to recognize our fall 22 GBL all-stars. For boys cross country, we recognize Sam Orcutt, TJ Higgins, and Colin Lally. For girls cross country, we recognize co-MVPs of the league, Anna Casey and Yasmin D'Souza Vieira. For boys soccer, we would like to recognize Oliver Lolliker and Jordan Ionkeith. For girls soccer, MVP of the league, Emma Casey, Maria Colombo, Riley Walker, and Haley Duarte. For girls soccer, Eastern Mass all stars, Emma Casey, and Maria Colombo for golf we'd like to recognize Devin page, and Lewis Pacheco for girls volleyball, we'd like to recognize Isabella second ratio, and Sophia. For football, we would like to recognize Stevens, Exeter, Dom Rizzo, and Samuel Nazer. Thank you and congratulations to all of our fall sports athletes. And we wish our winter athletes all the best as they begin their games this week. There are a few reminders. This coming Wednesday, December 21st is the last opportunity for our seniors to take their class portraits. Please do not miss out on this opportunity so that you can be included in the yearbook. Also, we are continuing to pass out our COVID tests. This Friday is a half day before we break for our holiday break. We return to school on Tuesday, January 3rd. My final remarks that I would like to share are about a very serious incident that took place today at Medford High School. Earlier today at the high school, we had a student, one of our students was involved in an altercation and that student was stabbed. I have spoken with the student's mother and she has shared with me that her child is stable. I also want to share that the defendant in this situation has been identified and is in police custody at this time. I want to say a special thank you to our teachers, our staff, who supported all of their students while we were conducting the stay in place at Medford High School. I'd like to also extend special thanks to our nursing staff for their immediate response to the Medford Police Department for their support, Medford Fire Department, the mayor's office that was with us today, and EMS for all of their support during today's situation. We will continue to work collaboratively with the police department, as this investigation is still ongoing. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was supporting and working with the police earlier in the day during the ongoing investigation. I did go out later in the afternoon. So we knew that staff had gone out earlier to speak with parents.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Miss North, there is some misinformation and many people have said it already this evening. The previous incident that took place in October, the students were not in school. That is completely false. It is not a true statement. They have not been in school since that event took place. So when we made the comments that we're not talking about students in public, or student information, those students are not in school, and they have not been in school since the date of the incident.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And also, Member Ruseau, just for the audience to know that this particular plan was approved in 2010, originally by the committee, and revised in August of 2014, and then just most recently revised in November of 2020.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good evening, everyone. I also wanted to just piggyback on what was just being shared about some proactive measures at the lower grade levels. We have students that participate during the first six weeks of school. We do the responsive classroom. And over the course of the year, we also have the Nexus classrooms, where during those sessions, the students learn about the color coding for behavior controls and yellow and red and how are they feeling and green and blue and being able to identify how it is that they feel. And so some of those things, skills that are taught during those earlier grades, help the students come up with other strategies when they realize and they can identify their feelings in terms of If they're feeling happy if they're feeling sad. So those are like the early building blocks, as you progress and move on to middle school. They have the what I need blocks, and I know a lot of. team building and circles restorative circles are some of the proactive measures that are used at the secondary levels 612 in different capacities. But I just wanted to say some of the things that are done to help students be better regulated and I didn't know if that. if any of the secondary or elementary administrators wanted to weigh in either on responsive classroom or nexus or restorative circles that help students become better regulated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I did see Ms. Deimos raise her hand. Ms. Deimos.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. And so where we have so many administrators on the call, Member Ruseau, I wasn't able to really see some of the comments that you made. But if you're able to share your document with me, I definitely will be able to work with the administrators to have us look at where there is redundancy. But I'll also speak with legal to make sure that we have the key pieces of language that needs to remain within the policy because regarding bullying and both cyber bullying.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Within the plan, within the bullying and intervention plan. So within the plan, that could be something that I work with the administrators on and having us review that. But I do need to confirm what portions of the language should not be changed. Because I do believe that there is certain language that needs to be, that needs to remain within the plan. So I agree on that piece.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving break and that some of you were able to join us at Fenway Park. Although the outcome wasn't what we would have wanted, the Mustangs gave it their all. And for that, we are very proud of them. I also want to say a special thanks to our Mustang students, families, and alumni who supported the event. I want to thank Our athletic team, Dr. Cushing, Principal DeLeva, Mr. Galusi, all the students who planned and participated in the entertaining pep rally that preceded the game as well. So thank you to all of you, the band, and everyone did a fabulous job. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to thank state representative Christine Barber and the rest of our state delegation for the inclusion of an act to ensure dependent health coverage for adults with disabilities in the legislature's mental health bill. This act restores a provision that allows people with severe disabilities to remain on their parents' health plan without an age limit. This is a critical issue for our Mustang families of children with disabilities, and we appreciate the hard work of Representative Barber. I would also like to thank the following partners for supporting the Missittuck School for this holiday season. The Missittuck hosted a holiday giving program in collaboration with the Malden YMCA, Bank of America, the United Way, Kirkland and Ellis, and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which provided gift cards and funds to the Missittuck community. Due to everyone's generosity, a number of food bags and gift cards were able to be donated to families at the Missittuck School. The Missittuck PTO is continuing to collect gift cards and donations until December 9th. Great work, everyone. I also would like to recognize our Buddhist family and friends who are celebrating a significant holiday called Bodhi Holiday. Bodhi Day is celebrated December 8th and notes the day that Lord Buddha's enlightenment occurred. The colors of Bodhi Day are often red, green, silver, and white. Buddhists decorate pine trees and come together to worship and to celebrate fellowship and joy. Since we have a Buddhist temple here in Medford, the Karukala Center, I take this opportunity to wish our Buddhist community a blessed Bodhi Day. There are two historical days to keep in mind, dates. December 7th is the 81st commemoration of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, and December 15th is the United States Bill of Rights Day, which was ratified on December 15th, 1791. The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to our Constitution, which protects some of the most indispensable rights and liberties that define us as Americans. There are several upcoming events happening in Medford between now and our next meeting. December 7th this week, is both a booster and a flu clinic at the high school from three to 7 p.m. On December 10th and 11th, our band parents continue to have the tree and reef sale. Despite the rain, it's been very successful and I wanna thank the Medford community for supporting our band parents during this fundraiser. It takes place from 10 to five at the high school parking lot. Medford Family Network is going to be hosting their annual book and toy swap. That's December 11th. It's by appointment only from one to five o'clock at the high school. Also on December 11th, we have the Tufts men's basketball team hosting a free youth clinic for our students here in grades five through eight. It's going to take place at Tufts University in the Cousins Gym from 430 to 6. Tufts University is asking that you support them by bringing an item for their donation, their support of the Home for Little Wanderers. So if you decide to participate in that, feel free to bring a new toy or a personal care item, and it will be donated to the Home for Little Wanderers. On December 14th, we have a CPAC meeting, which is going to be about basic rights, evaluation, and eligibility. That's from 6 to 8 p.m. by Zoom. On December 14th and December 15th, we have our winter concerts. December 14th is our band, and that concert will be taking place in the Caron Theater at 7 p.m. It's $5 per person. And on December 15th, it will be our orchestra winter concert taking place also in the Caron Theater at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person. Lastly, before we meet again, December 18th marks the beginning of Hanukkah. Hanukkah begins at sundown and continues until December 26th. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and the freedom to worship God. Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish families and friends. Later in the agenda, we will be having several presentations, and one of the key presentations today will be a labor update. Thank you, and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say thank you so much for lending your expertise to the district. Thank you, Dr. Cushing for this comprehensive presentation and to our members who are also part of this committee. This really looks exciting and I can't wait to see it actually come into fruition. So thank you for all of your support.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I just wanted to make a few remarks to all the teachers that are online listening right now. I think it's critically important that everyone knows that we are trying our best to get this contract ratified. You've heard everything this evening. We wanted to get the money to the teachers. It was the holiday time of year. We were hoping to have those one-time payments by the end of this year. And now the clock is winding down in terms of it even being able to be possible. What I can say to the membership, when we had the big meeting in the library, after we went back to renegotiate, the only thing that was put on the table was the elementary schedule. So at this point in time, everything has been tabled or deferred until next year, including the elementary schedule. So the only thing that is left now, which has been clearly stated this evening, is about the money, the finances. And that is a totally different conversation. What Medford is offering is compatible. It is competitive with our neighboring districts. I have been in communication with superintendents and other colleagues. We are not, the narrative that's being said that Medford is at the bottom of the barrel, that is so far from the truth. We are actually in pretty good standing in comparison to the neighboring districts. We want to have this contract ratified. We want to be able to move forward. I am in the schools. I see the teachers working very hard, working with all of our students, no matter what their needs may be, meeting the needs of their students. We wanna be able to come to resolution as soon as possible. And I hope those of you who are listening on the call You hear that we are truly being sincere and we are not trying to disrespect anyone. That narrative needs to stop. We need to work together and think about all of our students, keeping them front and center. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. It is unfortunate that this evening I have to share that there was another mass shooting, a hate crime. And I would like to ask us to take a moment of silence for all the individuals who died in Colorado at Club Q from an LGBTQ attack. Please know that MPS, Medford Public Schools denounces hateful acts of violence that result in senseless killings of so many people. Five people died as a result of yesterday's hate crime. 17 wounded. Medford Public Schools is committed to being an inclusive community for all. And I just ask that we take a moment of silence for all of those that passed away.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Tomorrow marks a very, very, very special day for Medford Public Schools community here I'm just showing on display, the official sweatshirt. that shows that this is the 135th matchup of Malden and Medford. And for 135 years of the rivalry that exists tomorrow, the game takes place at Fenway Park. But in preparation for that, there are a lot of wonderful traditions that exist. First, I wanna thank The Rotary Club. Last Wednesday, the festivities began, and they've been ongoing. But last Wednesday, I want to thank the Medford and Malden Rotary Clubs for hosting our seniors. at a luncheon last week at the Pearl Street Station in Malden. And during the pandemic, some traditions had to be halted, but they hosted our seniors, both our football players and our cheerleaders from both sides were recognized, and they had wonderful speakers, and it was just a wonderful time to be together and realize that this tradition is one of the oldest in the entire nation. Following last Wednesday's celebrating it continued yesterday on the weekend. So yesterday I can definitely say at our bistro at the high school. Mr. Chris Murphy was the MC Master of Ceremonies. During yesterday's event, the Kiwanis donated $500 to our football team. Again, it was a great night of bonding for our football team and for our cheerleaders to celebrate them, to recognize them. All the coaches were there. It was a great time to be had. I'm able to attend member cuts was able to attend last evening as well representing the committee. State web Donato attended and City Councilor recovery also attended as Koreans as well to congratulate and support our seniors, so that was a wonderful time where. They just got to be together and get ready for tomorrow's game. I want to say a special special thank you to the dream team. We had five power moms who have been supporting the fifth, the football team throughout the entire season, and I want to just think. Our moms, Gloria, Diana with two Ns, mom, Courtney, mom, Nicole, and mom, Elaine, for serving the food, just being there for the students, and really making it truly a family event. So I want to thank them just for their service and dedication to our students. After yesterday evening celebration which started at six o'clock. They're celebrating continue today. So today, our seniors of both Maldon and Medford football teams, and our cheerleaders from both teams met and had lunch at john And we sent a special thank you to the honey cut family, because of their continued annual support. And at that establishment john brewers there was a room in the back, which is called the rivalry room, and they have both the Medford Mustangs football shirt displayed in the modern modern tornadoes football shirt displayed. And we thank them for their continued commitment. And it was wonderful, again, to be with both teams. Mayor Lungo-Koehn was there. The mayor of Malden, Mayor Gary Christensen was there. Coaches, and it was just a wonderful time. Superintendent Ligia Noriega Murphy was there as well. The principal principal of Maldon High athletic coaches and directors were there so it was, it was a wonderful time the kids were happy. And once again, you know we encourage them to go out there tomorrow, and leave everything on the field, and may the best player when, when it's all said and done the best team. So again, tomorrow is the big football game at Fenway Park, 7.30 p.m. tomorrow. We hope that everyone did go and get Mustang gear if you're able to. They'll still have some things available for sale tomorrow in the athletic office. So please go and get some warm gear and support our Mustangs. Also, because we're having the game on a Tuesday, you know we had to switch some of our normal traditions. So the pep rally, believe it or not, will be taking place tomorrow at the high school in the gym and we're really excited to really send them off and get ready to see them on the field. So, Again, this Thanksgiving time, it's a time for us just to be grateful and grateful for all of our wonderful athletes both our football players and cheerleading athletes. recognize that our cheerleaders competed this weekend in the state finals. And we came out in ninth place in the entire state of Massachusetts, which is absolutely fabulous. And so I want to congratulate all of our cheerleaders. They also had placed seventh in the regionals, but ninth in the entire state. So that's fabulous. And I wanna just recognize their coaches as well. Their head coach is head coach Megan, and their assistant coaches are Sylvia, Vanessa, and Tracy. So thank you for all of your work supporting our sports and doing a fabulous job with cheerleading. So thank you to them all. Also in the spirit of what's been happening with our athletics, We want to recognize the Mustang girls middle school softball, and our core cross country teams for undefeated seasons, and they both won the GBL championships. I also want to recognize another senior Casey. She had the wonderful honor to sign to run division one track next year at Stonehill College. So special congratulations to Anna Casey. She is not only a great athlete, but also a wonderful student and the Skyhawks are lucky to have her. I know she'll continue to reach for the stars. Congratulations, Anna. And last but not certainly least, I want to congratulate our first ever Unified Flag football team that played Malden last week at Malden's McDonald Stadium on Wednesday. It was a wonderful show of sportsmanship. The Mustangs and the Tornadoes, they played to a tie of 7-7. This is just another way in which the Medford Public Schools continues to embrace inclusivity. So it was truly a wonderful event and I look forward to maintaining that wonderful tradition. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanna share that earlier today at McGlynn Elementary School, I had the opportunity to stop by the Thanksgiving food drive. And I want you to know that the partners that were participating in that were our own Medford Family Network, Marie Cassidy was there, and she said, this is Lucky 13. So for 13 years, this tradition has been going on. So, we Cassidy from the MFN our family network pastor Pierre was also there. They were able to pick up 42 bags. In addition to that, the McGlynn elementary school provided 15 family bags. as well as they were able to collect enough food to fill all of the many food pantries across the district. So we want to say special thank you to our partners. Freddie live fitness donated gift cards, stop and shop donated gift cards, Redmonds donated gift cards, the PTG, the McGlynn Elementary School donated gift cards. Students brought in 1,403 items. Parents donated cash as well. McLean elementary staff donated $1,150. So all of the money that was raised and donated was converted into gift cards, and so every single Thanksgiving bag. Every family will be receiving a gift card to go and purchase. additional items that they want from the supermarket. So I want to just thank Miss Doherty was there today and Miss Fiorentino, all the staff and families at the McGlynn Elementary School, Principal O'Brien for making this Thanksgiving food drive a tremendous success. And according to Miss Doherty, she said that was the largest amount of bags that they were So it's continuing to get bigger and bigger in terms of what it is that they're able to do for the community. So I just wanted to say a special thank you to them, and happy Thanksgiving to all of the families that will be receiving those special gift bags. This past weekend also, some of you I don't remember your soul and maybe many others have you had the opportunity to support our drama club presentation. They performed a play by Oscar Wilde, the importance of being honest, our students did a fabulous job. And I can say it's wonderful to be in the theater live theater, seeing a performance seeing our students perform. It just really does raise everyone's spirits. And I want to also say a special thank you to Miss Riley Jones who helped to bring everything alive. on the stage. And I was truly impressed that our students were able to maintain British accents. So I had the opportunity to say, like, how long did it take you? And one of the students said, oh, my dad's from the UK. You got to practice at home with dad. But the other students, you know, they really did a great job staying in character. And it was really wonderful to see them. I also want to take a quick moment to thank state rep, Sean Goverly, and our entire delegation for their work on a bill that will allow students with intellectual or intellectual disabilities or autism the opportunity to attend Massachusetts public colleges and universities. The Commonwealth is the first nation, the first state in the nation to do so. Per the signed bill by Governor Baker, an individual shall not be denied an opportunity to participate in higher education solely due to the individual's disability status. This is truly wonderful news, and we will hear more about it later today in a resolution on our agenda from Member McLaughlin. There are a few upcoming events that I want to say as I bring my announcements to a close. This coming week on Wednesday, we are having early dismissal, 1130 for our middle schools and noon for the remaining schools. There was no school on Thursday and Friday. Again, no school this Thursday and Friday. So beginning on Sunday, November 27, our Medford High School Band Association parents, they're gonna be hosting their Christmas tree and roof sale at Medford High School parking lot from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. So please save those dates. They'll also be out on December 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 11th. So this is a great, great fundraiser for our band. Please go out and support our band. to pick up your Christmas tree or wreaths for decorating your homes. Also, Tuesday, the 29th, will be the first parent-teacher conference night at Medford High School. On Tuesday evening, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the gym, it will be English learners, science, math, P.E., and health. On Wednesday, November 30th, the mayor welcomes all of you to the city's holiday extravaganza and the return of the Jingle Bell Festival at Medford City Hall. I wasn't sure of the time for 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30th. On Thursday, November 1st, it's our second parent-teacher conference night for the high school. Again, it will take place in the gymnasium from 6 to 8 p.m., and it will be for English, social studies, fine arts, and world languages. December 1st is also World AIDS Day. This year, the theme is putting ourselves to the test, achieving equity to end HIV. We stand together to encourage progress in HIV, AIDS prevention, treatment and care around the world. Our next school committee meeting will be held on Monday, December 5th at 6 p.m. So in closing, I wanna share a poem with you from Medford's own Lydia Maria Child, who is not only a famous writer, but also an abolitionist, as well as a women in Native American rights activist. Over the river and through the wood, trot fast by dappled gray, spring over the ground like a hunting hound for this is Thanksgiving Day. Over the river and through the wood and straight through the barnyard gate, we seem to go extremely slow. It is so hard to wait. I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by your family, friends and neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. We have report number two on
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to invite Attorney Felicia Vasudevan from Murphy, Hess, Truman, and Lohan. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, I was going to say, I think as a district, we truly believe and value the importance of recess and giving students the opportunity to have fresh air, to go outside, to play, to socialize, to get some gross motor movement in, and do activities. you know, play games, they play tag. So I think definitely everyone is in support of recess and the true values that students gain from having that as part of the day. So it's something that we know people look forward to and a lot of great memories can be made during that time of the day. So we definitely support recess and just the physical and social, emotional health benefits that come from that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And member Ruseau, if I may piggyback off of what Emily was just sharing, I have seen it myself. I know one of the times I was recently at the Andrews during one of their recess blocks when we went outside and there were students that chose not to be in the field area or the basketball court area, but they chose to sit at that particular school, again, a different setup. a bench or I don't know if it's a. haunted planter area, but some students just chose to, you know, it might be two students, it might be three students together. They prefer to be in a smaller group as opposed to, you know, the overstimulation of a very, very large group. So I think also just being aware of the different needs of the students. So I really do love that idea of the students that actually choose to go to the library and be in a quiet environment and read And to them, 15, 20 minutes of being able to read or be in a quiet environment in the library is what satisfies them or makes them happy. So I just wanted to say that just listening to the different descriptions of what's been said today, that you really cannot have a one size fits all. limitations that we talked at the top of this meeting about was the physical layout of the different schools, and how much space is actually available. Some schools have a lower playground and upper playground. So, you know, you have more real estate to work with. and greater flexibility at the Missatuck, they won the lottery on that one. They've got plenty of space, lower playground, upper playground, fields. So they have access to a lot of greenery and just a lot of space to spread out and do a lot of different activities. So I just wanted to say it does sometimes look a little, you know, differently but you know when you observe the kids and when I'm out in the field looking at the students. especially during unstructured time, I wanna see kids happy. And I can say to you during that time, you do see kids enjoying themselves, laughing, telling jokes, some are playing sports, they're being competitive, they make up their own rules to their own self-created games, but it is a happy time. And I just also wanna keep that in mind that we are, prioritizing our students, and again, the way they interpret or use that time, it may look differently, but I do feel that it is more student-led than adult-led. The resources and materials may be put there by the adults, but the students use their creativity in terms of how they choose to do the different activities. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was watching the clock as well but I wanted to say, just listening to today's conversation it was very rich there were a lot of different perspectives and things that were put forward for us to really be able to seriously consider and prepare for the next rules policy meeting to be discussing crafting a district wide policy. But I just wanted to say just listening to all of the different perspectives and what was said that it is not a one size fits all. you know, solution that whatever policy does end up being the final created policy, we do have to keep in mind that it will look different for different students. And the examples, again, of the library and students that I see who choose to not play and run at all, but just sit with one or two other friends and just, you know, enjoy the fresh air, but take advantage of that time together. So I think the next phase would be, and I don't know, Member Ruseau, if you'll be sending me one of the policies that you were looking at, or what it is that you're thinking about for a next step to be, where I'll be able to work with the administrative team as well, because there definitely are a lot of dimensions and layers, and we wanna be um, truly inclusive, um, in whatever policy ends up, um, being created, that it, it represents, um, all of our learners here within the district. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I would like to congratulate our girls soccer team on winning the GBL title with a record of 13 and five, as well as the Mustang middle school cross country team for also winning the GBL title. Additionally, I must congratulate senior Anna Casey of the cross country team who won the girls GBL championship and was undefeated in the GBL in her four years of competition. What an accomplishment. Congratulations, Anna Casey. While we are on the subject of sports, yes, let's give her a round of applause. While we are on the subject of sports, I would also like to congratulate sophomore Brianna Cerullo, who is only the third female to play for the Mustang football team. At a recent junior varsity game against Somerville, Brianna broke the glass ceiling as she scored a touchdown for the Mustangs. She is the first female to accomplish this feat. Brianna plays the running back and place kicker positions. Fantastic job, Brianna. Speaking of football, please don't forget to purchase your tickets to Medford's Thanksgiving Day football game at Fenway Park, which will be played Tuesday, November 22nd at 7.30 p.m. Another reminder, the Thanksgiving pep rally will be held prior to the game on Tuesday in the high school gym. Special commemorative t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts will be available for purchase in the athletic office and the main office. This is an exciting venture for the Mustang community, so let's go Mustangs. This coming November 11th is Veterans Day. And on behalf of Jeremy Johns, Director of Veteran Services, and Dr. Nicole Chieser, Director of Humanities, I would like to thank the 15 veterans who came to the high school and visited 37 classrooms last Thursday to speak to our students. Veterans Day honors all US veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and their willingness to serve for the common good. I personally know this as one of my brothers made the military his career. In addition, one of our own principals, Captain Michael Downs, also served honorably, and many of our teachers and staff have done the same. We must never forget our veterans and the sacrifices that they made to keep America free. Thank you. I want to take this moment to congratulate a Mustang, Junior Thea Cruz, who currently is an Italian IV student. She won the Embassy of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute of Washington's nationwide contest for students of the Italian language in the United States. Students were tasked with creating a literary form called erasure poetry, tied to Italian artist, Emilio Isgro. This type of poetry erases words and reads the remaining words as a new poem. Both content and the visual aspect were taken into consideration by the judges. Thea was one of three winners in the high school category. She used Giacomo Pucci's famous aria, Che Gelida Manina from opera La Boheme as the foundation for her poem. Thea received a medal of merit and a scholarship of $150. Congratulations, Thea. I would also like to remind everyone to please not forget, don't forget to check our district website for the first edition of the new fine arts in performing arts newsletter called color in courts. It's initiated by our newly appointed Fine Arts and Performing Arts Coordinators, Ms. Suzanne Fee and Haley Rallo. It highlights the creativity in our students and our school community. It also includes a calendar of upcoming events and performances. Don't miss it. November is Native American Heritage Month. which reminds all Americans to remember the important contributions of indigenous peoples, honor their histories, and advocate for solutions to the struggles they still face today. I would like to share a few facts about our Native Americans. They were not granted citizenship until 1924, after Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act. The first American Indian Day was held in New York in 1916, and National Native American Heritage Month became official under former President George H. W. Bush, who proclaimed it for the month of November in 1990. There are currently 574 different federally recognized Native American tribes. Massachusetts is home to two tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and the Wampanoag tribe of Gay Head. An important reminder from Chief Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, He lived from 1580 to 1661. And he said, what is this you call property? It cannot be the earth for the land is our mother, nourishing all of her children, beasts, birds, fish, and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one person say it only belongs to them. Let us all take the time to celebrate the important contributions of our nation's first peoples. There are a few key upcoming events happening this week. and next. Tomorrow, November 8th is election day. There will be no school in a district for students. Teachers and staff will be participating in professional development. Most of our school's PTOs will be hosting bake sales. So please support them in this effort. Wednesday, November 9th, the vocational school will be hosting their advisory meeting from six to 8 p.m. Friday, November 11th is Veterans Day, and in observance, there will be no school for students and staff. Thursday, November 17th, Friday, November 18th, and Saturday, November 19th, Medford's own Drama Club presents the importance of being earnest. That play will be taking place in the Caron Theater. And on Friday, November 18th, Medford's own Medford Family Network brings back our Family Fun Fridays. Those events will take place in our high school gym from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. on Fridays. Our next school committee meeting is Monday, November 21st. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I would like to congratulate our girls soccer team on winning the GBL title, with a record of 13 and five, as well as the Mustang middle school cross country team for also winning the GBL title. Additionally, I must congratulate senior Anna Casey of the cross country team who won the girls GBL championship and was undefeated in the GBL in her four years of competition. What an accomplishment. Congratulations, Anna Casey. While we are on the subject of sports, yes, let's give her a round of applause. While we are on the subject of sports, I would also like to congratulate sophomore Brianna Cerullo, who is only the third female to play for the Mustang football team. At a recent junior varsity game against Somerville, Brianna broke the glass ceiling as she scored a touchdown for the Mustangs. She is the first female to accomplish this feat. Brianna plays the running back and place kicker positions. Fantastic job, Brianna. Speaking of football, please don't forget to purchase your tickets to Medford's Thanksgiving Day football game at Fenway Park, which will be played Tuesday, November 22nd at 7.30 p.m. Another reminder, the Thanksgiving pep rally will be held prior to the game on Tuesday in the high school gym. Special commemorative T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts will be available for purchase in the athletic office and the main office. This is an exciting venture for the Mustang community. So let's go Mustangs. This coming November 11th is Veterans Day. And on behalf of Jeremy Johns, Director of Veteran Services, and Dr. Nicole Chieser, Director of Humanities, I would like to thank the 15 veterans who came to the high school and visited 37 classrooms last Thursday to speak to our students. Veterans Day honors all US veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and their willingness to serve for the common good. I personally know this as one of my brothers made the military his career. In addition, one of our own principals, Captain Michael Downs, also served honorably, and many of our teachers and staff have done the same. We must never forget our veterans and the sacrifices that they made to keep America free. Thank you. I want to take this moment to congratulate a Mustang, Junior Thea Cruz, who currently is an Italian IV student. She won the Embassy of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute of Washington's nationwide contest for students of the Italian language in the United States. Students were tasked with creating a literary form called erasure poetry, tied to Italian artist, Emilio Isgro. This type of poetry erases words and reads the remaining words as a new poem. Both content and the visual aspect were taken into consideration by the judges. He was one of three winners in the high school category. She used Giacomo Pucci's famous aria, Che Gelida Manina, from opera La Boheme, as a foundation for her poem. Thea received a medal of merit and a scholarship of $150. Congratulations, Thea. I would also like to remind everyone to please not forget, don't forget to check our district website for the first edition of the new Fine Arts in Performing Arts newsletter called Color in Courts. It's initiated by our newly appointed Fine Arts and Performing Arts Coordinators, Ms. Suzanne Fee and Haley Rello. It highlights the creativity in our students and our school community. It also includes a calendar of upcoming events and performances. Don't miss it. November is Native American Heritage Month. which reminds all Americans to remember the important contributions of indigenous peoples, honor their histories, and advocate for solutions to the struggles they still face today. I would like to share a few facts about our Native Americans. They were not granted citizenship until 1924, after Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act. The first American Indian Day was held in New York in 1916, and National Native American Heritage Month became official under former President George H. W. Bush, who proclaimed it for the month of November in 1990. There are currently 574 different federally recognized Native American tribes. Massachusetts is home to two tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and the Wampanoag tribe of Gay Head. An important reminder from Chief Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag tribe, He lived from 1580 to 1661. And he said, what is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all of her children, beasts, birds, fish, and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one person say it only belongs to them. Let us all take the time to celebrate the important contributions of our nation's first peoples. There are a few key upcoming events happening this week. and next. Tomorrow, November 8th is election day. There will be no school in a district for students. Teachers and staff will be participating in professional development. Most of our school's PTOs will be hosting bake sales. So please support them in this effort. Wednesday, November 9th, the vocational school will be hosting their advisory meeting from six to 8 p.m. Friday, November 11th is Veterans Day, and in observance, there will be no school for students and staff. Thursday, November 17th, Friday, November 18th, and Saturday, November 19th, Medford's own Drama Club presents the importance of being earnest. That play will be taking place in the Caron Theater. And on Friday, November 18th, Medford's own Medford Family Network brings back our Family Fun Fridays. Those events will take place in our high school gym from 4.30 to 7.30 p.m. on Fridays. Our next school committee meeting is Monday, November 21st. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Six slash zero slash one.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So first I just would like to share that October is both national bullying prevention month, and it is also national down syndrome awareness month. National Down Syndrome Awareness Awareness Month is a time to celebrate people with Down syndrome and make others aware of their abilities and accomplishments. As David Egan stated while serving as Special Olympics ambassador for the sergeant driver international global messenger down syndrome does not define us as people. It is a condition that makes it harder for us to learn, but with patience and persistence, we are able to contribute to our society. I also want to just thank member Graham and member McLaughlin for giving me a great reminder last week when I mentioned it in our weekly update. I also want to share that today, October 17 is Black Poetry Day, which was created in 1985 to honor the birth of the pioneer United States black poet, Jupiter Hammond, and call attention to the literary works and accomplishments of African American writers. Hammond was born during the time of slavery on October 17 1711 Mr. Hammond published his first poem an evening thought in New York in 1761. It was the first by an African-American in North America. He published both poetry and prose after that. Being a preacher, his works often discussed Christianity. His poem stated, now is the day, accepted time, the day of the salvation. Increase your faith, do not repine, awake ye every nation. I also would like to take a moment to congratulate our Medford Family Network, not only on their Yoki restaurant sponsored successful golf tournament, but also for being selected by the Monogram Foods to receive a $5,000 grant. And this grant is going to be used to help support and establish additional efforts I'm looking for at another location in Medford to help serve our growing family of immigrant populations. This new space will serve as a point of reference for families to call for assistance, hold education classes, and provide a place to store basic needs for families to pick up, such as diapers, formula, and clothes. I also want to say let's go Mustangs are inclusive basketball team open the season with an exciting win over Malden 48 to 40. Keep it up Mustangs. Their next game is on Monday, October 24 at home at four o'clock. Come cheer them on if you can. I also wanted to know that the first ever Special Olympics European unified basketball tournament was just held this past weekend in Italy. The teams that played included Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France. Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Spain. Inclusion matters everywhere. I would also like to congratulate the Brooks PTO on a wonderful return to their Fall Fest fundraiser. I had the opportunity to be there yesterday and see member Rousseau, member Hays, member Graham. It was a lot of fun. My daughter enjoyed herself immensely and my niece and families had a great time. So congratulations to them. And I hope that everything was very successful. Also, I want to just acknowledge that last week was fire prevention week from the ninth to the 15th. And during that time, I, there were lots of activities that teachers worked on and talked about the importance of fire prevention. I did have the opportunity to visit some new classrooms with principal demos. And our meet students were able to wear fire hats and we're learning about fire safety as well. I want to thank our fire department for allowing our students to visit fire stations and learn about the importance of fire safety. And this coming Wednesday, October 19, the fire safety smokehouse trailer will be at the McGlynn school, where students will have hands on learning about what to do in case of a fire. I appreciate our strong partnership with our fire department. I also want to say that last week, this body the school committee had the wonderful opportunity to participate in an MSC training with Dorothy presser. It was a great training on the superintendent evaluation goals and propose next steps. I look forward to our continued partnership and a special thank you for Dorothy to come out for coming out and doing an excellent presentation. I just wanna share a few upcoming events that are gonna be happening in the district this week. On Wednesday, October 19th, it is also National LGBTQ Plus Awareness Day. As I mentioned earlier, the Medford Public Schools is a welcoming and inclusive district, which strives to build a strong system of support for all students and to be accepting of all people. October 19th, we are also holding a flu shot clinic at the McGlynn school from 2.30 to 3.30. On October 20th, it's the grade eight open house at the high school from 6 to 8.30 p.m. On October 24th, we are holding another flu shot clinic at the Missittuck from 2.45 to 3.45 p.m. October 26th is our college information night for students on IEPs and 504 accommodation plans. That's from 5.30 to 6.30 p.m. in the science lecture hall at the high school, immediately followed by the college and career night at Medford High School. And that's from 6 to 8.30 p.m. in the gym. So again, College Information Night for our students that are on IEPs or 504 plans from 530 to 630 p.m. and from six to 830 p.m. in the gym, College and Career Night. October 27 is jumpstart read for the record, it's going to be at the Miss attack. And the book this year will be Nigel in the moon. So I'm not sure if some of you heard from Dr. K hopefully some of you will be able to support that fun reading event. On October 27 is also an opportunity for parents and caregivers of students with ASD, a support group that will be on zoom at seven o'clock in the evening. October, October 27 is also our club. They are hosting the music bingo fundraiser, it will be at the Irish American club at 7pm so I hope those of you who enjoy that will get out to support the fundraiser. And lastly, in closing, I would like to wish a happy Diwali to our Hindu, Sikh, and Jains families who will be celebrating the Festival of Lights beginning October 24th for five days. Families enjoy festive lights, fireworks, and sweets as they gather together to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. I wish them a Shubh Diwali. or happy Diwali to all. And committee, I look forward to our presentations that are coming forward this evening, especially the in-depth MCAS presentation that's gonna be presented by the team. So I just wanted to mention that as a key report for this evening. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to thank my entire senior leadership team for their tireless work during the negotiation process with the MTA and to also thank the MTA for coming to the TA that we have before us which is. a very good agreement and I look forward to getting the results next week, but I just wanted to sincerely express my thanks for all the hard work that went in over these past 11 months. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And member Graham, just to build upon what Ms. Galucci was sharing, we now have a new coding for COVID. We have COVID for quarantining, COVID-Q and COVID-S. But when it first came out, all of that was kind of kept confidential with the nurses of what was going on. So that's also part of the unpacking of trying to see how those absences were coded. Because it was something that I had requested, but it's labor intensive because we used a different coding system. But definitely between quarantining more than once, potentially if you are exposed, and possibly getting sick from COVID itself. There were significant absences, and just to see 1.7 million school days across the Commonwealth, that's like an unbelievable number.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that's unbelievable.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: that the achievement gap is incredibly important to us and we will be looking at ways to constantly improve instruction and using that data analysis cycle to go back and revisit topics where students may have had difficulty. So using data to inform instruction is going to be critically important. But I do wanna emphasize the importance of looking at our student growth data. Because students all start everyone has a starting point. So, irregardless of socioeconomic race, wherever you are, whatever your starting point is, we want you to show growth at the end of the year. So even if a student is not starting the year on grade level. they can still show a year's growth. And that's that number that was shown earlier on with the 40 to 59. That's the number where it's taking the student, especially for our students with disabilities, students that are English learners that we know that they don't have the same starting point as a general education student. if you look at their growth, you want to be able to see growth for every student. And for our students that we could say, well, they are general education students as a parent or as a member of the community, you could say, I wanna see even greater growth because they don't have some of the other barriers that could limit them at this point in time. So I do wanna say that as we look at our data and review our data, that it's critically important for all for us to also be looking at student growth percentile, and that's kind of. what I've been paying closer attention to, because it looks at each student on an individualized basis, and you can see whether growth is taking place and learning is taking place. So I just wanted to stress that piece, and I'm sure member Galusi, Ms. Galusi, Assistant Superintendent Galusi has something else to add. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The advisories work collaboratively with Miss Stacey Shulman. So, sometimes the her team, the guidance team and others are also deeply involved in what happens during advisory blocks. So it is definitely a self focus at the high school level, I can't say it's the exact equivalent of a nexus but if you were trying to you know, make a connection, I would say it's the high school version of Nexus that takes place like twice a month or something like that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We've got a The version on the online version is accurate. So, forty-five is the budget transfer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that will work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. First, I would like to acknowledge our fellow Floridians who have a long road ahead of them due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian. And for the more than 100 plus people who have already passed away as a result of the hurricane, I would like us just to observe a moment of silence
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At the high school, both on the vocational side. There is a beautiful memorial garden, honoring many members of our staff who have passed away over the past several years, and I want to just thank member I'm former member vendor code, man, Brianna for supporting that event. Principal Fallon who's here and principal deliver, who also with our CCS our students. CCS our leaders who coordinated the beautiful ceremony to honor the last members of staff, so I just want to thank them for such a beautiful ceremony, and when you're at the high school complex. When you go into the main entrance. of the vocational side you can see the beautiful garden. Also, on the West courtyard side of the high school, you can see the continuation of the garden on both sides of our campus. So I want to just share some updates and remarks. First, we are in the month of October. October is a symphony of permanence and change, said the author, Bernardo Overstreet. The color of the leaves are changing and providing vibrant colors in the Middlesex Fells Woods, which abuts Medford High School, which beautifies our landscape. I want to open with a very large congratulations to our Mustang marching band and our color guard on hosting the New England Scholastic Band Association competition last Saturday at Hormel. 12 school districts competed and the Mustang band took home second place. Additionally, our color guard took home first place. So we're very proud of them. They will be continuing to compete in many more competitions this season. Great job, keep up the great work Mustangs. Last week we also had 15 Italian students, accompanied by Dr. Bobo coordinator of world languages, Miss Canada, Michelle for miss over daddy, and former world language director misty color de Carlo. They attended Puccini's famous opera, La Boheme, at the Emerson Colonial Theater. According to Dr. Bebeau, our students studied this opera in class and later, as in the tradition of the world language department, we brought our students to witness the actual opera. I hope this tradition will always continue at Medford High School. Also, great community partner Tufts University, not only held an incredible community day event yesterday with over 60 nonprofit tables that had information free food and games. They have also informed us that their School of Medicine hosts the Sherwood Clinic at Cambridge Health Alliance on Canal Street in Malden. from Saturdays from one to 430 no insurance is necessary and interpretation is available their services include blood pressure and glucose screenings, nutritional counseling, medical management options and school physicals. So if you're out there and trying to get an appointment, please take advantage of that. I want to remind the community that this Wednesday, October 5, there will be no school. As our Jewish students, staff, and neighbors celebrate Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, may I say to our Jewish friends, Gamar Fatima Tovah, which means, may you be sealed in the book of life. I really appreciate the quote of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, who once said, the most important lesson of the high holidays is that nothing, nothing is broken beyond repair. It is never too late to change and to be better. Next Wednesday, October 12 Medford CPAC will be hosting Their meeting by zoom on the agenda is to meet the administrators of the central administration and the special education department, as well as their general meeting. So six to seven is their general meeting and meet the administrators starts at 7pm. This coming weekend. As you know we are now well into fall. And so during this season there are lots of fairs fundraisers social events, including the following October is breast cancer awareness month, and the Mustang girls volleyball team will be hosting a pink out tournament. To raise money for breast cancer research, the weekend of October 22 and 23. The team is selling t shirts ahead of the tournament at a cost of $20 track down a volleyball team member to grab a t shirt to support this important cause. For those of you who may have Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day off, please consider coming out to support the Medford Family Network at the 11th Annual MFN Golf Tournament hosted by Yokey Restaurant. The tournament is held at Sagamore Springs Golf Club in Linfield. The cost is $150 per person. You can sign up on the Yokey website at yokeyrestaurant.com. The MFN are also actively seeking donations for prizes for the raffle. For further information, please reach out to Ms. Marie Cassidy. Saturday, October 15 from 12 to three brings the return of the harvest your energy fair behind the McGlynn school. And on Sunday, October 16 from 11am to 4pm, the Brooks PTO will be hosting the annual fall fest. It's a fun time for all. I strongly encourage families to come out to both events on Saturday and Sunday. It'll be lots of fun, lots of prizes. Also, again, next Monday, there will be no school. It's October 10th for Indigenous Peoples Day, Columbus Day. October is also Italian American Heritage Month. It is celebrated every year to honor and recognize the centuries of achievements, successes, and valuable contributions of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans. The first Italian American Heritage Month was celebrated in 1989 by a special proclamation of both Congress and President George H.W. Bush, Over 5 million Italians immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 2000. Italians are the fifth largest ethnic group in our nation, and one of the many nationalities that have made Medford home. To our Italian-American friends, and forgive me if I botch it a little bit, Feliz Mese del Eredita Italo-Americana. Happy Italian-American Heritage Month. And I close with a poem.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, one of the best things you can do for yourself is taking time to learn and grow. Once you give yourself patience, you become your best friend and the empathy, self-kindness and resilience are what you need to grow. Thank you and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. First, I would like to acknowledge our fellow Floridians who have a long road ahead of them due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian. And for the more than 100 plus people who have already passed away as a result of the hurricane, I would like us just to observe a moment of silence
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Also, since we last met, At the high school, both on the vocational side, there is a beautiful memorial garden honoring many members of our staff who have passed away over the past several years. And I wanna just thank member Hays, former member Vanderkoed, Mayor Brianna for supporting that event. Principal Fallon, who's here and Principal DeLava, who also with our CCSR students, CCSR leaders who coordinated the beautiful ceremony to honor the lost members of staff. So I just wanna thank them for such a beautiful ceremony. And when you're at the high school complex, when you go into the main entrance, of the vocational side, you can see the beautiful garden. Also on the west courtyard side of the high school, you can see the continuation of the garden on both sides of our campus. So I wanna just share some updates and remarks. First, we are in the month of October. October is a symphony of permanence and change, said the author, Bonaro Overstreet. The color of the leaves are changing and providing vibrant colors in the Middlesex Fells Woods, which abuts Medford High School, which beautifies our landscape. I want to open with a very large congratulations to our Mustang Marching Band and our Color Guard on hosting the New England Scholastic Band Association competition last Saturday at Hormel. 12 school districts competed and the Mustang band took home second place. Additionally, our color guard took home first place. So we're very proud of them. They will be continuing to compete in many more competitions this season. Great job. Keep up the great work Mustangs. Last week, we also had 15 Italian students accompanied by Dr. Bobo, Coordinator of World Languages, Ms. Canetta, Ms. Shalafo, Ms. Ogudari, and former World Language Director, Ms. DiCarlo. They attended Puccini's famous opera, La Boheme, at the Emerson Colonial Theater. According to Dr. Bobol, our students studied this opera in class and later, as in the tradition of the world language department, we brought our students to witness the actual opera. I hope this tradition will always continue at Medford High School. Also, our great community partner, Tufts University, not only held an incredible community day event yesterday with over 60 nonprofit tables that had information, free food and games, they have also informed us that their school of medicine hosts the Sherwood Clinic at Cambridge Health Alliance on Canal Street in Malden. from Saturdays from 1 to 4.30. No insurance is necessary. An interpretation is available there. Services include blood pressure and glucose screenings, nutritional counseling, medical management options, and school physicals. So if you're out there and trying to get an appointment, please take advantage of that. I want to remind the community that this Wednesday, October 5th, there will be no school. as our Jewish students, staff, and neighbors celebrate Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. May I say to our Jewish friends, Gamar Fatima Tovah, which means, may you be sealed in the book of life. I really appreciate the quote of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, who once said, the most important lesson of the high holidays is that nothing, nothing is broken beyond repair. It is never too late to change and to be better. Next Wednesday, October 12th, Medford CPAC will be hosting their meeting by Zoom. On the agenda is to meet the administrators of the central administration and the special education department, as well as their general meeting. So six to seven is their general meeting and meet the administrators starts at 7 p.m. This coming weekend, as you know, we are now well into fall. And so during this season, there are lots of fairs, fundraisers, social events, including the following. October is breast cancer awareness month and the Mustang girls volleyball team will be hosting a pink out tournament. to raise money for breast cancer research the weekend of October 22nd and 23rd. The team is selling t-shirts ahead of the tournament at a cost of $20. Track down a volleyball team member to grab a t-shirt to support this important cause. For those of you who may have Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day off, please consider coming out to support the Medford Family Network at the 11th Annual MFN Golf Tournament hosted by Yokey Restaurant. The tournament is held at Sagamore Springs Golf Club in Linfield. The cost is $150 per person. You can sign up on the Yokey website at yokeyrestaurant.com. The MFN are also actively seeking donations for prizes for the raffle. For further information, please reach out to Ms. Marie Cassidy. Saturday, October 15th, from 12 to three, brings the return of the Harvest Your Energy Fair behind the McGlynn School. And on Sunday, October 16th, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Brooks PTO will be hosting the annual Fall Fest. It's a fun time for all. I strongly encourage families to come out to both events on Saturday and Sunday. It'll be lots of fun, lots of prizes. Also, again, next Monday, there will be no school. It's October 10th for Indigenous Peoples Day, Columbus Day. October is also Italian American Heritage Month. It is celebrated every year to honor and recognize the centuries of achievements, successes, and valuable contributions of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans. The first Italian American Heritage Month was celebrated in 1989 by a special proclamation of both Congress and President George H.W. Bush. Over 5 million Italians immigrated to the United States between 1820 and 2000. Italians are the fifth largest ethnic group in our nation, and one of the many nationalities that have made Medford home. To our Italian-American friends, and forgive me if I botch it a little bit, Feliz Mese del Eredita Italo-Americana. Happy Italian-American Heritage Month. And I close with a poem. It says, it's called Hello, October. Oh, one of the best things you can do for yourself is taking time to learn and grow. Once you give yourself patience, you become your best friend and the empathy, self-kindness and resilience are what you need to grow. Thank you and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So this past summer, I had the opportunity to participate in different professional development sessions, both with MASS, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, and with Leading Now, an additional professional development organization. But tonight, I just wanna take this opportunity to share with the committee what it is that I'm doing thus far, and the work that I will continue to be working on over the course of this year. So for the superintendent's professional development, my professional development is grounded on the premise that we want to, my goal is to promote district-wide coherence. Coherence is very, very important. It can be defined as a systematic or logical connection or consistency. and B, the integration of diverse elements, relationships, or values. So I do believe that through promoting coherence on a district-wide basis, all stakeholders will have similar experiences across the district, and it doesn't matter which homeschool is your base. So the professional development that I'll be participating in is also connected to my core values. When I came to Medford, I talked about ACE, achievement for all, collaboration for all, and equity for all. Achievement for all, believing that all students can learn and having high standards for all of our students. Collaboration, I truly believe in the power of the team. I believe in empowering colleagues who are leading the work, The collective is greater than the individual. It is not one person who can do the job. It's a team that does the job. So I believe in leveraging the strength of the entire team to work toward our strengths so that we can deliver the best quality service to the district and to our students. E, equity for all. We are stronger because of our differences and we value all learners. In addition to being connected to my personal core values, professional core values, the professional development that I'm participating in is also directly connected to the goals that I presented to the committee at our last session. And I am zoning in specifically under the category umbrella of our district improvement goal. And so our district improvement goal talks about creating a culture that values consistent communication. And we can move forward, bullet number three, which is consistent communication. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. Creating a culture that values consistent communication. This is a key action that was listed in the goals that were approved by this committee at our last session. And again, consistent communication to families across all schools and student services, such as, but not limited to athletics, counseling, career services, and student governance. The slide that you're looking at right now is an excerpt from some of the training that I've been participating in with Leading Now, which is a national organization. When I went to Denver over the summer, I met and worked with superintendents from East Coast, West Coast, all over Washington State, and it was truly an enriching experience. The Leading Now structure, how the cohorts are set up, they ask us to tackle real life scenarios and problems of practice, which may include, how do I shepherd a wide range of stakeholders to implement new policies? How can we best use our resources to advance district priorities? The previous presentation that Dr. Cushing and Rachel Perry shared are directly linked to our strategic plan. How are we leveraging our resources and the materials that we have available to, again, bring greater coherence and meet the needs of our school district? Thirdly, how can we work with board members, which also they use that school committee members, parents, political partners, and community groups in a constructive way that supports student learning. And again, just the previous presentation gave an example of another opportunity where we're going to be welcoming many stakeholders to be part of an important conversation to bring about new and improved resources for our students in the area of health. And I thank our community member who is an expert who shared, you know, off the cuff what she is doing. To the right on that slide, you can see the concentric circles showing all of the different stakeholder groups, parent and community members, cabinet, principals, teachers, staff, paraprofessionals, secretaries, everyone, students, and our school board, school committee. And all of these stakeholders working together and the star in the middle, the superintendent trying to collaborate and coordinate all stakeholders again to strengthen and bring forth the best district possible. The bottom three quotes I'm just gonna share with you are quotes from superintendents who participated in the training during the 21-22 school year. One shared, I haven't worked on my own professional growth since COVID. This was time well spent. I never opened my laptop the whole day we were together, staying focused and not being distracted by emails, which sometimes is hard to do or not to do. System leaders aren't afforded spaces like this enough. It is rare to have opportunities to be vulnerable and authentic. Another superintendent that was quoted said, I am in two other professional development opportunities this year and leading now is the only one I will consistently prioritize. So again, there's lots of praise. It creates great opportunities for collaboration and really having thought partners across the nation, which I look forward to that. So a few key noticings that I do wanna share with the committee members that as we have restructured and I am out in the field, visiting the schools, meeting with principals and administrators and seeing what's happening just during these first few weeks of school. These are some of the key things that I have noticed. All the schools are wonderfully welcoming and warm. Student engagement is active. Students are learning. Students are happy. They are working with their peers. I've had the opportunity, and as I've been entering the buildings, to welcome new staff members who are brand new to Mustang Nation. and just letting them know that I am happy that they have joined the team. And I haven't gotten to every single new staff person, but as I have been in buildings, depending sometimes they're on planning periods, but as I continue to do the rounds, I will be doing that with all principals to make sure that I get to welcome all new staff. In addition to that, teachers and staff have been working together to best position our students for a successful year and school administrators have been engaging with families at open house, whether it's open houses, curriculum nights, and many school-based events that have already taken place. So I really do feel like the school year has gotten off to a very positive start for our community. There are a few personal professional commitments that I have made knowing that I need to be flexible and nimble, nimble and flexible. I am determined to create additional opportunities such as coffee chats and meet and greets with families, staff, students, and stakeholders that is still being designed how it will roll out, but to roll it out throughout the entire district. That is a commitment. Addition to that commitment, which was also mentioned added to the revised goals was to make sure that we conduct the parent surveys and receive feedback so that we can continuously improve. It is important to be able to get the feedback and look at areas where we can tweak and make the necessary adjustments. And lastly, Participating in professional development, it's great being part of a professional learning community, also called PLCs, which we use sometimes that terminology in schools. We are always learning. We are in education. It's critically important. I am so excited that leading now, to be part of leading now, that leading now is part of my story of development for this year, the support, coaching, and professional development that I will continue to receive this year. And also being part of a professional learning community, I just wanted to say to the entire committee that having a renewed commitment to strategic communications and public engagement, it's going to allow me to stay the course. on my commitment to all students in Medford. So that this picture here, which was just taken last June, students happy, excited, right there at Hormel celebrating their time in Medford Public Schools. And that's my North Star, that's my goal, whether you go on to college or you go on to career, but getting all of our students to that finish line so that they can begin the next chapter of their lives. And I'm open to any questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon to everyone. On this celebration of life and the marking of this special memorial garden, I am here to say that I too have been moved by all of the words that were shared this day by the members of our staff. Although we have this memorial garden that is here in this wonderful plaque, which lists everyone's names. As I look at this garden and I see the beautiful flowers, the flowers will continue to give life, bring life, bring joy, bring peace, bring happiness, bring healing to everyone. The pandemic really gave us a curve ball. And we are all healing in different ways. And although we are moving to the other side of it right now, we still have the scars of what happened during that time. For all the family members that are here, I extend my sincere condolences to all of you. for your loved ones that are no longer here. But please know that as you look at this beautiful garden, we are honoring your loved ones and we are celebrating their life. We are celebrating their spirits and their contributions that they made to the Medford Public Schools. And so I wanna say thank you to all of you who came today to celebrate. the life of your loved ones, and to let you know that we here in Medford Public Schools will always remember and honor them. May their souls rest in peace, and may we all continue to receive joy, peace, and happiness from this garden. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: First, thank you so much for styling I wanted to just formally announced that Miss bill motherbo is our coordinator of world language. And we are so happy. We are so happy to have you on board this year. supporting world language programming. So I just wanted to say congratulations and welcome and thank you for taking on that challenge to support world languages at the high school. And so I want to make sure that I will do something again, we'll be introducing and announcing more of the new administrators this year. But while you were here today, I didn't want to miss that opportunity. And I also just wanted to share how excited I was about that yellow form. When Miss nylon was like now it's the $100, because it was very stressful. When we had to cancel that trip. And it was a lot of students, a lot of money that families sacrificed and the kids worked and saved. And then the pandemic had started. So, thankfully now we have the insurance in place and I look forward to offering our students more expeditionary learning opportunities. all over the world when possible. I'm not sure, Miss Nyland, did you say, or did you share with the committee yet, if you're not able to get 25 students that are in the French program that want to attend, what do you do then with the remaining seats?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. The method public schools. We have begun to host curriculum and meet the teacher information nights at all of our schools. This past week, both middle schools, the McGlynn Middle and the Andrews Middle School held their events. The McGlynn Elementary School and the Brooks Elementary School also welcomed parents and caregivers. This week, the Missittuck Elementary School will be holding theirs on Thursday the 22nd from 530 to 730 p.m. and next week, the Roberts Elementary School and Medford High School will be holding their events on September 29th. It is critical and important, very important that parents and caregivers can put names to faces and feel the ability or want to be as actively an active participant in the child's educational success this year. Also, we are very happy just to have the opportunity for parents to come in person. once again get back to running schools in a normal way. So thank you and I hope as many parents as possible come to support curriculum nights and meet the teacher nights. Yesterday, I want to applaud Mustang alum, Mr. Dave McGillivray, who directs the Boston Marathon for hosting the successful inaugural Run Medford event yesterday. A number of our school PTOs were able to raise funds as runners and walkers. All ages throughout the district and the community were able to enjoy this beautiful and historic race day. Our own Mayor Brianna Rungelkorn was just one of the hundreds of runners who participated yesterday. And I don't know Mayor, you were sharing that you ran a very fast mile. Do you want to tell us that number?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Anyway, it was a beautiful event. I know you did it in under six minutes. Six minutes and 50 seconds. So that's fabulous, fabulous. So thank you to our Mustang alum, Mr. Dave McGillivray for bringing such a wonderful event to Medford. I also want to wish and thank our HELLO students at Tufts University for reaching out to partner with McGlynn Middle School to provide an afterschool program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This student-run organization was designed by the HELLO Community Action Partners, a social justice initiative to provide direct community action to students in both Medford and Somerville. On Tuesdays, Hillel presents engineering activities, and on Thursdays, it presents art activities. Both days, the Hillel students will also offer tutoring and homework support for our students. The program will begin tomorrow and will run weekly until December 9th. I also would like to express a very special thanks to Mr. Anthony Petrellis, He's a grade five teacher at the McGlynn Elementary School, and he hosts Beyond the Podcast. He hosted a cornhole tournament at John Brewer's Tavern to raise funds for autism message boards. Anthony works collaboratively with the Doug Flutie Junior Foundation for autism, and was able to raise enough funding to be able to purchase three more autism boards for our remaining elementary school playgrounds. The McGlynn, the Brooks, and the Missituk. Last year, one was placed at the Roberts Elementary School. Our partnership with the Flutie Foundation enables our students affected by autism to live life to the fullest. Thank you, Anthony and the Flutie Foundation for your dedication to helping all our students better communicate with our teachers and staff. I also want to share that currently the Medford Family Network is in the process of collecting new or gently used Halloween costumes. for infants and children up to the age of eight. Donations can be dropped off at the MFN office. Also on September 15th, that marked the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. It runs until October 15th. It is an annual celebration of the history and culture of the United States, Latinx and Hispanic communities who have enriched our country. This year's theme is inclusivity for a stronger nation. To encourage that all voices are represented and welcomed to help build stronger communities, including ours here in Medford. Also, on an athletic front, our middle school teams, they will begin their GBL competitions this week. The fall middle school sports teams are baseball, softball, and cross country. A few key upcoming events. This Wednesday, September 21st, the Medford Vocational Technical High School cordially invites you to the dedication of their memorial garden. The ceremony will take place at 2.50 in the Vocational High School Courtyard. On Saturday, September 24th, this Saturday, the Mustang Band and Color Guard will be hosting the New England Scholastic Band Associations competition. This event will begin at 4pm at Hormel Stadium. There will be 11 other high schools that will be competing. Our students have been practicing really hard. It's really a fun family event. And I believe it's about $10 a ticket. and there will be concessions. So it's a big fundraiser for our band as well. So I hope you're able to come out and support the New England Scholastic Band event this Saturday at Hormel. On Monday, September 26th, there will be no school as we wish all of our Jewish students, staff, and families a happy and healthy new year. On Wednesday, September 28, please mark your calendars. The city's Board of Health will be offering the Omicron booster, which is the new one that just came out, from 3 to 6pm at the Council on Aging. Please register on the city's website. As I mentioned, next Thursday will be both the high school and the Roberts Elementary Schools back to school nights. At the Roberts, they do have a schedule 515 to 745 p.m. Grades four and five are 515 to six. Grades K and one, 610 to 655. Grades two and three, seven to 745 p.m. In closing, I would like to share two quotes with you. The first one is in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. I will quote Lin-Manuel Miranda, the American actor, singer, producer, and playwright. The fun for me in collaboration is working with other people. It just makes you smarter. That's proven. Collaboration has always been an important part of both my leadership and educational platforms, and I will continue to do so. Lastly, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest today after an unprecedented 70-year reign. For a long time, the Queen was one of very few women leading at a time when our world was very male-dominated. She once said, and I find this fitting for where we are right now, we may hold different points of view, but it is in times of stress and difficulty that we most need to remember that we have much more in common than there is dividing us. May she rest in peace. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So before you, you have my goals proposed goals for school year 2223. I'll be presenting on three goals the district improvement goal, the student learning goal, and the professional practice goal. For 2223, the Medford Public Schools will improve the systems and structures that directly impact student services and operations. Improved outcomes or plans to improve outcomes will be seen in student transportation, communications, and facilities operations. The goal is to continue maintaining a learning environment built upon the pillars of safety, equity, and consistency, creating a culture that values consistent communication and creating structures that promote healthy transportation to school. So one of the things we are proposing to do is to establish modern and accessible bicycle racks at schools. We would like to leverage partnerships with safe routes to schools for walking school buses, Bicycle lanes and other options to reduce carbon and promote student welfare. Three, consistent communication to families across all schools and student services such as athletics, counseling, career services and student governance. Four, we would like to begin the process for a school bus RFP that examines busing options beyond the MBTA. We would also like to convene the capital planning committee to examine building systems and create a replacement timeline. We would like to fully collaborate with MSBA, Massachusetts School Building Authority, to improve facilities and building systems. Some of the outcomes that we would hope to see by the end of this school year, bicycle racks updated at the middle and high school complexes, walking school bus routes clearly defined, Bicycle lanes painted on city streets and school access roads. Looking into purchasing a communication platform that is used regularly by all schools and student servicing groups. such as talking points, which we have invested in this year, possibly some mores and others. We're still continuing to research additional communication platforms that can be used consistently across all schools. We have launched a new website and the hope is in the near future to launch a new district smartphone app, which is connected to the newly updated website. Also, by the end of the school year to be well on our way with the school bus contract that responds to our student transportation needs and have the capital planning committee review can conduct reviews at each of our schools. Under my student learning goal, because again student learning goals do take time to see results. We are still prioritizing early literacy in Medford public schools. And so as we are working on prioritizing early literacy. We would like to continue to implement interventions in literacy to improve outcomes for all of our students by deepening teacher and principal knowledge, again, of early literacy practices. And at the same time, we would like to be maintaining a district-wide focus on instruction and assessment through the continued use of NWEA MAP. Some of the key actions, We're going to continue to support the development of our early literacy program. We are continuing to work closely with DESE and following the DESE guidelines, which includes our dyslexia guidance through the implementation of the enhanced core reading instruction program, ECRI. Continue to provide professional development for our teachers, supporting coaching, We are continuing our partnership with Hill for Literacy during this school year for 22-23 school year. And the continued use, this will now, we are coming upon our first year of NWEA MAP, which is again, the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress. So we are continuing to use the NWEA MAP assessment. So for outcomes, we want to see consistent, full implementation of ECRI across all K-2 classrooms within the district. And we will be able to identify and see that visible implementation of the science of reading, the best practices that are being taught to our teachers during literacy blocks, also through conducting early literacy learning walks district-wide. And we will be very intentional and strategic about our analysis of data and literacy outcomes. Looking at progress from the beginning of the year and then looking at our mid year benchmarks and end of the year benchmarks. Beneath that it says accountability. And this is new for this year. And I say that This will be the measurable goal that I would hope at the end of the year, we are able to see our students achieving. It's an ambitious goal, but my hope is that we will be able to see significant movement. We would like to see 100% all of our students at the four elementary schools in the aggregate demonstrate growth again, at the 50th percentile or higher based on the RIT scores. Now, although this is our early literacy goal, but an additional accountability measure, we would like to see not only at the elementary levels, Throughout the rest of the district, grades six through 10, 100% of all students in the aggregate demonstrating equal growth at the 50th percentile or higher. And we would like to see 65% of our students meet or exceed their projected growth targets on the NW EA map assessments. By the spring of 23. And so last spring. a partial presentation on NWEA MAP was presented. There were other indicators that other pieces of information that needed to be presented as well. And so right now, schools are still administering the beginning of year assessments. So when we complete the beginning of year assessments for NWEA MAP this year, we will be presenting to the committee the results of the fall. And looking at the results of last year, and showing a comparison from one year because now we have a full, full year cycle to look at from the beginning of the year last year to how we performed the beginning of the year this year to see what direction our students are moving. And we are hoping we're very optimistic that we're going to see positive movement continued positive movement and growth. So I will be presenting that to the committee in the in the coming weeks, once all of that data is available and addressing as many pieces that were on the original request as many pieces of possible that we are able to present now that we have more data to be able to paint a fuller picture of how NWEA map is in Medford public schools. At the bottom of that goal I have a small star just showing that the RIT scale is a stable scale. Similar to feet in inches that accurately measure student performance, regardless of age grades or grade level. And so this is the information that we will be using my third and final goal. is my professional practice goal. And my previous years that I was presenting my professional practice goal. I always listed this up because I participated in Jesse's new superintendents induction program. which is where the NSF NSP came from, and I participated in the supplemental programming that they had. And so now I have transitioned, and I am now participating in leading now. And I am part of mass ready. And these are two additional professional development groups, leading now is a national group, and working with superintendents from across the nation, and mass ready is Massachusetts school superintendents that are participating in professional development around. Racial equity diversity and inclusion so it's referred to as ready. And so I am actively participating. I am helping to support and co facilitate. When asked at many of these events, and supporting and mentoring and working with other superintendents. And I also some of the outcomes that I have listed again continuing to leverage the expertise and collective knowledge of superintendents across the state. Seeking input and incorporating suggestions from our own NPS race equity task force, leading and learning about ready and providing mentorship, and also continuing to work collaboratively with our Middlesex County DA's office, their anti-bias, anti-hate task force. And I presented, I was part of a, panel last week, speaking to the new assistant DAs that have just come on for this first year. So I am continuing to do that work. And these professional development sessions take place on a monthly basis. And those are my goals for this year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, as of right now, it's mostly central office, but we would definitely like to. Broaden broaden that the capital planning work, and we can work in collaboration with one of the subcommittees I'm sure we can definitely do that but we wanted to at least have the district improvement goal. be inclusive of. I'm trying to think of how it was awarded to me the other aspects of the district that aren't always connected to academics and learning but are equally important. And I would be remiss to say that I have had the opportunity to speak with many members. and many conversations and received feedback and consult for many of you to help inform these goals. So I do hope that everyone can kind of see some, a little bit of trying to, their input. That is my hope and that I will continue to work collaboratively with the committee. Thank you, Mayor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that is it. And we also when possible we always work collaboratively. with Alicia hunt and like consulting with her, like the project, you know for solar panels or just different things like that where she, she will always support us I think there's even some, you know, with the bicycle racks and just trying to do things to enhance the community and be thinking of health and safety. We definitely would partnership with. create partnerships with the community and the city for the advancement of the district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Lucy, can you please come forward to share what the timeline there was. I don't have the specifics let me ask Mr. Lucy, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So last year, I don't have the hard number because one of the, with the NWEA map, there are a few exceptions that I wanna like share. One, for example, we are providing the assessment three times a year. However, in the winter administration, The window of the NW map assessment is the same window of time that our English learners are taking the access test. So during that window of time we do have students that will not be double tested. So, we're not going to have 100% complete data, which is why. We actually had a really rich discussion back at Central on what would be a reasonable number. So we have, you know, due to test fatigue for some students, so we're not going to like, you know, give them the double whammy. Also, we have some students that it could be, you know, maybe due to the interventions that they're having or it could be extreme. Maybe anxiety or distress around assessment taking that we would not want to have this in house assessment. know, harm them, because we're thinking about the whole child. We also know that there's mobility that takes place with some of our students, they may start, they could potentially leave or they may come midway through the year and so we don't have beginning of year data. And so, with all of those pieces we were thinking about how do we show student growth, we know that all students will grow all students will learn. And so that was where we came up with a conservative number of 65% because we do know that there are some special populations that will not be. participating. So last year, we didn't have consistent data across the board. It was the first time that it was being given. Some students love taking tests. They take it as a challenge, and they gave it their all. It was the first time that it was administered. There were some technical glitches that ended up happening. And so due to all of those reasons, We said 65% would be like a reasonable number. Also there's some information like with the bell curve and, you know, there's a percentage that will maybe not show as much growth, and some that will show significant growth. And so we were going back and forth but Trying to say what is a reasonable accountability measure. And so that was where we came up with the 65% being reasonable. And as we were looking at the data. there were ebbs and flows, there were some stronger pockets, there were some pockets that we were looking at, but there were so many factors with the pandemic, with kids that were still out, with quarantining, there were just so many factors that we felt like the initial data was a little shaky, it was a first time out, and that this is gonna be the real year. And so by the end of this year, we will calculate where we land and we're not sure, like I'm saying 65 and the data could say that it's really 55 or the data could say, you said 65, but actually it's 75%, which would be even more fabulous. So we're really trying to get as many students assess this year and then use that data To, you know, propel us to the next level. So since this is the first time that I was putting an accountability metric. I really didn't want to say 100% of students are going to meet or exceed, knowing that some students will only take two assessments. Some students, you know, for whatever reason, where, you know, we're thinking about them, the whole child that we know we have to remove some students from the SS assessment cycle that we said you know we can feel pretty certain that 65% of students that we can probably get 65% of our students to take. all you know portions of the assessment, and then look at our performance based on that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, but the other two bullets, the 100%, based on a presentation that I did in the late spring, we were able to show growth, even though all students didn't grow the same amount, All students showed growth and the hope is that we will continue to have. 100% growth in the aggregate. So that is something where I didn't lower it to say 90% or 88%. We're trying to keep that number as high as possible. So no matter what your starting point is, you need to show growth by the end of the year. And so we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to show growth. And we want to show growth at 50th percentile or higher. So we're still going to be, you know, staying very positive and wanting to see us get to that very high number or as close to that number as possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wrote it down, I'm gonna, I will revise it, add climate and culture assessment at middle and high school as an outcome under the district improvement goal, and to add Hill for Literacy core program review under key actions, and then the outcomes will be new selected elementary literacy program. So I will, I wrote it down, I'll make those revisions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. As we begin tonight, I would be remiss if I did not mention that yesterday was the 21st anniversary of the horrific September 11th terrorist attacks on our country. I know that everyone remembers where they were that day when that first plane hit the World Trade Center. Despite the unspeakable pain and loss, we will always feel at the deaths of over 2,900 people We also remember the sense of unity and service that was palpable during this time 21 years ago. Indeed, in our work, educating students who were not yet born on September 11th, we strive to continue that commitment to service and in the hope that there will be moments devoid of tragedy in which we will once again feel, at least to some degree, that sense of unity. To honor the memory of all those lost, I respectfully ask that we rise for a moment of silence to remember all those who perished and for all the public safety personnel who ran to help the victims that day. And sadly, I would also like to ask that we just take one additional moment of silence to honor the memory of Kyle Roust, a 2019 Medford High School graduate who lost his life in a tragic accident this summer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Over the last several weeks, this is regards to the opening of school. The hallways and classrooms of our school buildings have once again been filled with students and staff, as together we once again embark upon a new school year. Administrators and first year educators arrived on campus the week of August 22nd, and our new staff were treated to an induction week. as well to help them get acclimated to the Mustang community. Induction week this year included a tour of the city of Medford, in which our new colleagues visited Tufts University, the Royal House, and the slave quarters, and the brand new Medford Library. After the library, the group was welcomed to Medford by Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. There will be a more detailed report next week from Dr. Riccardelli. If the last few school years have taught us anything, it is that the partnerships we enjoy as a school are critically important to the execution of our mission. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize several different invaluable partnerships that make it possible for us to do this work. First, our most sincere thanks goes to our Members Plus Credit Union for providing 100 filled backpacks for our students, and to Wegmans for providing additional school supplies for our middle and high school students. Second, I would like to note the generous donations from Tufts University, Herb Chambers, Simple Fare, and East Cambridge Savings Bank. Because the networks night of 10,000 lights had a wonderful fundraiser at rights pawn this past Saturday evening, and due to generous donations of our partners that event was able to take place. I wanted to share, as we announced last week, that the Medford Public Schools has reached tentative agreements with three of our bargaining units, representing administrative assistants, carpenters and maintenance personnel, and school nurses. We are grateful to each of these groups for their commitment to the district, and we'll be submitting those tentative agreements to the school committee for your final approval in the coming days. In addition, as we announced last week, and with the unanimous support of the school committee, we have declared an impasse in our negotiations with the Medford Teachers Association in order so we may petition the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations to assign a neutral mediator to assist toward a resolution on a successor agreement. These decisions will be discussed later in the agenda in our labor update. But to be clear, the declaration of an impasse in no way constitutes the district walking away from the bargaining table. It instead means we are looking to engage in this negotiation with the assistance of a mediator in the hope of expediting a resolution.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Finally, there are a few reminders and updates that reflect what a busy time of year this is for our Mustang community. Fall sports season is in full swing, and we wish all of our athletes well. Our Mustang football team began their season this past Friday against Arlington. We do encourage all community members to check out our sports schedule to support our student athletes. This week, Medford Special Education Parent Advisory Council hosts its first virtual meeting of the new year on Wednesday. Sunday, Mustang alum Dave McGilvery's inaugural Run Medford event will be held. CCSR and Power Kids were selected as beneficiaries of this race. On September 24th at Hormel Stadium, the Mustang Band will host and compete at the New England Band Competition.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: While there are very limited number of teaching positions and power positions that we still need to fill, we have successfully filled the vast majority of vacancies. As noted in one of my back to school bulletins, we are welcoming several new leaders into administrator roles. While we hope to have an opportunity to introduce you to several of these new faces in presentations in the coming weeks and months, I've asked our two newly minted school leaders to join us tonight. It is my pleasure to introduce Mr. Andrew O'Brien, friendly assistant principal at the Roberts Elementary School, who is now the principal of the McGlynn Elementary School. and Dr. Lori Hodgdon, who is now the principal of the Curtis Tufts High School. Lori most recently held the role of school director at the Collegiate Charter School of Law. At this time, I would like to ask Mr. Andy O'Brien and Dr. Lori Hodgdon to step forward so that they may be recognized.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's my distinct pleasure to welcome all of you to the Medford Public Schools. My name is Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent, and I am so honored to be the superintendent of the Medford Public Schools. Medford is a welcoming community, and in our schools, we thrive to be inclusive and offer so many educational and athletic opportunities for our students. The Medford Public Schools has always encouraged our parents and caregivers to collaborate with us to benefit your students' education. We know that it takes all of us, parents, caregivers, teachers, administrators, the Medford School Committee, and the community at large to work together for the betterment of our students. Medford is one of the oldest communities in the United States, settled in 1630 and established as a city in 1892. It is a community rich in diversity and history. As a district, our guiding pillars are achievement for all, collaboration for all, equity for all, and support for all. As Maya Angelou once said, We should all know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value, no matter what their color. I look forward to us working together. In closing, I welcome everyone to the home of the Mustangs. If you ever see me out and about, When I say Mustang, you say Pride. Mustang Pride. This is your proud superintendent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon. When we had our meeting where we discussed my goals specifically, I requested of the committee to present my goals in the fall, to take the summer, to have time to take a step back, reflect on what happened this previous year, strategize and plan for the following year. and present the proposed goals to you at the start of the school year. I also want the committee to know that I have spoken with many superintendents, all of them that I have spoken with present their goals at the beginning of the school year between September, October, the first quarter of the school year. I also spoke with MASS just to get additional guidance, although it can happen at different points.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to receive some additional guidance and Normally, the majority of districts goals are presented at the start of the school year. And yes, during the summer, a lot of work does take place. But as a team, a district team, we need to have the opportunity to work collaboratively and come up with a plan that we present to the entire committee. So I again am in support of the mayor's resolution to wait until the fall. I personally am very exhausted and would just like a little bit of time to recharge and regroup. It's been a very long year and just to feel refreshed and be able to come and present potential goals, knowing that the school committee makes the final decision. So I'm prepared for whatever decision the committee will make regarding the goals, but I am requesting that the goals be presented at the start of the school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is definitely doable. I could present draft at the beginning of September. I think it might be the week right after Labor Day, I believe. I could present it at the first meeting, the draft goals, so that we could still meet the deadline of the 30th to present back to the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just want to say, Madam President, and to the Council, thank you again for your support of the Medford Public Schools. I also want to thank the Medford School Committee. And all the teachers who spoke today and really shared their personal stories, we are listening. We know that this is a very difficult decision, but again, we ask that you humbly accept the request that has gone before you so we can begin to make changes on the school side. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I wanted to ask for a little more clarification on the feedback for developing a district-wide focus on instruction and assessment. I was just hoping that the committee could tell me more about that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. It was helpful. Mayor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you member Graham. So, I just wanted to ask member Graham. So where you were talking about. Would you recommend, are you, are you saying that you're recommending that we reduce the number of professional development opportunities because we do the smiley sheets we do try to get feedback in real time, but also sometimes I think it depends on the content of what they're receiving professional development in. So, for example, this year, when we launched the new math program, the teachers will be receiving professional development in how to use this math programming. So over the course of the year, we'll be able to see, you know, their level of comfort. It's going to take time because it's completely new content, but all elementary teachers will be participating in that professional development. So I just wish, just as I'm jotting some notes, I'm just trying to find out if you're suggesting that as we do the professional development and have teachers provide feedback on the quality of professional development, the accountability piece of seeing whether or not the professional development is actually taking place. that would have to happen based on classroom observations and how the students are performing. Are they grasping the content or not? And so I don't know if it's something like that. So I just was going to ask you for a little more specificity if possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. Thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I'll wait for you to go through all of them and then ask the questions at the end.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, just, I wanted to say, as I read the feedback under instructional leadership that I did agree with the feedback that I know that there is work that needs to continue to be done where it was talking about the secondary level remediation for students in literacy and in math, especially trying to close the gaps from the pandemic. And so I definitely, in agreement with the feedback that's being shared, I just wanted to offer that as we think about layering the different programs, K-12, one of the things that I'm always trying to balance is like the caseload, the workload on the teachers, because if in fact we end up I'm introducing too many different topics at the same exact time, then you don't have time to really go deep and fully understand like we when I got here we adopted the fast science and now we just adopted the math and We're looking at the literacy as the third program. And so I just wanted to share that I am trying to balance how much is a reasonable amount of new content new programs to be able to present. to the teacher. So that is part of why there isn't this let's go whole hog and change everything all at once, because it's overwhelming. The teachers need to have time to learn the new programs and then to be able to teach it. So I just wanted to say that I did agree with that feedback, but I just wanted to provide a little context as to why I wasn't trying to go faster at a faster rate because I truly don't want people to feel stressed or overwhelmed that it's too many programs happening all at the same time that they're not able to fully process it. And for the data informed decision making. My hope is now that we have NWEA and where you were talking about growth data. Yes, this was the first year. And so we never had a data system in place. So my hope is to continue to show the growth, which is what I had presented a few weeks back, that we want to see where students are starting, whatever their starting point is, whether they're a student with disabilities, whether they're an English learner, where they start and where they end the school year, are they showing growth? And so as a district, we were showing growth, that we were hitting at least 50% at almost every single grade level. We were above the 50th percentile. So I'm hoping next year as we have our second year of using an additional assessment system, because the MCAS again, you have to wait a year to get that, that that's gonna help. So those are just my only two comments. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: As I was looking at the feedback, I think I was surprised and a little taken aback at the engagement rating. And so I guess one of the things that I am, when I have the opportunity to be with families and I talk with them, Many, many times families have said to me how appreciative they are of the weekly communication and realizing, feeling like they are aware of what's happening within the district globally. And in our weekly communications that go out to the entire school community, when appropriate, we do include whether it's CPAC announcements or other types of things that are happening on the community or city side, we do try to include those events to broaden the stakeholders who may be looking at it. So I guess I was just gonna ask for, I looked at the feedback, and I know where On bullet 3.3 about one way communication we do translate all of the communication that we send out, we have invested in talking points as a district. So I do know. there are opportunities for teachers to communicate as well with some of our families that are ELs, where English is not their first language. So I do feel like we have tried to be consistent at least and having one format or a way of communicating with families. And so I don't know, you know, specifically, but if other members wanted to just speak to some of the pieces under engagement. And as a district, we made significant investment in our engagement specialists, which again, are another layer that didn't exist before, but we added that whole department to really try to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable students that may in other situations be falling through the cracks. So I just was hoping to get a little more feedback or clarification on that overall rating. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Mayor, I just wanted to, and I welcome the feedback. I wanted to talk a little bit about the cultural proficiency rating, and I guess I would love to hear a little more, but when I went back to look at What's in the standard ensures that policies and practices enable staff and students to interact effectively in a culturally diverse environment in which students backgrounds identities strengths and challenges are respected. As evidenced by the sufficient sufficient provision of guidance supports and resources to all schools to promote culturally responsive learning environments in school cultures that affirm individual differences of both students and staff, and I do feel that. That is something that is happening in Medford. If you go to the schools, I was at the, you know, Missittuck and the Roberts today. And I do feel when I'm in the schools, any of them, that the students are valued, whether it's showing flags from the diverse representation, but the students and families, whether it's their background, their identity, their strengths, their challenges, Medford really does a very good job trying to welcome all. And so I just was again because I don't I don't know what went into the. you know, that rating, but I just was wondering, in addition to all of the DEI work that we're trying to do with professional development, I was just hoping to get a little more feedback just to help me understand what I need to do more of. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I'm sorry. Sorry. I just wanted to say that with the teacher communications, one of the things that. is currently happening is between both Ms. Galussi and Dr. Cushing. They were sending direct communications to teachers talking about grade level teams and scheduling and meetings. So I can work on trying to revamp that, but there is a communication mechanism in place for teachers directly. It was just being managed by the both of them to the respective teams. So I just wanted to comment that there is there is communication, but we can work on letting them know that I agree with what's being sent out. But thank you for all the feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: that the network was chosen from a total of 580 applicants. They plan on using this funding over the next two to five years in order to better connect with families in our community. I also wanted to recognize Mr. Tremonti's eighth grade class at the Hamptons Middle School. They shared their civics project with me. The students developed a banner which promotes As one of the quotes on the banner states, when we all give, all gain. The banner can be seen as one enters the foyer of the Andrews Middle School. and unfortunately they did lose three to two, but congratulations nonetheless. And likewise, the boys played Westside High School in West Springfield. And unfortunately they did lose as well with a 10 to five, but despite the losses, we are very proud of all of the spring sport athletes within Medford Public Schools. So again, those of you who are interested in sports, The fall sports season that's coming up the portal will be open, and you'll be able to register there. I wanted to also thank the class of 2020. This was the first graduating class that was impacted by COVID-19. This class could not celebrate their graduation with a prom, a barbecue, senior breakfast, and an in-person graduation ceremony. Despite missing all of this, they still wanted to leave something behind for future generations of Mustangs. Last Thursday, Mayor Rungelkorn, Dr. Cushing, Assistant Principal Bloch, the 2020 class advisors, Mr. Joseph Donlon and Mrs. Nancy Donlon, and the 2020 class president, Mark Allen Jean-Marie, and Class Secretary Elijah Fortune. They helped to unveil a beautiful Mustang statue. It's placed near the entrance to the Caron Theater. The plaque that accompanies this beautiful bust of a Mustang head says in recognition of the class of 2020 Medford High School Medford vocational technical high school. We remember your strength resilience and unending commitment to our school community. You so ably demonstrated the true meaning of Mustang spirit, setting an example for alumni and the many students to follow. Special thanks to Mr. Devaney of Oak Grove Memorials for designing the marble base that supports the bust and giving the school a significant discount. to have that bust displayed beautifully in the foyer area. So last week, we had the opportunity to enjoy some events that in the past we would have missed out on. We celebrated our Junior Olympics at Hormel Stadium with fifth graders. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Member Graham, Member McLaughlin, Mayor McLaughlin, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Member McLaughlin. Our athletic department, our phys ed teachers, all of our elementary principals, the students, they had the opportunity to really participate in Olympic sports, run around, the teams were mixed up so they got to see new friends and people that they will be together with next year when they go to middle school. So there were a lot of parents PTO was actively involved, and it was truly a great event for all. I also wanted to say that last week we had a wonderful celebration at the new library. It was the elementary read-a-thon. And at last count, that read-a-thon raised over $31,000 from all of the four elementary schools. The students did an outstanding job reading. over two to three weeks. And I want to thank member Graham was there may along will Kern was there as well, recognizing our students giving them treats, and just thanking them for reading taking on that challenge, and not to let reading go by the wayside. I also want to thank the library staff for allowing us to use their beautiful facility. It was a wonderful event, recognizing students from pre-kinder all the way up through fifth grade. This week and next week are going to be moving on ceremonies for our eighth graders, for our fifth graders. So there are definitely a lot of moving on ceremonies that are coming up and we will have those specific dates posted. They'll be going out to the community. So depending on which school, they're all different dates, but it's a wonderful time of year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sorry. The last piece that I said was that there will be multiple moving on ceremonies at both the fifth and eighth grades. Please look out for school-based communications so you can have the exact time and location at your respective schools. Um, we will be since this is the final regular meeting of the year. This is our last Monday of being in school before the school year lets out. We will have summer fun camp starting on July 5 at the miss a tuck. And then there will be plenty of clinics being offered this summer for any of our athletes volleyball girls lacrosse, basketball, soccer. So please go to the school blog to find out the information for that Medford rec and the Maldon why. At the GMAC gym, and the new Medford public library, they are hosting many summer events, so please take advantage of that as well look at their respective websites. I want to wish all of our dads out there a happy Father's Day, this coming Sunday, this coming Sunday. June 19. I also want to just remind everyone that June 19 is Juneteenth. It became a federal holiday last year. The name is the blending of the words June and 19th. It commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day that the Union Army Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and told slaves of their emancipation. That day came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863. even after Lincoln declared all enslaved people free on paper that hadn't necessarily been the case in practice. Juneteenth is also known as Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day. People across the country celebrate with food and festivities, much like the 4th of July. In celebration of Juneteenth, schools will be closed on Monday, June 20th. School will resume on Tuesday, the 21st, and our last day of school is Thursday, June 23rd. So as I said, this is our last regular school committee meeting of the year. We will be scheduling additional meetings, which we mentioned earlier. I especially want to thank all of our students and staff, as well as our school committee for another successful school year. I want to congratulate our educators and staff who are retiring this year. And since we are still finalizing details on this list, we will be individually recognizing all of our retirees at our first meeting officially in September. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I just wanted to comment because as I'm listening to the conversation. I definitely am in support of visiting the incident reports in correcting the language for the disciplinary referrals piece. I'm not really clear in terms of what it is specifically that you're asking and I'm just thinking about. Is this something that's going to be putting an additional burden on the classroom teachers. If, if you know something that like a very minor infraction takes place in the classroom that it's it's documented but to say every single time. something happens that there's parent notification so I, I am in support of sending it to the subcommittee to try to unpack it and unpack it in terms of a reasonable way parents definitely are notified I know when there are serious infractions that take place, but I just don't want it to be something where it's something that's so minor and. It's, it's addressed but it ends up now being an additional demand in terms of students with disabilities member McLaughlin. We definitely work with building based special education administrators and. The administrators also know that there are special rules, different rules, rules for students with disabilities regarding suspension. So that is really on everyone's radar. And if in fact. discipline stronger discipline needs to be meted out, then we definitely consult with special education administrators, prior to that taking place. So I just wanted to say that it is something that we're aware of and miss Bowen is here she can speak to that as well. I just wanted to comment so that you're aware I am willing to, you know, address the incident reports and get the policy formally revised, but I am cautious about saying every single thing needs to be revised because we do need to document but not everything is worthy of, you know, a phone call calling the parent immediately. Cause it's, it's something else that we would be adding to the instructional day.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say thank you as well to CPAC for your continued partnership with Medford Public Schools, including us, notifying us of all of your meetings and giving us an opportunity to communicate more widely with the entire community. So thank you for that. And I look forward to our continued partnership moving next year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Linda's missing for secondary schools. Yeah, so the secondary schools are on a slightly different schedule than K five. So, for elementary schools they would have a regular school day. The last day of school would be at this point. If we have no snow days Friday, June 16, the first day this year Wednesday, August 31, so those three half days. Dr. Cushing, one clarifying question. On the 16th for secondary, on Friday, June 16th, 1130 dismissal for middle school, noon dismissal for elementary and high school. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the dates in yellow are noon dismissals, and we will not be having the early release for Oh, it's to be determined so it's still under negotiations, but the yellow dates. At this point in time would be for all grades, and then we are working on that early release day of Wednesdays, where we part of our proposal was for that not to exist anymore. So we're still negotiating that but this was the. in order to have additional professional development with staff.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we'll definitely add a notation, maybe put an asterisk or something on that last week saying that these attentive dates, you know, hoping that there are no snow days or inclement weather days that would require us. So this is not set in stone. 180 days is our obligation to be in school for students. So according to this calendar right now, June 16th is day 180 for our general education population.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening. This presentation was also in response to a request, community request, to just Let us share some of the key, key pieces that we are allowed to share to say what Medford Public Schools is doing in support of our safety and security measures.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In addition to the Municipal Safety Council and the Medford Public Schools Leadership Safety Council, we also have a universal safety committee, which meets monthly, and it has a CPAC representative, our Director of Pupil Services attends those meetings, a school committee representative, Special education coordinators are part of that. High school principals, middle school principals, and elementary school principals are also part of the safety committee taking into account all of our populations within the school community when emergency situations may arise. Questions?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just waiting a moment for the slide deck to be pulled up. So I'm here this evening to present the update on the implementation of our first full administration of the NWEA map assessment system. NWEA standing for Northwest Evaluation Association. So as I begin my remarks, I wanted to say that Having NWEA math growth assessment right now in Medford Public Schools, that the first purpose of the assessment system is to be a diagnostic tool for us to be able to make data-informed decisions about what's taking place in all of our schools. And so in order to create a data-informed culture, it is important to consider that data is to be used for instructional improvement. This data that will be presented today is based upon growth and it is by nature very, very dynamic. It is not a fixed number. We should also consider and remember that we're thinking about the whole child, that data is not fate for any individual child, classroom or school. Like a map, it is an opportunity to see where we are in relation to where we want to go. So let us tread cautiously upon how we interpret the data that I'm going to share with you this evening. So as we look at this data, I have two protocols that are in front of you. The arrow says that we collect data points We assess and make meaning of the data, and then we adjust our practice. The image on the right shows the data-wise ladder of inference. And so you have data, you interpret the data, you draw conclusions, and the final step is you always take action and we begin the cycle over and over again. Here, the image on the left is an iceberg. An iceberg is something where you can only really see the top of it. So as we're looking at this data, the hard number is the tip of the iceberg that we can actually see. We don't see all of the other components that are beneath the water. And so that's why I said a little earlier that we're talking about the whole child. So again, we're not taking this data point to define a child exclusively by a number, but to be able to say that this is just one point of many points as we work with children and think about the learning of the whole child. So these are a few summary of actions of things that we've been doing working with data analysis. This year, we had professional development, with all of our teachers for NWEA MAP training for them to understand what the test was going to be like and how to use this new tool. Also this year, administrative meetings focused on data analysis. We also use the preliminary baseline data for NWEA map. And this professional development took place with principals, directors, and coordinators. And Dr. Carmen Williams was also part of the body of research that she worked on. But during these professional development meetings, we developed a common language. We talked specifically about data analysis and the importance of triangulation of data. I have inside a document. that was used, Dr. Cushing, are you able to just click on that? Can you go back one, please? Can you click on the example of data analysis conclusions that this happens on some levels within department meetings where the educators are looking at Where are the areas of success? Where are the areas that we need to revisit? And this is just one hard copy of an example of how teachers are looking at data and using their data to inform their instruction and to inform next steps. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. Can you revert back to the slide deck, please? Coherence. So this work with NWEAMAP, we finally have one assessment system that's being used in all of our eight schools. Every building is using the assessment. It's the same exact assessment being used district wide. So we are able to compare data and look at how students are demonstrating growth with the content that is being covered. Again, I talked a little bit about the slide deck, the sheet that we just showed you showed the stoplight activity. These are the types of questions that teachers and principals, administrators, curriculum directors are asking their teachers as they look at data. What do they notice and wonder? the single loop, double loop learning, and stoplight activity. All of these activities, again, are happening at all different levels across the district. Dr. Cushing? The spotlight activity Red, what can we stop doing because we don't have evidence that it is effective? Yellow, what do we need to adjust and or consider an alternative way? And green, what do we need to continue doing because it is working? So as I get ready, Dr. Cushing, thank you. As I get ready to show the hard data for the district, I wanted to just bring up some relevant vocabulary. We're going to be talking about the RIT median score. When you see the words or the letters RIT, it's the rash interval unit scale. It's named after a Danish mathematician, George Lash. The RIT scale is a stable scale, like feet and inches, that accurately measures student performance regardless of age, grades, or grade level. Like marking height on a growth chart and being able to see how tall your child is at various points in time, you can also see how much they have grown between tests. You can use this height analogy when explaining RIT, the RIT process, to students as well. The higher the RIT score, the more achievement the student has in the subject. The student's percentile ranking in conditional growth percentile can show how much the student has achieved in comparison with their peers. Dr. Cushing. There's a few other vocabulary words that I just wanted to highlight. We're going to be sharing the median score today. The median score is the middle number of a data set. It separates the upper half of a data set from the lower half. The mean is the same as the average value of a data set and is found using a calculation by adding up all of the numbers and dividing that number, dividing by the number of numbers in the data set. And the mode is the number in a data set that occurs most frequently. You'll also see CCR, which is talking about college and career readiness. We're going to begin with our science benchmarks. I'm really pleased to report to the committee that this purple band in the middle, which says NWEA median score, it's at the 50th percentile, that the majority of our performance as a district was above the median score listed. which on the left-hand side shows higher achievement, lower achievement, where that little arrow is. So science was given two times this year. We're showing the data for third grade, The median score was 188, and in the winter when our score was given, our range was, our first number ranged from 191 to 199. Dr. Kirshen, you can go forward to, thank you, third, fourth, and fifth grade. So the median score that we were looking for in third grade was 188. At all four elementary schools, the range that was shown, we exceeded that median score. In fourth grade, the median score was 195. In all elementary schools, we exceeded 195, the 50th percentile, we were above that score. In fifth grade, the median score was 200, and our range was from 203 to 208 in the winter administration of the science. At the elementary level, all of our elementary schools were above the non-referenced median score. Again, it's nationally normed, so we are at or above the nationally normed reference. Dr. Cushing, thank you. For grade six, the median score was 204. and our range was between 203, our lowest score, and 206. So the three numbers that are showing shows you the range of scores within the school, 206, 207, 208, 203, 204, 205, but the median score was 204. In grade seven, The median score was 207, and we were above that at 208 and 214. In the eighth grade, the median score was 210. We were at 216 and 210, respectively, hitting the median percentile. For high school, Dr. Cushing? The median score was 211 for ninth grade, and we were at 217. In 10th grade, the median score was 213, and we were at 219 as our lowest score. Our summary of science is as follows. that we were able to show growth, and again, this was a diagnostic tool at all levels, and we showed even greater growth between the winter and spring assessments that took place for grades three through eight. There was limited growth at grade six, but this again is the first time when we get to the secondary level that our sixth graders end up having a science, an individualized science teacher. So that was one area where we saw a slight adjustment. Dr. Cushing, we can move forward to math. In math, this is a similar scale. Yes, Dr. Cushing. Yes, Member Ursula.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the three numbers are the range of scores that were administered in that. So all the scores fell between, Dr. Cushing, you can leave it right here. So grade 10, the winter range of scores At the high school, we fell between 219 and 221.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this was the average. So they broke it out by individualized tests. And then when we pulled a specific report to say 10th grade, which is where I'm meeting right now, what was the range? It was 219 to 221 in the fall, in the winter. And then in the spring, we were 220 to 222. So there was small growth, but there was positive growth.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is saying it based on where the school is. This was the first time that the assessment was given. What you're seeing, this range of numbers showed us when we were looking at the data that the schools are performing similarly on this diagnostic assessment. So these numbers are not individual students. It was the entire grade level. Well, this is, no, exactly how Mr. Sealy explained it, but when you put the report, it showed you this was, I was using the term range of scores, but the median number was in the middle, and we were exceeding. the median score, which is why we included the table, in almost every, there were a few areas that were outliers, but it wasn't even an outlier by significantly. It might have been a difference of one point, and by the, and again, this is showing growth. But by the time the second or third administration of the assessment was given, students showed significant growth. at some particular grade levels. Science, the assessment was only given twice. It was given in the winter and in the spring, but for ELA and math, those assessments were given three times, and you could see the growth, and there were a few areas that there was not as much growth, but we also realized that this year there was a pandemic, This year was the first time that the students were being introduced to this new assessment system. So we also took that into consideration. We also took into consideration that we had some significant attendance issues. So we had to do makeup tests and We also had some people that might have taken the assessment the first time and not really put their best foot forward they just were like I want to just hurry up and get it done. So despite that, for me, looking at this data and looking at what the medium scores were. As a district, we were aligned that the majority of the district was performing at or above the non-referenced median score, which some were 50th percentile, some were 70th percentile when you average the entire grade level. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Exactly. So the median numbers were even higher. So the numbers that I was actually saying were the lower end. So for example, since we were still on science, if I look at 10th grade in science, 213 was the recommended median score, and we had 219, 220 was the actual median, and 221. So we were higher, we performed better than what, we performed above the 50th percentile. So the 219, if you looked at, 10th grade, the 219th was one increment lower than the 220, so we were closer to like the 69th percentile at ninth grade, which is very good. It's something that you should, I mean, I was pleased when I saw this data because I actually had no idea where we were going to perform with last year being a remote year, trying to get back to some sense of normalcy. This is the first time that it took place. We had almost complete data set. We have middle school finishing the literacy this week. and being able to look at it as this is a first step, this is our baseline, this is diagnostic, and then we can use this to continue to inform instruction and next steps. Director Sierra has an additional comment.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I was going to have us move on to math.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When we still take the we have the science MCAS that so all of this I feel this is helping the students to prepare for the state exams as well. And also just to inform the instruction that's taking place so in ninth grade. It's intro to physics, earth and space science, biology and chemistry. And so we are having students take the biology exam, but they're being exposed to multiple content and they are taking those classes between ninth and 10th grade. So are you saying you would prefer that ninth grade and 10th grade not take any science assessment? I guess I'm trying to understand your question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So when I think about the, and this is just me saying my thought about the assessment, when you are instructing, and where I talked about the data-informed instruction and the cycles of learning, these assessments allow teachers, it's fully aligned to the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, so it is aligned to the content, the standards that have to be taught anyway. So the teachers can use this data, give an assessment, have a piece of data to inform their next steps. It identifies areas where students do have weaknesses, and it identifies areas where students do have their strengths. So I feel like In the absence of not having an informal assessment system, when we used to give the MCAS, well, we still give the MCAS, it's a requirement of the state, you never got the results until the following October. So those students were never in front of you to be able to go back and make adjustments to your instruction and learning. So, I mean, even at the science level, Although they're not able to measure growth the same way, and the MCAS is only given in science in fifth grade, eighth grade, and at the high school level once, ninth or 10th grade. I think now we're doing it in ninth grade. This tool can still be used to reinforce the content, show the content, and give the teacher an additional measure of what do the students know, what have they acquired, and what haven't they acquired? And again, are they above the 50th percentile on this norm reference test, or do they need additional support? We didn't have that data before. Oh, and I see.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. Yes. Let's move forward to math. Dr. Cushing. So this table that I showed for both math and for ELA The goal where you're showing student growth is to be above the 50th percentile. The same is true when you take the MCAS. You want to see student growth percentile above 50. any number above 50, and that's wonderful, because growth is showing measure, it's just showing that you grew. Everyone can start at a different point, but you're showing growth over the course of the year. So that's critically important. In math, Dr. Cushing, if you advance, Similarly, of what I was saying earlier, the median score for kindergarten was 140. If you look at our scores, all of them are above 140, and by the end of the year, our kindergarten students, the highest outer range was 165 in the spring assessment. Dr. Cushing, I'm gonna ask you to just go back one, The 165 is essentially in the first grade beginning of year benchmark. So when you see kindergarten ending a year at a 165, you're able to say like, wow, they showed from kindergarten beginning of year to first grade beginning of year, that's what you wanna be able to see, the growth and the movement in the positive direction, anything moving up. If we stayed on the kindergarten lane, even though this table here is, beginning of the year, but the 165 score is off of the chart. So if we went to 160, that would have been the 95th percentile. So in terms of growth, the students are showing growth, and that is a very good story. Not that it's just a story to tell, because we know we're dealing with the whole child, but our students are showing growth this year as we come out of the pandemic with all of the things that we had to work with. I was not sure if we were going to hit the median or exceed it by the end of the year. And so, Dr. Cushing, can you go forward again, please? For first grade, the range was 160 was the median. And again, we're showing positive movement. And even for some schools where there was a slight difference, those of you who might look at the McGlynn, for example, you see the 159, the 160, the 162. The goal of 160 By the end of the year, you can see the growth, which is absolutely wonderful when you look at the ranges. Second code, the medium score was 175, and We saw at second grade that there was one that was a little outlier, but the actual median score at the Mississippi was 173. We were still in the range, very, very close, either above or just right at the tail of that. Can we move forward to third, fourth, and fifth grade, Dr. Cushing? The story is similar in third grade. 188 was the median score that we were looking for. Fourth grade was 200. And as we look at fourth grade math scores, again, the first time it was given, students were absent, students had quarantined, but by the end of the year, we moved all the way, we showed significant growth, which is important. Fifth grade, beginning of the year was a 209, so we had two of the four schools that were within that range. And again, this is diagnostic. We're looking at what the median score is and saying, what do our next steps need to be? Dr. Cushing, can you go to middle school, please? Middle school was where we did identify some areas it was 215 for the start of the school year. And so both schools were not yet at the 215. In seventh grade, the median score was 220. And again, we do see a slight difference. but we're looking at the range and seeing where they ended up by the end of the year. Eighth grade, the median score was 225, and we did see that that was an area that we were able to identify as this is an area we need to work on. High school please. Ninth grade, the median range was 226. And for 10th grade, it was 229. So we were right at the cusp, 230 in high school. Next slide, Dr. Cushing, thank you. The math summary. The NWEA map test was given three times this year. Fall results. were higher than the reported median scores, and we identified the few schools that were slightly lower than the median score. We also were able to show growth by all schools between the fall and the winter testing periods. So again, I feel like the essential message is that this was a good story in terms of first time being given this assessment, first time having the professional development and really being able to do this deeper analysis, data analysis with an in-house tool. Dr. Cushing, can you go forward to ELA, please? Similar format where I'm showing you the median scores. And so at the elementary level, 137. Our kindergartens were, the majority of them were above, and then McGlynn School was exactly at 137 during the first administration. But by the time they took the assessment in the spring, we saw significant growth and movement. 159 was the outer range of kindergarten. Again, it was off the chart. Even though this was a fall assessment, but saying we saw significant movement in growth. First grade, it was 156. We had two schools that were slightly lower in first grade. The others were above that number of 156. In second grade, we had 172, and we had one school that was, their range was a little bit lower, but again, the median was exactly 172. Moving to third grade, The median score was 187, and all of our school, we had one school that slightly missed the mark, but their median score at the Missituk third grade was 186. Fourth grade, the median score was 197, and all of our fourth grade at all four schools were above that median score. Fifth grade, the median score was 204, and at the McGlynn, the score in the middle was 204, the outer range was 202, but all of the other schools were above the 204.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At the middle school levels grade six, the median score was 210, and both schools were above that. However, between the fall and the winter, we did see almost some like static movement. In seventh grade, the median score was 214, and respectively, we had 222 and 217, which were significantly above the 214. In the eighth grade, the median score was 218, and again, we had a range, one school slightly behind. At the high school, the median score Thank you, at the high school, the median score was 219, and we were significantly above that at the high school level. Grade nine and grade 10 was 221, and we were above that as well. And so the summary on our ELA for the fall to winter results, again, K to two, we saw growth at all schools. Grade three, we showed growth at all schools from fall to winter with the exception of one. Grades four and five, we showed all-on growth at all schools with the exception of one, which remained static. Elementary, winter to spring results, we showed growth at grades K to three. compared to our winter results, winter to spring. In grade four, remained fairly static. Grade five, we showed a slight decrease. In grade six through 12, we showed decreases in growth from the fall to the winter. And again, at one school, it remained static. At the high school, we showed increases compared from winter to spring. And the spring results for the middle school will be available in mid-June. And we are anticipating to see growth levels at those two schools. So we will update the slide deck once that data is available. And all K-12 faculty have been trained again, as I said earlier, in data analysis. And they spent time having professional development on how to use this tool. during department meetings, principal meetings, and they spent time examining their data. And as this data examination happens, it promotes, it prompts a shift in instruction, which is part of the data cycle. So our summary of actions, we are continuing to do data analysis with principals and curriculum directors. And through the use of NWEA and the data that is available, These are based on the individual student rate scores. We are able to align Lexia Core 5, Lexia Power Up, Nuzella, and Khan Academy, the mappers. So these are supplemental resources that we have as a district that speak to the NWEA map assessment so there can be individualized targeted support work there. Also, the use of data based on analysis. It is promoting adjustments in instruction at all discipline levels. Dr. Cushing, thank you. So if necessary, we can make adjustments to our wind block, our response to interventions. If tier two support is needed, we can provide that support based on data. We also can provide enrichment opportunities for students that show that they are hitting those benchmarks and doing very well. And then there are shifts in instructional resources, if necessary, based on the information that is revealed from the data. Lastly, I just want to share the next steps. that we have the after action review where we are, teachers have been meeting in whether it's grade level teams and department teams providing feedback on the testing and testing protocols. We have realized that we're going to be modifying the district assessment calendar and teachers will have access to baseline data. at the start of the school year, which will help them to be able to measure and assess potential summertime learning loss when we begin the process again at the start of the school year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So newcomers are not taking this assessment yet. Neither are any of our students with disabilities that qualify for the MCAS alt. So those students do not have to participate in NWEA map testing. We've also had some families speak to administrators to say that they don't want to participate in the assessment. And again, it is a diagnostic tool so it does serve a purpose. There's a lot of information where once you identify the area that a student needs help, it's targeted, it's pinpointed, and you can make those necessary adjustments. So I am hoping that we are really able to continue to use this as a diagnostic tool so we can see where we are and say, this is where we need to move. This NWEA can be used as like a blueprint, print a roadmap to help inform instruction. It's not taking over what the teachers are doing, but it's just another piece of data that can help to inform instruction and say, okay, this is where I need to double down. This is where the students are really strong and solid. We can move on to the next concept.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For EL students, yes. Newcomers, no.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think it might have been, I wouldn't say, it might be like two days. I don't have the specifics for the amount of time, but it would not be the entire school day. So they may have used two blocks or three blocks, I'm not sure of the exact amount of time that was used to administer the assessment because this was the first time that we used it as a district and that's where we're still in the fact finding, gathering information and seeing how much of the information we can use to inform instruction and how long the assessment does take. Thank you and I think some students are able to go through it at a faster rate than other students and the way the test is designed and if either Dr. Chiesa or Rocco Sierra, you wanna speak to this, or Faiza Khan, depending on how you perform on the NW, like the better you're doing, the more it adds. So some students end up being able to do more because of how they're performing and it's showing their growth. So it's not like it, automatically will just stop with you. There's some fluidity to it, if that makes sense.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so I'm gonna ask if either Ms. Galuse, if you think you can come up to give some feedback and or Dr. Cushing on specifically at the elementary and secondary levels. With this being the first time that the assessment was given, I have to say that this was a baseline, like we finally went through the full cycle. And I can say to you, I've seen the sample document that teachers are using to look at how students have performed and what are next steps to inform what's happening during their response to intervention, their wind blocks. It is being used to inform instruction and say, what do we need to readdress? So some of the questions with this being the first go round, I actually feel like we're not gonna get all of that information until now when it happens next year, because the fact of Mr. Russo's question about when they're taking the test, that the test continues, it continues with you based on how you're performing on the assessment. But I would love for them to help respond to some of those questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Absolutely.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So my response back would be that Medford never had an assessment system outside of the MCAS. So there was no way that teachers could have the same conversation across all four elementary schools or both middle schools to look at data and say, this is where my students are performing. right now, whether we went with NWEA map assessment, but we never had anything. So in the absence of having an in-house assessment tool to use as a diagnostic tool to inform instruction, it just didn't exist. So you weren't able to get to coherence. It's a similar conversation that I had with the committee when we had five different math programs between two middle schools. You were using five different programs, how are you getting one, a clear picture on how the students were truly performing, because you did not have the same system. So in order to bring about coherence in order to say we're moving the district forward, you have to have some kind of data assessment system in place. As a district, we went with the NWEA map. It could have been iReady, it could have been others, but we were using NWEA map, and we're getting data now that at least tells us that's norm referenced. Are we on track? or are we off track? Are we hitting that median score? Are we doing it or not? So a year ago, if you asked me, I would be like, well, we'll wait until the MCAS comes out, and then we'll be able to tell you something. This is the first time that I have data outside of the MCAS that I'm able to just at least say in the month of June, wow, you can see the growth. This was the median score. This is our range. This is where we started in September, October. This is where our students ended up in June, so it's something if I'm just saying in the absence of not having anything and saying that we can't test students. how are teachers, how are parents gonna be able to say, how is my child actually doing? Now they can actually look and say, oh, this is the median score. This is where my child performs when they receive their, whether it's the fall or winter results, they can look at it and say, okay, you're doing well. When you get your MCAS report card, The following school year in October, the report card spells out for you is your child, you know, meeting the benchmark or not and they do a nice little graph and that that's part of the parent report card. So I do feel it's worth the investment, we never had it before. And to try to be moving instruction forward. We are a school first and foremost. Our goal is to educate students. We need to have a consistent tool that we are monitoring their growth and their progress. If we don't have a consistent tool in place, then essentially I'm just making up what I'm saying to you and saying, let's wait until October to find out how we're doing. So I have, you know, I'm sorry you don't feel like the data is showing that we are making progress.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also just wanted to say to piggyback on Suzanne's comments, because this data rolls over. It's really going to put the teacher, the teacher is going to have a clear map of like What are your strengths? What are the areas? And then we're going to have the new baseline data. So the first time this assessment is given in the fall, they'll be able to look at June results, September, late September results, whenever we figure out when it's going to end, like cross map them. So students are actually going to be receiving more targeted support earlier on because we have a reliable norm referenced assessment that's gonna be able to help us. And so that's why I was saying that this tool, not only that we're using it, but many other districts are using it as well. So even if students transfer into Medford, if that data is available, we will have access to it. And I just feel like it's going to better position us I felt like our weak link was always our lack of data accessibility. And now we finally have access to in house data. And I do feel like this is going to be a game changer for how we provide supports justify, you know, oh we need additional interventionists or additional this. This is what our data is saying. This is how many students are impacted by it and truly make data informed decisions to improve the entire district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I am very excited to be at this formal public hearing for our budget. So this evening, Mr. Murphy is going to take us through a slide deck. You each should have received it this evening, describing where we are right now. So thank you, Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: project that you've been doing at the Andrews this year, and I look forward to hearing more news next year as well. So thank you to the both of you for coming this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Good evening, we meet tonight on the 78th anniversary of D-Day. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces crossed the English Channel and began to reclaim the European mainland. This date is important as it marked a turning point on the Western Front in World War II. We are grateful for the greatest generation whose heroism changed the course of history for the world. Also, I would like to share that it was truly a pleasure to witness our high school and vocational technical high school graduation last Thursday night at Hormel Stadium. So much happiness and good energy surrounded all of us, and it really filled my bucket. I want to congratulate once again the class of 2022. I know that they will be successful in their future endeavors. I also wanted to take a moment to commend and thank our Mustang Boys baseball team. They helped to place flags on the veterans graves throughout Oak Grove Cemetery in preparation for Memorial Day. It is gratifying to see our student-athletes volunteer to help our community at large, and especially to honor our veterans. Congratulations are also in order for Ibrahim Ahmed, a seventh grade student at the McGlynn Middle School. Ibrahim won the hardest math problem student contest. It was presented by Scholastic. The Actuary Foundation and the New York Life Foundation challenges students in grades six through eight to solve multi-step grade-appropriate math problems with real-world situations and engaging characters. The contest energizes students' perceptions of math with fun, challenging story problems that combine math reasoning skills with writing. Congratulations, a job well done. Additionally, in keeping with congratulations, the McGlynn Elementary School was selected to receive the mathical book prize collection development award. This award will allow the McGlynn Library to expand their collection of literary fiction and nonfiction books to encourage students to discover a love of mathematics. This $700 grant was awarded by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, MSRI, in partnership with the School Library Journal. So in the wake of many recent multiple tragedies, I feel it is incumbent upon me to mention that June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month. Clearly, the fight to end gun violence has never been more urgent. Despite the horrors across the nation, Over the course of this past year, weekend, there were 13 other mass shootings that occurred. No matter your views on guns, we must try to work together towards the goal of allowing all of us to feel safe, whether in a movie theater, a medical building, at a concert or a party, at places of worship, a grocery store, and most certainly our schools. While our seniors have graduated, the Met for Public Schools still has a number of events planned. Tomorrow, June 7th, is the Citywide Readathon. We will be presenting awards at six o'clock at the new library to all of our elementary school readers, and we look forward to celebrating you tomorrow evening at the library at 6 p.m. I also wanna thank our PTOs that have been actively involved in that process. On Wednesday, June 8th, it is our end of year CPAC business meeting from six to 8 p.m. It will be taking place by Zoom. CPAC will be presenting the school committee their end of year report at next Monday's meeting on Monday, June 13th. Friday, June 10th, are the Junior Olympics. The Junior Olympics are back and they will be held for all of our fifth graders at Hormel Stadium from nine to noon. We hope that many of you, the school committee members, the mayor, parents, and caregivers, that you will be able to come down to Hormel and cheer on our students. Also on Friday, June 10th, It is the Medford Family Network's Teddy Bear Picnic from 10am to 2pm at Victory Park. I know that we will have many elected officials there, including the mayor, school committee, city council, and state delegation. They will be in attendance. On Saturday, June 11th, the Medford Family Network is hosting a fill a truck with room to grow at Medford High School from 1.30 to 3.30, rain or shine. Donations are being accepted for gently used new baby and toddler items. Please contact Marie Cassidy if you have any questions at 781-393-2106. Also on Monday, June 13, that will be our next regular school committee meeting at 6pm. June is Pride Month. Last Thursday, I was happy to participate in Mayor Lungo-Koehn's flag raising here at City Hall. It was wonderful to see so many different faces from our community come together in celebration and in commemoration of our LGBTQ plus community, family, friends, and neighbors. This year, Pride Month's theme is Justice of Joy. I know that we are longer current director of diversity, equity and inclusion Francis the method planning committee high schools, GSA committee group. They have planned a number of events this month throughout the city. So please, if you're interested, please go to the city website and our school blog to have an accurate accounting of all the events that are taking place. And we did have our students speak last week. I also want to thank member Hays and all of the other elected officials who were able to come and participate in the flag raising ceremony. In closing, I want to just share a few remarks about safety. There have been several emails coming in, in light of all of the violent events that have been taking place across the country. And members of the community in some of the emails are asking for specifics regarding safety and what is Metro Public Schools doing. There are things that Metro Public Schools does do in order to maintain the safety. We do maintain doing fire drills, we're working closely and collaboratively with our fire department. We do do at selected times, shelter in place. But there are other pieces of our security protocols that we don't publicly or formally announced, so I did not have it listed this week as an official report, but at next Monday's meeting as well. I will be providing more guided information, follow up information. I do want the community to know that I work very closely with Chief Buckley and working with our administrative team and following the safety protocols that should be in place. So I want people to know that we prioritize the safety of the entire community. And it is our goal to keep our community safe, as safe as possible. And so I did want to say that there was also a district-wide safety team that administrators, special ed administrators, it's a collaborative group that does meet and discuss safety protocols, including building and grounds, and select administrators.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This evening, I'm going to be sharing a very brief, well, I don't think it's that brief, but I'm going to share a somewhat brief slide deck with you on the results of equity audit of human resources. Let's jump into the human resources audit I just want to recognize our students at the Curtis Tufts, who had a graduation ceremony last Wednesday, June 1 as well. And to acknowledge anyone who may be here any staff from the Curtis Tufts as well, and Mr. drowsky for leading the school and. hosting that celebration that took place last week at the Irish American. So congratulations to our students at the Curtis Tufts as well. Thank you. Thank you. So what I'm going to share with you are key recommendations and results of our equity audit of human resources. So in terms of framing, I was starting off saying, why is diversity important? It is important for us to consider perspective taking Developing a sense of belonging is incredibly important for all of our learners, our students, our scholars. A strong sense of belonging leads to higher levels of student achievement. So our why. The equity audit of human resources was the first phase of a greater body of work that will continue in Medford. Please keep in mind that in light of the pandemic, it wasn't prudent for us to begin the equity work of the district starting in classrooms. However, with our focus on students first, we began this journey by looking at our policies and procedures that bring talent to NPS. Our goal is to improve and build an inclusive culture within Medford Public Schools hiring system. So when we talk about a sense of belonging, sense of belonging is one of the greatest predictors of success. Educational research tells us that one of the greatest predictors of academic achievement for students is a sense of belonging. Increasing the diversity of our faculty is a measure to increase the sense of belonging for our students. I wanna share some data with you. This is Medford Public Schools student enrollment data from the DESE portal. We have slightly over 4,000 students. The first section of the blue bars is identifying student race and ethnicity. African American students within the district represent 11.1%. Asian students, 9.4%. Hispanic Latino students, 14.4%. Native American, 0.4%. White students, 59.2%. Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander, 0.1%. Multirace non-Hispanic, 5.3%. So in essence, we are almost a 60-40% split within Medford Public Schools. Under selected populations, we have 26.8% of our students, nearly 1,000 students in the Medford Public Schools, their first language is not English. 1,000 of our 4,000 students, significant. It's not English, meaning that they can be bilingual, speak other languages, and are equally conversant in English. However, our English learner population is 10.4%. These are students that are receiving intensive ESL supports. Our students with disabilities, 20.2%. Again, if we're thinking about 4,000, we are nearing the 1,000, 800 to 900 of our students within Medford Public Schools are receiving special education services in some way, shape, or form. That's a significant number. This number was a little staggering to me. Our students with high needs, 53.9%, more than 2,000 students in the Medford Public Schools are classified as students with high needs. More than 2,000.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So within high needs, it's taking into account also not only socioeconomic and learning needs, it's inclusive, I would say, akin to saying most vulnerable, that these are students within our community that face greater challenges And Desi identifies them according for us, that nearly over 2000 students fall into that category. And for those specifically classified as low income students, it's 40.5% that are classified as low income, which was also another staggering data point. This slide here shows our staffing in Medford Public Schools. And so we have over 600 staff that classify as or identify as white staff. And for Hispanic, Asian, and African American staff, and this is including more than the teachers as well, it's including other departments, we have very, very significantly smaller numbers than what was previously shown. But I just wanted us to be able to keep this data in mind as I continue to share some of the findings. So I wanted to talk a little bit about perception. If you look at the image, depending which way you look at this image, it can be confusing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: What we know to be real is real. As you look at this image, hopefully you're seeing something. Am I able to ask one of the members of the committee to possibly just say what they think they're seeing in that particular image? There is no right answer. Can you say it again? A woman with a hat. A woman with a hat. Anyone else? Corral de Vil. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: A young lady, thank you. Dr. Cushing, there is no right or wrong answer. What I love about that image is within the image, there are two pictures depending which way you see it. Some people see the young lady. Some people see the, elderly lady. They both are, they both are there. They both exist at the same exact time. It's just the perspective in which you're looking at the image. But both images exist, and both images are there. We touch a little bit upon implicit bias. We talk about ageism, because ageism can be a form of discrimination against a person based on age. I just want you to see, again, these two images existing at the same exact time. Dr. Cushing. I am curious if the audience would indulge me, how many people think they saw the young women? How many saw the elderly women? Okay. So here is some key vocabulary, thank you. Some key vocabulary that was used as part of this audit. Throughout the audit, members of the school committee were interviewed, administrative members were interviewed, members of human resources, a specific office, business office at central office, they were interviewed. The Race Equity Task Force were part of a conversation. So there were select conversations and surveys that took place to kind of gather and give us this information that I'm getting ready to share with you. But here are some key terms. Diverse learning communities. The definition of diversity.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: equality, inclusion. Diverse learning communities are learning communities that support collaborative partnerships between students and staff and attempt to restructure the curriculum to address structural barriers to educational excellence. They are inclusive of all races, ethnicities, genders, creeds, sexual orientations, and abilities. The next slide shows diversity hiring. Diversity hiring is hiring based on merit, with exceptional care taken to ensure procedures have reduced biases related to a candidate's age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other personal characteristics that are unrelated to their job performance. Diversity hiring is what we are going to be aspiring for here in Medford. So we wanna be in our endeavor to improve our policies and procedures. I want you to know that this audit was not about myself. Maurice-Edouard Vincent, or my professional values. What we are aspiring to do is align to the 2030 goals that are outlined here for the city of Medford, that are outlined at BSE, and that are outlined in the national 2030 global education goals that are both national and international. What we are aspiring to do here in Medford We're not on an island unto ourselves. So there were some key recommendations that were based on the survey data. I'll just read a few of them. One of them under survey data was developing a hiring process that includes questions grounded in equity that meets the needs of our diverse populations. We want to work with supporting our building-based leaders by allowing them to lead and focus on instructional leadership. We want to be able to host informative community events that keeps all of our stakeholders up to date and explain to them the difference between diverse hiring and hiring for diversity. Dr. Cushing, next slide please. These were some recommendations based on facilitated discussions. talking about creating inclusive standards that include accountability and confidentiality for all staff who work in the HR department. Creating a structure that fosters a sense of belonging for all staff while centering those from minority groups. Dr. Cushing. Creating a system for training building base leaders on equitable hiring practices and procedures, including but not limited to diversity hiring practices and processes. Creating a process that allows for competitive hiring. The hiring timeline, to have it begin as early as February or before. and to be able to end in June and seeking approval from the school committee to see if that's something that we could continue to do and do it in a more formalized way. We wanna be able to also create exit interview processes that tracks and records all exit interview data. Dr. Cushing. We identified some inconsistencies that currently exist right now. One of the things that we do not have yet but we will be working on is creating an HR human resources handbook to consist of policies and procedures and expected practices that include but aren't limited to. So we do not have a handbook that houses everything all in one place. And that's something that we will be working on. We would love to have a diversity statement that speaks to the environment that Metro Public Schools will create to support, empower, and celebrate members of our community. We also want to include statements and processes on our values, performance management, talent development, confidentiality, constructive and cooperative discipline, dress code, the evaluation process at all levels, clear and transparent expectations of reciprocal communication between human resources and staff. Dr. Christian. For school committee recommendations, We want to be able to set the smarty goals. Again, this is from Desi, that is Jedi driven. And I put at the bottom Jedi, that is one of the key vocabulary words, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Reminding us that we have over 4,000 students within the district and always putting our students first. Centering policies practices procedures around their needs and expected outcomes. Recommendations based on our current district vision and mission statement to co-create a simple, simplified district vision and a simplified district mission statement that is aligned to the 2030 global education standards. Dr. Cushing. Here is a continuum. I have participated in significant professional development this year. This particular slide is from the professional development that I was part of that was based out of Desi, and it worked with 25 superintendents and equity directors across the Commonwealth. Half of those superintendents were BIPOC individuals of color, and half of them were white superintendents. And we engaged in this learning together. They would separate us, and they would bring us back together to share our learning. Diversity, belonging, inclusion, and equity. Looking at those four buckets, I want to preface it to say that this takes about eight to 10 years to achieve. Under diversity, it says you've been asked to the party. Under belonging, you feel welcomed and comfortable going to the party. Under inclusion, you've been asked to help plan the party. And under equity, it redefines what the party entails, who has the power to plan the party, and if there should even be a party. We are just embarking, I see Medford in the diversity bucket. We're just starting there. Dr. Cushing. So the bigger picture for us here in Medford, our North Star. Yes, you might see the Little Dipper or Big Dipper there. What do we need to do next? We need to set our intended priorities based on the audits recommendations. This was only phase one. We want to create and continue to foster an HR department that embraces diversity hiring in the 2030 goals. We wanna be ensuring that our students are centered in a part of our creation. We want to work closely with our internal and external stakeholders to ensure that we are inclusive and objective during our processes. And we want to be building stronger partnerships with our community organizations. Dr. Christian, this work takes time and thoughtful planning. We can get there together. I want to say a special thank you to the race equity task force. for their support and feedback throughout the year. I would like to thank the Medford School Committee for your support, for commissioning this audit, this first phase, and allowing us to start looking at our own policies, practices, and procedures. And I would like to thank the equity process for working with us this school year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you say it again, please?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For phase one, there's a few things that we're working on throughout this month, but we are finishing phase one by the end of June. We'll be done with them for this first phase.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: have a document that will be coming next week. I just wanted to present the findings because I had said that I would get it out the first week of June.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It was not an equity audit of the district, it was an equity audit of human resources.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In light of the pandemic, we were not going into classrooms.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There was a slide that showed the diversity of the staff for the entire mid for public schools district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is, sorry, I apologize. It is still the example that you gave where they did the letter reversal. And I think, I don't know, maybe it's the teacher in me, but all of a sudden you find yourself putting the letters in the proper order. So you're kind of like swearing at yourself, like after you say it quickly. But I don't know if, When I see the word profanity, I'm thinking of swear words. But as you were saying, Member Ruseau, each decade, there were certain words that it's acceptable one year, and then the next year, all of a sudden, it becomes an offensive term or word because the young people have changed the meaning of it. And so it has multiple meanings. And so I'm trying to think of what could be, I don't know if we could say based on the time period, but as you were saying, words have multiple meanings and there's a lot of clothing out there and different vendors that are making things that either there are symbols that are clearly inappropriate or again, letter reversals. So it's not technically a swear that you're reading, but If you, you know what it, you know what the intent is. And so, just trying to limit that. So I just wanted to say whether it's a swear word or not but the word, you know, That other company where they did the letter reversal next year, it can be a new word, you know, that is all of a sudden it's the new word, like everyone's using, you know, fire. Oh, that's hot. It's fire. It's fire. Next year, the word fire could be considered a curse word because the young people just change it and give it a different meaning. So I don't know if there's a way to I guess some of it's objective. I'm stuck because I'm saying, I don't know if it should be language that could be perceived as offensive at the time, but it's going to continue to evolve and change. So I feel like that word is a moving target. I don't know if I'm really helping the conversation at all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the comment that I was just going to make about the covering of the bathing suits, and I know that a few bullets up where we're pretty explicit in terms of not wanting people exposing private parts, showing their body. If you're thinking about a bathing suit for a female student, if she was choosing to wear a two-piece swimsuit, we do clearly state that they should have a top, a bottom, and footwear. So they shouldn't be walking barefoot in the schools or outside. They should have some type of footwear on. They need to have a top and they need to have a bottom. And I know that there are, Some swim trunks that are really long, like they look like skateboard pants or whatever so some students may actually wear that as part of their fashion, but I think just being clear that we don't want to encourage. swimsuits, people saying now, you know, it's warm, swimsuits, you know, this is my top, my bottom for the day. So I think if we're saying to them, you need to wear a top, you need to have a bottom and you need to have footwear, that being explicit about that, so people just understand, I don't know if it's, So, whether someone is having a swim class as part of their PE or their particular rotation, they understand that they are. You know, to have their swimsuit covered in that regard, or if it's someone wearing the swim trunks and they go swimming and they don't plan on changing their clothing, we wouldn't want someone walking through the hallways with wet clothing on for several hours it's just people can get sick and it's not something that you would be encouraging. Again, I think it's okay to say cover bathing suits and undergarments. I'm thinking, again, at the secondary level, we know we have the pool here. And if for whatever reason students were to be wearing it at the lower grade levels, that they should have a top a bottom and footwear, and that we're not talking about bathing suits. It's kind of like that gray area, but I think saying that that's not what we wanna see. And again, it's up to the administrator or teacher to have a conversation with the child or with the parent to say, this is what we're hoping to see the child wear to school. I see nothing wrong with saying that, understanding that you said, well, my son does wear swim shorts to school, but if he's wearing them more as a fashionable statement and it isn't causing any kinds of disruption, that's, I think it's, in that regards, we're not gonna be the swim shorts police, but again, I think trying to be explicitly clear, sometimes you end up opening the door to challenge, no matter what way you look at it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I feel comfortable with the term undergarments. whether it's bra tops or thong underwears or boxer shorts or kids wearing their pants halfway down their. It's all undergarments and we really don't need to see it. It's not necessary. So again, going back to the top, a shirt, a blouse, a sweater, a sweatshirt, a tank, et cetera. We say top, we say bottom, we say footwear.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'm comfortable with a bra strap because some tops have very thin straps. And so the bra strap will show. But again, I know that there have been situations where students weren't just exposing the bra strap, but other parts. And it's just, I think it's, If we can focus on, you know, tops bottoms and and footwear and say this is what our expectation is. And if you know you have one or two outliers. I know that the teachers and or administration will speak to those students, but if it's something where it becomes egregious. And, you know, people want to say, you know what, this is my top. My top is, you know, a bra, or my top is, you know, something that really, you don't need to wear that to school. I think by saying undergarments where, you know, We're covering all of it, whether it's it's or for male, because, again, they both have different clothing styles, and we do see undergarments of male students as well, quite often and they're told, you know, fix your clothing. I think by saying undergarments, if people, and again, we've qualified it about saying with the exception of the bra straps, that that's pretty clear in terms of what it is that we're talking about. And again, I see that as being more of a secondary concern, but I think we have more, you know, At the elementary levels, I don't see as much of these types of issues surfacing. It would be more at the secondary level where you would have students really wanting to see what they could get away with in terms of clothing. So I feel like this is a happy medium and then removing the other piece about the bathing suit, et cetera. I think that this covers it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. This evening, I am pleased to share with you my self-evaluation for school year 21-22. It is a little bit of a lengthy document. I will go through the documents and there are several hyperlinks within the document for you, the members to be able to review as you take this document to look at the evidence of practice for the year. So I would just like to open my remarks with the following remarks. Please find my self-evaluation attached, which you have. This evaluation is based on the events from July of 2021 through the end of the school year. You may refer to the superintendent's goals from school year 21-22, and you may use the link to access the goals that were established earlier this school year. The newly adopted Medford Public Schools District Strategy for Improvement document, which is our strategic plan, was approved last year on June 7th of 2021. And that document provides the blueprint for the district staff to achieve the mission of the Medford Public Schools. Our mission is as follows. The Medford Public Schools is a caring educational partnership of school, family, and community designed to ensure that all students are afforded a safe and healthy learning environment in which they develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to reach their full academic and personal potential. This partnership is dedicated to providing all students with a 21st century education that will enable them to be lifelong learners and contributors to a diverse and rapidly changing world. Again, I want to just remind everyone that the strategic plan document is a document that's a living document, and we will continue to add additional information to that document. Um, there is a hyperlink referring to the strategic plan update that I referred, uh, that I shared and presented to the committee in January of 22. So the following information I'm going to share, I have one district improvement goal. I have a student learning goal, and I also have my professional practice goal that I will be sharing with you this evening. So under the district improvement goal, it states the following, given the unprecedented hybrid learning environment during the school year of 2021, MPS will utilize common assessments, common systems and assessments to accurately assess the learning and social emotional needs of our students this school year. Additionally, through professional development, observation, and evaluation of staff, we will provide increased support to staff to better meet the needs of all of our learners. So under our district improvement goals, we had a focus on developing a district-wide focus on instruction and assessment. And under that particular goal, Again, where we had hybrid learning and we had some students that for the entirety of school year last school year were remote this school year we knew we had to take. We needed to take stock of where we were as a district and so between staff absences student absences due to quarantining. Lack of substitutes, there were many, many challenges and obstacles that we had to overcome this year. And we also noticed that many students and staff are still recovering emotionally and academically, the students, from the periods of hybrid instruction and missed work that didn't happen from being in school for a full academic year. So particular professional development that was offered this school year. We had social emotional learning professional development for our staff. We added the the nexus classrooms. We added additional supports with our guidance and behavioral health teams. The execution of the multi tiered systems of support and the return of extra curricular activities. We had training this year on implicit bias. We had training this year on race, equity, diversion, diversity and inclusion. on responsive classroom using a train the trainer model. We had training this year on NWEA math growth. We had training, robust training this year on supervision and evaluation training for all administrators, and that was provided by Rebus Associates. that is going to continue working with Medford Public Schools next year. We've also had significant work on developing a community of practice for system coherence. That was a professional development work that took place this year with Dr. Carmen Williams in executing professional development and looking at data with all of our administrators. And so many of the proposed outcomes that were listed in the goals were improved cell practices, cell acknowledgement and working with our students around social emotional learning practices for staff and for our leadership team. Tailored instruction to improve student outcomes. targeted feedback for teachers to improve practice and school and districts leaders leading and learning together. So those were our, our first goal under the district improvement goals. Our second goal listed under the district improvement goal was maintaining a learning environment built upon the pillars of safety, equity, and consistency. Safety, equity, and consistency were the three pillars that guided us throughout the pandemic, and they continue to guide us. Under safety, Medford Public Schools continues to use our safety protocols. And although right now we are masked optional, we still fully utilize our safety protocols. We continued our collaboration with Tufts University. and the Broad Institute with testing. And we concluded the formal testing right at the end of February of 2022. And now we are using the at-home testing where families test their child either Sunday evening or Monday morning before students report to school. So we had a link, well, there was a link in your document to the COVID-19 positive case tracker, the school testing consent forms, the at-home testing consent forms, the vaccine clinics that were offered throughout this school year, and an additional reference to school counseling presentations. support presentations under equity, which we continued to champion equity in its true sense of the word, providing all students with access to district opportunities to ensure individual student success. And so under equity. We talked about the professional development, which I mentioned to you earlier, and we continue to have the work of our race equity task force. Also, we have NWEA map. and we are conducting the human resources audit, our equity audit through the equity process. So those are initiatives that the Medford Public Schools has been working on in addition to my being a part of the statewide mass ready group, which is racial equity, diversity and inclusion initiative. I was part of that pilot group through the state. Under consistency, NWEAMAP is the district's way of having an informal assessment system where we gather data at the district level. And by gathering data at the district level, we are able to start looking at trends. This is the first year that we have used NWEAMAP. We will be making a presentation to the committee next month. on our data thus far with NWEA map, but we are looking forward to next fall's data to really have a full one-year cycle of where we were in the fall of 21 to the fall of 22 and use the fall of 22 data as our new baseline data where all of the kinks have kind of been worked out and we're able to, you know, start using our in-house data in a more consistent fashion. So that's what we would say under consistency, trying to have academic consistency across the entire district. Again, our NWEA map data is district-wide, K-12, although we stop at like 10th grade, but at each level, elementary, middle, and high school, we are gathering common assessment data. So that is my information under the district improvement goal. I am going to transition to the student learning goal. This year, I did transition and the student learning goal was on elementary literacy. early literacy skills and implementing interventions in literacy to improve outcomes by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of early literacy practices. Some of the forms of evidence that support this goal. We supported the development and the implementation of an effective early literacy program. We adhered to the department of elementary and secondary educations, DESE's dyslexia guidance through the implementation of the enhanced core reading instruction, our ECRI program. With ECRI, we are implementing during our tier one, it's being implemented district wide in our K-2 classrooms during our tier one English language arts instruction blocks. We continue to have a partnership with Hill for Literacy during the school year where feedback from the listening tour, the teachers were very, very complimentary and very happy about the quality of the professional development and the coaching that they were receiving. And they believe that it is really helping them to improve and grow their practice. So that was something where we received extensive feedback and going through the classrooms, you can also see the implementation of ECRI. Even if I'm walking through not in a formal walkthrough, if ECRI is taking place, the teachers will say to me, Oh, come and see, I'm doing an ECRI lesson. So that has happened when I'm there. And they are really proud to really showcase what they've learned and what their students have learned using this consistent methodology. Again, we are all using the NWEA map assessment tool. Again, we're going to be looking at the middle of the year and end of year data, and finally having an in-house assessment system, which is truly, truly a remarkable feat, something that I'm very excited about. Although it wasn't listed as an official goal, I did wanna just provide a very brief update to the members that on elementary math, my first three years within the district, we were focusing, my student learning goal had been on mathematics. And I just wanted to update you that I am still committed to addressing elementary achievement in math. And that again, due to the pandemic, we were not conducting learning walks, they were suspended, but where we are truly moving, getting to a better place, I am hoping for next year to be able to continue doing our rounds in the classrooms. I do want to share with the members that this year, our math director, Ms. Faiza Khan, worked with a task force and that Turk Investigations 3 was selected as the official new elementary math curriculum, and that this coming year, we will be piloting the integrated math pathway at the secondary level so that we are still keeping our focus on mathematics, although we are also looking at early literacy. So I do just wanna share that, and I've attached a few math resources there just for you to review them. After the student learning goal, my third goal was my professional practice goal, and my professional practice goal, which has been about the professional development that I participate in, I completed the full coursework through DESE of NISP, which was an intensive three-year program. At the end of our third year, DESE offered superintendents who were graduating from the program, the opportunity to participate in a fourth year of NSEP. And so I did take advantage of that opportunity for continued learning to work with a smaller cohort of superintendents. And I participated in the professional development sessions and working on problems of practice and working with a focus on what equity looks like within the different districts. So there is a lengthy narrative that kind of explains what equity looks like what some of the work look like of what I was doing with NISAP in addition to NISAP's fourth year extension. I also participated in the Massachusetts REDI group and the REDI, R-E-D-I stands for Racial Equity Diversity and Inclusion Group. This was the pilot cohort group for Massachusetts. And it consisted of 24 superintendents, assistant superintendents, and directors of equity throughout the Commonwealth. 12 of them identified as BIPOC individuals of color. and 12 of the superintendents or white superintendents and this pilot group was giving superintendents and assistant superintendents this opportunity to come together as two groups as one whole group and then we would separate into affinity groups to really tackle issues of racial equity diversity and inclusion. And today was our eighth session meeting throughout the year and I participated. in all sessions. And at today's session, they said they would be reaching out to us next month to let us know what the extension would look like for next year. The work that we did as a pilot group is going to be offered again throughout the Commonwealth to other superintendents. So the feedback that we gave being part of this pilot group is going to help inform the work that's going to continue to happen across the Commonwealth. You will be hearing about much more guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Ed. DESE is going to be giving clearer instructions and support resources for districts to use when working with topics of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. The third professional development group that I was tapped on the shoulder to be part of is the New England Multistate Leading Now Cohort. Again, this is another cohort of superintendents from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. And this work has just started, so I am halfway, not quite halfway through. The work will continue next year as well. and helping us really see what states, different states are going through and how to support our districts first and foremost with issues around racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. Most recently, they did share some additional resources with all of the superintendents regarding the tragedy that had taken place in Buffalo last week. So that is another professional learning community where I am receiving training and participating actively and gathering information that I'm able to bring back to the district and use to better inform my leadership here in Medford. The next portion of the report, I'm on page six is essentially talking about the four standards that are recommended by DESE. And so I've listed and I've cited under instructional leadership, standard one, several pieces of evidence. But under instructional leadership, again, many of the things I mentioned earlier, and also citing school committee documentation. Also, this year, being fortunate to have a superintendent in residence, and providing instructional leadership there as well. Under standard two, which is management and operations. This year, one of the key pieces that we did as a district was the submission of the application to the MSBA and trying to maintain an even more transparent budget process. So those were two key highlights, which I listed. under management and operations under category three family and community engagement. Again, continuing to maintain weekly communications with the community. We had our first full year with the engagement hub, continuing to work with our race equity task force, participating in Women's History Month celebrations, the Lunar New Year celebration, Haitian Flag Day celebration, The middle school lottery process, we had middle school open houses that were in person this year. Kindergarten open houses that were able to be in person. There are many, many things participating in department head meetings, which take place at the city hall level, but really trying to be well rounded. But again, focusing on communicating with parents weekly and meeting with parents and interacting with parents when possible at in-person events. Also, there were a few things from a community engagement perspective, supporting the stand with Ukraine event that took place, our Arbor Day celebrations, many of our CCSR initiatives, participating in the legislative breakfast where many of you members were able to participate in that at the West Medford Community Center, participating in the Martin Luther King Day event, participating in District Attorney Ryan's Cut It Out program, and events to come next week. A high school graduation on June 1, and many other senior events senior prom at the end of this week, and award ceremonies taking place this week. Lastly, for number four under professional culture. Again, I listed the superintendent's listening tour and I listed many other documents and supporting initiatives, but the listening tour really gave me an opportunity to hear from educators and from staff to just see, get feedback in an informal way and just see and hear what stakeholders would like to see more of and hear more of. So in closing, I just want to share that I am fully committed to the work that I am doing. I am committed to ACES achievement, collaboration, equity, and support and safety as the four guiding pillars that are the basis of my educational leadership as an educator, I believe in the achievement and academic outcomes of all of our students and as this graduation season is upon us and our seniors are moving on to college and careers, I want to stress the importance of academic achievements. for all of our learners. I am pleased, and I said it before, that next year we will have nearly 600 students participating in vocational programming, which is showing that there is a shift happening in Medford, but we need to be prepared for that shift because participating in vocational programming does not mean that you cannot go to college. If anything, it enhances and means that you can have a trade And you can also continue on to college and be fully well rounded. So in order to continue the work of leading this district. I must say that it cannot be done without the support of a team. I wholeheartedly thank the support of my senior leadership team and the administrators who manage all the schools. This takes collaboration and coordination of teams, administrators, teachers, and staff to create the best learning environments for all of our students. And so I thank them for that. That's my C of ACES. And the goal of meeting the needs of all learners must be done through the lens of equity, which I talked a lot about today. It doesn't mean giving all students the same things, but giving each student what they need to keep learning. Equity is not limited to race, but it is a fully inclusive term that embraces all of our unique characteristics, such as learning styles, language needs, religious affiliations, gender and sexual identities. It is our diversity that makes us stronger. Lastly, support and safety are key pillars to meeting the diverse needs of our population. Although the pandemic is now being referred to as an endemic, the effects of COVID-19 will remain with us for the foreseeable future. It is incumbent upon us to keep our community whole and supported in every way possible. In closing, I am proud to be your superintendent, and I am incredibly grateful to be a member of the Medford Public Schools community. With all of the societal pressures and plagues that our world is encountering, I will use my position to make this district a better place for all of our students. I believe in Medford Public Schools, and we are Medford Strong. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I cannot add my video, Mayor, just saying. I don't know why.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, all. Despite all of the great things going on in Medford schools, I unfortunately must open my remarks tonight by expressing sadness and grief over this past weekend's mass shooting in Buffalo. Now designated a hate crime, the tragic killing of 11 and wounding of two at the supermarket reminds us all that racism and gun violence are scourges facing our nation. Targeting a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood, the gunman replicated tragic acts that have become far too familiar to all of us. I know teachers and Councilors are working hard with our students to deal with the emotional trauma caused by this terrible event. Although our nation aspires to goals of equity and inclusion, events such as this remind us of so much that has to be done. The students and staff of Medford Public Schools are striving to achieve these goals on a daily basis and are committed to eliminating discrimination of all kinds in our society. I kindly request a moment of silence for those viciously lost in Buffalo.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd like to share some updates from what's going on in the district and definitely take a more positive note. Earlier this morning, I'd like to thank the mayor for coming to the high school to support our Italian students who have achieved great accomplishments in studying the Italian language. I want to thank the Italian consulate for coming to the high school today and members of the consulate that were presenting awards to our students. Dr. Riccadeli, who was there, and all of the world language teachers. Many of our seniors were recognized for the great work that they did with Dante's Inferno. And there was a poster that showed the level of work that the students worked on collaboratively. And in speaking with one of the representatives. He talked about the vocabulary and just the great level of work that our students did. And so I just want to congratulate them and congratulate language teachers for the outstanding instruction in Italian for our students that achieved very very high. levels of accomplishment, language accomplishment. Also, I want to thank the parents and grandparents that came out to celebrate with their children as well. Also, I want to take this opportunity to extend our congratulations to Ms. Rowland and Ms. Caldry's eighth grade ELA students from the Andrews Middle School who were selected as finalists in NPR's student podcast challenge. Over 2400 schools submitted their podcasts in middle and high school divisions, twice in the past three years, Andrew students have received honorable mentions. This year, the Andrews was recognized as one of the top 10 middle school entries in the competition. At the end of this week, the students will be notified if they are the grand prize winner. They are already winners to us. Great job, Mustangs. Also, I'd like to highlight that this month, the month of May, is Mental Health Awareness Month. And the girls lacrosse team decided to hold a fundraiser for the Youth Mental Health Project at their game this past Saturday in Malden. The specific organization has an emphasis on helping to improve mental health with teens and young adults. The team sold raffles and t-shirt sales, raised over $500, and that money will be donated to the Youth Mental Health Project. And to add on top of that, our girls did end up winning. The Mustangs won the game 11 to five. Congratulations, Mustangs. We are very proud to know that you are doing things to support the community at large as well. Speaking of giving back, some of you may have stopped by Medford High School today to see the wonderful project. I saw Member McLaughlin, Member Hays, Mayor Rungo Kern, and I'm not sure if any other members were able to make it, but thank you for coming out to the CCSR school-wide presentation where we were able to really interact with the students and see the wonderful contributions that they have worked on throughout the year. They did a fabulous job, and I just want to thank all of our CCSR students, our CCSR advisors, and community partners who work so closely with our students. Also today, District Attorney Marion Ryan came to the high school state representative Paul Donato came and the mayor returned to the high school again at three trips today thank you for coming to participate in the cut it out presentation, which District Attorney Marion Ryan presented to our cosmetology students and our health assisting students and really taught our students how to look for signs of domestic violence. And so we wanna thank the district attorney for having a strong conversation, but really sharing her knowledge with our students. We also just are very grateful for that partnership. I would like to say last week and the week before, I wanna recognize our wonderful band and orchestras. If you had the opportunity to go out and see our band and orchestras play over the past two weeks at Chevalier Theater, it was excellent. The strings and the band, I wanna thank our band parents All the parents that volunteered and supported the offense. I know I saw a member Hays and number my stone and I'm sure there were other members who were able to come. The Chevalier was a packed audience and I just want to thank again all of our fine arts teachers, and all of our students and families for supporting the arts. There are several recent events that are going to be coming up that we just want to recognize, and some which have just transpired. We just had the McGlynn middle schools, drama club presentation, super scary CCSR award ceremony. open houses at both of our middle schools to welcome our rising sixth graders, a welcome in person welcome for our newly arriving kindergarten students which was very successful and very high attendance at all of our elementary schools. And later today, Dr. Riccadeli will present a brief report on the Credit for Life, but just so grateful. It was a wonderful learning experience for all of our students. The Credit for Life Financial Literacy Fair that took place last week, actually almost two weeks ago at the high school. We also want to send a special thank you to CBS 4 News reporter, Tiffany Chan. Last week, she came on campus. She took time out of her busy schedule to come to our media class on the vocational side of the house to offer her tips and tricks on how to communicate effectively, efficiently, and with flourish. So those watching will be both informed and entertained. So we thank Miss Tiffany Chan for doing that. This week as you know we're winding down graduation is on June 1, we have several, several community events parent events that are happening tomorrow evening, we have National Honor Society induction at 7pm in the Karen theater. On Wednesday May 18 we have the Haitian flag day ceremony at 130, followed by a community celebration in the courtyard. On Thursday May 19 we have student leadership awards at 7pm in the Karen theater. On Friday, May 20, we have our junior prom at 6pm. That's taking place at the Reuben Hilton, and the up all night program will immediately follow the prom junior class parents we are asking you, and still looking for parent volunteers for that event so I hope you're able to make that a very successful event for us, students. As we go into next week, please know Monday, May 23rd, academic awards ceremony, 6.30 p.m., Caron Theater. Tuesday, May 24th, M-Club student athlete ceremony, 6 p.m., Caron Theater. Wednesday, May 25th, senior scholarship night, 6.30 p.m. and hundreds of thousands of dollars is given out at the scholarship so it's actually a wonderful event. Thursday, May 26th is our senior prom, 7 p.m. at the Burlington Marriott. Friday, May 27th is our senior day breakfast yearbook distribution and sponsor a senior gift distribution that starts at 10 a.m. in CAF II in the courtyard. Tuesday, May 31, as we have the long weekend, it's senior barbecue, 6pm West Courtyard. Wednesday, June 1, yes, a lot. Wednesday, June 1 is graduation. We have a private ceremony, a more smaller ceremony at 11am for the Curtis Tufts taking place at the Irish American Club. And at 6 p.m. we will be having our official graduation for the class of 2022 at Hormel Stadium. So in closing, I have to say that it has really been so nice to see more smiling faces this spring, but please be aware that COVID is rising again in Middlesex County. While we are not mandating masks at this time, I do encourage people to wear them whenever attending large indoor activities. So thank you, and those are my remarks for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So Dr. Williams, I am proud to call her Dr. Williams. She successfully defended and completed her Harvard Graduate School of Education doctoral program in ed leadership and school administration. And so that was a great accomplishment, and what Dr. Williams is about to present right now is the body of work that was also part of her dissertation but the body of work that she did working with our administrators, this school year, and that work is going to continue. And so I don't want to steal any of her thunder. I wanted to be able to present the body of work that she did this year, and the work that is going to continue. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Nope.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just want to say thank you for the credit for life and thank you to, again, all the volunteers and community partners. There is an excitement or energy. I was surprised at how quickly the apps allowed the students to go through all of the stations. But I am hoping, I think it's such a great learning activity. And when the students did respond and say like, your credit score is everything. And I said to them, yes. And that's not only just now, it's for the rest of your life. Your credit score is very, very important. So I felt like it was such a great aha learning moment for them. And I hope that we're able to continue doing the credit for life. And if possible, do it for juniors and seniors so they have the opportunity to do it junior year and then senior year before they go off to college or their careers. It was, I think, a great learning experience for our students. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I had the opportunity to talk with member Graham about this, and I welcome the conversation and the discussion with the committee to be able to get an idea of what the committee members are thinking about for the following school year. But I did share that it's critically important to take time over the summer months to look at our data, to reflect as a team, to regroup, and be able to make data informed decisions about what our priorities are going to be, whether it's a district improvement goal or the student learning goal. And that it's the data that comes over the summer. Yes, embargo data that comes right at the end of the summer and into September. So the September 30th date, that will give us time to at least have a good amount of new data. to feel more confident in the recommendations that are being made to the committee by that date. And it is in keeping in agreement with many other districts, because I did consult with other superintendents to figure out what timetable they were on. And most of them said September, October, they submit their goals for the year. So I look forward to that discussion next month with you all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Today, we're going to start off our day two for budget, and we have another set of presentations today. We'll be hearing from our assistant superintendents on specific initiatives, Ms. Galussi and Dr. Cushing. We'll also be hearing from our vocational school and some of our other administrators. And so without much further ado, I'm going to pass it on to Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor, I just wanted to also say thank you to Mr. Fallon for his presentation and just with all the numbers that were presented and seeing that, you know, nearly 600 students. When I met with Mr. Fallon and saying like, what are the numbers, what do we think will be our Medford numbers in another two years time? So with 1300 students at the high school, it's possible that we could end up with 7, 8, 900 students wanting to participate in vocational programming, the excellent programming that is happening right now, and possibly bringing on other programs. So it is something that we know we need to work on. in terms of properly marketing the great education that is available in the vocational CTE programming, but for people to also take away the stigma of long ago, where they thought vocational programming was for students that had difficulty learning, and that it wasn't for students that had high aspirations. Just being in our robotics and engineering, where they're going to be going to California, and they just displayed a Tetris game that the robotics and engineering students built. It's now in the front foyer. next to the mural on the left hand side so that got mounted yesterday. And so seeing robotics and engineering students, I believe it was the construction students that had the lifts, just the different the different programs working together to accomplish something to display their great work at the high school. And I just feel the potential is really great. And that's something that, you know, families that are in middle school and trying to make sure that we really let them know all of the great programming that is going to be available and for us not to discount, you know, CTE programming because you can have a CTE degree and still go to college and have a degree and have a career by the time you graduate from high school. So it's a great opportunity and it's something that we really need to celebrate and support. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hello, everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The three dots, the three dots in the... I used to wear it doesn't say rename there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, going through doing that right now. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon or good evening, everyone. Today's going to be our kickoff for our official budget process. And we have a full agenda. A lot of information to share with the committee this evening. Mr. Murphy has spent a significant amount of time cataloging and organizing this data for tonight's presentation for the different departments. So we have a full schedule ahead of us so I look forward to tonight's presentation and passing the baton to Mr. Murphy so that he can take us through the slides and let us discuss the departments that are here today. And I thank our staff members that are on the call as well, who will have an opportunity to weigh in if necessary at particular points. So thank you. And Mr. Murphy, please take over.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I would like to extend our thanks to Tufts University, who presented community grants to both our CCSR and Medford family network. Each group received $2,000 for special projects so a special thank you to Tufts University and the Medford Family Network intends to use its funding for new programs for children with autism, including adaptive swim, soccer lessons, and nature hikes. And our CCSR students would like to do continued cleanup of our Fells reservation. Also this weekend, we had a significant amount of volunteers come to throughout the city, but also to the Medford High School campus. They did an outstanding job cleaning up a lot of trash and miscellaneous things that were left on our property. And I just want to thank all of those who sent pictures and let us see the before and after shots of the work that they did this weekend. Tonight, our Muslim families and friends are celebrating the end of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr or breaking of the fast. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is considered one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims believe that the past year sins are forgiven, good deeds are multiplied, and prayers are answered. Eid Mubarak, which means may God flood your lives with happiness, your heart with love, your soul with spirituality, your mind with wisdom. Happy Eid to those of our community who are of Muslim faith. Also this week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and the theme this year, yes, yes, I did say that, is teaching is a work of heart. The administrators and families of Medford appreciate the dedication of our teachers. I hope the teachers and staff enjoy the many treats the PTOs have organized for them this upcoming week. and the President of the Medford Teachers Union will be speaking this evening, and I appreciate the hard work our teachers and staff are doing. Also, next week is Nurses Appreciation Week. A million thanks to the nurses, our nursing staff, who have provided so much support over the course of the pandemic. They have continued to work very hard with vaccination clinics and helping to maintain our healthy, safe community. So thank you in advance to our nurses as well. I want to, thank you. Also, I want to extend special thanks to all of our administrative professionals and our principals who have had their days of appreciation last week and on yesterday. So thank you to all of them serving our community as well. This weekend, some very good news to share. Our robotics students, with guidance from teacher Sam Christie, participated in the New England Robotics Championship and won. They are now eligible to compete in the National Championship in Long Beach, California later this month. It's simply fabulous news, and we're very proud of our engineering and robotics students. also this weekend. Yes. Also this weekend, the Medford High School Orchestra and our marching band competed in the Music in the Parks competition. The orchestra came in first with an overall rating of excellent, and the marching band came in first with an overall rating of superior. This is a great accomplishment. Congratulations to our musical Mustangs. Lastly, we extend our congratulations to senior Connor Finnegan, who scored 10 goals as a member of the boys lacrosse team. This is the most goals ever scored by one lacrosse player in Mustang history. As the Mustangs beat Malden 19 to zero. The Mustangs are now nine and two and just became the GBL champs. Congratulations boys lacrosse team. Also, I am happy to share that our community is bustling and hosting more and more in-person events, including concerts, plays, and award ceremonies over the course of the next few weeks. In particular, during the week of May 9th to the 13th, we will be hosting open houses for kindergartners and middle schoolers. So on Tuesday, May 10th, McGlynn Middle School open house for rising sixth graders from six to 8 p.m. And the Andrews Middle School open house is Thursday, May 12th from six to 8 p.m. We hope to see you there for our rising sixth graders. Our kindergarten students, Wednesday, May 11th at 2 p.m. will be the kindergarten open houses. Lastly, I would like to remind everyone that this Sunday, May 8th, is Mother's Day. I'd like to wish all the mothers and grandmothers and caregivers in the MPS community a very happy Mother's Day. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I, this is like so hot off the press. We got the information this afternoon. So I don't have the specifics yet for the total number of students that will be eligible to travel. I don't have the specifics, but I thought it was such great news. I just wanted to get it out there. But as soon as I get additional information, I'll be willing to share it with you. Great. That'd be great. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say thank you. I had the opportunity to definitely go and participate and observe the basketball games, and it was absolutely wonderful seeing students working together, playing together, cheering on each other. Even the parents, I want to thank all the parents who were so actively involved because we cheered for all the students, no matter what side scored. And so it was definitely a different way to think about sports. And I think it brought so many students, families in our community together in a different way. So just thank you for taking that extra challenge on and the unified sports were, it was absolutely fabulous. And the video and the pictures from what's been happening in Adaptive PE was also excellent. So thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Every year we have to report to Desi and take an official vote and so I'm coming before you, your body this evening again, asking that Medford continue to maintain their status as a no school choice district. And I'm asking for your support with this. Medford has a lot of diversity of population and students here. And I feel that we truly are doing the best we can do to service our current community. And so my recommendation would be that we remain a no school choice district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When you're a school choice district, you receive other, you're able to receive students from other communities and other districts. And there are a lot of some districts that are school choice districts, but I think with the complexities that we have here in Medford, our current population. We have, I feel that we definitely have our hands for servicing the population that we have. And when you're a school choice district. You're not able to pick some students and not pick others. So once you have that status. people are welcome to apply, and you don't always know what may happen. And I think just for where we are as a district, it is not in our best interests to become a school choice district at this point in time. Every year I have to bring it before your body, but I would kindly request that you support the fact that we're a no school choice district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, miss Douglas, thank you for sending this to me and we are still in the process of going through the slide deck. Thank you to the teachers who worked on this and submitted this so we will definitely take that under advisement and I know tomorrow there will be another negotiating session and we will continue to work in good faith and, you know, try to come to a resolution soon, so we will continue working at it but thank you, thank you for sending these materials. and thank you to all the teachers who worked on this packet. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I'm gonna just have Mr. Murphy come forward as well, because I feel that we've been making progress, and I think we just need to honor both sides, honor the rules of engagement. Mr. Murphy, can you please weigh in?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I hope you're gonna make time to eat dinner or get have someone get you some dinner. If if hopefully I'll be able to squeeze it in if if we're I'm gonna try.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I was gonna say, That adjustment to the sentence, adding that phrasing, staff will use reasonable efforts. I think that that captures it. So I like that phrasing for that second paragraph as well. And I was also going to suggest that given the amount of time to really digest these recommendations in a concise format. I would love to be able to at least let some of the administrative team see this version and just look at what is already in place, the things that are happening, and how the two Um, Mary, I, I feel like hitting the areas that there does need to be, um, enforcement is necessary in some situations and circumstances. Some students will just test it for the sake of testing. And some students may not even realize that they're violating the policy because you know, they're just checking out news, you know, new fashion or a new style. So I have seen situations where, um, shirts that might have inappropriate language. The students can be sent to the restroom, and they can put the shirt on inside out. If they don't want to like go put a, you know, a school, a different piece of clothing on, but Again, also at the beginning of the year, when students get their kind of rules, their book of rules at the beginning of the year and talking about this being a substantive shift, I think this could be something that could happen as the school year launches to really spend time talking about what our expectations are around dress code and you know, what's acceptable, what is not, you know, acceptable. And again, it's clearly articulated that we're not trying to target students based on, you know, their different physical builds and clearly, you know, to be clear about that, but at the same time, give them an opportunity to understand You know, these are the expectations moving forward. So I would love to be able to get this in front of, you know, more administrators for them to just see the shifts and staff for them to also see what some of the expected changes are. for the dress code so that we could, you know, have a little bit more of a robust conversation and everyone be clear on what the new policy is moving forward once it's, you know, approved by the full body.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think we would be able to have the summer I want to say the handbooks are given out at the start of the school year. So, over the summer, August would have like there definitely would be time before we get them, you know, printed and. know changing the year usually it's the same handbook that you kind of update but especially for something as substantive as dress code you know being you know clearly delineated we want to make sure that this gets added to all of the yearbooks not yearbooks all of the handbooks and you know, for staff to be aware of this change, for students to be aware, for parents to be aware of the change that's being recommended.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Excellent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sorry, there's a little echo because we're in the same space, I'm going to have Miss Lucy respond first. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. And member Graham, I just wanted to say that during the pandemic, before the CDC changed the regulations, when we were quarantining for the 14 days or the 10 days of school, just by that practice, you had some students that could potentially have missed, they may have had to have quarantined twice or three times. So they exceeded, you know, the total number of days, but those days would have been excused. So I think during the pandemic, it kind of changed the rules that we were accustomed to using.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to say member Graham, Just one second. Sorry about that member Graham, I was going to say, I, I wish I had nurse director Avery Heinz on the call as well because As the virus, COVID is evolving and there are different symptoms that are happening. Sometimes it is the nurses if they're completing a rapid test. So we have a medical professional that's confirming and verifying that the child is not feeling well or is displaying certain symptoms and to kind of either keep the child at home or keep an extra eye out on the child. At the same time as we look at the attendance policy I do want us to just be cautious, because also during this time of the pandemic where there was so much. know, exposure and students being in school and out of school from a social emotional learning perspective, I think we have to be careful that if a student potentially were to need additional supports or more help that COVID or COVID exposure was not going to be used as a reason to stay out of school, because there are that that's another piece where, when it was the original 510 15 days, you never wanted to get to the 15, you never wanted that to happen. And so the pandemic kind of changed the rules. But now looking at attendance and looking at medical documentation of what we do have what's been submitted to the nurse's office to look at each case, or each situation on a case by case basis. So I definitely am in support of. streamlining and aligning the, you know, the five policies to bring it down to one or two policies that the district is going to, you know, hold up as the standard, but at the same time we just also need to be aware that. you know, some absenteeism is not related to, you know, it's not COVID related. It's a very, very small, small number, but it's a number that we do have to closely monitor and report if, you know, it becomes egregious. So I think that that's kind of, why those rules were put in place, because sometimes students just, they aren't going to school, and then the next thing you know, unfortunately, they drop out of school. And so, you know, Ms. Fidler-Carey might be able to speak to that or just say, like, as she and her team and the engagement specialists are really trying to keep students engaged, working with families, We don't want students dropping out because it's like, oh, I've been out of school 27 days or, you know, whatever the number is. And we have no documentation of what's going on with that student.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Past practice, I know that we've normally sent the DA's communication out to the community as well. You're asking specifically if we are required by DESE to send that communication as well. I can definitely try to, that's something I can find out because I know normally when we, receive communications from the DA's office, we always forward it to that constituency. Usually, it's to the secondary students. But I can work on finding out if that is an expectation. I can reach out to DESE and just see, do they feel, if it's coming from the district attorney's office, then you know, because the departments I believe work kind of in collaboration or in coordination, that I wouldn't think that a communication coming from, you know, one department would really be contrary or opposed to the other. Are you asking that we not send, only send communications that are required by DESE? Is that what you're recommending right now?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I was just going to say member Graham in response to member McLaughlin suggestion I the DA's office they speak with me frequently I work and participate in different things that they offer. So I definitely would be willing to present that feedback to the DA's office. As I was thinking about it and where you were talking about the letter being harsh and thinking just about, you know, the entire jurisdiction, when she sends out communications, it's not only like Medford, it's to like 52 cities and towns or something like that. It's a very, very large number. And so there are different things, of course, happening in different pockets. of the state. So again, some of the harsher language might be because it's going out to a much, you know, wider group of people. So I can definitely take that. you know, take that feedback and share that feedback so that we can look at making it more family friendly. But I do also wanna say that, again, it's a very, very small percentage in Medford, but sometimes we do, if we're not able, you know, through meeting with families and trying to, you know, have this active communication and engagement, On some occasions, or in some occasions, some situations and circumstances, we do have to involve the Department of Children and Families. So I don't want to pretend that, you know, for an entire district of 4,000 students, we never have to pick up the phone call, pick up the phone and make that call, because we are, as educators, we are all mandated reporters. So in some very, very few cases where we haven't been able to come to agreement and students with significant absences and we're not able, we do end up having to go that route, not often. It's the exception and not the norm, but it does happen in some, In some cases, so I do want to just you know be transparent in saying that. You know, especially with the work of our engagement team we work really, really hard trying to keep kids engaged not having students want to drop out and trying to make sure that they're coming to school. But in some cases, there are a small number that is kind of falling through the cracks. And we do have to sometimes take a stronger approach to address it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so to your point, yes. And of course the pandemic did cause some delays, but there has been significant progress. There is a lot of work happening right now with the district hoping to transition to a new vendor, final site, a more robust vendor with greater capacities, greater flexibility. And so there has been significant progress on that front. And so at a future engagement meeting, we would love to be able to update you, the entire committee, on where we are currently in the work that we're doing. And we are hoping, significant progress has been made, but we are hoping to be able to launch this new site by the summer of 22. So this coming summer is our anticipated timeline of launching the new site. But we would love to be able to get that in front of you, you know, maybe in six weeks time or a month's time to be able to show this group the progress. I can say from what I've seen thus far, it's much cleaner, user-friendly, and very, very proud. Many of our vocational students have had the opportunity Graphics, Lisa Miller working with her students, our media students, adding videos. So there's a lot of student involvement, student engagement, I should say, in this new website platform. It's user-friendly. There is like a scope and sequence that they are working on for how we would be able to roll it out to the district and really work on significantly improving and increasing communication at a district level and providing families with more than one platform to hear and receive information about what's happening in the district. So I was really excited about the last draft presentation that I was able to see. And I think that this body will be equally excited to see that this is modern, it's sleek, it's clean, the pictures are vibrant, and it's logical. Very, very logical, very, very clean, very user-friendly, and You know, although the last website was a significant improvement from the original version. This new website that they have been working on is even significantly more improved than what we're accustomed to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I work Vincent. Yes, member Graham. Yes, I wanted to share that in this new iteration, it's definitely more built out more robust. One of the things that with this upcoming shift to a new more robust system, each school is going to have a lead technology support staff person affiliated with the new platform. So to your point of, you know, students will graduate those kinds of things. Yes, they will, but there's also going to be a much larger team that will be working directly with communications on a school by school basis. And so now we're going to have a broader school based communication team. So that is one shift that we are in the process of making for next for next school year. And we've already identified individuals that are highly skilled with technology and have excitedly taken on this charge to be part of this process as we are really trying to just evolve and have a truly comprehensive communication system. So I feel very encouraged by this new team of individuals that will also be helping to support and work with us in terms of communications. And will that team be
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I was gonna say, oh, Mr. Murphy, did you wanna, you want to comment? Let me let Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I think anecdotally hearing feedback, some of that feedback, like what you said, people trying is scrolling down, not knowing where the right tab is, where do you find something that this, the last draft that I saw, it is so much, when I say it was so much more streamlined, sleek and clean and user-friendly, it's, like the difference I'm not trying to make a commercial but between an Android and Apple, where, you know, Apple is kind of sometimes has the reputation of just being like more user friendly more intuitive. So that that piece of it is definitely. definitely readily available. And I also think the fact that we're now working with Final Sight, where we have access to, I think, more highly skilled individuals, people with greater expertise, that they have also been able to give really solid website feedback in terms of like, this is what needs to happen. But an actual pilot just yet or Maybe a survey or a platform with families, a meeting with families. As of yet, to my knowledge, I don't believe that that has happened yet because it's still in a draft phase, but I would definitely say when we have you know, the more corrected version presented to this body. And this body has an opportunity to kind of see it in action and, you know, give feedback. And maybe as that particular meeting is coming up, maybe to spend a little more time saying to families as well, please jump on this particular subcommittee meeting because we're going to be piloting or doing a demonstration of our new website that's expected to come in the summer of 22, and we're looking for feedback and create, you know, use this platform as an opportunity, or from that presentation, create, you know, an additional opportunity to get feedback and have people, you know, look at it and see the interface and say like, oh, this is excellent, or, oh, don't forget about something to consider. Is there a way to add X, Y, or Z before we try to take it live? So definitely open to that. to receiving additional feedback, definitely open to it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for languages, it definitely will be able to be translated into multiple languages. And I'll say a little spoiler alert. I was trying to keep some surprises, but I was really excited by the draft presentation that we got to see and the significant progress that was made. There is a plan to actually try to slowly roll out you know, multiple ways of communicating and where you were talking about accessibility. Not everyone has a computer or a desktop where they have access to that all the time, but almost everyone does have a good old cell phone. One, if not two, if you're lucky. And so we are definitely, this new platform will also have a component that is cell phone friendly. So from an accessibility in terms of access where, you know, I'm sure 97% of our community has access to a cellular phone. I'm sure that not only parents and caregivers, but also students, especially at the secondary level, because I know some elementary students may not have cell phones, but for our students as well, they would be able to download the app and have the downloaded app version of the website available so that they would be able to receive feeds and, you know, important pieces of information related to the school. So there is, um, you know, I gave a little bit of a spoiler alert but there are definitely a lot of additional functionality that isn't available. I also had asked about the text messaging option, which is critically important. When we just, you know, got off of the April break and you know, I got an alert for my child to just say don't forget to conduct your rapid testing it's Sunday. So something as simple as that a very, very brief text message that wouldn't take up that much space, but just another way for know to communicate with families it would be one-sided but it would just be oh remember this is happening in your building or this particular event is happening so really hoping to eventually get to that level of functionality where it doesn't only have to always be an email but you know all the time we're checking our text messages because we get a little alert and using that functionality again to be able to communicate with parents on timely events, not oversaturate their text message inbox with a million messages a day, but those particular messages where you may want to say, here's a little reminder, and you see it and you're like, oh yeah, I need to do this. communicate with them. So we definitely are in agreement. And I do feel the direction that we're moving in is really going to put us in a much stronger position to provide accessibility, language translation, and keep our families informed, and up to date on what's happening in the district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to pass the baton on to Mr. Murphy, who has been lead on this portion of the project. Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, President Morell and honorable body. We thank you for your support of this MSBA application, our statement of interest. Again, our high school is in serious need of repair and renovation. And we are hoping that with your support, we will be able to This time be approved by MSBA to be considered for renovation, or how can I say it, a new high school to be able to be built for us here in Medford. It's our statement of interest and we are asking MSBA to approve us for the core program. And we explained statutory priorities number five and number seven. Those are the two key areas that we are requesting that MSBA consider for Medford High School's core program. I don't know if you have a question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Statutory priority number five is regarding replace, renovate and modernize the school facility systems, including the roofs, windows, boilers, heating and ventilation to increase and improve energy conservation and decrease energy related costs in a school facility. And statutory priority number seven was replacement of. In addition to obsolete buildings in order to provide for a full range of programs, consistent with state and approved local requirements.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm gonna ask Mr. Murphy to come give some of the specifics. Thank you. Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If MSBA was gonna give me one thing, it would be that they would approve our petition to go for the core program. In the past, sometimes we've also attempted to go for the accelerated repair program where they just focus on a small section of the high school and repair a small section, but I think right now where the building is over 50 years old. there are so many areas that are just starting to show their age and it wouldn't be to just go and focus on one area. We need to really fix the entire structure from bathrooms to leaks to the pipes bursting. So my wishlist would be that MSBA approves us for the core program. It takes a very long time. So from this point to actually Having something done could take anywhere from eight to 10 years. There were many, many steps, but we do need to start somewhere. And right now the building's 50 years old. If it were to take a full 10 years, the building would then be 60 plus years old. So that would be my wish that we would be approved, receive full approval from MSBA.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think one other piece that people need to be aware of as well when we merge both high schools, the vocational side and the comprehensive side. We now have about 45% enrollment on the vocational side of the house the CTE side. And so we currently have 15 programs there but there are other programs that we would like to offer. to really give our students the greatest opportunities and again the limitations with the physical plant that would limit us from doing being able to offer some of additional programming for our students. So I really feel like if MSBA If your body approves our application and MSBA receives our statement of interest and allows us to move on to the next phase, it will allow us to really keep Medford out in front of the eight ball and really giving our students the greatest opportunities possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much. Thank you to the team as well who worked on putting everything together. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. and all the others that worked. And again, I think the report actually details many, many of the things that need addressing. And the fact that the building is not air conditioned, and sometimes we have very hot summers. There are a lot of things that our students graciously put up with, but we know it's not easy for them. So this is our hope to give our students the best quality education in the best facility possible if we are granted by MSBA and by your body to move forward. So I humbly request your support with this statement of interest application. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd like to open my remarks this evening by acknowledging that many members of the community are here to voice their opinions and concerns about a personnel matter. In addition, I have received email communication as well, and I have responded that I am legally obligated to maintain confidentiality when it comes to personnel records. All human resource personnel matters are confidential, and neither I nor any member of the school committee are able to respond to any questions or comments regarding personnel. I thank you in advance for your understanding. The COVID update. This morning, the Medford Public Schools Health Services Department notified our team that events involving Medford students that occurred outside of school were likely places of COVID-19 transmission. Due to the extenuating circumstances surrounding these events, our team of school nurses have engaged in contact tracing specific to these events. We do have evidence of a slight uptick in positivity concentrated at our secondary level, and we will continue to monitor these events to defend against any type of surge. I remind you as always to participate in the DESI-sponsored rapid testing program to help to continue to put the pandemic behind us. Additionally, on Wednesdays here at City Hall, there will be vaccination clinics happening in our Board of Health on Wednesdays from two to six, this Wednesday, April 13th. And the shots that are available are Moderna for 18 plus and Pfizer for 12 plus. First shot, second shot and booster shots are available. Only 25 people have registered thus far. Please pre-register so that your medication can be reserved. Also, history is all around us. As we come upon the Patriots Day holiday, we know Medford played an integral role in the American Revolution and is actually mentioned in the now famous Longfellow poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. We remember how groups of minutemen came from neighboring towns to line up at Concord and Lexington to face at the time, the strongest empire in the world, the British Army. This description sounds eerily similar to what is happening now in the Ukraine. Colonial America wanted to live in freedom from Britain, and clearly Ukraine would like to remain free from Russian influence. Lessons from the past can often teach us lessons about the present and future. History is all around us. Last week, we were able to witness the appointment of the first African-American woman, Judge Katanja Brown Jackson, to the United States Supreme Court. Judge Jackson is the first, but hopefully not the last, African-American woman to grace the court. Her appointment may have taken 232 years, but as Judge Jackson stated, we made it. Our children see that in America, anything is possible. I'd like to extend special congratulations to the Medford High School's Drama Club for their outstanding presentation this past weekend of Legally Blonde. Special thanks to Mr. Shankady, Mr. Brauch, Mr. McLaughlin, Elvin Keith from Spotlight, the Votes Graphic Arts Program, the parents and backstage crew for helping the student actors present this performance. The arts have been especially hit hard by the pandemic, and it was wonderful to see the students shine in this production. Additionally, the Medford Vocational Technical High School opened its program to the public for the first time in over two years. Parents and students were able to see the shops in action. especially the shops that have been moved to new spaces, cosmetology, electrical, robotics and engineering, and the school store. I know a number of eighth grade students really were impressed by the offerings at our vocational school. Thank you to member Hays and member Kreatz for attending the event last week. As you are aware, April vacation begins April 15th, as the schools are closed this Friday, Good Friday, and the following week. I know the mayor has planned Patriot's Day activities for the 18th, and the Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a pancake breakfast that morning at St. Joseph's Hall from 8 to 10 a.m., from 9 to 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's Hall. Patriots Day reminds us of the Boston Marathon bombings. We lost a former student, Crystal Campbell, who was killed while waiting for her friends to cross the finish line. The Mustang Girls softball team organized the annual Crystal Campbell Memorial Softball Tournament in her memory, with proceeds benefiting a scholarship in her name. The tournament returns to Columbus Park on Saturday, April 23rd and Sunday, April 24th. There will be raffles, a 50-50, and a concession stand. The other teams participating include Bullerica High School, Arlington Catholic High School, and Swanscott High School. Come out and cheer on our Mustangs! With April being National Autism Awareness Month, the brand new Mustangs Boys Volleyball Team will host an autism awareness game against Malden on Wednesday, April 27th at 4 p.m. in the high school gym. T-shirts are being sold now. The day of the game, there will be a bake sale and a 50-50 raffle. All proceeds will be donated to the Medford High School Unified Sports Program. So there are also a number of holidays that are taking place this month in April. Ram Navami A. It's a Hindu celebration. It was celebrated yesterday, April 10th. Passover is April 15th. Easter, this Sunday, April 17th. And Orthodox Easter is April 24th. And with a number of COVID regulations lifted, I'm sure many family and friends will be able to gather together safely and enjoy their time celebrating together. To our Hindu families who celebrate Ram Navami, or the birthday of the God Ram, we wish you divine blessings of Sri Ram along with peace and prosperity. To our Jewish families who celebrate Passover, which commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery, we wish you a happy Pesach, which is Passover in Hebrew. to our Christian families who celebrate Easter and Orthodox Easter. We wish you a joyful celebration. Wishing everyone a safe, restful and enjoyable April vacation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You asked to speak about equity. Yes. And Ms. Weiss said that you would be given the date when there would be an equity presentation. Yeah. She would reach out to you so that you would be on the agenda. That's the last communication that I received.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, the Wednesday before.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, families. I am your very proud superintendent, and I'm very excited to be here this afternoon. to have us conduct the middle school lottery. And again, as Dr. Cushing already said, everyone who's at the table, this is the team that has been working together to bring about today's lottery. Dr. Riccidelli will be the point person that you email. Be Riccidelli, R-I-C-C-I-A-R-D-E-L-L-I at Medford. dot k 12 dot ma.us. This is again, a process that as we go through each school, there will be two draws for every school. And Miss miles out there manager will be handling all of that information. I do want to share today that our school website is down, they are servicing it. So Once the lottery is completed, we will be sending emails out later on this evening. And we will also be posting the results on social media until the website is up and running again. So normally, the lottery takes place and we post it as soon as possible onto the district website. But the district website is down, it is being repaired. but it may not be up and running until tomorrow. So they are actively working on it, but we will get the results to you and we will also use social media. So I wanna make sure that everyone can kind of know what to do, what their next step should be. Thank you for jumping on this call and I'm going to pass it back to Dr. Cushing or Dr. Riccadeli if they would like to share a few remarks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I have a few important events that I would like everyone to take note of. That first tomorrow, April 5th at 4 p.m. by Zoom, the middle school lottery will be taking place. You are welcome to watch the lottery live on Zoom. Placements will then be posted to our website and school blog. Letters indicating the student's official middle school assignment will be sent out to parents and caregivers on April 12th. Please mark your calendars for the middle school welcome orientations. The McGlynn Middle School will be taking place on Tuesday, May 10th, from six to 8 p.m. And the Andrews will be taking place on Thursday, May 12th, from six to 8 p.m. at the Andrews. We look forward to greeting our incoming sixth graders. Also the before and after school lottery, the sign up for before and after school lottery opened on Friday and it will remain open until April 13th. The lottery will be held on April 14th. Next Monday, April 11th, pathways to high school mathematics. It will be discussed by Ms. Faiza Khan, our math director on Zoom to present to sixth grade families. Again, that's next Monday, April 11th for rising sixth graders. April is National Autism Month, which helps to advocate for global understanding and acceptance of people with autism. CPAC's monthly meeting will focus on autism and feature Heather McKinnon, who will discuss her experiences with autism and share her resources with parents and caregivers of students of all needs and abilities on and beyond the spectrum. The meeting will be held next Wednesday, April 13th at 6 p.m. via Zoom. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/.j/.84130616016. I'm also pleased to announce that Medford High School Drama Club is back and they will be presenting Legally Blonde in the Caron Theater this Thursday, April 7th at 7.30 p.m., Friday, April 8th at 7.30 p.m., and on Saturday, April 9th, there are two shows. The first show, the matinee, is at 2 p.m. and the evening show is 7.30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for all others. Please come out and support our drama club. I also have some special accolades for our Mustangs. I wanna say congratulations are in order for our Mustangs Winter Color Guard team for both having an undefeated season and taking first place at the New England Scholastic Band Association Finals. Members of the team include students from our middle schools and our high school. Hard work pays off. Great job, Mustangs, our Winter Color Guard. Fabulous job. Additionally, congratulations are in order to our Mustang Boys hockey captain, Cody Tufts, for being selected by the Greater Boston League to receive the 2022 Boston Brains NIAA Sportsmanship Award. This award is presented annually by the Boston Brains and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, NIAA, to one individual from each high school ice hockey league in the state who best exemplifies the highest standards of fair play in sportsmanship. Cody received his award last Thursday at the Bruins game at TD Garden. Congratulations, Cody, for a job well done. I also want to just recognize that last week we celebrated Women's History Month celebration, and our District Attorney, Dio Ryan, came, and there was a full panel of women leaders from all walks of life, from female state trooper to newscaster to scientists and researchers. The superintendent present company was part of the panel. It was a wonderful celebration hosted by our CCSR students. And the students came and asked wonderful questions and the students were a great audience. And I just wanna thank our CCSR students for a job well done. and thank all of our panelists who came out to support Medford Public Schools last week. I also would like to recognize our Middle School Strings Ensemble. Under the direction of Ms. Sophia Chang, they received a gold rating this past Sunday. The ensemble received a perfect score on their performance. Such talent in the group. Congratulations to all of our students for their hard work, and of course to Ms. Chang. We'd also like to extend a special thanks to Tufts University for their generous donation of $1,000 to the Medford High School PTO. Those monies will be utilized for the junior class up all night party hosted after the prom. We send special appreciation to Mr. Rocco DiRico, who's the executive director of government and community relations for Tufts University, who helped to make this donation possible. We also want to recognize that Ramadan began on April 2nd, and it continues until May 1st. During this time, we extend our wishes of a happy Ramadan Mubarak to all of our Muslim families. April 4th through April 8th is also the week of the young child. This means it's a time to recognize that children's opportunities are our responsibilities. And we must commit ourselves to ensuring that each and every child experiences the type of early learning environments at home, at childcare, at school, and in the community. All those experiences promote their early learning. So again, the focus this week is the week of the young child. Lastly, April is also National Poetry Month. So I will end tonight's remarks with a quote from the American poet laureate, Amanda Gorman. If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we can accommodate. And we have Ms. Khan with us here this evening as well. Ms. Khan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Kahn and to all the teachers that, and the parents that were involved in this truly collaborative process. It took a very long time, but I know with all of the teachers, whether they were piloting bridges, using the envisions or piloting investigations that it was a lot of work for them to pilot it. But I truly feel like this was a, a truly collaborative process that working together they came and made this decision and i look forward to seeing how the district does with investigations three knowing that so many voices were able to contribute to the final decision so thank you for all your hard work regarding that thank you thank you and i i am truly grateful to all the teachers it was a it was a
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Galusi and Dr. Cushing for pulling, and also Ms. Bowen for pulling all of this, all of the summer programming together. As you can see, there is a lot going on and member Graham, we are making a serious effort to try to communicate early so that people can start thinking about all of the options that are gonna be available as they're beginning to plan for the summer. So I just wanna say thank you for all the hard work bringing everything into one presentation. And when you look at it collectively, you realize that we really are offering a lot for our community. Thank you to the both of you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For this presentation, during the month of March, I embarked on a listening tour. And this is going to be kind of a high level overview of what transpired during this listening tour.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the journey I took, it started in the month of March. I embarked on a listening tour within the district. And I wanted to say in light of all of the adjustments and changes that we had to make as we navigated through the pandemic, it truly would not have been prudent to conduct business as usual. Yet instruction was taking place every day in all of our classrooms and schools were up and running. So in my continued pursuit of system coherence and the implementation of our strategic plan, the time was right to gather information about what was happening in Medford. So how did it come about? Drawing upon the research work that my superintendent resident, Ms. Carmen Williams was working on, building upon the administrative professional development that took place this year. I implemented portions of the coaching conversation guide, which was a protocol that we used on professional development. But in addition to that, we spent a significant amount of time this year looking at data. Street data, map data, satellite data, all different forms of data. And this was the book that was used. And in this particular book, which is a great resource, Street Data by Shane Saphir and Jamila Duggan. It also talked about the power and the importance of listening and listening being an important tool. So as I embarked on this journey, I kept in mind, empathy, I hear you, equity, I see you, collaboration, I am with you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, data matters, but alternative data also matters. Standardized assessments don't always tell the whole story. Our stories matter. And with that, I think about self, social emotional learning in general for adults as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the five tenets of social-emotional learning, you've seen this wheel before. This was taken from the castle out of Chicago. The five tenets of social-emotional learning are self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-awareness. All of those five spokes
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thus far, I have spoken with about 101 educators within the district, teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, all different special educators, English learning teachers, specialists, all across the district in all of the different schools. In addition to meeting and listening to teachers and staff. I also had conversations with principals and administrators, and at this point in time, I have met with 20 of them to have conversations with them about problems of practice and saying, what's a challenge that you're facing? Let's work together. Let's think together about this possible problem of practice. Let's troubleshoot together and see if we can come up with solutions. Sometimes we could, sometimes we couldn't, but again, it was an opportunity to listen. As I went on this journey, I am including here a few quotes that kind of jumped out at me. Teacher said, I love ECRI. I want math professional development to be like ECRI. One point person to come to model in my classroom. Another teacher said, we want someone to work with us. It is going to be a new program, and they were referring to math, having a point person with expertise in an area. Another said, responsive classroom block is really working. In another building, our school adjustment Councilor is amazing. Eleni, who's a professional developer with ECRI, the teacher said, it's the best PD ever for them and they loved the coaching with the Zooms. Others said, bring back the joy, bring the joy back. It's a great day to be a Mustang. And they wanted t-shirts to be made for all the students to say, it's a great day to be a Mustang for next school year because they feel like the pandemic has exhausted all of us. Other teachers asked for more teacher led professional development. There's really this thirst for teachers designing to work collaboratively together to learn from one another, even a suggestion of being able to go and visit. So when I was at the middle school, one of the teachers suggested, can we go up to ninth grade. do professional development, see what's happening in ninth grade and come back and say, oh, this is how we can make adjustments to practice. So teachers gave wonderful examples, their best thinking and just different ways of looking at how we can improve the district and make a difference for our students. Another teacher said, we need more support, training and grace. Asking us to really keep that in mind because we've been working in a pandemic and there are a lot of unknowns that we had to experience and go through. But that was something that had just jumped out at me when it was said. Another session, they said, bring back book groups. bring back professional learning communities. And so it was something where if I think about key themes, professional development ended up really surfacing as an area, Dr. Cushing, could you please advance? Thank you. Professional development really surfaced as an area that Teachers want to continue learning, learning in different ways, learning from strong educators and quality professional development and having opportunities to learn from one another. So that was definitely a theme that that surfaced. Teachers talked about self social emotional learning and working with students and trying to meet the needs of students. And as I had mentioned again responsive classroom and those kinds of things that we were being very intentional about to meet the needs of our students, bringing back the joy, because there were so many rules and regulations during the pandemic. masks shields sanitizer, you know distance. And so finally kind of getting back to some sense of normalcy. And so that kind of came through like they're, they're ready to bring back the joy for the students and get back to some sense of normalcy. Teachers did ask for more support as we think about the structure of the district, thinking about our growing EL population, students with disabilities, Councilors, to make sure that we keep those resources in place. And additional staffing, like this year with the pandemic, sometimes we had some positions that still were not filled despite having them posted for months. And so thinking about, oh, I wish if there's a possibility to have more staffing, if we could have an additional paraprofessional or something like that. So that was just something that also kind of surfaced. And so I just wanted to point that out as some of the key themes. I really wanna just also say thank you right now, a special thank you to all the staff that were part of the listening tour. I wanna say that your willingness to share, be transparent, be vulnerable, and provide feedback to me was greatly, greatly, greatly appreciated. Your voice matters and it counted. And in closing, I just wanted to say there was one final slide, Dr. Cushing, homage to you, Dr. Cushing. I ended with saying that to the teachers that were in staff and administrators that were part of the listening tour, that I am your proud superintendent. And yes, indeed, it is a great day to be a Mustang. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It was really, in that particular quote, it was a group of students, not a group of students, it was a clustered group of teachers. Because during the listening tour, I met with some people one on one, and we tried to have no groups, no larger than four. And so it was, you know, they were talking about support, time to learn the new curriculum. I think, Grace, in the sense of like we're bringing on new programming, we just went through all of this adjustment. Please keep in mind that as we're getting the training, we need support, you know, and just keeping grace in mind so that it's not like you're pounding them over the head and saying, here's 500 more things to learn all at once. But to really think about saying, OK, this is the next initiative that we're going to do. So many of them were involved, especially in the math pilot. you know depending on which program they were piloting so that also the feedback of like oh I did this one and this is the one we're going to go with we know we're going to go through training and that it was it was it's one thing to know that equity professional development is quality PD but to have so many of them in different buildings echo the feedback that it was some of the best professional development that they've ever had. And for us as a district to try to mimic that type of professional development moving forward. So when I think of that statement, I put it all together in the context of the greater conversation that was happening at that moment. But that was just a statement that I appreciated the vulnerability of the teacher to kind of say it, but say like, you know, give us the support and the time to learn these new programs and adjust, you know, to the changes, but, you know, continuing to do the work that needs to happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, school committee members. So good evening, this is your proud superintendent sharing some updates for the week. For the previous two weeks that we haven't met the past two weeks. So we meet tonight. Today, March 31. And today is World Down Syndrome Awareness Day. It's a global awareness day officially observed by both the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Today, being the 21st of the third month, it was selected to signify the uniqueness of the trisomy of the 21st chromosome, which causes down syndrome. The theme this year, which is selected by the United Nations is hashtag inclusion means. which empowers everyone to be able to advocate for equal rights for people with Down syndrome and reach out to stakeholders to bring about positive change. Again, this is being recognized globally today. And as I had shared in my communication last Friday, you can wear a brightly colored top. I'm wearing a multicolored necklace and I have different socks on my feet. in support in collaboration of those who have down syndrome. So again, the theme of this year was inclusion means, and just for us to be able to take a moment to reflect on what does inclusion mean to us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to share with our community that our parents and caregivers, this is an important announcement regarding your tax credits. If you don't normally file a tax return, but you're eligible for the child tax credit, you can still claim the child tax credit on your 21 tax return, even if you had no income during the entire year of 2021. So there were advanced payments that were made in 2021, but they were not the full amount of the credit. So the 2021 child tax credit is 3600 for each qualifying child under the age of six. and 3000 for each child between the ages of six and 17. So for further information, you can go to the IRS website, which is irs.gov slash child tax credit for more information. I want to celebrate today, one of our students, Valentina Burke. She's a fifth grader at the Miss attack school, and she is the student who created the new logo. She was interviewed by the network transcript. Her design was voted the favorite by students, teachers, and parents of about 50 who submitted 50 submissions to the art teacher as part of a competition to fashion a symbol for the school. The design evokes the endless flow of water. The color speaks of serenity. The words embody the ethos of the newly named Missittuck School. Respectful, responsible, and safe. Students voted blind. The names of the artists were replaced by a letter, so that no one knowingly voted for a friend's submission. Even parents had a say. Dr. Kaye said Valentina was so surprised to hear her name. Valentina was assisted by her art teacher, Ms. Maseka, and Mr. Platti. Congratulations, Valentina. Also, I'd like to recognize some students who have been outstanding winter athletes, and they are our GBL All-Stars for the winter season. For basketball cheerleading, Andrea Sorobori. For boys basketball, Anthony Tashara-Kugler and Owen Kelly. For girls, basketball. Kate Jocelyn and Bella O'Brien. For gymnastics. Alexa Blaney and Alexandra Lombaro. For boys, ice hockey. Aidan Doherty, Leo Mantenuto, and Robert Shumway. For girls, ice hockey. Kena Swanson. For indoor track. Anna Casey, Maria Colombo, and Eastman D'Souza-Villera. For swimming, Clark Bararugo, Benjamin Boverman, Brendan Canavan, John DiPlacido, Elizabeth Hunt, Anaya Osius-Johnson, Marcos Pereira, Lindsey Quinn, Brendan Sheen, and Kaitlyn Chuang. Additionally, Mustang senior football captain Alvin LaGrosse was selected to the EMU Shriners All-Star team. Congratulations to all of you. And speaking about sports, the Medford Public Schools, in collaboration with Special Olympics of Massachusetts, will be offering unified track and field for all high school students, both with and without disabilities. The season will begin March 28th with three to four meets. Those interested should contact Miss Andre. At Medford High School, participation is limited. Additionally, this Wednesday, March 23 at 6pm, please join Medford CPAC and Medford Recreation to find out about new inclusive sports opportunities in Medford, which aims to provide inclusive sports enrichment programs to all children. Inclusive Sports uses innovative behavioral methods to teach sports, fitness and social skills. Programs are designed by physical education, behavioral and inclusion experts to introduce children to a variety of sports through a series of lessons focused on skill building. This meeting will be held by Zoom. So the ID number for that meeting is 950-815-21817 on Zoom. I want to just recognize that Medford is continuing to show support for Ukraine. Last Friday, the McGlynn Middle School CCSR students led the school in wearing blue and yellow in an effort of solidarity with Ukraine. The students collected items that will be shipped to refugee organizations on the ground in Ukraine and Romania. These items included bandages, gauze, ibuprofen, flashlights, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. Also, students in 7B, Ms. O'Donohue's geography class at the Andrews Middle School, hosted a fundraiser for Ukraine as well, offering blue and yellow face painting for a donation of $2. Over $400 was raised and will be sent to CARE. We are proud of our Mustang students seeing a need and extending their hands to help. Lastly, this Wednesday, March 23rd, is School Crossing Guard Appreciation Day in Massachusetts. It reminds all of us to honor the hard work of our crossing guards in helping to keep our school children safe. Their dedication is greatly appreciated and they should be recognized for their diligence. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I guess my wondering is where you're saying an action item and this, the original I guess, do you feel they're saying the same thing?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it's clarifying, but I'm just more concerned about the manageability of adding more and more. Ms. Weiss is raising her hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just feel like it is an additional layer. We've changed the agenda. We now list the meeting date requested, the date that a document was submitted. We do have an internal form. I am concerned if Ms. Weiss feels that it's something that she can handle. But I just feel it's another added layer of keeping all the documents, keeping them, the school committee records, everything. We have to keep it recorded and documented. We have the minutes. The minutes would say if something is being done. So I, again, there is an internal document, which she talked about. It's not a clean document that was It's shared on your drive but not with the public, so it will have to be revamped. In order to go on the website and I just, I just feel like the amount of when you keep saying accountability. We have put so many systems and structures in place additional systems and structures in place that did not exist before, that it's going to get to the point that you spend so much time focusing on systems and structures that you can't get the actual work done. And so I was trying to go back and forth to see what the difference was. between what was originally proposed in 88 and this revised version. And there's a fine line between what's realistic and what ends up becoming burdensome because there's so many layers, so much paperwork that it's gonna slow down the productivity of what we wanna be able to do. And I'm just saying that, to be, you know, fully transparent and honest, we're not trying to hide anything we do have left handed desks. I think that if certain things there's a specific ask or request, and community members reach out to you, you guys have access to to it within the drive to be able to see if it's being done. and or just put a resolution to say, you know, we need an update on something. So I'm just, I'm nervous that we keep putting in so many systems and structures that it's going to be overwhelming. And the quality of the work that really should be done is going to be diminished because we are trying to item number, date of meeting, date completed, when applicable, who's the respondent, text of item, the date, response to be returned, type of response requested, verbal update, written report, presentation. It's a lot. I just wanna be honest and say that it's a lot.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, ma'am.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good evening Mustang family. It's wonderful to see so many of you on the call. I'm really excited this evening. I'm going to be sharing a slide presentation with you. It has been a fairly similar slide presentation that we have shared in the past. We have updated some of the current dates to reflect the school year. And so I hope as I go through this presentation that I'm able to answer some of your questions. regarding the lottery process and expectations and things for next year. Dr. Riccadeli and Dr. Peter Cushing, as they've already both spoken, are also here to support me in responding to any of the questions that you may have. So without much further ado, I'm gonna begin going through the slide deck and take you through the steps moving forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So when we started this process, We talked about correcting an imbalance. And so when I came to Medford in 2018, this was what the schools looked like between the McGlynn Middle School and the Andrews Middle School. And so what brought about the birth of the lottery was, Not a perfect science but an attempt to balance the schools. And so, Dr Cushing Thank you. Right now you're looking at the pie chart of the Andrews Middle School. And this is the racial breakdown that you're, you're looking at. And the next slide is going to show you the economic status between the two schools. So this was the McGlynn school with the blue being again, the percentage of students that received free lunch. And Dr. Cushing, thank you. The Andrews, being a school from the socioeconomic status breakdown. So it was this discrepancy between the two schools that prompted us to say, let us come up with a way that we can try to better balance the two buildings. So the policy that was approved by the school committee was that for each of our four schools, 50% of students in fifth grade at each school would be assigned to either the Andrews or the McGlynn. Now, there were a few very minor exceptions to this rule. If a student were to have a specific program level requirement, where they had program level education needs, then they would be assigned to the school that had a specific program to meet their needs. And so program level education needs do supersede sibling preference. So some of you may be saying, what do you mean by program level? So for example, if a student were to have an individualized ed plan educational plan and IEP, or if a student were to be identified as an EL, an English learner. then those students would be assigned to the school that carries the program. So I want to just say that that was the, it's an important factor as I continue to go through the slides, because the schools, and as you see the slides going forward, where we just talk about it as like, you know, school A or school B, the schools do carry different programs. So if you were a parent and you have an older sibling, an older child in a school, and you may say, you know, the schools are right next to each other. Each child has their own individual personality. I'm not interested in sibling preference. Let them go through the lottery process and let's see what school the child gets assigned to. So, this was an example, and in 2019 the following school year in August of 19. That was where that fourth bullet talked about. So I want to talk about, we call it sample school, school A and school B, but what I will say to you is we have two schools. So as I'm talking about the school, it could be the Andrews or it could be the McGlynn middle school. The Andrews school carries one set of students, It houses one of our specialized programs called the Therapeutic Learning Program. That program is housed at the Andrews School. Our English language, excuse me, our English learners, that special programming is housed at the McGlynn Middle School. So I wanna qualify that because as I start to talk about the sample schools, I wanna explain what this particular sample school could look like. So at this particular school, there were 103 fifth grade students. However, we need to include three buffer seats for a particular school. So when the lottery takes place, we would be calculating 106 total seats. And I'm gonna explain to you what the buffer seats are. Of these 103 students, 20 students are identified as ELLs, English learners. They will attend middle school A. One of those students has a middle school A sibling preference. Seven have a middle school B sibling preference. Two students have a program requirement in special education that is housed at school A. And one student has a special program requirement that is housed in middle school B. We have 12 students that have an IEP. These are students that just may be receiving resource room services, but they do have an IEP. They're not in a specialized program, but they do have IEP needs. So when the lottery takes place, The 20, the one, the seven, the two, the one and the 12, all of those numbers, those students are going to be assigned to a specific program. So of the 103 students, 60 of them will be entering the general lottery.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So of the remaining 60 students that are entering the general lottery, 50% of those students would be assigned from the different schools, would be assigned to each middle school. And so this is the same exact information that I was sharing with you on the previous slide, but what ended up happening was middle school A, these are the students that would be assigned. Middle school B also shows you the breakdown. So there are 20 ELs, two students that are in a specialized program, one sibling preference, and six students that are on an IEP, possibly receiving resource room services. That means 29 students are already accounted for at middle school A. So the remaining number, there will be 21 students drawn from the lottery. The three buffer seats, I wanna explain that. The three buffer seats are actually imaginary people who are not yet enrolled in the Medford Public Schools, but will be enrolled after the official lottery takes place. At middle school A, Because it does house our EL programming, we allow three buffer seats because we have, it's almost like a rolling registration process where students are coming to the school every single month new students are being assigned to the district and we need to account for that growing population. So middle school A will have 53 students And the remaining 53 students will be assigned to middle school B. And so this is the breakdown. We had one student assigned to a specialized program. There were seven sibling preference requests and six students on the IEP, which is a separate draw. So there are 39 students from the lottery that are going to go into this lottery process, leaving us with a balance between the two schools in terms of the total number of individuals. Dr. Cushing, here is another way to look at the exact information that I was explaining in a table format. Remembering that this particular sample school had 106 total fifth graders. This is the breakdown of what happens. Again, middle school A houses the EL program, middle school B does not. That is why you see a zero. Both schools have specialized special education programs. So there are two students assigned to middle school A, one student assigned to middle school B. that classifies as the specialized education program. Students that have an IEP need, we had a total of 12 students. And so we conduct a separate draw for those students and to balance the numbers between the schools, this particular example was 12 students. So six would be assigned to middle school A and six would be assigned to middle school B. The next line shows sibling preference and the EL buffer. Since middle school A houses the EL programming, there's a three there, but middle school B does not, there's a zero. So the actual students who end up going into the lottery are what you're looking at, that bar in yellow. 21 students entered the lottery going into middle school A, And 39 entered the lottery or part of the official lottery and were assigned to middle school B. And in keeping with balancing the numbers, each school received 53 students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have English learners who come to the Medford Public Schools that are speaking, you know, different languages. And by, according to DESE, the same way we are required to provide special education services for students that are on an IEP, students that are English learners are also entitled to special education with special licensed teachers who have their ESL license. So this particular slide where I talked about the three buffer seats, when we look at all four elementary schools and each school is given three buffer seats, it's a total of 12 seats that are reserved as buffer seats at the McGlynn Middle School. That is to accommodate new students that will arrive over the course of the year. So, the conservative number that we had selected in 2018 was three seats per school totaling 12 seats. What I can say to you is right now we are seeing a large influx of newcomers coming to the Medford Public Schools, and we have far exceeded that number, 12 seats. So I want you to know it's a conservative number. Even though we're holding three seats, we've actually exceeded that number, even this given year, significantly. Dr. Cushing? So I wanna go through our timeline of events. On Friday, March 11th, the sibling opt-in, opt-out form will be emailed, was emailed to parents. The email was sent and that email address is mslottery at medford.k12.ma.us. Today, Wednesday, March 16th, is the information session that you are participating in right now. Tomorrow, Thursday, March 17th, the sibling opt-in, opt-out forms will be submitted. On Thursday, March 24th, Each grade five student will receive a lottery number in a letter to you, the parents and caregivers. Students will carry this letter home. So a week from tomorrow on Thursday, March 24th, you will receive a lottery number for your child. On Thursday, excuse me, on Tuesday, April 5th at four o'clock in the afternoon, we will be on Zoom and we will actually conduct the lottery. On Tuesday, April 5th, while we are conducting the lottery, it's a very quick process. We will conduct a lottery and Dr. Riccadeli I'm going to ask you to jump in and kind of weigh in on what they can expect to see during this lottery drawing and what will take place because we want you to understand that it's not something where I'm, you know, putting everyone's name in a bucket and I'm pulling names out randomly. We use a true lottery process so that it's up to the lottery when it goes in and we use a random number generator where Dr. Riccadeli, I'm gonna have her jump in to explain that process to you so you can understand what takes place again on that day, Tuesday, April 5th. Dr. Riccadeli?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Riccardelli. I also want to ask Dr. Cushing, where we have listed the middle school welcome or orientations. Dr. Cushing, would you like to speak from the middle school perspective for us?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Cushing, thank you for that. I was hoping you could put up slide 13 for us, please.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Which was the final slide. And Dr. Riccadeli knows this is my favorite slide of the entire deck, because it talks about the process, but it actually, when I think about the lottery, it's actually, This is my favorite slide because it, it's not exact. It's not a perfect science because we know that we've included the buffer seats, we know that we do have a few students that, you know, for the purposes of going through the lottery, a few students, and maybe a few of you on the phone call, you will receive more of an assignment letter because of where a specific program is housed. So I want to be fully transparent about that, that some of the schools, as I was mentioning earlier, because they have specific program, specific programming and specific teachers with the official license that is needed according to, you know, our state regulations that some students will be assigned to a particular building. But other than that, everyone else who goes through this lottery process and participates and goes through the random generator process, the chances are that you could end up in either school. And it's really our closest attempt at having it be a 50-50 chance of your child being assigned at one of the schools. And we have been working very, very diligently Thank you, Dr. Cushing. We have been working very diligently to have very similar programming between both schools. And Dr. Cushing can really, really talk about that. Although they are two freestanding separate middle schools, afterschool program offerings, course offerings, scheduling, those kinds of things, they really, really mirror one another. And so children, students in either building would be having a very similar middle school experience. And Dr. Cushing, would you mind speaking to that?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sorry, Dr. Cushing, could you tell them all the sports offerings that are available for our middle schoolers, which is this, this united team where we play against other districts for those that don't know what GBL is all about?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing, I just quickly looked in the chat, and Miss Rotolo was saying what about the after school programming that's available. So, now that your child will be transitioning, and should we be signing up now. Excellent question. Unlike a elementary school where you know you sign up and your child is an after school program until about six in the evening at the middle school level, the after school program is really, I would almost describe it as enrichment special projects that the kids are able to do. So for example, students can play chess, they can do some robotics. There are all different types of activities that are offered in on both campuses. And again, if There was a club and your child was in one building and that club was not offered in their building, your child is allowed to go right across the way to the other school and participate in the after school club program programming and we do have a late bus for students who participate in the afterschool programming. Again, remembering that the students are older, more mature, so they are able to take on greater responsibility as they get ready to eventually come up to the high school. And Dr. Riccadeli or Dr. Cushing, please feel free to add to that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we actually had, the first year we did it, we did a presentation to the school committee, which showed that the socioeconomic status was more balanced. It wasn't perfect, but the, The differences between the two schools did show a shift but every every single year when you do the lottery. You can have different results, different outcomes, but we definitely did see a shift. between the schools, where the schools were definitely better balanced. I remember doing that presentation the first year out after we had completed the process. Since then, I don't really recall doing a follow-up presentation because at first there was a lot of concern of would the lottery work, and we know that there is a fluctuating population from year to year. So in the sample school, we gave you an example, and sometimes that number can go up, and sometimes the number can go down depending on the school and depending on the school year. So there is some variability, but, you know, we at least try to level the buildings together. So I wanted to at least give some context for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Melissa, saying thank you. I we are here. We hope that This presentation was able to answer any burning questions that you may have, but again, the purpose of the lottery is really our work at trying to balance the schools and maintaining similar programming, after-school programming, united sports between the teams. I think if I were to say anything about the sports, It's hard when you have to pick, when you have so many to choose from, when you're building a team to represent the district. So I know they can get a little competitive, but for those students who love being part of sports and athleticism and just thinking about when you eventually move on to high school, playing sports, it's a great, I think it's a great way to connect and make great friendships. and participating in all of the afterschool programming and activities that are available. It'll be a completely different experience from elementary school, but I am sure very enjoyable experience for the students in middle school. And again, the open houses will take place. I believe it was May 10th and 11th, Dr. Cushing, correct me if I am wrong. May 10th and 12th, thank you. May 10th and 12th, you will be invited to those welcome orientation sessions. And they're a lot of fun. And you and your child have an opportunity to go on campus, walk the halls, and kind of imagine what the middle school experience will end up looking like. So it's a lot of fun, and it's enjoyable. As the summer comes, we end up, now that we're in a much better place, we've done summer barbecue, the parent, the PTOs, in collaboration with the principals. conducted a barbecue in between the two campuses. So all the kids were together and it was really like a wonderful kickoff. And that took place in August. I can't remember, a little bit before the official kickoff of school, but it's also another great opportunity for all the kids to be together, see each other and have the opportunity to go and look at their school building and realize like, this is real. I'm starting middle school very soon. So, Those were some great opportunities. And yes, Dr. Cushing is assistant superintendent of secondary schools. So he just put his email in there if there are specific questions about, you know, middle schools or more information. Dr. Riccadeli, her email is briccadeli at medford.k12.ma.us. Dr. Riccadeli is the lead on coordinating the actual lottery process and will, you know, work with families to make sure that you receive your number, and you have your number. And if, for whatever reason, if, if the envelope gets lost between the backpack and making it to the kitchen table. please reach out to Dr. Riccadeli and she will be able to help you with your number assignment. And also Ms. Kim Miles, who will be coordinating the data and really she's the wizard of the lottery process, managing the backend for us and conducting it. So that's our presentation for this evening. and I will look to see if I see any raised hands or any other questions in the chat box.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Have a great evening. Bye. Oh, when is the lottery, Phil Contanzo was asking? April 5th. April 5th. It's coming up soon.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I definitely would say having the 930 end time is reasonable knowing that sometimes we have either executive sessions or we could have future subcommittee meetings or future committee of the whole meetings that are back to back to a regular meeting. So we still potentially could be meeting from four or five until 9.30 and then do a check-in at that point in time. I do think 11 p.m. and it's just, that's a little too much. It's too long a day for us to be able to really function coherently. So I would be in support of a 9.30 time to check in, knowing that we may start earlier.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, just listening to what's being said, I think when the meetings need to run long or if there's a heavier agenda and we need to have longer meetings that those will happen. And to member Rousseau's point, I think that some of our meetings just by nature, they do end up running long. I can say to you, that the 11 o'clock end time was shocking to a lot of colleagues that I just was getting some feedback for from MASC. They have stated to us that efficient meetings should be anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours long to be able to go through an agenda. And so we on the school side have been making a significant effort to try to be as concise as possible, and not have. you know, excessive reports that we're not able to get through it in a reasonable amount of time. So whether we start at six o'clock and you say to yourself, a two hour window that would still bring us to 8.30, whether you start at 6.30 to 8.30, nine o'clock, 9.30, I had just felt that that would be reasonable from a planning perspective. It just makes for a very long day for the school side staff, because it's not like anyone starts work at noontime, or two in the afternoon, and says that they're going to work until 11pm. If necessary, like everyone is in the field working a full day, and then going to the school committee meetings which we understand have to happen. And so I'm just thinking about bandwidth and trying to have that balance. So my hope would be that we would not have many meetings that have to go to 11pm and trying to keep the agendas concise enough that, you know, it could be a robust two hours, including the conversations that take place to two and a half hours and if we need three hours or four hours. then you as a body could just vote to say, you know, this is an important topic today. We need to continue to, you know, push through and get to the end. Because we, I think sometimes there have been votes where, especially when amendments were being made and these were meetings that went so late into the evening that by the time it took place, people weren't really sure on, you know, what was the final motion, because it just got too late. And I just feel for everyone's work-life balance and mental health, that having a reasonable cutoff time would be better.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, I actually feel like In my short time in this role, the four years that I've been in Medford, I have never had a situation where the Medford city council, you know, was calling me on like a weekly basis. Really the majority of my interaction with the city council would be at the end of the budget season. The requests that have been made, over the past few years have been really reasonable requests or maybe an inquiry. It has been nothing, like I don't want it to, I don't want to present that, you know, I'm, my inbox is being flooded by council members. Sometimes it's a very, you know, simple inquiry or a quick question, maybe a constituent, may have asked them a question and they just said let me just reach out to the schools. So it's something that is so rare that I don't feel like number 77 is really necessary. The add item to agenda, it's over the past, it's even hard to recall what some of the requests were because they were usually a very reasonable ask and it is not something that they are asking on a weekly basis. It could just be, you know, can you provide a little clarity, you know, on a particular thing, maybe something in the vocational school or wondering that they were just wondering about. It's so rare that I almost feel like Putting this in insinuates that there is a problem. I deal with the clerk's office. Every time we have a meeting, we send our communications to the clerk. And he has always been responsive to posting and those kinds of things. I have never, you know, had something asked of me by the city council that would, you know, be a cause for alarm. And if something like that were to occur I definitely would notify the membership, this body immediately. I don't think that it's necessary. If there was a difficult request, I would definitely make sure that we added it to the agenda. And usually when we do receive a request from the city council, it comes from the mayor's office. So there's some kind of communication of this is a wondering or an inquiry. But it is so rare. I mean, I don't even think in the past four years, there probably weren't even 10 questions in four years. I think fewer than 10, maybe five or six. Very, very rare.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. So, um, based on some of the information from some of our meetings toward the end of the year. kind of tracking system right now that has most of these fields. And Ms. Weiss has been managing that with the new numbering system. So we will be able to add the few additional fields that are not on the tracker that we currently have with the new numbering system. And next to letter G, my request was going to be to change continuing to containing if it was supposed to be containing. I'm not sure, Member Ruseau. But we have already started an internal tracking system. So it's being done right now in order to kind of help us keep track of everything that's taking place right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, I support your revision, members, so. Second.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. We meet tonight on the anniversary of bloody Sunday, which took place. March 7 1965 in Selma, Alabama, over 600 people marched in civil rights demonstration that ended in violence as state troopers attack the marchers, as they made their way over the Edmund Pettus bridge. The violence was televised nationwide and led to demonstrations across the nation against this horrific events. The outrage led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Johnson said at the time, it is our effort to right that wrong. I mentioned this because we have all heard about various states who are considering bills which could limit voting rights for Americans. We must remain vigilant as voting rights are one of our most sacred rights that we have. As stated in my Friday message, we are seeking interested parents and community members to participate as members of a playground advisory committee. The members of this committee will work with the selected vendor for the design of the McGlynn Middle and Elementary Universally Accessible Playground. This work will allow this group to make recommendations to improve accessibility at the other school playgrounds in Medford. To apply, please see the link on the blog or email drpetercushing at pcushing at medford.k12.ma.us. We have several congratulations in order. Congratulations to the Mustangs Winter Guard who took home first place in its division at the annual home show. The Mustangs competed against over a dozen Winter Guards. They performed using energetic music and a combination of flags, sabers, rifles, and dance that wowed the crowds. Also, congratulations are in order for the Mustang basketball cheerleaders who placed third in the state regional tournament yesterday. They will move on to the state tournament next weekend at Worcester State University. Good luck Mustangs. The Mustang winter sports season is now completed. The boys basketball team made the MIA tournament, losing by five points to Melrose. We applaud all of our winter athletes, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys ice hockey, girls and boys indoor track and gymnastics. We thank them for their dedication and commitment. These teams had to fight through a COVID filled winter season, Still they prevailed. Spring sport tryouts begin March 21st. The high school will be adding boys volleyball and the middle schools will offer flag football and outdoor track. Additionally, I would like to add that I have seen that Medford High School Drama Club practicing for the Legally Blonde musical, which will be presented in early April. A few upcoming events. Medford CPAC hosts their monthly meeting by Zoom this Wednesday, March 9th at 7 p.m. The topic will be declarative language. Also on Wednesday, the Medford Public Schools, collaborating with Medford's Board of Health, will be hosting a free vaccine clinic from 3 to 6 p.m. COVID vaccines and flu shots will be available. An important note, the in-person Building Bridges to Kindergarten has been rescheduled from this Wednesday, March 9th, to next Wednesday, March 16th, from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. in the library at Medford High School. Also, the Parent Information Center will remain open on the 16th until 6 p.m. for registrations. The Spotlight Theater Company is presenting an adaptive musical theater workshop that began Saturday and will continue on Saturdays until April 30th. There will be a showcase at the end of the workshop. It's open to students aged eight to 18 and for all abilities. For further information, please visit spotlightmedford.com. This coming Sunday, believe it or not, March 13th, is Daylight Savings Time. Don't forget to set your clocks one hour ahead, spring forward. Tomorrow is International Women's Day. When we celebrate women and imagine a gender equal world, free of bias, stereotypes, in a world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Together, let us forge ahead for women's equality. Hashtag break the bias. A very important holiday is coming up on March 17th. And I would like to just recognize our Irish neighbors and members of the community on March 17. It's an opportunity for Irish heritage to be celebrated. And it's St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's Day is credited for bringing Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century. We are wishing our Irish neighbors a happy St. Patrick's Day. Also, on March 17th, it is evacuation day. When the British evacuated Boston during the evolutionary war, we do hope that our Ukrainian friends can find hope as they battle for their continued freedom and the pursuit of life. Also, I would like to share on March 18th, our Hindu neighbors will be celebrating Holi, a religious festival of colors. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the changing of the seasons from winter to spring. Let me take this opportunity to extend best wishes to our Hindu families for a happy and healthy Holi. Finally, in closing, I say as your proud superintendent, that the horror of war that we are seeing right now and the unchecked aggression that is on display as the world observes the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is so important that we all remember our Ukrainian neighbors and pray for peace. This past Friday, our high school CCSR produced a wonderful show of support for Ukraine. Our students gave great speeches. Everyone who attended braved the bitter cold. I wanna thank our parents and community members who came out to support the event and many, many students. I would like to thank Senator Pat Jalen and school committee member Paul Russo for attending. For those in our community who might be interested in helping the Ukrainian people, Donations are being accepted by UNICEF. Additionally, McGlynn Middle School students, CCSR students, are collecting first aid items, such as Band-Aids, gauze, medical supplies, scissors, antibiotic creams, Tylenol, Advil, flashlights, batteries, all kinds of toiletries, such as deodorant, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. and books. That collection will be taking place until March 11. I would also like to extend a very special thank you to Mr. Christopher Donovan, a community friend and partner of Medford High School. He came to campus and set up all of the blue and gold lights. We want to thank the city's DPW department for coming out Friday night and providing additional lighting and our custodians, everyone working together to make Friday evening's event a successful event. Thank you. And those are my remarks for this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you. I wanted to just make a few comments in and say that first, Jesse is supporting this pathway. I think one of the most important pieces to me about this presentation, and in talking with Miss con. was about the fact the amount of students that are going to college having completed four years of math and falling flat on their face that they're not able to take math 101. that they have to go back and take 075 089, so they're essentially going back to take high school math at paying tuition, while they're in college, and you end up saying well what happened. And as I think about mathematics being a content that. People say, well, I don't have a math brain, you know, all kinds of excuses that people make or just justifying why there's this lack of comfort with mathematics. And I feel like this integrated approach of teaching both algebra and geometry over the course of the same year, you know, a lot of people had that experience where they did great in algebra, they fell flat on their face in geometry or the reverse. when you would talk to your friends, oh, I hated algebra, I love geometry, or I love geometry, whichever way you want to look at it. And I feel like this approach of trying to teach it together over the course of the three courses, and not necessarily separating it out, that you are learning how the different areas work together. So I almost feel like it's an inclusive way of learning. When you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and you're expecting different results, they say that's like insanity. And so it's the way that we've done mathematics or we've taught it for so long, but there were so many people that are math adverse, they don't like math. So let's try teaching math differently. And so I feel like still maintaining the traditional pathway. And at the same time, piloting with parent consent and students understanding you're gonna be learning math in a different way. And I actually feel like if we want to see different outcomes when they go to college and see how students think about mathematics, we do need to think about teaching mathematics in a different way, a different sequence. and I'm very curious and kind of excited to see who those students are that will actually want to be part of this pilot pathway. Your point member Rousseau about transitioning or moving between districts is a very valid point, but when I'm thinking about If we continue to teach math, the way math has always been taught, the way we were taught when we went to school, we're going to continue to have this generation of individuals who are just allergic to math, afraid of math, and not really wanting to adventure into the engineering or high sciences or accounting or anything with math. They're going to just run away from that. And so I actually feel like this is probably what's going to be happening, that it's going to catch more momentum, and we're just, I think, one of the districts that is trying to look at another way to teach math to yield different results that are going to be more sustainable in the long run.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At present, we're not. I have not spoken with him regarding this particular piece.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely speak with him. Oh, I can do that. No problem.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to share that we have been working with some of our students. One of our teachers, Lisa Miller, Ms. Caldwell also has been helping to coordinate that with our technology team and our vocational students on web design. They have been working diligently for the past few months So we will be presenting something very soon to the school committee. It is taking the feedback that was given and trying to update, change images, all of those things. They actually have made significant progress. And so we actually will be having a presentation to you in the very near future, probably sometime in April. Because I don't think we'll be able to have it for the March 21 meeting, but I just wanted to let you know that from the time this December of 2020. We've been working in the background diligently on that so hopefully when we have that presentation, you'll see significant a significantly better look, user-friendly, and having documents more readily available. So I look forward to bringing that to the committee in the very near future.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I definitely can have it presented to the subcommittee. I can figure out where we are and schedule the subcommittee meeting and have the new website launch happen, take place at the school, at the subcommittee meeting. so that the subcommittee can actually see it in real time and then report out, the subcommittee can report out to the larger committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. Normandin and Ms. Small from the Mustang Guidance Department brought a group of our students to the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth for a tour and to learn more about the College Now program. Students were provided with lunch in the dining hall. Nine of our students attended as they have expressed interest in engineering, math, computer science, and physics. and all were accepted to the university during on-the-spot admissions interviews. College Now is an alternative admissions program that helps to make college a reality for all students. We are very appreciative of our guidance department providing this amazing opportunity for our students. As we are slowly getting back to in-person events, Our Mustang Italian language students were able to meet with the famous Italian chef, Lydia Bastianich at a book signing event at Italy in Boston. The students were able to speak with the chef and discuss some of her recipes in our new cookbook, all in Italian, of course. Chef Lydia told the students how much she loved Boston and that they were truly lucky to live in an area that was so diverse. The students found this to be an incredible experience. Special thanks to teachers, Ms. Canetta and Ms. Odugadi, who accompanied the students on this great field trip opportunity. I am also pleased to announce that the trustees of the James and Thelma Connors Foundation have decided to award 50 scholarships in the amount of $5,000 each to Medford students who plan to further their education in the fall. In the past, the amount of the scholarship was 3,000 per student. We are so grateful for the foundation's support of all students in Medford. We are grateful for the Foundation's support of all students in Medford since its inception three years ago. The Connors Scholarship has been able to provide 150 Medford residents with scholarships that have totaled $450,000. Applications are online only and close on March 30th. So please take advantage of this great opportunity. The application is available at www.jtconnorsfoundation.org. Again, that's www.jtconnorsfoundation.org. I do have a little bit of exciting athletic news to share that starting on March 8th, Medford Athletics, in partnership with the Special Olympics of Massachusetts, will be offering a unified middle school basketball clinic for the very first time. Our high school unified basketball program was a wonderful success, and we are looking forward to teaching basketball skills and drills for our middle schoolers as well. Last weekend, Mustang Junior Anna Casey of the indoor track team participated in the state's 600 meter race, racing against 350 girls. Anna placed eighth in the division two with a time of one minute and 41 seconds. Congratulations, Anna. Also last weekend, the Mustang basketball cheerleaders placed first in the co-ed division in the GBL competition held at Malden High School. Additionally, senior Andrea Saraburi was named a GBL All-Star. Congratulations, Andrea. Earlier today, we had at the high school, a Black History Month celebration, where we got to see dance performance today by some of our students. I wanna thank Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Member Paul Rousseau, and Member Sharon Hayes, who were able to make it on campus to participate in that celebration in the gymnasium. Students Isaiah and Rena danced, and there were many volunteers. We got on the floor and tried to do some dance routines with Mr. Gene Apollon. It was a really enjoyable event. And I wanna just thank you for joining us and participating in that event today. Also this Friday, additional information to follow, but our CCSR students will be hosting a gathering in honor of what is happening right now in the Ukraine. So at each of your tables, you can see that there is a sunflower. The national flower of the Ukraine is the sunflower. As this quote states, sunflowers, even on the darkest days, stand tall and find the sunlight. It is my hope that Ukrainians can find the light to help them get through these difficult and horrific days. Thank you and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The event will be at 7 p.m. We are planning to host it at the high school. More information to follow most likely tomorrow, 7 p.m. It will be a gathering. Students are working on some written pieces that they would like to share and they would like it to be a fundraiser and all funds will go to support UNICEF. So more information to come tomorrow, but we will get that out officially to you. But I just wanted to make that announcement that if anyone is going to be available Friday night at 7 p.m. at the high school, more information to come. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, so our official position is that the Medford Public Schools will continue to be fully masked until March 14th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what prompted us to extend the masking for an additional two weeks is that our data as a district demonstrated that each time we went on an extended break, whether it was Thanksgiving break and Christmas and the New Year's break, that we saw an increase in COVID-19, yes. If you could let the superintendent finish, please. Positive test, right?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If you could let the superintendent finish, please. Thank you. So as a result of the data, when we made the decision to have it in collaboration with our own board of health, Our data showed that two weeks after an extended leave of time, that there was an increase and then there would be a decrease. And so based on the information that we had, that's what had us land on the date of Monday, March 14th, which is nine additional days of masking. We have all been masking for two years. And so for us to have nine additional days of masking, we can handle the nine days. Thank you for your feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The tracker is it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The rapid tests as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would be remiss tonight if I did not mention our neighbors in the Ukraine who are suffering right now due to the Russian invasion. We pray for all involved and hope this conflict ends peacefully and quickly. Immediately following my remarks today, Mr. Murphy, Nurse Avery and Director of the Board of Health, Mary Ann O'Connor, will be joining us to discuss COVID-19 policies. I also wanna take this moment to reiterate that our mask policy remains in effect until March 14th. Also in conjunction with our nurses and the Board of Health, Medford High School will be hosting free vaccine clinics Wednesday, March 2nd and Wednesday, March 9th from three to 6 p.m. Both COVID-19 and flu shots will be available. For those in our school community who have not received either the vaccine, the booster or a flu shot, you are welcome to attend these clinics.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I had originally liked the email, the superintendent and the body, because I just remember previous agendas where we had a running list and it like went on to a second page and it ended up being very lengthy. I think now with the new numbering system, to be able to keep track of is, 2022 14, you know, submitted, whatever, like the numbers, I think. I think that'll allow us to do it. So, I mean, right now the agenda is pretty, it's pretty full and we still have reports requested also on the agenda. Right now we currently don't have that. So, I think with the new numbering system, it'll allow us to, be able to try to address the motions. And if we realize that we're going to be behind schedule, then to email the entire, if you don't email me first for me to be able to email all of you and say, we're going to be behind on a particular motion that, you know, we're going to miss a deadline, but we'll get it done as soon as possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So last week, unfortunately, malignant weather disrupted the school week and we needed to call two days last week. I want to send our apologies to our Mustang families whose students travel to out-of-district placements for the lack of communication on the first of these two days. When Medford calls a snow day, all Medford transportation vehicles are canceled. Therefore, we are unable to transport our out-of-district students to their facilities in other districts that may not have called off school. I am thankful for our collaboration with Medford CPAC, who had alerted us about this communication omission. I sincerely apologize to our out-of-district families who are not included in last week's no school announcement. Please know that we have fixed the communication glitch, and we'll be sure to notify out-of-district families of all snow days in the future. I am pleased to announce that two of our Medford Vocational Technical High School students, biotech students, Jessica Rehick and Ariana Feliz, have been accepted to the prestigious BioBuilder Apprenticeship Challenge, which will expose them to state-of-the-art concepts and hands-on training in synthetic biology. The training will take place after school three times a week at biobuilder labs. The students will be able to spend time learning in a state-of-the-art research lab, assisting with molecular biology experiments, and analyzing data. They'll also have the opportunity to learn lab math and bioengineering principles, as well as develop professional skills. The students will work in teams to prepare a scientific poster for a networking event that is attended by life science professionals. Once the students complete the apprenticeship challenge, they'll each receive a certificate and a small stipend at the graduation ceremony on May 12th of 2022. Often, graduates of this challenge have been offered paid summer institutes, internships at local companies. Congratulations to Jessica and Arianna, their teacher, Mr. Russo, and science director, Mr. Sealy. A footnote, one of our Mustang 2020 graduates, Rachel Smiles, was a bio-builder apprentice and now has a full-time position at Indigo Agriculture. Camp Mustang is completely filled now for February vacation. I'm excited that close to 300 students have the opportunity to learn and grow during this program. Again, registration is officially closed. In this Olympic year, programs like this reflect our goals that we can equate with the Olympic model. Faster, higher, stronger, together for all of our mistakes. The Andrews Middle School CCSR program seeks donations for the Malden Warming Center, a collaborative service that provides a safe, warm place for those experiencing homelessness during the winter months. There was a donation box in the Andrews Middle School lobby for shoes, sneakers, hand liners, small sturdy plates, paper plates, and bowls, hair elastics, men's sweatpants, and gif to go, individual peanut butter cups, to name a few. Also, due to our COVID-19 restrictions, the Medford Family Network's annual Valentine's Day ice cream social fundraiser could not be held in person again this year. Therefore, the friends of Medford Family Network have placed the fundraiser online. Some of the waffle items include Valentine cookie and ice cream kits, gift cards to Semolina and Collette's Bakery, spa gift cards, a photo shoot, and sensory exploration kits to name a few. Interested parties should go to the school blog for the link by midnight tonight. Raffles will be drawn Wednesday and pickup or delivery is Friday. Additionally, the Medford Family Network is presenting in English for speakers of other languages program, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, beginning March 1st in person at the Medford Family Network Center. Anyone interested must sign up by this Friday, February 11th. Please contact Marie Cassidy at 71393-2106. Makkah Bhutia Day will be celebrated on February 16th, the date of the full moon in the third lunar month. Makkah Bhutia Day is a Buddhist holiday observed to commemorate the meeting of Buddha and his first 1,200 disciples. Makkah means month, and Bhutia means prayer. On this day, Buddhists go to the temple to perform merit-making activities, as well as meditate and listen to teachings. To all of our Buddhist families and neighbors, I wish you a peaceful Malka Bucha Day. A few upcoming events for this week. Tomorrow evening, there is Building Bridges to Kindergarten from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. Building Bridges to Kindergarten will be online by Zoom only, so you can go on our website and look for the Zoom link. On Wednesday, February 9th, Medford CPAC meeting presents language-based learning disability accommodations and intervention. That will be taking place on Zoom as well from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, February 9th. On Saturday, February 12th, CCSR and friends of the Medford Public Library have joined together to offer our teachers or librarians books for $5 at the Cambridge Savings Bank in Arlington. Sign-ups are required, so you need to reach out to Rebecca Siegel at rsiegel22 at medford.k12.ma.us. Also this Saturday at 10 o'clock in the morning, Spotlight is hosting the Spotlight Variety Show. The Spotlight Variety Show is hosting a sensory-friendly event. That means there will be extra lighting, open doors, reduced volume, and students can bring technology. It's a technology-friendly environment. It's a one-hour performance. This Saturday at 10 a.m., tickets are $10 per person. And lastly, on Wednesday, February 16th, the Asian Club will be hosting a lion dance in honor of Chinese Lunar New Year in the Medford High School gym. And more information to come.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was gonna ask for an extension, at least if we could have it pushed back until the 16th and see if we can come up with dates by then.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Murphy, if you want to come forward, come. This is just to set up a schedule to share with the school committee members of the dates that we'll be meeting. So I asked for a week to push it out.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. Mayor, I would like to say if we have the meeting on a Wednesday and the Monday is a holiday, that means we would have to post the Friday before the Monday. you know, as it is trying to do Thursday for a Monday, there were so many, uh, just the timing with the 48 hours. Um, I, I would, you know, kindly request that it could be the following Monday or, um, but the Wednesday after a Monday, it puts us to the Friday before. And, um, I just think it, it, it, it could potentially be a problem for us. I prefer knowing that Mondays are exclusively reserved for school committee meetings or other meetings that we have for the most part, because some of our regular meetings can be quite lengthy, and that would be my recommendation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My preference would be to leave the way it is, especially right now. Trying to set up the agenda, the amount of resolutions that come in working with reports reporting sharing that information with you, I just see it as. An additional layer if there's ever a problem in the chairs not available, then automatically the vice chair is in charge and I would always report to the vice chair, I just feel, you know, some of the rules, I understand it's it's important to have things clearly articulated. but there's so much layering that's taking place that I just want to be transparent with the committee that this is very stressful. And for number 23, I would prefer for it to remain with the chair. And if the chair is unable to do it, then she can say, I'm not able to meet and delegate it to the vice chair. And I would gladly work with the vice chair.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And Mayor I to want to just piggyback on what member McLaughlin said it has nothing to do with the vice chair, but the amount of layering and it's it's borderline extreme micromanagement. it is very stressful. And I'm just being fully transparent with the committee right now. You know, going through all of the rules and just thinking about all of the rules that we are trying to follow to run the district, that all of this layering is, I just feel like a lot of it is not necessary. And I just want to be clear with the committee that that's how I feel as superintendent of schools. And I want you to know what I'm thinking. I'm trying to work as hard as I can. I'm trying to do the best that I can do. And I know when it comes time for the evaluation, which is part of the school committee's responsibility to supervise and evaluate the superintendent, if I'm not working to standard, then you'll communicate that effectively to me. But some of this is just really, really too much. And I know I'm not a voting member, but I just want you to be aware that this is a very stressful undertaking right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, I know before they used to put it in one of the hallways, but right now everything goes online. Um, we could go back to posting it in the, um, corridor, uh, the superintendent's corridor. There's a bulletin board area there. Um, but we've been using the online platform. And in regards to the day, I know that the clerk's office would probably be very happy if we were getting the agenda completed an extra day early, but normally with everything coming in, we actually do need the time to get it done. And we have to get it to the clerk's office. We're trying to get it to him by 4.30. So five o'clock gives us that 30 minute buffer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I had one clarifying question on rule number 42, which talked about numbering, 2020, well, 2022-124. Is that saying once we do report of committees, report of the superintendent, and we get to the resolutions, we would no longer be doing one, two, three, four, five. It would be 124, 125, 126, 127, 128. Um, so the number would change as you go through the entire document. I'm, I'm just asking for clarification on that piece.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Today is January 24th, which the United Nations deemed in 2018 as the International Day of Education. The declaration called for free and compulsory elementary education to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all by 2030. The 2022 theme is changing course, transforming education. The United Nations resolution highlighted the importance of the fundamental right for everyone to education, to have an education, to help to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and peaceful world. I'd like to share this evening on behalf of our community partner, Project Bread. They have asked us to encourage our families to apply for critical SNAP benefits. There have been policy changes made to SNAP, and we hope that our families will take the time to check it out at gettingsnap.org. SNAP helps households meet nutritional and dietary needs, enables households to purchase food that is healthy and culturally appropriate, and supports low-wage households. On a different note, I would like to add a special congratulations and share a very special happy birthday to Ms. Ginny Eugenia Christopoulos, who's the longtime school lunch mother at the Brooks Elementary School. She celebrated her 90th birthday last week on January 19th. Ms. Jenny, as she is affectionately called, has the energy of an elementary age student. And she was a bright light and busy bee at the Brooks Elementary School. She is a beloved member of the school community, and we appreciate her willingness to support our students. So happy birthday, Ms. Jenny. 90 is a wonderful accomplishment. I'd like to remind everyone to please note that this Wednesday, January 26th, that we'll be hosting a Zoom monthly support meeting for parents and caregivers with children dealing with autism spectrum disorder, ASD, and related disorders from 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. this Wednesday evening. Also on Wednesday, I'd like to thank in advance we have another vaccination clinic happening this Wednesday. I want to thank Nurse Avery and all of the medical staff that have been working tirelessly in collaboration with our Board of Health partners. and Mr. Murphy, who will also be providing a more detailed COVID-19 update shortly. But I wanted to remind everyone that the vaccine clinic that's gonna be taking place this Wednesday will be from 12.30 p.m. until 6 p.m. Not only is the COVID-19 vaccine available, but also the flu shot vaccine. So we are now offering two types of shots, the COVID shot and the flu vaccine shot. While the COVID vaccines are limited to staff and students only, the flu vaccines are state supplied and available for anyone, including uninsured adults. My Friday message included the registration links, and they are located on the school blog as well. This Thursday, January 27th, the Medford Family Network will be presenting a Zoom meeting with the topic, Keeping Kids Safe on the Internet. This is a training for parents and caregivers of children eight years old and younger. It will be held from 730 to 830 p.m. Please register with the Medford Family Network. Also, the Medford Family Network is seeking donations of diapers, sizes five and six, as well as wipes. If you are able to assist, please call Medford Family Network at 781-393-2106. So after a three-week shutdown due to COVID-19 concerns, I'm happy to report that our Mustang athletes are back on the court, which includes our middle school basketball teams, and they are back on the ice as well. Additionally, our gymnastics team and indoor track team have returned to competition. So I'd like to wish good luck to all of our winter sports teams. I also want to share the good news that our new beautiful Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library is open and is busy scheduling all types of in-person and Zoom events for all ages. They just announced the 2022 teen reading challenge for students in grades six through 12. For students who might be interested, please contact Nicole at the library at 781-475-5735. Another important update, Medford High School, regarding our MSBA application deadline update, So the MSBA, Massachusetts School Building Authority and Central Administration, we will be presenting a report to you later this evening for the application window with MSBA for the peer projects. The application window opens this Friday, January 28, 2022. and the administration plans to consider possible statements of interest, which we refer to as an SRI, about two programs. There is the Accelerated Repair Program, ARP, which involves repairing potentially specific sections of schools, and the CORE program, which involves building a completely new school. The respective deadlines are March 25th and April 29th. This important work will require the collaboration and support of many stakeholders in order to be successful. A report again later this evening will be presented to the entire body. In closing, I would like to say that Chinese New Year 2022, also called the Lunar New Year in the Spring Festival, begins Tuesday, February 1st. It is the year of the tiger, and those born during this year are predicted to be brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident. We express our wishes of good health and happiness to all of our Asian families and friends who celebrate the 16-day festival. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I'm gonna ask Ms. Cindy Weeks to please come forward to the podium, and I am happy to have Ms. Weeks here to present before this body. Ms. Weeks is the founder and CEO of the Equity Process, and she is going to be working with Medford Public Schools on our equity audit, and Dr. Cushing, I'm gonna ask if you wouldn't mind putting up, she has a brief presentation to share with you regarding the work that she will do with us. Ms. Weeks? They will turn it on, I believe, in the, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So right now, from an HR perspective, One of the challenges we face here in Medford is that it is very difficult to recruit and retain diverse candidates. So that is kind of like one of the elephants in the room that we are very, very aware of. So we are looking at the current practices of where are we finding candidates, where are we recruiting them from, coming up with additional potential partners that can help us diversify our staffing when there are, you know, open positions. And the retention piece, which was mentioned earlier, that we have hired some BIPOC candidates or candidates of color and they may stay one year or two years and then they choose not to stay. So that is a question, another opportunity becomes available and they take that opportunity. So trying to unpack like the why is there, is there something that we're not aware of that could make Medford less attractive than what we and so if that is the case what do we need to do as a district to make it more attractive and try to think about further bringing greater diversity to the school system and so as a starting point it's the reason us you know, this person isn't doing this thing in human resources, but it's more like, what are we doing? And then what else could we be doing? And presenting us with other opportunities to be able to better recruit and retain. We do have two other groups that we're trying to work with, but we still haven't been able to get the traction yet. So we're trying, but we're just not getting the traction that we're hoping to get. So by having the audit start in human resources and also in light of the pandemic. And again, we just were in the process on the tail end now of this surge that we just were dealing with. We were like, where can we start? and not have an impact of going in and out of all of the classroom, in and out of all of the schools right now. So hoping to do this first phase, get a really strong piece of data and information to help us move forward as a district. So that was the thinking and the strategy behind starting with human resources and looking at recruitment and retention strategies.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this, the racial equity task force has weighed in and expressed their concern and their support of us doing an equity audit. This particular focus right now in terms of mid-pandemic and wanting to start the work, the administration made the final decision with the equity process to start here right now, even though it's still mid-pandemic, but start the work instead of saying we have to wait another year to start again because We have to start somewhere. We can't pretend that the work doesn't need to happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we definitely will be keeping the Race Equity Task Force updated. Since this is specifically, even though we're going to get additional other information, they will be looped in this portion of the process of what we're being told about HR. But I will definitely, when the whole process is completed, there will be a presentation to you, the committee, so you'll have what the recommendations are and what potential next steps are feasible at this point in time. So that is definitely something that you will have before the school year is out.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you. I'm very happy to be able to present this mid-year update on our newly approved strategic plan that is less than one years old. So I'm very excited about that opportunity. So I wanna start off by just saying that our strategic plan, the Medford Public Schools strategic plan is essentially an encapsulation of our entire academic program. It houses all of our key initiatives and programs that we are doing here within the district. This particular media update will highlight specific programming that is reflective of our core values. Achievement for all, collaboration for all, equity for all, and support and safety for all. The examples that are given are not inclusive of every single initiative that is taking place, but each item is reflective of my highest priority, the goal of advancing the Medford Public Schools. Medford Public Schools is an institution that will educate all students, irregardless of special learning needs, English language needs, identity needs, gender needs, or racial needs. As a public school district, our primary task is to educate the whole child. In Medford, we endeavor to see our students not just pass, but excel both academically and social emotionally. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have prioritized our most vulnerable, knowing that if we get the systems in place to meet their needs, then we can expand upon those initiatives to enable the entire district to thrive. Through thoughtful collaboration and true partnership with families, we have seen a positive difference. We took a strong stance and our positionality has served us well. I'm prioritizing the physical and emotional health and safety of our entire community. We are fully committed to designing creative learning environments for our students in order to prepare them for a better tomorrow. This strategic plan, which was created after two years of thoughtful collaboration amongst different stakeholders, it is the master blueprint that guides all the work that I do within the district. Again, my core values and foreguarding pillars are achievement for all, collaboration for all, equity for all, and support and safety for all, ACES. In order for Medford Public Schools to continue to stand apart from others, we will continue to try our best for all. As I highlight only some of the key initiatives, please know that this is a multi-year living document that will continue to evolve. This document will shift and adjust as needed in order for us to continue to meet the needs of all of our learners. These are my priorities, and this is what you can expect to see and hear from me. I also want to say that due to the pandemic, the district has been challenged by ongoing staffing shortages during this 21-22 school year. I want to commend our staff for their incredible flexibility and willingness to embrace new testing initiatives, curricula and data collection, as well as coverage during this difficult time. So thank you to all of my staff. So under the bucket of A, achievement, student growth and achievement, the key initiatives that we've worked on thus far, just this school year, the newly adopted NWEA MAP assessment. This data assessment platform can be used for all K-12 students. All of our teachers have been trained and they are implementing and reviewing data that's four to five months old, getting ready to do their second assessment shortly in the coming weeks. This NWEA MAP assessment really will help us revolutionize the way we monitor instruction internally. Another key initiative under achievement is our elementary math adoption, which is ongoing right now. The elementary math programming will be selecting a new curriculum to present, a new program, I should say, to present to the school committee by the late spring. Currently, right now, all classrooms are using InVisions 2020. But of all of our elementary classrooms, 22 classrooms are piloting. either Investigations 3, also known as Turk Investigations, and the other program is called Bridges. So 22 classrooms, different grade levels, are piloting the two programs, and everyone else is using Envisions 2020. And come late spring, a recommendation will be brought forward to the committee for a recommendation for a new program for next year. So that is a strong academic achievement piece, and we're really excited about that. Also, I wanna just highlight ECRI, which is our Enhanced Core Reading Instruction. With ECRI, there has been a significant amount of work and training for our teachers, K-2, in order to meet the needs of our students. With ECRI, we have trained everyone. Training started back in March of 2020, and we've been working closely with Eleni Steadman, who is a wonderful facilitator and educator from Hill for Literacy, who has been providing training and ongoing coaching for staff. And just to refresh your memories, ECRI, again, is a tier one strategy that's aligned to the scope and sequence of journeys. We are identifying or working with print concepts and phonological awareness, word recognition, fluency. phonics, and some ECRI tier two programming is being used during our intervention instruction. So that is a critically important shift that has taken place under the umbrella of achievement in our lower grades. Underachievement as well is we've been training all administrators. We've been participating in intensive professional development through this on supervision and evaluation, and that training will continue into next school year as well. and also we've been having data professional development for all of our administrators this year. That is one of the specific projects that Ms. Williams is working with administrators on to further equip our administrators to be able to utilize our new NWEO map platform. So those are some of the key initiatives that are actually some pretty big bodies of work that are taking place right now. Under the C for collaboration, the key areas when we're talking about collaboration and partnership, the importance of working with the team, We brought on engagement specialists this year, new to the district, working with schools, working with families, supporting, working with students. and providing support, a helping hand inside the schools, also touching upon some of our cell needs. We continue to have a robust partnership with Tufts University, our Board of Health. They are crucial COVID partners that have helped us to navigate. We also have a collaboration with Elliott Family Services, where they provide counseling and supports for students and families. And another collaborative venture that started last year online that we continued is the district-wide elementary common planning time. This fosters the highest level of teacher collaboration and it promotes greater coherence across all schools. a grade level team, all first grade teachers meeting together, talking together, having robust discussions together, pushing and probing one another to really bring out their best practices. And so that is a very, very strong thing that is still going and it's a great example of collaboration. under equity. You just heard a presentation earlier. We have the equity process that will be working with us for this first phase of the equity audit. We as a district also pursued a state competitive grant through DESE. We were awarded the teacher diversification pilot program grant. We received $22,346 that needs to be spent by August. That money is going to be used to help the district increase diversification. This is an initiative of DESE. So it's something that DESE is aware of and feels is a critically important need for districts to promote teacher diversification. And some of that money will be used to help with a new teacher pipeline And in our vocational side of the house, where we have our early childhood strand, some of that funding will be used to support some of our students who are in the early childhood programming to take some courses in professional development. at Bunker Hill, so there's a lot of creativity with that $22,000, so we're very appreciative that DESI created this competitive grant, and we are so grateful that we were awarded that. The Race Equity Task Force, we are still continuing to meet and really talk about race and listening to all of the stakeholders who participate in the Race Equity Task Force. In addition to that, we have ABAR at the Roberts Elementary School, which is their anti-bias, anti-racism group. where teachers and staff at all different grade levels are participating in a book study in teacher-led professional development, and it's high quality. It's an excellent job that they're doing, and it's something that we hope to see how we can replicate that model and see if it can take place in some of the other schools. So this is their first year doing it, and we're closely monitoring that. We also have the pilot disability awareness program where selected grades across the district are being exposed to the disability awareness curriculum with the goal of dismantling ableism. And again, it's select grade levels, but it is the conversations that need to be taking place to really level that playing field when we think about what does equity look like, what does equity mean. Last but certainly not least is the ask for support and safety. One of our highest priorities or an initiative that we've done this year is vaccinating hundreds of students, and I'm hoping this Wednesday's vaccination clinic will get another couple of hundred students to participate. We continue to have counseling available for staff and students. We have partnerships with As I mentioned earlier, the Elliott family services. We also have a partnership with respond, which is a community partner, which provided professional development for staff and students on domestic violence as needed. And we have a brand new partner in a community member. by the name of Patricia Brady, who is working with us right now to send a clinician to work with some of our students that for whatever reason may not have access to outside counseling. So this is a brand new partnership and she's in the process of working closely with the schools to see if she can provide an additional Councilor to work with Medford Public Schools, and we are very excited and grateful for that new partnership. We also have a lot of involvement with the Sandy Hook promises. There's the see something, say something. We have the start with hello and come the spring next, I believe early March, we're going to be working with signs of suicide that will be taking place at the high school levels. But again, this all falls under the cell umbrella, but our commitment and dedication to supportive and safe learning environment for all. And Elliott Family Services, we listed again, because not only is it a collaborative partnership, but again, our commitment to thinking about the whole child and the whole adult, the whole family. And so supporting Elliott Family Services is offering counseling sessions once a week for staff. and they do work with students and some families that are officially on their roster. So that is just a mid-year update on what is happening with the strategic plan. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And since it's a competitive state grant, I don't believe that we had to get approval from the school committee. It was competitive.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, we can definitely, that was, I listed the mission and vision that we had, but that's definitely on my radar. So we can definitely begin that process of starting the mission and vision conversations to update it so that we can remove this one and get an updated one. So we can definitely start that soon.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I can definitely get that information because there are specific dates at the high school where families are notified. I just don't have them, you know, at the tip of my fingers right now, but I do know there are points where they're notified. And then, as I was saying at the last meeting that some students might be on the cusp and think that they're okay. And then, you know, I don't know that like at the end, instead of their scores improving their scores go in the opposite direction. So sometimes it is like a late notification, but I can definitely work on getting that for you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanna say thank you, Mr. Murphy, and happy 25th birthday, Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Wiseau, could I just say that it's a robust document that's 16 pages long, and I'm just wondering to start that conversation at 9.35. I promise I can cut my portion of the agenda down to like three reports next week and let us spend a good amount of time going through the rules. I know you spent a lot of time, but I just feel like for the amount of information that's in there, we should probably have a richer conversation where we're probably more alert. I would love tabling, but I know you guys make the decision, but just the hour is late and I feel like sometimes we get to such a late hour and then when we're talking about something that's so substantive. people are not bringing their A game and they don't remember parts of the conversation. Votes are being, you know, taken and they don't remember or don't recall everything. And so I'm just wondering where that's a significant amount of information. It's very lengthy that, um, I was going to request if we could potentially table it because there is a lot of work there and I want to give it the time that it deserves.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Could I ask Ms. Bowen just to come forward where this particular report falls directly under her department. And so the proposed deadline is March 7th, and I'd just like you to speak to that if you can.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I truly value our partnership with the CPAC. I wanna open and say that I do believe we have an outstanding relationship with CPAC and the Medford Public Schools is definitely committed to trying to meet the needs of all of our students, those students with disabilities and those that may be having any behavioral health challenges. I would just say, in terms of all of the subcommittees, when we were looking at the totality of the amount of meetings that we were having, that it really was taxing. I mean, everyone has a certain bandwidth and capacity for the work. And I do think that for some of the meetings, we had to call on the same representatives multiple times. So I do think that that can, you know, via balance. So, you know, as you're having this discussion about maybe how much is too much and how much is enough, I think the meetings should happen, but they should happen not necessarily on a monthly basis, depending on what it is. And when I would think about the way we had operated, being able to give the other members of central administration almost like a format or a template in advance, So really in January, but to be able to say to someone, we'll be presenting in March, and to give them time to be able to say this is what the topic is going to be, if it's something that needed to be presented to the entire committee. I know the proposal is to move from six meetings to nine meetings. I can just share that that did elevate my blood pressure because I was surprised to see that we increased the number of subcommittees as opposed to potentially decreasing it. I have spoken with other colleagues in different districts and they seem to have three or four subcommittees. that kind of have a genetic title, but they will meet on an as-needed basis.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I did not, these were recommendations made by the members to the chair for suggestions for the sub committees. So I was not involved in that process at all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will definitely be pursuing doing that retreat again for us, because I did enjoy that. And I am too going to wait just for the surge to pass. So hopefully by the end of February, maybe after break or something like that, we'll be able to participate in that retreat.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I want to say good evening to everyone. Happy New Year. This is our first meeting of school year 2022 so that's pretty exciting and I'm looking forward to this new year. So without much further ado, today, our COVID-19 update will be presented after this report. It will be an official report presented by Assistant Superintendent David Murphy and our Director of Health Services, Mrs. Avery Hines. As I mentioned in my communication earlier today, the weather forecast for Medford Public Schools area tomorrow is calling for extremely cold temperatures. As a result, we have taken numerous steps within our schools to prepare for the wind chill temperatures that may hover around zero degrees. Please prepare your children by making sure they are properly dressed with warm and layered clothing. Our custodial staff is doing everything possible to make sure our heating systems are up to challenge. In addition, we are working with our bus vendors to make sure that their transportation equipment, meaning all buses, is operational despite the cold temperatures. While we are doing everything that we can operationally to prepare to have a successful day tomorrow, there is an ongoing risk of unexpected staff or bus driver absences tomorrow. So please be aware of that due to our COVID related personnel challenges. In light of this, I am asking all families to minimize to the greatest extent possible the time that your child is waiting at the bus stop in the morning. Students at the elementary schools will be allowed to enter their schools by 8.15 a.m. tomorrow morning and at our middle schools 7.30 a.m. and high school at 7.20 a.m. We want to make sure that all of our students are kept safe and ready to learn throughout the district. So as many of you are aware, unfortunately, again, due to COVID, the original inaugural plans had to change, but I was able to watch them on the computer. As the mayor said in her inaugural address, we are proud that the Medford public schools, due to our collaboration with Tufts University was able to bring our students back into school sooner than most surrounding districts, the teamwork of the city Tufts, and the schools working hand in hand to make in-person school a reality. And thanks to the collaboration with our full school committee, I wanna just say thank you and I wanna congratulate all of you and especially extend a warm welcome to Ms. Sharon Hayes, our newest member. So congratulations again to all of you on a new term and I'm looking forward to this new school year. I want the community to know that today the Medford Public Schools opened kindergarten registration for all students. If you have questions, please reach out to our Parent Information Center. We have a few upcoming events this Wednesday, January 12th. Very important notice, we have another vaccine clinic. Again, a vaccination clinic is this Wednesday January 12th from 3 to 6 p.m at Medford High School. This vaccination clinic is for students 5 to 11 and for staff and students 12 and up. So we will be giving boosters and first shots or second shots depending on where you are in your series. So please take advantage of that. I am really pleased to say that we had over 100 people participate in last Wednesday's clinic, and I hope that we continue to have more. I also want to extend a special thank you to the Medford Board of Health for their continued collaboration with the Medford Public Schools. I'd like to thank Nurse Director Avery Hines and all of our hardworking nurses in the Medford Public Schools for the incredible work that they are doing, leading us during this COVID time. I also would like to announce for the community that this Wednesday, January 12th, between six and eight o'clock, we are going to be having a CPAC meeting and the Zoom, the topic will be disability awareness curriculum. Again, this Wednesday, January 12th, from six to 8 p.m. All are invited to attend. On Thursday of this week, that's going to be our first Building Bridges to Kindergarten presentation. That presentation is taking place by Zoom. It's from 630 to 730 PM this Thursday, January 13th. I also want to share that on Monday, January 17. Next Monday, it is a holiday, it is no school, we will be celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. The West Medford Community Center. along with many of our students from CCSR. We will be hosting it at the high school. It will be remotely due to COVID. due to our COVID concerns. So it will be available on Zoom and we are working to see if we can collaborate with the TV studio to have that aired. So I will be sending additional communications regarding our Martin Luther King Jr. event on Monday, January 17th. I also wanna say that I'd like to warmly welcome to our community, the West Medford Community Center, has hired their new executive director in the person of Lisa Crossman. And so I would like to warmly welcome Lisa. Lisa comes to Medford with over 20 years of experience working with youth and community organizations. So we welcome her to our community as she will be interfacing with many, many of our students. I also would like to take this brief moment to just share with the committee that the Medford Public Schools will be working with the equity process. They will be conducting our preliminary equity audit in light of the pandemic and many of the concerns that we had. We are starting our equity audit in phases. So phase one, We will be working and looking at a lot of documentation. And so some of the things that will be taking place during phase one, which is this portion of the year between January and June of this school year, is the equity process. They will be examining many of our documents and relevant data. They will be looking at our policies and practices around school culture. They will be... providing feedback and guidance to our race equity task force. They will be offering our school committee members voluntary interviews, but they would like to have some one-on-one interviews with school committee members. They would also like to begin conversations with students and families in the forms of potential focus groups and or surveys. And so this first phase of the work that they're going to be doing is going to help us begin to think about the systems and structures that we have in place. The founder is Cindy Weeks Bradley and the co-founder is Elizabeth Redley. I would like to share a little bit of their, how could I say, what their mission statement and vision statement is for the work that they're going to be doing in Medford. So the equity process, their mission statement is through social and academic discourse, coaching, leadership, and the implementation of research and evidence-based practices. Our mission is to create a symbiotic relationship between equity, anti-bias, and culturally inclusive practices. They focus on incorporating systems and structures that allow school districts and other clients to foster positive relations and relationships with people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations to create learning environments wherein all people feel valued and welcomed. So I am really excited about beginning this process with the equity process and I look forward to having them come and present more detailed information to the school committee so they will come at one of our upcoming meetings to just you know introduce themselves to you so you'll be able to have a greater understanding of the work that they're gonna do with us during this season. But I just wanted to officially present to you that we are working with the equity process and I look forward to getting them in front of you at either our next meeting or the meeting after that. So in closing, what I would like to say from my- Oh, sorry.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, yes, I would just finish and then I will take your question. Thank you. As we begin 2022, I would like to share a few lines from our poet, Amanda Gorman's New Days lyric that she wrote to celebrate the new year and honor the hurt and humanity of last year. She says, this hope is our door, our portal. Even if we never get back to normal, someday we can venture beyond it to leave the known and take the first steps. So let us not return to what was normal, but reach toward what is next. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it is equity process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Due to the pandemic, I really felt like there, there is a portion where they will go into schools and also do you know more in depth. review of what's happening in schools, but in light of the pandemic and in light of all of the testing, I asked to hold off on that portion of the equity audit until next school year. And so, this first preliminary phase will be them really looking at a lot of our documents, conducting interviews, working with central leadership and really limiting them going into every single building just in light of all that we're dealing with with the pandemic right now. And so that's how they've been working. And they just completed their process in Linfield. So that is something that I could possibly just share with you as well. So phase one of two, then since we'll delay, yeah. Depending on where we are with the pandemic, it could potentially be a three-year process for us to get all of the information and be able to start implementing changes. So as part of the document review, they will be spending time looking at documents, human resources, hiring. They'll be looking at a lot of other pieces that don't involve too much direct involvement with people in light of the pandemic and just trying to be extra safe right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It definitely is part of the work that they're doing. And when they present, you definitely can drill down and ask some targeted questions around that. But they're not looking at it as just one lane. They're looking at it as a much wider scope of work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say, Mayor, that I'm so excited that as a district, we finally have a tool that can actually present, give us data. And I know that this is year one, so we're kind of like at ground zero, but moving forward, we will now have that data available that was never available before. So I'm looking forward to being able to really dig deeply into this internal data, K-12 as a district to be able to watch and monitor our progress, especially now more than ever, since our MCAS cycle, which we used to use in the past as a result of the pandemic has been interrupted. So we will have a different source that isn't gonna be interrupted. So I just wanted to add that piece of information for context. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Member McLaughlin, I did want to make one comment regarding the proposed policy. I know it's being tabled to the next meeting, but as I was looking at the resolution, I should say, the last sentence Be it further resolved that all students requiring credit remediation, and then going on to say that they be emailed 45 days before the last day of school. And so what I did want to just comment on was that within the last 45 days of school there are those students. that might be on the cusp or they thought they were passing. And then it was the last, the second to last quiz that the scale ended up tipping in the opposite direction. So there definitely are students that I know at the secondary level, high school levels that they're closely monitoring. their GPAs and how they're doing over the course of the year. And then there are some students that it really comes down to that last term. So that 45 day window, there could be we might not be capturing everyone. And so that was something that I just wanted to put out there to say that within 45 days, there are some kids, once they get that final kind of, you know, you know, we're down to the wire, it's going to be summer school, it's going to be remediation. Are you going to be able to make it or not? And so I just wanted to that we would probably need to look at that 45 day mark. And so if it is tabled, that'll give me an opportunity to work with Dr. Cushing and the secondary high school principals, secondary principals that are dealing with the summer school programming.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And we'd like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for Mrs. Benjamin, who has been very supportive of the string program of this past 13 years. So, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We'll try to get the business done quickly. We have somebody to celebrate. We see a lot of new and old faces in the audience. So we'll get through a few agenda items and then we'll celebrate with Member Paula Van De Kroot.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We were just blessed to hear the Medford High School Orchestra perform a selection of holiday favorites, and we thank them for being here, that was fabulous. We're gonna start by calling the roll, Member McLaughlin, please. Member Graham. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We'll move on to item three, consent agenda, approval of bills and payrolls, and approval of the regular school committee meeting minutes from 12-6-2021. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Member Rothland, seconded by Member Ruseau. All those in favor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All those opposed?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Motion to table by Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Ruseau. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? Minutes are tabled. Number five, we have report of the superintendent. First up, superintendent's updates and comments. Dr. Maurice Edward-Vincent. Good evening, everyone. First, I just want to officially thank our wonderful Strings Orchestra that performed today. Ms. Sophia Ching, Ms. Emma Baptist, Ms. Haley Reller was here today. The students did a fabulous job and it just filled this room with just beautiful music and really set a positive tone for today for us to celebrate and her 32 years of service. So I just want to thank them all for a wonderful job today. So I have a few remarks, updates and comments on what's happening in the district. So it's with happy news that Nurse Avery, our Director of Health Services got married this weekend. And so we're very happy for her, special congratulations to Nurse Avery Hines. And today we'll be having a COVID-19 update will be done separately from my comments today by our Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, Mr. Dave Murphy. As I did mention to everyone last week that the winter sports season began, but I want to mention our fall athletes and recognize them who were selected as GBL All-Stars. So from boys cross country, we want to recognize Sam Orcutt and Chris Hart. From girls cross-country, we want to recognize co-MVP all-stars Anna Casey and Yasmin D'Souza-Vieira, and an all-star Rikita BK. boys and girls cross-country coaches of the year. Lou Ruggiero and Tom Lynch, we want to recognize them. For football, it was Alvin McGross and Isaiah Blake. For golf, it was Anthony Lind. For volleyball, Kate Jocelyn, Regina Prince, and Olivia Tuss. For boys soccer, we recognize MVP All-Star Raphael Gross, Jordan Irenkiev, Jack Medeiros, and Ryan D. Oliveira. Boys Soccer Coach of the Year, Mike Petrides. Boys Soccer, Eastern Mass All-Star, Rafael Gross. Girls Soccer, Emma Casey and Maria Colombo. Girls Soccer, Eastern Mass All-Stars, Maria Colombo, Emma Casey, and Haley Duarte. Congratulations to all these athletes and coaches, and to all of our fall athletes and coaches for a great season. Just a reminder that winter break begins this Thursday, December 23rd, with an early dismissal of noon. Schools will resume on Monday, January 3rd, 2022. Tomorrow, December 21st, is the winter solstice that marks the official beginning of astronomical winter. We often think of the winter solstice as an event that spans an entire calendar day, but the solstice actually lasts only a moment. Specifically, it's the exact moment when a hemisphere is tilted as far away from the sun as it can be. The winter solstice holds significance across a variety of cultures, as it signals the changing of the seasons. Some ancient peoples even mark the solstice using huge stone structures, like Newgrange in Ireland. Although the winter solstice means the start of winter, it also means the return of more sunlight. It only gets brighter from here. I also want to share that Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and runs through January 1st. It's a cultural and ethnic holiday and is an annual celebration of African-American culture, culminating in a communal feast called Karani, usually held on the sixth day. It was created 55 years ago by Malana Karanga and is based on African harvest festival traditions held in various parts of Africa. The theme of Kwanzaa 2021 is ensuring the well-being of the world, which encourages all of us to keep the faith, love, and respect of all people, seek and speak truths, proceed with justice, and leave a legacy worthy of our name in history. Happy Kwanzaa. Lastly, I wish all who celebrate Christmas to do so joyfully and safely. In the spirit of the season, so many from our schools reached into their pockets and hearts and helped those who needed a little extra help and assistance from our Mustang community. In the words of the now famous holiday song, Jingle Bells, that was written here in Medford, it speaks about a one-horse open sleigh. I look at this community as that sleigh, filled with every walk of life, eagerly helping those in need, so that all families can enjoy and laugh all the way. through the holidays. At this blessed time of year, I wish all of our families a wonderful holiday season. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor, Member Vendicott, I was asked to read this letter. Hello, this is from a citizen, Rebecca Gutwin, 47 Morrison Street, from the Roberts Elementary School as your parent. With rising COVID cases in our city and our schools, I am becoming increasingly concerned that all notices about COVID protocol and vaccination clinics are primarily being sent out via email and Facebook, further limiting access. The notices are only in English and with no translation available. All notices should be going home with students on paper and need to be translated. We aren't even trying to have effective outreach and it is clearly showing in our case rate numbers. Most recently, our amazing nurses at Roberts Elementary School sent out instructions on how to submit vaccine cards from our recently vaccinated students. The email was very informative, but was only in English. It should have been sent home in backpacks along with information about this weekend's vaccine clinic. Ideally, we would be contacting patient parents by email, phone and mail. We are all overwhelmed right now, but effective outreach is the key to lowering our case rates and workload. Mr. Murphy, could you please address this?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Next up, we have update on kindergarten enrollment, assistant superintendent of elementary education, Ms. Suzanne Guzzi. Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the school committee. This is going to be a brief update just about our rising kindergarten enrollment numbers. As of December 17th, Metro Public Schools has welcomed 23 new kindergarten students, and there's still more in the queue in the Parent Information Center. So essentially that's the equivalent of another kindergarten classroom. The majority of these students are focused around the McGlynn Elementary School, in which those classrooms are at full capacity right now. So moving forward, we will be reassigning some students to other available schools. This unexpected increase at the kindergarten grade level may require us to create additional first grade classrooms as we're looking ahead to next year, which was on our radar anyway, but just is increasingly so. In the table below in the report that you have, it just breaks down the enrollment as to what the kindergarten numbers were in September and where they are now per each school. You can see that right now we have 357 current kindergarten students in Method Public Schools. Of that number, 105 of those students, when the parents were filling out the transition forms, did indicate that a language other than English was spoken at home, and they were evaluated, and 58 of those students are now receiving English language services. they are dispersed throughout the district. We warmly welcome our new students to the Metro Public Schools and look forward to a strong educational foundation for our students at the youngest levels. I do think it's important to note that we're also, this is the time of year that we're looking to welcome next year's Medford Public School students and kindergarten registration will officially open Monday, January 10th. We do have three dates for our registration. informational session, our Bridges to Kindergarten presentations. The first two will be virtual in Zoom capacity. One will be on January 13th at 630, and the other will be February 8th at 630. And then the March 9th session will be in person up at Medford High School. And I think that pretty much covers it. If you have any questions, yes. Member McLaughlin and member Ruseau. Thank you. Thank you for the update. Ms.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for two of our schools, they are separated just the way that our online system, our school brain system has the students enrolled at the Roberts and the McGlynn. They're not, that's just the way their enrollment is per their classroom for the connections and the access programs. So they're not figured in the total because of the school grades populate. So the Roberts has, I believe, five more students to the number that's here, and the McGlynn, I believe, has two. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so I'm wondering where those lie in the breakdown of the school. So like, for example, in the Brooks School, isn't there a language-based classroom at grade five?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, but I specifically asked Kim Miles to run this report just for the kindergarten numbers. So I also wasn't specific or detailed in what I was asking her.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Just to be clear, the reason that the Brooks is that all students are in the homerooms, so technically the language-based teachers. Under school brains, I would just have her run something different because they're not listed, all students are dispersed into homerooms. That's why they're not populated. But I think it sort of doesn't tell us all the data, so if you don't mind including them all, that'd be great.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say in terms of this report that was presented because there were different numbers of students in the different buildings that I had intentionally not wanted to call out whether one building had two additional students or five. So that's why I tried to have it just as one larger number. But if you want it specifically called out, by programs that is available, but I was the one who did not want the specific numbers for every single building because you would know which program it was.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: but there's gonna be other, yeah. You can see that they're listed there. The only one that's not is the fifth grade classroom, which is actually at the McGlynn, not at the Missituk.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe the plan is absolutely to offer them to return to their neighborhood schools. I think the discussion in terms of if they would like to remain at the school in which they were assigned is something that we're still discussing as central administration, just along the lines of siblings, transportation, we want to make sure that it's a thoughtful, meaningful decision.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Correct.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just one question from the chair. I'll be brief. I know we have somebody to honor, but
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It varies depending on the applicant. So they have to be medically cleared.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Ruseau.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening again. This is a wonderful, this is the wonderful report that I was looking forward to. So let me start with that. We have a lot of wonderful invited guests who are here to celebrate you, Ms. Paulette Vanderclute. We do give a root for Ms. Vanderclute. So let me start this journey. Thank you for coming to join us today, everyone. 32 years. For 32 years, The superintendent of the Medford Public Schools has enjoyed the counsel, support, and supervision of someone who has come to embody public service in this community. For 32 years, the teachers and staff of the Medford Public Schools have enjoyed the presence, enthusiasm, and loyalty of someone who afforded this city her time, energy, and leadership. for 32 years. The parents and caregivers of Medford's children and young adults have had a voice in the governance of their children's school system because of someone who has continually put the needs of her community before her own. For 32 years, the residents of Medford have enjoyed access to their city school system through a representative who has worked to make this school system liable of the great community we serve. For 32 years, the students of the Medford Public Schools have benefited from an elected official whose sole focus has been working to build a school system that will position them for success, achievement, and fulfilling lives. And for the last four years, as the city superintendent of schools, I have enjoyed the friendship, guidance, and mentorship of the person whose service we honor tonight, Mrs. Paulette Vander Kloop. Paulette here is from Illinois, Illinois. Coming here to study at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. 41 years ago, she married Bob Vandercroft, also a Medford transplant. And together they raised three daughters, Katie, Megan, and Liz, each of whom are Mustang alumni. Starting with her work with the Medford-Holman School Association, Paulette's support for the district has been steadfast. Paulette was elected 32 years ago, the day after giving birth to her youngest daughter, with a famous slogan of, give a hoot, vote for Vanderkoop, which resonated with this community for the next three decades. She personified that slogan by supporting every Mustang sport, activity, and club the district had to offer. Paulette's vision for the school system was one that served the whole child and every child. Through her advocacy of the arts, early education programs, and so much else, we are a district that is much closer to that vision than we would have been without her leadership and service. And so tonight, we say thank you. We know we could not fit in one room all the people who want to say thank you, but the following guests are with us both to say thank you and as representatives of everyone else who Paulette has worked with in all of the good work they have done together. So, Former superintendents of schools. We have former superintendent of schools, Dr. Phil DeVoe. Former superintendent of schools, Roy Belson. Former assistant superintendent of schools, Beverly Nelson. Former assistant superintendent of schools, Diane Caldwell.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to ask Mr. Roy-Belson, who has a few words to share, to please come forward at this time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to now recognize some of our former school committee members who are here in the audience with us today. We have Patty Brady, Jack Buckley, former Build in the Future project manager, Emily Cuno, Ellen DiBenedetto, Fred Lasky, who is the current director of Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, Ed Nolan. We have Beth Fuller, also here as a former school committee member. And I would like to ask Beth Fuller to please come forward to share a few words with us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm holding on to it just in case. So this is my poet, which has been in my yard, not all year long, but just during the election season, and then also held at polling places for many years. I first met Paulette probably around 1989. We were standing outside the Dame School at pickup time, and I probably stood out because I had a backpack with a child in it, a double stroller with two grandchildren, and then probably one or two others moving on, because I was a daycare provider at the time. And you said to me, gee, you don't really want to get involved in the things that are going on around the city. And no, maybe you might want to run for school committee. Well, that was gobsmacking. And a few years later, I did. And we served together for six years. At the time that we started on school committee, there were 11 elementary schools, three middle schools, and three high schools. Most principals had two schools under their care, and inevitably, when things went wrong, They weren't at that school. Instead, it was the school secretaries who held things together. And one of the very important lessons we learned was that you had to make friends with the school secretaries and the custodians, because they knew everything. And they were very discreet, but they were very good buddies. At that time, there were no cell phones. So, our families quickly learned that if you picked up the phone, you had to take a message, because otherwise, we would never know who called. Generally speaking, the families left the phone alone and just walked away from it. And there were no computers, no laptops. There was no social media, no Google. So we kind of did the best we could to get people together to meetings with handouts, with phone calls, just nabbing people outside school buildings. The nice thing was that when you went on vacation, you left it at behind. It didn't have to come with you. It was very nice. you, Paulette, helped to support the kindergarten aides because Medford had one of the very few extended day programs for kindergarten students at that time that was free. There was no charge for that. All of the other districts around us charged for extended day. Medford did not. The kindergarten aides were critical to making sure that the kindergarten teacher was able to make it through the day and go to the bathroom. The Harmon School Association became the Medford Educational Foundation eventually, or migrated to that, and you were there for that as well. The parent involvement across the district has only increased in the years since then. People really do know one another. Facebook has made that possible, yes, but it's been largely because we were able to consolidate our schools, even though it meant the loss of our beloved Hervey. But we understood that the little schools that we had did not have They didn't have, for instance, cafeterias, kids ate in the classroom. They didn't have gyms, a lot of them. They didn't have a large meeting space for the school to gather. They did not have elevators, and we didn't realize how many parents and students were not able to enter those buildings on the first day of school until we built the new schools and saw that for ourselves. The first day the books opened, we had two parents in wheelchairs who never, ever would have been able to share the first day of school with their children. until we built those schools. Think how heartbreaking it was. They were never able to meet with the teacher in the classroom their child was in. We did that with the new schools. You've been around long enough to see the effects of the change from MCAT to MCAS. From every form and the effects on school committee governance, it changed dramatically during that time. The rise of charter schools, all of our new schools. It's been an incredible ride.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you both for taking us down memory lane. Also this evening we have representatives from our school buildings. And so, Paulette, you see each of our individual schools as communities. And like all communities, they require investment and care. You have modeled that for each of us. At this time, to begin our presentation, I would like to ask the representatives from our schools to come forward to offer some tokens of appreciation, which will be presented by two individuals who have worked with Paulette for a long time for a significant portion of our service. Our former Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell and Principal Paul DeLeva. I would also like our other Principals and Administrators who are here to please come forward and represent the Administrators. We have Chad Fallon here. We have Diane Garino, Ms. Shannon Demos, Dr. Kathy Kaye, Doreen Andrews, Nancy Sherman-Hudson. Administrators, you can come forward. Thank you so much. I hope I didn't miss anyone. It's going to be a little crowded up here. So Paulette, it is my pleasure and my honor to say a few words about a person that I've known and admired for many, many years. You have been the anchor of the school committee for 32 years. Your knowledge of education and incredible love for the children and families of Medford has always been front and center. Your commitment and dedication to the medical school committee and community has been extraordinary in my estimation. And I cannot remember you missing any school committee meetings. Maybe there was one or two, but I was here every other week and you were as well. You were diligent about making sure you read the packets. Remember those old-fashioned packets we had? Big folders. And there were occasions when you would stop by the high school at four or five o'clock at night when we were still working on them. And we said, can I have mine now? Because you needed to start reading. You didn't want to miss a thing. You've been a supporter of the arts for as long as I can remember. And it was so appropriate tonight that they were here to give you a Christmas send off. If I could speak on a personal note for a moment, as a teacher and administrator, I have always felt comfortable seeking out your opinion and advice. We didn't always agree, but you were always very respectful and understanding. So it's very bittersweet for us on behalf of all of the principals and administrators that are here with us tonight. We thank you so much for all the years that you gave to Medford and we wish you and Bob and your whole family a long, healthy and happy retirement.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much, administrators. I would also, yes. Madam Superintendent, one moment. The principals would like to share with member Bandiclute some beautiful cards that the children have written.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to just thank the central office team that was just standing, all of the assistant superintendents, Galusi, Murphy, Cushing, Williams, and Vern. The central office team sends great congratulations your way as well. Thank you. Also with us this evening is someone who knows well both how challenging serving on a school committee can be and how unique it is for someone as talented as Paulette to be willing to do it for 32 years. Please welcome, from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Executive Director Glenn Coulter. Please come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Kuchar for joining us this evening. Also, I would like to thank our city councilor, Mr. Zack Beers, who's here with us this evening. Many of our elected officials who could not be here in person, but wanted to send along their commendations to share those along with their thoughts. We will now turn the floor over to Paulette's current colleagues with members McLaughlin and member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, you can tilt it in. They can hear.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I would now like to invite Member Ruseau forward to give remarks and present a citation from Representative Clark.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So I would now like to invite member of the storm forward to make some remarks and to present a citation from our own governor Baker. I just asked Jenny to Google if Governor Baker was on the school committee, because I think he was. So you're right. Paulette, you can be governor next. So this is from Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Perito. in its form. On behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am pleased to confer upon you this Governor's citation and recognition of your 32 years of dedicated service as a member of the Medford School Committee to Paulette Van der Kloot the 20th day of December in the year 2021. I do just want to briefly say that I've appreciated so much working with you for these past six years. Honestly, it's incredible the service you've given to the city of Medford. I don't think anyone else in the city has given 32 years of their life or Bob's life.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd like to invite Member Kreatz up. She's going to present some remarks and a citation from Senator Markey.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: and you will be missed. Thank you. So I almost want to do a drum roll because, uh, yes, yes, yes, yes. We're going to have take the podium right now. And, um, we have some special things to present governor Paulette. whatever you choose in your retirement.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Right, Dr. Cushing?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Paulette Van Der Koeuw. Given who? No, I'm just kidding. gratitude for 32 years of service to the method public schools. So, member Van Der Kroot, you would put in a special request. And so that was the big, big one for you that you can read stories and enjoy when you go home. But you put in a request a few years back, and I kept that special request in mind. I want you to know as I present you with this request, again, echoing the mayor's sentiments as well, that your contributions have been immeasurable. We don't want your contributions to stop, even though you are officially stepping down. We value you very deeply. And on the school side, we want you to know that we want you to continue to partner with us and provide counsel and guidance as a school committee member emeritus, as you had said to me the other day. But I have a special gift that you made a special request for. and I don't know if you recall, it says Paulette Vanderkoop, champion of our schools. Medford thanks you for 32 years of service. And so now, finally, I welcome you, Ms. van der Kroot, to come to the podium and share your remarks, your words with us. Thank you again for your dedicated service of 32 years. You know, it's a little bit like attending your own funeral, but you get to hear it. It's really great. I highly recommend it. One more citation. Oh, thank you. One more citation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Bob, we have plenty of things now to wallpaper our house with. First, thank you for being with me tonight, either present here in City Hall or over Zoom. In all my wildest dreams, I never expected to be speaking to a group of masked people or donning a mask myself. I am sure that over the years, especially in the earliest ones, there were times when certain people might have wished I was masked, or at least, a little bit less loquacious, but let's face it, the job of a school committee person rests largely on words and the ability to persuade. Before I go on, I want to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to my successor, Sharon Hayes. Sharon. I feel confident that you will bring your knowledge, insight, and thoughtfulness to the school committee. I will be cheering you on. Thank you to Lisa Evangelista and Susie Weiss for your work, helping me put this evening together, and also for all of the assistance you've given over the years. So last week, a funny thing was happening at my house. On two separate nights, we were awakened by our dog, Pippi, barking with great agitation. Something was up, including me. After I got her to quiet down, I heard it. Hoot, hoot! And ow! Over and over, it was calling, hoot, hoot! Now, you all know my slogan, and everybody's been reminded of it over and over, Give a Hoot the Underclute. And my owl appeared every two years without fail. But if I had any doubts last week, It was clear the owls had come to reclaim my owl, and it was time for my owl and me to retire and go about other owly and other things. I've loved this work and all the things that have gone with it. Being connected to so many people of Medford, working with outstanding educational leaders, relishing the accomplishments of our students, some of which you heard tonight with the musical students, interacting with our very supportive legislative leaders, being part of the larger Massachusetts Association of School Committees, meetings with my colleagues, many meetings with my colleagues, more meetings with my colleagues. I guarantee you 800 numbers is not enough. Last March broke the all-time record with something like 45 meetings. By the way, some might think that the longest meeting held was one of the marathon meetings held in this time of COVID, but it was not. Rather, the longest meeting I attended finished past 2 a.m. in the morning, a budget meeting during the time of then Special Education Director Ernie Demos, a dedicated man far more worthy than I will ever be. There are so many people who I've had the great opportunity to work with. But before I acknowledge just a few, I promised myself I would not pull a Mike McGlynn. See, Mayor McGlynn had the habit of making marvelous speeches, acknowledging many, and then leaving his family to the end. And then he would wrap up and then suddenly realize he had missed the most important people in the world, his family. So I'm starting with my family. To my dear husband, Bob, the most patient man in the world, thank you for your continued support, your work on my many campaigns, your support as I ran out the door, leaving you with, at the time, our three young kids. Then, thank you, fast forward, during the time of Zoom meetings for putting up with the tension that came with those meetings in our house. And thank you for delivering those delicious dinners that was one upside to having meetings at home by Zoom. Bob, you're an incredible man and incredible support, and I love you dearly. Thank you to my three daughters. Kate, Megan, and Liz, who put up with their mom being on the school committee, which was a lot. Phone calls during dinner, going out shopping with mom only to have her stopped by a constituent, photo shoots for campaign literature, and we'll get to that in a bit. I know that there was one upside in the early years when you were the very first to know about snow days. That doesn't happen anymore because everybody knows at once. Being the child of an elected official is not easy. I love you, my sweet daughters, and thank you for your support and for choosing such fine partners in life, Dave Ryan, Todd Prokop, and Jamie VanderKloot. And of course, there are my three wonderful grandsons, Harry, who is eight, Charlie, who is five, and Ezra, who is four. Oh, hi. And Megan is here, and Liz and Jamie are here. Todd's home with Ezra. And they've all been so supportive. I am so fortunate to have had the help and support of my friends throughout the years. I credit my first win to two forces in life. First, the very timely arrival of my daughter, Liz, who was born on my first election day. Thank you, Liz. Now, Peter, if I could ask you to turn on, will I be able to see what's up? Oh, this is... So the first one. So this is the first piece of election campaign literature I had. You'll notice that there's only two children in it because that's Kate and Megan, because Liz was yet to be born. If you could go to the next one. There we are. And she wasn't born the day before election day. She was born on election day. There we go. The next one. Let's see. Oh, here we are. And if you notice, this is the one I think that Peaches is in. Peaches was our first dog, and Peaches, well, frankly, more people knew Peaches than they knew me. Now, Mike McGlynn used to love a parade, and when we walked through the streets, Peaches would accompany us, and more people would shout out, Peaches, Peaches, than they would Paulette. So anyway, that's why I included that one. And is there one more? That might be it. Oh, and this is fast forward to 2019 with my three grandsons now there. So over the years, there's many more in between, but those were ones I wanted to show you tonight. Thank you. I am so fortunate to have the help and support of friends already I said that the second force was to my campaign manager, Dick O'Mara, who sadly has long left this world. Dick was a force of nature and a taskmaster. Nine months pregnant, and I was knocking on doors and giving a hoot. I'd like to extend my thanks to Dick's wife, Gail, and his kids, Kathleen and Brian, who were so helpful in my early years. And to other friends who have been so kind and supportive, in particular, my treasure and great friend, Dr. Laurie Davidson, who is with us tonight. And my wordsmith, David Locke, who sat with me as we painstakingly hammered out the right words for my campaign literature, and he's the photographer tonight. I am very fortunate to have had the blessing of my director or boss at Winchester Hospital, Marie Johnson, also here tonight. So when I skipped out to attend a function or run off to a meeting, and also thanks to my great co-workers Donna and Jillian, I am truly blessed to have a wide circle of loving friends and family who have always been supportive and there for me. Thank you all. I've also been extraordinarily lucky to have so many reach out and thank me when I announced my retirement. Many of you recounted specific times when I had been helpful to you. It's meant the world to me, and I thank the citizens of Medford for your thoughtfulness and support, not only recently, but over 32 years. As a school committee member, I had the opportunity to work with school committee members from across Massachusetts in our professional organization. This is a real asset to members as it enables us to understand that the challenges our community face are so often shared. I want to thank Glenn Kuchar and the staff of the MASC, as well as the great school committee members from across Massachusetts that I had the privilege to meet and work with. I'd also like to thank our legal Councilor, Trinity Howard-Greenspan, who, like me, has been here forever. During my tenure, I've had the privilege to serve with three Medford mayors, Mike McGlynn, Stephanie Muccini-Burke, and our current mayor, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. While there are differences among you, and after all, this is politics, some tension between you, you all have in common a deep commitment to our city. I am thankful that I've had the opportunity to work with all of you, and I've appreciated your leadership and devotion to Medford. I'd also like to mention that I think Medford is extraordinarily fortunate that our mayor serves as the head of the school committee. This means that our mayors have been intimately aware of the goings on in our schools and the needs of our students. Personally, I think this has been a giant plus, and I hope it remains this way. I've also had the privilege to work with a host of other school committee members over the years, some of which have graciously joined us tonight. Some served years and years, others for a shorter duration. While I may have occasionally disagreed with you, we had a shared understanding that our work was dedicated to continuously working to improve the Medford public schools. I'm going to call out all of their names to acknowledge their service and dedication. those that have left us, Bill Brady, Lena DiGiantomaso, and Fred Pompeo. And now my other colleagues, Mary Aliberti, Jimmy Giacomo, Fred Lasky, Carol Sharpton, Bob Scurry, Michael Marks, who is also leaving his elected role on the council, Jack Buckley, Bulldog Jack, Paul Camuso, Ed Nolan, Beth Fuller, my friend and confidant, Sharon Gusek, another friend and confidant, Ron Vining, John Falco, who I also extend my congratulations to, George Scarpelli, Bill O'Keefe, Michael Ruggiero, Aaron Z. Benedetto, and Ann Marie Cuno, who once served as the president of the MASC. and also to my current colleagues, Jenny, Kathy, Melanie, Mia, and Paul. Additionally, I'd like to acknowledge and once again, thank you for the work of the Building the Future Committee, led by Rick Orlando and Tricia McDonough. Of all the time I spent on the school committee, the period when we were deciding how to move forward with replacing our then current schools was one of the most productive and enjoyable of my tenure. Thank you to Tricia and Rick and all the members of the Building the Future Committee. Next is the really tough part. Acknowledging and thanking all the dedicated teachers, staff, and administrators who have dedicated their careers to our children. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I've been lucky to be in your classrooms, in our schools. I've attended so many events, concerts, and athletic competitions. I've seen our staff and teachers supporting our kids. And in this time of COVID, so many have just been superheroes. I thank each and every one, every custodian, bus driver, paraprofessional, lunch mother, school nurse, cafeteria worker, librarian, IT professional, guidance Councilor, special education, administrative assistant, secretary, support staff, our dedicated afterschool staff members, staff of the Medford Family Network, Kids Corner, and of course, our teachers. As a school committee member, ultimately, we get to know our principals, directors, and administrative members the most. Thank you for all the reports you've brought to us. Well, maybe not those MCAS ones, because personally, I think purgatory is made of MCAS reports 24 hours a day. Yeah. Thank you for all your leadership and thank you for being patient when the latest educational acronym needs clarification yet again. The world of education is filled with acronyms. To our assistant superintendents, both past and present, and those who are here, and I'm so grateful for Beverly and Diane and all you guys up here in the front row cheering section, thank you for your countless hours of work, your patience, and your dedication. I've worked with three superintendents of school, Phil DeVoe, Roy Belson, and Dr. Maurice-Edouard Vincent. Now, the first thing I have to tell you is that nobody, Carmen, are you listening? Nobody, she's our intern, superintendent intern. And so she wants to be a superintendent. She's crazy. Now, the first thing I have to tell you is that nobody should want these jobs. It's tough. I don't know how superintendents do it, frankly. Everything they do, every decision they make, every conversation they have is under scrutiny. Seven people elected by the public who may know something about education, or maybe not so much, get to weigh in on their performance all the time. Good grief. They are on call 24-7. They have to become experts on everything, including weather, and whether there is going to be enough snow to justify calling off school. Thank you, Roy, for devoting 50 years of your life to the Medford Public Schools and for leading this district, for 23 of them. You started and guided so many great programs that are shining stars for Medford, including the Medford Family Network and the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. And Maurice, thank you for stepping in and stepping up. Your leadership since the beginning of COVID has been very strong. You worked to get our students back in school at the earliest opportunity. Your guiding principles of ACE, achievement for all, collaboration for all, and equity for all, have guided your work and set the vision for our district. Dr. Edouard-Vincent, keep on going. It takes a long time to thank a lot of people that you've worked with for 32 years. Thank you for your kind indulgence. In leaving, I have two words of wisdom. Well, let's say thoughts. For my colleagues, the toughest time I've ever spent on the committee was when we had to lay off teachers and staff who were truly valuable, but because of a national economic crisis, we could not sustain. As you spend the ESSER money, please take to heart the need to spend wisely so that in some future date, you are not facing a dire situation. Yes, spend it for sure, but plan so that you put into place but plan so that what you put into place can be maintained for the future. It's going to be a huge challenge. And lastly, this period in our community and in our nation has been tough. The divisiveness has truly been heartbreaking. While we cannot snap our fingers and fix the entire national divide, it is incumbent on every local elected official and each of us to listen to and work with all of our fellow citizens and constituents. Let's find a way to build bridges. We have the best students in Medford. They have so much hope and promise. You heard some of them tonight. I thank them and I thank all of you for your extraordinary opportunity I have had in being a member of the Medford School Committee. Now I'm going to finish with an inside joke, which some of you will understand and many of you won't, but In honor of the late former athletic director, Bud Kelly, I have blue and white running through my veins. So, thank you all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Move toward the reading of the agenda. Presentation of the public, seconded by? Second. All those in favor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All those opposed? Thank you. That was just the presentations of the public. where we talk about having three minutes to speak. Number seven, we have continued business, which was tabled on 12-6-2021. Member Ruseau.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: January 3rd, I believe. January 3rd. January 3rd. Motion to table until January 3rd by Member Ruseau, seconded by Member McLaughlin. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Number seven is tabled. Number eight, we have new business for the Metro Public Schools COVID-19 weekly testing program will be implemented in the Kids Corner program to cover staff and children. In light of the fact that these children are unable to be vaccinated at this time, testing will occur as many days of each week as necessary to ensure all children in the program are tested weekly. If some children are not participants of the program on the scheduled testing day, rapid tests can be used to supplement the normal testing program. Offered by Member Ruseau, Member Kreatz, Member Ms. Stone. Is there a motion on the floor? Motion to approve. Thank you. Motion by Member Graham, seconded by Member Kreatz. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion is approved. Reports requested is number nine, I believe they're Arnie, and number 10, sorry, we have our condolences, so read those.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, it was a different setting. Yes, no, I can definitely, that was kind of hot off the press, so that was great news and you got it first, but we definitely will talk about that wonderful grant that's coming our way. And thank you Stacey for that. Yeah, thank you, Stacy. That's really great news.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Before I begin with my comments, I must address incidents that have occurred at Medford High School. As a school district, we have discussed repeatedly the pronounced social and emotional needs of our students coming off of such a long period of instructional disruption caused by the pandemic. We are very aware that students cannot learn if they do not feel safe and supported. As educators, it is our moral and professional obligation to cultivate an environment in which every student feels secure and ready to learn. The most fundamental element of this culture that we are trying to build is a recognition that there is simply no place for violence in our schools. Last week's fights that occurred at Medford High School resulted in very understandable and mostly constructive outcry from students who want to see change. We are grateful to the many students who accepted an invitation to meet with our administrators and Councilors to begin discussing what steps we can take as a community to foster an environment grounded in support and respect. This will not happen overnight. The work has begun and the process will continue until every student and staff member feel safe and comfortable at Medford High School. We are dedicated to this goal and we urge all in the Mustang community to work with us to help restore the normalcy we expect in all of our schools. And as we continue to tackle this, I ask our students to partner with us. If you hear something, If you see something, you need to say something to an administrator so that we can be a partner with you to address any challenges that might happen or a plan to happen later in the day. I also put out a call to parents to partner with us because if you see something at home or you hear something, We ask that you partner with us, call the school, speak with the principal or the Councilors and let us know how we can also support you so that together we can build a stronger community. So those are my remarks on what has happened with last week. I do wanna continue to give you key updates regarding the district. The first update is about our public health update. So turning our attention as we do every meeting to public health and COVID-19 related matters, this past week, coming out of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we saw a significant uptick in COVID-19 positivity. While our testing program had been returning a positivity rate under 1%, last week, in over 4,000 COVID tests, we returned a positivity rate of just under 4%. While this was not necessarily surprising, it is a reminder of the need for continued vigilance. especially during this holiday season when so many are gathering with loved ones for social occasions. As I noted in my message to the community this past Friday, we have seen very strong participation in the vaccination clinics that the Board of Health and the Health Services Department facilitated. We have an active discussions now with the Board of Health in the hope of organizing additional opportunities for our students. particularly those between the ages of five and 11, who just became eligible to become vaccinated. On Saturday, December 11th, at the Andrews Middle School, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., we will hold the second dose clinic to complete the series for students that attended the November 20th clinic. Being vaccinated is the best way to fulfill the obligation we owe to one another to minimize COVID in our communities and keep our students in school. As many Medford public school staff members are aware, our employee daycare program, Kids Corner, has seen a COVID outbreak in recent days. Three of the five Kids Corner classrooms have been forced to quarantine due to COVID spread. Daycare programs in our region and around the country have faced similar and greater challenges since the beginning of the pandemic. with the age eligibility restrictions for the vaccine being what they are. The need for heightened vigilance is substantial in programs like Kids' Corner. We know that this has caused significant stress to our employees who rely on this service, as well as to parents of students whose teachers are affected. vigilance will be critical to continued operations of kids corner, as it will for all components of our organization, as we continue to emerge from the pandemic. I do wanna say that I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. I wanted to take this moment to extend a special thank you to Bill and Sue Honeycutt of John Brewer's Tavern for hosting Medford and Malden football teams, coaches, cheerleaders, mayors, and both central administrations for the annual Thanksgiving luncheon. I also want to extend a huge thanks to Dr. Cushing, Principal DeLava. Athletic Director Maloney, Building and Grounds Director McLaughlin, Band Director Mizrelo, the Mustang Band, our cheerleaders, for presenting, I believe, the first ever outdoor pep rally for Thanksgiving. By hosting it outside, it allowed us all to cheer on our football team safely. For those who enjoyed the close game on Turkey Day, the Mustangs truly appreciated your support. Although we did not prevail, it was a hard-fought game with the final score, Malden 12 and Medford 10. Speaking of athletics, winter sports tryouts began on November 29th for both Medford High School and our middle schools. Winter season begins late this week. I also want to share that the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Mayor Brianna and I were honored to join with Principal Garvino and Assistant Principal Andrews at the McGlynn Elementary School's Thanksgiving food drive. It was organized by teachers, Ms. Daugherty, Ms. Fiorentino, and Ms. Materano. They were able to provide food baskets to families in need through the Medford Family Network. All the students participated, and I'm proud to say that they did not get donations from supermarkets, so it was a school-sponsored event, and they were really able to help our community in need. I also want to extend sincere congratulations to our Medford Mustang Marching Band for placing third in Division III at the New England Scholastic Band Association's Championship Finals. Their show, The Force, earned them a score of 91.4 out of 100 from the judges at the competition in Reading. on October 31st. Member Mustone's daughter, Teagan, serves as a drum major and led the band through its competition season, which took them to Melrose, North Andover, Wakefield, Billerica, and Dartmouth. At two of the competitions, the Color Guard, led by seniors Alyssa Parziale, Kaylee McCray, and Laura Lewis, along with freshman Maria Zasra, They took first place in Division III. The band includes students from Medford High School, Medford Vocational Technical High School, and the McGlynn and Andrews Middle Schools. Additionally, I want to just share some wonderful news and I want to thank the Medford community. This past weekend, the Mustang Band Parents Association sold 160 trees and 120 wreaths. I want to thank the Medford community for your generous support of our wonderful band. As a result of essentially being sold out. There are no more leaves left, no more trees left, they actually came down to the final five trees. And so, those five trees will be sold by appointment only. It's a great annual fundraiser, and as a result of the great success, they will not be selling trees this weekend but thank you again on behalf of our wonderful band. and the parents who worked in the band students who volunteered their time this weekend and last weekend as well. On Saturday as well, the Medford Family Network's annual toy and book swap was held, and it was an amazing success. The Medford Family Network is indebted to so many organizations and individuals who have stepped up to benefit our families. They are reaching out one more time to match the 30 remaining families who need to be matched with a donor. We have families of a variety of sizes. Each family has submitted a list of three wishes per child. We're calling you a wish filler. If you would like to be a wish filler for those remaining 30 families, please contact Marie Cassidy at 781-393-2106 or mcassidyatmedford.k12.ma.us. And if anyone would like to help and just be an additional support during this time, reach out to Marie Cassidy. They are looking for helpers as well. I want to say that last week, Memphit High School hosted their parent-teacher conferences in the gym. It was wonderful that parents and caregivers were able to meet with their students' teachers in person this year, and both days were very successful. So we do have a few upcoming events, as I bring my remarks to a close this Wednesday, December 8 from six to 8pm Medford CPAC will have a presentation on basic rights, understanding the IP. Please note that pre registration is required. Also on Wednesday, December 8 at 7pm. The winter concert featuring the middle school band high school band and marching band will be held in a Karen theater. On Thursday, December 9th at 7pm, the winter concert featuring the Middle School Orchestra and High School Orchestra will be held in the Caron Theater. Both concerts are open to the public for a $5 admission fee. Please plan to wear a face covering when you are inside the building. On Saturday, December 11, this coming Saturday from nine to one, again as a second dose vaccination clinic at the Andrews Middle School for our students that are five to 11 years old. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ends this evening. It is my hope that our Jewish families and neighbors had an enjoyable and safe holiday. I would like to end my comments with this quote from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sachs. For they, my faith is not yours and your faith is not mine. If we are each free to light our own flame together, we can banish some of the darkness of the world. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On the school dashboard?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe for staff, they would definitely be included. And I, yes, I'm getting a yes. I just put my cheaters on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. This evening, we will be presenting Culture, Climate, and Disciplinary Practices. Again, this evening, Suzanne Galussi, our Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools, Dr. Peter Cushing, our Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools, and Ms. Stacey Schulman, our Director of School Counseling and Behavioral Health, will be presenting. Thank you. The first statement that I would like to just start off by saying the Medford Public Schools condemns any and all types of violence. That includes physical violence, domestic violence, hate crimes, psychological violence, neglect, verbal abuse, cultural violence, and sexual violence. Mr. McLaughlin, are you able to turn on the microphone at the podium? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There's one more slide, Dr. Cushing. So we understand that while work has begun in order to address these situations, we still have significant work to do in order to create the schools we want for our students and the community as a whole. We will continue to look for additional partners to help us do the work and do it well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and leveraging the student voice. I had the opportunity to participate in several conversations as well. And they were really, you know, great suggestions of leveraging, you know, the class presidents and just creating additional opportunities for student voice. So I felt like it was very positive suggestions, positive feedback. And again, what I had said in my remarks earlier, but I also reiterated it to the student groups that I was part of, to partner with them. If they see something, if they hear something to notify an adult, because some events, you know, happen and there's nothing we can do about it, but some events are scheduled or planned events. And when students go to a certain area to observe a planned event, if an adult knew, we would have been able to have intervened before that event took place. So we're working on trying to create those opportunities.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I also want to just say with this whole situation that happened, there's an expression that says, out of adversity comes opportunity. And as I think about the great opportunity that has happened is that we're having greater, more meaningful conversations with students. And for both Katie and Gabrielle, I would love to have them both come back in a few months to, I mean, Gabrielle, I know you'll be at meetings with us, but to be able to come back and share with the committee what differences, what changes they see and what their take is, their perspective, because this is a fresh perspective right now, but we want the change to not just be temporary, for it to become something that would be more permanent. So I do want to thank them. And I want to thank Katie for getting her copy of the letter to us a little earlier. And it was beautifully written. And I know once I see yours as well, Gabrielle, but I was like, the teacher in me was so excited. And I said, wow, we've got a wonderful writing scholar here. And I just want to continue to encourage student leadership because you are our future leaders. And again, out of this adversity comes opportunity, and we want to capitalize on that opportunity for Metro Public Schools. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I am in these revised goals, everything that is highlighted in yellow was based on the feedback that you gave to me at the November 8 meeting and based on the questions and suggestions that were made from wordsmithing. I highlighted in yellow, anything that was added and or changed. And so, Essentially, the key revisions were under the first two goals, and I am seeking the committee's approval on these revisions if it's amenable.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So again, out of some of the comments that I made earlier, we're definitely going to be making a concerted effort to be working closely at the high school level, addressing climate and culture concerns, providing those opportunities to hear more voices, student voice, staff voice. And so we're going to be making some noted changes in that area in documenting That information so we can make informed decisions and that we can help to shift the culture and climate concerns that exist at the high school level. I did have a question on this resolution. the third paragraph up from the bottom, where it talks about the project scope and asking us to focus on a healthy school community and contends with the past handling of incidents. And so I just was going to ask for some clarification to kind of let me know what the thinking was in that area.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It definitely wasn't a planned expenditure, but given the clarification from Member Ruseau that this number was given because of the absence of another number, that I'm thinking we could potentially be able to have some kind of an assessment done for a significantly less expensive amount. That's what my initial thinking was when he provided the clarification that it was to, because for that amount, I would probably be thinking more of an entire district. And so since we're talking specifically about the high school, it's one building, I think it would be significantly less I don't have the information, and I can try to find out the cost of the other vendor that worked with the middle school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would probably say what would be most appropriate would be if through the, I'm not sure who the respective teachers are that are doing the CCSR.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I can do it to do for myself to also follow up with Mr. Skorka on that one as well. And coordinate that as a community service learning project.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: get the bags delivered before the holidays?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it was a win-win experience for everyone. Everyone benefited. It filled everyone's bucket. And I think it was a great experience for all of the students. And it's something that I do look forward to continuing to support and see how we can you know, gather more momentum and have more students who maybe didn't really know what it was going to be like, but now they've had an opportunity to see it. And so, you know, maybe there'll have to be a waiting list and kids will have to try out to be able to be part of unified sports. And it's something that they're like, I want to get on that team. So, you know, we can think really big and see what happens next.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I'd like to start with a public health update. As we noted in the last two school committee meetings, I will be incorporating updates on public health and COVID-19 in my remarks going forward. But of course, Ms. Hines, Mr. Murphy, and other team members are available to answer any questions you might have. Members, you've received our COVID-19 update memo in your email packets, and that document is also posted on the district website. We did see a slight uptick in positivity in last week's surveillance testing, after we had dropped a minuscule 0.37% the week before. Our 1.54% positivity was reflective of both the concerning community-wide numbers and a cluster identified in a program unaffiliated with Medford Public Schools that our health services team immediately notified the Board of Health about last week. Despite the uptick in positive cases, we were very happy to report that we maxed out participation in our NPS students-only COVID-19 vaccination clinic that was held at the Andrews Middle School last Wednesday. Through our partnership with the Board of Health, we will be holding a second vaccination clinic for students ages five to 11 this coming Saturday, November 20th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Medford High School. Please be sure to sign up and we'll have additional communication about this event in the coming days. It will be on the four-year side, so coming in through the main entrance, that is one piece of information for people to be aware of. Finally, with respect to public health, today we issued a survey to both staff and parents and caregivers. The survey which I have referenced in my last few Friday updates to the community was commissioned by Tufts University, who as you know, they have partnered with us to have one of the most successful coven testing programs in the state. The researchers at Tufts University are seeking to obtain data related to the barriers that districts faced in getting students back into school and how we can operate on a more equitable basis when it comes to COVID-19 and public health in general. The surveys are voluntary. of course, but all NPS community members are encouraged to participate. So please check your email for that survey. Also, being that November is the month of Thanksgiving, I have notes of gratitude to share with all of you tonight. A special thank you to the families of the five to 11 year old students who participated in a very successful COVID-19. Again, that was held last Wednesday at the Andrews Middle School. Nearly 300 students received their vaccinations. But we also want to send out some special thank yous. First to the Medford Public Schools nursing team, The city's Board of Health team who worked really hard to make this happen. I would also like to thank our own CTE vocational health assisting students who are actively involved in supporting the vaccination clinic. It is so wonderful to know that we are providing our health assisting students with real life experiences and training. And we are so grateful to be holding a second clinic this Saturday. I do wanna just make note that we were expecting 300 vaccinations for this coming Saturday, and we are going to have an increased number, possibly doubling that number if we could get up to 500 participants. So I do wanna just say that in that section here. I also wanna send a sincere thanks to all of our veterans who came to Medford High School last week. They took time out of their busy schedules to make presentations to all of our humanities classes on Wednesday, November 10th. We truly appreciate their service and we were so glad to have been able to welcome them back into our classrooms this year. So upcoming events, This Saturday, mark your calendars, the COVID-19 vaccination clinic. Please note that it is a location change. I did say at the high school, it will not be at the Andrew School. It is at the high school. And since the Medford Board of Health secured an additional 600 vaccines, which is fabulous news, we are really excited about increasing the amount of participation on Saturday. So please go back to the registration portal and sign up for a time. We will also have walk-in appointments available. So please do not miss out. In that same vein of talking about the vaccination clinics, medical help is wanted. We are looking for registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and doctors who are authorized to administer shots to come out and help. Please reach out to Ms. Avery Hines, our health services director at 781-393-2292. or you can email her at ahines, H-I-N-E-S, at medford.k12.ma.us if you are interested in volunteering at the vaccination clinic this Saturday. Also on this Saturday, The Greater Boston Girls on the Run event will be taking place in Medford at Hornell Stadium between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. I believe we are expecting nearly 1,000 runners, and Mayor will be participating in running of her team, so we wish them a successful run this Saturday between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. On Sunday, November 21st, our Mustang football team will be hosting the alumni flag football game at Hormel at 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 21st. On Monday, November 22nd, the Medford Public Schools wants you to come join our Mustang family. The Human Resources Department will be hosting a job fair, an in-person job fair from 12 noon to 2pm and again from 3pm to 5pm on Monday, November 22nd. There are many opportunities throughout our pre-K district, including substitute teacher positions, afterschool aides, paraprofessional positions, kindergarten aides, teachers, and CTE, trade-specific positions for our vocational school. We also welcome retirees to join us at this job fair And again, it will allow for in-person interviews with select staff. Please plan to bring your proper identification and wear a mask again on Monday, November 22nd. We look forward to meeting you. Wednesday, November 24th, that is also our half day. It will be the Mustang pep rally from 1130 to 12. We are at this time still working out details, but the pep rally will take place outside in the field of dreams. Again, final details are being worked out. On Thursday, November 25th, it is Thanksgiving. We're going to say let's go to our Mustangs as they take on Malden. The game this year will take place in Malden for the annual Thanksgiving football game at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased in the athletic office during Thanksgiving week. Again, schools are dismissed at 1130 and noon on Wednesday for early dismissal. Friday, November 26th, there is no school, so it is a long weekend. On Sunday, November 28th, the Mustang Band parents begin hosting their annual Christmas tree and wreath sale at the high school parking lot from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 30th. Medford High School will be hosting their first night of parent-teacher conferences, and those will take place in the gymnasium from 6 to 8 p.m. And on Tuesday, November 30th, the programs that will be highlighted are EL, our English learners program, science, math, wellness, and electives on Tuesday, November 30th for parent teacher conferences. Our second event will be Thursday, December 2nd for continued parent teacher conferences and they will be again in the gym from six to 8 p.m. And on Thursday, December 2nd, the parent conferences will be for English language arts, social studies, fine arts, and world languages. So all of this information will also be posted online, but for those parents that are listening, please mark off Tuesday, November 30th and Thursday, December 2nd for parent teacher conferences at the high school. November is National Native American Heritage Month, which acknowledges the unique contributions made by our first Americans for the growth and establishment of the United States. President Biden noted in the annual proclamation, we honor our Native American veterans and service members who have courageously served and continue to serve in our armed forces, including the brave Native American code talkers in World War I and World War II. This month and every month, we honor the precious, strong, and enduring cultures and contributions of all Native Americans and recommit ourselves to fulfilling the promise of our nation together. Lastly, since we will not meet again before Thanksgiving, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our families an enjoyable holiday. At the same time, Thanksgiving needs to be celebrated safely, and I am asking that all students, staff, and families rededicate themselves to our effective COVID prevention measures. It is important that we remain vigilant in our COVID awareness as we go into the Thanksgiving holiday. Outside of school activities could greatly impact our exposure within school. So please remember to wear a mask, meet with friends and family outdoors when possible, and stay home if you're feeling ill or recently exposed. So in closing, I do wanna just share one final announcement that this Wednesday, we will be hosting a small clinic, vaccination clinic at the high school. This is in partnership with an organization that also was part of the stop the spread sites. This vaccination clinic will be taking place between 1230 and 2pm on the vocational side of the house. And the preferred age group is for individuals who are over 18 years old or meet qualifications. We did ask if there were going to be additional offerings, and we will get final information for that. There is a possibility that we may have some Pfizer vaccinations available for students that are 12 and older. So we will have final details on that very small vaccination clinic. which is hoping to vaccinate approximately 80 individuals. We will have the final details on that tomorrow, and we will advertise it widely tomorrow. That will take place on Wednesday, which is early release day at the high school. And those are my announcements for the day. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in response to that, The third bullet about whereas hiring practices in many districts are finalized in March and April, it would be our desire to be able to be equally competitive with other districts. A lot of the strongest candidates are scooped up right in the middle of whether they're new graduates, but they're scooped up much earlier than when we have access to trying to recruit competitive candidates. It's going to take a lot, a lot of work for us to be able to move the timetable up, but I think it will put us in a stronger, more strategic position to be able to recruit stronger talent to bring to Medford. So we will work hard to meet the new deadline, but in the end it will benefit us as a district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it's tabled, and I will try to bring it forward at our next December meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Fall is definitely being felt by all of us with the weather getting colder and daylight savings time, which has now ended. November has arrived. First, I would like to say, let me take this opportunity to congratulate our mayor, Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Jenny Graham, Melanie McLaughlin, Mia Stone, Kathy Kreatz, and Paul Russo, who won re-election to this body. I'd also like to recognize Sharon Hayes on winning a seat on Medford School Committee. So congratulations to all of you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On November 2, our teachers and staff participated in professional development. In the morning, our special education staff discussed IEP writing strategies, while non-special education staff discussed equity and inclusion. Immediately following the morning session, the district staff participated in a seminar concerning implicit and unconscious bias. After lunch, our elementary staff discussed the importance of responsive classroom and secondary staff worked on department-based activities. Our nurses participated in online professional development. Our vocational staff, our CTE staff discussed the vocational framework revisions and guidance presented on Naviance training for our middle schools. while the high school staff worked on independent projects. Our superintendent in residence, Carmen Williams, presented community building and shared practices with our paraprofessional staff. Also last week was the joint ma SS ma SC Massachusetts Association of school superintendents and Massachusetts Association of school committees conference in hyenas in attendance were a member so and member Graham, who attended in person. And I did have the opportunity to present on a panel with other superintendents and school committee members to that gathering. It was a large in-person gathering and we were glad for that. I also know, I think other members of the committee participated remotely. That was a great learning experience. I wanted to share for our parents who may be struggling financially. that there are less than two weeks left to access up to $1,800 per child with the child tax credit. It has been brought to my attention that at least 450 children in our community could be eligible for this funding, but only 22 families have signed up in Medford so far. I urge our families to go to find your friends.org where they can find further information and learn about how to sign up translations are provided on the site and the deadline to apply is November 15. In the sports category. Our Mustang athletes have been incredibly competitive this year. I just want to share our girls cross country. They are the greater Boston League GBL champs, seven and zero boys cross country, six and one boys soccer, 12, zero and six. They're the GBL champs. They will play in the second round of MIAA tournament at Newton North tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Our girls soccer team, nine, five, and four, they also have qualified for the MIAA tournament. Girls volleyball, 12 and six, qualified for the MIAA tournament. Boys and girls middle school cross country, they are the GBL champs. Boys and girls crew, they competed in two regattas. There was no league tournament this season. Football, we are two and six, and the Thanksgiving football game will be held in Malden this year. Our athletic director, Bobby Maloney would like to give a special shout out to the head coach mascara Andre and her assistant coaches, Michael McLaughlin and john scary for an unbelievable first season of unified basketball. The Mustang unified team became became the favorite the favorite team this fall season. It was wonderful to see our athletes so competitive and eager to cheer one another on. So again, we want to congratulate Unified Sports basketball team. They did a wonderful job and thank you to all the coaches. As you are aware, the Medford Board of Health, in partnership with our Director of Health Services, Nurse Avery Hines, will be providing a vaccine clinic for students aged five to 11 at the Andrews Middle School this Wednesday, November 10th, from three to 7 p.m. And on Saturday, November 20th, from nine to 1pm. We are hopeful that parents will take this opportunity to protect their children, family, school community by getting the vaccine. It is an area of concern that I do want to just highlight, and you will hear more in the COVID update. However, as a superintendent, I have to remind you to please keep your child at home if they are not feeling well. We have seen a slight uptick in community transmissions. So this includes if your child has been deemed a close contact. I urge you not to send your child to extracurricular activities. Your child should be quarantined at home for the duration of the quarantine window. So I am very pleased to announce that in-person open playtime is going to be taking place with the Medford Family Network on Saturdays. This event is going to take place for the next five Saturdays. Registration is required. Parents and caregivers are welcome. The time slots that are available are 9 to 1030am or 1030 to noon. Masks are required for ages two and up. So please take advantage of the Medford Family Network. I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to wish our Hindu, Sikh, Jains, and Buddhist neighbors a happy Diwali, as the five-day Festival of Lights holiday comes to an end tonight. May the light of Diwali remind all of us that from darkness, there is knowledge, wisdom, and truth. from division, unity, and from despair, hope. Blessings to all. A few upcoming events and reminders. On Wednesday, November 10th, throughout the entire day, our high school humanities students will be listening to presentations from local veterans who will be discussing their experiences serving in the United States Armed Forces. We are pleased that this annual event is able to return to our classrooms. The mayor and members of the school committee are welcome to attend. Also, on Wednesday evening, school committee member Melanie McLaughlin will be the guest speaker for the November CPAC meeting. Member McLaughlin will present how disability rights align with civil rights. The meeting will be held via Zoom from 6 to 8 p.m. Additionally, November is CPAC Awareness Month in Massachusetts. CPAC works collaboratively with the school district to help to outline the rights of our special education students and parents. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the co-chairs, Ms. Tanya Sullivan and Alex Lorik and all the members of CPAC for their hard work and dedication to Medford CPAC. Lastly, there will be no school Thursday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day. As my older brother, a career Army veteran often reminds me, Veterans Day is different from Memorial Day. While these holidays both honor the military, there is a significant difference between the two. Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the military. It honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Veterans Day honors all who served in the armed forces. We thank all of our veterans, those serving, and those who have served for putting their personal lives on hold to protect the freedoms we all enjoy. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, and as I report on my goals this evening, I will be reporting on the district improvement goal, our student learning goal, and our professional practice goal for the superintendent. Under the district improvement goal, given the unprecedented hybrid learning environment during the school year of 2020-2021, MPS, Medford Public Schools, will utilize common systems and structures to accurately assess the learning and social emotional needs of students while addressing race, equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the district. Additionally, through professional development, observation and evaluation of staff, we will provide increased support to staff to better meet the needs of all learners. Our key goal of maintaining a learning environment built upon the pillars of safety, equity, and consistency, with the intention of developing a district-wide focus on instruction and assessment, Some of the key actions that are taking place this year have been the following professional development opportunities from social, emotional learning, professional development, implicit bias, professional development, responsive classroom, professional development, race, equity, diversity, and inclusion, professional development. NWEA MAP, the Northwest Association Measures of Academic Progress Assessment System, and supervision and evaluation training for administrators. Intended outcomes are to have improved cell practices by leadership and staff, tailored instruction to improve student outcomes, targeted feedback for teachers to improve practice, school and district leaders learning and leading together. The student learning goal this year has taken a slight shift. My first three years, I had a primary focus on elementary mathematics. I am optimistic that with the adoption of a new curriculum, a new program coming at the end of the year, that we will begin to see the needle move in the area of mathematics. This year, we are focusing on early literacy. We will be assessing early literacy skills and implementing interventions in literacy to improve outcomes by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of early literacy practices. The key actions, we will support the development and implementation of an effective early literacy program. There will be full adherence to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Department's dyslexia guidance through the implementation of ECRI, Enhanced Core Reading Instruction Program. ECRI implementation will be taking place during tier one ELA blocks in all grades, kindergarten to second grade, district-wide. There is a continued partnership with Hill for Literacy throughout the 21-22 school year. This embedded PD model will ensure teachers are getting sustained monthly training and coaching that will enhance and grow their instructional practice. Outcomes. Full implementation of ECRI across all K-2 classrooms. visible implementation of the science of reading best practices during literacy blocks. Intentional analysis of literacy outcomes at middle of the year and end of year. Conduct early literacy learning walks district-wide with a modified protocol to include our five core actions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The new Superintendent Induction Program, NESAP, is now offering consultancy sessions. In addition to NESAP, MASS, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, is providing a specialized professional development called Leading and Learning Ready Sessions. The intention is to further develop skills in strategy development, data analysis, instructional leadership through the use of consultancy protocols. In addition, through participating in the MASS pioneer cohort of superintendents to lead district level work on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion ready practices. I will be attending monthly affinity group and monthly equity, diversity and inclusion sessions via Zoom. Completing all assignments and or providing timely feedback during consultancy sessions. And consulting with the assigned coaches and or mentors on an as needed basis. The outcomes would be to further leverage the expertise and collective knowledge of graduate NISAP superintendents. leading and learning about race, racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion ready. A pilot superintendent leadership practice network to support DESE with future statewide initiatives that can be implemented in Medford. Those are my goals for this evening, this year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so I've attended already one session with the MSS ready group, and it is a pioneer cohort of 2425 superintendents, and it's actually. The 25 superintendents that are involved our superintendents and or equity directors or assistant superintendents across the state. 12 of them by Park superintendents, people that identify as people of color, and 12 are white superintendents that identify as allies. And the professional development is being led by Dr. Leigh Teitel and Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson. And so they have the cohort together as a combined cohort, and then they break out. And they are doing race, equity, diversity, and inclusion work during those sessions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I want to say that it was a competitive process, and I was glad that I succeeded. Thank you. I look forward to the learning that I will have that will happen this year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't have a suggestion. I'm willing to work on wordsmithing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just wanted to respond to say that with some of the data, when it comes to the evaluation time, I will do the same thing as attaching multiple hyperlinks that actually show proof or evidence of it. Again, because we just made this significant investment in the NWEA map. So this is like year one, where we just were in the process of getting baseline preliminary data. which was why I had said that I would be including middle of year and end of year not knowing what that data is going to look like but with the expectation with all of the enhanced and added intentional moves that are happening right now in the area of early literacy that I would love to see the work The professional developments that's taking place, and then looking at the assessment data, the in house assessment data to say, are we seeing the needle move in the right direction. So they're definitely. I did not want to go and say, it's going to be 10% when it could be 5% across the board, it could be 25%, because we've never had an internal system before. Since I've been here, we've always dealt with the MCAS, so I'm actually very excited about that investment to finally have internal data to look at to help further guide and point us in the direction to achieve increased outcomes for all of our learners. And in light of the way we were doing the learning walks before, I've been talking with the administrators and directors about how will the walks look this year, where we had much larger groups observing instruction. So if we're gonna think about it and do the work where we're not having five people potentially walk into a classroom, At the same time, how could we still go through the experience of a walk, but with a much smaller group of people, while we're still in this, you know, almost post pandemic era, but that so that is something that we haven't formally started doing the walks but how we can go in to look at what it is that we expect to see. So we're going to be. actively out there in classrooms and looking at all of these things and documenting what we see, and I will definitely have data by the end of the year to really share to say these, this is what the data says and be able to say okay, now we have one year of implementation, what our data looks like, so that I think moving into next year, we'd be able to say, oh, we made this percentage of growth over the course of one year. Let's see how much more growth we can make the following year and give a more measurable goal based on the data that's in front of us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to weigh in to say that last year, in light of everything that was happening with the pandemic, it was incredibly difficult, even for myself to be able to attend all of the sessions, the timing was very, very difficult. And I too would prefer to have it go through the communication subcommittee to be able to just think about the strategic plan that we have in place and the work that we are doing. I do think that the intention behind this initiative was a very good and it's a strong intention but the timing just it was overwhelming with everything that we were trying to do moving from hybrid to fully in person and trying to fully commit to what was happening during those specific points in time. And so I don't think we participated in the initiative, but I don't really feel like we were able to get 1000% out of it just because there were too many competing interests and trying to juggle all of the balls that were being juggled last year was just too much at that point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening. This evening we're going to have an opportunity to look at our MCAS results. We will have a slide presentation, and that presentation will begin with science. Mr. Rocco Cieri our director of science will present the science information, followed by Miss Pfizer current who will present mathematics, and Dr Nicole keys who will be presenting for us. So without much further ado, Dr cushion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to piggyback and say that that was part of a conversation that Miss Khan and I had about the middle school scores actually being solid this year, the strongest in the district in terms of their SGPs and attributing it to the investment in illustrative math, which is more inquiry based and really forcing the students to be critical thinkers of mathematics. and hoping for similar increased outcomes at the elementary levels as we're piloting new programs that are more inquiry based and really pushing those higher order thinking skills.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're asking, can you just restate your question one more time?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When the data, yeah, I don't have the exact date right now when it was released, but we got the data and then we're disaggregating and analyzing the data.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We are shooting for this Friday. The hard copy reports have come in and we just distributed them to the schools. So they are in the process of making labels and getting them. So the deadline is for us to have the mailings back on Friday to get it out in the mailings. So parents will be able to get the results next week.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We can definitely, I'm gonna just take note to make sure that once we're able to release the data, to get the data to you so that you have two weeks with it prior to this meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That it was definitely an oddity, I think, due to the pandemic, a lot of people families chose to opt out this past year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Ms. Khan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would just want to say thank you again, Mr. Cieri for your leadership in science, and for the work that you're doing. with us on the district side. And I'd like to take this opportunity to invite Dr. Chiesa on up to come in present to us on English language arts. Three through 12 of what's happening in the district. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we do have, we do have our student representatives available Dr cushion, would you like to just give the update on our two student representatives.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. So it has been wonderful that we have been able to resume some of our in-person activities at the Medford Public Schools. Last week, we were able to dedicate the new Priscilla Hoff cosmetology program space on the vocational side of the house. Also, we were able to gather at the Roberts Playground for the presentation of a communication board for our nonverbal and autistic students and all students at the Roberts School, thanks to the generous donation from the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, who has partnered with our police department. The Brooks PTO was also able to host their fall fest yesterday, and that was a tremendous success. In addition to that, we had eight of our Italian students from Medford High School who were able to attend the Cavalleria Rusticana Opera at the Boston Lyric Opera. So those were some really positive things that have been happening within the district. On that same note, last Wednesday, Medford High School hosted in-person PSATs for 550 sophomores and juniors. That is the first time that we actually tested both sets of students at the same time. In addition, we tested 64 of our seniors were able to take their SATs in school at Medford High School. So we are very grateful to Stacey Shulman, our Councilors and teachers who made this happen. We are thankful that they organized the testing in a safe environment and served as proctors as the tests were given. I say it often that teamwork makes the dream work. Medford High School now has proper signage at the entrance way. Yes, the official Medford High School sign was hung and is posted. We want to thank Mayor Lungo-Koehn, the Building and Grounds Subcommittee, and John McLaughlin for all of their work for making this happen. It looks wonderful. And we wanna thank the contractor, White Light Visuals, who designed it. And last Friday, it was put in place on the front of the building, and it really looks great to have the official front entrance with a proper signage. Thursday, We had some wonderful news happening in Medford at the Mustang football game. The Mustang cheerleaders hosted cheerleader for the day for over 25 students from our community. It was great to see the younger students cheering alongside the high school team. Once again, it is exciting that our students can go back to mentoring our younger students, something that came to an abrupt halt due to COVID. As we have stated, these social connections are important for all of our students. And I want to thank the chair leaders for hosting that event and reaching out to our younger students and also congratulate the football team on another win. So we were all a little surprised and saddened to hear this morning of the passing of former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, who was not only the first African American to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but also the first African American to serve as Secretary of State. Medford was honored to have had General Powell visit the students at the then Brooks-Hobbs Complex in May of 1993, while he was serving President George H.W. Bush as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During that visit, he was introduced to the students at the time, which the principal of that school was the first African American principal in Medford Public Schools was Miss Shirley counts. So General Powell told the students to never limit their dreams, work hard, and success will always come. May General Powell rest in peace. CCSR. They are looking for community support. On Saturday, October 30th, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hormel Stadium, CCSR is hosting the Halloween Relay Race to raise funds for Hope for Haiti. Each relay team is made up of four people, and the entry fee is $20 per team. Any student, parent, caregiver, staff person, or community member can participate. make up your own teams and contact Mr. Michael Skorka by October 22nd. Hope for Haiti works to reduce poverty in Haiti and is focused on providing support and partnership for the Haitian people. Other upcoming events. Our unified basketball team has two more home games to wrap up their successful season. Come and cheer them on at the high school gym on Thursday, October 21 and Wednesday, November 3 at 330. We have more good news. Another micro pantry is also coming to Medford High School. On October 20th, this coming Wednesday, the vocational school will be having a micro pantry ribbon cutting in front of the vocational entrance. It's hosted by CCR and that will be taking place at 1230 on Wednesday. On the same Wednesday, October 20th, is both the college and career information event for our students with disabilities, and their parents and caregivers from 530 to 630 in room. And immediately following that, the college and career information fair for the entire high school complex begins at 630 in the high school gymnasium. Please be advised that face coverings must be worn by all in attendance for these in-person events. Also on October 20th, CPAC will be hosting a virtual discussion about adaptive physical education and unified sports. This will be a Zoom call from six to 8 p.m. And Ms. Andre, our adaptive PE teacher, will be the guest speaker. On October 21st, will be our eighth grade open house at the high school complex at 6.30 p.m. So for all rising ninth graders, students who are currently eighth grade right now, they are invited to the Medford High School complex on October 21st at 6.30 p.m. and that will be their open house. On October 28th, the Missittuck Elementary School hopes to break the record for most people reading the same book on the same day. This year's book is Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon by Cat Zhang. So I hope you, if you haven't reached out, I hope you've been tapped on the shoulder to be a reader. Also, on October 29, the Medford Chamber of Commerce, they're going to resume their annual business trick or treat in the squares from three to 5pm for the community to take part in that, if they would like to. Also, in closing, I have one brief update on transportation. So we have communicated on a few occasions in the last month that we were anticipating some potential challenges regarding student transportation. These challenges are attributed to, in large part, to the nationwide shortage of bus drivers affecting so many school districts. Unfortunately, today at several of our schools, those challenges came to fruition in ways that were both frustrating and confusing to many of our families. So we have been working very closely with our primary bus vendor, which is Eastern Bus Company, to alleviate these challenges as quickly as possible. Regrettably, the challenges to the driver workforce were compounded today by some missteps in communication, particularly with regard to buses at the McGlynn, Andrews, Brooks and Missittuck schools. So please know that Mr. Murphy is available to take specific questions this evening, in the event that any of you have been hearing from families about these challenges, but for now we want to convey our apologies to the families who waited for incredibly long periods of time for their child's bus. and note that we are actively working to improve both the communication and logistical protocols regarding our transportation services. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. It's nice for me to be back in the chambers with you tonight. and I'm happy to share a few updates. I wanna share that some of our Mustang science teachers took the opportunity to attend a special training at the end of the summer provided by the Life Science Change Agent Teachers Program, LSCAT. It's a free week-long professional development series by Acera EI in partnership with the Medford Public Schools. This specialized training included lab activities and gene editing with CRISPR technology, microbiomics and climate change. All three units featured relevant cutting edge technology and research aligned to next generation science standards. It is my feeling that this is a great opportunity for teachers to take issues of modern science, like gene editing and climate change, and bring it into the classroom, making a positive impact on what students will be doing in the future. I'm proud that Acera EI is partnering with Medford Public Schools to bring hands-on science education to a new level. As I stated in our last meeting, Medford is very lucky to have such a supportive business community that assists our district. Last week, Mayor Lungo-Koehn and myself were able to visit Members Plus Credit Union and pick up 100 filled backpacks for those students who might be in need. Additionally, we would like to thank Target and Everett who donated hand sanitizer for all our schools, Goldilocks bagels for donating their locks for love, which will benefit each elementary school, and 4 Good Vibes store in South Medford, who ran an online fall craft fair, which benefited the Medford public schools. Also, I must thank all of the merchants and other organizations who plan to play have donated prizes and or sponsored a hole for the annual Medford family network golf tournament hosted by Yoki restaurant. The tournament, one of MFN's largest fundraisers will be held next Monday, October 11th. at the Sagamore Golf Club facility in Linfield. So if anyone is interested in playing or donating a prize, please contact the Medford Family Network. They'd love to have you join them. I must say that our Mustang community is truly very blessed. We have a few upcoming events. This coming Wednesday, October 6th, is the International Walk, Bike to School Day and kicks off Walk, Bike to School Wednesdays this month. These events encourage physical activity as well as promote pedestrian and bicycle safety in both our neighborhoods and all of our schools. This coming Saturday, the Medford Police Department, working together with Shiloh Baptist Church, will be hosting a free family day this Saturday, October 9th, outside in the City Hall parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event will feature a DJ, food, a bike rodeo, car seat checks, and a unity walk. The goal of this event is to bring our community and police together Our vocational side of the house assisted the police department by producing flyers and a banner. We were glad to partner with the police on this important initiative. Also, October is Italian American Heritage Month. Over 5.5 million Italians have immigrated to the United States since the 1800s. As you probably know, Our country, continent, as well as some of our neighboring continents to the south are named after an Italian explorer and geographer by the name of Amerigo Vespucci. We celebrate those of Italian heritage who have richly contributed to America and to the world. In closing, as the weather is changing and the leaves begin to fall, I hope that our Mustang families enjoy making memories, apple picking or pumpkin decorating. Take advantage of the outdoor activities while the weather cooperates. Have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, I want to say first thank you for, I'm sorry I'm having a hard time hearing you. We're sharing a microphone Can you hear me better now. I want to say thank you for, you know, bringing your concerns forward. And I was going to say our next resolution offered by member Graham is going to address it. The McGlynn playground is a. is a very large project that is on everyone's radar. And we're trying to get the ball rolling. And member Graham will be able to speak more specifically to that. But the hope is that we will be able to get movement on the playground sooner rather than later, it will take time, but we are going to try to get that surface fixed and fixed properly, so that we're not dealing with all of the
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, just confirming on my end here. I'm glad to be back. Before I begin my remarks, I wanted to just open with acknowledging and welcoming our new administrators this year. And the new administrators that have joined the team this year, we have Ms. Nicole Sanford, who is one of our new assistant principals at the high school complex. We have Miss Farrah Lally, who is a new assistant principal at the Andrews Middle School. We have Miss Kim Clinton, who is a coordinator of special education at the high school. We have Miss Carmen Williams who is our new superintendent resident in training this year. And last but not least, I also just wanted to formally recognize Miss Avery Hines, who's our director of health services. and Nurse Toni Rae and I, because of the audio challenges. Nurse Toni Rae also wanted to just share a few remarks about Miss Avery joining the team. So, Miss Rae.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Congratulations to all the administrators. Thank you, nurse Toni Wray for your comments. I also just had very few brief remarks. I want to share the great news that this past Friday, our Mustang football team won their home opener 28-22 over Cambridge. And there is a wonderful video clip that we will try to share with the entire community at large in this week's communication but from all of the feedback. It was a wonderful wonderful experience. The band played the cheerleaders were there. Our team played well, fans cheering them on, and it was just a wonderful experience to celebrate our young sport athletes. So I was very happy about that wonderful news. I also wanted to share with the committee that this week, both the Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools will be participating in the Sandy Hook Promise Initiatives. Start with Hello Week. It's a week that schools all over the country are taking part in to engage students in these three pillars. Number one, empathy building. Number two, reducing social isolation. And number three, creating an inclusive school community. Each day, an activity will be done in homeroom classes. And this week, homeroom has been extended to accommodate this important program. I also want to just take this moment to really extend a huge thank you to our business community partners for their overwhelming generosity to our students here in Medford. Each of them that I'm going to list shortly has provided much needed supplies for students in grades K through 12. as well as to the Medford Family Network students and our students who attend the Malden Y at 30 Forest Street. So I wanna thank Member Plus Credit Union. They donated 100 full backpacks. I'd like to thank Wegmans. They donated 180 packets of supplies for middle and high school students. I'd like to thank Comcast, they donated 180 notebooks for middle and high school students. I'd like to thank Brookline Bank for their donation of highlighters for our students, and Stop and Shop for their donation of hand sanitizer to our buildings. Additionally, I would like to thank Cheryl Rodriguez and the general public for their numerous donations of school supplies that were dropped off at City Hall, as well as thanking Mayor Lungo-Koehn for distributing pencils and hand sanitizer to our schools. Again, working together, the Medford Public Schools greatly appreciates the teamwork and the collaboration of our community. This week we also have several back to school nights for parents and caregivers to meet with your students teachers. These are in person events, the Andrews middle school hosted their back to school event last Thursday, and the remaining schedule is as follows. The Missittuc will be Tuesday, the 21st, tomorrow. The McGlynn Elementary and Brooks Elementary will be on the 22nd, Wednesday. McGlynn Middle School will be on September 23rd, Roberts Elementary School, September 27th, and the high school on September 30th. So this Sunday, please mark your calendar, September 25th, the Medford Family Network will host their clothing and book swap from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the West Courtyard of Medford High School. Appointments are necessary, so for further information, please call the Medford Family Network at 781-393-2106. I'd also like to thank Councilor Falco for donating supplies and gift cards to the Medford Family Network. I'd like to thank our CCSR students. who worked collaboratively with Mr. Maury Carroll of Carroll's Restaurant, providing coffee and pastry for all of our first responders, Medford Fire, Medford Police, and Armstrong Ambulance on both Saturday, September 11, and Sunday, September 12. in honor of the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks that took place in New York. So I wanna say thank you again to the community for their generosity. It is greatly appreciated. Lastly, I just wanna share that starting last week on September 15th until October 15th, we're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month as we recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans who have inspired others to achieve success, as well as pay tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society. Thank you, everyone. Those are my remarks for today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hi, Mustang community. This is your proud superintendent, Dr. Edouard-Vincent. I am here today to share a few updates about the reopening of schools. Although it sure has felt like summer this week, with the heat and humidity we have been facing, fall is soon to come and it is back to school time. I am sure all of you have a mix of emotions as we return to our schools. I have always loved back to school time, an opportunity to meet your teachers and make new friends. Perhaps you're even moving on up to middle school or maybe high school this year. As excited as you may be, I know that many of you are a bit nervous about returning to school during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I would like to assure you today that Medford Public Schools is committed to your safety and your health in all of our buildings. As you may know, mask wearing is mandatory for all students and staff, and we are committed to keeping our buildings cleaned and ventilated each day. We are proud of the work that we did last year with in-school COVID testing, and we are committed to continuing this partnership with Tufts University and Armstrong Ambulance to offer the same program again this year. I encourage you to look out for the testing consent form in today's communication, as well as on our website. We are aiming for 100% testing participation from our students this year. And by signing and returning the form to your school's office, your child will be ready to participate in the program. We also encourage our Medford community to continue to be vigilant with COVID-19 preventative measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and diligent hand-washing. It is my greatest hope that all who are able get vaccinated as soon as possible. The vaccine has given us hope and we must continue to do our part to keep all children and our medically vulnerable persons very safe. In closing, I encourage all of you to enjoy the sunshine this last weekend of summer for us here in Medford. I look forward to warmly welcoming all our students in grades one through 12 this Tuesday, August 31st, and to also welcome our newest Mustangs, our kindergartners, on Wednesday, September 8th. I can't wait to see you, and I hope that all of you have a wonderful weekend. Go Mustangs!
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Now you're an expert. Good evening, everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hi.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening, everyone. I am pleased to have presented my goals and my self assessment form to you at our last meeting. And essentially, I had one key goal, which talked about safety. equity and consistency, all of the things that we did to have a successful launch to the school year, from creating schedules to eventually testing and making sure that what we did was done in an equitable way to meet the needs of our students that were both hybrid and our students that were fully remote. followed by one student, key student learning goal, which was a focus on mathematics and elementary mathematics. And I talked about the shifts and changes that will be coming down the pike for us this coming school year moving forward, but what we have done thus far. And I provided one professional practice goal, which was the new superintendent induction program. I completed the third year of the formal training of the program. In addition to being part of an affinity group through on monthly equity sessions, and that final outcome or final product that was produced. was the district strategic plan, which was presented, the draft plan, but it was presented back to the committee a few weeks ago. And so those were the three goals that I presented to the committee and the committee was going to share their responses. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you and I would be remiss if I didn't say in this evaluation that I share this evaluation with my team If we think about the strategic plan that see for collaboration, I strongly, strongly believe in the power of the team and collaboration and that the collective is greater than the individual. And so, although you see me, I have a phenomenal team. that is supporting me and I just want to thank them so much for supporting me and helping me to be able to execute this vision for the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: First, I want to say thank you. Thank you isn't even enough, but just thank you for your service, your faithfulness, your dedication to Medford Public Schools. As was said earlier, your job was not a Monday to Friday. It was Monday all the way again to Monday all the way again. It was seven days a week, receiving the texts on the weekends, communicating with you, especially when things were, you know, when we were having our little hotspots. So I thank you so much for all of that time where you weren't publicly recognized, but you were doing the work because it needed to get done. So thank you for that. I am so happy to see the wonderful nursing crew here. central office and administrators here. They have come out to support you and to really show their true love and support for all that you have done. We have a small, small token that the vocational school, Mr. Fallon, they worked on. So it's engraved with the city seal and it says, for leadership in sickness and in health. And with sincere gratitude, Medford Public Schools, Tony B. Ray, MS, RN, NCSN. I also wanna say since so many of our administrators are here, last year, the school year ended abruptly And since I've been here, I selected an administrator of the year. Last year, we were unable to do that. And so for school year, which was last year, 2000, 19 to 2020. I am pleased to announce today formally that Miss Toni Wray was recognized as the administrator of the year. And for school year 2020-2021, yes, Miss Toni Wray is being recognized again. So we'll get that to you. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone for coming out. Tony, would you like to have the floor?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For the record, it's 11.16 p.m.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Well, I just wanted to note that today was definitely Flag Day. This holiday came into existence on June 14th. It's commemorating the date in 1777. So I just wanted to highlight that. I am not going to go through everything that I had to highlight. I am just going to pick a few pieces. One piece is this Thursday. CCSR is going to be featured on Channel 5 at 7 p.m. The segment is called Five for Good. And Erica Tarentall, she was on campus interviewing Mr. Skorger, Mr. Trotter, and our students about their different projects. So again, I hope you'll be able to watch them on, watch the segment on Channel 5 this coming Thursday. Also, there's going to be a COVID-19 vaccine for our students between ages 12 and 17. Medford's Board of Health is going to be hosting the clinics on June 16th at Mystic Market from 3.30 to 6.30 and also from 3.30 to 5.30 at the Willis Ave Community Center. On June 19th, the West Medford Community Center will be hosting the clinic from 10 a.m. to noon. and then June 26th again at Mystic Market from 3.30 to 6.30 p.m. I am going to ask Dr. Cushing if he is able just to quickly show the results of a student poll. We looked at our eighth grade students, eighth through 12th grade, They were given three choices for signage for Medford High School. We had about 350 participants. And that was the sign that the students selected that said Medford High School with the white M and the gray Mustang horse. And then above the little doorway, even though it's a little blurry, they selected home of the Mustangs to be above the doorway. So, um, that was a student choice and this was a recommendation from the building and ground subcommittee to, um, solicit feedback from our students. So I just wanted to, um, of the 350 responses, uh, participants, this was the clear majority. I think the last comment that I will make is that this Saturday does mark Juneteenth. It is a new holiday for Massachusetts, but a long celebrated day for so many in our country. The Emancipation Proclamation took place or took effect on January 1st, 1863, and the 13th Amendment Abolishing slavery was passed by Congress on January 31 of 1865. It wasn't until June 19, 1865, that the enslaved people in Texas learned that they were free. This day became a celebration for Black Americans in Texas. and has spread to other areas as a descendants of former slaves migrated to other parts of the country. Texas was the first state in the union to recognize the holiday in 1980. In modern day, we have 48 states in the union that are currently recognizing the holiday. South Dakota and Hawaii are the two abstentions. A little known fact, if Dr. Cushing is able to show the image, there is a Juneteenth flag, and Boston Ben is what he's known as. He was one of the key people who was instrumental in the Juneteenth movement. But Lisa Jean Graff, who's a Boston-based illustrator, she took the description of what they said, and she was instrumental in the design. And the design of the Juneteenth flag depicts a bursting new star on the horizon. The star represents a new freedom, a new people, a new star. The red, white, and blue colors communicate that the American slaves and their descendants were all Americans. That's what the Juneteenth flag looks like. And I just want to say thank you to everyone, and I wish everyone a wonderful summer break, as the last day of school is at the end of this week.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would just like to thank the following employees of the Medford Public Schools who have dedicated a significant amount of their time to serving our community in many, many different capacities. Nancy Zero, who is an administrative assistant at the Andrews and the Brooks, 23 years. She was a special education secretary. I'd like to recognize Linda Botari, who is a cafeteria employee at the Andrews and Food Service, 28 years. I'd like to recognize Cheryl Mallocca, who is our special education teacher in ETL at the Brooks Elementary School. Under special education, she has been with the district for 30 years. I'd like to recognize Angela Snow, who is a teacher at the Brooks Elementary School. for her 34 years of service. I'd like to recognize Natalie O'Connell, who's a teacher at the Columbus School, 21 years of service. I'd like to recognize Anne Farina, who was an administrative assistant in community schools, 34 years of service. I would like to recognize Jesse Reinhold, who was our EL assessment specialist in the EL department English learners, 27 years of service. I'd like to recognize Mr. Anthony Volpe, who was our special education program coordinator. under the special education department, 38 years of service. I'd like to recognize Ms. Teresa Castagnetti, who was our EL teacher at the McGlynn Elementary School, 43 years of service. I'd like to recognize Peggy Kelly, who is a paraprofessional in our MEET program, special education, 12 years of service. I'd like to recognize Lisa Bowler, our administrative assistant at the high school, 25 years of service. I'd like to recognize Gail Trainor. assistant principal at the high school, seven years of service. I'd like to recognize Mr. Andrew Milne, teacher at Medford High School, 22 years of service. I'd like to recognize Susan Gambell, paraprofessional, under special education, McGlynn Middle School, 28 years of service. I'd like to recognize Deborah Leone, paraprofessional, special education, McGlynn Middle School, 20 years of service. I'd like to recognize Roberta Pacini, paraprofessional, 25 years of service, McGlynn Middle School, special education. I'd like to recognize Paula Phillips-DeGroff, paraprofessional, 14 years of service in special education, Roberts Elementary School, and Joan Stearns, paraprofessional, Roberts Elementary School, special education, 17 years of service, and last but not least, Ms. Toni Rae, our Director of Health Services, seven years of service, Medford Public Schools. I'd like to thank all of you for your hard work, commitment, and dedication to the Medford Public Schools. Thank you for your service.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: learning, chronology of events from July and August of 2020, and the Medford Public Schools return to school dynamic planning framework. In summary, school year 2020-2021 will be recorded by historians as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which demanded incredible flexibility on the part of all educational leaders, students, and families. But thanks to all of the Medford Public Schools community and the Medford community at large, we were able to coexist with the rapid changes and brought back the option of in-person learning and remote learning. The following further describes these accomplishments. The three goals that I, the superintendent identified The district improvement goal was in fact the district strategic plan, which was presented last week. The three overarching goals of the district strategic plan were safety, equity, and consistency. I attached the strategic plan in this as a hyperlink and the slide deck for additional information. Please note that the strategic plan is not a final document, but it's a living document that will continue to be revised and updated. Under the area of safety, we charged ourselves with implementing a district-wide reopening plan that met the guidelines of Massachusetts Department of Public Health and provide in-person learning opportunities for all students pre-K to 12 who selected that option. As evidence under safety, I stated that in collaboration with Tufts University, the city of Medford and the Broad Institute, the Medford Public Schools was able to provide COVID-19 testing for all staff beginning in September of 2020 and testing of all students, which began in November of 2020 for those that were in person. As hyperlinks documents, supporting safety. I included a sample dashboard, a COVID-19 dashboard, the metrics from the Board of Health and the MPS consent form. Under equity, our goal was to provide all students with access to district opportunities to ensure individual student success. The evidence was that the Medford Public Schools was able to prioritize our most vulnerable students first with in-person instruction beginning the last week of September. Our most vulnerable students attended school four days a week, and we were able to provide one-to-one technology for all students through the purchases of Chromebooks. In addition, we were able to provide hotspots for our most vulnerable students and families in need. When looking at our limited technology in 2019, the additional funding that we received from CARES Act and ESSER, we are now able to meet the needs of all students and staff. During the fall of this school year, we purchased over 500 MacBooks for all educational staff. Again, documents supporting this claim are our elementary hybrid reopening document. And I listed the technology status document from 2019 to see how far we've come from 2019 to 2020-21 school year. Under the area of consistency, to prepare principals and other district leaders for remote and hybrid instruction by developing a common language and adopting common practices that ensure all remote and hybrid students have access to high quality instruction. So the evidence in the Medford Public Schools, we are committed to holding ourselves accountable and providing transparent expectations for all of our learners, I listed the Medford Public Schools language of expectations for remote learning. Not only was it for administration, it was for staff and also for students. The Medford Public Schools elementary hybrid schedule and our elementary remote days for hybrid instruction. The second goal that is required to be presented is the student learning goal. The student learning goal is this past year, the focus, the continued focus was elementary mathematics to improve elementary achievement outcomes in mathematics by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of math. As evidence I stated, the superintendent remains committed to addressing elementary achievement in mathematics. Even though due to the pandemic, all learning walks were suspended out of an abundance of caution and due to the blended delivery of instruction for our remote and in-person students. The superintendent will resume learning walks and invite Lesley University once again to participate for the fall of 21 this coming school year. Medford Public Schools continues to partner with Lesley University in other capacities. The superintendent continues to closely partner with the math director as we are going to pilot a few elementary programs next year. Please refer to the attached documents for greater information about what is happening in mathematics. And again, we will be piloting three programs for next school year come September in mathematics in all of the schools in order to make a formal recommendation to the school committee in the spring of 22 for a new elementary mathematics curriculum. My third goal, which is a professional practice goal. This, in fact, was my third year of the new superintendent induction program, which is called NSIP. In that program, which is a program endorsed by DESE and in collaboration with our Department of Ed. It is to develop skills in strategy development, data analysis, and instructional leadership by completing, which I did this year, the third year of the NSSEP program. The evidence I provided was that Dr. Edouard-Vincent successfully completed the full three-year NISP program. Due to the pandemic restrictions, all classes this year were held remotely by Zoom. However, in light of the racial awakening that has taken place across the nation and the globe, NISP added an additional model of affinity groups with a focus on equity. These additional modules created opportunities for superintendents to discuss potential problems of practice and proactively address issues around equity. Dr. Edouard-Vincent presented a significantly revised district strategic plan to the school committee on June 7th, 2021, and it was approved. This key expectation of all superintendents entails developing an action plan for all strategic priorities, the alignment of all school plans, the budget, leadership team meetings, and evaluation within the district strategy. The final expectation of the program is for superintendents to monitor progress and refine priorities and action plans. The school committee will receive an annual update on the district strategy for improvement, our strategic plan to assess, provide input and make the necessary budgetary decisions based on our most current priorities. As attachments, I included the NISP program at a glance and the district strategy for improvement. And so I am going to stop there. And now this is the official portion of the evaluation based on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It's the four standards, instructional leadership being standard one. Standard two is management and operations. Standard three is family, community, and engagement. And standard four is professional culture. And so in the information that was shared, many of the articles listed as evidence, including school committee documentation, which are available in your drives, I will pause there for questions. comments and feedback from the school committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, we could make it a special meeting if we needed to. We could do it as a special meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: June 30th is my son's birthday. It happened last year too. Right. I know. It's like we're always backed up, but we'll make it work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So could we work on doing like a doodle poll or getting the specifics? Because I know he's probably on campus somewhere. I'm just not sure where he is just yet.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: How about Thursday or Friday, the 24th or 25th? Yeah, both are fine. maybe earlier in the day. I'll send out a poll. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'll send out a poll.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think you can list it as inclement weather, because it could be, you know, a bad event, you know, a tornado or something. So, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I had initially raised my hand because as I looked at the first sentence, I was just thinking of being in an actual meeting and listening to the public comment portion being read. and just saying, you know, a welcoming inclusive community is both the value of the school committee and an aspirational goal. And then just one additional sentence to just say, you know, not in the sense that we're admonishing, but, you know, as a reminder, respectful interactions are the, you know, expectation of all participants, something along those lines. you know, you know, to, you know, to learn from one another. And I just was feeling like, So, you know, we know we want to move towards that goal, but I almost feel like that could just be eliminated and saying that, you know, when it's being read over and over again, that the Medford School Committee is saying that, you know, they endorse, they support, they want to hear the feedback, which is what you've been sharing and stating. And so I think having it worded that way, that you are, you know, you want us to continue to be a welcoming, inclusive community, that it is a value of the school committee and an aspirational goal. And then, okay, I see what you're writing there. And we ask for your help in achieving this goal through, you know, maintaining, you know, you know, respectful or appropriate tones of forms of communication, and that I feel like that would make sense and then the people would raise their hand or come up to the podium, those who are physically there. Because if we're saying we're welcoming, we're inclusive, we've already stated in the statement that they need to say their name and their address and then ask their question or comment. all of those other pieces kind of fall into place. So that that's what was going through my mind. I don't know if that's an acceptable suggestion, but I actually just feel that first sentence is something that when they hear that it's Yes, this is a welcoming, inclusive environment. We're at this meeting of the school committee, and we ask for your help in achieving this goal. And I think keeping it concise and at the same time delivering a clear message, but positively expressing the values of the school committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Just as I was listening to the conversation and thinking about the meetings and the amount of time that goes into planning for the meetings and thinking about the reports that are going to be presented, and just thinking about the amount of content that can be presented in a reasonable amount of time, I personally would prefer possibly having two designated areas on the agenda for both public and community participation. To have it be at designated points, I do feel like, especially where we have multiple reports being presented if after every single report that's presented where the school committee is being asked to provide feedback, their perspective, their expertise to weigh in on the initiatives that the district is doing. And then to add between every single report, I think last week we had like nine or 10 reports, We could be talking about seven hour meetings. And so, I would, I was thinking more about where you divided up the sections earlier and I know the numbers are going to change but If community participation and public comment is moved to the top of the agenda before the report of the committees, if it's moved all the way up to the top and people are able to give their feedback, we have the report of the committees. where you present all of the information that's happening at subcommittee meetings and other pertinent school committee information, and then we get to the report of the superintendent, I would almost say it would be better to have one other section built into the agenda. I feel the meat or a substantive part of the agenda should be the reports that are being presented about the school district. And so after the report of the superintendent and where you, the school committee present new information under old business and new business. So right at the end of new business to leave a specific amount of time to ask for public participation or comments at that point in time, because I just feel like we've had some fairly long meetings, and we, as just human beings, we lose stamina. And I also think just about members of the team where, you know, when it's 10 and 11 o'clock at night, you know, we are not our sharpest. It's not our best thinking. And so, I'm thinking if we designate the areas, if we do it at the top of the meeting, listen to comments, let the report of committees happen, report of the superintendent, old business, new business, and then provide that other opportunity at the tail end if there was an additional commentary that people wanted to just add the comments, but know that we're not deliberating. I think that then the community will understand they can speak at the top of the meeting or they'll be able to have an opportunity to speak, you know, after new business, because I think speaking after every single item It just in some of the items really require you the school committee to deliberate amongst yourselves that I just feel for the purpose of really having focused more focused meetings. that that would help to clearly identify, clearly say, these are the times where we're taking public comment, where, you know, because last week was the first time we were back in chambers in over a year, in over 15 months, there was kind of confusion, you know, at the public participation point. So that was just a suggestion, but I just feel for the purposes of running an orderly meeting and being able to present the new information so that you, the school committee, can deliberate. That's what we should be hearing your feedback, whether it's about subcommittees or whether it's about reports that are being presented, and then allow opportunities for the public to participate or to comment but for them to understand that it's not deliberation that you know yes they're able to comment and we will listen and you know take notes but it's it's the deliberation is you the school committee and I just feel we probably need to have tighter guardrails in order for the meetings to be very efficient. And with MASC and the feedback that they've given, efficient meetings run between an hour and a half to two hours. And we triple that. We have six-hour meetings, even when I think it's a very short agenda. So I really feel like just the deliberation amongst ourselves is significant. So I just wanted to voice that as I know we're gonna present this to the full committee on Monday, but to really think about how do we want, you know, the meetings to run, to be effective, but to also be orderly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was going to respond though, where we received the comment and the participation. It's not deliberation. So, I don't see where allowing people to still speak, because there are some people may have written statements that they want to read or a comment, a perspective that they just want to be able to publicly share. And that is their right to be able to do it. But we're not deliberating. And so I just kind of feel like if they know they have the opportunity to speak at the top of the meeting or at, you know, that there are maybe two designated times where it's, you know, official commentary that can be made, then they also know because You know, sometimes you know we do the bills and the payrolls those things go quickly, but depending on how many sometimes we're talking about. Six or seven report of committees and sometimes there's critical information that the rest of the team needs to hear so that also can take time. So I'm just thinking also about, you know, do they want to be there for the entire meeting, or do they want to have an opportunity to kind of say, you know, I want to just come and present my statement to you, knowing that there are going to be other things being made. So I just was trying to think about giving them an opportunity to speak early instead of having, you know, people wait potentially, depending on the week, wait a good amount of time before they're able to speak, and then providing another opportunity on the tail end so they know, OK, these are the times that I'll be able to clearly speak. Because I do feel it's important to hear the different perspectives, but it's also important to be able to have an orderly meeting. Again, on the back end, the amount of time, the amount of reports where we're saying, okay, how many reports can we actually put forward because It, you know, without fail, even when I thought it would be a shorter meeting, it's, so there's a lot of trying to think about how long will this take to present and trying to present meaningful reports. And at the same time, trying to have a reasonable amount of time. That's all that I'm saying. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, it's all of them. Yeah, it's the whole section. Currently, for last week, it was section eight.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. So glad that we are able to meet this evening in person. And I have to say that it was really wonderful to see the class of 2021, that they were also able to participate in their graduation ceremony and prom last week. Memories made during these events will stay with our students forever. I must thank our incredible team for making this happen. The High School Administration, Principal DeLeva, Principal Fallon, Assistant Principal Blauch, who oversaw all of the senior activities, Assistant Principal Fitzpatrick, and Assistant Principal Walker. Class Advisors, Ms. Giordano, Ms. Jones, Nurse Director Toni Wray, Ms. Lisa Bowler, Michael McLaughlin, Patrick Gordon, our Medford Vocational Technical High School student, media student, Shane Colbert, John McLaughlin, our custodians, our partners on the city side, the mayor, Maryann O'Connor from the Board of Health, Mr. Brian Cairns and the DPW staff, Kevin Bailey from Recreation, Fire Chief Gilberti, Police Chief Jack Buckley and Electrical Superintendent Steve Randazzo. It was truly a joint effort with the fire department helping with the flag and just seeing all departments working together collaboratively to make the high school graduation ceremony at Hormel a success last week. Additionally, I want to thank Armstrong Ambulance and Wegmans for their continued support of the Medford Public Schools. A special thank you to all of you. The prom also was a wonderful event. I got to bump into member Van der Kloot who did contribute and just setting up and seeing how parents came, the parent group really working collaboratively, staff setting up the gymnasium and giving the students a prom experience this year. It really, really did fill our buckets. And I just want to thank again, all of our Mustangs who came out and their families, we appreciate all of your hard work. on behalf of our students. Some good news. Last Thursday, our Commissioner of Education, Mr. Jeff Riley, came to the Roberts School for a visit. The Commissioner had planned to visit us about three months ago. As he knew, Medford was way ahead of many other surrounding districts, but his schedule at that time did not permit it. During that visit, we had Mayor Lungo-Koehn, school committee member Van der Kloot, state representative Paul Donato, assistant superintendent Galusi, nurse director Toni Wray, joined by our principal, principal Johnson and assistant principal O'Brien. As the commissioner came and got to observe our students during COVID testing, Then we all went on a tour and visited Mr. Connor's phenomenal music classroom where the students were drumming. And yes, Mr. Connor invited our commissioner up to participate in drumming and he did participate. He was a trooper and participated with our students and participated in the drumming and they composed beautiful music. Um, we then moved on to visit one of our first grade classrooms and mayor Brianna, we were able to visit her son's classroom. The kids were excited. Um, and we were accompanied during that visit by NBC news 10. And, um, this particular visit that took place last week was also highlighted in the commissioner's communication that went out this week. So if you look at the commissioner's communications, you will see that he highlights the Roberts School. And again, it's just an opportunity to show the wonderful things that are happening in Medford Public Schools. Speaking of NBC 10, they were at Medford High School today to interview Mr. Dave Murphy and myself about what is Medford doing during the heat. Additionally, they were able to go and visit, see part of the sophomore junior class distracted driving presentation that took place, AAA. And I want to just thank our safety officer, Canava, Chief Buckley, who was there, Miss Stein, who was a presenter. AAA, Distracted Driving, and Dan Strawlow from In Control Crash Prevention. They actually did a demonstration by the West Courtyard of a vehicle going at high rates of speed and how long it took for the car to stop. 30 something miles, 40 something, 55 and like 60 miles. So the students were really able to see how long it took for the vehicle to stop. And some of the cones did get knocked over and thank God it was a demonstration, but letting them see that it could have been a person or an object. So again, just teaching them about being safe drivers and the importance of not being distracted. So that was a wonderful event today. Three key things that were shared during the presentation that took place in the gymnasium. The three types of distraction that take place while we are driving are manual, visual and cognitive. A manual distraction would be grabbing something, for example, with your hands or digging into your purse or a bag, looking for something while you're driving. A visual distraction would be reading texts or even watching movies or sports while you're driving, which does happen when a sports game is being streamed. A cognitive distraction is when you are impaired, and that could be by alcohol or by marijuana. So the students really got to learn about what distracted driving is and walk away, we hope, with some new knowledge to help them as they become drivers. During the training today, they also shared with the students that the most amount of accidents take place between Memorial Day and Labor Day. So this is the worst time for our young people to get in accidents over the summer. So I would just encourage you parents to please speak with your young adults about responsible and safe driving as we go into the summer. Thank you. This week at the Andrews and the McGlynn middle schools, they will be hosting in-person open houses for their incoming sixth graders and their parents. On Wednesday, June 9th, it will be at the McGlynn, and on Thursday, June 10th at the Andrews, both schools will feature the same schedule. The schedule will be as follows. Presentations by the principals and assistant principals will begin the visit and then the tours will commence. In order to accommodate everyone safely, each school will feature two groups and times. So each student can be accompanied by one parent or guardian only. All attendees must wear a mask. Student last names that begin with letters A through K will meet from 6 p.m. to 6.45. Then students with the last names that begin with L through Z will meet from 7.15 to 8 p.m. Curriculum directors will be located in the gymnasiums for general questions. It is our hope that all incoming sixth graders and their families will be able to join us. Yesterday, our own CCSR was featured in the Boston Sunday Globe's Metro section. This article described how this program prepares young people to be future leaders in tackling societal problems ranging from climate change to racism. As Mr. Trotter stated, and he will be speaking later this evening with us, CCSR helps to make our world a better place, one student at a time. It is a positive thing where young people learn early on to care about others. to be compassionate leaders. We are so very proud that this program is an integral part of the Medford schools and our community at large. Last week, Colin Bailey, a senior advanced placement Italian student, and one of our student school committee reps, was selected by Ms. Bebeau to read a passage from Dante's Inferno. The event was sponsored by the Embassy of Italy. It invited students from around the country to read a passage from Dante's literary work to commemorate the 700th anniversary of his death. Dante Alighieri had a major effect on the Italian language. By writing in a vernacular style that presented the common dialect of Florence, he reached the masses of Italy and spread the idea that there could be one Italian language for all to speak. Congratulations to Colin on this great honor. Last but not least, June is LGBTQ plus pride month. Pride Month is celebrated every June as a tribute to those who were involved in the Stonewall Riots. We at the Medford Public Schools welcome all, accept all, encourage all, and teach kindness for all. I was honored to join with the mayor, the GSA, CCSR, member Rousseau, member McLaughlin, and community members as the pride flag was raised at Medford City Hall. Truly Medford pride. As President Biden stated last week, during LGBTQ plus pride month, We recognize the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically. In doing so, they are opening hearts and minds and laying the foundation for a more just and equitable America. This Pride Month, we affirm our obligation to uphold the dignity of all people and dedicate ourselves to protecting the most vulnerable among us. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I am pleased to announce that the donation is no longer anonymous. And I would like to formally thank Mr. Leonard and Ms. Lois Green of the Leonard and Lois Green Foundation for their generous donation of $2,500 to the Medford Public Schools to cover the additional costs that occurred during the Haitian Flag Day celebration during the month of May on Tuesday, May 18th. This day, on that particular day, activities included a traditional Haitian luncheon, as well as dance classes and performances by the Jean Apollon Expressions Dance Company. So I respectfully recommend that this gift be accepted by the Medford School Committee by a formal vote. Motion to approve.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So we are truly extremely grateful to the generous, generous award from the Cummings Foundation. The Cummings Foundation did award us $350,000, which we will be able to use over the next 10 years. I wanna thank Mr. Skorka and Mr. Trotter for coming to join us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I just wanted to share the timeline because people may not know that since 2012, over $665,000 has been raised to support CCSR. In 2012, the first $50,000 donation was made by the Bloomberg Philanthropies. In 2016, the Cummings Foundation awarded CCSR with the first $100,000 grant to be spent over three years. Then in 2018, CCSR was awarded the $125,000 award from the Crystal Campbell Community Betterment Project with the Boston Foundation. In 2020, they were awarded an additional $40,000 donated by the Crystal Campbell Community Betterment Project, Boston Foundation. And then in 2021, they were just awarded a whopping $350,000. So from the Cummings Foundation. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say thank you as well. It's wonderful having a fabulous partnership with our CPAC, with the Universal Safety Committee, and just knowing that when we need feedback or advice, Tanya, thank you always for your willingness to support the district. And this is a wonderful example of how partnerships can really work to enhance and strengthen the district. And I'm just thankful. So thank you very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I'm also going to call forward Ms. Susanna Campbell as well. So this This evening, we're going to be presenting the revised strategic plan to the entire school community. This is what the cover page would look like if you were looking at it online. And what we're going to present today is an abbreviated version of what was presented at our communications, strategic planning and engagement subcommittee meeting with member Graham as the chair. That was a lengthy presentation. We're going to try to shrink that presentation down, but at the same time, try to give you an idea of what the revised strategic plan, our strategy for district improvement looks like. I do want to say, as I talk about the documentation that went into getting this, I would be remiss if I didn't mention there's a smaller group of us, and we worked collaboratively with all of our administrators, but then there was more of a tactical team that really took the feedback that was coming in and worked very closely on this. And so I want to recognize Principal Nick Tucci, Ms. Susanna Campbell, Lisa Vangelista, Dr. Riccadeli, Ms. Suzanne Galusi, Dr. Cushing, Ms. Stacey Shulman, and Principal DeLeva, who were a part of the tactical team helping us pull this district strategy for improvement together. The documents that went into creating this Not only did we take into consideration data from DESE, city and district surveys, district administration feedback, the mayor's education transition subcommittee meeting that took place at the McGlynn school, and also the Medford mayoral transition committee recommendations that were taken into consideration for this, our district strategy for improvement. The genesis of our district strategic plan, this was an official requirement from the new superintendent induction program, which is a program sponsored by DESE, the department of education for all new superintendents. And this was one of the key documents that they want all districts to be able to have housed in one area what is our district strategy for improvement. So this document is the reinvention of what used to be known as the Medford Public Schools District Improvement Plans. We had leadership retreats and many meetings with administration to inform what went into this plan. It was a cross disciplinary team of administrators who represented elementary, middle, and high school levels, special education, social emotional learning, curriculum, and central office. And we also took into consideration pandemic concerns, and greater racial awareness that allowed the district team to re-examine our priorities. So as I had shown, this is what the document looks like. If you were looking at it, there are four key categories that we've identified as achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. Achievement represents student growth and achievement. Collaboration is collaborative relationships. Equity is equitable learning opportunities. And the S of safety and support, supportive learning, safe and supportive learning environments. I am now going to transition to Dr. Cushing, who's going to explain to us the action plan and talk about the draft example. Dr. Cushing? Just tap the face, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So our fourth bucket is support. And in that area of support, we're going to assess, review and ensure a safe and secure teaching and learning environment. Our first initiative under support is maintain and evaluate safety protocols. Anticipated outcomes, comprehensive safety procedures book. examples of letters for principles, creation of commonly used statements translated, equity and safety for all of our students and staff. One key initiative which was mentioned was making sure to compile all of the safety plans for all of the schools at the start of every school year, which is something that we normally do, but to also make it a point to train staff or new staff on the necessary procedures to follow in the event of an emergency, as well as the drill and practice that we do have normally with students, such as in a fire drill. Our second initiative under support is to build and sustain partnerships with community organizations. Some of our anticipated outcomes are as follows. The PALS involvement district-wide, district-level Mustang Way culture, promoting that, an annual report by community stakeholder team, data consistent, data indicating consistent consideration for individualized emergency response plan, IER needs, and consistent monthly meetings with public safety stakeholders. And under initiative number two, where we talk about this consistent consideration of individualized emergency response plans, These IERs are developed in collaboration with our universal safety committee and CPAC, which presented earlier in consideration of this need during an IEP or 504 meetings and at any time an individual has a change in status, be it mental, physical, communicative, health, et cetera. And so that is a specific action item that we would like to be paying special attention to to provide support. Under our third bucket, S3 support, strategically utilize our finances to improve learning environments. And some of those anticipated outcomes would be completion of a comprehensive and annualized capital improvement process and inventory. Ongoing dialogue with the municipal government and MSBA regarding critical infrastructure priorities across the district. And again, a key initiative under S3 would be assembling a global manual to dictate yearly maintenance systems. For example, our filter replacements and air testing. Having gone through this year, we learned a lot from the pandemic and we had to learn under duress. And we really felt at one point where we were behind the eight ball. So we are working on having a detailed timeline and inventory of all yearly maintenance routines, including summer schedules and air quality systems, which are critically important to maintain the safety and health of all individuals. And so that is our goal to have that completed by September, this coming September, September of 21. So this is just a brief overview of what our district strategy for improvement contains. And I want the committee to know that this is a living document. It's not a static document. We will be able to add. We will be able to update. And we did commit in our communications subcommittee to present an update to the entire committee you know, on a yearly basis in terms of things that have been added or things that have been deleted or things that have been accomplished so that we can put a check next to the box. So I'm very proud of this district strategy for improvement. I'm very appreciative of the collaborative nature in which it was created to really document and show the committee, the community, all staff and students, what is medford public schools strategy for improvement and that is it's clearly detailed in the four buckets of aces but also achievement collaboration equity and support. thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Parkett. Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Here.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to report that this is our eighth meeting on the budget process. And as you know, Mr. Murphy, who's going to, you know, explain the steps that were taken, but I really feel like this year it has really been an opportunity for us to really look at the budget through another lens. And so I would like to thank Mr. Murphy, Michelle Kingdon, and the team that have worked really hard in putting this presentation together. And I look forward to the questions and conversations that we're going to have today. So without much further ado, Mr. Murphy, please begin your presentation. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, thank you. I just wanted to say, Member McLaughlin, in order for us to get that information by the 14th, it's not a realistic timetable. We really need the time to be able to get the information, and we've been given a charge by the committee. And we are working to definitely meet that charge. But I just wanted to reiterate that today being June 1, that doesn't even give us two weeks to gather accurate information. And we want to be able to have reliable information that we're able to share with you and with the community. So we definitely need more time in order to be able to do that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I'm very excited too. make today's presentation. Today's presentation is going to be a partially interactive presentation. We do have a poll scheduled for you to be able to interact with us and give us a little bit of real-time feedback. So that'll be a little first time we're trying it out, but I think it should be fun to get a little bit of information in real time. We're also going to present the revisions and updates to the strategic plan, the district strategy for improvement. And as we presented, we are going to highlight a major initiative from each section. I am going to preface it by saying that as we begin the presentation, I'm going to ask that we can complete the presentation. We would like, as we address the four key areas of achievement, collaboration, equity, and support, we are trying to leave about 10 to 12 minutes per section once we get to that section. So we want to front load all of the information so that you feel like you have a fairly solid understanding of the information that is contained within the document. And then we'll open it up for any questions, clarification, et cetera. So we are going to share a slide deck with you. And I believe Dr. Cushing was going to be managing that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I also want to just start to think on the call right now. We have a good amount of our school administrators and leaders that are on the call right now and most likely we will have a few others be able to join the call, but this has truly been a collaborative effort. we have met for multiple hours, especially this past month, really going back over what had been in the original draft that was presented over a year ago, taking feedback that we've received over the course of the year, trying to simplify language in certain areas and really talk about and call out the high leverage initiatives that are taking place in the district. So I just want to thank all the administrators that are on the call. You know, at times we had close to 40 members of the team really demonstrating and sharing the areas, specific initiatives that we're doing as a district to advance the district forward, but also the specific areas of expertise that the administrators are they are the experts in those particular areas and those are key initiatives that the district is following. So I just wanted to thank all of them who are on the call right now and all of those who aren't on the call but were great contributors to this document. So this is a collaborative group effort of the actual work that's taking place in Medford Public Schools right now that is aligned and coherent, and that we as a district are moving it forward K through 12. So Dr. Cushing, I am going to have you start the slide deck. Thank you. So this is our district strategy for improvement. And contained within this district strategy for improvement, the key documents and data pieces that we did use. Using this district strategy for improvement plan, we used data from DESE. We incorporated data and feedback from city and district surveys. administrator feedback at multiple meetings. In addition, we took feedback from the mayor's education transition subcommittee meeting, which was at the McGlynn school and the Medford mayoral transition committee recommendations. Those things were taken into consideration, um, in addition to the additional feedback round table sessions that we had. Dr. Cushing, thank you. So the genesis of this plan, what is our district strategy for improvement? As part of the requirement for the new superintendent induction program, which is referred to as NISP, this was a requirement at the end of our first year and second year of NISP, where they asked all new superintendents to look at the district's goals for improvement. The document that we're about to share today takes those goals for improvement and actually puts it into a living document. Although we have amount of years listed on the document, it is not set in stone. This is a living document, which we intend to continue to bring back to this subcommittee, this body. to be able to give updates, make revisions and changes. So as we present, thinking about what point in time in the year should we be bringing the strategic plan back to the subcommittee to be able to say these are changes, these are things that were added, things that were deleted, because this document is a living document. Dr. Cushing, I just was going to mention that we as a district, we did participate in retreats, multiple meetings, which I said earlier, and cross-disciplinary team meetings to really make sure that we were not just addressing one population, but that we were addressing the whole child and all learners. And as a result of the pandemic, the pandemic has taught us so much. especially about areas that we had of concerns, but this past year, especially, we learned from the pandemic, we made shifts and changes as a district, which were necessary, but also just life events that happened over the course of this past year, we as a district have greater racial awareness, which did allow us to also incorporate those priorities into this living document. Thank you, Dr. Cushing. So what we presented to you, you may see a slight shift, but we presented to you the four areas of concentration in the Medford Public Schools. We talked about achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. Those being our guiding pillars, what is the glue kind of keeping us together as a district in order for us to, again, execute this district strategy for improvement. So at this point, I know I've been speaking for a few minutes, but at this point, I really would like to ask the participating audience who's there. We would like you to participate in a poll. Since last year, we had an original design. And again, over the course of the pandemic, meeting with many members of the team, we have come up with two similar but slightly different design patterns of the strategic plan. And we want you to look at the two patterns and you're going to see that both of these documents contain the same exact information, but it really is a request for feedback and input on the design. So Dr. Cushing, I ask you to present So before you, you are looking at two versions, option A and option B. Both documents do contain the same exact information organized in a different way. And so we would like the participating audience to have an opportunity to participate in a poll. Option A does not have the pyramid and option B does. So please take just a second to say which option you feel more connected with. And we would just love to see your feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think it is because you are a host. And what we'll do is if I give another- Oh, there it is. I see it now. Oh, you see it now? Okay, excellent. I can't see it. Sorry, I don't have access to it. If you click on polling in your bottom bar. Oh, okay. I see. It says, do you prefer option A or okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing. Dr. Cushing, are you able to present the results. I am. Thank you. So just doing this quick informal poll, those of you who had the opportunity to participate, option A has 71% voting for option A, which is the option without the pyramid, and option B had 29% voting for that. So thank you so much for, participating in this little interactive session and giving us some feedback. So option A seems to have moved forward. So for the purposes of our slide deck, we are going to continue with what was the original design. And so over the course of a year, and having made it through the pandemic, you know, we were getting feedback and people were saying, let's do it. So it looks like that's gonna be our shift. So again, even though the slide deck is completed, option A was selected by our participating audience. So thank you for that feedback. I am now going to pass it on to Dr. Cushing, who's gonna give us a little bit of an overview, Dr. Cushing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Susanna. And thank you to all the members of the team that have presented thus far. And I, too, want to just thank Stacey Shulman. Although she's not online, she definitely very actively involved as a tactical team member. So thank you to all of you. So I am trying to bring us to the finish line. I hope to, not I hope, I know I will get to the finish line in under 10 minutes. So I'm gonna just set my timer. I've been trying to keep time as much as possible so that the balance of this time can be used for questions. So as we come to the S for support, This talks about us assessing, reviewing, and ensuring a safe and secure teaching and learning environment. Thank you. Under support, we have three key initiatives. Initiative number one, maintain and evaluate safety protocols. Some of our anticipated outcomes, and there will be more. Again, this is a fluid document. is to have a comprehensive safety procedures book. Have sample letters and examples of letters for principles. Creation of a commonly used statements that are translated. And lastly, equity and safety for all students and staff. And one particular example that I could think about, which I could highlight for us that falls under S1, would be establishing a multidisciplinary safety working group. And this group would be reviewing and updating district-wide protocols, such as COVID protocols, which are very relevant today. AED use policy, management of food, wellness policy, and field trip protocols, and creating additional templates for communication. A lot of this work would be housed under the, or the director of health services would be helping to ensure that we are maintaining and evaluating safety protocols. Another piece that I wanted to highlight that falls under this initiative is how we are understood. So again, we want to purchase a communication system that allows for multilingual communication to our multilingual families and to train administrators and interpreters in using this system to send messages home in languages other than English. It does go in two areas, but again, a way of ensuring that we are being supportive to all constituents in our district. So that's one, a few examples there. Dr. Cushing, could we move forward? So initiative number two, under support. We want to build and sustain partnerships with community organizations. This is critically important. We cannot do this work alone. So PALS is one of the partnerships that we've highlighted. And PALS stands for Partnership for Advancing Leadership Skills. We would like to scale that program up K through 12, district level work on the Mustang Way culture. It's very alive at the middle school levels. We really wanna make sure that it continues To to breathe life into Mustang nation K through 12, an annual report by the community stakeholder team, we would like to have data indicating consistent consideration for individualized emergency response plans, IER needs. Again, trying to meet the needs of all of our students and learners, and to implement consistent monthly meetings with public safety stakeholders. And if I had to call out just one particular initiative, that consistent consideration of the need for individualized emergency response plans, the IERs, what that would entail is the staff Our Director of Pupil Services, our special education coordinators and our 504 chairpersons to ensure that students who have an IEP or 504 meetings that at any time an individual has a change in status, be it mental, physical, communicative, health, et cetera, that we would be keeping that in mind as we think about building and sustaining partnerships and just making sure that we are not leaving anyone behind. So that is something that we just highlighted as a key initiative. I would like to also, key outcome, I'm sorry, can we transition to S3, please? Our third area under initiative S3 is to strategically utilize our finances to improve our learning environments. Two key anticipated outcomes. We would like to have the completion of a comprehensive and annualized capital improvement process and inventory. Also, we would like to have ongoing dialogue with the municipal government and MSBA regarding critical infrastructure priorities across the district. And so as we talk about that, the key piece, our capital improvement planning process We would like to have an annual inventory with designated priorities for all pending capital repair and improvement projects to be submitted formally to the Medford School Committee for purposes of advocacy before the Medford Municipal Government. So we are earmarking that as an example of how we would be Providing and supporting the district that s and and strategically use utilizing our finances to do that. Another area would be under you strategically using our utilizing our finances. is to improve learning environments on a literal sense, upgrading security systems. We are working on, we're actively working right now and hoping to have some of that work done by the end of this school year to be moving to some kind of a tap card system and moving away from some of the keys, which would ensure greater security for all. And again, the tap card system records who's going in, who's going out, whereas a key is not necessarily able to do something like that. So those are some of the things that we are trying to do under support. And those are the three key initiatives that were identified. So at this point, I really want to open it up the floor for feedback, input, questions. We are eager to hear from you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think we are able to make those commitments. I do feel that the partnership with DESE, School in Maine, which just, you know, has been happening this week, last week, those kinds of opportunities to continue to improve and evolve as a district. As I said earlier, this is a living document and my intention really would be for us to be able to I wouldn't say wait until this point in the year, because I know just with this being the pandemic year, but to give us time to actually implement several of the key initiatives and action items that were listed, and probably by January, I would say January, February, because we do have some December deliverables, to be able to report out to this body or to the larger school committee body to say we presented, you know, phase one or the key presentation to the school committee in in May of 2021, and now based on what was presented, to actually look at what was accomplished, so that it really could be, whether we have to highlight it in a different color, or people could see like, wow, a year ago, this was something that we wanted to actually accomplish, and here we are in January or February, it's already been completed, or three quarters of the way done. So I do feel this should, from an accountability perspective to really be able to say and demonstrate these are all the areas that we are working on moving the district forward. This is our district strategy for improvement. The initiatives that are housed or contained within this document are happening K through 12 across the district to bring about increased outcomes for all of our students. And so when people say what is happening in Medford, they're going to be able to go into this document and say, wow, this is what they're doing to provide supportive and safe learning environments. This is what they're doing to create equitable opportunities. This is what the district is doing under the umbrella of achievement, whether it's professional development, whether it's curriculum, whether it's instruction. This is what the district is actually doing. That's C for collaboration. This is a collaborative document. It's something that I've said to the team, in the entire team of administrators, that I did not want to do something that everyone, first off, didn't know where they fell in the kind of puzzle that everyone has skin in the game, no matter what your role is within the district. And so this is something where I feel collectively we collaborated. So not only are we saying we believe in achievement collaboration, equity and support. But at the senior level, working with the administrative team, we are actually doing it in order to execute and present this document to you today. So I am committed where you asked member Graham about a commitment. I definitely am committed to working on the mission vision portion of this document and to have it be an inclusive experience for the community and for us to be able to, you know, let school get off to a good start, but I would say late fall for us to definitely put some things in place to have active participation. in the mission and vision statement and to hear and give the community opportunities to be familiar with all of the initiatives that are taking place in the district. We are really doing a lot and to have it housed in this living document is now letting everyone know it's going to be made public. This is the work of Medford Public Schools. This is Medford Public Schools district strategy for improvement. And that that's kind of like our why why are we here. We're here, not because we want to be here but we're here to bring about improved increased outcomes for our students, and to be inclusive, because we know that we have all kinds of learners within the district. And so I do feel like this document says, this is the work that we're going to do. and this is what we're going to do for everyone. And so when Susanna presented under equity on the MTSSE, it is a multi-tiered system of support and enrichment because we have all kinds of learners. We have English learners, we have students with disabilities, and we have students that are capable of taking You know honors or advanced placement coursework who are asking to be challenged are asking to be pushed. And so we also want to remember that they are learners in the district as well. So we are looking at the entire district and where member McLaughlin said, let's think about When we're thinking about inclusivity, also to think about athletics, and how I would see athletics falling under enrichment, but to specifically call it out and say that we want athletics to be available, not only for students. that are naturally inclined to play sports, but for students that might not play sports the way we would originally think about it, but for us to be able to broaden our horizons, expand our thinking, and think outside of the box and say, yes, if we're going to offer the athletics, offer it for our students with disabilities or other students who would play sports in different ways. So we are definitely definitely involved in that and committed to doing that. And I just wanna thank one more time the entire, all of my administrators, but I want to call out the smaller group that really dedicated a lot of additional time above and beyond working with the larger group. And that is, you know, Dr. Riccadeli, Dr. Cushing, Suzanne Galussi, Paul DeLeva, Susanna Campbell, Stacey Shulman, she's on the call, I saw her, Principal Nick Tucci. And I think I got everyone in that group who really contributed, gave us feedback, pushed us to get it to this level. to get it to this place. I also want to thank Susie for taking my challenge on to look at the original design of the strategic plan, which goes back to 2018-19. And I want to thank Dr. Cushing for the original design, Dr. Cushing. I thank you for the original design. And I thank Susie for also looking at the original design and thinking about our Mustang colors and saying, is there a way to come up with a different palette and see if we could really make this a beautiful living document. And just from our small poll today, it does seem like from the formatting perspective that the majority of people did poll and vote to kind of go with the the newer style, but it's the same content that's contained within. So I just wanna say that and thank you. Thank you again to all of you. I applaud you and I thank you just for taking this journey with me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just wanted to say in terms of the work that's been taking place with the Race Equity Task Force, we have one final meeting of this year and then we're going to pause and then restart up again for next year. One of the things that we realized as a group was that without the absence of not having an official audit to be able to weigh in on the state of the district, that the members of the race equity task force have been very active, very involved, but also in light of the fact that this was a pandemic year, that we had nearly 1300 students that were not physically on campus, including, you know, many staff that it was kind of an anomaly and to go forward with trying to get information during this year, it would not have been valid information about the state of the Medford public schools. So one of the positive pieces about having the conversations and working with the members of the task force has been about knowing that next year we will be back in action, working full time, really having everyone on board and gathering that data from the audit, that that would give us the correct information and data to be able to make recommendations formally about the district and to the school committee. So we definitely will keep that in mind, those requests. And I just wanna say that, although I know that there's a lot of conversation about different programs that are taking place, I truly feel at least in Medford, the PALS program really is an opportunity of, reading with students, connecting with students in a school environment. where the children are younger and developing, providing students with positive opportunities interacting with the police. And a lot of the police officers, you know, read to the students, positively engage with the students. And I think based on, it's falling under the umbrella of social emotional, the cell umbrella. learning and I feel that creating conditions for positive proactive collaborations, interactions with the police. in partnership with the schools will in the end yield better results for all. And so I do think that although I know there are challenges and things that happen in other places, I do feel like here in Medford, we truly have a collaboration. Chief Buckley was on campus today. The police were here today meeting and planning with our transportation. So there is a lot of positive collaboration that is taking place. And I think Medford is in a position to demonstrate what positive partnerships can look like and how it will benefit and can benefit the community. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, just give me a moment here. Good evening, I'm very happy to be here this evening and share some happy updates about our wonderful seniors. This week is our senior classes final full week of school. And to celebrate in style, the students are participating in spirit week this week. So today our seniors, they dressed up as their favorite musician or TV or film star. Tomorrow is tie dye day. Wednesday is where you are going day, meaning wearing a college t-shirt or a t-shirt from the military or future employment. Thursday is throwback style day and Friday, the seniors last day of school is senior t-shirt day. Whether students are remote or in school, the class advisors are urging all to participate in this fun week. As a reminder, Friday, May 28th is graduation practice in the gym. And Tuesday, June 1st is COVID testing day for all seniors who plan to take part in the graduation ceremony and the prom. Please note, even if you have received the vaccination, you must be tested in order to be able to participate in graduation and prom. What an exciting time for our class of 2021. Last week, the senior awards took place in person, and last Thursday, it was wonderful to be able to attend the scholarship night in person, where over 115 scholarships were awarded to members of the class of 2021. All of the scholarships totaled to nearly $200,000 in scholarship monies. I was honored to help present, along with Mayor Lungo-Koehn and Dr. Cushing, the nearly 40 James and Thelma Connors scholarships to our deserving students. Each scholarship awarded was in the amount of $3,000. The Medford Public Schools appreciates all of our alumni, businesses, and community groups who, for so many years, have funded these generous scholarships which help our students pursue their dreams. I would like to send a special thank you to Stacey Shulman, our Director of Counseling and Behavioral Health, and all of our guidance Councilors. Wendy Horn, Joel Menasha, Jason Nascimento, Krista Normandin, Alana Marcelin, and Victoria Small. Also, I'd like to recognize Ms. Andre Pierre-Paul, their executive assistant, for planning this wonderful evening that took place last Thursday. I'm also pleased to announce some very good news for both our Mustang Girls cross-country team and our Mustang Girls volleyball team. both of those teams won the greater Boston league championships. And so congratulations to both of our teams. You persevered despite the COVID-19 regulations and use that fuel to win. So congratulations to them. And I wanna just thank them for their hard work on those teams. I also wanna recognize that this past week was EMS week, emergency medical services, and the theme was caring for our communities. Our local EMS partner is Armstrong Ambulance, who has long been caring for our school community. Prior to COVID-19, Armstrong had provided our schools and athletic fields with AEDs, as well as taught our senior classes CPR, first aid, and the proper use of Narcan. However, this year, we are so very grateful for their assistance, staffing our COVID testing sites and now staffing the COVID vaccine sites. So we just would like to thank EMS Armstrong Ambulance for their support. of Medford Public Schools. I also would like to commend two of our CCSR students, Kayden Colasano and Lily Began, who have chosen to honor teachers in their final CCSR project for the school year. Their Thank a Teacher Week began today and will continue throughout the week. Their hope is that all students will take a moment to send a card or even a quick email to thank their teachers for their help and support during this difficult school year. Additionally, CCSR is working to refresh all of our little free libraries as a way to ensure that people throughout Medford are able to read anytime they want. For those interested in making a book donation, bins can be found in the front courtyard of the Columbus Elementary School, the main entrance of the McGlynn Middle School, and in the Andrews Middle School. Attention for all of our rising fifth graders. The band and orchestra are looking for you. No experience is necessary and all instruments are welcome and all genres of music will be played. Students would be able to participate twice a week during school hours. So interested students who want to join our award-winning music programs, please email Ms. Rello at hrello at medford.k12.ma.us. As you know, next Monday is Memorial Day, a day that commemorates the men and women who died while in military service to our country. The purpose of Memorial Day is to memorialize those veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I hope everyone will take a few minutes next Monday and stop to honor a veteran. It is because of them that America is the land of the free. The mayor and the veteran's office will be hosting the annual Memorial Day service at Oak Grove Cemetery next Monday, and the service begins at 10 a.m. May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. And this year, the message from the National Alliance for Mental Health is, you are not alone. At the Medford Public Schools, we wholeheartedly agree and emphasize the importance of reaching out to students and staff alike, especially during the pandemic. Stacey Shulman and her team have worked nonstop to make sure that mental health is a district priority. The Medford Public Schools realize that it is okay to not be okay. We will continue to work together to offer support and resources to our Mustang community so that everyone can live healthy and fulfilling lives. No one should ever feel alone in their struggles. I want to say that we also have some very good news. The Cummings Foundation has awarded our CCSR program with a special grant in the amount of $350,000. Wow. Tremendous donation is going to help our program for the next 10 years. I'd like to send a special congratulations to Mr. Rich Trotter, to Mr. Michael Skorka, who along with the mayor's office and Mayor Lungo-Koehn advocating on our behalf. They worked tirelessly to attain this funding, which allows CCSR to continue to pursue its mission of developing responsible global leaders and citizens who will be positive contributors to society. There will be more details of this grant at our next meeting, but I wanted to share the good news with you tonight and thank the Cummings Foundation for their extreme generosity in awarding our CCSR program $350,000. So that was really, really outstanding news. My final remarks are going to be, in closing, that tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the death of Mr. George Floyd, which did lead to protests across the nation around racism. I wanna leave you with the words of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who spoke about this in the late 1960s. Every time we turn our heads the other way, when we see the law flouted, When we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom, decency, and justice. I feel that his words are fitting for this time But I know that in Medford, we are continuing to do good work and just advocating for the rights of all. Thank you and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. First, I would like to formally welcome Mrs. Carmen Williams, who's coming to join the Medford Public Schools family. She's following in the footsteps of Dr. Thomas Milicheski, and I am really excited to have Carmen. I want to read some remarks regarding Carmen so that the community knows who she is and give her an opportunity just to say hello to the team. So it is with great pleasure that I welcome Carmen, who is a doctoral candidate in the HGSE, Harvard Graduate School of Ed, Educational Leadership Program. She will be conducting her residency with us from July of 21 until April of 22. with an anticipated graduation date of May of 2022. So again, based upon the success of last year and through an extremely competitive process again this year, Medford Public Schools was selected to be one of the highly sought after districts for residency in the entire nation. This fellowship, once again, is fully funded by the generosity of HGSE, and this partnership will provide our district with an additional opportunity to better meet the needs of all of our students. Mrs. Williams, she brings 17 years of solid education leadership that touches upon diverse aspects within the educational field. She received her Bachelor's of Ed, of science and education, elementary education, and our Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Indiana University. Mrs. Williams was an elementary school teacher, a middle school assistant principal, and middle school principal for seven years. And under her leadership, her middle school was the only school in the district to receive the Family Friendly School Distinction Award from the Indiana State Department of Education for parent engagement, planning, and implemented practices. Moreover, her school, Jefferson Traditional Middle School, acquired the highest accountability ranking at that time of an A school. Mrs. Williams served as an adjunct professor for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing teacher licensure at both Indiana Tech and Indiana University. Additionally, she has served as a teaching fellow at Harvard University, teaching such courses as leadership, entrepreneurship, and learning, leading people, leading change. the Workplace Lab, and Equity and Excellence in K-12 American Schools. Mrs. Williams will be involved in our district's work and learn about the demands, opportunities, and challenges that face a superintendent on a daily basis. Her commitment to high standards and her expertise in utilizing data to produce increased academic outcomes for students is in line with Medford's pursuit of excellence. She is a highly skilled facilitator of professional development, family community engagement, restorative justice, and data analysis. She will utilize this time to learn about the complex role and work of the superintendent of schools and what is required to scale the work of which she is extremely passionate. In closing, I do believe her diverse skillset will be valued in Medford Public Schools as we are endeavoring to use data to inform decisions, incorporate restorative justice practices, and leverage professional development for all educators. Ms. Williams will begin her full-time duties on July 1st, 2021. Ms.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Welcome aboard. Very excited to be working with you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just unmute yourself, doctor. That I transitioned. I just want to say an incredible thank you to Impact Church, Pastor Zenzo Matoiga, the work that they're doing. This is the second time that we've received an incredible donation of $10,000 to be able to use towards school-based activities and events. And I just wanted to recognize their extreme generosity and say thank you in advance for their continued support of Medford Public Schools and supporting the McGlynn School in particular, which is where they are housed. So I wanna thank them for their generosity and I hope that we can continue this partnership moving forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They leave, there is some flexibility with how the funding is used, but it will definitely be used to supplement what the schools are doing. And normally we share, I would say normally it is shared, a shared benefit between the schools. So that is something that, We normally do and the official the official statement which we shared it is shared between both the McGlynn and between both the elementary school. and the middle school. And what Pastor Zenzo said is that it's an honor for us to be able to bring a blessing to your school. We are grateful to be part of your team and we support everything you do. And we are committed to touching the families of Medford together. And they said, thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be a blessing. And so, That is, it's really open-ended and the schools really get to decide how they will use that funding as supplemental things that are in need.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Mayor, I just wanted to say to member Van der Kloot that some of the monies will be used towards specialized technology enhancements, but we don't have specifically what it is. It's kind of open-ended. So I just wanted to let you know that some of it will go toward technology, but there is some flexibility for the school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, prior to Miss Deimos, I just want to say as we hear from Miss Deimos and from Dr. K, I am very excited to have the schools just present their highlights. You know, sometimes we spend so much time focusing on what's happening with the pandemic that we don't get an opportunity to hear the great things that are just happening in our schools. So I just wanted to say those few remarks and Ms. Galussi will be screen sharing with us, but I thank Ms. Deimos in advance and the Brooks School team, and I thank Dr. Kaye in advance and the Columbus School team for the presentations that are going to take place today. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanted to say that I spoke with Molly Layden and with the team. This is really going to present a hardship in terms of being able to manage the outside emails on our district network. It exposes us to additional vulnerabilities. There are other districts that do not open the network at all, their K through 12 network, because of what can potentially end up happening. And so once it is opened, the entire email system is essentially exposed. And so that was the reason why it's open for our students at the high school, grades nine through 12, is so that they can receive additional support from their guidance Councilors when they're applying for college applications. So it's really a specific use that the email system is being opened. But in the K through eight, amount of additional support to be opening up the district email system, we really would be opening ourselves up to vulnerabilities. And that is why, you know, I had said, you know, we knew that this was going to be posted, but I did the research to kind of look into it. And I really am not in support of us opening it up K through eight, knowing that we could end up giving ourselves additional technological issues where the emails are concerned, because we're not going to be able to monitor it the way we would want to monitor it right now. So by having it closed at least K through eight, it allows us to ensure that the emails are being used for school-related purposes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to just notify the school committee that the superintendent's conference room is now outfitted as a Zoom room. So it has the full capability to broadcast through Zoom. It has the large screen TV there. we could hold meetings there and at the same time communicate with the community at large that's still logging on by Zoom. So that was one of the perks during the closure that we did make that space outfitted as a Zoom room. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The conference room across the way does, I know it has the Zoom capacity, so if it's a Zoom room, we would just be required to give the link, to the TV station, and they should be able to broadcast it or simulcast it for us. In terms of mask usage and wearage, when people come on campus and they are processed through the front desk, if they don't have a mask, we do have disposable masks that are available. And, you know, if in the case someone were to have a medical condition and they were to, you know, let that be made known, then we would, you know, work with them in a capacity that we could, but the conference room across the hall. you know, it is a smaller space, but as Dr. Cushing mentioned earlier, there is definitely increased airflow, and we do have access to additional HEPA filters if we were to need to place an additional HEPA filter within that conference room space.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening Mayor Lungo-Koehn and members of the school committee. Tonight is our fifth time gathering to discuss the budget. We're going to be focusing this evening on central office. Again, the office of the superintendent, operations, finance, safety, family engagement, human resources, and building and grounds. So without much further ado, I'm going to pass the baton on to Mr. Murphy. And I just want to thank him again and his team and Michelle Kingdon for all the work that they're doing during this budget process. Thank you, Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I'm not sure if either Dr. I just wanted to stress the value and importance of quality professional development and truly in working in collaboration with Dr. Cushing as well. In order to address some of the significant shifts that we're going to be making next year, especially in the area of social emotional learning. One of the areas that was a charge by the school committee was in terms of how the district will be addressing suspension, which does fall under the umbrella of social emotional learning behaviors, etc. So that is definitely a large priority for us, and that is one of the targeted areas for professional development. In addition to that, we are going to be continuing our pursuit of understanding and greater professional development on implicit bias and the implications for our school communities. We also are going to be having additional professional development on best practices as instructional leaders and educators in regards to the educator evaluation system to increase accountability across all of our schools. So those are three large buckets. And when we're addressing implicit bias, that does also address cultural proficiency, anti-racist work, anti-hate, So all of those initiatives are very important as we are shifting as a district to meet the needs of all of our students and the greater community. We also will continue looking at disability awareness and finding ways, again, how that overlaps with biases that do exist out there. So I just wanted to stress that although you see our priority, district-wide priorities on professional development, in order to shift mindsets and really present new information, professional development is critically important. So I just wanted to stress that piece. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Edouard-Vincent? I just want to comment, Member Ruseau, that when you make The statements, people will be led to believe that when female students are using the restrooms that they don't have access to feminine products at the high school, we have an entire medical suite. Feminine products are placed in the restrooms, but unfortunately, sometimes the feminine products are not used for their proper purpose. They are used, they're decorated on the bathroom stalls, they end up on the ceilings. That has happened multiple times as well. And that's with people supervising and monitoring the restrooms. So we do put them there, CCSR students, do take that on as a project, but I do want people to know that feminine products are available in the medical suite and students are not denied access. We have ample products in the medical suite and I'm not opposed to getting machines that students can have access to, but I just want to state that when we've provided them, they were not used for the proper purpose. which was part of the reason why they ended up being removed in the past. So I just wanna say that we're not trying to target students or say to them that, you know, it's not available. I want everyone to know it is available and there are ample supplies in the medical suite at the high school in particular, and at the middle schools as well. It's available in all the nursing offices.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is a past practice in Medford, and the Eastern Bus Company is aware because we start school before a lot of surrounding districts, so they do, they're able to kind of shuffle their buses to get us through the initial three days before other districts end up starting. So they have been able to do it, and it's something they are aware of, and we will definitely continue that practice, Member Kreatz.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that I want to just remind the committee that I believe it was December of 2019 when I did go before the council when the 800,000 was awarded for the bathrooms. And I do want to just say that I am in strong support of renovating some of the bathrooms at the high school complex because they're in desperate need of just being upgraded and refreshed. And I agree that we do need to work on a more comprehensive plan, but the most modern bathrooms in the entire complex are in the science wing. And that's for the entire complex that has really modern bathrooms. And so not all students are located in that section of the building. So I am hoping that some of that money that was earmarked back in 2019 and because of the pandemic and everything that we really do need to go forward with at least renovating and upgrading some of the some of those bathroom facilities. I think that that's critically important. And, you know, I'm just thinking about the needs of the students and saying that I want them to be able to have, you know, updated functioning bathrooms. So I just wanted to remind the committee of that commitment that was made when the money was released to us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. We're in for another night of presentations. The team has worked incredibly hard and I want to just thank the departments that are presenting today. We have mathematics, athletics, English learners, and I believe technology. So we have four departments, but we will follow a similar format as we've been following for the previous days. And again, I just want to thank Dave and the finance team, Michelle Kingdon, and all of those who have been working incredibly hard to keep us on track with what's being presented tonight. So Mr. Murphy, I'm passing the baton on to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I also wanted to say, in response to Member Graham's comment, that it is a slightly different structure between the middle school structure and the elementary structure. And I actually feel with us piloting the different curriculum across the different buildings, that it is something that we should definitely be pushing pause on at this point in time with the math coaching while we're in the process of figuring out which what's the new curriculum going to be for all of our elementary schools and so it's not that we're taking our eyes off of mathematics instruction because we do want to pick the best program that will continue to you know move our kids forward and align with what is going to take place with the illustrative math that's at the the middle school level. So we want to just keep all of that in mind. So with the focus on the literacy, hoping to have the reading and literacy support at the elementary schools, where that is another area that is also equally important. We're trying to, I would almost say, balance it and again, balance capacity of the teachers and what's happening within the schools from a structural level.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Today is our third budget and I just look forward to us continuing to go through this process. And I'm going to thank the team for all the hard work that has been happening in order to present the budget to everyone in this new format, organized in a manner that is much more comprehensible for all to understand. So Mr. Murphy, I pass it on to you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And to member Graham's question, this grant was such a great opportunity that we really didn't want it to go by. What was stated in the subcommittee meeting about really trying to balance the capacity of the teachers. And I'm not saying it from the perspective of thinking that there's a limited intellectual capacity. I know that they have the capacity to learn more than one content area at a time. But to really be able to fully absorb curriculum the same way they had the opportunity to absorb and learn the FOSS science and continue with their other content area, by adding one layer, we wanted to give them that opportunity to go deeper with the next content area. This Gleam grant offered by the state was such a great opportunity that if in fact Medford is selected, we would have to kind of go back to the drawing board to figure it out. I personally am a proponent of doing something across the board doing it fairly and in an equitable fashion but it was such a great opportunity we did not want to let that opportunity pass by but we would have to if in fact we were to find out in the summer that we were awarded the grant then we would have to really strategize and just look at where we are at right now and what we could do to meet the needs of the state grant and the needs of the district. I hope that is helpful Member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just want to also just comment that it is true, we are aware that we've been using Journeys for quite some time, but I really have to say under the leadership of Dr. Chiesa and what she's doing with the humanities team, pursuing partnerships with Hill for Literacy, the work with Dr. Orkin, the ECRI training that they're receiving that although we're using an older program right now that isn't, you know, as current as we would want it to be, we are supplementing and finding ways to enhance what is available. So I don't want people to feel that, oh, you know, this is 10 years old. And it's outdated, I think the professional development, the training and really trying to be creative with making sure that we're adding appropriate professional development that that is supporting and supplementing what is happening in the So I don't want people to feel like, oh, you know, literacy is being completely neglected because we are, given the givens, we are being very creative. And I'm very appreciative of what Dr. Chiesa has been doing to supplement the programming that is in place.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Member Graham. I just want to respond and say one of the pieces we are making a deep effort is to continue to get feedback from not only teachers and going through that inclusive process to bring everyone along, including family members. So I think that's also what's making our process of piloting curriculum taking a little longer because we are trying to have teachers involved, getting buy-in, getting the feedback from the experts. And so by doing that and providing opportunities for more people to weigh in, it prolongs, it lengthens the process. instead of saying we're making a decision and this is the final decision. So I just also want to say yes to what you said, but the reasoning behind the longer process is to be able to have more voices weigh in so that we can feel very confident that we've made an inclusive decision and many voices were heard. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: sorry, Member Ruseau's hand had gone up before me, so you don't mind. I just was gonna say then, in response to Member van der Kloet's questions, Mr. Murphy ended up kind of addressing the district position, but we definitely prioritize the arts and at this point in time, the work that Dr. Riccadeli has been doing to really make sure that even our fine arts programming is coherent and aligned K through 12, the supplemental curriculum that we use this year during the pandemic year. I just wanted to acknowledge and thank her for her leadership and the great work that is happening in the fine arts department in all categories. So I just wanted to say, although we know that we're operating a little differently right now, that a lot of positive work is definitely happening in the area of fine arts. And member van de Kloet, to your question about if additional instruments were to be needed for the fifth grade, we definitely would be able to address that based on the interest of the students and or their families for continued fine arts programming. So I just wanted to assure you of that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I just want to say today we're going to embark on our second budget presentation. And we will be hearing primarily from what's happening under our director, departments related to Joan Bowen, the Director of Pupil Services, and what is happening with special education. Dave and his team, Michelle Kingdon and all the others in there have been working incredibly hard And so I look forward again to today's presentation. Thank you, Dave.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I actually was in agreement with Dr. Cushing's comment about the two minutes or if we're going to say up to three minutes that we respect that it's up to three minutes. where I think, you know, with emails and allowing the opportunity for the public comment, I think that that is important, community participation, but I too feel that there needs to be clear rules that everyone understands and that they are actually followed. The other piece that I had a question or a comment about was the addition of people not stating the duration of residency in order to be a welcoming community. So I wanted to know, would this verbiage be read prior So this would be read at every meeting, this particular paragraph that's being added onto the official agenda so that everyone would know that's the goal that we're moving towards. So I just was trying to get a little greater clarity on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I guess my wondering was if, for example, you were to have someone, we're promoting, we're encouraging public participation and community comments, if someone, not realizing that the policy changed were to state that, then what would happen during that meeting, I guess, is what I'm trying to understand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I guess I almost feel like it sounds like we're creating norms and I don't know if we should call them, call it out as norms so that if we're saying, you know, we want it to be a welcoming community that, you know, earlier you mentioned that they will address the entire school committee and not individual members through the chair. So should we also have a statement in there about, You know, we understand. It's like we agree to disagree, but in respectful language and respectful tones. And so I just, that's what I was thinking, like, are we really creating like norms that would be said, and if so, I think we should probably add an additional statement about you know, ensuring that we want to use appropriate language and, you know, even if we're presenting divergent views, we do it in a respectful manner.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, yes, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we could, to allow for flexibility, I agree, you know, Lisa Evangelista, she did a very good job maintaining time for us. And so we could say that, you know, there will be a designated timekeeper, you know, to you know, to monitor or to support public participation. And if we were saying up to three minutes, I actually would love for, at the one minute marker, for the person to be told one minute and then 15 seconds. But just while, that doesn't have to be spelled out, but just so they can keep track of their message. Yes, a designated timekeeper will be provided by the superintendent's office. Yes, I think that that's perfect.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with this particular portion, I actually feel like I The possible example that you gave personnel is never discussed on the floor. So I almost feel like if something were to be denied, that I should use the district counsel, legal counsel, to be able to say if it's something that is clearly not permitted that I don't even feel like the person should be presenting that at a school committee meeting because legally it's not permitted. So even if I deliver the message we don't discuss personnel on the floor like that is that does not happen. That if they didn't believe what I said that I would have legal counsel and school committee could be CC'd on the legal counsel response to what was said. But as you said, if it was someone wanting to present about curriculum and present a different program that I might not have liked, but still to be able to present it, that's something that I see as permissible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Ruseau, could you change that to report of committees? Because this also includes special meetings, committee of the wholes. And so the language on the, even though subcommittees are also clearly delineated there, I just wanted it to, if you could make that tweak. Yes, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just was going to ask, based on the feedback that member Graham shared, if you could put within that consent agenda, committee of the wholes and special meetings, because it's only three of you who are here right now. And because this is a significant shift from what we've done before. And so that anything where all seven of you are present. So then they understand that that's where the distinction is between consent agenda and the previous section about reporting out on subcommittee activity. Thank you. Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was going to suggest that you reverse the numbers for condolences where condolences used to be under the new classified under new business. So if we're having condolences that it be Roman numeral 10 and 11, I actually like having it listed as an appendix, but if it needs to be numbered, then leave that as, 11 because we also list all of the upcoming meetings on our weekly communications for one week at a time. So the parents and community have access to it on a weekly basis as well, upcoming meetings.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say good evening to everyone. I'm really excited about beginning this new budget process this year. As you all have received your wonderful packets in terms of how the budget is organized this year in terms of clarity and really being able to understand where the district is, the direction that the district would like to be moving forward in. So I really want to thank Mr. Murphy and the administrators. All the teams have been meeting, having their administrative meetings, but I just want to say thank you. to Mr. Murphy, Michelle Kingdon and the members of his team for really working tirelessly to get this to you at this point in time. Today we're going to be starting off with elementary schools and secondary schools. As you know, the principals worked together and worked collaboratively because as a school district, our first priority is educating students and prioritizing students. Everyone is important, but we felt that it was definitely important to start with our elementary and secondary schools to lay the foundation for our budget process. So again, I want to send a thanks in advance to Dave and the team for all the work that they've been putting into this presentation that you're going to see this evening. And the beginnings of identifying our priorities to continue to move Medford forward. And I believe that it will be a very comprehensive presentation. So thank you. I'm going to pass the baton to Mr. Murphy and members of his team and the administrators that will be presented this evening. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I just was just, I think, piggybacking on what Mr. Murphy was just sharing with the way that we returned to school very quickly. The guidance that we received as the data started to show that spread among students and in schools was more limited than what we thought it might have been, you know, My preliminary feelings is that it definitely is not going to be strongly encouraged to have an identical model to what existed this year, and that it would function at a significantly lower rate or lower percentage. But we have not received official guidance. I don't know if DESE, I expect them to be saying something in the coming weeks. that we will be able to definitely present at a regular school committee meeting or another budget meeting to be able to provide a clearer update. So I was agreeing, we could definitely gather information, but we wanna be able to provide a clearer update. I think function differently for next school year and get back to some sense of normalcy where the majority of adults will have been vaccinated. And, you know, the mask mandate for outside was lifted as of last Friday, maintaining distance, but, you know, not having the requirement of the mask and the anticipation of more of the Commonwealth opening up over the course of the summer. So I do feel for some of the information we're gonna have to be on standby, but I can definitely try to start asking at DESE at that level to see when we may get guidance. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is that okay for us to divide it up like that? So if we do divide it that way, we just need to be cognizant of the time because we're at 540. The PE portion will not be, I think it's more self-explanatory so that it will not take as long to give all of the descriptions and we could kind of do the the, you know, the headers that the key shifts between the grade levels, but I did want to ensure that for the health curriculum that we were thorough in letting, you know, the committee know the progression of health instruction from kindergarten through high school. So that was why, you know, we wanted to make sure that we were very thorough in that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Superintendent? I just wanted to say, Memogram, in response to some of your comments, that yes, Michigan model is definitely one of the models that is respected. And again, the fact that it's skills-based in the opening Rachel, Ms. Perry was sharing about following the national standards as opposed to the state standards because the national, the state curriculum, I believe, went back to 99. It's in the process of being updated, but it hasn't happened just yet. So the state, the national standards are the standards that people should be paying attention to and the fact that it is skill space. So I just want you to know that Michigan model is definitely respected for at least being one of the stronger programs out there. And in regards to your second comment about it's true, girls are developing and hitting puberty at younger ages, especially students of color. Black and brown are hitting, students are hitting puberty at exceptionally younger ages. And so that is something, but research is also talking about from the health umbrella or health perspective for us also to provide education on the importance of healthy eating because certain foods right now, you know, people who aren't medical experts are saying, is it the hormones that's being given to corn or chicken or whatever it is that you're eating, that the hormones are also almost pushing young girls into puberty at much younger and earlier ages. So I do think the aspect about healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, you know being active because all of that and you know with the puberty onset of puberty it's also connected to weight so um if there's early obesity and other or signs of that that like one thing can trigger the other which can trigger the other so it it it definitely is something that you know I think we're aware of and we do have to definitely listen to um medical guidance, but I just wanted to let you know that we're aware that there are a lot of factors and how it just is impacting society in general. So I just wanted to add that comment to what you were saying earlier. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Seven o'clock.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. So to start us off, we're going to start with Mr. Rocco Sieri, our Director of Science, who is going to present what's happening in science K through 12 throughout the district and then following him, Dr. Riccadeli is going to present on fine arts. And I'm glad to see we have some of our fine arts staff on the board at the meeting today as well. So thank you for joining both of you. And I'm going to ask Mr. Seary to start his presentation, and I'll be monitoring the time so we can try to give equal time to each presentation. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The other program is- Siri, I just wanna say we have like a five minute warning to leave time for questions. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to say thank you to Mr. Seary for presenting the science presentation. And I've been closely monitoring the time. My little went off. So I wanted to just alert you that we're at the halfway point. And I didn't know if there were any other lingering questions, but just to be able to allow time for the next presentation and more questions, I just wanted to
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can screen share for you if you'd like me to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oops. Stop. Let me just bring it to the top. Sorry.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If you didn't lose me, I tried to do a screen share, so don't mind me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm just pulling it back up.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, everyone. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can we ask Dr. Cushing to stop the recording? Sure. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was going to say, if we would start with you, Mayor, we'd like to start with you selecting the chair before we proceed to the next section, which would be the random number generator.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we will have that recorded. Susie and Ms. Weiss will be recording on the actual spreadsheet. And Dr. Cushing is going to start screen share the random number generators so that we are able to select the first three candidates that will be added.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, at this time what I'll do, 35, 63 and 46, I am going to announce who those three people are. Number 35, is Kim Nicolosi. And please forgive me if I do pronounce your name incorrectly. I'm sorry, not Kim. No, I'm sorry. Random number generator. If you can screen share it, I'm sorry. Kim Nicolosi is 34. Number 35 is Laura Rotolo. Laura Rotolo. Number 63 is Ronald Giovino. Ronald Giovino is number 63. And number 46 is Maria Rocha. Maria Rocha. Those three individuals, number 35, I was looking in the wrong column, but number 35 is, Laura Rotolo. So those are the first three individuals that have been selected. I am going to ask member McLaughlin if she would please use the roll call and as she calls each school committee member, each school committee member will give a name and that name, your selected choice will be identified on the spreadsheet. Member Ruseau?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We're gonna try to do the seven through the roll call and have the mayor, since she just gave us the chair, have the mayor be the last person. and do it in ABC order, like we're in a regular meeting. Member McLaughlin?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, I'm gonna just check to make sure we have all people selected. I won't say it in reverse order, but for a member McLaughlin, you selected, is it Brie Brothers? Yes. Member Ruseau selected Erin Genia, member Van der Kloot selected Beth Fuller, Member Graham selected Grace Caldara, and Member Mustone selected Kenneth Mallon, and Mayor selected Melissa Miguel.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm sorry, I'm still scrolling down, sorry. Okay. Member Kreatz selected Paul Donato Jr. And yes, that's everyone's first vote.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin. Would you mind doing it one more time for us?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, could you please say them one more time back to me? And I just want to make sure they're marked on the spreadsheet. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, member McLaughlin. We have all of those choices documented at this point in time. I would like us to select three alternates using the random number generator just in case. And so we will have our three alternates and we'll identify them as alternate one, alternate two and alternate three.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm, I'm comfortable with that. And what I can do is just announce then all the 22, uh, 23 members. Um, I will go to the other sheet and say who was identified, um, for the Columbus school by principal Kathy Kaye. Um, and then I will read all of the, um, all of the members that will be part of the advisory committee. So assigned representation will be Principal Kathy Kaye, Dr. Kaye. For the Columbus School representatives, we will have Matthew Havistraw, Kaitlin Shaughnessy, and Janelle Gollin-McKenzie. And our high school representative who would have been a student who attended the Columbus school is Josie DeFore. So I will go through and list all of the members that have been selected to be part of the advisory committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Thank you. So I would just like to record all of the participants, just for the record. Member McLaughlin, Brie Brothers, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Daniel Puccio, Member Ruseau, Erin Genia, Member Van der Kloot, Beth Fuller, Member Graham, Grace Caldara. Member McLaughlin, Hendrick Gidionese. Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Jim Lister as the chair. Member Mustone, Kenneth Mallon. Member Van der Kloot, Kristen Scalise. Random number generator, Laura Rotolo. Member Ruseau, Leroy LaFleur. Member Kreatz, Lu Intoppa. Random number generator, Maria Rocha. Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Melissa Miguel. Member Mustone, Patrick McCabe. Member Kreatz, Paul Donato Jr. random number generator, Ronald Giovino, and member Graham Seth Hill. The assigned representatives that I said earlier, Dr. Kathy Kaye for the Columbus School, the Columbus School Principal, Matthew Havistraw, Kaitlyn Shaughnessy, Janelle Gollin-McKenzie, and Josie DeFore, our high school representative. We will have all of the selected candidates, their names compiled in one place so everyone can see who they are.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we will. Tomorrow we'll send out a letter of communication to all the members that were officially selected. And then we will work. Now that we know who the chair is, we can work collaboratively with Mr. Lister and with the school committee to keep you abreast of what's happening. Great.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Who's got the agenda right in front of them? Thank you. I have it in front of me. Oh, great. Well, McLaughlin raised her hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I hope everyone had a relaxing April break. During vacation week, both Administrative Professionals Day and IRF Day were celebrated. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our administrative staff for all their dedicated service to the Medford Public Schools. As I said in my communication last Thursday, often the administrative staff is the first face of the district welcoming families to our schools. They are instrumental in helping to keep our district running smoothly. We appreciate you and thank you for keeping all of us better connected to our Mustang community. To celebrate Earth Day, I would like to extend my thanks to Aggie Tudin, Medford's tree warden, who will oversee the planting of some trees along Steve Miller Way. Additionally, I would like to thank CCSR students, Babin Gill, Eleanor Nicarra, Naomi Pierre, and Oprah Nicarra. who volunteered this past week to transfer both strawberry seedlings and cabbage seedlings into unused flower beds in the Medford High School garden. Special thanks to Ms. Retter-Smith for her guidance and support during this process. I want to thank all who actively participated in the Columbus School renaming process, either by submitting a new name for consideration or by submitting an application to serve on the renaming committee. It is my hope that this process will help to bring the community together as we move forward in deciding a new name for the school. National Honor Society Induction Ceremony. Our National Honor Society Induction Ceremony will take place this Thursday, April 29th at 7 p.m. via Zoom for our juniors only. I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize all our 37 students who have been invited to join this group. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, you are able to persevere academically, and Thursday is our day to honor you. An in-person ceremony for seniors only will take place on Tuesday, May 4th at 7 p.m. in the gym. This is an invitation only event and we are following all Board of Health COVID safety guidelines. I congratulate our 49 seniors who are part of this cohort. I'd like to extend a special thank you to Ms. DiPrizio, our National Honor Society advisor for supporting and encouraging our National Honor Society students. I'd like to share that 35 local organizations in Tufts host communities in Massachusetts have been awarded $35,000 in grants from the Tufts Community Grants Program. The annual grants are funded by donations from Tufts University faculty and staff. Two of our school-based groups were recipients of these grants. Our Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility. for Medford's Food Drive to help supply bagged groceries and necessities to Medford Public Schools families, and the Strong Girls United Foundation, a student athlete mentor program at the Brooks School, which includes training materials and team shirts. The Medford Public Schools are grateful to Tufts University for their continued support. For everyone's information, Tufts University announced that it has acquired doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and is setting up a vaccination clinic for their students, faculty and staff in the Gantcher Center this week. Doses will be administered on April 28th through April 30th. In addition, the announcement by the University Infection Control Health Director, Michael Jordan, he also said that all students, all Tufts University students will need to be vaccinated before participating in on-campus classes or activities for next school year. I would also like to take this moment to thank Stop and Shop for their gracious donations of food bags to the Medford Family Network. At least twice a month, Stop and Shop delivers these bags to Medford Family Network, who distributes them to our families in need. Speaking of the Medford Family Network, this Thursday, April 29th, they will be presenting the 10th Annual Parent Cafe virtually from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. This important discussion will revolve around stressing resilience in times of stress. They are hoping for at least nine more parents to register. Those interested should contact Marie Cassidy at 781-393-8255. As you are aware, last Monday, all Massachusetts residents over the age of 16 are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Our Medford Public School nurses are encouraging parents to vaccinate their children for COVID-19 as an important measure toward reducing the spread of the virus. Parents are encouraged to pre-register their child or children for a vaccine appointment at one of Massachusetts mass vaccination sites at vaccinesignup.mass.gov. I'd like to say that all of our fifth grade students should now know which middle school they will be attending in September. Please note that orientations will be held for students and their parents or caregivers at the McGlynn Middle School on Wednesday, May 12th from six to 8 p.m. and at the Andrews Middle School on Thursday, May 13th from six to 8 p.m. More details to follow. I'd also like to announce that Medford Public Schools has temporarily suspended the use of Google Hangouts. Due to some misinformation or cyberbullying and inappropriate exchange of information taking place on Google Hangouts, we have temporarily suspended the use of that platform until we are able to put in additional measures. So the temporary suspension of Google Hangouts is still in place while we are looking for additional security measures. Lastly, I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention the decision in the Derek Chauvin case. The jury returned guilty verdicts in the murder of George Floyd, which raises hope that our nation is changing for the better. According to a poll conducted by UMass Amherst, it is notable that a solid majority of whites, 56%, supported the verdict. In a nation with such a troubled racial history and present, it is extremely rare and perhaps unprecedented that a majority of whites support the conviction of a police officer for the murder of a Black man, said political science professor Jesse Rhodes, who helped conduct the poll. An Earth Day quote seems applicable here. We all share the same mother. It is about time we treat each other like family. I have said continuously that we are one Medford, one district, the Mustang family. Yet too often in our world, black and brown lives are devalued. We must all understand that no matter the color of one's skin, we are all human. As our Vice President Kamala Harris stated after the verdict was read, today we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain. A measure of justice is not the same as equal justice. As your superintendent, as an educator, and most importantly as a mother, I have said that change is hard and can be messy, but it is necessary. Conversations about race and injustice are complicated, but must be had, so the quality of life is improved for us all. As Tyler Perry said last night at the Oscars, let us reject hate. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Yes, great job. I'd like to thank Susie for all the extra time she put in to really beautify the calendar as well to make it more user friendly. Thank you, Susie.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor? Yeah, I just wanted to say, Hearing what Member Graham was saying, she wanted a list of the job descriptions added. I agree with the comments that have been said thus far. With the September 1st deadline, that will be right at the same time with potentially onboarding last-minute hires, but from an accountability perspective to know what the jobs are and the job descriptions. We definitely have, you know, nothing to hide. We want to have that. We're in compliance with DESE. But I guess I'm just thinking we have a completely different platform called Frontline, which is where people apply for jobs. And we, you know, our HR wing of the district uses the frontline system. And so where you were saying that you also wanted something added to the website. I was actually going to be asking for greater clarity, because I do think it's, I think it's something if it's just giving you a list of jobs that were posted. I think that may be able to be doable, but I just think at this particular point in time, it's gonna be a tremendous lift on our human resources department. And I know Mr. Murphy probably could speak to that as well. The amount of stress that will happen just to get school started smoothly and how much activity takes place on the 1st of September.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. No curriculum has been chosen at this point in time. And in regards to the working groups that are going to be working on the math department, teachers will be piloting two, including parents, two to potentially three different curricula in order to make a decision. So while they go through the process of screening and piloting curriculum as they go forward, it will be a fully inclusive process. But that is something that was said at one of our first curriculum subcommittee meetings to make sure that we're being inclusive of both English learners and students with disabilities, our special needs students. And to member McLaughlin's question, We had an asterisk for June as a possible follow-up meeting on disability awareness. So this Wednesday, it'll be world language and science, and then health and phys ed will be coming up. And then we're gonna go back to disability awareness, a follow-up on where we were from the presentation that happened at the start of the school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you repeat that question, please, Member McLaughlin?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with the anti-racism curriculum under humanities right now, Dr. Chiesa is looking with her team, they are looking at supplemental pieces, including in particular, which was said earlier, the Nuzella curriculum, which is infusing greater amounts of articles and literature about cultural proficiency, anti-racism, anti-bias work. So it is being added or folded into the curriculum. They are working, I know that the directors are working in collaboration with their lead teachers and their teams. So that is some of the work that is taking place right now. We definitely will be able to get a presentation to the school committee in the near future on all of the professional development and where curriculum shifts or intentional shifts are taking place with our curriculum.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say thank you to the school committee, and I look forward to serving Medford Mustangs, Mustang Nation. And next year will be a better year for all of us. And I look forward to working with everyone. Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, good evening. My remarks today, there's some breaking news. In Knoxville, the Knoxville Police Department in Tennessee said that multiple agencies are at the scene of a shooting at Austin East Magnet High School. One person died and the shooter is in custody. Before I begin, I'd like to bring your attention to the following. Last night, an African-American male, Dante Wright, was killed by police in Minnesota yesterday, less than 10 miles away from where Mr. George Floyd was killed. A curfew of 5 p.m. was put in place by the mayor of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis. Additionally, I would like to read a statement from the Minnesota twins. Out of respect for the tragic events that occurred yesterday in Brooklyn Center. and following the additional details in this evolving situation, the Minnesota Twins have decided it is in the best interest of our fans, staff, players, and community to not play today's game against the Red Sox. While we don't know what exactly happened, an investigation is ongoing. We send prayers to Mr. Wright's family and all involved. While discussing these events, I also must state how grateful I am that the Medford Human Rights Commission led another community conversation on the uncomfortable, yet extremely important need for racial equity. I'd like to thank Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Chief Jack Buckley, and Mary Ann O'Connor of the Board of Health, who realized the importance of addressing these issues of race in our community. Additionally, there were over 140 members of the community who actively participated in last Wednesday night's discussion. Special thanks to Mr. Neil Osborne for organizing these ongoing community conversations as we work together to improve the quality of life for all in our community. I'd like to say this quote to share with you a quote from Jackie Robinson. I'm not concerned with you liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being. So as we think about the things that are continuing to happen across the country, let's remember that we should treat one another as human beings. So just transitioning, I would like to say today was the first week of four-day instruction for our students in grades six through 12. Following April vacation on Monday, April 26th, we will return to five days of instruction for our students in grades six through 12 as we continue to increase normality in our schools. Last week, or this past week that just happened, we began five-day instruction for all elementary schools K through five. So they are now on their second week of five days of instruction at the K through five level. I would also like to take a moment to just thank Congresswoman Catherine Clark for choosing to visit the McGlynn School Complex last Thursday. She wanted to see the testing and the students in the classrooms. Both the mayor and myself thanked her for the assistance of the Federal CARES Act monies. The Congresswoman spoke to us about the importance of passing the American Rescue Plan, another COVID-19 relief package that could see Medford receive an additional $5 million. She explained that the funding is intended to help schools with HVAC improvements, technology and PPE, as well as helping students to make up for lost learning time, potentially in the form of summer school or afterschool programs. She was very impressed with the students COVID testing themselves and loved interacting with our elementary students. A special thank you again to Congresswoman Catherine Clark for coming to Medford Public Schools. I also want to thank the members of the community who participated in our roundtable discussions last week around the Medford Public Schools strategic plan. Additionally, I would like to thank members of the cabinet and department heads who actively participated in these important conversations. Please know that we will utilize the feedback as we continue to move forward on the district's plan. I'd like to say that this evening begins Ramadan for our Muslim families, friends, and neighbors. Ramadan continues until May 12th and is considered the most sacred month for the whole Muslim Umar, which means community. During Ramadan, you ask for forgiveness. You exercise self-control. You try to experience the life of the have-not, experiencing what the have-nots experience all the time. It teaches empathy, putting yourself in someone else's shoes. For example, if you thought of a have-not, it could be someone who's homeless temporarily. It is my hope that during this holy season, happiness and joy will fill your homes. Ramadan Kareem, which is said in the Middle East, or Ramadan Mubarak, which is said in Asian countries, such as Malaysia or Pakistan. What that means is enjoy the blessings of this holy month. Last week, Medford resident Lauren Stern, who works for iRobot, visited Mrs. Lasky's remote fourth grade class at the McGlynn Elementary School as part of a computer class lesson about robotics and algorithms. Ms. Stern presented fun examples, particularly on ways Roomba reacts or performs in action. During the interactive presentation, students asked questions and engaged in dialogues about robots. Special thanks to Ms. Lasky and computer teacher, Ms. Elias, who organized the presentation. I also would like to take this moment to extend our sincere thanks to the following organizations who have graciously made donations to the Medford Public Schools. Rich Raymond and Sean Mangan of Armstrong Ambulance for donating stop the bleed kits for the La Conte ice skating rink facility. We appreciate their consistent support and helping to keep our athletes healthy and safe. We'd like to thank Katie Marino of Skin Therapy in Station Landing. She donated seven skin therapy facial kits to a teacher in each of the Medford public schools. Additionally, Katie sent a special kit to Ms. Malloy and took time to stock many of our micro pantries with non-perishable items. Lastly, Skin Therapy raised $275, which they donated to the Mustang senior class. Katie is a mom to Derek, a student at Medford High School, and to Mark and James, students at the Roberts Elementary School. Thank you very much, Ms. Marino. We'd also like to thank Wegmans, who donated over 200 bottles of hand sanitizer for all of our students. And we'd like to thank Tufts University who donated office furniture for teachers and staff who needed an extra desk, file cabinet, storage closet, or bookcase. All of these groups have been so kind to remember the Medford Public Schools staff and students, and we appreciate their generosity. There are a few important dates that I wanna highlight coming up this week. This Thursday on April 15th, from three to 4 p.m. via Zoom, the middle school lottery drawing will be held. Parents and guardians and caregivers, you are invited to call in for the drawing. All results will be posted on our website and blog, and it will be available within a few hours of the drawing. Letters confirming each student's middle school assignment will be sent to all grade five students by April 22nd. If you have not received or if you've replaced your child's unique identification number, please reach out to Dr. Bernadette Riccidelli and she will be able to assist you. Her email is briccidelli, B-R-I-C-C-I-A-R-D-E-L-L-I at medford.k12.ma.us. This Friday, April 16, is the deadline to submit applications to participate in the advisory committee to rename the Columbus Elementary School. So please send in your applications. We don't want you to miss the deadline. Next week. is April vacation week from April 19th through the 23rd. So there will be no instruction during that time. For those of you who might be traveling, please, please, please pay attention to the COVID guidelines around travel. Nurse Toni Rae will also mention this in her presentation later, but please keep in mind COVID safety travel is incredibly important when we're talking about return to school instructions. Please note that the last day of school for this school year 2021 will be Friday, June 18th. And lastly, I would like to take a moment to remember an important anniversary that is coming up this Thursday. Back in 2013, on Patriots Day, April 15th, the sunny spring day brought with it the usual, the ride of Paul Revere, the Red Sox playing at Fenway Park, and the running of the Boston Marathon. but the day quickly turned dark as the marathon became the site of terrorist bombings. One of our own Medford Mustangs, Crystal Campbell, was lost on that horrible day. This Thursday, it is my hope that you will take a moment and remember those both lost and injured on one Boston day with reflection, prayer, and unity. Thank you, and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to just say, as this presentation takes place, I just want to thank everyone who worked on it, contributing, and we hope that many of the questions that were being asked and questions that were shared during last week's roundtable sessions, that the community will see that Medford Public Schools is making a specific and a specific targeted approach to looking at our before and after school programming. I thank Megan Fidler-Carey, who's our director of that program, for being with us tonight, and Mr. Dave Murphy, who will be guiding us through a very comprehensive slide deck. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The condolences should be number three.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. This evening, we're joining today for our roundtables. I'm sorry I have it on two devices. Just give me a moment. I wanted to just give a breakout for today's sessions. We will be having an elementary school session, a middle school session, high school, and a special education session, and four language groups. Those language groups are Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Arabic, and Spanish. In each language group, we will have specific translators who will support those groups. So for Portuguese, we have Genevieve Young. For Haitian Creole, we have Mr. Raul Bonbon. For Arabic, we have Mai Abusan. And for Spanish, we have Mr. Paul Textera, who will be supporting us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you hear me? Now we can. Okay. Were people able to hear the four language groups or?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, for elementary, we have member Graham and Mayor Lungo-Koehn, with Ms. Suzanne Galusi supporting the elementary group. For middle school, we have Ms. member Rousseau and member Mustone, with Dr. Riccadeli supporting middle schools. For high school, we have member Krutz and member Van der Kloot with Dr. Cushing supporting high school. And for special education today, we have member McLaughlin and Ms. Susanna Campbell, who will be supporting special education. So those will be the eight respective groups, and we will be focusing in on the three questions related to vision and mission. And I just wanted to say that all of this work that's happening today was birthed out of the work for the strategic planning and communication subcommittee group, which is chaired by member Graham. But this today's roundtable convening is to push those conversations about the mission and vision and have members of the community be able to weigh in on the strategic planning work that we have been doing and the full participation of the entire school committee group. So I look forward to today's session and I wanna thank all the administrators that have signed up to be scribes and timekeepers to support all of the respective groups today. So I just want to thank them in advance as well. Thank you, Mayor Lungo-Koehn.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Bloch, would you mind going to room four?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, wherever you need a scribe. I believe it's room one.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Murphy, what room would you like to be assigned to?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I know I have access to the ones I just was checking to see where I should go support. So I will. I'm going to just move into one of the rooms right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good afternoon. I hope all groups were able to come back in. I was able to jump into every room for a little bit of time. There were wonderful conversations, rich topics that were being shared. And at this point in time, we really would like to just give the different groupings an opportunity to share. Some groups were able to, come up with draft versions of draft revisions that they want to be able to share out and I think it'll be a rich experience for all of us to be able to listen to the feedback from our different groups. I did not go into all of our groupings just yet, but I just wanted to be able to take this opportunity to hear a little bit from each group. And so I'm going to ask I'm going to have us start with special education. If special education member McLaughlin's group could just report out, give us an overview. We have about 24 minutes. So I'm going to try to do three minutes per group and see if you can share out you know, a key highlight or a suggestion that your particular group had to support this work around mission and vision statements. Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: High school had a draft. I don't know if you can screen share that, but I would like for the group to see the possible draft that was shared with some different wording and just do high school, middle, and then elementary has a lot of suggestions as well for the group.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for that I when I when I saw the. you know, how you worded it. And when we get to elementary, member Graham will be able to, you know, kind of report out. But one of the things I know specifically calling out critical thinkers or social emotional learning, different pieces like that, but to look at what we have and what your group worked on. And right now we're gonna just, if it's okay, member Graham, unless another member of the group wants to speak, I was gonna quickly transition to member Rousseau. to report out on middle schools, but I really appreciate just, you know, the creative thinking, the ideas, the suggestions, so that we're able to, you know, take all of this information and really work it into something that's relevant to everyone today in 2021. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Could I ask a question, member Rousseau? When you said fostering felt vague, was there another word that your group said they felt would better capture the feeling? Just so I can report that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. That's very helpful as we go back to the drawing board. Was there anyone else from the middle school team that wanted to speak? Okay, thank you. I'm gonna pass now to member Graham for her to speak with the elementary school on behalf of the elementary school group. And then we will go to the language specific groups after that. So member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for that. I actually had one probing question I was going to ask member Graham when I was just jotting a few notes when you were talking about how we're measuring progress and things that are quantifiable and things that are not. I didn't know, because I may have left that room at the time, if you had a concrete example of something that was quantifiable and something that was not, just so that we could continue to work on that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for that clarification. That's a great example to help us, you know, just think about, cause I wanted to at least be able to bring that back to the larger group. Thank you. Mayor, I see member McLaughlin has her hand up. Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you, ma'am McLaughlin as well. Mary, I wanted to say I did just communicate with Mr. Texera and for today's session, we did not have EL participation in the language groups, but tomorrow, again, is another opportunity from 6 to 7.30 p.m. for families to be able to jump on and give us another opportunity to have this conversation so that we can gather the data and information and feedback in order to work on, you know, having this living, breathing strategic plan that will continue to help us guide the work that we're doing. We're doing the work and member Graham, you did a great job explaining it in the elementary group, just about why, the why behind a strategic plan and how it really allows a district to have all of their work, kind of the work that's pushing us and moving us forward housed in one place. And it's a critically important document for us to have. And it was a requirement of the new superintendent's induction program. And so it is something that we look forward to finalizing. But even as we say, finalizing that document, it's a living, breathing document. And so it's never in its final phases. It can kind of continue to change and grow and evolve. So I wanna just thank all the parents who are on the call today to give their feedback and share their concerns, share their feedback, give us information so that we can take it, bring it back to the larger group and work on making revisions and improving our strategic plan. So I just want to thank everyone who's on the call tonight. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so what I had wanted to say, thank you for just quoting that, because I appreciate both David and Colin sharing their perspectives and giving feedback. And I was going to say that we're actually following the law that, and in Medford, I think the thinking behind having the two representatives at one point in time Where we had both the high school and the vocational school, those are the two kind of we trying to take one person from each side, because the school kind of has two personalities if we can use that. image but the intent was we always had one student at one meeting so they would alternate because pre-COVID times students were part of the band or they had you know practice and football games or whatever the case may be so I think the two the two members would alternate if there was maybe a test the following day, then the other person could do it. So they kind of had like a backup responsibility. And I wanted to say, you know, when I think about this, I think of this experience as like a precursor or practice for those who would consider becoming elected officials that you the school committee members were elected, you know, by the public. And so, as elected officials, I do feel that you guys should be the voting members because there is information that you're privy to that not everyone would be privy to in your official role as school committee members. But I do like the idea of having a more active student council, I guess the way they were describing, you know, who the, representatives would be etc. So I just had wanted to say that we're following the law, and that in other, I think the newspaper article where the student did comment. about providing specific opinions or feedback and the student was not allowed or they were not allowed to speak. I think in Medford, if Colin or David raises their hand and we see it, I've seen the chair or other members acknowledge and say a student's raising their hand. And when we're eventually back in the chambers, you could see one another. So when you raised your hand, it was like, oh, Colin's raising his hand, David's raising his hand. You know, there was a little button and they would come over and speak into the microphone and go back and sit down. So I do feel The fact that, you know, we're on COVID time and that the meetings are taking place remotely. And so we're not always all on the same exact page. You know, if there are hundreds of people on the call, someone could be in another page, and if they don't use the raise hand function, sometimes you're just not seen. So there are a lot of limitations. So I think that I don't want you, Colin or David, to feel like we don't value what you have to say, or we don't want to hear what it is that's being said. I, you know, I know Mr. DeLeva's on the call. Dr. Cushing's on the call. You know, Ms. Galusi, we would love. Dr. Riccadeli's on the call. We have administrators who would love to be able to receive additional student feedback and even possibly ask for a school committee member to be a liaison or to also work with that because I think in some communities that might be that a school committee member is kind of elected or selected to be the official point person between the student voice and the school committee body. And that person can kind of mentor and help to say, David has something to say today, or Colin's gonna be bringing something forward. And there would be a specific school committee person helping to navigate that pass. So I just wanted to say we are, you know, taking little notes here and, you know, I'm really happy to see how the two of you have really been thinking about how you can increase you know, student voice, and we're definitely open to that. But there are some guidelines, because we do need to follow the law, that we are, there is a slight restriction about that. So I just wanted to say that piece. And thank you, Member Ruseau, for adding the law, Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 71, Section 38M. Thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we will. We will use a very similar format to what happened last year. So, um, I would say you should expect it from every department. The department heads have already been told that we're going to be following a similar format to what we did last year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I am going to be speaking to it in my remarks. Okay. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. As I mentioned in my Friday message, I have mentioned many times before that we all have a duty to stand up against all forms of racism. Tonight, I wanna make it clear that the Medford Public Schools stands with our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Last Tuesday, in three separate shootings in Atlanta, eight Asian women were killed. We are keeping all those affected by this senseless tragedy in our prayers. Additionally, we have heard stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders being both harassed and abused throughout our country. This is both frightening and disgraceful. Our district is committed to doing the work to create equity, inclusivity, and belonging for all in our community. It is my hope that we can all come together and join Mayor Lungo-Koehn, the Board of Health, Medford's Human Rights Commission, the Medford Police Department, and the schools as we participate in a community conversation entitled racism is a public health crisis. What does this mean? And how can the city address this crisis? It will be held on Wednesday, April 7th, from six to 8 p.m. via Zoom. I applaud the mayor, Chief Buckley, Mary Ann O'Connor, and our diversity director, Mr. Neil Osborne, for organizing this crucial conversation. we support hashtag stop Asian hate, hashtag support AAPI, Asian American and Pacific Islanders. On March 10th, the school committee held a committee of the whole with the goal of launching the Columbus Elementary School Renaming Advisory Committee, which will review all suggestions for a new name for the school. While the task of creating the committee was accomplished, the means by which this was achieved was painful at times. Some conversations in the meeting involved angry and derogatory language. I know that the decision to change the name of the Columbus School is a controversial one, and especially upsetting to many long-term residents of Medford. However, Unprofessional and unkind statements were not the positive displays of civic discourse. We should be modeling for our children. I am hopeful that we can work together as one Medford to be better to each other and to overcome our disagreements constructively and considerably. The renaming committee will select three finalists for consideration by the school committee who will vote on the new name sometime in the late spring of 2021. Interested parties who may want to apply to serve on the renaming committee can access an application on our website, the city's website, our blog, Facebook, and Twitter. For those who just want to suggest a new name, you may do so by completing that form on the website. All applications to serve on the renaming committee and any submissions for suggested new names must be forwarded to my office by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 16th, 2021. Changing topics. I am pleased to announce that Ed Week, a school-based national publication, contacted our public relations office seeking input for their article entitled, Should Schools Test Students and Staff for COVID-19? Medford has truly been a leader in this arena. allowing us to bring students back into our schools sooner than most of our surrounding districts. We could not have done this without the help and support of the City of Medford, Tufts University, and the Broad Institute. Both our assistant superintendent, David Murphy, and our director of health services, nurse Toni Wray, were quoted in the article and photos were taken of elementary students being tested at the McGlynn Middle School. The Mustangs are certainly leading the charge to protect our students and staff in order to bring our students back safely to in-school learning. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to our students, staff, and parents and guardians and our school committee members for actively taking part in our listening sessions regarding school during COVID-19. When we planned these sessions, we did not yet know that the Massachusetts Education Commissioner would soon issue a statement mandating that districts abandoned the hybrid learning model, therefore increasing in-person learning for all students. This declaration has created some confusion for families. Remote students are able to remain remote students but we know that there will be a small number of families who wish to switch models and have their students transfer from remote to in-person instruction. The deadline for making that switch is this Friday, March 26th. We currently have approximately 575 students who are fully remote at the elementary levels. As of this morning, we have received 61 requests from families that would like to participate in in-person instruction. Please do not miss this deadline of this Friday to notify us of your decision at the elementary levels. I would like to provide some greater clarification. I reached out personally to the Commissioner of Education to ensure that Medford is properly following the guidance from DESE. This week, March 22nd, we have invited our younger elementary students, both kindergarten and grade one hybrid students. They have increased their in-school time to four days a week. Next week, our second and third grade students will increase their in-school learning time to four days a week. Please note that all elementary students switching from remote to in-person will return on Monday, April 5th. Again, all fully remote families that have selected to return to in-person instruction will return to school for five days of full instruction starting on Monday, April 5th. Next week, principals will be reaching out to families to notify them about their child's assignment for the week of April 5th. The principals will be reaching out specifically to students that were formerly in the fully remote model to set up that scheduling. So in order to mitigate the impact of additional students from our remote cohorts, we do require extra planning time to make this happen as seamlessly as possible. And in speaking with the Commissioner and explaining to him what Medford is doing to meet the deadline of April 5th, we are following the guidance that was provided by the Department of, by DESE, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Transitioning, I would like to let the community know about some important events that are happening soon. The emergency preparedness Zoom presentation will be held this Wednesday, March 24th, from 6 to 8 p.m. This presentation is being hosted by the Massachusetts Office on Disability and the Department of Homeland Security, and supported by the Medford Public Schools Universal Safety Committee, the Medford Special Education PAC, the Medford Family Network, the Medford Fire and Police Departments, and the City of Medford's Disability Commission. This presentation will better inform our most vulnerable citizens to be best prepared to respond to an evacuation or shelter in place. We hope you can join us. CCSR has planned An April Fool's run between April 1st and April 3rd. CCSR is encouraging students to dress in costume and tag them on social media. Donations are encouraged, but 100% optional. Please plan to wear a mask while running. Stay six feet apart from others and do not run in large groups. Additional information can be found on CCSR's website and the school blog. Next week, we will be posting an agenda for the Medford Public Schools strategic planning roundtables, which will be held on Monday, April 5th and Tuesday, April 6th. This will provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the school's draft strategic plan and the draft strategic plan that the administration and staff have been working on for the past year. We hope you can join in with us on either April 5th or 6th via Zoom. This Saturday, March 27th, the Citywide Elementary Alliance is hosting an electronics recycling drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. behind the McGlynn School. For a small fee, they will be collecting TVs, computer monitors, fax machines, cell phones, and other battery-operated or electric equipment. please support the Citywide Elementary Alliance. I would also like to invite any college students or others in our community who might be interested in part-time work to join our after-school program team. We are hiring Councilors right now. You can find the application on our human resources page on the website. These positions will help us as we are transitioning to five days a week. So lastly, I would like to say, before our next school committee meeting on April 12th, we have many people in the community who will be celebrating Passover and Easter. For our Jewish friends, Passover begins on Saturday, March 27th. Holy week is next week for Christians. and Easter or Resurrection Sunday is on April 4th. For those of you who celebrate these holy days, I wish you peace and happiness with your families. Happy spring to everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I cannot definitively say that there will be a no go. I think, especially in getting guidance directly from the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner over the weekend and up until this morning. In some situations where a classroom could potentially, and again, not having all the numbers, which was the reason why I wanted to present the elementary numbers, approximately 575 students at the elementary level that are fully remote. And as of this morning, 61 students or 61 families have opted to transition from fully remote to in-person. But we're not sure of what the numbers are going to be by Friday. So if in the event that we were to end up with 250, 300 parents that are fully remote that end up stating they want to become fully in person. I don't think the numbers would be that high, but if something like that were to happen, we would then be in a position to not be able to operationalize it. We have a lot of constraints with how many students can fit in a classroom, what's the total amount of students. Even with merging right now, looking at the numbers, our current hybrid classrooms. So I don't want to say that it would never happen. In some schools, there's significantly higher enrollment. So you could have a school that may have 14 or 15 students and another class in another building may have 23 students or 24 students. And so when you collapse and put the two hybrid classes together, you come up with a class size and looking at the square footage, respecting the three feet of distance right now and making sure that the students fit and that we're following all of the guidelines that need to be followed. I would not wanna say that it would never happen. And also, we have another situation where you could have at a particular grade level that may have 16 or 17 students and 14 or 15 of them are requesting to come back to participate in full in-person instruction. Those are the kinds of pieces of data and looking at the numbers that we have to be able to figure out. Total number of students, capacity within the given classrooms, and who the instructors are going to actually be. In the case of the example that you quoted, Mr. Russo, about one of our schools that was oversubscribed and we ended up adding two teachers. So we don't have a classroom space that would be able to accommodate 30 students at the elementary levels per se. And so for something like that, we would have to uncouple and figure out if we had 15 of the 30 students request in-person instruction, And there were two teachers who were working cooperatively with a group of students. If 15 of the 30 wanted to return, then we would need to ask for one of the two teachers, one would remain remote and one would physically come on campus because to be able to accommodate 15 potentially remote students all at the same exact grade level, and the hybrid classrooms that have already been merged are near capacity, there wouldn't be any room. we would then be out of compliance because we would have too many students in one particular space. So that is not operationally, it's a lot of work that it's gonna require. And we are working on that and looking carefully at the numbers that are coming in. And our priority is always the students, but we also are now working with The guidance from DESE, and again, as I said, I reached directly out to the commissioner to receive clarification and greater understanding so that I am conveying accurate information that I received up until today. In all circumstances, yes, we are going to try to not disrupt, but to guarantee you know 100% that that isn't that that would not happen in a possibility of a few cases where we have. larger numbers of students that would not be able to fit into a given classroom, then I would be not honest. And then we would be having a conversation where you would say, on March 22, you said to us, this would never happen. And it happened in three situations. In the spirit of full disclosure and transparency. We are closely monitoring kindergarten and third grade in two elementary school buildings right now. Closely monitoring those rooms because we are perilously close to maximum capacity. And all the principals met this morning with assistant superintendent Galusi And we are closely monitoring those numbers, but we did give families the opportunity until March this Friday, March 26, to give us their final response. And so wanting to communicate frequently, being fair, and letting families know if we're going to make this work, keeping safety, equity, and consistency as our priorities, then depending on the numbers, we may have to, in some situations, make an adjustment. So I want you to know that we're not trying to disrupt or pull someone away, but we're watching kindergarten. We're closely watching third grade. Unfortunately, those are the two grade levels where it seems like thus far we've had the most movement and we do not want to deny families the opportunity to come back for in-person instruction as that was a mandate given to all districts by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. So I want you to know we will do our best to not disrupt but we're closely monitoring the numbers and we are not sure what the final count will be on this Friday.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, member Graham. I do want to say that I did mean to mention that the Medford Public Schools also does not support bullying of other parents in any way, shape or form. I was made aware that people were feeling pressured. So I wanna say to the community, I have spoken with the commissioner over the weekend and again today and the assistant commissioner. And I can say that the two options that DESE is offering is full in-person and remote instruction. If there are families that want to remain in the remote option for their personal reasons, medical reasons, that they have selected the remote option, the remote option is still intact. So if any family received misinformation from people bullying them or coercing them to switch models. We, in fact, are not coercing anyone. And that was why, again, I wanted to share the actual data that we have approximately 575 fully remote students. And as of today, 61 families requested a change. Again, we can definitely work with the principals and also have the principals confirm and follow up with those families to make sure that they didn't feel like they were coerced into making a decision that they weren't prepared to make. Ms. Galusi?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the waivers are being distributed in a sparingly being distributed. But the fact that Medford is one of the communities that is providing testing multiple times a week, and we are able to, we're one of the communities that we were able to have students in person. We are really essentially not requiring a waiver at this point in time. When I said perilously close, meaning that we may have classrooms that would have 21 or 22 students. once you collapse the two hybrid sections together. So some classrooms, because of the amount of students that are participating in the remote academy would have lower numbers. So we could have some classrooms that have 15 students and you could have other classrooms that could have 22 or 23 students in person. It just depends on the grade level. So that's what I was referring to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mayor? Oh yes, Dr. Edward. Thank you. Yes, we are in the beginning stages of thinking about whether we could try to call it I don't know if I should say summer, maybe summer intervention. We're trying to think creatively about using the summertime to not only try to provide students with an opportunity to do some academics, but also have it coupled with movement, exercise, activities. So trying to just think about a way to address the whole child. Students have gone through a lot, social, emotionally. And so we're trying to figure out how that would be able to work out. And we know that this has been a very, very stressful year and we're trying to think of creative ways possibly using more than one location to do some type of academics and summer fun combining it somehow or offering more than one program. So that's still in the works member Van der Kloot, but we are trying to see what we can come up with and see how many students we would be able to service and at what levels. So it is on our radar. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to add that I think with all of the dates and getting the information that's out there right now, the intention really was to let the students know, start looking for prom dresses, start looking at tuxedos. We're gonna work with the guidance and the guidelines that we have. We have to work in collaboration with the board of health to make sure you heard Dr. Cushing mentioned that there you know, if, if there is a limit of 150 students by the time we get to May, then we're talking about two proms. And are we going to have to split the class by alphabet, A through L and N through Z, or figure out what the numbers are, that would be a nightmare. I see member Vanderkloot shaking her head. But I'm just saying, if it's only 150 students, then how do you do a prom with 150 students when you have twice that in terms of the entire class? But we wanted to at least get those dates out there and let the seniors know that we're going to be working together, working proactively to try to give our seniors some sense of a true senior experience. But we just need to do it safely. And so we have to keep that as a top priority as well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, between now and the next meeting, we should be able to have additional information. And I can definitely, if it's enough to do a separate report, depending on the total number of reports, if not, I'll do it in my report. So we definitely will be able to have additional information between now and April 12th. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was gonna say you can have this, send that email directly to Stacey Shulman, who's our director of behavioral health and counseling services. And so she will be able to, if we need to reassign or just get additional social emotional supports to that particular student, that we will do that. That was gonna be my recommendation. Thank you. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the compressors were updated to get them back online. The Columbus, the Brooks, all the compressors had been repaired.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: With creating a new document, we are working on a specific communication for schools. I think Monday would be more reasonable if I continue with the original communication that I'm doing for this Friday. If I could have until Monday to send out all communications regarding the advisory council, I should be able to get it done. and let it be a separate freestanding communication. I could do it by Monday.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, that would be my only request. If we could let this be a freestanding communication and give us till Monday to send it out and the remaining dates can remain.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to comment in regards to what Dr. Kay just shared. I would be in support of her recommendation. I think with the school name being changed, I would like to see the involvement of Dr. Kay and maybe two members of her staff So even if there is some kind of smaller group that would be school based, I think that it would be in their best interest to be able to be actively involved in the advisory process. And so to give Dr. K some flexibility with her staff in terms of who would be willing to make the commitment to the meetings that are going to happen. They are currently at the building and I just feel that it's critically important that they are actively involved in the process. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I'd be comfortable with two to four members. I don't know what the total number is going to be.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good afternoon. I am really pleased to have this opportunity with Dr. Chiesa to present all of the wonderful programming that is happening under ELA and the proposed plans for things, next steps that we're thinking about for next school year. There's a lot of information in today's presentation, but I hope that it will be able to answer a lot of questions and concerns that members of the community might have. So I would like to pass it on to Dr. Chiesa for her to present to the committee this afternoon. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. Yeah, I would like to just request that Dr. Chiesa be allowed just to present the content of secondary as well. And then when she gets to what the next steps, I believe Ms. Ronayne, some of your questions and Ms. Hayes will be answered at that point in time. Okay, so Dr. Chiesa, if you could continue please.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Edward-Vinson? In terms of the timetable, I just want to present the parallel timetable because Dr. Chiesa alluded to it, but just to give some greater specificity, At the elementary level, the math screening team is reconvening in the late spring, and so the top two of the five programs that were being screened are going to be piloted in September of 21. So when we're thinking about a capacity and learning issue in September of this year, to different math curriculum, they're going to be piloted throughout the district. Teachers are going to need to receive that professional development. And once the piloting of the two programs is done, we're going to make a recommendation to the school committee, same time next year, so that in March of 22, the recommendation to the school committee would be to pick one of the two programs based on what was piloted district-wide. And so we would be essentially replicating that same exact process for ELA, but at least giving the the teachers an opportunity to be able to focus on piloting a curriculum at a time so that when they're implementing the new math curriculum, they'll be piloting the new literacy curriculum. if that helps with the timetable. Because to try to launch two totally different contents at the same exact time, you really need to give the educators an opportunity to be able to have that professional development, finish that process, and then restart it again with the next content area.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can just say yes to what you said. The children right now, we know that teaching under these conditions, a lot has happened from social emotional learning concerns to gaps that have taken place. So we're already thinking about what are the modifications that need to be made? How can we find ways to creatively close the gaps What are the power standards that are going to be expected of us either being announced this year or for next year? So we are definitely in the beginning phases of trying to map out what that's going to look like. It's definitely on our radar. And just as we receive more information and think about where we are, where Medford is at, we will definitely be able to present to the committee, you know, what our proposals would be, but it definitely is on our radar. I want you to know that and, you know, the listening audience to know that we're very aware of that. And we know that we're not alone, but we're going to get through it. We will come up with a plan and we will, you know, stick to that plan and work it to meet the needs of our students here in Medford.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is correct.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, he is.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Today is International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. which began in 1911. This year, the theme is hashtag choose challenge. From challenge comes change. I am proud that Medford is a community that values female voices at the table. Celebrating women's achievements only helps to forge equality. Also, I have some positive news to share. This week's COVID-19 testing program, we administered over 2,700 tests, and I'm pleased to report that after three days of testing, our Mustang community yielded zero positive cases. Additionally, earlier this week, or last week, Governor Baker announced that teachers and staff in K through 12 education and early education and care would soon be eligible to take their vaccine. So this is a critical step, a critical next step toward restoring a sense of normalcy for our students and for all of Medford. So with the continued decline in virus positivity rates and the stated intention of the Commissioner of Ed to soon require modification around structured learning time, we are taking active steps to prepare for the likelihood of the increase of in-person instruction. This effort toward restoring more normalcy is an important step in helping our students to prepare for next school year. Obviously, our hope for next year will be to open and be continuing to provide instruction for the full week. Working towards that goal, Um, preparation will begin to take place right now. We are continuing to wait for additional guidance this week from the commissioner regarding his announcement that was made on Friday. Um, the focus would be to start with elementary schools and eventually stagger that out six through 12. This week we have a time-sensitive request that we asked of the parent community of students that are in grades six through 12 that we are asking that you would confirm which cohort your child is in by this Friday, March 12th. There is an exception for remote learning due to COVID-related circumstances. However, we do need to have accurate accounting of which cohort students are involved in. And so, in person attendance for all students in grades six through 12, starting effective next Monday, March 15. And again, your identification of which cohort you are in and your participation in extracurricular activities will be contingent upon the adherence to the in-person attendance and scheduling expectations for your cohort. So this week, or this past week, I should say on Thursday, We had the opportunity to hear from our elementary students, parents, caregivers, and members of our staff at the elementary levels regarding their expectations this year and their expectations for next year. It was a wonderful conversation. Many members of the school committee were able to join different portions of the listening sessions that took place. So thank you, school committee members, for your support attendance last week. I would like to remind everyone that tomorrow, March 9th, we will be holding another listening session for our middle school students, and a similar session on Thursday, March 11th, for our high school students. We will be having similar listening sessions for all of our cohorts, A, B, C, and D, and we would like to provide our seniors with an opportunity to be able to share their specific concerns as seniors. So March 11th, this Thursday, we want to hear from you. Translation will be available both tomorrow and on Thursday in the following languages, Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Arabic. Closed captioning is also available. I would like to take this opportunity to thank DA Marion Ryan and her amazing staff of assistant DAs. Alia Khalidi, Doug Cannon, Catherine Folger, Adrian Lynch, Tom Ralph, Tom Brandt, Beth Dunigan, Alice Casey, and D.A. Ryan's press director, Megan Kelly, for their important presentation on racial equity, anti-bias, and white privilege for our teachers and staff. These difficult conversations need to be had in order for our community to be more unified. I appreciate District Attorney Ryan's leadership on these issues as we continue to move forward together. I have some wonderful news to share. Math Counts. It provides engaging math programs to middle school students of all ability levels to build confidence and improve attitudes about math and problem solving. For only the second year, Medford's Club participated in the Math Counts Math Competition, a national middle school math competition I am pleased to announce that Adrita Samant, a 7th grade student at the Andrews Middle School finished in sixth place in the Math Counts Chapter Invitational. By doing so, she has qualified for the state rounds of the competition that will take place in three weeks. This competition began with a total of 2,000 students from all over Massachusetts. only 300 students qualified for the chapter invitational, out of which Adrita is one of only 45 students who have qualified for the state invitational. So I just want to say congratulations to you, Adrita. Make us proud and try your best. We're very happy that you made this great accomplishment. And I look forward to hearing how the competition goes. Um, believe it or not, almost a year ago, Wednesday, March 10th, it's going to mark the one year anniversary that governor Baker issued a lockdown to stop the spread of the mysterious COVID-19 virus at the time, believe it or not, it's already been a year. There was so much that was unknown. Then we all assumed. we'd be back to our regular schedules after a few weeks. Obviously, that did not happen. All of us have been affected in some way by the virus, whether medically, financially, educationally, and or socially. With the advent of the vaccine, we do see normalcy returning soon. However, we must continue to wear our masks social distance, wash our hands, and most importantly, work together. As I have always said, we are one district, one Medford. As we move forward in our uncertain world, the Medford Public Schools remains dedicated to providing a safe, equitable, and consistent education for all of our students with a strong focus on social emotional health. So later today, coming up, you're going to hear an update from our nurse, Toni Wray, on what's happening with COVID-19. And then after that, I will be announcing our poetry winners. So that is to come, our unity poem. And I'm really excited to recognize the students that were selected, and they will be sharing their poems with us this evening. So thank you, and those are my remarks for the day.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that is accurate. One of the observations that has been occurring, which prompted us to ask, notify parents and have them clarify what cohort their child is participating in, because we have students who were signed up for cohorts, cohort B or cohort C, and there was inconsistent attendance and participation. And so for the purposes of reporting to DESE and also having an accurate record of attendance and data, there were different codes. And so students would come one week and then go and be remote the following week and then come back another week. So there's been a lot of inconsistency. So this declaration of cohorts is really mostly geared towards students that are in cohort B, cohort C, who are fluctuating back and forth between B and D or C and D. So there was a back and forth movement. And that was, the amount of movement was concerning because we're trying to keep accurate attendance records and we need to be able to plan accordingly And even from instructional perspectives, where the teachers were expecting a cohort to be one size, and there were X amount of students one week, and then the following week, you're left with very, very small numbers of students. And they said, this particular week, I'm going to be a fully remote student. So there was too much fluctuation going back and forth, and we truly needed to have consistency and parents to also be notified and aware that this fluctuation was taking place. So by parents making the declaration for us on this Friday, effective Monday, March 15th, when attendance is being documented and recorded, we're gonna be using that new data to have it properly reflected.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can you say that there are two days a week currently?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: once it is in place, once we receive the final guidance, because Friday evening's decision from the board meeting, we were watching it in real time as were most people when that came forward. So once we get to the high school level, it will be the five days a week. Right.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: From an accounting perspective of being able to know who's supposed to be in the building and who is not. We took a lot, it took a lot of time to set up the schedule to set up the cohorts to try to keep the numbers manageable and the the flip flopping that was taking place. it just wasn't being done in a consistent, from an operational perspective, it was very difficult with accountability, I would say, even if they were showing up online. And so again, from accurately documenting the attendance, knowing who's in the building, who was not in the building, and again, parents also saying my child's in school, cohort B or cohort C, but that not happening on a consistent basis as well. And Dr. Cushing or Mr. Murphy, either of you could speak to the need to have this clearly documented.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so I'm so excited that March 8th is finally here and we are able to really recognize our young poets. So I'm really happy. Again, what birthed this was after listening to Amanda Gorman's speech at the inauguration. I was inspired members of my team to give our students an opportunity to showcase their poetry skill sets. And I am pleased to announce that we had close to 120 students. submit poems, and we wanted to make sure for this particular assignment that we not only recognized our hybrid students, but we wanted to recognize our fully remote students as well at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. We had participation from our EL classes and we had one section that we know some of the teachers supported students. We also encourage students to create poetry in any format or language. And so we have a special video presentation today for us as well. So I'm happy to see that, share it with the larger community. So I want to welcome our poets who are on the call tonight. I also want to welcome and congratulate, once again, Ms. Shelby Espinola, who was our grade one student who entered our first poem. And she was from Mrs. Fargo's classroom at the Brooks School. And so I just wanted to recognize Shelby being the first person to submit her poem. We really appreciated that. And then I want to recognize who our poetry students are. So this time in reverse order, starting at the high school, we're going to be hearing from Rakita BK, who's a grade 10 vocational student remote. We're gonna hear from Anna Casey, who is a grade 10 student at the high school on the hybrid side. At the middle school level, we're gonna hear from Abdallah Abdelhamid, who is a seventh grade student from the McGlynn and is a remote student. And we're also going to hear from Kevin Azizi, who is a seventh grade student from the McGlynn, who is a hybrid student. We'll also hear today from Lyndon Wise, who is a fourth grade fully remote student at the Roberts Elementary School. And we're going to hear from Joe Hogan, our fourth grade student also at the Roberts, who is a hybrid student. We will hear from Grace McLaughlin, who has provided us with a video, and she is part of our McGlynn hybrid program, and Ronaldo Pereira, who is a 10th grade student at the high school in our hybrid program. I do wanna share with the team that as the poems came in with students' names on them, They were separated by whether the student was hybrid or if the student was remote. So we did separate them into those categories. But we removed the names of the poets. So we had help to score the poems. And I want to send a special thank you to Dr. Chiesa and our humanities team. We had Max Heinig helping. We had Doug Bone Flynn helping. We had Ms. Sanford from the high school also helping to score. We had Mr. Rich Trotter. We had members of our senior leadership team who looked at it. We had Ms. Susie Weiss and Lisa Evangelista. And we did have other people who were looking and reading the poetry so that, you know, If you were at the secondary level, like if you were a high school staff person, you looked at elementary and middle school and the reverse. So we did not want people to be biased or pick students that they already knew the quality of work that they would do. So it really was done blindly. It was just based on how the poems um uh touched the people who were judging and scoring um there were a lot of great poems and I do want to say that because as part of um The expectation, we really wanted to have poems that were about 10 lines long. So there were poems that were very, very beautiful poems, but some of them were significantly longer. And so in trying to be consistent that we had asked for it to be a certain length, those things were taken into consideration when they were being scored. I also want to thank CCSR because our winners will be receiving gift cards, Amazon gift cards donated to the district from CCSR. And so we're very thankful for that. And we will be getting those gift cards out to the winners. I want to say they are $50 gift cards, I believe. So congratulations. And I hope you get some nice poetry books from Amazon or something fun that you all deserve. So I am going to have us do the poets. And Dr. Cushing, I'm going to need your support. But I was going to start with Rakita BK. And I know we have 150 people on the call.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Raquita, if you're on the call, can you raise your hand using the reactions? And that will help us be able to find you quickly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If you hear your name, raise your hand. Yes. Hi, I'm here. Okay, let us find you Anna. Wonderful. Congratulations. Thank you so much for this opportunity, Superintendent. You're welcome. You deserve it. You did the writing. So we are very excited to hear you share your poem with us. So thank you. You take it away, Anna.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Wonderful job. Really, really great job. Thank you so much for sharing with us. I know we have quite a few poets to go through, but thank you. And I know it takes a lot of courage to get up here and share your poem, but we appreciate it. I'm going to see is Abdallah Abdelhamid on grade seven McGlynn remote.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I got a shaky signal. Would you be able to say your poem one more time, Lyndon?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Lyndon. And I want to say that I know that Bikita, no, let me see. Rikita BK is on the call. Rikita, if you can hear me, can you raise your hand so we can find you? Makita?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's a little shaky. It's a little shaky. Can you try saying it again, Rikita?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Joe Hogan, grade four, Roberts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sometimes if, if you turn the camera, I was going to say, if you temporarily turn the camera off, sometimes that improves the audio. Um, so we can hear Lyndon's words.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Lyndon, for coming back on and sharing with us. Thank you so much. So we have a video right now, and this video is by Grace McLaughlin, and we're very happy. Dr. Cushing, are you able to queue the video up for us?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Presenter is Ronaldo Pereira. And I do want to thank Mr. Paul Texera, who helped considerably in reading through our poem submitted by our EL students. So Ronaldo Pereira, and I believe there may be a few other students helping to recite that poem. Ronaldo, are you on the call?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, wonderful.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You need your classmates. Can you tell me the name of your classmates? So we can find them.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK, Dakayel Lemos. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to thank, again, all of our poets who participated in submitting poems. We are going to be posting all the poems that were submitted and recognizing everyone. We know that we can't formally We're going to have a bracelet and other ways to acknowledge the students that participated in the unity poem and they will be receiving that. But we wanted to specifically call out those who were selected as winners. And so Dr. Cushing has our final poetry piece to present from us from Grace McLaughlin. Dr. Cushing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so similar to our teachers MOA, the paraprofessional MOA is finally being ratified or to officially announce the working conditions that the paras have been working under since the school year began. And so this is really a request to approve the MOA and just to confirm the work that has been taking place all year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We announced the committee of the whole at one of the previous school committee meetings back. It was announced that it would be March 10. that that committee of the whole would be. So I want to say it was a February meeting. And then at that time we said it would be a 5.30 p.m. start meeting. We also put it in our Friday communication. that went out on Friday, that we have the Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for next week. And following the 48 hours, it was posted today, it was posted for Wednesday's meeting for the clerk's office. Okay. It is officially posted and that's following the open meeting law. It was posted for the school on the school side. It went out in our Friday communication and it was announced at our February 22nd meeting that the committee of the whole would be on Wednesday, March 10th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I do take offense. I don't consider myself a liar. And I published it. to the letter of the law. Open meeting law. I published it in my communication. We have our school committee meetings posted on the website. So please do not call me a liar. I'm not going to take that lightly. I'm not lying to you or anyone in the community. We are having a committee of the whole so that people will be allowed to speak at regarding the Columbus school renaming. This was something that was asked approved last school year, and this is an opportunity for anyone from the community to be able to speak.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have a list of some of the restaurants for South Medford businesses. In addition to that, we have been in contact with Neil Osborne, the director of diversity. And he was working collaboratively with Lisa Evangelista to get additional communications out to specific groups that were listed. It was posted on the blog, the website, Twitter, and Facebook. Lisa Evangelista sent me that. She said the local press does choose to print. When we send communications out, it is sent to them, but we're not able to dictate what it is that they choose to print.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will wait for her to send me a response because she just sent me that right now. But she said she does forward her communications to them. So I will wait to receive an update regarding that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And Dr. Maurice, yes, please. I just was going to actually echo those sentiments that it definitely was the unexpected turn of events with the pandemic last year with this permanent shutdown in March and not knowing what was going to happen and just remembering it seems like it was a century ago. were adding HEPA filters and just focusing on getting the air quality up and running for the buildings, that that's what ended up being our priority for the fall. But now that we're coming into the spring, this definitely is a priority for us. I mean, it's on our radar and we will work with that before going into another winter season.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member Koretz, are you able to stop screen share?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I think with the, the architecture and structure of the building where there is so much concrete. facing that there definitely are opportunities to definitely add additional enhancements, even the area where Dr. Cushing was just talking about when you come up the hill. I still know though, from just having been in the district for the three years that I've been there, people who are coming to the high school for the first time or are not familiar with it, it's difficult to know where the front of the school is. So we end up saying, if you find the big tall flagpole and the island in the middle, but as people come up, sometimes they end up going straight to the West courtyard, or even if they're trying to find how to access the pools. So I do feel like, whatever the wording could be, if we can work with our vocational students, which would be fabulous. Mr. Donovan's picture where he had the lighting on the inside and just having something where people will know this is the official front door of the school. I think to have some kind of a marker just to be able to say this is your front door, This is the official main entrance where when you walk into that entrance, you're greeted by, you know, the security booth and, you know, they can send you upstairs, downstairs. That's the official main entrance because people do try to come through other doors because they don't know. They try to come through side doors. And so I do feel as we think about even though it would be for a short period of time, to add a little landscaping to the front of the high school, having clear signage, a bigger sign on the official front doors so people will know this is the main entrance, that would be my recommended priority. And we could definitely use the other sections where we have large amounts of just, you know, that cement canvas, concrete canvas to be able to say, you know, whether it's the mesh sign or if it's having Mustangs running toward the front door. So we could say, oh, when you see the horses running to the right, follow the horses. And so instead of saying follow the arrow, people will follow the horses and say, okay, I'm making my way to the front door. So there are a couple of ways we can try to be funny and play on the Mustang nation, but think of a way to use that blank canvas and at the same time, point people in the direction of where the actual front door is. Because, you know, with paint, with additional lighting, with additional shrubbery, the building has the potential to look beautiful while we're waiting to figure out what needs to happen. It's, you know, maybe I've watched too much HGTV sometimes, but... When you look at things and you just see, wow, all they did was paint it. For those of you, believe it or not, it was a year ago, last February, I believe, when we did the beautification project in the front foyer, the lobby of the high school. And that day, the Sunday, that everyone was just in there painting. And when everyone came in, it was like, wow. And that was just... blue and white paint. And it just lifted the lobby because the lobby felt, I don't know, you know, there wasn't enough lighting and it felt dark. So just by adding, you know, our colors to the inside, it made a difference. And I do think putting some of the shrubbery, getting signage up, you know, If we can have it done by our students, our students would take greater ownership. I'm not sure, we'd have to speak specifically with Mr. Fallon about do we have the right equipment to be able to. make the letters ourselves. We do have the 3D machines. We do have a lot of equipment there that if we could do it ourselves, maybe, you know, I don't know what size, you know, those letters would cost, but if it's something that we could do in-house, it might not be as expensive as we think it, you know, might be. And that would at least lift the front entrance while the vision committee is continuing to work and to be able to say, okay, we want this building to be compliant. I mean, that would be my, and I think it would be a good use of the money. I think especially this past year, the pandemic has wiped all of us out. I would love to see the high school complex have a facelift. even if it's just a HGTV version of a facelift, but just to lift the high school. And I think kids walking into the building will feel proud, happy, the same way they were really happy and excited when they saw the inside lobby as a temporary measure until we're able to really figure out what are the huge projects that we're gonna end up doing to renovate the high school complex.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Maurice, yes please. I just wanted to say that I did just quickly do a quick check-in with Mr. Fallon and he said that they do have a CNC machine that they think they could probably do some stuff so he just needs a few days to work on figuring it out but he does believe that it would be doable. We don't know the cost so once he's able to figure that out and give us an estimate, I do think we'll be able to hopefully get that at a significant savings if we're able to use one of the pieces of equipment that we already have on hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm the I was going to just jump in. I was going to ask, is it possible for you to just make it a little larger I Maybe like 150 yeah let me next to the under the word insert Oh, geez. Is that better? That just makes it a little easier to see. So this is the proposed structure that you want for the round tables to have, and then to have the specialized breakout groups by EL with translation, special education, elementary, middle, and high.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My wondering or my question regarding question number one about the long range goals, like, you know, redoing the vision statement or updating it or having a collaborative process for mission, vision statement. I think that, you know, that's a great process to definitely go through with the community. In terms of the long range goals, I guess my wondering is, are we talking from what's happening instructionally and academically and programming that I don't know if you were thinking about those goals as well because that's a different arena, where I could end up with 15 people saying I like this program that program and the superintendent. That's part of like the instructional piece of how instruction is is delivered in the classroom would fall. underneath my umbrella in terms of what's happening specifically in the classrooms or how the instruction is being delivered and working with administration and those pieces. But like long-range goals, I just was trying to understand, is it physical plant long-range goals, offering additional language things, different coursework, because it was kind of open ended and broad, I just wasn't sure what you were thinking in that first question there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thanks. I was gonna say, my only ask would be where one of the things that is going to be critically important, and I know we're on a tight timetable, is to really try to get the strategic plan to a place where we are able to be using that to guide all the work that we're doing moving forward. And I'm only restating that because That's kind of how we know everything is aligned and we're kind of moving in the same direction and getting that traction. So the mission and the vision work, it's important to get that buy-in, to have everyone strongly be able to be committed to something that the community feels is a compelling statement. something that really grips, but also now all of us need that guide in progression. I just wanted to say that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm going back to 5G, give me a second. Can you hear me? Are you able to hear me better right now? I just switched over. Okay, thank you. No, what I was just saying that I just hope as we get into the round tables and we're gathering the additional feedback that my hope is really that by the end of the school year, we do have, By the end of this school year, we do have a strong plan that we're going to be able to, you know, fully execute for next year, because I If we put too many layers, it's gonna extend the process and it's gonna delay the full implementation of the plan. And so I just wanted us to be cognizant of how much we aim to accomplish with the with this set of roundtables and knowing that we have to open the schools there is going to be continue to be additional guidance from the commissioner as we get closer to the start of school and knowing that Medford's in a very strong position in comparison to many other districts that I think we will continue to do keeping safety, equity, and consistency as our priorities. So I'm I'm less worried about us being able to have a strong start next year, because I believe we will. We have a lot of systems and structures in place that will continue for us to have a strong opening. And I'm more thinking about the entire strategic plan and being able to execute more of that plan next year, because we're not going to be on the same type of a COVID schedule that we'll be able to get. Yes, fingers crossed, but I'm very optimistic. J&J's vaccine has been approved. And so we have three vaccines out there, and I believe we're going to get people vaccinated um soon so i'm very optimistic about that and i i i i would just love to have um that strategic plan you know approved um and everyone knowing this is this is our why and this is what we're doing to you know bring the district to the next level yeah and i think um when we met last month we talked about trying to do these in in april um
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, I, I follow what you're saying the one piece about the mission vision work as we think about it at the district level. in their handbooks and on their websites, the schools have some of their individual mission, vision statements, because each school kind of has its own personality. And so that is something for us to also just keep in mind that the individual schools have their individual personality and that this would be more of the district level. yeah yeah so that just so that i don't want schools and school communities and um you know pto's or you know the active parent groups that have said hey you know this is something we've worked on or this is our particular you know at the elementary level this is our mascot this is part of who we are this is part of our identity i don't want them to feel um like we're saying goodbye to, you know, their individuality. So I still want the schools to be able to feel like they have their own personalities. Um, but they know that we're all part of one family, you know, the Mustang nation. And so, um, but I, I definitely encourage the individuality of the schools, but at the same time, um, coming up with a mission and vision statement that is inclusive of all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: April 6th. Just jumping. Is that the right, do I have the right dates? Yeah, so Tuesday, April 6th is our next communication subcommittee. On Tuesday, April 6th is our next scheduled subcommittee meeting. We have rules subcommittee on the 7th. So that's- We don't have anything on Monday. We do not have a regular school committee meeting scheduled on the 5th. For April, it's the 12th and the 26th. We have April vacation. That's the week of the 19th. So Monday the 5th is open right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd be happy to change our meeting or even cancel it for the month of april And block off the the fifth and the sixth um And I know you had shown it I I keep trying to scroll your um I keep trying to do it. I'm like, Oh, why isn't it moving? Um, so you're, you're envisioning it being 90 minutes, approximately. Yeah. 90 minutes. Um, So did it five, five to six 30, you think the same timeframe for both days?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think to do a five to 6.30 and a six to 7.30, because of all of the different breakout rooms, I would need to coordinate the entire team and other administrators to help With the concurrent breakout rooms that are going to be happening so I just want to be able to have time. Would you, in the order that you had it listed, would you be saying which one would be the 5 to 630 and which would be the 6 to 730?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. So I will definitely work with the other administrators to, you know, use those two timeframes and just see which, you know, in case people have a conflict, just to see which day, you know, if Monday would be like the 6 to 7.30 and Tuesday keep the 5 to 6.30, but I will confirm that and let you know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, but for example like phrases that I wouldn't be I wouldn't be using this in when you think about the academic language versus a social language. How well does each portion of the NPS current vision statement describe what you feel? You could ask the same question, but you just have to break it out differently. You'd have to translate it into chunks. So it would not, right now it's showing as four questions, it would have to be broken out to be, I would say more.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I guess my question would be with the survey piece going out after April vacation, how long were you thinking about having the survey open for? couple weeks tops.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I definitely could remind people in weekly updates and in those kinds of things, keep putting a link to remind them. Because sometimes when people know they have time, it goes both ways. They know they have time, so they're like, oh, I've got a month. I can get it done. So just trying to find that balance. Yeah. OK.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, March is a pretty packed month.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But I think we have this, we have two regular scheduled meetings this month as well, where on Monday to be able to give an update and then we have another meeting at the end of the month So by the time that other meeting were to come at the end of the month, if there needed to be a specific update or something, that would at least give us some time. If there was something else that needed to be said, we could have it as new business and you could report out specifically on it as new business at the second meeting at the end of the month.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this, this meeting is posted on the main page on the main page of the website if you scroll to the bottom it has today's meeting posted. So if it's a second, a second posting we've we've tried to get it on the front page. The upcoming meetings right now. So I can definitely, I didn't realize that the other calendar had incorrect information. So I will get it there as well. But today's meeting is posted on the main page at the bottom.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And Susie just sent the revised schedule to Rachel right now as well to see if she can make those adjustments on that other calendar.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. All meetings are sent to the clerk's office first. He gets it. Okay. First listing, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We do have a system, TeachPoint, and it will go into that portal. And then the hard copy of all of the documents will go into my hard file that is kept in HR. So the hard copy of all the documents that were sent to me will be collated and placed in the hard file. For DESE purposes of reporting, it's the rating that gets the overall rating is what ends up getting reported in the DESE portal.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think because this particular you know, last go around when I got it, it wasn't as comprehensive with the, you know, the spreadsheet and the tables. So this kind of gives a very detailed breakout. So this whole document can be probably attached as an artifact or attached to the spreadsheet. the portal, but like all the documents that were submitted, I will just have all of this kept in the hard file and then uploaded to the portal so that DESE has it as a record. But it's the rating that normally is what goes into the system, the official rating.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you so much, member van de Kloet. Thank you so much, members of the school committee. I was really pleased, very happy with the evaluation and the level of complexity, the spreadsheet and being able to look at the feedback and read the narratives and the descriptions that went that were given so I know that a lot of time and work went into that process and I appreciate it incredibly and I'm you know very honored and I always say in my communications that I am the proud superintendent of Medford Public Schools and this evaluation confirms that we believe that the work that needs to be done in Medford is the work that is taking place. And I am committed to continuing to work hard. And since you as a school committee member, members as a team gave fractional improvements where there are areas that clearly I can continue to push myself and strive. for those fours, I'm gonna continue to do that. And so I will continue to keep applying myself and looking at the areas where there was more constructive feedback, where the opinion was that I could be doing more, and I will continue to try to do that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Member Mustone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Thank you, member Rousseau. And collaboration was one of my core values, the sea of aces. And so I'm not here without the wonderful senior leadership team that I have. Peter, Suzanne, Dave, and Joan, and Tom who have been with us working hard to make Medford Public Schools the best district in the Commonwealth. And so this is a shared evaluation between all of us. And I thank you for recognizing that they are part of the team and that I cannot do this work alone without the power of a team. So thank you. and I think the members of my senior leadership team as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We can't hear you, Maurice. I am working on it. We've got good news coming. So hoping for the same special arrangement as this year. So I'm working on that right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. Pool testing is going well. For our high school athletes, COVID testing is mandatory. But this is just another step towards some sense of normalcy as sports are on the way back. This past season, the only sports that could be offered were girls' ice hockey and gymnastics. Beginning March 1st, boys' and girls' basketball, swimming, and boys' ice hockey will begin their competitive seasons. Also on March 1st, fall two pre-season conditioning starts with girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, golf, cross country and football. Of course, at all times, all aspects of sports will be following COVID safety regulations. Medford High School will only compete against other GBL teams and there will be no fans allowed. We are so appreciative of the testing that keeps our community safe. Let's go Mustangs. So last week, last Wednesday on CBS4 at 6 p.m., the Mustang Unity Poetry Contest received some great publicity from news anchor, Lisa Hughes. This month, nationally, CBS News has been featuring segments on unifying America. Lisa Hughes wanted to do something locally and came across our poetry contest. On Friday, February 12th, she went to the Roberts Elementary School and taped our third grader, Mr. Joe Hogan, as he read his unity poem. On President's Day last week via Zoom, Lisa interviewed Violet Bell and Ibrahim Ammar from the Roberts, both remote learners who also submitted poems. Lisa told me she felt the students' poems give us all hope that we can become a more united community and world. I agreed wholeheartedly. Additionally, the segment seems to have been a big hit on our social media channels. We have received approximately 65 entries for the contest. Lisa Hughes will be following up with me to find out who the Mustang Unity Poem winners are and the hopes to feature them on CBS4 Boston streaming service. So for any students who are listening, I am still accepting poems until 1159 p.m. tonight. please feel free to email your poem on Unity of not more than 10 lines to superintendent at medford.k12.ma.us. We are also accepting poems in your native language. If it is not English, we will get it translated. And we are also accepting illustrations for students that that would be appropriate for them to submit in entry. So we have until 11 59pm this evening. And I do also want to share with the school committee that I did receive my very first poetry entry from a parent today. And so we have parents that have been inspired. And so I was so happy reading that poem that I wanted to just put it out there to those that are listening. If we have parents out there, members of the school committee who may be inspired, you wanna write a poem on poetry, please submit your entry to superintendent at medford.k12.ma.us on unity, up to 10 lines, any kind of poem you want it to be. So I wanted to share that good news and I was really pleased with the wonderful segment that highlighted the positive things that are happening in Medford public schools. I also have additional good news to share. I'm really happy our Mustangs are back at it again. So I want to say congratulations to our Mustangs Ethics Bowl team. That group is under the direction and leadership of Mr. Essner. They compiled a 3-1 record and reached the semifinals with wins over Phillips Andover, Boston University Academy, and yes, Lexington High School. So I just want you to know our Mustangs are doing phenomenal work. under these wonderful COVID conditions. So what does the Ethics Bowl do? The Ethics Bowl promotes respectful, supportive, and rigorous discussion of ethics among high school students nationwide. It differs from a debate competition, as students are not assigned opposing views. Rather, they defend whichever position they think is correct with proper data and always respectfully. Ethics Bowl members learn ethical awareness, critical thinking, civil discourse, civic engagement, and an appreciation for multiple points of view. Great job, Mustangs. We are very proud of you. As we begin to prepare for the upcoming school year, so many parents have asked, what will the school year look like for next year? While there is much we do not know yet about next year, we want to provide you with an opportunity to share your experiences. To that end, we will be hosting listening sessions, which begin next week on March 4th. These sessions have been broken up by grade level and will provide opportunities for students, parents, caregivers, faculty, and staff to participate. All the listening sessions will be held via Zoom Each session will feature three breakout rooms, Cohort A students, Cohorts B and C, and Cohorts D. Please be advised that translators will be available in Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Arabic, and closed captioning will be also provided. For those who may be unable to attend these sessions, we are accepting feedback via the email info at medford.k12.ma.us. Again, feedback can be sent to info at medford.k12.ma.us. The questions that will guide these conversations include, What has gone well? What are the areas for growth? What would you possibly like to see for the upcoming school year? The entire schedule is listed on our website, the MPS Facebook page, the MPS blog, and PTO Facebook pages. As noted, we will begin on Thursday, March 4th with elementary education. From 3.30 to 4.30, we will listen to students. From 5 to 6, faculty and staff. And from 6.30 to 7.30, parents and caregivers only. On Tuesday, March 9th, the same schedule will follow and we'll continue with our middle schools, And our third session will be on Thursday, March 11th. We will host high school education. Again, the same schedule will be followed. Our hope is that these sessions will provide us with invaluable feedback as we prepare for the upcoming school year. As always, please feel free to reach out to us at any time with questions or concerns. This Thursday, February 25 will be our second building bridges to kindergarten presentation via zoom. This session will take place in the morning from 11am to 12 noon. We hope, incoming kindergarten parents and caregivers can join us. Again, if you can't join, we are hosting another presentation in March, and you can always contact Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Galusi with any questions or concerns. Just a reminder, next week, Tuesday, March 2nd, we will be hosting a district-wide professional development day. Therefore, there will be no instruction, whether remote or in school, on that particular day. Marie Cassidy of the Medford Family Network has informed me, and there's an all call, that many members of our community are in need of diapers. They are especially in need of sizes two, three, and six. If anyone is able to assist, please contact Marie Cassidy at 781-393-2106. Again, they are in need of diapers sizes two, three, and six. Our partners from Melrose-Wakefield Hospital are offering free, safe at home classes via Zoom. They're offering a class for students in grades four through six, and it's the safe sitter program, safe sitter. Completing this program does not mean that a student is ready to stay home alone. Only the students' parents can make that decision, but it will help students learn how to practice safe habits, how to handle common household emergencies, and how to address illness or injury. The classes are being held on Saturday, March 13th, from 10 to 11.30 a.m., and also on Wednesday, March 31st, from 4.30 to 6 p.m. Additionally, coming up in April, they plan to also offer safe sitter classes for students entering grades six through eight, our middle school age students. For them to be safe when they are home alone, watching younger siblings or babysitting. Students will learn life-saving skills such as how to rescue someone who's choking and what to do during severe weather. The lessons are filled with fun activities and role-playing exercises. For further information or to register, please email che at Melrose Wakefield.org or call 781-338-7561. February, lastly, is fast coming to a close. But the Medford High School Black History celebrations continue. School committee members, you are being invited if you're interested on Thursday, February 25th, Monday, March 1st, or Thursday, March 4th. The F Know Haitian dance performances are continuing to take place at the high school gym with strict social distancing protocols. All performances run from 9 to 9.50 in the morning. Thanks, special thanks to assistant principal Sherose Walker, who has spearheaded that initiative. If you'd like to attend, please contact her and let her know. The performance is quite uplifting and interactive. And in honor of Black History Month, let us remember the words of representative John Lewis, who yesterday would have been 81 years old. Sometimes you have to get in the way. You have to make some noise by speaking up and speaking out against injustice and inaction. The Medford Public Schools, we are committed to doing that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think if you make the motion, are you stating that you're going to accept what has already gone forward or you still would like an additional presentation?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This was just to formally announce that back in January, on January 26, we submitted an application. Member McLaughlin helped and worked with the district saying, let's take our chance to pursue the Massachusetts Family School Partnership initiative. And this was something that was offered for the entire Commonwealth. and we were really pleasantly surprised that Medford was selected for this opportunity. Again, this is an opportunity to work with the school to look at family and school partnerships initiatives working collaboratively with DESE and that they will work with a tactical team, a small group of administrators, parents, possibly 10 to 12 people to say how can we further improve our school and family partnerships as a district. They particularly asked for team members from special education, English learners, a community partner, student support staff. So a lot of the work that we have prioritized working with our most vulnerable, but being part of this collaborative with DESE where they would support us with professional development and coaching and additional training to help us as a district to further promote our family school partnerships. So this was just to notify the school committee that we were one of four districts that was selected for this year to participate in the initiative. and as additional information becomes available we will definitely share it with the committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes member member McLaughlin has definitely actively been involved in this process. We are going to confirm and work with some of the administrators and the different stakeholder groups, but many of the stakeholder groups are the populations that we did identify as our most vulnerable. And just to respond to member Van der Kloot's question about the cost, we're not technically receiving a monetary amount, but the training, the coaching, you know, access to DESE personnel, that's, everything is kind of being covered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Ed. So it won't be a hard number, but again, how we quantify the training and the mentoring and the professional development, I'm sure it will be valued at a significant amount of, if we could come up with a number, it would be substantial. And again, I think it's an honor for us. I wasn't sure that we were going to have a chance because we are a much smaller district. And I was just assuming that the larger districts probably would be given the benefit of the doubt. So I, again, want to also just extend a special thank you to Member McLaughlin, who reached out last month and said we should take a chance and give it a try to see if we have a chance. And thankfully it worked out for Medford. So I look forward to updating the committee about as we get more information, but updating you on the progress and the training and you know, what Desi will be offering to us. Cause we won't know until we start going to the information sessions. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Dr. Edouard Vincent, Superintendent of Schools, glad to be here tonight.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we definitely have to work at putting it back together and we need to make data informed decisions, but I can also say we do believe in differentiation and we heard talk about UDL and being able to appropriately meet the needs of students. Students learn differently. And so there are a lot of things that it can't be a one size fits all solution for every single student in a given classroom. So those are things that we do need to seriously take you know into consideration. As we move forward, we know that things are going to be different things are are incredibly different right now, and we as adults, we're still adjusting to that. So, You know, I think, as we look at the data. As we look at the, the challenges we look at what worked well what didn't work well. All of that, we're going to be gathering information next month. During the listening sessions to really be able to listen to what's being said so that it can help to inform. What we need to do for the start of the school year, and we are continuing to also receive additional guidance from the state. Today, we had, you know, over 600 people on the call with the commissioner. So, there may be official shifts that are being presented for all districts to take into consideration for next year. So it's definitely on our radar, and we are very, very aware that things will look differently, but we need to make those final decisions once we have more information, more data, and, you know, working collaboratively come to expectations for next school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: can you hear me?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was gonna say, Member Ruseau, that Since this event takes place every year, maybe the description could be that it's a under description, it's the legal notice. So it would be a formal budget presentation that is for the community, but that were legally required. Like it's, this one needs to happen prior to the presentation to the city council. um where you have this legally you know to be in compliance it needs to be go to go out to the public so i think where it is something that will happen annually maybe yeah what you deleted could go under description that could be your description yeah and then yeah i mean um sorry
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think that could be a regular meeting. I think in the past where we had challenges, if a challenge or a particular need were to arise, then we would definitely convert it to a committee of the whole. But I think annually having it at a regular meeting as a report, I think that that's a very reasonable expectation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I think the bullying presentation definitely can happen at a regular meeting. I'm very comfortable with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: superintendent? I interpret it to be both that we would be able to support them through our medical office and you know get them either you know support them in getting additional medical care to get their immunizations. So that's that's something that the medical office the health services department definitely supports families in getting it done. There are, you know, I think a few families maybe for religious purposes that may not believe in vaccinations, but almost everyone else, they have support in accessing doctors and getting immunized and having it properly documented.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say since we have pre-K students, why don't we just add pre, just the, yeah, pre-K through 12, so it covers everyone. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is a very good question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just want to comment, Member Graham, that to your point where we could have the crowdsourcing services using the GoFundMe pages, our hope would be if, for example, PTOs are fundraising for a specific item, and then you also have multiple people fundraising or using the GoFundMe for the same exact services, that we have been very clear that when GoFundMe or if people were to attempt to use those things that we would need to be in the know in order to supervise and make sure that it's being used for what the intent is. And I say that because you know, technology and requesting things on behalf of a school that may not end up eventually being used with students within the district. That is something that we need to just be very aware of. And so not to say that people don't have the best of intentions, But unfortunately, it's kind of like a very slippery slope that there definitely needs to be close supervision. If the PTO is purchasing headphones with the microphone, and someone else is also purchasing Bose headphones at the same exact time, and when you look for the inventory and say, oh, Bose headphones were ordered, and you ask, where are they? And you're not able to come across them. So that was where we were very clear, not that we were trying to stifle people wanting to take advantage of what's available. It needs to be aligned. It needs to be, I would say it needs to be in complete alignment with what's already available. You know, at the schools, and so principals need to be involved I just feel with the GoFundMe pages. Sometimes, you know, you hit a goldmine, and it's something wonderful. something is acquired, it needs to be stamped or labeled with Medford Public Schools and sometimes you have, you know, someone in Medford Public Schools and then they relocate to Connecticut and they say, well, I got this as a teacher, I'm taking the Bose headphones with me to, you know, a public school system in another state and those items should belong and be cataloged as property of Medford Public Schools. So that's where we have been. uh, providing strong oversight and making sure that it's something that's documented and that we're aware of where it's going at, you know, any given point in time. So that's where the, um, the restrictions are, but where the PTOs have, you know, the liberty to be able to say we're doing this, it would be redundant to allow people to ask for the same exact know, multiple of headphones or whatever, whatever else it may be.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's at the top of your box member result. Which box this one? I shared the JFABF with you, the children in foster care document with you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just right now. I just shared it with you. Hopefully it's showing at the top of your... Oh, no, because I'm sharing my screen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I definitely am a proponent. The good news is that the vaccine is here. Teachers will, we fall into phase two. So it's a matter of sometime between February and March. That's our hope that we will be able to have everyone vaccinated as soon as the vaccines are available. And for next school year, there will be a brief presentation a little later by Dr. Cushing and Ms. Galussi about listening sessions. So that's part of the agenda for today, this evening as well. But we will definitely be working collaboratively in support of getting all our kids back in school for next year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening, everyone. To open today's remarks, I just want to share that today was indeed a tough day for Mustang Nation. As we said goodbye to our colleague, Mr. Frank D'Alessio, the computer technician for the school district. So with the arrival of COVID-19, we have had to adapt ourselves to new restrictions and safety protocols. But the loss of life from this virus is still very hard to process. Frank was a husband, father, and grandfather who loved annually to take his whole family to Disney World. He would often pick up his granddaughters when they attended Kids' Corner at Medford High School. He had a smile for everyone and always was at the ready when something with our computers or printers just didn't work. His loss has been felt throughout the entire district. We extend our sincerest sympathies to his family and friends during this very difficult time. I also wanna share that last week, we began a new form of COVID testing. It's pooled or group testing. This testing has been made possible with a partnership between the city of Medford and Tufts University. We did have a few weeks back, we were recognized and spoke by DESE about this cutting edge public health measures that we are using to keep schools safe and students in school. By moving to pooled testing, it will ensure its sustainability as well as being more effective and efficient to identify and isolate cases of COVID and reduce transmission. Testing now takes place on Mondays and Thursdays for our students, and those with a positive pool will receive follow-up tests in school the following day. So I just wanted to alert the entire community of that slight shift. Tomorrow, February 9th, COVID-19 information will be provided to our multilingual families by Toni Wray, our director of health services and EL director, Paul Texara. They will be available to answer questions about COVID-19 in Medford and the new COVID pool testing in our schools. It is tomorrow by Zoom at 6 p.m. with Portuguese, Haitian Creole translators on at 6 p.m. and at 6 30 p.m. we will have Arabic and Spanish translators so again it's split into two sessions 6 p.m. Portuguese and Haitian Creole 6 30 p.m. Arabic and Spanish translation is available. The Zoom link is available on our school blog and all principals have it as well. We hope you will join that call. As I mentioned in my Friday message, that because meals have been free for all students this year, many families have not yet applied for free and reduced lunch. Those who qualify for free and reduced lunch may also be eligible for the pandemic food assistance. That's P-E-B-T. So with that status, to get enrolled, all you need to do is complete the free and reduced lunch application and return the form to the school office. Translated versions are available on our website this program is open to both hybrid and remote families. And so I wanna stress that because I know some families may think, well, my kids are not going to school. I'm not entitled, but you are entitled and I just do not want you to miss this opportunity. So please take advantage of that. I would also like to mention that our YMCA's Mystic Community Market also has food items available to support the community. The hours are Monday to Friday, 3.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reservations for pickup are required. I also wanted to say that the Lunar New Year the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is going to be celebrated this coming Friday. It has more than 4,000 years of history and it begins on February 12th and ends February 26th with the Lantern Festival. It celebrates family reunions and features ancient spiritual traditions. 2021 is the year of the ox. Those born in the year of the ox often exhibit the positive characteristics of being hardworking and honest. We wish all of our Chinese neighbors and Asian members of our community and all that celebrate the Lunar New Year, good health and much happiness in the new year. February is also Black History Month. And I would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Charose Walker. The high school has been celebrating this month. In particular, we've been having an ethno Haitian dance performances by the esteemed co-founder and director of the Jean Apollon Expressions, J-A-E. Mr. Jean Apollon, he's a successful choreographer and master teacher based in Boston and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He teaches our students various Haitian folkloric dances, their meanings and origins. Miss Walker has extended email invitations to the entire school committee as well. And the sessions are taking place with students being socially distance and keeping an appropriate physical distance. The sessions are being videotaped because we were not able to live simulcast it to our students that are fully remote. We have some of our vocational students taping it and they're going to edit these videos and make it available for everyone to be able to see and participate. I also wanted to just take a moment to say that, um, A week from tomorrow, or a week from yesterday, next Sunday is Valentine's Day. And one of the things that we normally do if you recall a year ago, we were celebrating with Medford family network at the McGlynn school. participating in the Valentine fundraiser. As a result of COVID, we really were not able to do that this year. However, the friends of the Medford Family Network, they held an online fundraiser called Valentine's Love. And during that fundraiser, they were able to raise significant funds. But it is our hope that we will be able to return to scooping ice cream next year at the Valentine fundraiser. So Medford Family Network, thank you for all you do on behalf of the community. As you know, we have our wonderful CCSR students. There will be a presentation by them today as well. But as you know, CCSR, they're always busy. and up to something very good. Our middle school students are collecting donations to put together senior citizen gift bags. Some of our seniors are really struggling without being able to meet friends at Medford's Senior Center. Therefore, CCSR is hoping donations of the following will help seniors feel less alone. Warm hats, gloves, puzzles, boxes of hot chocolate and tea, crossword puzzles, hand sanitizer, masks and books. Donations can be left at the McGlynn Middle School. Again, it's a great opportunity to help our community and support our senior citizens. Also, CCSR is hosting a winter clothing drive at Medford High School to benefit our Hope Chest. They are looking for donations of new or gently used warm hats, snow pants, gloves, boots, winter jackets, socks, and Mustang gear. A donation box is located in the front lobby of the high school. I also wanna recognize the Andrews Middle School National Junior Honor Society. They are hosting a blanket drive. New and gently used donated blankets can be brought to the Andrews Middle School and will be donated to a homeless shelter in our community and an animal shelter as well. Lastly, a few reminders. If you had the opportunity to watch the Super Bowl last night, Ms. Amanda Gorman once again inspired all of us by honoring frontline workers and educators in her poem, Before the Coin Toss. Poems for the Mustang Poetry Contest are still being accepted until February 22nd. I encourage both our remote and hybrid students to send along their poems. And I also want to acknowledge that member McLaughlin spoke and asked about some of our English learner students who may not yet be fluent in English. And so I assured her that, yes, if the poem is written in a student's native language, we will have it translated. and we will take that into consideration. And for some of our students with disabilities that may not be able to write, we will accept assistive technology devices and illustrations all on the theme of unity. So we wanna be inclusive. This poetry conference is for, this poetry contest is for everyone, pre-K to 12. Anyone who wants to participate can participate. and we welcome you all. Our next Building Bridges to Kindergarten is going to be held on Wednesday, February 24th from 11 a.m. to noon, so this building bridges to kindergarten session is in the middle of the school day, so parents who are out there, if you can mark that and take it as your lunch break, 11 a.m. to noon, again, welcoming new kindergartners for next school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Wednesday, February 24th, from 11 a.m. to noon, one hour, early lunch that day. Our last update is that February vacation begins next week, Monday, February 15th until Friday, February 19th. For parents who are looking for some options for their children during the vacation, please go to Medford's recreation site on the city website. Additionally, the Medford Library is offering a creative writing workshop for students in grades six through 12. Our secondary students have an opportunity to participate in creative writing with Medford Library. I hope all of our Medford students and families enjoy this break. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so again this, this report and update is really just to congratulate. Once again, the both of them for their wonderful lead leadership Maria Dorsey who we know is our librarian at the high school. This is actually her third year. And so we just want to congratulate her. We did recognize her last year when she received the award of super librarian. And that was in February of 2020, a year ago, but Maria Dorsey is doing wonderful work at the high school. And this is her third year serving in the role, but it's still an honor. And we want to just congratulate her for being part of the executive board. And again, had we been meeting in person, we would have been able to take a picture and clap with her. She actually had a public library director meeting today. So she's not able to be on this call this evening. And also for Christina Johnson, I just wanted to share a little bit of background about her story in terms of the context that Chris was a parent volunteer at the Brooks Elementary School when the 2008 recession resulted in budget cuts and the K-8 libraries closed. Then they reopened first with parent volunteers and then paraprofessionals under the guidance of the remaining 1.5 librarians, Holly Lannan and Maria Dorsey. Chris was transitioning from a business position and became a library para, which resulted in working towards her library teacher certification from Salem State. her impact was immediate. Reopening the Andrews Middle School Library and establishing programs at both Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools, where she applied for grants to fund after-school science enrichment, as well as a close association with the Medford Public Library. In addition to both middle schools, Chris also manages the McGlynn Elementary School and the Columbus Elementary, along with a staff of paraprofessionals. So I just wanted to recognize this wonderful accomplishment for Medford's own Christina Johnson, and I'm just really happy that she's receiving this President's Award. I am not sure if Christina is on the call, but I just wanted to acknowledge her wonderful accomplishments to the committee and let you know that wonderful things are happening in Medford. I'm not sure if we see a raised hand.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that in coming up with the nine sessions, that's an additional nine hours of meetings on top of the meetings that we have. And when I think about the most vulnerable and knowing that we have a significant amount of students where English is not their first language, where we did try to at least get the translation available for some of our English learner populations. I do feel that even within the breakout groups, if it's something we can go back to the drawing board, but I do feel providing an opportunity to listen, this is really an opportunity to listen. So even as a Cohort A member, if there's a specific thing that you want to be able to share, that opportunity is going to be made available. So we can try to go back, but I'm just saying that to the The intent is really to be able to listen to the feedback and we know that some people might not be able to attend the sessions that are available, but they will be able to email or send in questions or their own personal reflections. So I just want to say that this is not the intent or the spirit was not to exclude anyone, but to give everyone an opportunity. And so one of the areas that we've gotten a lot of feedback is a significant amount of the communication that comes out from us, from myself personally, and talking about what's happening at the school is specifically geared toward hybrid students. And so a lot of families that are fully remote feel like, are they really still considered part of the school? And by all means, the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And so by trying to separate out into two groups to have remote-only families give feedback and hybrid families providing feedback, to be able to take that information from the two groups and really listen to the feedback that's being said so that we'll be able to help better inform us as we move forward. So I just wanted to say that by no means was there any intention of trying to exclude Cohort A. We really wanted to include and be able to just listen to students, to staff, faculty, and parents and caregivers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is added. We have it recorded in the notes. This was just the exact one that I had submitted to you, but that was definitely added, that request that was added at the last meeting. So it's just, I'm sorry, this is the exact version that you received when I presented it at the last meeting, but those specific changes have been, or are part of the goals for this year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: As I was going to say, at the March 10th meeting at 530, to what Member Kreatz was just sharing, that it'll be an opportunity for our community, as it is going to be a committee of the whole, community members will be able to speak, and we will also be able to talk about what we will be able to do moving forward. But based on all of the emails that have come in thus far, and to your request, Member Kreatz, about making sure that we communicate with specific stakeholder groups within the community. We can definitely do that. And also, with the emails that we have in hand right now, make sure that that communication goes out. We do have one meeting prior, which is why the March 10th meeting will need to start at 5.30 p.m., but we will be able to get it posted early and use all media platforms to communicate with the entire community at large.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say in response to member van de Kloot's comments that I know that there are a lot of mixed opinions about the name for the Columbus School. But if I was being asked, if I was giving my personal opinion, I feel that we don't have another school right now that actually represents the Italian heritage. And in Medford, we do have a large Italian community as well. And one of the things I would hope would be if, in fact, the final decision is the name is going to be changed from Columbus, that as a community, we would think about other Italian-Americans who have, or not necessarily Italian-Americans, or just Italians that could still be living in Italy. that we would still be able to recognize and honor the culture. I've said, you know, I love the music of Andrea Bocelli and he is blind, a beautiful singer, has a wonderful voice, that there are a lot of Italians and Italian Americans that have contributed to you know, great things that have happened. And so I would hope that as we're thinking about other name options, that that would be something that is not completely taken off of the table. So I just wanted to share that, that I think that should be part of the conversation. and hopefully we can have a very fruitful conversation on March 10th at 5.30 and be able to put in the structures necessary for groups that can work on it collaboratively. As I have my little homework assignment that I've given to students voluntary on the theme of unity, I do believe that we are one district, it's one Medford, And we do not want to divide the community. We want to unify the community. And so this is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and think and share ideas and have a productive conversation. So I just wanted to share my thoughts. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to echo the thanks. Thank you to the leadership of Charlene Douglas, all the members that participated in the negotiations that brought us to this point, but also to just formally acknowledge and thank the hard work that's happening with all the teachers. The fact that Medford Public Schools has students participating in in-person instruction from pre-K to 12 is a wonderful accomplishment. And I just wanted to say thank you for the support and thank you for all that you are doing working together on behalf of the students in Medford. And so I just add my congratulations once again. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was on mute. Yes, if it's possible, I'm going to try to screen share just so that people can have an idea of what the strategic plan document was. So just give me a moment, please. That's not what I wanted. Give me one more moment. Sorry about that. I wonder why it's doing that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Perfect. You got it. Can you see? You guys can see this one. I don't know why it's doing something a little unusual today, but okay. So this is what the draft strategic plan looks like. It has our mission and vision statement that the Medford Public Schools is a caring educational partnership of school, family, and community designed to ensure that all students are afforded a safe and healthy learning environment in which they develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to reach their full academic and personal potential. This partnership is dedicated to providing all students with a 21st century education that will enable them to be lifelong learners and contributors to a diverse and rapidly changing world. Our four core values that the strategic plan is based upon are achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. Under achievement, we had fostering student growth and achievement, fostering collaborative relationships. fostering equitable learning environments, and fostering a safe and supportive learning environment. These are the four large bucketed areas that we are focusing on, which take all the work that's happening across the entire district and are showing what those bodies of work are. So under fostering student growth and achievement. Medford Public Schools will develop and implement cohesive district-wide curricula and instruction assessed through various methods designed to help learners reach their potential as knowledgeable, ethical, and critical thinking citizens. Beneath that bucket, or within that bucket, contains these four bulleted areas. using instruction that focuses on evidence-based responses, productive struggle, academic discourse, access for all, and feedback. This was based on the five core actions that as a district we have been using for the previous years. And this is required to help us implement the curriculum frameworks. We also ensured that we would provide instructional technology that meets the curricular needs of educators and learners. Research and implement common assessments that address benchmark and interim measures in order to inform instruction and make modifications to our current curriculum. and to recruit and retain an effective and diverse staff. So within each of these areas are the respective hyperlinks where we talked about action items, outputs. Let's see if I can get this a little larger. So under this, We had early indicators of success, what were the resources, additional resources that would be needed, anticipated outcomes, and a project manager. These were, all of these subcategories are the action items that we would like to be able to accomplish as a district regarding bullet number one. So educators will participate in ongoing professional development designed to address shifts in the curriculum frameworks. The outputs would be that all educators will continue to receive up-to-date current information on DESE adopted frameworks. And so the lead people responsible for that would be our curriculum directors and lead teachers, where we would be going and working constantly in collaboration with Desi. We are also committed to as another action item, providing professional development in best instructional practices, including evidence-based responses, productive struggle, academic discourse, access for all and feedback. An example under what could be classified as access for all is the current professional development being offered by Susanna Campbell that selected members including school committee members are participating in some of that professional development. So it's using the five core actions, but offering professional development above and beyond. And again, that would be presented by our directors of curriculum and instruction, our administrators and department heads. adoption and implementation pertaining to elementary science in the area of FOSS. And we had timelines for what that would look like for all of the different pieces that were being added. And for every single bullet, we have Implementation of new social studies curriculum framework, K to 12, provision of professional development and materials to support these changes. The implementation of the Commonwealth civics challenge for both middle schools and the high school. Review of new research-based comprehensive elementary literacy programs, rubrics to select elementary literacy program and implement elementary literacy program. Adoption and implementation of materials pertaining to middle school mathematics, illustrative math, curriculum guides, professional development training, refinement of the scope and sequence, use of benchmarks, and consumables. review of available elementary math programs. Again, that had to be paused temporarily. We know we're going to start that up again because the math curriculum was 2015. And so Ms. Faiza Khan will be going through a process with the math department and math teachers to be looking at piloting different math programs for next school year. And some of this information was presented at the curriculum subcommittee meeting back in December. Determine a protocol for assessing instructional materials. Assess current status of instructional materials for bias. introduce a protocol and provide organized opportunities for peer educators and visits across the district, which the visits across the district have been temporarily paused due to the virus. So these are some of the sub-bullets that are within every single indicator. And I'm gonna just ask Dr. Cushing because he also, we all worked on this but I'm not sure if there's a particular indicator Dr. Cushing that you would like to speak to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I think it's interesting that you say that because when we were working on the strategic plan, the mission vision definitely is a lot of words. But when we think about how can you distill it or bring it down, what are we really saying in Medford that we will prioritize? Yes, we prioritize educating the whole child. We believe that since we're a school system, when we're talking about how students learn, what's happening under the instructional umbrella, it's about student learning, how are they achieving their goals? And so achievement, was the term, but it's about learning and instruction. How do we want that to be able to happen in order to be able to work as a district, as a community? We wanna work together, build upon one another's strengths and provide students not only with adults, but all the way down to the classroom. I mean, right now we're on COVID time, but when we think about collaboration, pre-COVID, it was talk to your elbow partner, turn and talk. who's your buddy, whether it was at a particular table or a group when students would go and work on, you know, in the glory days when they could get up from their desks and go work in a corner of the room and they could pick a buddy or they could be assigned to a buddy depending on what the specific task or activity was, but to promote that collaborative learning. And that's where that collaboration came from. How are we going to do all the work that we do? It may not look the same everywhere, but we want it to be done in an equitable fashion. And that was where the equity came from and support. How are we going to do it? At the time when we talked about fostering a safe and supportive learning environment, nobody was thinking when we said support, a safe and supportive learning environment, we were thinking about a place where children would feel welcome and you could be who you are and learn and grow and be challenged. And now when we think about safe and supportive learning environment in COVID days, you have to have your mask, you have to have hand sanitizer in every single room, you've got, you know, hand pumps and you've got foot pumps. It's like, You've got plastic shields. Remember McLaughlin and I were just looking at classrooms at the beginning of the school year, and they were putting up plastic shields and little hooks, and kids could have a mask break and hang up their mask for a few minutes. At the time, when we were working on this. And this last kind of version that you're looking at was from January of 2020. But we had already started the work a year plus prior to that. But this was us taking all of the work that we had done from 2018 to 2020 try to bring it all together in one place. There are a lot of initiatives within the district. There are so many initiatives that are taking place within the schools and trying to say, as a district, we need to bring everything that's happening instructionally, social, emotionally, even from protocols and fostering and promoting a safe and supportive learning environment. we needed to take all of that information and have it housed in one place. And so that's what the strategic plan was, looking at all of the things that were happening district wide and dividing that up and saying, how are these pieces going to be executed? So from promoting the health and wellness of students, I mean, we've even said amongst ourselves, we know now that we're living in the COVID era, how many shifts do we have to make to some of the things that were already listed, which are kind of like practices that were happening, but now with COVID, What does that look like? And what does that mean? We have circles on the floor and arrows and tape and to try to limit large groups. So those are things where we had to figure out how are we going to adjust. And so those are pieces that we want to go back to the strategic plan and infuse those additional things that had to be added in order to make in order for us to function as a district, which at the time when this was created, no one realized what was going to be happening. So this particular strategic plan really was looking at, this was one of the requirements of NSUP, that every district should be able to take the instructional programming, the initiatives, and all of the things that you're doing within a district to be able to take it and bring it into one place. And for people to be able to say, oh, this is what they're doing. So if you think about different reports that have happened over the course of the year, and based on feedback from subcommittees as well. So under category two, collaborative relationships engage in timely, thoughtful, two-way, culturally proficient communication. So all communications are now translated. We are using different apps the talking app and different apps to help with EL families. The teachers are using those. Most recently, Member McLaughlin asked us to figure out how to get the closed captioning added function that we didn't have, I think, on the previous Zoom. And we had to figure that out. But now, even for this meeting, for people who need to use closed captioning, that's another way. So if we were to click on this one, I don't think closed captioning was listed, but now we would need to go back and look at what does two-way communication look like and be able to say that closed captioning was added. So I don't know if that it's so it is something when you you you you look at the entire district and you say well what's going on here. Yes, the smartphone applications and and we had a new website that was deployed a year ago. that we're continuing to tweak and refine. But the new website that was deployed a year ago, the previous website, I think, hadn't been changed for probably more than 10 years. So that was a huge shift where something had been in place for a long period of time, and then you know, to start off with a newer website. And as we continue to get feedback and continue to say, OK, this is what's pressing. This should be, you know, right on the top of the website. We are working to make those necessary adjustments in real time. But these were things that we were working on and saying, what did we want to be able to do to improve communications and having it housed one place so that as a leadership team, the senior leadership team, and working with all of our directors, all of our department heads, Everyone can speak the same language. Everyone can refer back to it and say, oh, yes, this is engaged in timely, thoughtful, two-way, culturally proficient communication with the Medford Mustang community. And when this was written, and from the time that we wrote it to all of the changes and shifts that have happened just right now, The strategic plan is something that is like a living document. It's not set in stone, but it lets you know these are all of the things that are happening within the district. So, that that's kind of you know where where we are so whether member graham you're saying to you know for us to revisit and look specifically at the mission and vision and um you know update it to 2021 um we could you know definitely look at that but in terms of as a district and how we need to run and how everyone needs to be speaking the same language and realizing what are the initiatives that we're doing this is a document where administrators can use it teachers can use it so when you say we're working on x y and z it's in our strategic plan everyone's in agreement and so although right now in this format it's not for students but what students will be experiencing are outlined in detail within the strategic plan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: One second, I just jumped over because you were talking about family and community. I wanted to, I hadn't opened that particular bullet, but this one is, I think, capturing what you're saying, family and community engagement. It's hard trying to squeeze everything in to the buckets, but this one, fostering collaborative relationships, actively ensure that all families are welcome members of the school community, who contribute to the classroom, school, and community's effectiveness. So that is
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is that what you're- Within these bullets, all of these are hyperlinked within the document, yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And then we had, actively ensure, engage in timely, thoughtful, two-way, culturally proficient communication, work collaboratively with community stakeholders to funnel appropriate budgetary resources. So we really try to think about all of the components that are needed to help a district run smoothly. And so this was under fostering collaborative relationships. So families and staff and everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And remember, this was in draft phase. So this is what number two, actively insuring. And then one action item was review and expand transition programs to support students. And it listed several outputs. Elementary open house, kindergarten for kindergarten, building bridges, elementary middle school lottery open house, middle school open house, middle school barbecue orientation, high school orientation, ninth grade, high school open house for eighth graders. Increased collaboration and coordination around parent education, Medford Family Network, community schools, our Board of Health, PTOs. And so we had different ones listed. Enhanced family engagement events. curriculum night, citywide report card conferences, EL family night, PTOs. So we had staff, we had parent guardians, and I had a comment for me to add hyperlink to calendars so that if someone was in the strategic plan looking at events, they could get another hyperlink that could bring them specifically to some of the calendars. So this is, what we have listed right now under fostering collaborative relationships.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, this would be on the website. So once the... With hyperlinks. Yes, with the hyperlinks. So the community, everyone would be able to go in. So this particular one, where it's fostering collaborative relationships, this would get fleshed out a little bit more. And so here where we have PTOs listed, It could be either a hyperlink or the different kinds of outputs, finding ways to concretely connect, whether it's with PTOs, with the Medford Family Network, who some of the point, who would be the point person. So if you were just a regular parent and not a school committee member, you could go on and say, oh, this is, you know, what's happening. And then you'd see this. And if we had the, whoever the, you know, elementary or high school, we could have the, you know, elementary-wide PTO rep or middle school rep, and people would be able to see who was responsible for that, for that particular task. And so they'd find access and we would just connect everything, but they would be able to say, oh, this is kind of the plan that the district is on right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the intention definitely is The strategic plan is a multi-year plan, but it's really saying like, this is everything that we're doing and this is where we want to be able to go. As I said, when we presented this a year ago, that was based on all of the information and data we had at that point in time. And then COVID came and changed everything. It just like, just blew it up and we had to think differently about everything. And so if we had to go back now and really look at the changes and immediate shifts that we had to make, again, like I said, to all of the steps that it took just to get to a safe and supportive learning environment, we could go back in and add all of the work that was done on HEPA filters air quality and air exchange because all of that also contributed to a safe and supportive learning environment. But what are the additional steps that we're doing as a district at the elementary levels when they have their morning meetings and really whether you are fully remote or whether you are a hybrid child. trying to create ways that before it wasn't an issue, but now saying, you know what, we need to try to create ways where the kids can connect or see each other, even if it's for. a small portion of the day. And so those are some of the adjustments that were made thinking about what was developmentally appropriate for our youngest learners, but also a way for children to be able to connect and feel like they're part of a group. So there are a lot of things when we say promoting the health and wellness of students, promote and enhance activities and resources that address the needs of the whole child. What does that really mean? What does it look like now as we're thinking about being in the COVID era. And this particular one, independently and in collaboration with community partners, provide families with information and resources to address their children's physical and social emotional development, promote community events for parents and guardians to support their child's well-being. And again, these were things that we wanted to be able to do And again, because of COVID, everything kind of, we had to push pause temporarily until we can get things to where they actually need to be. So that is just, you know, one example, but are we willing to do the work? Yes. Do we have a, to member Kreatz's point about, The total number of roundtables in groups and what it is that we're presenting to the community. We have a regular school committee meeting scheduled to We have a regular meeting scheduled next Monday. And so we are going to be talking about the opportunity to have, maybe we wouldn't call them a roundtable, but listening sessions. We are going to be presenting at Monday's meeting. We'll be talking about that, but a series of listening sessions that we would love to have with the community starting in March, because February is an abbreviated month. There's a week off. And just trying to coordinate and plan all of that. We're starting in January. to plan for March. And it's not something that you can just snap your fingers if you want it to be done well and to be done thoughtfully with a desired outcome or a goal. So that is something that you'll be hearing about Monday. But you've got a preview tonight since you're at this meeting. And Monday, we'll be talking about those listening sessions that we want to be able to have with the community and be able to say this is work that we're thinking about. So I definitely am in support of getting feedback and having the community be able to talk with us. And again, in the spirit of equity, one of the challenges we had faced last time, whether we tried with the translation and different things like that, we knew that even though we had translators, we were still told like, this is not the forum or the correct way to try to engage with some of our population. And so thinking about that and trying to say, OK, how can we still reach the community? But at the same time, we may need to reach the community through more than one modality. And we're willing to look at more than one modality, but from a bandwidth capacity, not for lack of not wanting to do work, but really being able to say, okay, if we're planning to do a series of listening sessions starting in March, and what's the next step and how are we gonna need to deliver if we're going to do it by level, because again, elementary needs could be different from middle school needs, which are different from high school needs, because we're trying to do what's developmentally appropriate for the kids. So I just wanted to present that as We definitely have a desire and want to do it, want to communicate with the community so that they will support and be partners with us and collaborators with us to say, yes, we understand what's happening, we're with you, and we're gonna push this initiative forward. But at the same time, trying to manage when you look at all of these hyperlinks and what it actually means for the entire district, from content to curriculum to social, emotional wellbeing to, you know, um, Medford family network and connecting with other resources that are available and thinking about safety and security, safety, literally insecurity. But now in the pandemic, we're also talking about life and death and making sure that we're maintaining space. And, and, and truly when we say safety, not just in the words of that, the doors can lock or the doors can open, but, thinking about the health, the physical health and well-being of everyone. So it has, with all of this that's here, there is so much that we as a team, we realize like, wow, you know, we may need to add either, you know, how much more information we need to add to what was already there. And this document we're looking at was over the course of a year and a half, just to get to this point. And now we have all this new data that we still need to say, okay, where can we add that new data? It's, It's a tremendous task, but it's important. This is our roadmap. This is our blueprint. And we need to all be speaking the same language. And you need to be able to go to one place when you go to the strategic plan to say, well, what's happening in this area to walk away with Maybe you don't have a deep understanding, but a general understanding of, oh, this is what's happening in the realm of achievement. This is what's happening where we're promoting and fostering collaboration. And under that umbrella of fostering collaboration, family community engagement is huge. Whether it's listening sessions or round tables or surveys or all of the above at the same exact time for people to be able to know where to look for those things.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The agenda for the March subcommittee meetings?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so the listening sessions were not specifically geared toward the strategic plan. Oh. So that's why I was saying that there's another series of meetings that we were trying to gather some preliminary information. So working specifically looking at the strategic plan. that would be, I envision it as another set of meetings. Would the meetings be so long that you lose interest, like especially with parents balancing kids and saying, okay, I have 60 minutes, I have 90 minutes, but if we get into like two and three hour meetings after working a full day, people do tend to lose a little bit of stamina. I understand. Get the freshest thinking.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that could work. That could work. We would try to shoot for April. Yeah. Okay. So that could give. Okay. And then finding ways to, You know, between now and April, you know, is there a way to like chunk it out to start thinking specifically about that? Yes, because there are some pieces when you mentioned the district goals. So the district. The district's required to have goals and within this strategic plan our district goals were embedded. These are our instructional goals. for the respective departments that is something every district does all the time. So it is embedded within the strategic plan where we have the components about academics and social emotional learning and wellness and parent community engagement. So this is like, there's a lot of information embedded a lot of information embedded within, but it's critically important that we, once we get through all of the phases of finalizing this strategic plan, and when I say finalize, knowing that it's never final because it's a living document and that you'll continue to add to it, but at least where everyone is, understanding that these are the key instructional moves, instructional shifts, what's happening instructionally, what's happening social emotionally, what's happening in terms of family, community, and engagement, what's happening in terms of safe and supportive environments, and doing it with an equity lens. I think once everyone starts using this language and being able to tie it back to the language, so that whether it's to a point that you made earlier, Member Graham, about initiatives or topics that could end up coming up for budgetary considerations, One of the key reasons or key levers in having a strategic plan is if something is completely an outlier and you are not able to concretely connect it to the district strategic plan, then it says, you know what, it may be an important idea, but it doesn't align with all of the initiatives that are listed within the district strategic plan. And so when you're also introducing a new topic to say, yes, this is in alignment, it fits with our strategic plan and it fits under three buckets. And so this is something that we should strongly consider because it's in alignment with the district strategic plan and it's our multi-year plan and this is gonna help to allow us to execute. and accomplish the particular goal. So I do feel that it is I know I'm going to represent my goals at next week's meeting, but one of the pieces under the professional practice goal was to move this from being a draft plan by the end of the year to have it listed as our strategic plan that is posted, knowing that it is a living document, but to move it from draft to our finalized plan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, it does. And I actually feel like it's really important because if we want to be able to continue to push the work, we need to let everyone know what this common language is and be able to just push it district-wide for everyone to know this is what it is, this is where it falls, and have people who own particular portions of the strategic plan continue to own it and able to execute it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah I think Yeah, it seems, I know it is ambitious, but I think we need to get it done and have it put in place and then use that as our starting point. So I think we should try to do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. And I'm going to yield to Dr. Cushing in a moment, but at least during my first year and up until the pandemic happened, The sitting middle schoolers would go to the elementary schools and visit the students and talk with them. So the young leaders at the middle school levels that were at particular grade levels, they had an opportunity to actually go. and speak to students at the elementary schools and tell them kind of like, this is what middle school is like. And they were really excited about that. They were like the young ambassadors. And pre-COVID, when they had the open houses and the tours, the student leaders at the middle school level would, you know, be the tour guides. They would answer questions. They would publicly speak in the auditorium and say, this is about my school. This is what my school does. The students really had an opportunity to be student leaders and show the up and coming, the rising fifth graders or rising sixth graders what to expect. And so I just remember parents being very happy, excited, walking through the building, seeing the kids orienting themselves to the new structure, the new setup. So there definitely were a lot of opportunities for transition from elementary to middle school, and that COVID totally ruined all of those networking and connection opportunities because of group size. But the cookout and things like that, I'm going to have Dr. Cushing just talk about the cookout and some of the other things that happened as part of the transition from elementary to middle school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Cushing?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would definitely be well I actually enjoyed the road shows. It was nice going to the different schools, being in the libraries, the parents were nervous, the kids were nervous, and it was like, you're gonna love middle school and just wait until you get there. And so based on what you're saying, believe it or not, it sounds fairly similar to what happens in our building bridges to kindergarten programming, where you have the parents come in and you say, yes, your child's gonna be leaving preschool and coming into kindergarten. And they're kind of like, well, what's going to happen? And you kind of talk about a day in the life. And this is kind of what it looks like. And you answer questions. And no question is a stupid question, so they should ask. And so we definitely, now that we've been doing it for a while, that parents may have specific questions or middle school specific questions. So we definitely could. when that time frame comes to be able to say, not only will we explain to you what the lottery process is, but also we're here to answer questions to say, what should you expect once your child transitions to middle school? And the biggest one meaning being that your child will no longer have one homeroom teacher, but will go from one key teacher to four content area teachers that they have to be able to interact with all of these teachers who are teaching their specific content. That is a big shift for kids to realize, like, oh, I'm not going to stay with my same teacher for math and reading and science and social studies, that each content area is taught by a licensed teacher in that specific area. So that's probably one of the biggest shifts. But to be able to just talk about that and answer questions you know, the team, we definitely would be willing to do that. We want it to be a smooth transition for the students, first and foremost, but also a smooth transition for the parents.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Regardless of your political leading, as Maya Angelou stated at then President Obama's inaugural address, it's the dawn of a new day. It was gratifying to see that at this inauguration, which has historically been a day of celebration for our country, was held without any issues. Our democracy move forward to welcome a new president, Mr. Joseph Biden, our first ever female vice president, Kamala Harris, who also is the first African American and South Asian to serve in this role, as well as first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, who is a teacher. I mention this because as a teacher myself, it is my feeling that there are lessons here for all of our students to learn from this leadership change. Most notably is that at the highest seats of government, there are people who look like all of our students now. The next lesson is resilience. Senator Biden first ran for president in 1998 and again in 2008. finally winning the seat in 2020. He never gave up, he persevered. It shows if you are willing to put in the work, you eventually attain your goals. I wanna share that I was honored to take part along with Mayor Lungo-Koehn on a panel at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon. Although this year the event had to be held virtually, it was a wonderful program with a lot of important voices and shared ideas. I would like to thank the Medford Human Rights Commission, the NAACP, the Royal House and Slave Quarters, Arts Medford, and the Director of Human Resources and Diversity, Neil Osborne, for inviting me. On the panel, I participated with the mayor and three of our own CCSR students, Zane Youssef, Amin Nazi, and Liza Lopes, as well as with Mr. Osborne and other community members. What we all heard loud and clear was the need to push, put our words into action in order to make our community a more welcoming place for all. To that end, the Medford Public Schools Racial Equity Task Force garnered the attention from the Boston Globe, local media, and the Patch, highlighting its mission to research, examine, and make recommendations to maintain an anti-racist, equitable, and socially just school district for our students and school community at large. I continue to express how important it is that we develop a strategic and a coordinated approach to address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Medford Public Schools. It is gratifying to know that President Biden instructed federal agencies to prioritize racial equity and review policies that reinforce systemic racism. We all need to work together to make substantive change in our country. This week, on January 27th, it is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and it will mark 75 years since the Allied troops liberated the Auschwitz death camp. The Holocaust The murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators did not occur in a vacuum. It was the product of unchecked hatred and collective silence. While confronting this pandemic, we have seen a rise in hateful and racist ideologies around the world. Let us all work to eradicate this hate in our society and remember what the late Congressman John Lewis once said. We are one people with one family. We all live in the same house. And through books, through information, we must find a way to say to people that we must lay down the burden of hate. On a different note, I am pleased to announce that our kindergarten registration has opened today. Last Wednesday, Medford hosted its first Building Bridges to Kindergarten virtual presentation. Special thanks go out to Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Galusi, the Medford Family Network, and kindergarten teacher Maria Michelli, who not only provided important information for parents and guardians, but also answered questions and concerns that parents, guardians, and caregivers had. We appreciate their assistance in welcoming new Mustangs into our district. Our next Building Bridges presentation will be held on Wednesday, February 24th. I also would like to take this moment to commend some of our CCSR students. Andrea Cerebori and Daniel Morganti received a donation of $150 from Wegmans to help CCSR's food pantry, which is located at the Curtis Tufts High School. We appreciate Wegmans as they have always been a wonderful community partner in Medford. and CCSR continues to assist our schools' communities' needs. Thank you, Mustangs. This past month, Melina McGovern, a junior at Medford High School, has been collecting feminine products, general hygiene products, vanity items, and masks for local shelters in the Middlesex County area. The main shelters that these items will be distributed to include the Women's Lunch Place and Massachusetts Homeless. Melina is working in collaboration with the nonprofit organization called Her Drive. Fox 25 News Boston interviewed Melina for a segment that will be on the Wednesday Night News. Another Mustang stepping forward to help those less fortunate. Great job, Melina. I also would be remiss if I didn't mention the remarkable Amanda Gordon, the National Youth Poet Laureate. She clearly stole the show with her poem, The Hill We Climb. Amanda found poetry in third grade and used it as a way to overcome her speech impediment. Thanks to CCSR, Medford was blessed to have Amanda speak to our Andrews and McGlynn eighth grade students in 2019. During the assembly, Amanda recited her own award-winning poetry and performed her own rap lyrics. In the spirit of Amanda Gordon, in my weekly communication this past Friday, I invited students of all grade levels to participate in the Mustang Poetry Contest. All students are welcome to participate in this contest by submitting a poem up to 10 lines on the topic of unity. I ask that students submit their poems to the following email, superintendent at medford.k12.ma.us by February 22nd. A winner will be chosen from both our hybrid cohorts, as well as our remote cohorts. And both will have opportunities to share their poetry at the March 8th school committee meeting. Other submissions will be shared on our website platform. To my happy surprise, in my email on Saturday morning, I received my very first entry in the contest. Believe it or not, this wonderful student who was so eager had to do the assignment, which was voluntary, comes to us from a wonderful first grade classroom. I can already see her achieving high heights. Her name is Shelby Espinola. She's a first grade student in Mrs. Fargo's classroom at the Brooks School. Please indulge me as I share her poem, the very first poem on unity. She wrote this poem for the community. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the leaders. Kamala Harris is the first woman to be the vice president. Joe Biden is going to help our community by taking care of corona. Let's hope they help our world. Great job, Shelby. I cannot wait to read all the poems that will come in between now and February 22nd. But I just had to share Shelby's poem and say, I was so excited and surprised to see that I had someone that eager, willing, and wanting to jump in and do the poem. And I encourage anyone in our Mustang nation who wants to participate, up to 10 lines, do the poem. Thank you. And those are my announcements for today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also just wanted to say that Principal Chad Fallon is also on the line and I didn't know if Principal Fallon, you wanted to just say something specifically regarding activities that's happening in the vocational world to make sure that everyone can hear what was happening on that as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to also state that I was really appreciative of this great opportunity that came. The timeframe was very, very tight, but I was just grateful that we were able to get this great opportunity out to one of our students and that a student who shows that they have, you know, a strong desire to be pushed and to be able to, provided they do well with the coursework, they'll be able to apply it to their college transcripts or, you know, have one extra elective class that they can take. So that'll be a savings to a family as well. So I just wanted to thank Tufts for that. And I agree with you, Member Van der Kloot. We can always try to see if we can squeeze in. Start with one, go to two and get up to three or up to five students. That would be wonderful for our students. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so we're really excited this evening to talk to you about this re-envisioned position of a re-engagement specialist and through much discussion and really thinking about taking something that in the past may have had a more negative connotation and changing it so that it's a proactive connotation and really saying we would like this person to be a re-engagement specialist, helping us re-engage with students that may for whatever reason, life challenges, or maybe on the path to wanting to drop out of school to think twice and be able to have a specialist, a liaison, be able to help us close that gap and keep all of our students in school and on task. So I want to just pass it on to my colleague, Mr. Murphy, and let him give a little bit more context about this re-engagement specialist.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm amenable to removing it because we also say or other related fields. So we can definitely remove that, add the additional bullet point about the support network. And absolutely, we will definitely be having whoever this re-engagement specialist is, working very closely with Ms. Stacey Shulman and other administrators to be able to say, you know, these are the appropriate supporting resources, whether it's counseling or other things like that, working together with the team. It would be, you know, just taking a new angle and really trying to look at this work from a proactive lens.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just going to screen share my school goals, my superintendent goals for school year 2021. Just one moment, please. Good evening. I am pleased to present to you my goals for this school year 2020-2021. So my district improvement goal, I want to preface by just saying that, again, with the arrival of the pandemic a year ago, Medford Public Schools as a district, we needed to pivot quickly and prepare to meet the challenges created by the pandemic. So in preparation for planning for the 2020-2021 school year, these preparations have been coordinated according to three key goals, our guiding pillars of safety, equity, and consistency. Our first goal under safety Our goal was to implement a district-wide reopening plan that met the guidelines from Massachusetts Department of Public Health and provided in-person learning opportunities for all students pre-K-12 who selected that option. Some of the key actions that took place that were aligned to safety We created a staggered hybrid plan to better adapt to safety protocols in each building. For phase one, we targeted our most vulnerable students in the buildings four days a week. Phase two, staggered hybrid for all students in grades pre-K to 12. We adopted building safety checklists to address our safety protocols and building readiness. Launching an in-school COVID testing program in collaboration with Tufts University, Armstrong Ambulance, for all of our students and staff at the beginning of the school year. We are in the process of providing Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 rapid testing administered by school nurses. We established protocols and procedures for contact tracing for staff and students who test positive with COVID-19. And we developed an MOA with all collective bargaining units regarding reopening working conditions. All of those fell under the umbrella of safety. Under the category of equity, to provide all students with access to district opportunities to ensure individual student success. We provide all students with one-to-one devices in order for them to participate in the online learning. at home and at school. For some of our families that were most vulnerable, we provided home internet access points to students that needed it. Implementing improved hiring practices with diversity as a high consideration. We prioritized our most vulnerable students. We offered professional development that increases educators and administrators' cultural competency and fosters an anti-racist approach to education. To review current curriculum K-12 to ensure a balanced representation of diverse backgrounds and abilities. Established a racial equity task force. and to have support structures to assist with social emotional learning needs in responses to trauma in students. Under the umbrella of consistency, We wanted to prepare students, prepare our principals and other district leaders for remote and hybrid instruction by developing a common language and adopting common practices that ensure that all remote and hybrid students have access to high quality instruction. to develop a dynamic framework to adopt new models of learning for both in-person, hybrid, and remote. Create a document that details expectations for teachers, students, and families. Establish a remote academy at the elementary level. Design equitable, hybrid, and remote schedules. Establish structures for synchronous learning and asynchronous lessons. Update curriculum pacing guides. Provide professional development programs on remote teaching. Provide teachers with devices to better teach remotely and in person. MacBooks, microphones, and webcams. improve internet bandwidth issues in school buildings, and upgrade Zoom license for better teacher access. My student learning goal, again, with the continued focus of elementary mathematics, improve elementary achievement outcomes in mathematics by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of math. My key actions support the development and implementation of an effective elementary math program. Conduct virtual math learning walks district-wide with a modified protocol to include the five core actions in math, one to two times a year. Ensuring consistent implementation of envisions 2015, which is the current curriculum that we are using, and the modified math pacing guides for the remainder of school year, 20 to 21. Maintain our partnership with Lesley University. And under our student learning goal, I want to just note the benchmark. that due to the pandemic, no MCAS assessment was given during the spring of 2020. Neither were any in-district end-of-the-year assessments administered at the elementary level. Therefore, I will take the math end-of-year benchmark data from this school year and identify specific areas of need for our elementary students. This analysis will take place during the summer to inform school year 21-22. Furthermore, due to the pandemic, hard accurate data has been difficult to obtain because it has been interrupted twice. This year, although students will be taking an MCAS assessment, It is scheduled to be a modified MCAS assessment and it may be administered. We are not sure if that guidance will change. And so that was why I wanted to make this recommendation to use our math end of year benchmark data. as a key piece of information to inform us where our students currently are. Lastly, for a professional practice goal, under NISP, the New Superintendent Induction Program, I am currently in my third year of the induction program. In addition to participating in all the monthly Zoom sessions, Due to the pandemic, there are no in-person sessions. I do attend the monthly Zoom sessions. We also, the NISP has started affinity group sessions. So I am attending affinity group sessions, which discuss issues of equity. So I am now attending two meetings a month, completing all requested assignments, I'm continuing to work in collaboration with my coach, Carla Bair, and the outcome of the NSUP program would be to finalize the district strategic plan, because it is now currently still in its draft state. And those are my goals for school year 2020-2021.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We definitely, at the central office level, working with the leadership team, have already begun the preliminary conversations. We would like to replicate, not identically, but a very similar fashion to engage community stakeholders and families, all administrators, teachers about preparing for school year 21, 22. That is definitely something that will be, and as we do that work, we will continue to look at safety, equity, and consistency. And with the fact that the vaccine phase two between February and March, educators having the opportunity to be vaccinated. I think that that is a great, you know, relief. We don't know yet what the data is going to be for students. And so we're still trying to, you know, find out what that will look like. I, you know, I have heard that You know, maybe it will be students 12 and over that may be able to be vaccinated, but we're just not sure yet with all of the different phases. We probably will not be hearing information yet about student vaccinations until we get closer to the summer. But that is definitely work that we are committed to doing. doing collaboratively and transparently with the committee and you know with the community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the only piece I want to say in response to that is, especially when you're looking at data, there was clearly a gap between mathematics and literacy. It's not that I am prioritizing one content area over another, but in order to see if growth is happening, you need to be able to stick with something. From the time of looking at math instruction from year one, when the rounds were happening, using the core actions, and trying to stay with the work that we've done. We have the data of the rooms that we have visited. Even though now we're on these COVID conditions, the modified pacing guides, using a protocol that was in place, looking at the same content, that there is some data in terms of the progress and work that was happening. by looking at the data, even though it's different data, it at least I'm able to link it and connect it to what was being done in the previous years. Literacy is definitely also a priority. It's not that we're not prioritizing literacy, But all the work that has happened thus far, the primary focus had been to reshift what was happening in mathematics. And we were able to see changes instructionally and see that the needle was beginning to move. And the needle was moving in terms of mathematics instruction. I could see myself, even though I said I want to look at the mathematics data at this year to help inform what's going to be happening in school year 21, 22, the goals for school year 21, 22, that could be a clear, a cleaner opportunity to say, we're gonna do a shift and do a instructional shift at that point in time. But I just feel the investment and the amount of time that has gone into mathematics, I need to continue seeing that work through. And even though we're on the covert schedule instruction is still happening. And I need to be able to look at where that data lands. At the end of this year, where do we land, because in order to make a data informed decision. you have to be able to have something to look at and where we were in the past. So again, where I clearly stated it's two years that were interrupted of interrupted data, data sets. I am no longer gonna be able to use the MCAS per se because even the MCAS that will be administered this year is going to be modified. At least that's the information we were receiving that it will not be what was given in the past. So it's a different assessment, but from an in-house internal perspective, we can look at our own internal data and use that as a jumping off point to further inform the instructional moves that we need to make as a district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When PD takes place, even last week's professional development, the teachers normally have an opportunity to give a feedback form, but I can definitely work on trying to create additional opportunities to get feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that I think I understand the thinking behind why we shouldn't recognize students who may have perfect attendance. But I want to give my own personal story that I was a student that didn't get sick. very easily. I think I must have had a strong immune system. And I never got sick from kindergarten to eighth grade. And my parents took pride in knowing that one of my siblings had seven years of perfect attendance. We didn't go to school sick or try to get other people sick, but I'm also thinking about for those students that are able to go to school, for those parents that are able to say, you know, I may be going to work, but the one thing I'm gonna do is, you know, make sure you're ready to go to school and be successful in school. I happen to really like school a lot. And so I stayed in education. But there are some people who may have difficulty in school. They may have difficulty learning, but they actually like going to school. And so they might not get other, they might not get an academic recognition. You know, they may not make the honor roll, but they may be able to be recognized for having perfect attendance. And so I'm just saying that I don't want it to be, for people to interpret it, that it's punitive if you're in school 180 days and you only get to go to school, you miss one day, so you don't get recognized. But for those kids that are able to do it, and not knowing what their home situation is, that could be something that motivates them to say, I might not get recognized for having all A's and B's, but at least I can be recognized for being at school and being a contributing member of the class and get recognized that way. So I just wanted to present that it doesn't have to be negative to recognize someone who has perfect attendance. And I just remember, you know, when they would say put your hat on or put your scarf scarf on, you know, you got to stay healthy, that it was like I was being responsible trying to stay healthy. And I just kind of feel like I wouldn't want to, I know it's something that I received, but I wouldn't want to take it away from other children as a district to say that we cannot recognize students who do have perfect attendance. I mean, if someone is sick, the teachers will definitely send them to the nurse, nurse's office and say, you know, you're really sick. You shouldn't be in school or call to have someone pick them up. But I'm saying for kids that aren't sick, um, that I just I just am asking the committee to think by taking away or saying that Medford Public Schools no longer acknowledges someone who has perfect attendance when you know that student may have worked really hard and didn't get sick very easily, and they made it through the year, and their teacher is there encouraging them and saying, wow, you did a great job. Are you going to really be here every day of the school year? And there are some kids in every classroom. There might be two or three. There could be five every year that never miss a day, even when the teacher takes a personal day. They never miss a day. And I just wouldn't want to take something where I think it builds, if you're able to do it, it builds something in you about work ethic, about you're a student, that's your job, come to school every day if you can and do your best, whatever your best may be, and you can acknowledge them and encourage them and say, you can do it, you can do it. And if they do get sick, we understand you get sick, you don't come to school. But I just feel to say that we're never going to recognize kids for perfect attendance anymore. I just kind of feel like that's going to be quite sad.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I feel that the other members who spoke were just presenting similar thoughts that I was going to say, so I will pass. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, so I just, for clarification purposes, when I read that particular resolution, I was thinking about it from the lens of Were you asking if students were being excluded for whatever reason? But like, if it's something about the major field trips, like the New York trip that the middle schoolers normally would go on, or traveling overseas, because I just was thinking the practicality of adding a presentation after every single field trip that would end up being a significant amount of additional school committee reports. But if you're saying like a major trip that requires either a significant amount of money that students might not be able to participate in, I'm just trying to make sure I'm properly understanding the resolution as you intended, Member Ruseau.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, yes, I will. So good evening, members of the school committee. This evening, I am going to just be giving a quick overview of my goals from school year 2019-2020. My key goals for that time under district improvement. My first goal was the district strategic plan. synthesizing district priority goals to develop targeted multi-year strategic plan to guide all our work, our partnerships, et cetera, with a laser-like focus on instruction. Our next district improvement goal was developing a district-wide focus on instruction, working with principals and other district leaders to establish a common language about instruction as a foundation for their future work to improve instruction. Our first student learning goal for school year 1920. The student learning goal was elementary mathematics, improving elementary achievement outcomes in mathematics by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of mathematics. And one of the ways that that work took place was through rounds in collaboration with Lesley University. The professional practice goal for school year 1920 was the programming around the NISP induction program, the new superintendent induction program, which is endorsed by DESE. The professional practice goal was to complete the district strategic plan, attending sessions and assignments that were in alignment with the NSUP guidelines, which are in accordance with the state. So those were the goals that were presented on November 18th, 2000 and at the 2019 school committee meeting. Based on those goals, I submitted to you self-evaluation in regards to the work that I completed in regards to those goals. In that document that you received, I did put the hyperlink to refer back to the superintendent's goals. But in addition to that, I am going to read some of the narrative that I submitted to you. So this evaluation is based from July 2019 through June 2020. Please refer to the goals that I just gave a quick overview that were established in November of 2019. Please note that due to COVID-19, the pandemic, on Friday, March 13, 2020, the Medford Public Schools closed and no longer offered in-person instruction for the remainder of the school year. This unexpected closure required all schools to develop an alternative instructional method, which no one was prepared for. The pandemic did in fact shift the way Medford Public Schools functioned, how teachers taught and how students learned. One of our first priorities was to redeploy all Chromebooks and get them into the hands of our students so that they could receive instruction. As a district, we hosted multiple Chromebook distribution days to get a device into the hands of our students. In addition, we found creative ways to get additional instructional supplies to our students in an effort to strengthen the connection between teachers and students. At the onset of the pandemic, the Medford Public Schools created the following documents to address temporary closure. we created the extended MPS closure K to five. We also created the extended MPS closure grades six to 12. The above documents were created because the guidance we received from my desi dictated that teachers should not teach any new content because of uneven distribution of resources across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In fact, the guidance stressed that all instruction should be enrichment only. Therefore, preliminary feedback about the extended closure documents commented on a lack of rigor. However, by the last week of March, collaborative work between the school and the association leadership began on our distance learning plan. This first plan was presented in early April to the school committee. Distance learning plan 1.0 was the first version. By mid-May, distance learning plan 2.0 was the final document that carried us until the end of the year. I also submitted a document detailing the chronology of events. In summary, school year 2019-2020 will be recorded by historians as the year of the pandemic, which demanded incredible flexibility on the part of all educational leaders. Life as we knew it would change as everyone's priorities shifted toward the safety and health of all. So under district improvement goals, the district strategic plan was presented to the school committee. And at that time it was accepted as a draft plan with the intent of continuing to work on the strategic plan to present a final plan. And so I did include the hyperlinks there to that document. Under student learning goal, our elementary math program, I talked about the superintendent has made a concerted effort to address elementary achievement in mathematics. And during year two, she's expanded the learning walks to include the entire district. She continues to partner with Lesley University and engages them in math learning walks. She is working closely with the math director and she has encouraged active engagement of the elementary math coaches. The math learning walks scaled up to include grades K through 12 district-wide, including the Curtis Tufts School. The walks expanded to include all administrators and school committee members to join and be part of the professional learning community that was establishing. There were hyperlinks in the schedule presented as well regarding the learning walk schedules and regarding the learning walk dates that had taken place during the 2019-2020 school year. According to the professional practice goal, the new superintendent induction program I successfully completed year two. I attended all of our sessions, both those that were in person until the pandemic and now continued for the remainder of that year, virtually once the pandemic hit. Dr. Carla Baer has come before the school committee and has provided leadership, coaching and support. The draft district strategic plan, again, was presented during year two of the NIFA plan, and it was presented to the school committee during the 2019-2020 school year. Under the standards set forth under instructional leadership, standard one, Evidence of practice. Standard one talks about the educational leader promotes the learning and growth of all students and success of all staff by cultivating a shared vision that makes powerful teaching and learning the central focus of schooling. The following supports as evidence of practice. School committee documentation for school year 2019-2020 Medford Public Schools blog and websites, math learning walks in collaboration with Lesley University, science learning walks, which took place as well, K to 12, MPS monthly administrative meetings, the work of CCSR, support of co-teaching and EL initiatives, adoption of illustrative math, and our new science curriculum FOSS being fully implemented. Please note that in addition to the math learning walks being scaled from elementary K to five to include K through 12, the science learning walks did take place for K-12 as well with Mr. Rocco Sierra as the work was being scaled up. Additionally, we had the intention of scaling up to the Humanities Learning Walks K-12. And unfortunately, with the timing of the pandemic, we were not able to start the formal Humanities Learning Walks K-12 because at that time, you know, the landscape was shifting and it was not able to take place because school was no longer, we were no longer having in-person instruction. Under Standard 2, management and operations promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff by ensuring a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment, using resources to implement appropriate curriculum staffing and scheduling. Again, as documentation, evidence of practice, school committee documentation for school year 1920, our online resources, our specific committee of the whole, subcommittee meetings, school committee meetings, executive session meetings, where we addressed management and operations. a transparent budget process, which were all individualized committee of the whole, meetings focused on budget, FOSS science curriculum implementation, illustrative math curriculum implementation at the middle school levels, CCSR initiatives, all schools being fully functional, all schools being fully staffed, MPS school schedules and calendars. Under indicator three, family, community, and engagement promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff through effective partnerships with families, community organizations, and other stakeholders that support the mission of the school district. Again, school committee documentation, our blogs, all levels participating in school events, our middle school lottery that, due to the pandemic, took place in an online fashion, as opposed to being in person at the library, which is how we did it in school year 2018-19, Medford Family Network events, reaching out to families in the community, participating in the Mayor's Roundtable, which addresses also social, emotional wellness, Additional CCSR initiatives, West Medford Community Center events, our senior awards nights, etc., which took place, including our high school graduation virtually, but they took place nonetheless, to be inclusive of our families. Additionally, under professional culture standard for promotes the success for all students by nurturing and sustaining a school culture of reflective practice high expectations and continuous learning for staff. Under professional culture. We have the math learning walks, the science learning walks, again, using the five core actions. Our formal back to school welcome for teachers and staff promoting a professional culture, district professional development days, our school committee retreat days with Dorothy Presser in December of 2019 and always being committed to promoting the Mustang way and Mustang pride at all opportunities. So I do wish to say that my core values when I came to Medford and they still exist are ACE, achievement for all, collaboration for all and equity for all. Although this was not the year that we expected it to be, I am proud to be working with such a committed group of individuals who still believe in our students' untapped potential. There is an old expression that rings true for me, out of adversity comes opportunity. The pandemic has changed us all and the Medford public schools have been able to capitalize on these unusual circumstances to strongly improve teaching and learning for all our students. We are making the necessary adjustments in real time to meet the needs of our entire school community. I thank you all in advance for your understanding and support during the second year of leading and learning in the Medford Public Schools. I look forward to our continued collaboration to advance the Medford Public Schools to higher heights. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Tonight you're doing my evaluation tonight. We have not scheduled a school committee a self-evaluation as of yet. We have not scheduled that yet.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was thinking it would be probably similar to what you did last time where everyone kind of gave their feedback or ask specific questions. And then you spoke with one another like across the table, even though I was there, it was kind of like, I was listening. I kind of just became a silent listener as you school committee members had a conversation about the standards and whatever notes were sent To me, we compiled them, and that's... Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If members, we do not have people that have access. Sorry, Maurice, you're breaking up.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm switching lines. Can you hear me better now? Okay, that's the 5G. That's a free commercial for Verizon. I just switched over. Sorry about that. So what I was saying was, For the school committee drive, that one is exclusively school committee members, if it's a drive that's going to be shared with people outside of, you know, the official, we probably would need to have it repeated in two places, so that the shared drive which is what school committee members that is exclusively only school committee members and then if we're going to do a shared a drive an open drive for for the public to be able to have access to that. It could be some of the same information. So it could still be under your Melanie McLaughlin at Medford email, but it would be separate so that we would know that particular drive has, it's open to the public so that there would be other emails. I just, you know, with, As it is, trying to keep district documents secure. Viruses do happen and bugs happen, that if it's going to be an open drive for anyone to have access to with any email, I think it should be separate.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Thank you. In one of my most recent communications, I shared that flexibility is something that we're going to need to be prepared. And so today was an example of being flexible as we encountered a little technical difficulty. um on our side here but I am so excited to be here this evening. I um this evening it's an opportunity for us the Medford Public Schools and my entire team to be able to respond to some of the questions that many of you put forward through um email communications and those of you who are going to be on live tonight sending questions to us We're very interested in responding to your questions. We want to let you know that we're excited for the start of the school year. I think it's critically important that I say, as we've always said in the past, that our priorities are safety, equity, and consistency, and we're going to continue to use those as our guiding pillars to do all the work that we're doing this evening. Because so many of you did send some questions through email, I would like to just recognize and start the top of the session saying that. But before I address some of the questions that were sent in and knowing that more questions are going to come forward, I do want to give each member of the team just an opportunity to say to you some of the pieces that they will be addressing today. So I'd like to start with Mr. Murphy, if you wouldn't mind sharing some of the pieces that you're going to be able to speak to, and we'll just go around the group and let everyone say a few pieces that we addressed over the course of this session right now. We're not hearing you at this moment, Mr. Murphy. So I will ask Ms. Bowen to just give us a few pieces that you will talk about over the course of this evening, and then we can have Dr. Cushing, and then we'll move back to Dean Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will turn the camera off and hopefully you'll be able to hear us without any problem. And if so, let us know and we'll try again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mustang Nation. Thank you for your patience. It was as if I prophesied when I talked about flexibility. We are incredibly flexible in the Medford Public Schools, and we will continue to exercise that flexibility. When there's a will, there's a way. Although you can't see me, I am going to try to just go through some of the questions that did come through that were sent in to us at the info at Medford. k12.ma.us email. Eileen Moncel sent an email. This question asking us about what happens when a student tests positive. We do have, they were asking what's the process going to be regarding quarantine and close contacts. And what I can say is, what you said a little earlier, we will continue to work very, very closely with the Department of Public Health Our director of nursing, Ms. Avery Hines will also be guiding us and giving us medical guidance and direction in terms of what is needed. And so the second part of the email was what will happen if a student is missing school since there isn't a remote option. And so, yes, the commissioner has said the goal this year is to really try to get back to normalcy and have all students in school. So there is not a remote option available. If a student is sick, or needs to quarantine for a short period of time, work will be made available for that student. And it will definitely be documented as an excused absence, because we'll know the cause of that absence. And we will work collaboratively with the teachers in order to address the needs of the student. I was going to say if either Ms. Joan Bowen or Ms. Galusi wanted to give other examples about what would happen with school work because we would be following essentially the home and hospital expectations or programming.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for those responses. I was going to move to a second email from Jessica Healy, where she asked questions about the DESI mask mandate that she was asking about air conditioning and asking about now that the mask mandate has been delivered by DESE until October, will we be following those guidelines and their recommendations? And then she said, will we discontinue use when they see students, when DESE says that students may remove them, or will we, Medford Public Schools be implementing our own mask mandate? So we will be following guidance from the CDC from DESE and from our own local Department of Health. And we will continue to monitor our progress. It's too early right now to predict what's going to be happening in October. But what we are doing, which was mentioned earlier, is we will be testing. We will do the pool testing consistently on a weekly basis. We also have the option to provide rapid testing if a student were to potentially show symptoms during the day. And again, we're very proud of the strategies and all of the mitigation strategies that we used last year, which were best practices, which were being replicated in other places. We're going to continue to use those best practices and get solid medical guidance working collaboratively with our board of health in order to guide our community and what happens in the Medford public schools. But I just wanna assure you and assure the entire community that we are prioritizing the safety and health of all of our students and all of our staff. So I wanted to make mention of that. There was another email that came in from Jessica Revecchio, and she was talking about Massachusetts general law chapter 69, which talks about under that particular law, that it's a description of what is allowed. And she was talking in regards to the mass mandates and the vaccines. I just want to take this opportunity to say that tomorrow between 3 and 7 PM, The city of Medford will be hosting a vaccine clinic at the farmer's market next to the Condon Shell between 3 and 7 p.m. So students that are of age, staff community members, please take advantage of that opportunity. And again, Medford Public Schools will be offering, in collaboration with the Board of Health, we will be offering additional vaccine clinics in order to increase those numbers and continue to keep our community safe. There were questions – she had questions about lunch and about cafeteria, asking whether windows would be open when possible. Would the windows be open or doors open during gymnasium classes? And the answer is yes. Windows will be open whenever possible. We also have a significant amount of HEPA filters, and I am going to let Mr. Murphy talk about all of the good practices that we have here in Medford that we're going to continue to use to keep our entire community safe, whether it's in the cafeteria, whether it's in the gymnasium, whether it's in an auditorium, whether it's in a classroom, the best practices that we're going to employ.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Murphy. I received an email from Steve Reif and he had two COVID related questions. So there was a theme that did start to surface. One was, do we know how many teachers and staff have already been vaccinated? And his second question was, is vaccination going to be mandated for teachers, staff, and eligible students now that the FDA has approved the Pfizer vaccine? And along the same vein of Steve Reif's question, we had an email from Jean Zotter as well. And her question was, will Medford public schools consider requiring vaccination of faculty, staff and eligible students, those who are 12 and older? Will we require other vaccinations for students to attend school? It seems that a vaccine requirement would help reduce the spread of COVID in our community. And she said, obviously those who are immunocompromised or have other relevant reason for not vaccinating should be exempt. So there was a theme that was surfacing around vaccination. And so we're going to be providing opportunities for that. We are still in the process of gathering specific vaccination numbers. Our approximate numbers right now for middle and high school are less than I would say probably half of the school. So we're waiting for data to come in. And I have heard some parents say that their children have been vaccinated over the summer. And so when school resumes next week, we are asking families to send proof of vaccination. that will go, um, attention to the director of health services or the school based nurse. And so that data will be, um, logged. So as of right now, I do not have, um, an exact number to say what percentage of faculty and students have been vaccinated, but we are in the process again, based on the agreement that we have right now with the teachers association, we will be gathering that data like in the next few weeks. So we will be reporting out specific numbers in the coming weeks once school kind of gets up and running. I asked for a little bit of patience, but we, I think we will have some positive numbers. I am optimistic. And I do feel that a lot of people are going to get vaccinated and we, the district will be providing opportunities in the coming months for students, staff as well. There was a email from Melinda O'Brien who was asking specifically about is pooled testing mandatory? And so I am going to pass that pooled testing question to Mr. Murphy.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Mr. Murphy. There was another email from Emma Heffern, Emma B. Heffern. And she was asking about what are the plans for breakfast, snack, lunches at the elementary school levels? And would there be opportunities for students to be outside And she's asking, if so, can we explain why, you know, that hasn't been publicly said, or what is the game plan for that? And then she said, she was also asking about when a student class or school, when quarantining needs to take place from positive exposure. And again, a lot of these specifics around quarantining and what will happen, we will be listening to the guidance from CDC, from the board of health, because there are different rules and expectations for someone who might've been vaccinated versus someone who has not been vaccinated and who needs to be monitored and who needs to officially quarantine and for the amount of time. Emma also asked, she asked about hybrid and remote. And again, as I said, the commissioner has been very clear, remote instruction is not an option this year. And she asks one question, what is the plan for families whose parents refuse to comply with the mask mandate? And so, Emma, what we can say is that we will try to meet, talk one-on-one with families that may decide to refuse to comply with the mask mandate. We know that there are a few, very, very few isolated examples due to medical concerns for some students, but our expectation is that we all work together collaboratively as a community and support one another. Safety and health of all of our students and staff is our highest priority. And so we will try to talk to those families and parents who at this point in time may be saying that they refuse to comply. As we are a public institution and not a private institution, we are not able to exclude anyone from public education. And so I don't know if Ms. Galusi or Ms. Bowen would like to respond to any of those questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Ms. Galusi. Dr. Cushing, are there any key pieces that you think specific to the secondary levels that you would like to share with our listening audience?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And, um, Ms. Bowen, I didn't know if there was any, uh, other key updates you would like to say in regards to special education.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Suzanne, Ms. Galusi, any other elementary related remarks?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Cushing. And Avery Hines, our director of nursing, I was just wondering if you could say a few words about the importance of the consent forms for our important testing program.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: go be really helpful. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. I know that we are at one hour. The time is 809. I want to say thank you to everyone out there who joined this call today. Thank you for your flexibility. I'm going to dare try turning my camera back on for the last few seconds. But I want to just say to you, we are so excited. The team is excited. Mr. Murphy and I are here in the space together. We are excited for the start of school next Tuesday for our students, Monday for the return of all of our teachers and paraprofessionals and all of our staff that are coming back for the start of the school year. Again, thank you. Thank you to all of you. Thank you to the school committee, Medford School Committee for your continued support and guidance throughout this entire process. And thank you to all of you who submitted questions either through the email or through the chat system. Thank you again for joining us this Wednesday. I hope to hear good news that many of you take advantage of tomorrow's vaccination clinic at the Farmer's Market. And we will see you next week. Have a good evening, everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Kind request. Could you just make the font maybe 125 or 150, just so it will appear a little larger?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, it just moved, I think, to the right. And if you could slide back to the left, we could see it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Maybe because I asked you to enlarge it, but yeah.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I see that I'm gonna, um, see if we can get him on the call. Thank you. I'm gonna work right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, I believe you're close. I know it's for October. Definitely. In, um, the first meeting of April, uh, we have to do it twice to Desi. I can confirm, uh, the dates I'd prefer to confirm the specific date with Kim miles, but, um, to present it in April, that sounds about right.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe we can one of our members.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and they're done annually as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that is correct. And there are tweaks and adjustments made, for example, if a bullying policy or something else may be added or adjusted, such as the discipline adjustments that we made for next school year. So those kinds of changes would be added to the handbook. And so the presentation of changes or other, you know, technical changes would be presented as a report. And I think for the purpose of people being able to easily identify, maybe we can highlight the sections that were either added or deleted from the previous version, just to make it easier to see the modifications that were made.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We normally present it in March. I know it's something that has been past practice, but it gives a explanation and like a catalog, an overview of all the professional development that took place over the course of the year. Thank you, ma'am.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: like to kindly counter with what you just explained to say, because we have the actual professional development session spread out, you know, in the fall, then the last actual PD that takes place is in March, to give an update in terms of what happened that year. And then either, you know, September, say this is the trajectory of what will be presented for the following school year. And so you can see what's coming down the pike. And then at the end of the year, late spring here, how, how it went, et cetera. Two different, two different asks. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely, for the additional professional development, with any CPAC course offerings, I would definitely be willing to present that data and say how many staff we've had taking advantage of this additional professional development.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Excuse me, can someone tell me what WIDA is?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's the ELL testing right now. Give me a second and I'll get the actual, it's the equivalent of the MCAS, the WIDA exam, access WIDA testing for our ELL students from DESE. So it's a much larger, this year they gave a longer testing window and it assesses their speaking and It will provide their ELV levels. It impacts how students move through the English language development levels.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's where the EKL came from. Thank you. I was just saying to myself, I think it's PTO as well. I don't know what the other letters mean for. Thank you for that. Got it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is classic.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The legal notice has to be officially posted in advance, 14 days in advance. So that's like the law. So we had to push back a budget meeting once because we weren't able to get to the 14 days. So now we have it down. So we're making sure we're posting it well ahead of the deadline.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um. We'll definitely get the stationary to you. But for the purposes of today, we'll have between Susie and Lisa will have, you know, backup in terms of recording that information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. Happy New Year. It is my hope that 2021 will bring with it much happiness and good health for all in our Mustang family and the Medford community at large. However, the year didn't exactly begin as we had expected. It started promising with the arrival of the vaccine, but no matter what your political leaning, the events that transpired last Wednesday at the United States Capitol was a horrendous show of the very worst of America. I am, as the majority of people in our country, a child of immigrants. My parents immigrated here from Haiti in the early 1960s. This type of action, what transpired last Wednesday, I would always say to myself, does not happen here. For the first time ever, the Confederate flag entered the United States Capitol building, the seat of our government. Our democracy, which has always been the shining star in the world, was damaged. It was scary, unsettling, and it once again shed light on both the fragility of our democracy while also bringing to the forefront the inequality in our country. As Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stated, it is just one example of blatant social inequity in the United States. Additionally, we have known for generations that much has to be done to create a more just, equitable, and unified society. The Medford Public Schools, we are committed to engaging in conversations that will promote understanding across lines of division. We will support our students and teach them to be leaders against hate while working aggressively to address racist beliefs, practices, and systems. Next week would have been the 92nd birthday of Dr. King. January 15th is his official birthday and we're celebrating it on the 18th. Dr. King said, we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. I believe that it is imperative during this time of heightened stress and anxiety that we provide the structure and support that our children require right here. Unfortunately, as all of us know, we are facing a surge with the COVID-19 cases, even here in Medford. We're aware that there's an uptick and we are working diligently to prepare for the safe return of hybrid staff and students when they come back to our buildings on Thursday, January 14th. We are continuing with all of our safety protocols to allow for this to happen. To that end, I again encourage all hybrid students to come to their schools for testing prior to their return to in-person learning. I've stated in many updates and commercials and in the communications that have gone out, if you have not completed a consent form, please do so. You can email it, you can drop it off at the school. Testing is going to take place tomorrow from 1 to 5 p.m. That's for all staff and students in cohorts A and C. And again, on Friday, from 1 to 5 p.m., we're going to test all students in Cohort B. For our incoming freshmen, testing can be accessed through the West Courtyard entrance. For our freshmen, their first time coming to the Medford High School Complex, there will be a freshman orientation this Wednesday, January 13th for ninth grade, and a detailed schedule was sent out to all students from Mr. Principal Paul DeLeva, And although the focus will be on cohort B and C students, we welcome cohorts A and D students to participate in the freshman orientation. Principal DeLava and Principal Fallon will welcome all the students, discuss COVID safety protocols, student schedules, and conduct socially distanced tours throughout the building. On a different note, I wanna remind our parents and guardians that students who qualify for free and reduced lunch under the National School Lunch Program, whether you are hybrid or fully remote, please know that the P-EBT funds are available to you until the end of this school year. For those who might have questions about this assistance, please contact the Department of Transitional Assistance at 877-382-2363. That's 877-382-2363. Last week, on Thursday, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Principal DeLeva, Dr. Riccadeli and I had the pleasure of welcoming Mr. Adamo Castellanuevo, Director of the Consul General of Italy's Education Office to the Medford High School. Mr. Castelnuovo presented the mayor with a check in the amount of $24,000 US euros. It was 29,477 euros. Last June, Dr. Riccadeli, who oversees the World Language Department, worked with lead teacher Vilma Bobo, who was fluent in Italian, to submit a grant application for direct funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs connected to the Consulate General of Italy. Medford was selected to receive the highest funding amount of any school district in the entire country, based upon our strong support of our district-wide Italian language program. We are so appreciative and extend our sincere thanks to Federica Serrini, the Consul General of Italy, Director Castelnuovo, and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their generous support of Medford's language program. As Dr. Riccardelli reported to you at the last meeting, the funds will be used to defray the cost of the advanced placement Italian program at the high school level for school year 2020-2021. In addition, last month, Tufts University Office of Community Relations hosted a holiday charity raffle. Residents were asked via Facebook, the Tufts Facebook page, to nominate a nonprofit organization to win a $500 prize. The nonprofit that had the most nominations in Medford was the Medford Family Network. Congratulations to our own Marie Cassidy and her staff. who have continued despite COVID to provide important services to our families. And thank you to Tufts University for providing this wonderful donation to Medford Family Network. Thank you for all of you who voted for the network as well, Medford Family Network. Last Thursday, Our district attorney, Marion Ryan, invited me to take part in a professional development training for incoming assistant district attorneys that focused on the effect of school discipline on black girls. Joining me on the panel was Melanie Rush from the Appleseed Center, who discussed the study they completed highlighting the disproportionate impact of school discipline on black girls. Superintendent Christine Elow of the Cambridge Police Department, who discussed the importance of establishing connections between students and the police. Dr. Yvonne Spicer, Mayor of Framingham, who was also an educator, and she discussed how our different educational roles have assisted her in her new role as a Chief Executive Officer of her city. I discussed the importance of inclusivity and equity here at the Medford Public Schools. It was wonderful to have been asked to participate in this important and substantial conversation with the young assistant district attorneys of Middlesex County. Just prior to our winter break, DA Ryan also hosted the first virtual Cut It Out program with the vocational cosmetology and health assisting students. We appreciate the continued collaboration we have with our district attorney's office. Despite COVID, our CCSR students continue to find ways to improve our community. Nathan Quinn and Charlotte Foti, sixth graders at the McGlynn and Abigail Charlton, a sixth grader at the Andrews. noticed that the majority of the little free libraries around the city featured books for an older audience. So they held a book drive for middle school age students collecting a remarkable 249 books. They have distributed the books to the little free libraries around Medford and plan to continue to do so over the next months. Great job, Nathan, Charlotte, and Abigail. Thank you for your advocacy and your leadership and replenishing the book supplies and the little libraries to encourage reading during this COVID time. So congratulations to you and thank you so much. I would like to close my remarks this evening with a quote from President Abraham Lincoln. It's from his first inaugural address given back in 1861 and rings true, especially after last Wednesday's riots. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not become, we must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. Let us all please remember that, united we stand, divided we fall. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Awesome, thank you. Dr. Edward-Vincent? Yes, I just wanted to take this moment also to thank you, the school committee, for your support during this entire journey because we were kind of one of the districts that was the first one out of the gate. So thanking you for your leadership with that. We have been kind of quietly tapped on the shoulder by Desi, which Mr. Murphy alluded to. Tomorrow we will be part of a webinar with other districts. talking about the work that we have been doing here in Medford and how it's working for us to be able to help other districts think differently and how were we able to do it because it was a tremendous feat. And so just in this moment, I want to thank our nursing supervisor, Toni Wray. It's seven days a week. I get texts over the weekend. Maryann O'Connor texting me as well from the Board of Health on the city side. And, you know, Mr. Murphy and his team, this was, no one thought that this would be such a huge task and undertaking, but we prioritize safety, equity, and consistency, and testing fell under the bucket. And so we're continuing to prioritize that to the best of our ability. So I just want to thank you, the school committee, the mayor, the city side for their support of paying for the testing the partnership with Tufts, but really I just want to say thank you because now the other districts that have found themselves with no choice but to have to shut down or no way to contact trace. They did not have a system in place to remain open. So I just wanted to let you know that we are doing what very, very few districts have been able to do. And they're now asking us to share what we've learned, our best practices to help other districts strategize and be able to come up with it, come up with something for their respective communities. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been helping with the testing and keeping our community safe.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening again. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to meet with our Racial Equity Task Force And I wanted to read my report this evening and share the work that we have been doing. I think now more than ever, in light of all of the challenges that we are facing both, I think as a nation, the challenges that we're dealing with, meeting with the Racial Equity Task Force, and the exercises that we participated in today and just sharing the different thoughts, different perspectives on the events of last week. It was really gratifying, a gratifying experience to see how we were able to come together, students, parents, and administrators, staff who are part of the Racial Equity Task Force. I am going to read the report that I submitted. During the summer of 2020, the Medford Public Schools put out a call for applications for constituents to serve as members of a racial equity task force. A diverse selection committee selected the members of the task force from the more than 80 applications we received. Our goal was to develop a strategic and coordinated approach to address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Medford Public Schools. This summer, the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color sparked nationwide conversations about race, equity, and the experiences of people of color across the United States. These events reignited a national outcry for justice. This national outcry was further amplified through the voices of our own Medford students who took to social media to list their experiences as students of color As we expressed throughout the summer, the Medford Public Schools is committed to creating and sustaining an anti-racist district community and ensuring an equitable, excellent education for all of our students. This Racial Equity Task Force has been tasked to explore all available resources and options to improve the culture and climate for all of our students and school community. The voices and ideas of our community members who serve as members of this task force are essential to improving the staff and student experience. The Medford Public Schools Racial Equity Task Force has been empowered to research, examine, and make recommendations to create an anti-racist, equitable, and socially just school district for our students. The Racial Equity Task Force is currently meeting every two weeks with a current time expectation of three hours a month. We are presently exploring a district-wide equity audit. The Racial Equity Task Force has met with a consultant who provided insight into conducting an audit in pieces so it was manageable to digest and understand the information. Beyond an equity audit, the task force will be examining the following topics, staff recruitment, hiring and retention, curriculum revisions, professional development, and student disciplinary practices. The task force members are a collaborative of students, faculty, parents, administrators, and city staff who serve as volunteers to assist our efforts. I am on the task force. Sophia Jean, Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, Ms. Jodi Lu, Ms. Sharose Walker, Dr. Nicole Chiesa, Ms. Stacey Schulman, Dr. Peter Cushing, Ms. Susanna Campbell, Leticia Rocha, Sophia Hernandez, Noah Brew, Sidonie Pierce, Paulette Doiley, Karen Chen, Beth Myers, Michelle Godfrey, Elizabeth Baez, Kaya Dios-Golden, Tope Fadaran, Christina Dios, William Barbarino, Liza Lopes, Alexandra Watkins, and Grace Caldera. Those are the people who are meeting with us twice a month, dedicating their time, giving their energy, writing the joint report, contributing to that, and continuing to help us as a district look at all of the things that I listed to improve and become a better Medford Public Schools. And so I wanted to formally just present that report to you and let you know that we will be working on a press release later in the week, but that the entire task force is committed and working very hard to improve our district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Today we met with approximately 15. Let me look.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the attendance sometimes there are conflicts. So sometimes different members have stated that they can't make a particular meeting. But the people that we have listed were people who attended different meetings. So if they weren't at today's meeting today, I believe it was about approximately 15 people who participated in today's meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, certainly. We meet on Mondays. So we met today, we'll be meeting again on the 25th of January. We normally meet at 2.45 p.m. so that the students finish their classes and are able to jump on and join the call. And so we meet for about an hour to an hour and a half consistently at 2.45.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. I mean, we haven't written, we're going to take from the report to write that piece, but we wanted to at least present formally to the school committee what has the task force been doing? What have we been working on? And so, you know, what are the discussions that we've had, you know, articles, pieces that they're reading and everyone speaks, the students talk, the parents. It's not one sided. Everyone has an opportunity to kind of weigh in and kind of share their thoughts and opinions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Member Graham.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the equity audit, we had one consultant already present to the task force about what are the pieces of data. So we have actually been speaking with different or looking at different vendors to say how could we So it's when the task force met and said, this would be something that we would like to have about the schools and about the district. And so we're in the process of trying to look at what would the final equity audit look like where we're on COVID time right now. That's one of the things that we talked about that it's not a traditional school year. So this would most likely be something that we would be looking at hopefully for next school year, but trying to lay down the foundational pieces. So for the equity audit, looking at data, one of the people who spoke with us talked about like looking at our current data, looking at discipline data, looking at data that already exists within schools, and then eventually being able to come in and look at schools and maybe conduct some maybe targeted groups where they could talk with different members of a school building, staff or administrators and students. So it would be something that would be more elaborate, but it is one of the tasks that they have asked that we could do to be able to produce that information about the district. So it is not, we don't have a date for an equity audit. per se, it's just, this is one of the things that the team has expressed, they would love to be able to have baseline data on where the district is. And one of the ways to get that baseline data would be to do an equity audit, but they understand we're on COVID schedules, so we're really not trying to have too many other people come into the buildings right now, limiting outside, exposure. But another task has been professional development. And with the task of asking about professional development, know we have been looking at additional ways to supplement professional development for both indoor workshops for both staff and administration and so those opportunities we have definitely followed up on and that's another charge that the task force has asked that we, you know, we do, not just saying that we're going to do it, but that we actually do it. And so on January 20th, we will have a cultural proficiency workshop for all staff, close to 500 members, a two-hour workshop on Wednesday, January 20th. And between February 23rd And April 27th, administrators have an opportunity to participate in 10 hours of professional development titled the Racial Ethnic Identity Development and Practice. It's five two-hour sessions and several administrators have already signed up for that. So just again, demonstrating and showing that this is something that we're committed to we're committed to as a district. So that's kind of, so I don't have anything specific for you right now regarding an actual equity audit, because we don't have an equity audit taking place, but that is one of the charges that they would like for us to be able to have for the district.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, not internal, definitely external.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what we will be looking at is how to find ways to integrate and supplement the existing curriculum, because we still have to follow the curriculum and state standards. But we are looking at that. Dr. Chiesa and Dr. Riccadeli, they both are also on the task force. That is something that is, you know, everyone as a district, the directors are looking at ways to supplement our existing curricula. So that is something that hopefully, um, as we continue to meet and look at additional resources, how that can be added to what our portfolio of offerings is right now. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think one of the things that we've learned if anything, especially this year is the importance and the power of communication and trying to communicate and reach out to families, and being intentional about translation services. and reaching out to those that may not get it in the simple, you know, whatever form of communication that we do to try to be more inclusive. I think this is a good opportunity. I know it's highly competitive, but what we can do is definitely throw our hat in and know, give it a try. So I will definitely try to jump on the webinar tomorrow and see if I can have a few members of the team jump on the webinar just to hear how they really explain it and what is it that districts will end up receiving if they are chosen to be part of this initiative. It might come with funding or it might come with just some very interesting strategies that we haven't thought about. So I definitely am willing to at least go to the webinar or participate in it and see if there's something we can do continue to increase parental involvement and engagement in Metro Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. That's a good point for persuasive writing. Incorporate that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we do. I was gonna acknowledge them in the remarks, but I will say thank you. We have Boy Scout Troop 416, who's joining us tonight. They are working on their communication merit badge. I wanna thank member McLaughlin for inviting them this evening as well. They are a big part of, or a major part of being a scout is learning about how government works. Currently, Troop 416 is running the micro pantry in Haines Square and working with the city to produce some fitness videos. So I want to say welcome to Boy Scout Troop 416. We're so happy to have you with us this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and I send a very warm welcome to Mr. Brian Buck. And I wanna thank member Van der Kloot as well for her introduction and letting us have this great opportunity. Medford Public Schools will be benefiting greatly, but I want you to do your presentation this evening, Mr. Buck. So thank you for joining us this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening, everyone. And I would just like to once again, thank our Boy Scout Troop 416 for being with us this evening. Tonight is the winter solstice, which means it is our shortest day and our longest night. However, it also means that going forward, the days will begin to grow longer. Our winter solstice. I also would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all of our MPS staff members who have responded so well to our latest weather related challenges. On Friday, our educators pivoted to remote only instruction in yet another example of the flexibility we are capable of showing when our children's education is dependent upon it. Meanwhile, our custodians, along with our partners in the city's Department of Public Works, worked around the clock to make sure our school buildings were ready for students and staff to return today. So thank you to our Mustang Nation, our staff, and all the hard work and our partners at the city with DPW helping us to get ready for school today. I do wanna announce that this week we have school today, tomorrow, and we will have a half day of remote instruction on Wednesday. And at that time, after our half day on Wednesday, we will begin our much, much needed rest and holiday recess. The holiday break will last until Monday, January 4th, when instruction begins anew. As we announced on Friday, when school resumes for all MPS students on January 4th, it will be by remote instruction. Similar to many other districts, we are beginning the new year in full remote mode in anticipation of additional surges in virus transmission, as we have seen both locally and nationally coming out of other holidays. We will resume in-person instruction for all students on Thursday, January 14th. Earlier that week, most likely on January 12th, we will hold COVID-19 testing for students in cohorts A and C and all MPS staff. All of this will be detailed in our public health update later tonight. We are working to ensure that all students and staff have the opportunity to get tested prior to returning to school buildings. And a more detailed testing schedule will come out as we get closer to the exact dates. Please note that due to public health considerations that led to this decision to push back in-person instruction, this slight delay does include cohort A students, our high need, most vulnerable students. So I just want to be clear about that piece. So in a recap, school will resume after the holiday recess on Monday, January 4th for all students. On January 12th, we will hold testing for students in cohorts A and C, as well as all staff. There will be additional testing days as well. In-person instruction will begin on Thursday, January 14th for cohorts A and C and On January 15, we will have testing for cohort B students who will resume in-person instruction on January 19. We also will be sending an update out a little later that we will be holding freshmen orientation that week as well, so that freshmen will have an opportunity to be introduced to the building and get acclimated. So that date is to be determined, but we will send out a communication regarding that. So as of now, when in-person instruction begins on January 14th, it will be for students in all grades. That includes ninth grade, 10th grade, and 11th grade of Medford High School, who have been waiting so patiently to return to school all year. So what I just talked about, or as I just mentioned, we have been working very, very diligently on safety. When we began this journey, we talked about our three guiding pillars of safety, equity, and consistency. I want to address how some of those guiding pillars have been met to date. So under the area of safety, we have upgraded our HVAC systems. We've socially distanced our classrooms. We've provided hand sanitizer throughout our buildings and required that all students and staff wear masks. These safety measures allowed us to welcome our students and teachers back, but we did so gradually following the health metrics. We have been consistent in our messaging to our families and in providing education to our students, whether remote or hybrid. As for equity, this is an extremely important part of our goals. With assistance from the grants and the CARES monies, we were able to purchase enough Chromebooks and hotspots so all students had access. However, during this pandemic, we also witnessed the tragic death of George Floyd, which spurred some peaceful protests and also some rioting. Despite pledges of reform, incidents similar to what happened to Mr. Floyd continues, continue to happen, and this is quite shocking. The Medford Public Schools, we are committed to racial equity, and to that end, we established the Racial Equity Task Force, made up of students, staff, teachers, parents, administrators, community, The racial equity task force has been meeting consistently every other week. We have a goal of wanting to improve culture and climate and race, bring about racial awareness in the Medford public schools throughout the entire district. The task force is looking to partner with members of our community, agencies and nonprofit organizations to help offer professional development for teachers, for staff, and eventually for community. And things for our students as well. These are our larger overarching goals. Additionally, a few task force members are also serving on Middlesex District Attorney Marion Ryan's Anti-Racial Antibias Task Force, which she established in October of this year. Back in 1965, Dr. King stated, our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 55 years have passed since then, and our country continues to grapple with these issues. People of color need to feel welcomed, considered, and cared for in our district. This is difficult and uncomfortable work, but it is work that needs to be done. For change to happen, we all must be committed to it. In the new year, I will discuss more in depth about the Racial Equity Task Force, the members that are on it, but I wanted to just give you a brief overview tonight. And I wanna thank all of the members of the Racial Equity Task Force that have been meeting every other week consistently. So I thank you for your sacrifice of time and your commitment to helping us improve the Medford Public Schools. On a different note now, I would like to just highlight some other pieces of things that are happening within the district. For those of you who are getting ready for the holiday season, tomorrow, between the hours of 11 and 2 p.m., our school store at the high school will be open So the Medford Vocational Technical High School's marketing program will be open. The Mustang Mall is open tomorrow between 11 and two. For any of you who wanna come by the school, pop in to just grab a holiday item, 11 and two o'clock tomorrow. We will monitor closely how many people want to come in at the same time. You may need to wait in the lobby, but we will do it safely. So I'm extending that invitation. to all of you. Also, I wanted to share some very, very good news. According to Principal Paul DeLeva and Assistant Principal David Blauk, over $550 was raised for gift cards for our most vulnerable students and our students in need during this holiday season. It started with a random donation forwarded to Mr. Blauk, and he contacted the PTO to see if they wanted to assist. President Celia Lee donated funds and looked to the community for donations. Within two days, the PTO had over $400 in gift cards and donations towards gift cards. So altogether, Mr. Blouk will be able to distribute $550 in gift cards to those in need. Additionally, I wanna highlight our Medford Family Network, The Medford Family Network, if you weren't aware, today they were highlighted on the news, but our director, Marie Cassidy, she is coordinating along with her entire team, donations, which included clothing, gift certificates, toys, books, toiletries, and so much more. Things that are needed for the cold weather, hats, mittens, boots. And so with the support, all of these people that I'm gonna mention who have supported our Medford Family Network, Mayor Lungo-Koehn and the Wonder Fund, the community at large, Ms. Hennessey from the McGlynn School, the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis, the Firefighters Union, Gilbane Architects, Greenline Extension, Former Mayor McGlynn, Six Acres Preschool, Grace Works Daycare Center, Sanctuary UCC Church, Teamsters Local 25, Medford Police Department, staff and the Medford public schools. What really warmed my heart today was hearing that former recipients made donations as well as grandparents of many of the MFN children. Medford is truly a very special community that always assists those in need. This outpouring of support during a pandemic is just so very special and is really beyond words. It exemplifies the true meaning of the holiday season. I just want to quickly share this picture with you. I'm going to just quickly share it. Sorry. These are just two quick shots from the Medford Family Network today. If you think this is a lot of toys, this is our wonderful Marie Cassidy with our assistant principal of the high school, a new addition, Ms. Charose Walker. She was downstairs visiting the Medford Family Network. This is the room full of donations. And here is another picture of just more donations. The outpouring from all of our community partners who went above and beyond to try to make this holiday season a special season. I myself had the opportunity to be at the Medford Family Network today. And I was there with Officer Hartnett and his family. And many of our police officers donated gifts. And I just wanna thank the entire community for their overwhelming support in giving back. So thank you to all of you. I do want anyone who's watching or our listening audience, if you are, if not you or you know a family in need, please have them reach out and call our Medford Family Network. We have a lot of toys that people will be coming in to pick up, but we have toys that range from zero years old, zero to, You know, I would say elementary age and there are actually a few that that I think could could make it into the middle school range, but if you have a need. That is a wonderful, wonderful resource and they will be open all day tomorrow, probably from about eight to four and on Wednesday as well. So if you're able to call the Medford Family Network and go over there and see if you can get something for a family in need. I also would like to just take this quick moment to congratulate Patrick Gordon. He is our manager of Medford's Community Media Network, who recently received the overall excellence award for community media for the Northeast region. Patrick is so wonderful to work with and is a complete professional. He is a great addition to our community. Keep up the good work, Patrick. Your award is well-deserved. Congratulations. I just want to say, in 1850, Jingle Bells was written in Medford by Mr. James Pierpont. He wrote the song based on the slave races he witnessed that took place on Salem Street in the early 1800s. It remains one of the most popular Christmas songs in the country. And I would venture to say nationally and internationally because it is such a great song. And I am wearing my bells today. So yesterday was National Wreaths Across America Day, a day to remember and honor our fallen veterans during the holiday season. Originally, this annual effort was canceled due to COVID. However, the Army Secretary reversed that order and the wreaths were able to be laid at Arlington National Cemetery and numerous other national cemeteries across the country. In closing, with this being our last school committee meeting prior to the holiday break, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere best wishes to all of you who celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, and a happy new year. Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but an ethnic and cultural event that is celebrated December 26th through January 1st. It is based on African Harvest Festival traditions. Although our celebrations will not look like years past. My hope is that you can enjoy it with your immediate household, as well as celebrated virtually with family and friends. As the new year begins. It brings with it the realization that a vaccine is going to be coming in the future, and that will help all of us eventually get back to our normal lives. Until then, please be well, stay safe, and don't gather in large groups. Wear your mask, and in the words of Tiny Tim from Dickens, A Christmas Carol, God bless us, everyone. So I want to just share those are my remarks and I have a very, very special presentation for the school committee and for the listening audience. Normally, under normal conditions, we would have been in for a special, special musical treat from our high school orchestra. However, However, with COVID, we're on a slightly different schedule. And since we're on a slightly different schedule, we have no choice but to listen to a very, very short clip. It's only six minutes and 42 seconds long. This is our Medford High School Orchestra. I'm going to play it for you. And I wanna recognize our teacher, Ms. Emma Baptist. who will be able to speak once the performance plays. But I want you to see the hard work of our orchestra students despite the COVID virus. It warmed my heart and I want this presentation to warm yours as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to thank our wonderful orchestra. And I want to thank Ms. Emma Baptist. She is on. In order to pull that off, I mean, it sounds wonderful. I almost felt like I was there. But to imagine every student being at their own home, in their own bedroom, or living room, wherever they were at, to combine all of that talent was hours and hours and hours of work. That short six-minute video clip that we saw, Miss Emma Baptist spent a little over 30 hours to just give us six minutes, a six-minute concert. And so I just want to thank you and thank all of the chorus members and Ms. Baptist, I would love for you to just say a word or two or for us to just be able to thank you for the great work that you're doing with the kids. Oops, you're on mute. Let's see if I can find you. I'm trying, yep.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Member McLaughlin, and I am definitely open to trying to put up a structure, whether it's a support group or something more formal for remote families. I don't want the Medford Public Schools community to feel that whether you're in Cohort D, and that you're not part of the Medford Public Schools community. I see us as one large community. My own family, my sister, my niece and nephew, they are part of the remote cohort, Cohort D. Yes, they do have access to Auntie, so they get to talk to me in person, but I am saying that I do not I am not intentionally trying to have anyone feel excluded or not valued. That definitely is not my intention. So I'm definitely open to trying to come up with intentional ways to have remote families connect or feel connected somehow. And so I'm definitely willing to work on that. To your other comment, about the seniors being back and just seeing more bodies at the high school and just seeing their happiness. Again, I, you know, interacted with them. They truly are appreciative of being back on campus. They know they're graduating at the end of the year and this is their last their last hurrah before they go out into the big bad world, whether it's college or career or military. And so I appreciate that feedback. I know that I'm not going to be able to please everyone, but I will just know that I'm going to continue to try my best for all, you know, for all of Medford public schools. And I will make, definitely make an intentional, an intentional reach out to our remote families. So I thank you for the feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanted to share, good evening committee members. I did want to share that I did have the opportunity to work with both Principal DeLaver and Principal Fallon. And as we were thinking and preparing for today's committee of the whole, we were kind of envisioning structure. It's a separate slide deck, but I would love the opportunity to be able to just share some of the thinking based on what different members have said this evening about how we need to think more broadly. but also to say like these are some of the other possibilities that we've been thinking about. The first slide deck that was presented was kind of, you know, in the absence of us not being able to, you know, meet in large groups and go on tours, it would really be wonderful for everyone to see the work that's happening, especially in Cosmo where it's like happening right now and it's just exciting to see the floors and everything feels new and you feel like it's HDTV and they should be videotaping everything that's happening. But I would love to be able to share this second deck with you which was our thinking about the vision, the vision planning, Dr. Cushing was involved as well, but this is more of a structured way. But for those of you who like to kind of see it as a structure, this is a little more formal, but this is just a proposal. So it's in draft form, but this was kind of our best thinking as a team. And thank you, Dr. Cushing, for starting the slide. And I know since we're in this format, similar to what was said, In October of 19, I was new, just coming on board. At that time, Mr. DeLava spoke to this, that we announced an official process for this master vision plan and how do we see Medford Public Schools evolving and changing. And at that point in time, we also looked at our vocational programming, which is definitely playing an integral role envisioning. And as you could see with all the programs that are being updated and enhanced and, you know, these are additional opportunities for our students, I truly, truly feel like there is such untapped potential on the vocational side of the house. And you can proceed to the next slide, Dr. Cushing. There's such potential and we are talking about how can we maximize the potential of the vocational side of the house for the entire comprehensive school community. And start thinking outside of the box, start thinking innovatively and saying, how could Medford High School, our flagship building, re-envision itself? And so I'm going to let Mr. Fallon, I'm going to let you jump in on the mission statement because we're in this mode. It's hard to see where people are at, but I'm going to, I'm going to let you guys start and then I will support you because we all worked on this together. Mr. Fallon, Mr. DeLava, either or.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just listening to what was said, I was also thinking about the possibility of Sending some of the charge language to the subcommittee building and ground subcommittee. And I was thinking, maybe we could carve out a chunk of time at a pre existing meeting. If that's a possibility of the top of my head right now I can't remember everyone who's on that committee and. I don't mind the coordination in working with the principals, working with Susie to at least begin to move the work forward. And the second slide deck was kind of trying to capture ideas of how it could possibly look, which is a draft. So I can definitely send that to everyone. And if we were able to bring it to subcommittee, I don't have the calendar in front of me right now. If a team member might be able to look at the date. So when we have like our next building and ground subcommittee, if that was one way, or it could go to one of the other subcommittees so that we could Divvy up the work so that not any one member was you know burdened with carrying a heavier load than others. So some of it could be under communications subcommittee. We could bring a portion of that under communications. A portion could also be under building and ground subcommittee. Divide up the work and through subcommittee you would have at least three members working together so you would have like three voices contributing to you know one chunk of it and then I could work on the coordination piece of you know the different meetings and you know bringing it together to say this you know this is a potential draft and present it at a regular meeting that's just another another way to give people an opportunity to work in a team without violating open meeting law, or work collaboratively as opposed to doing the giant Google Doc. Member Ruseau?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So Mr. DeLeva.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so what I was gonna say in regards to having it go and have the respective groups. I truly am. Member Ruseau, where you have a draft charge already written, I am willing to be the keeper of the knowledge and send it to everyone and take feedback and revisions. I'm willing to do that so that I will be able to work on it, share it with the team, and see if all of those pieces can kind of come together into one inclusive charge statement and keep in mind that the charge should not be longer than one page. So I'm definitely willing to do that. I'm willing to do that piece of the work. And then once we are able to come up with an official charge, the next phase of the work would be to include that charge you know, on the application process, but also to include what the specific subgroupings could be so that as people try to determine whether they're interested in terms of the time commitment in those pieces. So I am willing to do phase one of keeping that charge and trying to at least get the charge done and be able to present it back to you as a committee. And hopefully, by the end of January, everyone will have been able to have weighed in so that we'll be able to move on to the next phase at that point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for today's curriculum subcommittee meeting. Today we are going to be taking a close look at mathematics instruction. Our Director of Mathematics, Ms. Faiza Khan, is going to be taking us through a slide deck, which will really talk about you know, give us a quick overview of mathematics, the shifts that have happened, where we are, what are the specific standards that have to be met at the state level, and then she's going to dive into mathematics instruction. and the programming that is used at elementary, middle school level, and high school level. And at the end of the presentation, she will share some goals and next steps for the math department and what it is that they are hoping to do to continue the work that they have been doing. So I'm going to pass it on to Ms. Khan right now. And you should have screen sharing. You should have the ability to share you are listed as a co host. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'll ask Dr. Cushing just to make me a host. Give me one second and I can share it. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're on mute, Ms. Van der Kloot, you're on mute.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I had put my hand up a little earlier in regards to the work that's happening in the math department. And in speaking and working with Faiza and her leadership of the math department, the way the middle school team adopted the illustrative math and how that was really rigorous, hands-on, and deeply engaging for the students. You know, we've spoken about, is there a junior version to like an illustrative math that could be adopted at the elementary level? I mean, I'm oversimplifying it, but saying like, that's the direction we wanna move in. And so knowing the professional development that happened and the training that Because the adoption happened right at the end of the school year, we had to, you know, squeeze the training in in June, and like, you know, almost force feed it so quickly in order for the teachers to be accustomed or acclimated to the new curriculum. And so, as Pfizer explained this year, COVID kind of had her put the brakes on it, but that truly was the hope. And the other piece of work that she did which I was very excited about was actually going to other districts with strong mathematical outcomes and looking at what they were using in their particular districts, and then trying to say, hmm, could something like that work in the Medford context? How much training would be necessary for that? And so in planning for today's presentation, where I know to member Graham's point about it's unfortunate now that We had to pause elementary because, you know, Pfizer cannot go to other districts to go look at instruction during the COVID climate. And if you're looking at instruction, we had to pause the learning walks K-12 because you don't wanna have 10 additional administrators and staff traipsing into a classroom on top of six feet of distance. So there were all of these things that really forced us to stop the necessary and important work that does need to happen. So by pausing it until June with the hopes that some people would be vaccinated by June, but to restart the elementary team so they could look at the different curricula that was gonna be before them and hopefully be able to conduct some observations next school year of other districts that either have a way of documenting that this is better programming and the why behind it, so that if the time to do that in-depth work at the elementary level, we know whatever ends up being adopted, K-5 would be all set by 22, spring of 22 to come presented to school committee. And so at that point in time, you know, Pfizer would be able to now focus all of our extra attention on secondary at the high school level and really say, where do we find or where have we identified additional gaps or areas for better curriculum to bring in at the high school level so that when we come up with this progression and have the catalog to say like, this is where we are and this is what is like, the top trend right now in mathematics. So you saw all of the different things that are being used at the secondary level, but there's a large course offering for the students. So I just wanted to reiterate that that's the intention of the work, and then to be able to continue with the mathematical learning walks, which school committee members and member Van der Kloot, some of them had had the opportunity to kind of come in and look for those core actions. And so we did grow at K-12, but again, with these, you know, restrictions. So what member Rousseau just shared, Since we don't really know what's going to happen yet with the vaccine, but we're being very, very optimistic as a district, we do have to start thinking seriously thinking about next year, seriously thinking that if the vaccine truly isn't going to be available for the fall, you know, we need to start thinking about will we have remote learning academy 21, 22, you know, might be much smaller, but we need to start thinking about what instruction is going to look like. And so again, with restrictions and trying to find out about, um, what's gonna happen with the virus, that will impact our ability to do the larger scale instructional learning walks. They can still happen, you know, myself, but right now the conditions under which, you know, the students are being taught where before they were working in groups, you could, you know, see the groups. Now you have some online, some in a breakout room, some working independently, it's just, you know, we're just in this very, very difficult position. And so I just wanted to state that, that it's not that we're not trying to focus deeply on instruction, but given the unusual circumstances of teaching and learning right now under these COVID conditions, we need to just keep that in mind, but we are very optimistic for 21, 22 school year that we will turn the corner at least, and at least be able to kind of get back to a greater sense of normalcy. So those were my comments regarding what was said today. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well I want to say great minds think alike and in preparation for today's meeting Ms. Kahn when she was setting it up. There are a lot of hyperlinks embedded within the slide deck to the frameworks and to, at the high school level, what the course descriptions are. So there were some elements of that added to this particular presentation. And so we actually wanted to replicate, you know, I was waiting to see how today's meeting went. What were the types of questions? Were we able to anticipate and respond to questions that people had. And then I was taking notes on the other areas that we missed the mark and didn't hit yet. So in terms of the course catalog, I did write down those pieces about the review date, what's the actual program, where Ms. Kahn had listed all the programs at the different grade levels, the expiration date. And from an equity lens, I really feel it's you know, an excellent display that we are committed to meeting the needs of our students with disabilities and our English learners by saying, moving forward when we're adopting new curriculum, is this something they take into consideration? Some companies may not, but there are supplemental curricula such as like NewZella, which it supplements by humanities programming and they use it in EL programming. So it's like we get a two for one out of it. So if there were to be a program that was selected that might not specifically call it out, then we could find something that would supplement it to meet that need. So I was just, you know, taking my own notes and saying that this could be. One of the ways that we're showing that we're truly trying to meet the needs of our entire community. So starting, since we started with mathematics and we want to go through all of the other content areas to be able to follow a very similar format so that as the department heads and directors are presenting their respective departments, they'll be able to say, these are the programs at the respective grade levels and kind of give us the, you know, we started, you know, it was adopted in this year and tentative expiration date is, you know, this year or the following year, because it does end up having indirect budgeting implications if we're just paying to extend to extend. But just to have all of that in one area. So that's something that we definitely will be able to do between now and by the time we, you know, as each department presents, we'll be able to at least start addressing those five areas so that the curriculum subcommittee can hear it in preparation for going into our next budget season.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely make that adjustment. I think the one reason why for both humanities and for social studies and for math, because Desi was sending out different revisions. So I wanted people to realize it wasn't like a 1985, that it was fairly recent. And she wanted to just show like the shift to rigor, the triangle, the pyramid that everyone could understand. This is where the shift in mathematics is taking place right now. and why we shifted to illustrative math and the thinking behind what needed to shift at the elementary levels. But for some of the other content areas where we know we just purchased, for example, fast science. And so some of those pieces will be able to say, well, we adopted it in 2018 or 2019. and it's good for five years, so we can definitely make that adjustment, not focus on the history, say where the department is right now, and describe the catalog offerings from K elementary, middle, and high, and get to as many of the expiration dates and when we need to think about curriculum renewal. Yeah, we can definitely make that modification moving forward for the other departments.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so I will. I knew there was, she wanted additional time to continue so that she felt by March she would be prepared with new data to be able to present that. But if I can have a little bit of time to just continue to work with her to see if we need to relocate, switch science and ELA. But she was hoping to have the time to be able to make stronger recommendations by the time her March presentation came. So I will follow up with her. So I'll be able to report out on that at our January meeting or prior to the January meeting to say which way we could go. And for the world language and technology where we've presented a lot of what we've done with technology this year, especially with the significant investments that we made. So I was thinking kind of to have an overview of the investments that we have made in technology And, you know, so I was trying to think a little differently about it as a course offering, but also, you know, to give world language the time that it needs so that we can just look at where are we with, you know, world languages and what are we using in those particular areas. So we will, you know, make it work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: is necessary.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also was going to add, I think that since this never existed in this type of a format, this is excellent and it's something that we can share widely throughout the district. So to give it to the athletic department, the coaches to know, for the teachers to get it as they're setting up their syllabi, the principals to give it to them as well. So this is something that we can definitely we can definitely, you know, say, keep these dates in mind and just make it something that is part of our new, you know, part of our new normal, a new way of operating. So that's what I would say.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe it's a state holiday now, is that right? It is officially a state holiday. It became a state holiday, I think, this summer. Yes. I don't know the specific date, but I'm not even sure with the... Yeah, the date. Because we normally start school in August, so by June 19th, Medford Public Schools will most likely not be in session for students because we start earlier than most. We're usually done by like the second week of June. Again, if we end up with... I think it's a snow day issue though. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All right.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Bye. Thanks, everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and I wanna say good evening to everyone and thank you, Ms. McKay and Ms. Charlene Douglas for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. And I hope that after today's reports are presented, that it will provide additional peace of mind and know that we are all working together on behalf of the students. So I do wanna say that. Good evening, I have some remarks to share with everyone. So first it does give me great pleasure to welcome our two school committee representatives. I was muted. I tried to unmute before and it wasn't cooperating with me. So we have two students that will be participating with us, Colin Bailey, and also David Mai, who is from the vocational side, majoring in business marketing. And so I wasn't sure if both of them were online since I'm on a different device. Welcome, and I know this is an unusual kind of formal welcome, but I am excited to say that we do have two students. Colin from the comprehensive side of the school, Colin Bailey, who's a senior, and David Mai, who is on the vocational side of the house in the business marketing. So welcome to you both. And thank you for your student leadership on the school committee. I wanted to acknowledge that today, December 7th, is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. The 79th anniversary is a day when Pearl Harbor survivors, their families and veterans from all over the world come together to honor and remember the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during that attack that took place at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. I would like us to just take, if possible, a brief moment of silence just to remember that generation who didn't hesitate at that point in time to answer the call to protect our freedoms. They put their lives on hold for the greater good. Thank you. Believe it or not, our band was scheduled to be in Honolulu this week. On Friday, on my calendar, I had my calendar alert pop up and it said, fly to Hawaii. And I too, You know, I'm an avid fan of our band, but I wanted to go to Hawaii to see them play and perform in the parade. But as you know, due to the virus, we're not able to travel. I know that it was a great, great disappointment for everyone, especially our band students who were practicing for so many years to be able to go and really display their talents. So, you know, we're sorry that this opportunity couldn't happen, but again, I just want to recognize you as well and knowing that you would have been there playing in their parade that was going to take place. But nonetheless, I want to put the band on everyone's radar for you to come out and please support our band. This past weekend, the Mustang Band parents hosted a tree and reef sale in the Medford High parking lot. If you missed it, they'll be there again this weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. I want you to know I picked up my tree and wreaths this weekend and my six foot tree, which is right behind me, it's still settling in. So I haven't put the lights on yet, but it's a beautiful tree that's very full and very fragrant. So those of you who are getting Christmas trees, I encourage you to go out and support our band. Additionally, I wanted to share that a number of our PTOs are selling gift cards and school merchandise for the holidays. The Medford High School and the Medford Vocational Technical High School PTO, they currently have a fundraiser going on with the Pampered Chef and the Texas Roadhouse. The friends of Medford rowing, our crew students are also hosting a calendar raffle during the month of January. And it's $10 for a raffle ticket, $3 for 25 tickets. And you have an opportunity to win a gift card every day during the month of January. So if you're able to support our crew students that would be wonderful. The Brooks PTO is also holding its silent auction this week. I was fortunate to win when they did one of their auctions. So please support their PTO as well. The Columbus PTO is looking for gift card donations for their community. So Again, we appreciate all of these volunteers whose dedication and commitment to our school community continues even during COVID. So as we meet tonight, we do so with COVID cases rising, both here and throughout the state. I do realize that people may be tired of wearing masks, social distancing, and washing their hands, but we need to continue to remain vigilant. If not for you and your own family, let's do it for the kids in our community who want to continue to attend in-school learning. So please continue to work with us and take the proper and necessary precautions. We need to be in this together because divided, we will fall. So let's go Mustangs. Please keep the faith and we'll continue to push forward. This past week, The Medford Public Schools in collaboration with the City of Medford's Board of Health, Armstrong Ambulance, the Broad Institute, Tufts University, we began our student COVID testing program. Students are swabbed by healthcare professionals in elementary schools and they swab themselves at the secondary level. It is a PCR test that has been shown to have an extremely high accuracy rate. It's the same test that all staff, NPS staff are using. Again, please know that these tests don't hurt. I shared a little video last week. It truly is a painless experience. So I am encouraging families to sign up. If you have not signed consent forms, please do so. We really are shooting to have 100% participation from all students. Um, so we want testing to continue. That's our hope, um, in January of 21, but we are still looking at additional funding, but we will keep you informed. We're also grateful and thankful to nurse Toni Wray and all the school nurses who are overseeing this important program, as well as Marianne O'Connor and Medford's board of health, who are also assisting with the testing. So in order for the student testing to run smoothly and to minimize time away from instruction, I wanna thank members of our Mustang school community, administrative assistants, central administration staff, and members of the Medford Fire Department who assisted with the registration process. Everything we have been doing is important to keep our school hybrid option still functioning. All hands are needed on deck and it is gratifying to see so many people jumping in. I am pleased to announce that this Thursday, December 10th, our seniors are coming back to the high school. December 10th is cohort C, and on Monday, December 14th, cohort B. So I wanna say thank you to the seniors, to their families who showed incredible patience while we were working aggressively on our HVAC systems to make sure that we met the heightened air quality standards that were necessitated by this pandemic. So we know that the work is ongoing and we look forward to welcoming grades nine, 10, and 11 in the new year. So stay tuned, that will be coming. So as part of our re-entry for our grade 12 students, and given the known risks of opening school among older and more independent students, we will be offering free COVID-9 testing to all students and staff returning to Medford High School prior to their arrival. So Medford High School seniors who are in cohort C, that means you're coming to school on Thursday, You are asked to come to the high school tomorrow between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Again, tomorrow between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday, December 8th. Seniors who are waiting to come back, cohort C on Thursday, you need to come and take your test. Students that are returning, cohort B students who are returning on Monday, your testing day will be Friday, December 11th, this Friday afternoon, between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Again, in collaboration with the Broad Institute, the results come within 24 hours. You put your email address and it will be emailed to your parents. So there's a quick turnaround with the results. So please, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., tomorrow for Cohort C students and Friday, December 11th for Cohort B students. It's very important and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow and Friday for testing and welcoming back Cohort C on Thursday. I wanna just say now a quick thank you again for collaboration from the Neighborhood Kitchen and the West Medford Community Center over the holiday break. They were really able to serve families that were in need and they were able to serve 107 free meals to Medford residents. So we just wanna extend a very special thank you to the Neighborhood Kitchen and the West Medford Community Center for their collaboration and just taking care of the community. Thank you for being honorary Mustangs. Just a reminder to parents and caregivers, you should have received a survey from your respective principal stating that the survey requests feedback from students about students' educational experiences during this first marking term. Please know that the surveys are due back tomorrow. It's our hope that parents and caregivers will be able to take the time to complete the survey. The survey will only assist us as we move forward with this unprecedented school year. If you did not receive the survey, please reach out to your school principal. I would also like to recognize that last week, students at the McGlynn Elementary School had the opportunity to engage with both Attorney General Maura Healey's office and the iRobot company. Thanks to our computer teacher, Ms. Elias, the students in Ms. Notaro's grade five class, they were able to work remotely along with iRobot on a project. Additionally, earlier in the week, Ms. Elias' class welcomed the Attorney General's Director of Community Engagement Division, Mr. Marconi Almeida Barros. He spoke with EL newcomer students about the importance of staying safe online, as well as how to spot and prevent online scams. He also discussed the work of the attorney general. The students engaged in conversations with Mr. Almeida Barros, who also was kind enough to share his journey as the first Latino to be elected as a school committee member in Everett. He told them how everything is possible if you work hard and do your best. So in this season of giving, Once again, our Medford Family Network is looking for help from the community. So we're asking you to help again. Our Medford Family Network, they are in need of people who might want to adopt a family, in need for the holidays, and donate a gift card to Target, Market Basket, Marshalls, or Kohl's. Those who might be able to assist in any way can contact Marie Cassidy at 781 393-2106. The MFN is a special jewel in our school community. And like most nonprofits, they have been unable to fundraise much during this pandemic, but the needs continue. And so we'd appreciate any support that you would like to provide to them. I also want the community to know that as we continue to have meetings and meetings are being added, please be advised that all school committee meetings, including our subcommittee meetings, that they've been posted to the school website, the school Facebook page, and the school blog. So I wanna say that COVID has affected many, many things. And one of the things that it also affected is Girl Scout cookies. We have a lot of members of our community that are Girl Scouts. And like everything else, cookie sales have been forced to go online. So for those of you in our community who might be interested, please go to our school blog for additional information on how to place an order. I also want you to know that CCSR, our Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, they're hosting a school supplies drive from now all the way until December 14th. Drop boxes are located at City Hall and all of our K-8 schools. They are collecting the following items, pencils, pens, notebooks, glue sticks, markers, crayons, pencil cases, dry erase boards, scissors, disposable masks, erasers, folders, and rulers. If you want to support the CCSR drive, please, you can drop those, go to the drop boxes at City Hall or at our K-8 schools. Lastly, I'd like to say that this Thursday, December 10th, is Hanukkah. And it begins on December 10th and it ends on December 18th. The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil to illuminate the Holy Temple in Jerusalem for one day. Yet the oil lasted for eight full days. The word Hanukkah means dedication in Hebrew. Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights. To all our Jewish friends and neighbors, the Mustang community wishes you a most wonderful, safe, and healthy Hanukkah season. Thank you, and have a good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr., the first, the first ask about the robocall, Mr. DeLava will be right on top of that one. So that can definitely happen for tomorrow. Um, he can probably get one, a phone call out tonight. So your phone may ring Ms. McLaughlin. Uh, he can get one out tonight and we can resend it again tomorrow from three to six. And I hope, um, with the seniors as they know that their return date, he's been communicating with them quite frequently, but we can definitely do the verbal call out tonight for tomorrow and another one tomorrow as a reminder and the same for Friday's testing. So we can definitely do that. In terms of our goal is to get 100%. We don't quite yet have 100% as the forms were coming in, The form is a very simple form, the consent forms that the students would need to bring with them. That form is a very simple form. You just need to provide an email. so that the results can go to that email and emergency contact. But once that's completed and they come in, it's a very, very quick, painless process. So that was part of why I think some people had a lot of anxiety and worry that it was the very painful test and it's not painful at all. And the seniors, of course, they're old enough you know, they'll be able to self-administer and it's a very accurate test. So we are hoping to get 100%. I just, again, like you said, maybe if someone's phone number changed or I don't know if the family email might have changed. So I'm not sure how close we will be able to get, but by Wednesday, we should have an idea of how many tests were given and the results, and we will plan accordingly or move accordingly from the data that we receive.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would say if we, with tomorrow being Tuesday, I know that Mr. DeLeva has been sending communications to let the seniors know, but I don't have that information on, you know, is it 10 students that have difficulty? Is it like a manageable number or is it a number that is, you know, a significant number. I think everyone understands the importance of keeping the entire community safe. And so it's critically, critically important for our seniors, as we're going to be having significantly larger numbers of students come back, for them to try their best to come to school to participate in the testing, because Tuesday is the only option. that we do have for Thursday's start. So I would suggest that they reach out to Mr. DeLeva, send an email, try to communicate to us so we could see if there's something else that we could do for the students that might not be able to get to the high school for testing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the, oh, the other grades at the high school you're saying. So the other grades at the high school we would be staggering them in in the new year so that would be in January. So, with, with the calendar, the seniors coming in on the, the 10th and the 14th. The seniors will be in school because the following week, the 21st and 22nd, Wednesday is a non-instructional day. So it ends up cohort C will have two days, this week and the following week. Cohort B will have the 14th and the 15th. and the 21st and the 22nd. So for the new year, so we have not disclosed what the dates are, but the continued staggered hybrid would be in the new year. As we continue to get everything lined up at the high school, it would be early January for 11th grade to come and then 10th and 9th grades to come to the high school. So we will definitely give additional information in our weekly communications as we know the spaces are available. Great, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so I did speak with Principal Johnson today as well. And the number of staff that is quarantining right now, although the number is high, we're not talking total homerooms. So we do have staff in different roles, different supporting roles. So some people may be an enrichment or supplemental teacher. But in terms of total homeroom teachers right now that are quarantined, we had five out. One will be back on Thursday. Another one is coming back on Friday. So there is a lot of management that's happening. I think one of the challenges that happened today at at the school when I did speak with the principal was that they did have alternative coverage, but natural things happen where someone may just, you know, wake up with a migraine and not feel well in the morning. And so there was an additional, you know, person who either requested an absent day or may have had a personal day. But In terms of right now, we are watching, we are closely watching the numbers of staff that are out. We're also paying attention to what roles. So at this point in time, there were a significant amount of adults that were not in the building today. I don't expect that number to be as high tomorrow. but we have to look at the entire school. There are 18 general education classrooms and the Roberts has five specialized classrooms. So for a total of 23 classrooms in the entire school homerooms, and of those 23, there were five homeroom based teachers that we're not in. So it's not a number, we would love to see the number zero, but we are working with that number. So at this point in time, we take the questions and the concerns that were presented earlier, we do take it seriously, but we are working with the instructional leaders of the building and looking at the structure and looking at where are the homerooms. So, If, for example, you know, not that I want anyone to, you know, be out on quarantine but if an art teacher or wasn't in. students can still participate in the instructional day. It's not ideal to not have the teacher not present, but it would not be a homeroom teacher if that makes sense in terms of how the school day functions and the instruction that students are receiving. So we're looking at all of those factors in terms of can the school run? And if in fact it were to be at a point where that wasn't able to happen, then we would definitely communicate with the school committee and communicate with the school community to let them know, this is the situation that we are in right now. This is the amount of staff that is quarantining or whatever the case may be. And we would look at other options at that point in time. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. That is fair. Okay. That is fair. Thank you. Member Ruseau?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm sorry you feel that way, Ms. Willard. I feel I was very clear about what I said earlier. We are providing testing. Tomorrow's Tuesday. So you will have an opportunity as well to participate in testing in your respective building. What I did say is I spoke with the instructional leader at the Roberts School with my team. We looked at the staff that are placed on quarantine for the time being. Some people that have been quarantined are because they've been identified as a close contact within the school or other people who have been quarantined, it's because of a close contact at home. And so it's not related to what happened in school, but it could either be exposure at home or exposure within their respective community. So we are looking at all of those pieces of data. Right now, I know at the Roberts School, five homeroom teachers are currently quarantined. One is scheduled to return Friday, another on Thursday. So it's a moving, schedule. And so as administrators, we are looking at the entire school. There are 23 homerooms at the Roberts school. And so it's not a situation where we have 23 homeroom teachers that are not available to be in their school. So each situation is different and we are responding to each situation as it comes up. Throughout this entire process, we have always said that safety, consistency, and equity have been our highest priorities. What Medford is doing, no other district is doing. They are not testing their staff. They're not testing their students. We are doing that at this point in time. We are prioritizing the health and safety of everyone. And with the information that is gathered from the contact tracing, we've identified the staff that need to be quarantined based on the information that's given to the nurses or the board of health members that are doing the contact tracing. So that is the response that we have right now. If the data changes or if there's a significant shift in the data, then we would make an appropriate choice or an appropriate decision at that point in time. At this point in time, based on the amount of staff that are not at the Roberts School, that it's five homeroom teachers with two of them scheduled to return by the end of this week, and speaking with the instructional leader of the school, Principal Kirk Johnson, And I spoke with him explicitly and had a conversation with him. He said that the school can continue to function. So I understand that people are very worried and tomorrow will be an opportunity for testing to take place. We'll get the results on Wednesday. And if the results show that there has been increased activity or uptick, we will be the first ones to communicate that out to the school committee first, and then to the community at large. So I think with Wednesday being the day where students are not in person, it gives us that opportunity and a break between Cohort B and Cohort C. And the same is true. We worked all weekend. The students are tested on Friday for Cohort C. And based on the data, we get the data by Saturday or Sunday over the course of the weekend. And we take appropriate steps over the course of the weekend. So I really don't feel there's anything extra that we can do at this point in time to ensure additional safety. We are doing the best we can, given the resources that we have. And I'm truly grateful that we are a district that's in a position to be able to say, we're doing the testing. not only of staff and not only of teachers, everyone in Medford Public Schools, secretaries, paraprofessionals, custodians, you name it, cafeteria help, any department that you work in Medford Public Schools, you are allowed to be tested and have that personal peace of mind. So I really feel like we're doing everything we can do And we have the support of the city, the support of Tufts University, Broad Institute, Armstrong Ambulance. We thank them every single time because we are so appreciative of all of the support and help that we're getting in Medford. And again, if the data is different and the data says we need to make a decision, we will make that decision at the appropriate time. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we can definitely give an extension. Ms. Galusi?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think that's difficulty unmuting her. There you go.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In terms of this year, this year, having the opportunity to be able to function remotely, if necessary, that is wonderful to be able to do, but in the event that we were to have a repeat of like the blizzard of 78 where it was a true state of emergency for the entire state, then we would have to look at things differently. But if it's something where the amount of snow that we had over the weekend where it was only, you know, two inches or three inches of snow. If we're able to get the buildings, the school buildings, the parking lots plowed, as in the past, then school would be in session. I mean, as it is right now, where the school year has been abbreviated to 170 days, I would try my best to provide students with the most consistency as possible. But if it is something where, you know, the conditions are dangerous, no one should be driving, the highways cannot be cleared, and it's, you know, an incredible amount of snow, then we definitely would make an appropriate decision. But as you know, you know, each day that we, declare as an official snow day and not a school day gets added on at the end of the year. And so we definitely, if we can avoid extending the school year so that this summer people will be able to enjoy the warmer weather for the short period of time that we have, I would really try not to abuse the option of a snow day. I don't know if that, provides greater clarity, Mr. Russo, let me know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When you have a late start, a delay, it does not affect the total number of school days. In terms of a late start, I would probably think about something like that for school year 21-22, and not this particular school year where there have been so many shifts. with calling a snow day, working with transportation, again, the DPW, they have to do all of the hospitals, the police, the fire stations. They have to do the first responders first, and then they come to the schools. So there is an order in which the roads are plowed, the key main roads are plowed. But I mean, if it's a storm where people are losing power and electricity, and those kinds of things, it probably would have to be an official snow day. And then although the majority of all of our students live in Medford, but not all of our staff live in Medford. So we have people commuting in to schools from different parts of the state. Most people are in a reasonable distance. So it would be looking at the conditions and what's happening Again, they were talking 10 inches of snow over the weekend, but Medford didn't get 10 inches. Other places just got a lot of, so it's something that we'll have to wait and see, but my preference would be for us to be in school. But again, if there's truly a state of emergency or a very valid, valid reason, then we would do that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I just want to quickly reply that I received national weather notification. And so the superintendents do receive that. So it's in addition to what's on the regular news that they kind of give us updates periodically. So we rely heavily on that information. And then I also consult and work with neighboring districts and neighboring other superintendents when it comes to how communities within our area are impacted. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would request if I could have the beginning to mid-January extension, just because there was just so much going on. We're straight out with the testing and trying to get the high school up and running with students. I just feel like if I can just have a little bit of additional time over the break, I'll be able to get all of that to the school committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I would definitely be able to do that. Democrats?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what I will do is I'll work with the finance team and If we are able to get all of those pieces, the specific questions that are listed, I will try to have it available for us at the very next meeting, if possible, but knowing that there could be a little, you know, you know, some things could shift or change, but in terms of what the COVID grants are, because I did speak to member Ruseau, the different grants that we've used, what was the money being spent on, not everything has been spent, what's been pre-encumbered. So I will try to definitely as closely as possible, get the information for this ad hoc report request, and I'll just, you know, make it a priority.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. Member Ruseau?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't believe that we will have the same suffering that we endured last year. I am optimistic that we will be able to get the budget meeting scheduled and be able to have rich conversations in advance of the deadline. The process may look a little differently, but I think we're going to be able to get there and be able to have the meaningful conversations that do need to happen. And I do agree with what you shared, Member Ruseau, that we don't know yet what's going to happen with the vaccine. They're talking about the end of the second quarter. So, there is a lot of information that we have to keep in mind and just think about how schools function and run. As we think about school year 2122. So, you know, we will do our due diligence in central office to get you as many responses as possible to those specific questions related to COVID expenses. And what we're not able to get, we will work on it, but we will be able to get you something, something substantive, not just something substantive to respond to those specific questions that you have.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just wanted to jump in as well. As I was thinking about the different platforms and what was shared with Dojo and Talking Points and the different platforms that my daughter's teacher, I think it was Dojo last year, this year it's Talking Points where it's like a generic, their cell phone number is kind of kept private, but It's you download this particular app, and then they respond and communicate, and it keeps track of communication. So I know that people have to pick what they feel works for them at that given time, but the point is to try to improve communications. But what I like about the idea of an A to Z is as a parent, I get an incredible amount of communications that come to me. where I'm getting text messages constantly, things that are not maybe relevant to my particular needs, but a lot of text messages, a lot of emails, and trying to sift between that, that it can sometimes become overwhelming. And so right now, in particular, to what Mr. Murphy had said earlier, so much of the communication that is going out right now is specific to how we're handling or things that are going on with the pandemic. So some families will prioritize that communication and then let's say there is an online opportunity for an online raffle or something like that, that they could say, well, I'm not, I don't want to get four reminders about a reminder. So I'm thinking maybe a happy medium would either be to try to ask parents for some type of a release, whether it was an A to Z or something like that, where you were explaining parents have the option to say, I'd like to be told about special events, but not about you know, they could pick and choose the types of communications that they want to receive because it may end up, you know, especially if you have more than one child in multiple schools, it could truly end up being, you know, too much communication and they end up missing to the point that Ms. Member McLaughlin shared, missing one important announcement that school was closed because you have 15 other emails coming in and you're looking at, You look at 14 of the 15 of them, and the 15th one is the one that you missed that you should have read. So I almost feel like trying to find out how much is enough communication? What modality works? Some people communicate frequently in little blurbs, some email, some do lengthier communications. Should it be a newsletter? you know, do people like talking points or dojo or, you know, some kind of classroom communication. And I know for some of our EL teachers, it's slipping my mind right now, but there is a platform that our EL teachers use to communicate with the English learner families. It's the talking points, talking points. yeah so talking points as well i know i couldn't remember if it was that platform but i know it translates and so that's the one that they uh the talking points i guess they um can translate and so you know would that be the one to say to the entire district everyone switch to talking points or if a particular teacher loves dojo and that works for him or her so it's trying to foster and wanting to encourage greater communication at all levels, but at the same time trying to give people the opportunity to be able to use a modality that works best for them. So I just wanted to put that out there as another consideration.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I love that suggestion of knowing that it's a set amount. But I'm just wondering if we said PTOs have three allotments a month, and some teachers are sending out one or two communications, or maybe an email or a text message, depending which one they're using. what, you know, and what do people prefer to the conversation that was said earlier, when member McLaughlin said she was calling, nobody answers the phone right now, but at the text message, you'll eventually get to it or you'll see it and you'll respond. What modality do the parents prefer? So that, that is something as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member McLaughlin's hand is up, I was gonna jump in. So sorry, let me yield to Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In responding to what you just shared, Member McLaughlin, I would say that that's like that level of communication, like grassroots, it's like the next level, which I think is something we definitely should be shooting for. I know where our English learner families are, we communicate frequently with Mr. Paul Teixeira for his teachers and staff where a level one and level two students who are newcomers are newcomers. Those teachers are communicating frequently with the families. I was in a classroom on Monday, and if need be, some of the teachers will transition. If they're bilingual, they'll say something again in the other language and have the students respond back and do the reverse translation, which happened on Monday in one of the classrooms that I was in. And so the students at that point in time were able to understand exactly what was being said as they are still acquiring the language. You do definitely need to have those additional steps in place. And so I know we're not there yet, but eventually to be able to have greater translation available or greater visuals available to the suggestion of what type of a communication is it so people kind of know when I see the Mustang here, this is what it means. When I see the Mustang on the left side, this is what it means to come up with some kind of visual image or symbol so that it will help to facilitate and promote greater communication. So I think that that is To remember Graham's point about right now, anything that's going out from central office from my office or from the schools should be going out in the four languages. That is what we are trying to do every time that we're sending communication out. to make sure that that is consistent and everyone knows that that's happening. So there are some details where it wasn't being done as consistently, but to be able to say, okay, we can't have 15 languages, but we're going to at least have these four every single time we send something out. And trying to at least commit to translating it four times. We're not yet at that level where we can have translation available in all of those key languages at this point in time, but trying to create either those opportunities or specific opportunities to target different populations and thinking back to the summer when we did do the roundtables and we had significant community community involvement and participation and we did have the translators available, but even with the translators being available. Some people stated their work schedule, the timing, they couldn't make that particular time. But again, just when those opportunities happen, to continue to say we're going to have this as a possibility or an available resource to you and hopefully be able to have it catch on so that if they can't attend, maybe they'll ask a designee to attend. who will be able to get the information back to the families. So I think we just have to keep working at those types of situations and finding ways to just keep communicating on the multiple levels so that we're reaching, you know, trying our best to reach 100% of the community. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, you're still on mute. sorry, at the TV studio, they don't have that capability yet at this point in time. It's a specific, I don't know if it's a software or something that works with the TV studio capabilities. So I think closed captioning might be able to happen for some of the TVs, but to be able to translate into the multiple languages is like a special, additional programming or software. So they do not have that capability at the TV studio at this point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wouldn't have a problem definitely looking into it. I know that when I do the commercials, I try to keep them very brief working with the TV studio department, but once it's done, even if it's like, you know, two to three minutes, the time for them to upload and, you know, if you mention a website, there are storyboards, there are things that have to be, you know, entered and uploaded. On their side. So normally it's about a two hour turnaround, and that's in English. So I'm wondering. what probably would end up happening is if something was done and if we were using a Rev.com, there would be a delay. It would be, once we get the additional languages, we'd have to send it back to the TV studio so that Patrick Gordon or Cat or anyone else who works with him would be able to, I guess, whatever it is reposted or whatever, yeah. To be able to have it posted when it's playing on a TV channel. And I just don't know if that, would it, I don't know the level of complexity once it's available in English. them to be able to go back like would that be another two hours per language um or is it something that would just be you know a push of a button and it was just two minutes so i'm not i'm not sure but i can definitely you know look into that sure ask um what you know how would that work i will um i will send you the information that i have to pass along um and it may be that um
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely can speak it. If you were Haitian Creole, you probably would be laughing. Oh, all right. Well, that's different. But am I understandable? Yes. That's good to know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Mr. Milucheski will be co-presenting this with me. Thank you, Mr. Milucheski. So good evening, Mayor, Mayor Lungo-Koehn, members of the school committee, Mustang Nation, and our community at large. This evening, I'm going to present to you our report on the MPS reopening, updating our COVID-19 reopening dashboard. In the summer, there were three guiding pillars that led the work that we've done with school reopening. And those pillars always were and continue to guide the work that we're doing today. Safety, equity, and consistency. Back in October, on October 14th of this school year, we had a school committee meeting where we approved, the school committee approved the Medford Public Schools COVID-19 Reopening Dashboard. This dashboard defined our evaluation of safety and it's used as a guide for our decision-making between the educational models that Medford offers, both our hybrid and remote. The dashboard outlines three prevailing safety evaluations. The first one is building classroom readiness. The second one, Medford community health metrics. And the third area, district and school specific metrics. On October 14th, or since that time, two things have changed. One, our experience working with positive COVID-19 cases in our schools. And secondly, the Department of Public Health had introduced an updated color-coded metric to outline community COVID-19 risk. So one thing that hasn't changed, and this is from the CDC, indicators should neither be used in isolation nor should they be viewed as hard cutoffs. by school departments, school administration, by all making these kinds of decisions. Rather, they should serve as broad guideposts of inherent risk to inform decision-making. In Medford public schools, each situation that we have encountered since the start of school has brought a level of nuance. Each situation has required us to be responsive to the individual circumstances of each case. Dealing with COVID-19, it has put us in a position where we must continue to be flexible because each situation is individualized. Additional CDC guidance from Dr. Robert Redfield. This was last week's guidance. I've listed a few quotes, but one that stood out to me was the truth is for kids K to 12, one of the safest places they can be from our perspective is to remain in school. Some of this data and what the CDC is recommending and what Dr. Robert Redfield was talking about, it holds true for Medford and our Medford context. So in Medford, we went through a collaborative process and through that collaborative process, we developed the metrics that are in place. But in addition to that, we have a database or a spreadsheet that I'm gonna share with you, which shows our positive COVID-19 case count to date. Thank you, Mr. Malachewski. If I just provide a quick overview, which shows the data for our students and employees, staff, But in particular, since the start of the school year in September, Medford Public Schools has had nine students test positive that are participating in the hybrid model and 18 students test positive that are participating in the remote instruction model. And so I just want to present these numbers because right now we have approximately 1,700 students in school. And so in our context, at this particular point in time, I just wanted to stress that we have noticed that we have had limited in-school transmission. At this point in time, I would like to have my colleague, Mr. Tom Mieliszewski, provide additional information about the metrics.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So our recommendations this evening are to continue to utilize parts one, building classroom readiness, and part three, district and school specific metrics from the original Medford Public Schools COVID-19 reopening dashboard as critical metrics in evaluating our safety and ultimately driving decision-making. Our second recommendation would be a recommendation to approve, would be our hope that as we update part two, the Medford community health metrics of the original Medford Public Schools COVID-19 reopening dashboard to include DPHs updated color-coded classification system. And so, in closing again, we are not recommending to overhaul everything that was approved on 1014 all the collaborative work the meetings that took place in the science lab the science wing and zoom meetings. to come up with our original NPS dashboard, reopening dashboard. But we are asking that we look at part two and accept the updated color-coded classification system from the Department of Public Health. And I look forward to hearing your questions and comments from the team and responding to those questions this evening. I also would like to say that members of the team, Dr. Cushing, Dave Murphy, Nurse Toni Ray, I think Marian O'Connor for the Board of Health, and Ms. Suzanne Galussi and or Joan Bowen, we will be more than happy to respond to any questions this evening. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if I were to respond in terms of the contact tracing that's taking place right now, it is our nursing department. And I want to just acknowledge nurse Toni Wray and acknowledge once again, Marianne O'Connor. The work that we've been doing since school has opened is not a Monday to Friday schedule. We're also working on weekends, closely monitoring the activity that's happening in Medford. And so I do want to thank the entire nursing department and the board of health for how they have truly partnered with us in terms of helping us get information quickly. And so for the nine positive cases that have happened since September, thankfully we have been able to do contact tracing, reach out to those families and reach out to the individuals. All of the contact tracing is done through the nursing department at the respective schools. And so whether it's students or staff that are helping to provide the information. And so what I can speak to is The contact tracing that is happening and that has taken place, we've responded and acted appropriately. Again, as I said earlier, we know that dealing with each case on an individualized basis, that there is a nuance and it does require some flexibility, but we have always, always maintained safety as a priority, not only for the students, but also for the staff. And so out of an abundance of caution, we've always taken a more aggressive stance. And so through contact tracing, if that required additional quarantining, we have always done that. So I can't speak to how the contact tracing is done, but I can say that the nurses, the nursing department, they've been trained, all that are doing it, they're working in collaboration with the board of health, and have received the same training that the Board of Health staff have received, which is an agreement with the Department of Health of how contact tracing should take place. And at this point in time, it has been manageable for the district, given the level of positivity that we've had as a district. Again, I will qualify it by saying at this point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All contact tracing happening at the school happens with the entire nursing staff at their respective buildings. So there were nurses at all of the schools and Toni Wray also oversees that and keeps a separate database to track all of the activity that is happening. And it is eventually reported out to, the department as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I could only speak to the nine students. that we have the data for right now that once we're notified, whether it's by the parent notifying the school or we're given the information from the board of health calling the school department to say we have a student and their test results came in positive. Once we are given that information, the next steps are that the school-based nurses would begin the process of contact tracing. That's the information that I have for you for right now. But that's what we have. And once we have the information, it's given to the Board of Health, if it's done on the school side, and then it's entered into the MAVEN system. And I think depending on the individual, whether it's an adult, depending on the individual or depending on the information that you're given as possible close contacts, they follow the appropriate steps.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So right now we have approximately 1,700 kids in school. Of those 1,700 students, whether they're cohort A, B or C, of those 1,700, that are coming in for in-person instruction two days a week or four days a week, nine of those students have tested positive since the start of school. So since September 16th, nine students tested positive of the 1,700 that, approximately 1,700 that are in school right now. And we have another 900 or so that are online once we have our remaining high school students join the fold. So of the 1,700 students that have come into Medford Public Schools, whether it's four days a week and you were part of cohort A, two days a week if you were part of cohort B, or two days a week and you were part of cohort C, from those three cohorts since September, we have had nine students test positive in Medford. During that same time frame from September until now, students that are in cohort D, the fully remote cohort, we have had 18 students test positive. for COVID-19. So of the approximately 1300 students that have officially or students that have officially selected remote, a fully remote program, they make up those 18 students are from Cohort D. So, where you were saying the nine students, is it a Cohort A student or a Cohort B if they were in school Monday, Tuesday or in school Thursday, Friday, they're all classified for the purposes of just that table, so that people can't figure it out, I guess, but for the purposes of that table, if they come into Medford Public Schools for in-person instruction, at this point in time, nine students tested positive. I hope that provides a- It does, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The nine students that are listed, those are the nine students that were physically crossed the threshold and entered one of the Medford public school buildings for in-person instruction. And while they were receiving in-person instruction or it may have been a cohort B child that tested positive on a cohort C day, but they're still classified as a student that's attending and participating in instruction as cohort A, B, or C, then that's the student that was counted. Point of information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, that's my understanding, that the 18 students that are listed as remote are our remote-only students, and the nine were students that were physically on campus at one point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what you're asking, is that the October data that reflected the remote students to go and confirm that those six students truly were on the fully remote list or were they students that were waiting for their particular grade level to come into school as part of the staggered hybrid. So to possibly have a third column of remote waiting for, waiting to matriculate to in-person instruction is what it sounds like you're saying that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I was going to say in terms of the colors, when I think about the original metrics, when the metrics technical team met and we looked at the specific scenarios and cases by schools, all of that information that the group worked on at that point in time, we have not strayed away from those recommended scenarios. So that if at one of the elementary schools, which currently has approximately 250 students, you know, whether it's cohort B day, AB or AC, if you were to end up with, you know, like six cases or six students testing, you know, throughout in different classrooms, six different classrooms, we would do what we've been doing all along. If it's within a classroom, we would, you know, isolate or quarantine the classroom. But once we hit that number, we would revert back to what was stated in that document. So if the magic number was six students, then that would be the number, that would be the number that we would work with to say at, you know, I don't wanna say a school's name, but at so-and-so school, there were six positive cases within one day or two days as a result of, you know, a significant uptick at the school level, then we would, you know, make that appropriate decision. But thus far, we haven't had a situation where we've had multiple cases in one specific building, which was why we just wanted to show the data that we have at this point in time, where for October and for November, four students and five students over the course of an entire month, that's the data and spread out between four different schools. So that's the reasoning behind that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It does not, red does not mean remote.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: All the work that I have been doing has always been in collaboration with the team and in collaboration with guidance from the Board of Health and working closely with our Director of Nursing, Nurse Toni Rae. If a decision like that, based on a shift in data, I would definitely communicate with the school committee as well. It would be an emergency communication or a phone call, we would definitely communicate with you so I don't want the school committee to feel that they would not be looped in or notified of a significant shift. We are closely looking at the data. I believe strongly in data. The data can do its own talking all by itself. But if something like that were to happen, we would make a decision based on what the data is saying, but we would definitely include all stakeholders. So if that were to be something where we needed, like back in, to say there's been a shift, the governor has said Massachusetts is no longer red, Massachusetts is now purple, and shutting down all schools, we would notify the school committee immediately, and we would call an emergency meeting and communicate first. and in collaboration with the team, the board of health and share the information that we have so that the entire school committee would be kept abreast of what's happening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in response to your first question, member Graham, I'm gonna respond with a word that, and I don't want it to be taken out of context, but I am gonna say, I would like to ask the entire school committee to place their trust in me, that as a parent, as an educator of over 25 years, I am not trying to put anyone's life or health at risk, that I am gonna prioritize education I love school, and I'm very happy seeing kids in school. At this point in time, we don't have the data to support shutting down or operating differently. At this point in time, the data isn't there. The numbers are not showing that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would, I would like to trust the school committee to be able to trust that I would be able to make a sound decision, but a personal privilege of information member Ruseau, actually, it's a point of personal privilege.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, as I was saying, I do trust my judgment and my experience that if I had to call school, if that was a decision that had to be made, I would make that decision, but in collaboration with feedback from my colleagues, listening to the guidance of the board of health and working closely with our director, Toni Wray of nursing. I would also make it a point not after the fact to communicate early and clearly to the school committee that if we we saw a shift in the data, and that things were changing that that something possibly could be happening, I would. make that commitment to get that message across to you as soon as it was something that seemed like it could be a decision that was going to be made in the near future. But part of the responsibility of running the school district is to be able to make the difficult decisions and I know that I can call any of you, speak with you and bring it to you as well. But it is part of what is expected of a superintendent and I am prepared to do that. I am prepared to make those difficult decisions if that were to need to happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, I listened to what you were saying and I guess, as I'm hearing you speak about section two, and I know that you were deeply involved with us as part of the team on section three. When I think about the entire three areas, we're not looking at one particular category or metrics in isolation and referring back to the quote that was there, that probably wouldn't be a wise move to do. But if a decision has to be made, whether it's based on section three or a decision that's made based on section two, I still feel that I should be able to make that decision in collaboration with my team and communicate it out to the school committee. So I still feel that that should be the same approach, whether it's section one, section two, or section three.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Building classroom readiness, section two is Medford community health metrics. That's where we had the color coded red, yellow, green and gray. And section three is district and school specific conditions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanna say that we do have sanitizer. The sanitizer, the lemon scented hand sanitizer is hospital grade approved. sanitization or sanitizer. But however, based on the most recent guidance of having hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, we made an additional investment and purchased hand sanitizer jugs with pumps for all of the schools. And that was distributed to schools over the past two weeks. So if there is a staff person or someone saying that they don't have access to hand sanitizer with alcohol in it. They just need to speak to their school administrator because it was delivered to all of the buildings.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, I do not have the current data. The data that we presented in the slide deck, we had requested from Tufts. So that was the previous week's data based on the number of tests that they conducted at that point in time. And so that's what we had used. So I don't wanna give misinformation, but what's in the slide, we have that specific timeframe noted based on the other tests that were taking place in Medford. So there were an additional approximate 13,000 tests that were administered in Medford that were not part of Tufts University, but I don't have this week's data.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Marice Edouard-Vincent, Superintendent of Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm going to have to look into that because as you know, at the high school level, especially we've had so many challenges so that I just don't want to prematurely say yes. And then it has such a ripple effect. So I would just, you know, when I heard it said earlier, I just jotted that down to try to look into a way where we'll be able to have the information posted. What I can also say is that when we have our regular school committee meetings and the minutes are approved at the regular school committee meeting for a previous meeting, then at that point in time, those minutes will end up going online. So there is a delay between when a meeting takes place and the next scheduled regular school committee meeting for the entire school committee to take a vote to approve what has been shared publicly, and then it goes up. So that could be an explanation sometimes for the delay. So I just wanted to also explain that piece to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You should be all set.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I could even I just wanted to weigh in on. The piece regarding, I'm kind of happy there isn't an official canned curriculum that exists, because sometimes people will just check the box. And I think as we shift, and we want to have a true mindset shift, when you do think about curricula, and you are creative, and you are able to have teachers and curriculum directors involved in creating something from the grassroots. and kind of looking at the existing curriculum that's in place and finding areas where you can really make intentional connections. I feel like it sticks better for the children. And as we think about having this mindset shift, you know, eventually to roll it in grade level by grade level or focus on specific areas, I feel that letting it happen organically is the best way for it to bring about authentic change. And I am excited about the course being offered again because there was such positive feedback for all the people who were able to participate in the first go round that I feel there's a lot of people kind of waiting for this second session to start in January. And if anything, I mean, I know it's going to be by Zoom that, you know, Susanna may end up with like a waiting list and have to say, well, let's target maybe a specific grade level or look at what it is to see if we could, that would be a good problem. But I'm just saying, I feel when you bring about new curriculum and you introduce it, you have to provide the right training, the right backbone so that people can understand the rationale behind it and be able to have it connect to something that already exists. So it doesn't feel like it's, one more thing being added on, but it's just part of the work. And to the point of what was said last month with looking at our curriculum across the board and saying, where can we integrate or incorporate racial awareness and equity awareness, instead of having it be, we're adding this on because we have to check the box, if it is just incorporated, it will not feel like an add on and the students will be the greatest beneficiaries of it all. So I just wanted to bring up that point.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it was for next year. And I was in attendance at the meeting and we had just talked about trying to communicate the calendar and everything much getting on an earlier timetable. So, you know, we're gonna do our best to hit that new timetable. So we were all part of that conversation. Thank you. Second.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I may, through the chair, high school vision committee will be at our next, the next committee of the whole is scheduled for December 7th, the same day as our upcoming school committee meeting. So that was going to be the next agenda. At the building and grounds committee, where they were talking about the bricks, the brick project that had already started, the fundraiser that was ongoing. And so in the context of the brick project, which was to beautify the bricks and the front entrance, the conversation continued to happen about, while they're fixing the bricks, what about the other pieces? Like, why don't we continue fixing? So it was more of a conversation and the architect showed his sample drawings that his son and some other of our young Medford students had worked on. He gave them an opportunity and shared that presentation of what it could possibly look like. But nothing was set in stone, if I may use that expression. But it was more where they were talking about the BRICS and the BRIC fundraiser that's taking place. that the bricks would be laid at the front of the main entrance, what would it look like taking out some bricks? And so it was almost kind of like, well, if you're going to fix this, you don't want everything around it to look horrible because you won't even see the beauty of the bricks. But the intention definitely is to have the high school vision committee in December. So we were shooting for the December seventh meeting. There were two things we were trying to go back and forth with, but the vision committee is definitely an upcoming committee of the whole meeting. So rest assured you'll be getting that invite soon. We're just trying to balance. That might need a little more time. And if we think we need a little more time, we might need to play with what day we could start that so that we don't shortchange that conversation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Your point what you just were saying that was part of. I think people actually see what was presented at the building and ground subcommittee that the the Mustang nation out there. they will be inspired and excited about what those new bricks could end up looking like. So I completely agree and we can definitely get that information to all of you and let you see what they were samples, but to at least be able to weigh in so that when we have that committee of the whole, we can show some of that information and the pictures again, images so that people can have a richer discussion about that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. My remarks today will be a little lengthier because there are a lot of topics that I need to just update the committee on. So I just wanted to preface it. So good evening. The Medford Public Schools objective, first and foremost, is to educate our children. safely and equitably. To say it has not been an easy task during a pandemic is definitely an understatement. But Medford has shouldered on keeping our students and families front and center. It has not been perfect, but this is a playbook none of us ever anticipated. It has taken many, many long hours of planning, community and school committee meetings, discussions with teachers, administrators and staff. We have brought engineers into all of the buildings to gauge the air quality and commence repairs and upgrades where needed. Nothing has been done haphazardly or recklessly. We have planned every move and remained as flexible as possible as our context has evolved. Our families requested the option of all remote learning and hybrid in-school learning, and we prioritized the family choice throughout our reopening process. To that end, we have made significant investments in webcams, microphones, and MacBooks so that teachers could teach effectively, whether remote or live. We have done all of this to improve outcomes for all students. It is my strong belief that bringing students back into our schools is critical for their academic health and social welfare. The American Academy of Pediatrics, along with Medford's Board of Health and our own Health Services Department, support the return to in-person learning. I will say again, our utmost priority is the safety for all. Our students would never have been brought back without the approval of the medical professionals and listening to what the metrics are telling us. Currently, we have over 1,700 students in our schools on the hybrid plan, with 1,260 students receiving remote instruction. Our schools often function as safety nets for many of our students. Our schools provide two meals a day, ensure that pupils receive their medication at the proper time and with the proper dosage. And we are able to keep an eye on the students' physical and mental health. Additionally, at all of our schools, we're offering grab-and-go sites that are providing lunch for families that are remote. At the McGlynn Complex, On average, it's 15 meals a week. At the high school complex, it's 25 meals a week, and the Curtis Tufts. At the Roberts Elementary, it's approximately 95 meals a week. At the Brooks Elementary, 25 meals. At the Andrews Middle School, 100 meals a week. At the Columbus Elementary School, 35 meals a week. And please take note that when we say meals, when students or families are picking up the meals, it's actually two meals, so you can double those numbers. They're picking up breakfast and lunch. I can say to you that today it was a pleasure to once again be out in the field to see smiles and excitement from both our returning eighth graders, students, and our teachers. As humans, we crave social interaction and we will take it even with masks and staying six feet apart. With this addition, Medford now has K through eight in school two days a week and 300 of our most vulnerable students in school four days a week. As I mentioned last week, We are continuing to focus our efforts on removing barriers for reopening the high school to in-person learning as soon as possible. I am optimistic about welcoming our high school students in a staggered capacity over the upcoming weeks. This Thursday, November 19th, we plan to begin welcoming a small portion of our vocational students both 11th and 12th graders back for a modified schedule of in-person hands-on instruction. Phase one will welcome six of our 15 programs to in-person learning at the high school and select field-based learning opportunities. Those programs are cosmetology, culinary, arts, media, technology, health assisting, carpentry, and electrical. This is an exciting learning opportunity for our students, and we are grateful that our students will have this wonderful exposure to authentic learning in the field. I have also shared that we have encountered some challenges with staffing and coverage as we continue to bring more students into our buildings. We continue to need additional support for our classroom supervisory positions, lunch recess coverage, and other non-instructional duties at all of our schools. We are seeking adults who actually enjoy working with students to come join our team and support our hybrid model a few days a week. So if there's anyone listening tonight and you think you're interested, please contact our human resources department, or you can go on the website and complete the form. I want to say that last Friday, when I did the mini commercial, we only had eight people who had signed up as of Friday to support us in the supervisory roles. I'm pleased to announce that right now we are up to 20 individuals who have taken on the challenge and said they're willing to come join and be part of Team Mustang. We were hoping for 25, but we do need significantly more volunteers who are willing to work at the secondary level as well. So again, we have 20 individuals who have signed up and we are asking for more if possible. so that we will be able to ensure coverage, whether it's reverse remote or for non-instructional supervisory roles. So if you're on the fence and you're not sure, you can also call our human resources and they will explain what those responsibilities will be in greater detail. But I do wanna thank all of you who have signed up thus far. As we continue to bring back more students for in-person learning opportunities, we do recognize that COVID numbers are rising across the state. While numbers are on the rise in the community, schools in general have seen very little spread. This context of the low spread in schools has been critical in our planning of providing more opportunities for in-person learning of our students. Please be advised that we can't do this alone. The community at large must work with us and continue to wear masks, not congregate in large groups, sanitize hands and remember social distancing. Please remember that a high number of other communities that surround us are only able to offer remote learning opportunities to their students due to the high rate of transmission of the virus. So in partnership with our teachers, we feel we are giving parents, families, and students options to access education in the best way they see fit. whether it's remotely or hybrid within the Medford public schools. However, we must remain vigilant. So in the event of a possible school closure, this decision would be made collaboratively. Our highest priority is the safety of all our students and staff. So a recommendation for school closure would be made in collaboration with the Board of Health and pertinent data regarding our community in Medford. The school committee would also be kept abreast of any changes and deeply involved in the process. This is an unprecedented time, and the collective voice of school administration, the Board of Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Medford School Committee, we are all committed to prioritizing the safety of all. And if this decision needed to happen, we would use all media platforms to fully inform the school community and the community at large. To that point, beginning in December, we are hoping for December 1st, the Medford Public Schools will begin to individually COVID test students to gather some baseline data. We are in the process of working with our principals and administrators to coordinate the testing. We appreciate the extensive work that has been done by nurse Toni Wray, our director of health services, along with all of our nursing staff, the City of Medford, Tufts University, the Broad Institute, Armstrong Ambulance, Mary Ann O'Connor, everyone working collaboratively to try to provide this service. More detailed information will be sent to families in the near future, but please keep that in mind that Medford Public Schools, we want to keep not only staff and teachers safe. We want the students to be safe as well. And we are hoping that this is something that we will continue to do, and we will keep you informed of that. Following my remarks today, you're going to receive a more detailed public health update from Marianne O'Connor and Toni Wray. You're going to find out information today, later, about connectivity in our school buildings, There'll be a report on instructional innovations, as well as contingency plans for our most vulnerable students, and a remote academy update report. All of these reports will show how the Medford Public Schools continues to move forward in this most unprecedented time. For the community, again, I've mentioned it before, but I'm going to say it again. The City of Medford, the Malden YMCA, and the Medford Public Schools, we are providing free grab-and-go meals for all kids ages 18 and under. So kids or students do not need to attend the Medford Public Schools, and primary guardians do not need to be present to obtain the meals. This program is going to continue throughout the school year, Monday to Friday, with breakfast and lunch. So this schedule is as follows. YMCA offers meals at Haynes Square, 1145-1, the Tufts Park Pool, 1145-1, Medford's Recreational Center, 1145-1, and the Willis Ave Apartments, 1130-1. Medford schools, the McGlynn, Complex, Columbus, Roberts, Andrews, and Brooks, all of those schools offer meals from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. every day, Monday to Friday. Medford High School offers lunch and breakfast pickup from 10.30 a.m. until noon every day. Additionally, I know some of the school committee members mentioned this before. Brooke Hoyt of the Board of Health told me today that they were in the process of putting together a group of volunteers to deliver meals to approximately 20 families. A number of our teachers have already signed up with her to assist, and I want to thank them in advance. The West Medford Community Center is also collaborating with the Neighborhood Kitchen Restaurant to provide up to 200 free meals to low-income Medford residents. These meals will be distributed at the West Medford Community Center on Monday, November 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. People will need to sign up to receive their plate either online or by calling the West Medford Community Center at 781-483-3042, and they will add you to the list. Plates will be available for pickup at the community center. Special arrangements will be made for anyone requesting delivery. I have also included in your school committee packets, the virtual Fells Day flyer. This year, virtual Fells Day is taking place on Wednesday, November 18th. And I wanna take this opportunity to thank Ms. Ivy Carnabucci of our science faculty for arranging this opportunity. A former Mustang is doing wonderful things in the community. Our former student, Mr. Justin Tseng, currently a junior at Harvard University and the chair of the Harvard Public Opinion Project, recently wrote a commentary for WBUR entitled, The 2020 Youthquake is Coming. In the piece, Justin discussed the importance of increasing numbers of young people, ages 18 to 29 to vote, In his article, Justin spoke about having serious discussions about racial justice and the COVID response with his friends. He found that a lot of friends were anxious about their futures, and that is why they plan to vote. We are so proud of Justin for continuing his leadership role in college. Once a Mustang, always a Mustang. Also, our World Language Club, they are selling face masks with flags as a fundraiser. If you're interested in one mask, it's $3, two masks it's $5, and five masks for $13. Ms. Bobo is leading it up and you can reach out to her. She's leading the World Language Club. Unfortunately, due to COVID, We believe that this is going to be the first time since 1889 that there will not be a Thanksgiving football game versus Malden on Thanksgiving day. That's really something to think about. Medford and Malden have played each other since 1889, and due to COVID, this is the first year that it's not gonna be able to happen. But we will pick it up again next year. So speaking of Thanksgiving, the school schedule for the week of Thanksgiving will be as follows. Monday and Tuesday will be regular days, but Wednesday, November 25th is our all remote day. And it usually is a half day. November 26th is Thanksgiving, and Friday, November 27th is off. So again, next week, instruction will take place on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is our half day, and Thursday and Friday, we have off for the holiday. Please be advised, again, that there will be no in-school or remote learning on those days. Please enjoy the holiday. Also, and this is very important, for those families who may be traveling to see family and friends over Thanksgiving, please think about the governor's guidance of not being in groups larger than 10 inside. It's for everyone's safety, health, and wellbeing. But if for some reason you are required to travel, I'm asking you as parents on the honor system, if you do travel, when you come back, please take your child for free COVID test. Free COVID testing is available. You can go to the state's website and look up mass.gov forward slash stop the spread and find a location that's close to you where you can take your child for free testing before you return your child to school. It's for the health and safety of everyone involved. I want to say, and what would Thanksgiving be without a Thanksgiving poem? And this is my last piece. I want to share a poem with you from a wonderful Medford resident who's no longer with us. She's a famous author. Her name is Lydia Maria Child. She was born in Medford on February 11th, 1802. She is best known for the famous poem, Over the River and Through the Wood, which most people think is a Christmas poem. The actual name of the poem is the New England boys song about Thanksgiving day. Ms. Child was an ardent abolitionist, prolific writer, and is ranked among the most influential women of the 19th century. She wrote the first comprehensive history of both American slavery and the history of women. Her Thanksgiving Day poem was written in 1845. and gained its lasting popularity in 1874, when her friend, the Quaker abolitionist poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, included it in Child Life, an anthology of poetry for children. Eventually, the poem was set to a tune by some unknown person. The more modern song version is now considered a Christmas classic. I would like to share the poem with you now. Over the river and through the wood, to grandfather's house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the wood, oh how the wind does blow. It stings the toes and bites the nose as over the ground we go. over the river and through the wood to have a first-rate play. Hear the bells ring, ting-a-ling-ding, hurrah for Thanksgiving Day. Over the river and through the wood, trot fast my dapple gray. Spring over the ground like a hunting hound for this is Thanksgiving Day. Over the river and through the wood, and straight through the barnyard gate. We seem to go extremely slow. It is so hard to wait. Over the river and through the wood, now grandma's cap I spy. Hurrah for the fun. Is the pudding done? With that said, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a safe, blessed, and socially distanced Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate the holiday, enjoy the time off. Be well, stay safe, and wear your mask. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will definitely be able to follow up with Mr. DeLeva and have our student reps online for our next meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we're expecting another report, as you know, reports, but we are expecting another report. Significant progress is being made on the high school. So we are very optimistic. We have a good amount of rooms that are now online and we are working with some of the restrooms and a few other critical areas that also need to be online. But we know next week is an abbreviated week. But I'm hoping for. possibly some good news on November 30th, right after Thanksgiving, or very, very close, if not the 30th, maybe by the 3rd of December, to possibly have another cohort of students coming in at the high school level. So we are making significant progress and I'm equally excited, I have to say, about the 20 individuals who have signed up to join Team Mustang and you know, we know that a significant number will need to be at the high school where it is, you know, so much larger to have that supervision to support the reverse remote. So that's the one piece that, you know, between now and then we get enough people on board, we should be able to make it work provided, you know, all of these other areas that originally were not online, you know, I know CAF2 is back online. So good progress is being made so that as we have larger numbers of kids come into the buildings, we'll be able to continue with a staggered hybrid, starting with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to be able to present a more robust more robust meal numbers. I know with the other locations that I listed, I don't have the other locations numbers to try to figure out, is it possible that a significant number of our families are going to Haines Square in some of the non-school based places that they're getting meals? So I actually would like to, be able to present at an upcoming meeting what our numbers are, especially as we have more students coming in, of who's accessing the grab-and-go breakfast and lunch, and see if there's a way to figure out who's accessing the grab-and-go lunch at the other city locations, so that that could explain the discrepancy in some of the numbers there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to weigh in that. Thus far, the transmission has been, it has really, really been limited at the school level. Because we have, again, like I said, about 1,700 kids in school now. And for the amount of kids that are in school, it is happening. We know the virus exists. But the major transmission is not happening in schools. It's happening in the community, or it's home transmission. So although we've been impacted, it hasn't impacted the schools to the point where the schools cannot function at this point in time. You know, I know that there are other communities that have significantly, significantly higher numbers and it's a different situation, but at least as far as where we've been this far, starting with the eighth grade this week, we've actually been in pretty good shape.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say that the metrics have been updated. The only week that they were skipped, Ms. Suzy Weiss, my executive assistant, has been updating it. She added the state's definition, but there were no changes to Medford standards. It just was to reflect what the changes that the state did, which you know, impact where we would fall. But I just wanted to say that the metrics have been a exception of the week that the state changed the day that they were giving the information out. That was the only week where it did not change.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I'm
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: What's posted, if you look at the actual metric, it says the week of November 13th. I went to the website at the top, it said October 15th, 2020, beginning today and every Thursday. That was when the header was posted, but the actual dashboard is for November 13th at the top, because it's looking at the previous three weeks of data. So I just wanted to say, if you scroll down from the October 15th header, when we switched the day and said we would be posting it on Thursdays, the actual document does say November 13th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't believe the school committee agreed with what you were saying you wanted in section three. When you click on the hyperlink, it says the Medford Board of Health and Medford Public Schools. This document was what we worked on with the definitions with the frameworks group. We worked on this in collaboration. and we talked about the different scenarios so I'm not sure what else you're asking for but what is posted is what we agreed to when we met as a group. That I know.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In particular, when you say community at large, the slide deck or the different activities?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. Well, we can definitely have the slide deck can be posted on the website. we can link it into this update as well, community update.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, Dr. Edward-Vincent. Thank you. I just wanted to, yes, it can be done. I want to assure the school committee and the listening audience that just like in September, when we prioritized our most vulnerable that were identified by the state as the population of students to serve, the 300 students that started our first cohort They would be based on the guidance we've received thus far that we will try our best, our due diligence to keep them in the longest. As everyone can see, as we're paying attention to what's happening in the news, the likelihood that the nation may have to eventually have some type of a shutdown, whether it's four weeks or six weeks, we do have to be prepared for that. I'm not sure if the school committee recalls, but in the spring, there was a ILP or Individualized Learning Plan that was a special modified plan for our students with disabilities to talk about services that they would receive during remote instruction. So our students do have updated plans. Our special educators that are working with students, I have to say that, you know, they all deserve golden crowns. They have been the most flexible because they came in first and they're kind of like the first ones to come in and they'll be the last ones to leave. But we will be able to say what it is but because of the experience that we had eight months ago. We had a lot of lessons that were learned and a lot has happened since then and now. Teachers, for example, now have updated technology to allow them to do the work. They have MacBooks, very powerful devices. We made a lot of strategic investments to improve teaching and learning and to make it a better experience for both students and for and also for teachers. But for our most vulnerable, we will be able to say what the plan is, and Ms. Bowen alluded that we've had test situations since school has started for our most vulnerable back in September, where we had to revert back to remote, and then the students returned. So there is frequent communication, whether it's by classroom, directly with parents and with all of the support services. So I just don't want people to think that we want anyone to slip through the cracks, but our most vulnerable students, we're aware that they have the greatest need. And so we have definitely tried to keep that front and center. So we can definitely work on trying, creating a document that will kind of outline what will happen. But some of the work that would be created in the contingency plan will be built upon the plans that were already produced and published during the summer. Some of that work, a lot of that hard work that describes what happens, it's already there. It's just now creating it and putting it in a new document to have it identified as a contingency plan. But I just wanted to remind everyone that there is an individualized learning plan, an ILP, for all of our students with disability, not just the 300, the most vulnerable, but for our students all 800 plus students with disabilities that we will, you know, the special educators and all of the related service providers will refer to to provide continued support for those students. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also just wanted to say thank you for the presentation and that, yes, we can definitely put in a link in this week's Friday communication and to member Mustone's recommendation to also have the individual principals do that as well. So we can get the message out there and get it out. We can get it translated as well. So we can work on that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, that is something that I can definitely look more closely into I would not be surprised if. either adjustment Councilors or guidance Councilors. If some of those staff, even some of our special educators or EL family, EL educators who may be bilingual or use some of the translation devices, translation apps to work with families that they may have done that. But I can definitely follow up to find out if it's something that is happening on a consistent basis or infrequently.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just received a message. Thank you, Mr. Textera. He has said that he knows his EL teachers and translators have supported families with that, but I you know, since our EL teachers are working with our second language English learner students, I'm not sure who the point person would be for. So if you want to reach out to me, my office, and I can coordinate it and, you know, designate a point person to be able to work with you on this project, that'll be fine.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I have the language. The Medford School Committee offers its sincere condolences to the family of Janet Perperian, a longtime biology teacher at Medford High School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So. So I just was gonna. Hi. Hi, everyone. Very interesting conversation and idea that did just come to mind based on what you were just saying, Jenny. The fact that at this point in time, where we were keeping the group small while school was in session, one option could be the Wednesdays, which are non-instructional days for our students to possibly do small open houses because if we still have the restrictions in terms of how many people at a time, we could potentially, I would say not right now, but wait until things are better, do small tours of 10 to 15 people at a time on the Wednesdays when school is not in session so that at least they could physically come in and see the space, and we wouldn't be having a whole group of people coming in. But to be able to say, this is a sample kindergarten classroom, this is what our gymnasium or cafeteria looks like. The only thing that families would have to keep in mind is because of COVID right now, they would be seeing the plastic shields that are up. So it wouldn't look Like a typical kindergarten classroom had they visited the district last year or if they had other children that are in upper grades, when they could see all of the centers fully active, but if it is something. you know, just for them to kind of have an idea of what the buildings could look like, that could be something that we could try in the spring time, you know, we would be done with the snow storms hopefully and have better weather and at least be able to let them physically see the buildings if that's something that they truly desired. So that was just something that for right now, I think, You know, it just probably wouldn't be prudent right now, but definitely, you know, as the weather comes back and maybe springtime, that that could be something that was a real viable option where we'd advertise it, they'd know in advance and they'd have to register and try doing it that way. So then parents could have the option of looking online to see a video or seeing the schools virtually, but then in the spring, give them an opportunity possibly to come and visit. depending on where we are at at that point in time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think in the past where we were able to get the fact that the census took place this year, hopefully a lot of the information is just all in one place. In the past, we've reached out to the local surrounding daycares and preschool programs and got access to that information and reached out to families. And we also, and you might have said it earlier, Medford Family Network is like a jewel in Medford. And so Marie Cassidy has tapped into a significant number of families and even if they're not kindergarten age ready but she has a very wide network there so we're also able to tap into that resource where you know, it's housed, they're housed right inside the high school. It's very easy to be able to connect with her as well. I have no issue with the earlier timetable, none whatsoever, to move it up to December and just see what recruitment and numbers could look like. I think that that is doable. And now that we've been able to make it over the hurdle of actually having online registration, which didn't exist, same time a year ago, I believe, in the makings. So the fact that that actually exists now, I feel like a lot of this is doable. bridges to kindergarten presentations, they will most likely end up being virtual. So February, only because we don't know what kind of a winter we're going to have. They're saying it's going to be a real winter, but we don't know. And so sometimes you plan out and, you know, you get snowstorm after snowstorm and people just aren't going to travel for that. But to plan on doing something virtually, sending out a communication in December, I think all of that is doable to work on that, work on an FAQ, and try to figure out if we can do the videotaping or some kind of virtual tour so people can see all of the kindergartens are well provisioned, well stocked, they all have centers, all the schools have wonderful playgrounds, beautiful gyms, so that the kids are going to be in a beautiful facility. doesn't matter which school they end up at, they're all beautiful facilities, that every classroom has a bathroom and those kinds of things. So just to maybe put their anxiety or stress at ease for them to see that all schools are offering you know, essentially the same physical layout and access to the same resources. It's just in your particular neighborhood. And each school has its own individual personality. But I think that that is definitely, even though this is an earlier timetable, I feel that it is doable. So those are my comments.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely, I mean I think this information should be presented to the larger school committee as part of your report out and updates of one of the key pieces that has transpired. I don't think it necessarily needs to be a resolution because The fact that I can, I can, I could reach out to Adam by week's end, Adam Hurtubise, and, you know, I can definitely, you know, Marie, I can, I can talk with her by week's end as well to get that official, to get the official mailing and those pieces done. I think you should let the school committee, the larger body know that this is something that we're gonna be doing on an earlier timetable of what had happened in the past. So I feel like this is a key piece of information to update them, but we can definitely follow up and just request the census information and I can speak with Marie Cassidy and get that so we can have a working list and work with the team to get that official list that's available. And we know on average, it's about the low 300s. That's usually what we end up with. So it's not like we're expecting 700. And if it was a list that only provided 100 children, we would know, well, where are the other 200 coming from? So on average, It's about low 300s. And so we know the number of students, that's a very manageable number, divide and conquer, and we could get it done to get that communication out in December.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Although I will say the, I think because of COVID, and families made decisions that they felt were best for them. I do feel the challenge between the charter schools and the parochial schools is going to be the cost factor and the tuition factor, that some people did make that decision temporarily waiting for things to go back to a normal schedule. I think some people we will lose, but I do think financially, you know, I can say even though Medford Public Schools, it's free public education, it's an excellent education and I would be hard pressed to say that what we're providing is not better than what students are being exposed to in some of the charter schools. And that we have great programming, great facilities, a lot of resources that, again, if anything, it would be a scheduling piece. I feel for those A few hundred students that are in the charter world right now that aren't attending Medford public. It's not because they feel that there's better programming, it was the extended day services that kind of kept them there. Because I also had spoken with a mom at one of our schools who, for whatever reason, transitioned her child back to public schooling. And she was so happy with what her children were being exposed to from the arts, music, instruments, the clubs, and all of those other things that Now we have the courts at the middle school level. So there are a lot of opportunities for our students. And I think it's about marketing, getting the message out there early, starting kindergarten enrollment in December, and communicating at the same time that our competition is actually communicating with families that they can say, oh, you mean this is what's available? you know, being able to answer their questions and letting them see how happy the kids are and what we actually do offer. I feel the marketing piece and communicating earlier will bring families back to our public schools. That's, I mean, I'm an optimist, but I actually feel like if they knew what was happening in the schools and they could see for themselves, whether it's through video, whether it's through the projects and things that we're saying and showing, these are what Medford public school students are doing, that they would realize like, I've got something great in my backyard and I don't need to drive down the street to another community to get something that isn't at the same standard. That's just my take. I feel it's going to be about marketing and communicating earlier, which we're saying we're going to do. We're moving the timetable up. And so it'll be very interesting to see how families respond to that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say our kindergarten staff, our kindergarten programming, I know I'm talking a lot, but the kindergarten team, they are wonderful. It's developmentally appropriate practices for children. It's about centers. We got them in early. It's socialization, it's play, learning through play, but they're also learning. Some of our students are early readers. they are exposed, whatever level the children come to us at. At the end of the year, they've made significant progress. And again, kindergarten is a foundational year. And I feel as parents are thinking about where I want my child to go, that they should not count out Medford Public Schools. Your child will receive a great kindergarten, a great foundation. And I think they'll be so pleased with the foundation that the kids receive, that they will wanna continue. and see what happens by the time they get to high school. So I would really encourage people just to wait to see the videos and the marketing that we're going to do to really show all the great work that is happening and let the great work speak for itself.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Marice Edouard-Vincent, Metro Public Schools, 489. I would like to say thank you for this opportunity to come and speak to you and address the updates of what's been happening in the public schools and the amount of work that has been taking place. And just to assure you that the investment that in the schools is going to further face the challenges that we have been slowly but surely making progress. So I will defer to my colleague, Mr. Dave Murphy, to complete specifics regarding an update on the information of how the monies are going to be spent in the Medicaid school. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, um, and I know there is nays iPhone. I've really been listening to the conversation this evening. I also have a document that I would like to share based on your resolution that was presented last week. with some proposed amendments that we, the administrative team here looked at today and made modifications to the original recommended resolution. And the modifications that were made, we felt were more reflective of what the work could actually look like. So I don't know if you want to take these questions first, and then I share that with just slight modifications. But the essence of what you're trying to say, but at the same time, you know, listening to what Ms. Moretti shared, and she apologized for sharing her thoughts, but I completely understood what you were saying, Ms. Moretti. And again, there are a lot of contexts and situations that do take place on any given day at a school. As we know, no two days are identical. And we know that as a district, there is room for improvement. And I am in agreement again with what Ms. Schulman shared earlier about us doing a comprehensive review and really looking at how discipline is meted out across the district, but at the same time also looking and delving deeper into our own implicit biases that do exist. So we're not denying that. And so after Ms. Ney speaks, I would love to share the screen so the school committee can look at the proposed amendments that the administration was in agreement with making to this resolution. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I stopped the share.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, we did not. And that was the first time that I had seen something along those lines. I know for the purposes of Zoom, where we've been, or I've been on Zoom multiple times in official capacity, where the meetings have been Zoom-bombed. So if you're the host, you're able to mute and unmute in order just to have structure and not having six people speak at the same exact time. The comment that I saw there, I'm not familiar with that particular situation. So that was the first time I ever heard of it. But we meet with the administrators frequently. So that's something that, as an administrative team, we can definitely meet and discuss and ensure that that isn't taking place. that kind of a practice isn't taking place except for the purposes of running an organized meeting. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: and other members of my team, Dave Murphy, Dr. Peter Cushing, and possibly Suzanne Galussi as well. So we are prepared to respond to any questions that you may have regarding the, the proposals for how we would recommend spending this money to advance work that needs to be done in all of the buildings for a safe opening of schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, absolutely not for personnel. The request for these funds are to improve our infrastructure, in particular around the areas of air exchange, air quality, to get our buildings up to air balancing, all of those things that are currently working to try to fix to make sure that our buildings are up and running and safe for a smooth reopening of schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is correct.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so there is a significant scope of work that does need to be done in particular if we focus on the high school, which is the oldest building in the district outside of the Curtis Tufts. But the high school being 50 years old has older rooms, more eighth graders. some pains, if I can say that. And so there are areas that definitely need immediate attention in the HVAC area. And so we're currently, WB Engineering is currently conducting, completed their first report on the building of the high school and what they would make recommendations for in the area of HVAC. We also have, UEC universal environmentalists coming in who are also looking at air quality and air balancing and we also have Precision, another engineering group that is continuing to look at how our HVAC systems function and work for the district. So with all of the different engineering companies that have been coming in, the cost is truly significant. For example, at the high school on the roof, to repair the fans that are on the roof, which are part of the exhaust system, HVAC system. We have approximately $150,000 worth of work on the roof alone, addressing fans and making sure that they are all properly functioning at their maximum speed and able to deliver and support intake and outtake in the building. In addition, from WB Engineering's initial report, on the high school based on the mitigation strategies that they recommended. We're talking about prices that would exceed $200,000 at the high school complex alone. And the other off-campus buildings are still being assessed as we speak. and so we are waiting for those reports to finish being completed. Some of that money also because, again, this building is 50 years old. Prior to the official ADA changes that newer buildings had to have to be properly handicapped, accessible. We wanted to set aside approximately $50,000 to $100,000 to support making the entrance to the high school ADA compliant. There is a ramp there that vehicles go up and down, but for people in wheelchairs, it is not fully compliant. And so those are some of the things that we want to be able to use these monies for. And as the other buildings are continued, are presently still being assessed, we anticipate that there will continue to be, you know, significant requirements from the district to be able to mitigate all of these HVAC challenges that could present themselves in order for us to be able to get schools up and running as quickly as possible. I also want to say to the entire body that we, as the work is being done, we are prepared and fully wanting to come back and share with both you and the school committee the progress of the work that's being done, the status of the work, and where we are in terms of using this funding to remedy the HVAC challenges that have presented themselves.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So at this point in time, we are optimistic that this will allow us to address the high school. We don't know, again, You know, we can't, I cannot definitively say that I will not need to come and ask your body for additional funding. Our hope is that the 816,000 will allow us to be able to address all of the key challenges with HVAC systems, in particular at the high school, that we would be able to remedy all of the things that were recommended in the reports.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We would hope that this could be for the high school and if needed for, we know the outside schools are much younger, they're 20 years younger. However, we may need to spend purchasing additional HEPA filters and We would hope to be able to use this funding not only at the high school, but potentially at some of the outside schools as well. That would be our hope if other things were to surface. But we know, we're fully aware that the high school needs significant work and that the lion's share of that funding definitely would be spent at the high school complex.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also have Mister Murphy, David Murphy on the line. He's on the call as well. And he may be able to weigh in on that. Again, as the numbers are coming in, we know for certain, the roof fans, At the high school, it's going to be a significant investment. And if the funds need to be spent exclusively at the high school, that there is so much work, capital projects, including additional bathrooms and those kinds of things that need to be renovated and updated, that I'm sure that we would be able to use all of this funding in short order.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If it is possible to allow if If there was something that were to come up at one of the other schools and we had to take a very limited amount from this $800,000 to support the other buildings, if that was a possibility, I would ask this body to allow us the additional flexibility to be able to use it throughout all of the schools. But if that would be problematic, then I would just say leave it for the high school because we know that there is plenty of work that can be done.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, this first report that was released by WB Engineering was exclusively to high school. And so, that $200,000 to exceed the $200,000 was just for some of the mitigation work that needs to be done exclusively at the high school. We have not received, all of the remaining engineering reports for the remaining outside schools, because the high school being the largest building takes the most time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So that $150,000 was in addition, I believe that the amount of the 150,000 was for the repairing of the roof fans. And then there are other mitigation strategies, which could potentially include HECA filters and those kinds of things. It's likely to not exceed 200,000. And I, again, significantly exceed that. But I, again, I do have David Murphy on the call and John McLaughlin, so I don't know if Clerk Hurtubise could unmute them so they could weigh in as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can assure Councilor Marks and the entire council that our intention is to get the buildings up and running as quickly as possible so that we can have students return. That is our highest priority. The concerns about the ADA, which I did mention, accessibility at the front of the high school, that is something that has always been a concern. a concern and so in fixing the ADA ramps at the front of the high school, the main entrance, at the same time that that's being fixed, in essence, you would be able to fix the school aesthetically by making it more handicap accessible and doing the work that needs to be done there. But again, our priority is to be able to get the school up and running, meeting the HVAC standards and proper air ventilation in the entire complex. We want students to be safe. We want our staff to be safe. everyone coming to work into the building to be safe. So that is our highest priority. And I can assure you as the entire council, that that's what we can focus on. Again, we are also willing to come before you as we continue to get additional reports. And as work is being done to come and update the council on the status of the work and how much of the money has been spent as well, as we continue to do the same for the school committee. But I do want to stress that this funding will be a tremendous help to the schools and allow us to be able to open and get kids back in the schools as quickly as possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Last year, for example, we did a lot of work on some of the outside buildings. I know the Columbus, we had a lot of units that were updated and if something wasn't working, there were a lot of repairs that were made to the outside schools. And so we are committed to having all buildings fully functioning, the outside buildings with their air conditioning and their heating to be working. So we are committed to doing that, and that work has been ongoing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the air quality in all of the outside buildings, they are currently still being assessed right now. Again, as I had said earlier, the high school being the largest complex, essentially the other schools can all fit into the high school complex. that this building took the longest amount of time. And the engineers from the different engineering companies, they are out in the field right now doing the assessments on the outside buildings as well. So that is ongoing work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So exactly, that is a great question. So we are fully aware of the classrooms that do not have any windows at all, the inner classrooms in B building and C building, B building on the second floor. And so there are some classrooms that we are looking to take offline and there are other classrooms where what would be appropriate would be to put in the, HEPA filters in other classrooms. Can you give me like five minutes?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: To put in air quality in the HEPA filters in the other buildings to be able to, those rooms, to be able to increase the air quality in that space.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For the study halls, if they met the air quality standard, once all of the spaces meet the correct standard, every space will be able to be used. If there's an area that it can't be used, we were given suggestions to mitigate that. So whether it's looking at the windows or adding HEPA filters, but to increase the air ventilation and air circulation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is, one of the suggestions that we already have in plans is to increase, normally filters were changed twice a year and we're gonna increase that and double the filters being changed. So there are steps that we have already begun to put in place that we're gonna use moving forward to help all of the schools and to just keep a high level of air quality for everyone, all staff working and students in the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we would definitely like to upgrade and renovate the bathrooms, and that's still on our list to get that work done. But for right now, we really are prioritizing HVAC systems, the air quality, et cetera, testing. So that's our biggest priority first, and then we will definitely be tackling the bathrooms as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the reports that were shared today were some of just the preliminary reports that we have. We don't have other reports as of yet because the testing is still ongoing. But as soon as we have additional reports to share, we will gladly share that with the entire council.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I mean, it's kind of- It would have been a tremendous challenge, and we would have needed to ask for additional support.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as we are waiting on the additional reports from the outside schools as well, I don't have a specific number, but I would like to defer to Assistant Superintendent David Murphy as well. I think he got muted. I would like to defer to him. He may have more of the specifics in terms of the total number of filters needed at the high school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so ironically enough, because the Curtis Tufts is actually the oldest building, they have very, very large windows that can open. And so one of the best based on what the engineers feedback that the engineers have given to us is to allow natural air to come into the spaces. So the Curtis Tufts has, you know, very tall ceilings, very large windows in every single classroom. So although we know we'll be waiting for what the reports say, we anticipate very good remarks, scores for the Curtis Tufts that they have the ability to let in a lot of natural air to support air quality at that facility. So we are waiting again for the final reports from the outside schools that are still ongoing. And again, if air filters or something like that is needed, we are prepared to put those in place at all of the buildings, including the Curtis House.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But we have not ruled out using alternative spaces within the high school complex in particular. The only fear is, you know, we have very, very long winters and it is important for students to be able, while the weather permitting, you know, they can go outside and use the outside fields. But that would be something that we would have to look at. But as a temporary measure, we would not rule out having to use other spaces, including the gymnasium.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We did send out the tentative schedule of what their instructional day will look like. We have not sent out at the secondary level, the high school level over the next few days. The student schedules will be sent out. School brings is converting over and with the assignments of teachers and working on the assignments of cohorts, all of that work is taking place right now. So under normal conditions, people would have had their schedules in advance, but due to all of the moving pieces that we are currently kind of working with right now, we were not able to create schedules. Had we sent schedules out, the schedules most likely would have ended up having to change. So it's a situation where we are measuring twice in order to cut once. And so I ask the entire community for a little more patience for us to be able to match up the students with the cohorts. With the days of the week, with the staffing that's available, with all of the adjustments that had to be made, we were not able to send out the schedule, but that will be completed over the next few days.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So John McLaughlin would have to speak specifically to the spending that may have occurred. outside of the reports not coming in yet. So we, again, as we're just getting this information kind of hot off the press, we were waiting for what the reports would reveal so that we could know which way to go. Because a lot of, there's a lot of vendors out there, a lot of people saying, do this, do that. But again, where the high school has its unique It's unique structure. We have classrooms without windows. There are a lot of special parts of the high school. You know, the science wing, which is completely renovated. So we have so many different parts of the building. I know that we had held off waiting for guidance so that we would be able to really make smart decisions. But John McLaughlin could speak to what may have already been spent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So again, because we don't have all of the reports, we know right now that the high school needs significant work and over the next week, by the end of next week, we should have reports regarding the other schools. So again, if it's really, small mitigation that's required in the outside buildings where we, you know, as it is, we're working around the clock, but we will continue to get it done. We want kids back in school as quickly as possible, but we need to ensure that the buildings are safe and meet the appropriate standards. And so we are trying to do it as quickly as possible. We're not taking shortcuts because we do know that this is, everyone's safety and health at risk. So we want it to be done as quickly as possible, but we need it to be done correctly. So as soon as we have the data from the outside engineering reports, we will, you know, go into high gear action to mitigate, you know, and meet whatever it is that they're recommending for us to get our buildings back online as soon as possible. So my hope would definitely be that by October, we would be up and running at all, if not the majority of our buildings.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, I mean, based on what the engineering reports will show to us, I believe as everything's being worked on that everything will be cleaned or made to the appropriate standard, you know, possible because filters need to be added and there are a lot of other recommendations. So in just the natural course of getting the systems up and running, that would need to happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can't speak to the steps in which, or the order in which it's going to happen. I do know that we do need filters. I don't know how the ducts would be sanitized per se, but I would believe that they're going to be putting filters onto the HVAC systems. that they would definitely have to clean it before you put, you know, even when you get your air conditioning serviced at home, they clean it and they put in new filters. So I can't speak to the exact steps because, you know, I'm not, you know, an engineer that can address the, you know, appropriate steps, but I would definitely say that yes, they would have to clean it. You wouldn't want to, you know, once you take out an old filter and you put in a new filter, that they would appropriately clean it before they added the next filter in. Again, I can't, you know, I'm not an HVAC expert, but I, you know, could not see them not taking the appropriate steps to get our system fully functioning based on what the reports are saying to us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, no, we can definitely do that. That can definitely be part of, once we get to the actual piece to say make sure all and sanitized and before you add the new filters to it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think Mr. Rodriguez might be able to speak specifically to that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for buildings that are being rented, they have to go and be approved through the Board of Health, first and foremost. So at the high school, we do have one of the churches using the high school care and theater, the little theater. And in order for that space to be used, it has to be used at a reduced capacity, which is following the governor's guidance. And in addition to that, the renters had to submit what their COVID-19 protocols would be to the board of health. And so they had to put specific things in place. The custodian sanitized, and clean the spaces before and afterwards. They have one door that's used for an entrance, a separate door that's used for an exit way. So there are safety protocols that are put in place so that traffic, people are not crossing each other and they are maintaining social distancing. They are wearing their masks. So they have to, before anything is approved, it has to, that plan has to be approved through the Board of Health. And that's what the renters are doing. They are meeting the standards that have been set for them. And we as a district, we are sanitizing and cleaning those spaces appropriately.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So it's not hundreds of people because the county theater has a capacity of maybe 400. And at any given time, it's probably filled at a quarter capacity. so it is not hundreds of people that are in the building. I also want to state that I have been in the building every single day, along with the custodians, along with the secretaries, along with all of the staff that are physically reporting to work at the high school complex every day, and the building is being cleaned and sanitized. And as a normal citizen, I go to stop and shop, I go to CVS, I practice, proper hygiene in terms of hand-washing, wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, because we cannot allow the virus to stop us from living and from doing our daily living activities. And if there is fear that any part of the school is going to be rented, then that fear is also going to carry over to students being allowed to come into the building. So we need to be able to...
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so essentially the comments that I was making were in regards to the rentals. And I think Councilor Bears made the equally valid point of saying that the chambers and City Hall are also used for other events. I do feel that we need to get students back into school. We need to use good judgment. When our buildings are rented, we have security on hand. We have our custodians who get to work on the weekends and get overtime. So we have custodians who are ready, willing to clean and sanitize and follow the COVID procedures that we have in place. And yes, if we're renting a space, people do need to use the facilities from time to time. So the bathrooms will be cleaned and sanitized as well. The school committee did vote that we can rent our building spaces and work with some of the partners that we've had for a long time, provided they meet the standards that the Board of Health has put before them. And so all of those that are using any of our buildings, they've met those standards, and that's why they've been able to use this space. Those are my final remarks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good morning, everyone. This is Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent, superintendent of schools. And I look forward to continuing to get feedback from all stakeholders, parents, community staff who are participating during this Green Yard session. And we have a lot of updates for you and we'll give you some similar information that was presented last night for those of you that weren't able to join us. just so that everyone has the same baseline information. And we will look forward to answering your questions as they come in. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the district lawyer and the MTA union representative, they are coordinating schedules to get those dates down. But we did propose three dates, there were some conflicts. So we are working, waiting to get what the new proposed dates are going to be. But ongoing negotiations will continue to take place between now and the start of school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so I just want to piggyback and say that your first question explicitly, are all children with an IEP considered high needs? The answer to that question is no. That all children are an IEP, yes, they are receiving additional services, but do they qualify for receiving that 70 to 75% of the day where they have targeted physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapies? other related service providers that are working with their students, those would be the students that are specifically classified. And Ms. Joan Bowen and her team, they are reaching out to families, but that's still in the works right now. But every single student on an IEP would not be classified in that grouping, just to provide clarification. So you'll hear directly from Ms. Bowen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So once we get the surveys in and we were just this morning, we were almost at 2000 surveys within two days. So parent response has been phenomenal. We're going to continue to send reminders out, but we need parents to fill out that survey. in order for us to have an idea of what the numbers are. The one constraint is where cohorts are concerned, where families have children in more than one building. We want to be able to have families have their children participating in the hybrid model on the same day, so that as a family unit, to the extent possible, you're having all of your children, whether you have one at the elementary, one at the middle, and one at the high, if hybrid is your selected model, they would be participating in the same cohort grouping. The cohorts, to the extent possible, once we have the final data from the survey, we will start looking at the cohorts. There have been a lot of questions. As we set up the cohorts, for the hybrid instruction, we need to try to balance the classrooms. So, for example, if there are 22 students in a classroom, we wouldn't be able to have a cohort, Monday, Tuesday cohort, cohort B, have 19 students and only end up with two students and cohort C on the Thursday, Friday cohort. So that is something that we have to try to take into consideration. So I know that there have been a lot of questions and asks as community and family are trying to figure out how to manage groupings. So we are definitely gonna, once all the data is in and it goes to the school-based teams, they're gonna look at the cohorts, they're gonna look at families, trying to ensure that children are able, siblings are able to go to school on the same days. And then once we have that information, trying to balance the cohorts as much as possible. It might not be exactly 50-50, it might be 45-55 or 40-60, but we really need to keep the groups balanced to the extent possible so that the teachers have balanced groups of students and we're limiting the amount of students that are in a classroom honoring the six feet of space. So I do wanna say that because it's possible once all the data comes in, that we could end up again with 19 or 20 students families selecting the same exact cohort and two on the other day. So, again, we won't have that final information until the surveys are completed and it goes to the school-based teams and we look at balancing the numbers. So, I do ask for a little patience, but completing that survey for us will really help us to start moving forward with the next phase. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to jump in to say where specials are concerned. One of the things that we're thinking about with the mixing of cohorts, if I were to use elementary schools as an example, where students may have art and they have phys ed and where the elementary school calendar, they have three terms, trimesters, that it may be possible to reduce the amount of interaction with different cohorts. One thing we're looking at, again, this is gonna be determined on the school-based teams level, is that it may be for a trimester, instead of going to five different specials, a student may have two specials. or three specials that repeat during that trimester. And then that reduces the mixing of cohorts. And so, you know, from September to, you know, early December, it could be, you know, phys ed and art, but these particular grades have phys ed and art. And then when the next term starts, it could be different specials so that, again, we limit the amount of mixing of cohorts if in fact that is possible. So a lot of this information, we're kind of on standby as the data is coming in from the parent surveys and we end up having hard numbers of what the interest is and what scheduling and planning we need to provide for our students. So I do wanna say that we have thought about that and at the school-based teams levels, depending on the setup of the school, and what could be available that that is something that would reduce mixing of cohorts and keep groups of students together for a longer period of time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I actually wanted to show you... This question came up earlier about our students with disabilities or students who are unable to stay with a mask. It's clear all the way through, but if you can see, I'm putting it on the table. And for some of you, it might not even look like I'm behind something, but this is what we have purchased for our students. that have the need to be behind a protective shield, but they can see. And so it has four sides, one, two, three, and four. And so again, it's, we'll sit on their desk or on their table, and they'll be able to be behind the shield. So if they're talking for students who may have a particular need, we have purchased these for students that have a specific need to use this in the classroom environment. So we are really trying to be proactive and we are really trying to think about all of the challenges that some of our students may have, whether it's a medical requirement to keep not only the students safe, but the staff safe as well. So I just wanted to show you that other artifact as an example for you to know that we are trying will those desk shields be able to fit on the smaller high school desk? So this size desk shield, I would say if this particular one does not fit on the desk, then for that student or the students that would need, we would be able to, because we're only gonna have 50% capacity in a classroom that if we needed to move desks around, if we needed to move them around, then we could do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So- Yeah, I can speak to COVID testing. So COVID testing, we're working closely with the Medford Department Board of Health. For Medford public schools, for Medford public school staff, COVID testing will be available every two weeks. So Mayor Lungo-Koehn, the Board of Health, in collaboration with Tufts University, will be conducting COVID testing for Medford staff on a biweekly basis. For staff that have already reported to work, we will be able to start beginning testing the week of August 24th. We are working We are working on getting information back, specifying that. But once the school year is in session, all staff in Medford Public Schools, teachers, parents, everyone who works for Medford Public Schools, COVID testing will be available on a biweekly basis. So people can continue to get tested free of charge to them. they will be able to continue to get tested throughout the year to ensure their safety. Medford will also be having additional sites that is continued to be, we're working in collaboration with the board of health to figure out where the testing sites for the community and students will be during the school year. So that is something that will be a separate ask, but it's part of the plan. We're working collaboratively, but for Medford Public Schools staff testing, COVID testing will be available for all staff on a biweekly basis.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There was something about kindergarten screening for EL students. I was not able to get Paul Textera on the call today, this morning. However, for our EL students. Our newcomers and our ELs are part of the five groups of students that are required to be receiving instruction. Our students with high needs, our EL students, newcomers, Desi is going to be sending out that official guidance, so a group of our ELs specific. Our homeless students, our students that are in foster care, and early childhood students were the five groups that Desi asked to be considered as part of the high needs group that schools will work at educating those students in a full-time capacity. So I just want to address that. Again, I wasn't able to have Mr. Textera on live with us today, but there will be additional guidance coming forward. And as we get that guidance, we will definitely pass that on to all teachers and families so everyone knows who's impacted by those groups. But I can't stress it enough. For those of you who are online today, if you haven't done the survey yet, please do the survey so that it can help us better prepare because the school-based teams have just kicked off and we need that data to be able to answer some of these questions. So ladies and gentlemen, I really want to say thank you very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to say thank you to everyone who jumped on the call. Thank you for the comments. We're going to continue to go through those comments. Thank you for the feedback. I feel the outpouring of support from Medford has been phenomenal. It was noted even by Jesse the amount of community involvement community stakeholder, community feedback. Your feedback's important to us. And again, even though the proposed plan that we put forward, the staggered hybrid, the hybrid schedule was developed by the hybrid team. The remote schedule was developed by the collaborative remote team. And the communications work group, the steering work group, all of the feedback that was given, everything was taken into consideration and we are now finalizing our document where Dr. Cushing just showed you the screenshot of what some teachers will wear. I was able to show you a sample of what the actual screens look like to protect our students. We have sanitizer. We have electrostatic sprayers. You name it, we have it. If someone tells us about it and it's a great idea, we want to take the good advice, throw out the bad advice. We want to keep our schools open, safe for both students and families. We want to help all those families out there that are saying they need help, they need coverage. The majority of people thus far are saying they want the hybrid, but we're almost at the 50% cutoff. So encourage your neighbors, encourage your friends to turn that survey in. And once we get that information, that information will be made public. So you can also see what you know, the pieces of it that say what our community is saying they actually need. So your safety, your health, your health and safety, providing a consistent educational experience for our students, whether it's remote learning or whether it's hybrid learning. We want to provide a consistent experience because the feedback you gave us from the spring, we knew there was room for improvement. And I feel that what we're offering is significantly improved. So Dr. Cushing just ran and got the electrostatic sprayers. And again, safety, masks, sanitizing, cleaning, social distancing, signs, stickers, and tape is going to be on the floor, arrows. The school-based teams will be determining, use this stairwell to go up, that stairwell to go down. There will be bathroom schedules set up. We're going to try to do everything in our power possible to get schools up and running so that everyone is safe. COVID testing for staff, that was like the icing on the cake. We were so excited to get that news yesterday, caught off the press. And so we're going to continue. As soon as we get the information, we're going to pump that information out to you. So again, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the feedback. It's truly appreciated. And we look forward to continuing these conversations and hearing your feedback so that Medford Public Schools can be even greater. Ms.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. This is Marie Sedvard-Vincent, superintendent of school speaking. And I'm pleased to have this additional listening session to get feedback. Last week we presented at our school committee meeting, and we know that there are a lot of questions that you may have as parents regarding what our plan was that was presented last week. So again, this is an opportunity for us to listen, to be able to look at the comments and questions that you're going to have and respond to them as many as possible. So I look forward to seeing your comments and communicating further. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: here before we start answering questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, I would want to say that our overview tonight is to really continue to listen and get additional feedback. We know that we put out the plan last week and there were definitely questions I received since last week. And we wanted to give the community an opportunity to kind of say what are some of the questions they have. and look at what are the additional questions that need to be addressed. So again, that's when I think about what our plan is for this evening, it's really to be able to listen, to see the types of questions that are coming forward, and to see how we can continue to answer all of those questions and see what we can do on our end to continue to meet the needs of the community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, we would have to say yes. While this preliminary survey has gone out right now, as we're gathering the information to see what families are choosing, at first glance, the majority of families do seem to be selecting hybrid, but we can't say that because we still, you know, we can't say that that's the majority of families choose that. But as families are going to be completing the survey and we have that data, we will be able to say, okay, now based on parent responses for their children, what is it that they would like or they feel meets the needs of their families. So, in that regards, where we are able to preserve a class or try to keep classes intact, we will definitely try to do that within assigned schools and teams. Again, we need to get the rest of those surveys in so we have clear information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Tom, you're muted. We can't hear you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We are determined to try to get as close to 100% participation in the surveys. So the first pass has gone out and families that are responding remotely or online. And then at the end of this week, we're gonna take an assessment on Sunday to see where we land. Again, within the first 24 hours, we already have 1,700 families or students accounted for. And so those are really promising numbers. So by Sunday, once we get down to more manageable numbers, we will be calling out to families and setting up other ways to get the survey completed with them. So if a family were to need support, either to have a translator work with them or to have a person speak to them to complete the survey, we would be willing to do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So one of the challenges that we are facing right now with the hybrid model is at the Medford High School complex in particular, we were aware of some concerns around ventilation. And so we needed to have the engineers come in because there are some new COVID recommendations regarding older buildings. And with the high school complex in particular, being the oldest building, over 50 years old, there are a lot of areas that we knew we were gonna need to be able to address and look at parts of the high school complex where maybe they were being utilized one way and needed to be utilized a different way. So the hybrid model that was recommended, the hybrid model that the work group proposed, it's still that hybrid schedule. But what we took into consideration, again, knowing that we were going to continue to receive updated information, updated medical information, and thinking about the total number of students. So that if an entire building that normally holds 500 or so students, if that building was fully hybrid, fully functioning, all grade levels, at any given time, you could have 250 students, but it depended on the age. And so we tried to look at still going forward with the hybrid approach to instruction. However, staggering those numbers so that we were not overwhelming the system. And so a lot of the medical research talked about our youngest learners, our early childhood, our kindergarten age children, first from a readiness perspective. They don't have actual school experience. And we thought it was critically important to set that foundation. We know that this situation is not ideal for anyone. It's not an ideal learning situation. And I personally feel that our kids are regressing, regressing, regressing, not only academically, but also social emotionally. And so when we were trying to think about this, hybrid staggered approach to say, let's start with some of our youngest learners so we can at least set the foundation. When you think about our early childhood and kindergarten students, some of them don't even have experience yet with using computers or technology. They may use their mom or dad's phone or someone's phone from time to time, but really being able to use the technology And so we were saying we need to get them physically on campus to set that foundation and really set those early readiness skills that are developmentally appropriate for our youngest learners and slowly stagger in the additional grades to the school so that it was a gradual process. So that was the reasoning or the thinking behind recommending the staggered approach. So I just wanted to share that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so I would definitely say, and I've received several, some communications regarding seniors and what's required for senior year with students preparing for college and to graduate. So that is something that we can definitely continue to look at. Again, the high school complex at one point in time used to house 5,000 students. The same exact complex, which is now housing 1,200 students. So, we are aware of that. However, at the same time, we are aware we have the engineers coming out to look at some of the work that we will need to do here at the high school complex. So that was part of where we were saying we know that we're going to need to do some work. There are many parts of the high school that are renovated. The science wing is fully renovated, air conditioned. that's in D building and many, many programs on the vocational side of the house are renovated or those spaces have large windows or bays where the windows will fully open and you're able to have a lot of circulation going through. So we were looking at that and taking that also into consideration. So we will definitely continue to look at the staggered dates. And again, there has been a lot of questions about what we can do for seniors in programming. So that was what led to the staggered approach here at the high school, because we are aware that we have to do some ventilation work. So that's something that is you know, high priority, and we're going to continue to, you know, look at that as the school year gets closer, but we wanted to also give ourselves some time for that work to happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so definitely for the vocational school, Principal Fallon was consulted and he shared that for the 11th and 12th graders, at those grade levels during vocational programming, students do the most practical hours where they have their actual hands-on experience learning. Our 10th grade students, which are in the vocational program, They actually, in 10th grade, the way the program is designed, it's more content-based. So the students in 10th grade spend fewer hours or a fewer amount of time in their actual hands-on experience and more time taking the academic coursework. And as the students get older, 11th and 12th grade, and getting ready to move into their careers, it's critically important that those students get the practical amount of hours using whether it's health assisting or electrical work or working on the vehicles and cars that they need that hands-on experience for them to really be prepared. So with that, we spoke with principal Fallon. And when he had looked at the numbers and said that at this point in time, it would be with 110 seniors currently enrolled at the vocational school, that if they had 55 students to do the hybrid, then 55 students could be spread throughout all of the different programs that those seniors would be involved in. And it would be a manageable number to slowly transition in. So that was what was taken into consideration when we made the final recommendation last week. But the hybrid schedule, the instructional schedule of the hybrid team that was created by the work groups That is the schedule that is still on the table. That is still the plan. So whether it's the vocational side of the house or the comprehensive side of the house, the hybrid plan that was designed in the dynamic return to school plan, it's still that schedule. The change is that it was a staggered approach. And at the high school again, with this being the largest complex and with all of the renovated spaces on the vocational side, that was where that recommendation was put forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for students, we don't have an official testing schedule for students. So students would not be tested at this point in time coming to school. Unless something were to take place, Medford will have additional testing sites, and we're going to be working closely with the Medford Board of Health. However, for teachers, We are working, the Medford Port of Health, the city of Medford, the mayor's office. We are working right now closely with Tufts University to provide testing for teachers. And so- All staff, all staff. Not only teachers, but for all staff in Medford public schools. And that testing would be available on a bi-weekly basis. We are still ironing out those details, but that is something that is definitely in the works. And so, all the details have not been ironed out for staff, but it is something that is going to be available for staff in Medford Public Schools to be able to receive ongoing COVID testing in collaboration with Tufts University. And I'd like to thank the mayor for negotiating that on our behalf. And again, this is, you know, preliminary, early conversation, but by the time school does start up, Medford Public Schools and Tufts University, we will be collaborating to provide testing. So that's very good news. And I'm very happy about that. And I know as time goes by, we will get clearer information for students about where will regular or additional Medford sites be for testing if it was needed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think I would just restate that we definitely built the plan upon what was available to us, building upon what was done from the workgroups that participated in designing both the hybrid and the remote. The staggered approach again was with some of the information that we received, some of the information, some of the guidelines that are available to us. regarding numbers, and also looking at knowing that this is a fluid situation, and at the start of this session, and I'm not sure if you were on for the start, but we showed Massachusetts numbers, but Medford as well, that Medford has compared to many other communities that are not very far away from us. Medford is actually in a very good position right now. And so I, you know, I say that and I knock on some wood, but to say that knowing that it's a fluid situation, knowing the ages of the children, knowing that there is you know, limited work that needs to be done in the outside buildings, working with filters and those kinds of things, that that's what had prompted us to say, let's do the staggered approach so we have our youngest learners coming in and then building the numbers gradually so that, you know, every few weeks we have another cohort come in, and so the numbers will increase steadily. So that was the intention. But from the time that the dynamic plan was released and the work that we were doing between the meeting happening on Thursday, a week ago, last Thursday, that when we went into the meeting, that was a decision that was made at this level to say, looking at all of our, given all of the givens that we have to work with, the parameters that we have to work with, and again, looking at medical guidance, CDC guidelines, et cetera, we felt that the staggered hybrid approach would be what was best for Medford. And again, we're continuing to get feedback and people are asking for, you know, additional grades to be considered for staggering. So we will continue to take feedback, listen to it, but in the end, we do have to make a decision. So that was where we're at.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we're definitely going to be providing social emotional supports. And again, there were a lot of lessons learned from this spring. And so when we talked about initially going forward with our dynamic planning framework, the three guiding principles were safety, consistency, and equity. And so, again, an area that we received a lot of feedback that there needed to be greater consistency between schools and between grade levels. That was something that we wanted to have. But also in the spring, because we knew there were connectivity issues, some students didn't go online some students were not as engaged. So now that we've had the experience of the spring, and we've received much clearer guidance thus far from DESE, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, about taking attendance. So if students, when each time they're logging on, whether it's in that remote or on their hybrid days when they're having remote learning, that attendance would be done to check in to see where students are. So if we see students either not showing up or not being able to attend, we're going to be able to catch them a lot earlier so that they don't fall through the cracks. Also, There are going to be some in the dynamic plan where we gave the sample schedules, we do have moments where teachers are able to meet with students. So they're gonna have that set up a few times a day. So that could also be targeted times if they see a particular student who's struggling. There are going to be office hours where they could follow up with certain students to find out is there, a social emotional need that as a district we need to be able to provide additional supports to the family? Or is there something else along those lines that we could be doing? So I just want to say that we're aware of that. Grading will be taking place. Assignments will be critically important. But we're also going to be making sure to be able to follow up with families and students. And Ms. Galussi has some additional information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I just want to reiterate what Dr. Cushing just stated. Thank you to everyone who jumped on. Thank you for your questions and comments. We're going to continue to go through the other questions that we weren't able to get through, but I'm happy we were able to spend just this hour with you to try to answer some of the questions that came forward. And again, for people, if your schedules permit for you to join again tomorrow morning, that would be great. We'll be on from 10 to 11 tomorrow morning for an additional listening session. Thank you and have a good evening. And I look forward to seeing you guys again soon. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We're going to end our broadcast now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And. Maurice Edvard-Vincent, superintendent of schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I want to say hello and thank you everyone for joining us today to share your ideas, your thoughts, your perspectives, your concerns. Also, I want to name specifically how challenging this current situation is for everyone. And given the challenging and complicated circumstances, there would be honestly, there's no ideal plan. But working together, the way we've come together for Medford, this is the best plan that we were able to come up with thus far. So this is an opportunity, again, for you to be able to share your ideas, your thoughts, feedback with us so that we can continue to further enhance and improve what it is that we're trying to do for all of Medford. I want to give you just a brief overview of the process that we've taken. This was truly a collaborative process that involved many, many different stakeholders. We utilized three core values. Our three guiding pillars were equity, consistency, and safety. And those three guiding pillars that were used, they helped us to guide our planning of the workgroups, and how we operated to get to the final end product that you received over the weekend on Friday. So we had work groups and those work groups focused on three areas. It was operations, it was instruction, and it was also communications. We held some listening sessions last week and got additional thoughts and perspectives of others who weren't able to join the subgroups, the working groups. But because they had volunteered and they were willing to be part of the team, we were so appreciative of that contribution from them. So we did hold some listening sessions last week and we're holding one this evening and again tomorrow as well. And then again, gathering all of that feedback from what we had last week, we released the plan on Friday evening. So what is our timeline moving forward? We want to continue to hear community feedback and we're going to integrate that feedback into our final plan. which we'll be presenting to school committee on Thursday evening, this Thursday, August 6th at 6 p.m., we have a school committee meeting and it'll be formally posted tomorrow, but that'll be an opportunity for us to talk again and discuss and for the school committee to weigh in and provide their guidance. The official plan will be submitted to DESI on Monday, August 10th. So we're on a very, very tight timeline, but we're going to do everything that we can to make that tight timeline and be in compliance with DESI. So I just want to give you the goals for tonight's session. We want to be able to hear your thoughts, your ideas, your concerns as we finalize the plan. And we're going to do our best to address those thoughts, your concerns, your ideas, questions that we can answer. There is a panel of us. We will jump in and we will answer those questions. And again, as Dr. Cushing said earlier, if we cannot answer the questions, then we will get it added to our FAQ. So, you know, and again, due to the time constraints, we're not going to be able to probably answer every single question, because I can see the questions are coming in, you know, at a very good clip right now, which is wonderful, because all of your questions are going to be saved, and we will be able to address those questions in our FAQ. So, again, tonight, for your participation, please add your questions in the chat functions, either on Facebook or YouTube, and myself or any of the other panelists, we are going to try to start answering as many questions as possible. Dr. Cushing will be moderating today's session. Thank you so much, and I look forward to this conversation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So yes, what information will be asked in a survey? We're going to be surveying you once we will be sending out the survey, once we get our plan approved, and we're going to be seeking information about what plan you intend on as a parent, what you would be liking for your particular family, for your child or for your children. Are there some, not to have it official, but if there were to be a potential concern medically, things that we might need to take into consideration, technology needs, such as do you have a device? Do you have connectivity? and the ability to possibly print. So we're just trying to figure that out. We're also looking into transportation. What were your plans for transportation about next year? So we are finalizing that survey. And Georgiana was asking whether it would be done on SurveyMonkey as opposed to Google Forms. So thank you for putting that suggestion forward. That was the first time that someone asked about SurveyMonkey. But we definitely want it in a format that we'll be able to get names and be able to get an idea of the interest. So once that comes forward, when we send out the survey, it will be emailed, you'll get a robocall. Please, please, please, I'm going to ask everyone to fill out that survey because we need that information to further and better inform our next steps so that we'll be able to have a strong opening of school. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the plan that was submitted on Friday was our draft. Today's session, tomorrow's session, we have another listening session in the morning. And then Thursday we have school committee meeting. So as we take the feedback and we look at the FAQ and receive feedback from school committee on Thursday, then at that point in time, we will take all of the feedback and be prepared to submit a final plan to DESE on Monday. So I would say maybe we are 80% there. And based on this feedback that we receive, And final guidance from the school committee on Thursday, we'll be able to make the deadline of next Monday, August 10. And just for the record, for the audience to know, we are going to be impact bargaining with the teachers union this week. We're scheduled to impact bargain on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. Since this is a plan, but it's a change in working conditions, and so Massachusetts general law clearly states that if there's a change in working conditions, then it's subject to collective bargaining. So we're going to have impact bargaining sessions to talk about how this plan will potentially change working conditions that teachers are normally accustomed to. So when all of those pieces, additional pieces of information are added to our 3D puzzle, then we'll be able to move forward with our final plan. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We just got another question as we're trying to scroll through. Charlene Douglas, our teachers union president. Her question is if we need to go fully remote, could some of the 10 days be used to meet with students? The teachers feel that this is extremely important. So, as we, again, just continue to get new guidance today about the 10 days definitely needing to be frontloaded. We could definitely look at how those days are going to be used in addition to adding the professional development. Also, we do think it is critically important, whichever model ends up being the selected model, we would like the students to be able to have some type of an opportunity for a physically distanced meeting opportunity, keeping everyone safe, but maybe an outdoor session. So that's something that we definitely can work on during those initial opening days of school so that students will at least be able and parents will be able to make a connection with the homeroom teacher. So thank you for that question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to echo, we do think it's important to build relationships. And under the social emotional learning umbrella, especially our youngest children, the best developmentally appropriate practices for our early childhood students, most especially, is social interaction and play. And so although it appears like they're playing, tremendous learning is taking place. and they are learning how to work collaboratively and really building great skills. And so we do want to create those opportunities in as safe a way as possible. And we are thinking a lot about our youngest learners, our kindergartners, our early childhood students. who haven't yet had the opportunity to have that strong academic foundation built for them yet. So that is pressing, top of mind for us. All of our students are. But we are thinking about, again, our youngest learners who are just learning about school and embarking on their educational journey and their capacity to truly mentally absorb What does this look like? What's happening? And why can't they go to school? Or why do they have to keep their mask on all the time? So those are things that we're thinking about and trying to find ways to make sure that we're always thinking about the whole child and doing what's developmentally appropriate. So we will create those opportunities. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but we're going to continue to work hard on behalf of everyone. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There was a question for staff. I'm just trying to scroll by. The questions are coming in so quickly that as they're coming through, it's hard. But one of the questions that just came through was related to Kids' Corner, which is where we provide child care for the staff of, for the children of the staff here. And so I just wanted to say that our intention is to have Kids Corner functioning for Medford public school staff. We don't know if there's going to be a a reduction in the amount of students that are there, but our intention is to have that available. So I, that question came in by Lindsay, and so I just was scrolling up. I'm not able to, okay, there we go. So that's our intention to have that available. And again, there was the questions that were asked a little earlier about our afterschool programming. We will continue offer that once we have greater guidance on which program we're going to be going with. So I did see a question and I want to pull that question up because Marie? Yes, Tony.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. So, I want to show this question that came in from Christie. So, she's expressing frustration about using this platform. So, we wanted to give an opportunity to gather questions, feedback, comments, whether it's positive or negative. We're going to share out this information, so we don't intend on keeping secrets. Everyone can read what's going through on the question board. The board is moving at a very rapid rate, so it's hard trying to scroll back up and find the questions. But in terms of questions that have already come in and questions that have come into many of our inboxes have been about medically, because this COVID situation that we find ourselves in, it's a medical condition. And so that's why we have our director of nursing, Ms. Toni Ray, responding to the medical questions, because it is about safety and health. Cleaning has been an issue, an area of concern for many, many districts. Are the buildings going to be clean? We in Medford are very, very prepared. Under the leadership of John McLaughlin, he has ordered the amount of sanitizer and soap and sanitization products that we have, the electrostatic sprayers to keep our buildings clean. If we're not able to keep our buildings clean and if we don't have medical counsel during a COVID illness, then you're not going to be able to produce any instruction because the environment isn't safe for students to learn. In terms of what's going to be happening academically, that's in our wheelhouse. and so we will be working with the school committee, but this is not about what the curriculum is going to be. We are beholden to the standards of Massachusetts, and so we're going to be using the curriculum that's available to us, and we will be teaching the standards at the appropriate grade levels. Now, we are very, very aware that because school had to shut down for three months, that there is going to be a loss of learning. So if, for example, a child is in second grade or third grade, we know that when we transition to remote learning in the fall, initially the guidance from the commissioner from DESE was to provide enrichment because everyone thought they were going back to school. As everyone can see, that wasn't the outcome. When we left school on March 12th, on Thursday the 12th and Friday the 13th, there was no school. We never went back to school again, and no one thought that that was going to happen. So, armed with that information, and armed from the experiences, everything that we heard, the feedback that we received, we are making substantive changes that were evident in the plan, the draft plan that went out on Friday. So, curriculum is going to happen. Teaching and learning is going to happen. We are working collaboratively with the union. We will be figuring out whether in the end it's a remote plan, fully remote, or if it's a hybrid plan. And for those that are receiving our highest need students that are going to be receiving in-person instruction, because there were a lot of students that were seriously impacted, not just academically, but we do have students that physically regress, that during the school day, they get physical therapy, occupational therapy, They get taken out of their wheelchairs. They get to stand up in a special device that helps them practice their walking. And so a lot of students, you know, I wouldn't be surprised, I'm not a doctor, but muscles may have atrophy. So we do have special populations that we have to keep in mind. but from a curriculum content and curriculum perspective, we want it to be engaging. We expect to be meeting the standards and it's going to be grade level appropriate. And at all grade levels, we are fully aware that we're going to be reviewing going back at the beginning of the school year, not just reviewing what would have been taught during the summer, but going back actually to what was the instruction that happened between March and June. building that into our 170 day calendar for our students. So we do not intend on leaving students behind. And the purpose of having this forum is to get additional feedback from the community. This entire process has been a collaborative process. It's not a process that here at central office myself in isolation with my team, without any feedback, made the plan that was presented to you. I can proudly say to you that we had teachers at the table, we had school committee members at the table, we had parents at the table, we had different stakeholder groups representing the diversity of the district at the table. And so the product that was presented as a draft on last Friday was the collective product of many minds, pouring their heart and soul into the document that you received. And this opportunity this evening is to get additional feedback to better and further inform what it is that we're doing. Tomorrow morning, we will also be doing this again for parents who aren't able to be on at 10 o'clock in the morning to give your feedback. So whether it's good feedback, it's cool feedback, or it's feedback where you feel something else should be done, we want to take it into consideration. We're not going to be able to give the answer that everyone wants for every single question, but we want to at least try our best. to respond to all questions and also let the community know that we want what's best for all children in Medford. So I want to stress that we are working very hard and we are working collaboratively with all stakeholders. And that's what I intend for us to continue doing to open the school year and to start strong. So we don't want to leave any kids behind. We want everyone in Medford to have a quality education experience. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining this opportunity to give us plenty of feedback. All of your comments, your questions, your concerns are going to be saved in the streaming chat side. So we're going to be focusing on getting an FAQ out by the end of the week. Shortly after I speak, you're going to hear from several members of our administrative team that are also working to respond to questions as they come forward. We have questions to some, we have answers to some of your questions, but definitely not all of them. So again, this is an opportunity for you to give us ideas, your thoughts, your perspectives, your concerns. We want to take all of that information in to help us better inform what our next steps are going to look like. So I want to say that given the challenging and complicated circumstances, there really is no ideal plan for Medford, but it's about trying to be able to move forward in a way that's best for our students. So I wanted to say that. Again, we don't have all the answers. Things are going to continue to evolve and change. We're going to continue to get guidance from the CDC, from the governor, from the commissioner. So even between now and the start of school, there could be a definite change. I want to also invite you all this Thursday, we're going to be having a school committee meeting starting at 6 p.m. It will be posted later today. So I hope you'll be able to join us on Thursday as well. So I want to give you just a little bit of an overview of where we've been, the overview of the process that we have used in Medford. So we did develop a collaborative process that included stakeholders from across the community. We use three guiding pillars, our three core values, or equity, consistency, and safety. And those guiding pillars help to keep us focused and to let us really know that this is the direction that we're going to be moving in. It helped to drive our work. In addition to that, we had work groups. We had an instructional work group, we had an operations work group, and we had a communications work group. We also had a steering committee. And all of these groups were made up of all stakeholders, teachers, administrators, parents, representing all the different groups that represent Medford Public Schools. And so for that, I am very, very proud of what we were able to do and to accomplish. Last week, we did hold two listening sessions because we had approximately 250 people who wanted to sign up to be part of the process. And those listening sessions that we held last week were an opportunity for those members to give us additional feedback and guidance as we were working on our draft plan that was submitted to DESE last Friday. So, moving forward, what's going to happen? We have to submit our formal plan to DESE on Monday, August 10th. That's our finalized plan. In between now and then, I will be participating in impact bargaining with our teachers union because this is going to require a change in working conditions. And so it's a critical step that needs to happen because of all of the changes that are being proposed. So I will be kind of doing double duty But that's the work that I'll be working on. We're negotiating today and on Thursday again, and then Thursday evening we have our school committee meeting. So I invite you to attend that. So the goals for today's session is really to be able to hear your thoughts, your ideas, your concerns as we work to finalize the plan. We're going to do our best to address your concerns. And if we can't address them during this brief amount of time, we will definitely try to respond to all the questions that have come forward in an FAQ that will be released at the end of the week. So again, due to time constraints, we have representatives that will be able to jump in and start responding to your questions. So I want to say thank you so much. Again, if you have a question, type your question in. If you're on Facebook or if you're on YouTube, please type your questions in and we're going to try to highlight the questions and get as many answers as we can for you today. Thank you again for your participation and I look forward to hearing your feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hello everyone. I'm the superintendent of schools Dr. Edouard-Vincent and I welcome all of you to the Andrews Middle School. This is a wonderful school and right now I am standing in front of the portrait of the namesake Miss Madeline Duggar Andrews. She was the first African-American elected official in Medford. And by chance, I am the first African-American superintendent of schools for Medford Public Schools. I'm so happy to be here today and share this orientation with you. You're going to have a lot of wonderful things happening here at the Andrew School, a lot to learn, excited teachers. And as you go on this virtual tour, you're going to be excited about coming here next year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Hello everyone, I'm the superintendent of schools, Dr. Edouard-Vincent, and I welcome all of you to the Andrews Middle School. This is a wonderful school and right now I am standing beneath the portrait of the namesake, Ms. Madeline Duggar Andrews. She was the first African American elected official in Medford. And by chance, I am the first African American superintendent of schools for Medford Public Schools. I'm so happy to be here today and share this orientation with you. You're going to have a lot of wonderful things happening here at the Andrews School, a lot to learn, excited teachers. And as you go on this virtual tour, you're going to be excited about coming here next year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. I wanted to share, today we hosted the middle school lottery via Zoom. All of the numbers have been posted to our website and blog as of 1215 this afternoon. We welcome all of our rising fifth graders to the Andrews and McGlynn middle schools in the fall. Depending upon Governor Baker's decision, we will either go forward with orientations on May 6th or 7th, whether we are in school or not in school. Mr. Downs and Mr. Tucci will be working on special presentations to do a very welcoming orientation, even if it does need to be done remotely. So please stay tuned to receive more information about that. I want to extend a very special thank you to Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and to Ms. Kim Miles, our Data Manager, for their tireless efforts in organizing and producing the lottery today. I'd also like to thank Alison Goldsberry for creating a new tab on our website, which makes it very easily accessible for parents to log on to the website and review our lottery results. So I want to thank them for that. I also want to say that we have congratulations in order for our own librarian, Ms. Maria Dorsey. She's our Medford High School librarian, and she was named, Maria was named the 2020 recipient of the Super Librarian Award from the Massachusetts School Library Association. The award honors excellence in school librarianship. The Super Librarian works on the regional and state level to contribute to improving all school libraries. Maria has been at the Medford High School since 2010. She has worked hard to make it a welcoming place for students and staff. She has weeded out old book titles and added diverse books for the student body. Maria established a strong partnership with the Medford Public Library, where materials are shared and getting library cards for students. Additionally, she formed a partnership with the Office of Prevention and Outreach to bring information on services and self-care for mental health and addiction. She developed a relaxation station in the library that allows students to give their brains a rest and enjoy puzzles, chess, Legos, coloring books, and a chalk wall. Maria also co-chairs the Metro West region of the Massachusetts School Library Association. She truly demonstrates exemplary school library leadership. Great job, Maria. Congratulations. I'm sorry this is being done remotely, but we appreciate all of your wonderful contributions to Medford. Additionally, during this time of school closure, I want to extend a special thank you. We're very grateful to the Teamsters 25 and one of their partners who donated liquid hand sanitizer for all of our custodians, 375 milliliter bottles. The hand sanitizer was made from a local distiller called MS Walker, which is a family owned business based in New England. they stopped their production of alcohol and changed their business over to making a very strong alcohol-based hand sanitizer that can be used with a spray bottle. So we want to just extend a very special thank you to M.S. Walker and Teamsters 25 for going the extra mile and having a community partner support Medford Public Schools. Additionally, according to our director of library media and technology, Ms. Molly Layden, she has created a link that has been established that's going to help anyone who is in need of technical support during school closure. So I'm going to encourage all families to please use tech support. That's T-E-C-H-S-U-P-P-O-R-T. techsupport at medford.k12.ma.us. They are ready and willing to help you with any technological challenges that you may be facing during the school closure. Additionally, while we're during this closure time, the college board has informed our guidance department that due to COVID-19, SATs will not be administered during the remainder of this school year. So that is just an important update for all families. SATs will not be administered. At this time, I also want to just acknowledge one of our Mustangs who's doing an excellent job. And we want to just say thank you to all of our health care professionals during this COVID-19 crisis. Last Sunday in the Boston Globe, one of our own Mustangs, Ricky Cormio, a 2002 graduate, was featured as a paramedic on the front lines for Cataldo Ambulance. Ricky is the son of vocational electrical teacher, Mr. Richard Cormier, and his wife, Teresa. Ricky Cormier is just one of so many Mustangs that are currently serving us during this pandemic, whether in the medical field, in public safety, or in our grocery stores. And even at my own home, my husband is a medical professional at Boston Medical Center. So I know the dedication it requires and the long hours it demands. We salute them all and pray for their good health. Last week on Tuesday, we had the opportunity to enjoy an uplifting parade that the McGlynn teachers and staff hosted for their students. This parade was led by the Medford Police Department, the Medford Fire Department, and special guests, including Elsa from Frozen and Marshall from Paw Patrol. Principal Diane Garino, Assistant Principal Doreen Andrews, had a long line of cars filled with teachers, administrators, and well-wishers who participated. There were balloons, streamers, and posters beeping and waving to our students and the community. assistant superintendent, Dr. Peter Cushing, associate superintendent, Diane Caldwell. We also were part of the parade and it was a wonderful time for all. We did get to see the mayor and her family joining in and cheering the teachers on, on our route during the parade. And I want to just extend a special thanks to our coach, Jack Dempsey, who filmed the parade, which was shown later on NBC 10 Boston News. It was a bright spot in this time of social distancing and I know that the Brooks and Columbus schools hopefully are planning to host their parades in the near future. So I just want to thank everyone for their participation and for that. Additionally, I would like to say that I want to thank Mayor Lungo-Koehn for lifting our spirits with her Medford Strong video, which featured Medford residents indicating who they are staying home for, school children. Parents, teachers, and residents are pictured with decorated signs and posters reminding all of us why it is so important to hashtag stay home. We are Mustang strong, and we will get through this together. On the academic side, there continues to be conversations with our commissioner of education and listening to what's being said by our governor. We are awaiting an official decision from Governor Baker as to when schools will be able to resume. As it stands right now, the date is May 4th, but I'm told that we should be hearing an updated report from the governor sometime this week. In addition to this extended closure, I just want to formally say that in light of the extended closure, the Commissioner of Education, the MCAS assessment has been officially canceled for this year. It will not be given. And that is something that we were waiting to find out if they were going to do it at a later point in time. But again, based on this extended closure, the decision has been made to cancel the MCAS completely for the entire year. Yesterday evening. I am not aware uh, if some of you had the opportunity on fox 25 there was a um, A presentation in our own school nurse columbus school nurse Miss karen roberto was featured as one of the nurses talking about um how she is supporting our board of health additionally our mayor was on as well as showing what medford was doing to keep our community safe and And so we do thank our nurses again for being part of the team and contributing to keeping our entire community safe. The Medford Public Schools, our administrators, teachers, business staff, paras, librarians, nurses, along with the mayor and the entire school committee, are approaching this pandemic in a unified manner. So for those of you who do have questions, concerns, or any other school-related issues, please do reach out to us. And that email address is info at medford.k12.ma.us. We are all here for you. Thank you for listening this evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and we're going to share just the first screen of data with you right now. In summation, trying to contact, gather and curate all of this data, we have some good news. And we have, I would say the good news is out of all of our students, we have not been able to make contact approximately with 38 students. So although that's very good in terms of what we haven't been able to make contact with about students that are not as engaged, that we are closely monitoring, that number is larger, about 10 times that number. So there are about 350 students. that are being closely monitored. Total, that includes our general population, our special education population, and our EL population. And so teachers have been working truly collaboratively with us. um talking to their uh direct administrators and so um as a result of having this number we've also i've been in contact with our own chief jack buckley who is um committed to helping us make contact with every single student. And so those 38 students, we're going to put that information together to pass it on to see if we can have in partnership with our police department, for them to go and do a wellness check, to check on our families. And the 350 students that are not as engaged as we would like them to be engaged, we are looking at... additional ways to support them, not excluding students that may be experiencing extreme anxiety or other needs around this extended school closure. So we know that although the number is 350 students, the teachers, the administrators, assistant principals, all are really working diligently on trying to re-engage the students that, for different reasons, are not as involved in the instruction that's being given to them at this point in time. So as you can see, this report shows all of the schools. And the first table shows the data district-wide. I want to be able to thank Dr. Cushing for, sending out a survey to all of our administrators that they filled that data. And also I'd like to acknowledge Ms. Kim Miles, our data manager, who took all of that data and produced these tables for us by school. So that's the information that I have in a nutshell, and I'm open to any questions, if there are any. Yes, member Rousseau.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so when we were trying to get the information, our first priority was to make contact with every single student. Like, has a teacher, whether it's been by phone or by Zoom, by Google Classroom, have teachers been able to make contact with every single student? so that we know that they are okay. And so the first ask was, have you, since school closed, since the 13th of March, have you been able to make contact with students? So out of the entire population, 38 students, for one reason or another, we have not been able to make any contact with them by phone, by email, by Zoom, by Google Classroom, by some type of communication. And so those 38 students are going to be the first set of students that we are going to be working collaboratively with Chief Buckley to have him go and check on those families just to ensure, are they still living in Medford? We could have some students that it's a transient population. Based on the survey data that was collected, one of the schools said they believed a student relocated to another state. And they were still diligently trying to see if they could confirm that the child has relocated to another state and is no longer a student in Medford Public Schools. But at this point in time, the child is still showing as a student. The second number, where it's approximately 350 students, that number of students where they may have joined one or two Zoom classroom sessions, but their participation, remote participation, has been very inconsistent to the point where the classroom teachers are concerned that, wait a minute, I'm not seeing Johnny, every time we have our Zoom meeting. I've only seen Johnny three times in three weeks. And I've met with my other students, you know, multiple times. And so those were what we were trying to figure out who haven't we had any contact with at all, which is the 38. And then who has made contact, but it's so inconsistent that the teachers are truly concerned that it's not consistent interaction, consistent engagement in instruction and learning. So that's where we have the two numbers, and we are working to provide additional supports. So we can't say for every family that it's connectivity, because there could be some families that it is connectivity, but we've been able to connect with them by telephone. There are other students where they have access to internet, but we haven't been able to completely unpack why they are not fully engaged in our distance learning that's currently being offered.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, so 228 of the students that are being closely monitored, we could classify that as general population on the first table. Specifically under the special education umbrella, we have 58 students that fall under the special education umbrella that have not been actively engaged. And under our EL umbrella, we have 64 students that have not been actively engaged. And so we're closely monitoring and looking at what's going on with all of those. Those are kind of like the key categories that we're continuing to look at.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, 228 minus the 58 and minus the 64 is 106 students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In my calculation, I'm doing it as 350.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No problem. Problem. I have a question. And by school, by school, it shows you. So as you can see specifically, um, Dr. Cushing, if you're able to screen scroll up, It's on your screen. By school, you can see specifically that some schools have made, you know, 98% contact with, you know, I'm just looking at the Roberts, for example, very high engagement. The McGlynn Elementary, 99, 441 students of their 443 students they have been able to make contact with. And there were approximately two students that they were trying to nail down at that particular school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That is the next level of work now that we were able to, you know, I originally thought prior to the survey being done, I actually thought it was going to be, you know, I didn't know if it was going to be six, 700 families that we weren't able to hear from. So I was really, um, excited. And even when I, you know, spoke with chief Buckley, he said, you know, what numbers are you thinking? I said, I'm, I'm really not sure because, um, some students they might like, uh, at the secondary level, for example, they may like a particular class better than another class. So they have more active participation in one class and their MIA in another. So trying, waiting for all of that data to kind of be sorted out and by each school to finally say, okay, this is the total number of students that we have not been able to make contact with. And these are the ones we're closely monitoring. So that is next layer of work that we are definitely doing. And, um, just trying to nail that down. But it's, again, where you're not able to just physically reach that person. We tried. And all the administrators, assistant principals, calling, texting, emailing, we finally got down to these numbers that you're looking at right now. And our next level of work is exactly what you were saying.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is that accurate? That is accurate. And I was going to say, I believe, I don't know if Diane Guarino is still on. It's so, um, uh, there's so many people on, but, uh, if Diane Guarino is still on, I was gonna unmute her because when we had our meeting, she's unmuted. Okay, Diane Garino.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So some of the principals I know and teachers have been gathering specific information. We can specifically gather that information to get a closer number since we're down to a fairly manageable number of students that we haven't made contact with yet at all. and or the number of students that we are monitoring based on the specific school. Where you were talking about what does the closely monitoring mean, that definition was generated through working with the administrators, because we've been meeting on a weekly basis for a couple of hours. And that basically meant the students who were being closely monitored, there was a tiny asterisk due to sporadic work production in all or some classes. So again, it was specific students that were flagged. For not being consistently present during instruction and it could be for different reasons You know, we've been told some people are working right now and the fact that Instruction is happening at certain times. So again, we don't know the specific financial situation of every family, but we will do a better job of Trying to gather more data regarding that
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK. And I, yes, we can definitely do that. We can definitely gather more specific data on that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, so we definitely, you know, data is knowledge, data is important. And this data really let us realize that we are reaching the majority of the district. However, the 38 that we haven't I guess maybe 37 right now on, um, you know, principal Garino's updated number. And then I haven't even been able to include the middle school administrators updated numbers, but the 350, that is our next layer of work. And again, because it clearly stated that it was sporadic performance to try to unpack that. But a critical member of this would also be the work that's happening right now with Stacey Shulman, because we do know that this is a very stressful time. And I personally have received emails from students that have shared that this is just very stressful. Some of our secondary students And so we are working on also meeting the social emotional needs of students. So in that number of 350, they may have different needs. And so we are definitely willing to meet their needs. So if it is a social emotional challenge, next time when we, you know, if we're not back in school on May 4th, where I don't think we will be back in school on May 4th, but if in fact they extend it, than to take this exact data, run the report again, see what the numbers look like, and even be able to say, of this number of 350 students, we are now providing social emotional type supports for 120 students. And to be able to say that we are monitoring them, but this is what we're doing to address their needs. And for others, it could be 50 students, 60 students having inconsistent internet availability. Um, it could be, unfortunately they could have some members at home that are currently sick. And, um, also, you know, because they're working with their health right now, that school work is not a priority and that their health is a priority. So we are fully aware that there could be some, um, very understandable concrete reasons that we would need to make the necessary accommodations for those students. And we are definitely willing to do that. But based on what the original ask of this specific report, we wanted to at least be able to present this is what Medford Public Schools numbers look like in real time as of Friday of last week. So we'll continue to do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in regards to that, if with the pass fail piece, and it is true, we gave some guidance about that. There was bombing that was taking place. If there are specific families for personal reasons, they don't believe in the remote learning, or they don't want the video coming into their homes, there are options where you can turn the camera off. That's one thing I would encourage the teachers and or administrators to speak with some of the parents to say, you know, you can still speak without, um, you know, showing your home, your, your private space. Um, And now that we're all getting accustomed to Zoom, you even have the opportunity to create your own backgrounds. You can be at the beach, you can be in the mountains. So you can be creative and create your own backgrounds if you so choose. So there are options, but again, I think some people don't trust the security. And I know here we are, we're hosting this meeting, And we have, you know, 50 participants who are on with us right now. But, um, unfortunately, there are, you know, there's concerns about will other people be looking at my child or whatever the case may be. We would be willing to work with those families to find a way to get, um, assignments to their child if it was, you know, for that type of a reason. But, um, if we're not able to, um, make contact with the family. And Chief Buckley, you know, goes to the house and ends up saying like the person, you know, is no longer living in Medford, then they really shouldn't even be carried on our rolls any longer. But if someone is, um, You know, it appears that they're in Medford, they're fully functioning, and they've made a decision to not participate in any work. And even with the teachers making their best effort to call, to email, to communicate with them, then when it comes time to giving that grade, we would have to say we weren't able to have anything to show that work was done. So that would end up having to be a failed grade. If we were not able to come up with, you know, a medical reason, severe anxiety, hospitalization, medical illness, if we really weren't able to come up with a reason, it would be very difficult to say that the student passed and then you have, you know, our student Cindy, who's doing all of her assignments and responding and the teachers have something to look at to say, well, this is, you know, they've completed at least half of the assignments or half of the activities. So that is something that as administrators, we're gonna continue to talk about, but we're not gonna be able to just make up a grade if there's nothing to show as evidence. So I don't want to send out a message that if you choose to do nothing, you're gonna pass. Because that is not the case. You have to do something. You have to produce. You have to be in contact if there's a legitimate disability or something that we have to take into consideration. then you would be working with special educators who would be able to speak to that. If there's a medical need, we have access to our medical professionals. If it's a behavioral, social, emotional need, we have access to Stacey Shulman's team. We have access to our guidance Councilors. So we have the entire district that essentially is all working together to meet the needs of every single student in Medford Public Schools. So if for whatever reason we're not able to say when this is all said and done, then we're not going to be able to say that the student has passed. So I hope I'm being crystal clear for everyone here in the listening audience that the expectation is that you are producing something. And if there's a greater need, we the district are willing and able to provide those additional supports to scaffold those individuals. But of that number, 350, as we diligently unpack that number and get it to a smaller number of people, I will be able to give more data regarding that later on in the year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, we were using the Google platform and the Google classroom platform goes directly to the teacher as well. Okay. I spoke already about some families don't have the connectivity, so they can't do that. But through email and or through communication with the classroom's teachers, And the teachers are diligently monitoring, closely monitoring their student participation and their involvement as they're planning activities on a weekly basis. So where I'm talking about students not getting credit would be that there's no contact, no communication. So the case you're talking about where students are producing work, they're in communication with the teacher somehow, then they would be given credit for that. This is where there's radio silence and we find out that, you know, From all appearances, it was just a decision to not be involved or not be held accountable. We know that we're not in a traditional academic environment right now. DESE has given us clear guidance to try to provide students with at least half a day of instruction and or work. for them to do. So based on all of the content areas that they have, the way the teachers are planning, and what's being available, being presented to the community, there are a lot of options that are available for people to be able to respond and participate in some form or fashion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, and I will follow up with Ms. Leighton, Molly Leighton. And we had also, I was given some information about hotspots being put on school buses. There are a lot of different ways that different districts are doing it. I think it was somewhere in Texas, but what they did do was they sent like school buses to Um, it could be like a housing area neighborhood and they would say the time of day that they would be there and they just had to encourage the kids not to closely go to the school bus. So we did start looking at some of the ways in which these mobile hotspots could be used. So I will definitely follow up with her. And also based on the additional data that we're trying to find out about the 350 that are inconsistently Involved to find out of that it is a significant number of them. Um, is it because of connectivity concerns? so, um, I think if we can get a a firm handle on what the number of uh members of our community That really need that additional support with connectivity um that will That will help us because again Sorry.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I want to jump in to say thank you for presenting the data. Also in attendance this evening, we do have Ms. Charlene Douglas. And then later today, we have another report by Dr. Cushing about our efforts to try to communicate and reach families. So as this survey was taken and there were new changes that are coming because we received greater guidance from DESE, I do feel that there's going to also be a shift in some of the feedback where there are areas for growth on the district side. But I just wanted to be able to recognize that in this unprecedented time, You know people are definitely working in different ways in many of the conversations that we just had prior to the presentation of this report about consistency of contacting what's available or connecting with teachers I think in this unprecedented time Medford Massachusetts in fact is being recognized on a national level and I know Charlene will concur with that that what we're doing in Massachusetts is probably like second in the nation right now in terms of distance learning plans and trying to meet the needs of families where it was something that was not It wasn't something that we could have planned for in advance. So now that we have this new information and we're kind of you know, learning to ride the bicycle at the same time or learning how to, you know, build a plane and fly it at the same time, that we need to be able to continue to look at our challenges, but at the same time, say, you know, keep up the good work for what you're doing. And I definitely applaud our teachers for all that they've been trying to do. We know we've got more work to do ahead of us, but we will continue to work collaboratively together. The other question about this data and the report, everything is available. It's on our district website. So the data and the slide deck is available under our school committee meeting for this evening. So the community can access it right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So that calendar that ended up adding, going into the folder was from Christine Patterson. it was showing the calculation, at least the last version of what I had looked at, it was showing the calculation of days that the bus drivers were not driving. And so that was part of her transportation report. And then, so I don't know how it ended up back in there, but she had just wanted to highlight the amount of days that transportation wasn't taking place.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we were at the meeting. We worked collaboratively in subcommittee to come up with those guidelines. I feel that it's reasonable and it will allow us to be able to pace ourselves and manage the workload for specific reports. So I want to thank Paul for his leadership in helping to put that kind of a system and structure in place so that we're able to have more realistic expectations.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When I give my remarks during in the next portion of the agenda, that I will say some of the things that we are doing in order to try to reach out to families that we're not hearing from.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Good evening. The Medford Public Schools continues to be a work in progress. Again, I realize that this is a hard time for all. So much uncertainty surrounds us. We are here for parents, caregivers, guardians, as well as our students. If you feel your child is struggling with anxiety issues over a particular situation, please contact their school principal who will put you in touch with their guidance or adjustment Councilor. They will be very happy to assist you and provide you with helpful information. With the way the crisis is going, our administrators are already discussing how to handle when students do report back to school, whether it is this year or in the fall. Either way, we know that our teachers will be planning to revisit instruction from when it ended on March 12th. This will allow our students to get back into the educational loop and will help to eliminate any apprehension or concerns about returning to school. So this is a high priority for us. However, before I continue with my report, I wanted to take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Christine Patterson, who will be leaving us at the end of this school year to take on a new position with Lincoln-Sudbury School District. This move will allow her additional time to be closer to home and spend more family time with her daughter, Addie, who's growing up and becoming very involved in many other extracurricular activities. And understandably, Christine does want to be there for her. During her four-year tenure with the Medford Public Schools, Christine professionalized the business office. She helped to streamline the budget process and highlighted the financial ramifications of the charter school reimbursements. A Navy veteran, Christine served our country and this district with dedication and pride. Personally, Christine welcomed me aboard and walked me through the ins and outs of the involved budget process here in Medford. Her guidance and support will be greatly missed. We wish her much luck and happiness in her new position. And we thank you, Christine, for your years of service to the Medford Public Schools and the community.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Number two under... I do have additional updates, but I didn't know if other members had wanted to speak. I wanted to say some of the social emotional offerings that we're going to be providing to our students. So I'm gonna go back to the report of the superintendent. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You still kind of sound like a Martian.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you, member Stone. Okay, I want to give some important cell updates. Miss Stacy Shulman, the supervisor of clinical and behavioral services, sent an email to our teaching staff, informing them that many of our students are experiencing an extensive amount of personal turmoil right now. Beyond this situation, Students could also be experiencing financial challenges, family conflict, food insecurities, barriers to accessing or completing schoolwork, and last but not least, health challenges. We have also heard from students that they are feeling an increase in discrimination based on their race, particularly from our Asian American students. I just want to restate that MPS Medford Public Schools does not tolerate or endorse discrimination of any kind. And we are closely monitoring that. So we are, again, urging families to reach out to school, the school leaders, school principals, who will be able to direct you to Stacey Shulman, who is our supervisor of clinical and behavioral services. After working for many years with students and educators, Ms. Stacey Shulman has found that the impact that teachers have on their students is quite profound. Many students are grieving the loss of contact with the faculty. They see every school day and the sense of security that has been provided that they're normally accustomed to, that that is now gone. They have come to rely on their classroom routines and what to expect. Stacey is urging teachers in her email to take a look and take a moment and check in with their students and ask them how they are doing and to acknowledge that this is hard, very hard for all of us. If any teacher feels a student is making comments relating to possibly hurting themselves or others, the teacher should call 911 and call the student's principal. Additionally, Stacy is preparing counseling staff with additional professional development around trauma, creating resources for students, families, and staff, assembling a professional development series for staff to support students. And this will be advertised soon on our virtual support group for parents and caregivers. So on Wednesday at four o'clock, Ms. Stacey Shulman will be hosting a support group Zoom meeting for teachers. Interested faculty should email her to be included in that particular meeting. Um, moving away from social emotional learning and moving on to MCAS, uh, we are still waiting to hear an official word from Desi. Um, just wanted to keep you informed that Desi has not given an official, um, response yet, uh, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As of this time, uh, all schools have been making a concerted effort to reach out. And so right now we have posted many, many positive videos of teachers and staff saying hello and checking in with their, uh, with their students and also just resurfacing some very, um, happy videos that were taking place at other times when school was fully functioning so that people have positive things to look at and memories to think about. These videos have been posted on our blog and website and our PTO Facebook pages. Additionally, as what was just mentioned in our budget committee of the whole meeting prior to this meeting, our director of library media and technology, Ms. Molly Layden, we've given out over 650 Chromebooks and we're going to see, you know, continue to monitor and see how that goes. We know that we haven't reached everyone, but we're really pleased that we were able to make a significant dent. We want to also note that all students in K, kindergarten through second grade, that Gmail accounts have been created for those students, which normally does not take place because they're not yet really able to type, but Google accounts, Gmail accounts were sent out so that teachers can communicate with students using the Google Classroom platform. And so we thank families that are really taking on a heavy lift to support our youngest learners in those grade levels. We continue to have updated information being posted on our remote learning website, and that will be giving additional Google Classroom information for teachers by school, and information will also be available for parents and caregivers to support them with navigating this new system. So if people do need support with technology questions about their Chromebooks, they can email tech support, one word, T-E-C-H-S-U-P-P-O-R-T at medford.k12.ma.us. We're also going to be having an additional site, which will be specific to training resources using the Google site. And that will be posted, again, on our blog and on our website. With regards to library services, there is a new Medford Public Schools Pre-K to 8 virtual library site for parents and students. And the link has been posted to the website and the blog. So again, I urge you to go and look for up-to-date information at our website and blog sites. The site brings together resources and links to help our Pre-K to 8 students. to continue reading and exploring different topics of interest. The site's goal is to provide students and families with a central place to find well-curated resources. This site is being updated regularly. at the high school level as well. We've posted a distance learning guide for our high school students on the high school library guide. And that is on our website, medfordpublicschools.libguides.com slash home. So we wanna thank Molly Layden and her entire technology team who have really been working tirelessly during the school closure time to make as much information available online for everyone. So we thank you sincerely for that. Uh, we've had a lot of fun different types of activities that are also taking place We have schools that are trying to think of activities that aren't just strictly Academic but things that are getting kids to go outside and I want to just share a few at the columbus school for example Students were encouraged to get outside and just decorate their sidewalk with chalk and to decorate their home with messages of positivity and well-being. They took photos and they posted it to the Columbus School website. Likewise, at the McGlynn Elementary School, they asked their students to display a kindness heart. which they have decorated. And students are placing those kindness hearts on their doors or windows at their home. And that heart means that there's solidarity and that we're all in this together. So these are just some types of activities that are taking place. Um tomorrow at 10 o'clock the roberts school is going to be hosting a parade uh, the roberts staff are going to Be in a caravan of cars and they're going to drive around the roberts neighborhood waving. Hello to their students so um for the roberts community you should have received communication about that at 10 o'clock, um, there will be a parade just letting you know that we are thinking about you and we care about all of you. I also wanna just share some important information that Medford Mustang alumni are doing in this special school closure time, but supporting COVID-19, supporting hospitals. So Mustang alumni have stepped up to the plate to support our medical professionals during this crisis. The 1984 graduates, Hank Morris, Hank Morse and Tracy Hollander. They issued a Facebook challenge to all Medford High School graduating classes to come together and possibly make donations to the hospitals. Since that pledge, that challenge, seven different graduating classes have stepped up, and they have made either food donations or mask donations to Boston Medical Center, Leahy Hospital, and Mass General Hospitals. So the health care professionals are incredibly grateful, and I want to just continue to thank our Mustang community for going that extra mile and helping our medical professionals. Additionally, 1988 graduate Peter Akala, owner of Numaj DJ and entertainment services, took his DJ equipment outside and entertained his entire neighborhood. His neighbors came out to their yards to dance and enjoyed the music. All of these actions embody the Mustang way. the blue and white continues to flow through these mustang veins and that makes us all so proud so i want to just thank them and say go mustangs additionally on the community engagement side our ccsr students have also been uh creating challenges and encouraging Our mustang community to get outside in a positive way They had a video hashtag six feet together. They were working collaboratively with our mayor And saturday they hosted the porch jam Urging citizens to come out onto their porches or decks and sing the john lennon song imagine I want to highlight our Medford High School sophomores, Lily Began and Caden Golisano, members of CCSR, who realized that during the hashtag stay home order to stop the spread of COVID-19, local nursing homes were no longer allowed to have visitors. They knew the residents probably felt extremely lonely, so they began designing and sending uplifting cards to them at the Medford Rehabilitation Center. Additionally, CCSR students at the McGlynn Middle School, sixth graders, Lila Armit, Mia Armit, and Caroline Gomez decided to begin painting rocks around their neighborhood with inspiring messages. These students continue to impress all of us every day. Lastly, or getting close to lastly I should say, Medford Family Network is continuing to support our families They are still hosting story time with Miss Andrea and indoor play with Miss Cindy virtually. They plan to host the parent cafe virtually on April 15th. Also, if there are any families in need of some of the basic necessities, such as food, baby formula, clothing, or diapers, please reach out to Marie Cassidy. That's mcassidy at medford.k12.ma.us for assistance. Also, another resource for our military families this week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Gillette Stadium. of the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, Food for Vets, and the New England Patriots, families can pick up two weeks worth of groceries. So again, if you are a veteran, please take advantage of that great opportunity honoring our veterans at Gillette Stadium. I want to take this opportunity to thank our teachers, our staff, and administrators who have, without very much notice, stepped up and made this distance learning plan work. It is not perfect by any means, and each day does bring a new question, but every member of the Mustang community has come together and tried their very best to continue as many programs as possible, as well as providing much needed outreach to our students. I am a very proud member of our Mustang team. So this week, some of you who celebrate, yesterday was Palm Sunday, and this week, Um, Passover and good Friday is taking place. Please note that there is no school on Friday in observance of good Friday. I think some families, um, we're not sure. Um, but there will not be formalized instruction on Friday. Good Friday of this week. So I thank you all. I want to wish all of our families a happy Passover, a happy Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, and enjoy the rest of this week. And we look forward to serving you. Hashtag stay home, hashtag alone together. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I will. Thank you, Member Van Der Kool. And I do have a special education subcommittee meeting that will be scheduled for the 14th, I believe, next Tuesday. And I will continue to monitor the subcommittee activity, and I will communicate that more widely to the entire body. But I am also trying to be cognizant of that as well. So thank you for putting that out there, and we will make it work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'd like to say in the interest of time and based on the total number of departments that are going to be presenting, I would like to suggest that you would summarize the key points from your narrative and then refer to this document so that we're able to hear from all of the departments. today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the June 1st meeting, that would be reserved for us to do our final review and revisions. The process that we're going through right now is looking at where we are with the additional pieces. So in addition to health, in addition to what's been said for technology, in addition to what we talked about for literacy and additional coaches, at the end of this process, even though we don't have a set number, Whether it ends up being 4.75% or 5% that the City Council ends up approving, we do have a number. It's not a solid number. I think there's a little bit of wiggle room, but it's within a reasonable wiggle room for this year. In light of what we're going through right now, everyone is very aware that The entire nation is in a state of crisis. We have to really be realistic. Last year, for example, we wanted to get the adaptive PE added. We weren't able to do it last year, and so I definitely was committed to prioritizing adding the additional adaptive PE program for this year because it's something that we deferred a year ago. However, all of those suggested positions, there's no way we can add an additional 50 FTEs by the time we're finished with the entire process. So we don't have an exact number, but we have some type of a ballpark. Um, even though I represent the schools, you have to understand that we're part of a larger city. And the same way we're making our requests, the fire department will, the police department will as well. And, um, we just need to, uh, I think be a little more flexible this year and understand that although we don't have a hard number we have to have a reasonable number and when we do have all of those positions by the June 1st meeting we will be able to say okay let's prioritize which ones can we realistically do and we're going to say yes to some requested positions, and for others, they're going to have to be deferred another year or longer, depending on what we can manage. So I think we need to go through this process. We have 20 minutes left. We still need to hear from health services and from athletics. About what's going on and um how they are being impacted as well And i'm hoping um that I know there may be one or two other questions that we're at least able to um, let those two departments present because we do have um It is a serious situation, but we need to let them at least present what it is they're doing, what's realistic, what their wishlist is. And then in the end on June 1st, that will be our true marathon session. And maybe when we get closer to June 1st, we may want to modify the time. and leave a larger block of time for us to be able to really talk about what needs to stay and what needs to be added and what needs to be let go until a future point in time. Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to jump in and I'm gonna ask for Ms. Patterson to give some feedback. Right now, I said it last time when we met, we are under tremendous pressure not being in a traditional working environment along with everyone. And the demands of being able to prepare the entire budget for the district now to do an additional deep dive of additional revolving accounts. I feel that that's a tremendous ask and a heavy lift where we're already in the month of April and our own fiscal situation isn't even resolved. We haven't had all the departments present for this academic school year. We're still trying to do pre-budget meetings and at the same time meeting to deliver services to our students. So I understand that there was a second, but I just feel I need to speak and say that this is a tremendous additional ask and burden to be able to get this done between now and June 1st.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening everyone. I wanted to say that I know that this is a difficult situation for all of our families. You are trying to balance your job, your family, and helping to provide an education for your children. We sympathize as this situation repeats in all of our households around this community and most of the nation. I appreciate The anxiety and the concern you all feel in these uncertain times. On behalf of the Medford Public Schools, please know we are here for you and we appreciate your commitment, dedication, support and patience. We are Mustang strong. The COVID-19 virus forced us into unfamiliar territory. Please understand that none of our decisions have been made in haste. For example, we made the decision to close schools for two weeks after many discussions with the mayor, the board of health, our health services director, state officials, and superintendents from surrounding districts. Having never done this before, we directed our teachers to provide the students with enrichment studies to complete at home as we took in further information. Although we initially had committed to a two-week closure, word about the virus spreading had all of us beginning to think that the closure could possibly be extended. As all of you know, the schools provide so much to our families besides education. Once we had decided to close school, our most immediate necessity was to establish food sites for those in need. A good number of our students rely on the Medford Public Schools for breakfast and lunch. Led by the mayor and working with the Food Security Task Force and the Malden YMCA, we were able to put in place grab-and-go lunches for the first week and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch for the second week. Medford is often referred to as an urban rim community, which makes us unique from other school districts in the Commonwealth. Our next goal was to develop an appropriate distance learning model for the Medford public schools. Administrators have been meeting in earnest numerous times and have contacted fellow educators across the state to discuss and share thoughts and ideas about how to educate during this extraordinary situation. All of this work is being done in collaboration with our Medford Teachers Association Union President, Charlene Douglas. In discussion with my fellow superintendents and the DESE Commissioner, Mr. Jeff Riley, we are all in agreement that we develop the best educational practices possible under these circumstances. To further assist us in this endeavor, the district has sent out a survey to our families It is our hope that parents, caregivers, and guardians took a few minutes to complete it. Your responses will help us continue to modify our learning model so it works for all of our students. Additionally, as I said, we've met specifically with the Medford Teachers Association as this situation presents for us a very different manner of teaching. We are respectful of our teachers' needs and have met off and on throughout the weeks discussing how remote learning can work under this shutdown. Yet, as the Globe stated on Friday, inequities are everywhere, even in relatively wealthy suburban school districts. Many families don't have laptops or reliable home internet connections. The article continued indicating that even homes that have technology, students often have to compete with a parent who is working remotely or siblings who also have schoolwork to complete. I am sure our Medford families as well as our Medford teachers are experiencing these very same issues. I must take this opportunity to thank all of those who have been working so hard during this unprecedented time. Madam Mayor, who has led us by organizing numerous meetings and bringing all parts of the community together to help to keep this city moving forward during this crisis. The business office at Medford High School, who have continued to go into work so that the office could make payroll, pay bills, and handle our grant reporting commitments. Our custodians who daily are inside our buildings, deep cleaning, disinfecting, accepting deliveries and keeping the buildings safe. Other strategic secretaries who work in specific departments that are also submitting and contributing to our payroll functions. We wanna thank the Medford Family Network who have been assisting families with basic necessities. The media and technology department, who along with principals and assistant principals have sanitized and handed out over or close to 400 phone books to our students, and will continue to do so again this Wednesday, April 1st, from 10 to 2 p.m. at all of our schools. Our volunteers, we want to thank them who have assisted with the grab-and-go food options at the McGlynn School and other meal sites. The administrators, teachers, and staff who have nonstop been meeting virtually as well as by email and phone to help develop an educational plan for the Medford public schools. That includes social emotional learning. Our special education and English learner programs have been in overdrive to make sure we are doing all we can as a district to address all of our students' needs. We have a great team here in Mustang Country, and that has shown even truer than ever in these past few weeks. We are Medford Strong. It is really heartwarming to see some of our teachers who have taken a walk by some of their students' homes and left chalk messages on the sidewalks or knocked on the windows to say hello. Some of our administrators, teachers, coaches have put together videos and sent them to their students. CCSR created a wonderful video called hashtag six feet together, which is accessible on our blog and Facebook sites. Collectively, our teachers have had to look outside the box to make suggestions on other ways to educate. They have suggested that students take nature walks and scavenger hunts, start a journal about this unique time, and do art projects that can be exhibited in their neighborhood or shared on their website. The mayor is looking for some inspirational artwork. So if students are listening, please post your artwork to her Facebook page. These ideas have kept both our students and parents engaged. However, in the end, this is a constantly changing and very fluid situation. Again, something that none of us have ever experienced. I realize there are a number of questions out there and we are attempting to answer as many as possible. Tonight, Dr. Bernadette Riccardelli will present our district's distance learning plan, which will go into effect on Wednesday, April 1st, 2020. My hope is that everyone realizes this is a working document that is flexible because this crisis requires it. We must work together and not adversely as we enter into this uncharted territory. In the end, our students are our top priority and we are committed to providing the very, very best for them. We are Medford strong. So if any families continue to have questions, please do not hesitate to email us at info at medford.k12.ma.us. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It is a large number, but In fairness, that the program has been shut down significantly. My preliminary communication was that the parents that have not been able to send their children are requesting refunds. So we are going to take it to the table, but they are now being asked to give refunds for the amount of time that school has not been in session. And so we are gonna revisit that topic, but that is just one of the, revolving accounts, we're not sure. We also got requests for refunds from some other revolving accounts. So we are trying to look to see where we can apply credit, whether it's not this year to next year. So we are looking at those options.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I don't know if we can... According to Howard, we cannot discuss personnel on the floor. We're going to have executive session next week at our regular meeting on April 6th to discuss specifics about personnel and the specific revolving accounts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: For our regular meeting, we will have that officially on the agenda. We are able to get a refund. It's not $50. It's a different amount. But we will be able to present that at next Monday's meeting, April 6, during our regular meeting, an update for all parents on what's happening with the Paris-France trip. So it's much better than what we originally thought it was, but it's not as good as just $50. But it's much better than what it originally was. And so we will have that for next Monday's regular meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Based on the internal list that I saw of questions, we can be prepared to respond to that for next week's regular meeting.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we have a few people still working on certain days of the week. We do have a mail machine here at the school. What I'm concerned about is having something that would be like a cut lunch and not really being able to monitor What are the grade levels? And what's the frequency of that actually happening? So I do think we can work collaboratively with the MTA, with Ms. Douglas, and figure out, like, try to create a Google Doc where we could have teachers put the information in and it might be something that maybe more early childhood people might want to take more advantage of that as opposed to some of the upper grades, but I think it needs to be something that we more closely manage and the fact that we do have critical staff members coming in one or two days a week to deal with payroll and paying bills, that if it was something where it was a particular day a week that we said we were going to do a mailing, we could potentially have some of that go out through the school. Also, as I say that, I'm still thinking about social distancing and really being careful because, again, as Marianne O'Connor said at the beginning of the meeting, that we followed good social distancing We made it through that first two-week window. But again, anyone could become affected just by going to the regular supermarket or the pharmacy or to a Staples or someplace. So it's something that let us work on that with the union and come up with something that is mutually beneficial for everyone.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I believe they already are, Dr. Vincent. All documents are uploaded on the website. They're available right now. Great, great. Anybody else?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like because right now Christine is under tremendous pressure to complete all of the pre-budgets because all of those meetings stopped and because we tried to honor the previous schedule that was in place she was going to be trying to meet with if you look at that schedule she increased some of the numbers of groups that were presenting in order to get us back on track. So I would propose to either do the sixth and push the second meeting out to the 20th, because the amount of work that we're doing in the background, I cannot see adding another meeting on top of that, where we're gonna, right now, this has been a three hour meeting today, and the amount of preparation People were working all weekend. We are working non-stop. It's very difficult not physically being in the same place. And I think that the workload needs to be manageable for us. So I don't mind keeping the 6th next Monday and not doing the 13th and meeting on the 20th because we do need to have planning time to get work done. Even something as it seems simple, the request from member Graham about keeping track of all of the families, but in order to meet with the administrators, to talk with the union, to talk with the teachers, to have every single teacher keep track of that, that's gonna take time to say, you know, out of my 20, you know, students, I've been able to track down 18, and I haven't been able to track down two. So there are a lot of things, it seems like it's something that can be done quickly, but it takes time to get that together and to be able to present something meaningful.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as you are aware, I've been sending significant communications to you, the school committee, and I can continue to send updates in terms of what is happening in terms of my own productivity and really being able to do the best on behalf of the district. I need to be able to have time to be able to prepare these reports and be able to gather the data. No one is on campus per se on a daily basis, so everything is not immediately at our fingertips. It's multiple calls. It's multiple Zoom meetings. It's conflicting Zoom meetings. It's DESI calls from the commissioner and waiting for time-sensitive updates. Today's meeting, which is a special meeting, this meeting alone is three hours long in duration right now. And this isn't a regular meeting and we need at our next meeting, we're gonna have an executive session. So I am just saying we need to really be cognizant of the amount of time and the breadth of what can reasonably be done and done well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Essentially for the subcommittee meetings, I had just wanted the school committee to look at the schedule of meetings that were there, if the individual chairs would reach out to me so that I could at least try to space the meetings out and ask from the members who they would like to have in attendance at those meetings. And so I can work on that schedule with the individual chairs of the subcommittee meetings.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I am working on the list that we have. But because we have executive session, we will not have an extended regular list. But we're working on getting the responses to the spreadsheet and to some of the communications that came forward already with a lot of information. So that's right now all being gathered together.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The only thing is we're having the budget committee of the holes, which are 5.30 to 7. Then we have the regular meeting following. So our school committee meetings are going to start at 5.30 PM. And I'm hoping we don't go until 10 and 11 PM, but they're going to start at 5.30.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in the spirit of trying to give feedback in preparation, I would like to double that from two days to four days because we meet every two weeks. So I would need to, I'm going to try my due diligence, my best to respond as quickly as possible. But if we could increase that from two to four to at least be able to say whether it could be on that, I hope that's considered reasonable. I'll let, have Mr.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was going to say, let's allow it to go through as is and in a year's time we can or six months time review or reconvene in subcommittee to see if it if it really is too tight or the the it becomes very, very difficult, then we could review it, revisit it again as a compromise.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Madam superintendent can explain the question about the outreach and how people were able to apply that happened before my time as mayor so it started at the tail end of last year and so the applications did come in to To central office so when we received the application similar to what member McLaughlin just shared that it was The 30 something, 42 or 43 people who applied, a lot of them had experience in construction and those types of things, but we really weren't able to tell it was a blind, a voluntary application process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think it is always considered an important consideration. I think at the time when we were looking at trying to balance male and female and not trying to have an ad hoc committee consist of 40 people in terms of trying to bring the number of participants down, we're trying to get to a manageable number. But when this came to our realization, we definitely realized that we needed to be more proactive. There will be meetings next week with members of the NAACP. We're willing to reach out to the West Metro Community Center and other diverse groups within the community so that we can add additional seats so that this vision committee will be more reflective of the population as well. And I know the mayor is scheduled to have some meetings as early as next week regarding that. So there will be a revised vision committee with additional members, diverse members from the community added to the vision committee.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: First time, it got away from me at our last meeting. So I must take this opportunity to congratulate our associate superintendent, Mrs. Diane Caldwell, who after 45 years of outstanding and dedicated service to Medford Public Schools, will retire in June.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thanks. So I wanna give a little bit of a short resume. I paused, but I do wanna share this. Ms. Caldwell's background is in elementary education and special education. And she has been the administrator of numerous educational grants. She began her career in Medford teaching at the Dame Elementary School. Later, she taught at the Curtis Tufts and Medford High School. Moving into administration, Ms. Caldwell served as a professional development coordinator and the title one director. 14 years ago, she was appointed assistant superintendent for elementary education and two years ago, was elevated to associate superintendent. When I first arrived in Medford, Ms. Caldwell opened her arms to me and shared her wealth of information while providing guidance and advice when needed. I quickly learned that Ms. Caldwell was an integral key in how the Medford Public School community was running so smoothly and working collaboratively together. Her knowledge is something that cannot be replaced. She has guided and taught so many Mustangs, both in this room and throughout the district. However, her focus has always been with her kiddos, the many students who have gone through the Medford Public Schools. Ms. Caldwell's eyes have always been on the prize, and that is the students who come here to learn. To say she will be greatly missed is an understatement. I know I speak for everyone when I say we wish her nothing but the best in her retirement. We thank her husband, Jack, along with her children and grandchildren for allowing us to have her as part of our family for so long. Thank you, Ms. Diane Caldwell, for your 45 years of devotion to the students, administrators, faculty, staff, and parents of the Medford Public Schools. wishing you every happiness in your retirement. Please know, we still have your phone number, so we still plan to use it to ask questions. Thank you again. Another highlight that happened back on February 23rd, that was our beautification day that took place at the high school. And I would like to thank the mayor and her transition team who took the time to help beautify the entrance to Medford High School. Mustang graduate, Bill Carr Jr., who chaired this committee, met with Headmaster DeLeva and John McLaughlin, our Director of Building and Grounds, to put together a plan for the day. Over 40 volunteers and current students cleaned, painted, and refreshed the entrance. We appreciate and thank everyone who took the time to devote to this important community project, including Mr. Paul Rousseau, Ms. Kathy Krutz, Ms. Melanie McLaughlin, Ms. Paulette Van der Kloot, all of the school committee, City Councilor Michael Marks, Neil Osborne, the City's Director of Diversity, and Acting Human Resource Director, and from my team, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Peter Cushing, and Mr. John McLaughlin, again, who assisted throughout the day. Thank you all for that dedication of time and beautifying our high school entrance. I do have a very brief update on our coronavirus, COVID-19. We continue to work very collaboratively with City Hall. Myself, Nurse Toni Wray, we're working closely with the Medford Board of Health, Mary Ann O'Connor, and I know the city's doctor as well is here. keeping everyone up to date and informed. As you are aware, Medford did have, well, I should preface it by saying the CDC gave us guidance last week about to impose a 14-day quarantine for anyone who traveled to the countries of China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran. So in particular, when we got that notice, we did have two staff members that had traveled overseas during February break. And in order to honor the new guidelines that we were given, they had to quarantine for the remaining days to get to 14 days. I can report that there were no symptoms, but again, out of an abundance of caution, we were following the guidelines that we received, and those staff members have already returned back to work. But I just wanted to announce that We are very busy and very focused on that. We do have a special machine called the Jenny O machine, believe it or not, which helps to sanitize and kill germs and bacteria. So that is being used. And when I was leaving today, we are continuing to do that. We also have requested outside cleaners, which we used over February vacation when we had the first deep cleaning that took place. Our outside cleaners that we used are so booked, we cannot get them to come back again until at least the 18th of March. So Mr. John McLaughlin, who's our Director of Building and Grounds, is working very diligently trying to get on the roster to have them come back, but in the meantime, we are using the special cleaning agent to sanitize and disinfect the air. So we are taking it very seriously and nurse Toni Wray is encouraging again that hand washing, making sure we're using soap and water, singing happy birthday twice, using those strategies that are being selected to help keep our community healthy and safe. If there are any new developments to member McLaughlin's point, working collaboratively with city hall and the mayor, we will definitely send out a communication robocall, put it up on our website. We're recommending that everyone goes to the city's website to get up to date notification about anything related to COVID-19. So I did want to just share that information with the community. You're welcome. The libraries of Medford Public Schools are pleased to announce that they will be the first libraries in Massachusetts to host the Welcoming Library Traveling Book Exhibit funded by the Massachusetts Library System and created by imyourneighborbooks.org. The Welcoming Library Exhibit, also funded in part by the Medford Educational Foundation seeks to promote a culture of belonging and welcome in the school library for all students. The collection brings together books focusing on all types of immigration stories and explores the commonalities of all families. The traveling exhibit is part of this year's middle school library program. Libraries are for everyone and will be hosted by the Andrews and McGlynn libraries to start and then move to each of Medford's school libraries from now until the end of April. On Friday, Medford High School and Medford Vocational Technical High School students participated in the Region 4 Science Fair, which was held at Tufts University. The students participating included Albert Farah, William Enriquez, Campbell Tracy, Andrew Oliveri, Al McEvaney, Harjot Singh, Albert Farah took home both the second place overall prize and the first place physics award. So congratulations to all of them. For sports, a brief sports update. We would like to congratulate all the winter sports athletes who competed so well this season. Boys and girls basketball, boys and girls indoor track, boys and girls hockey, swimming, gymnastics, and basketball cheerleading. The GBL All-Stars for the winter season are Indoor Track Girls, Anaya Crump, Carissa Andrews, Anna Casey, Maria Colombo, and Isaim D'Souza Vieira. Indoor track boys, Tristan Howard, voted GBL MVP. Also, Iago D'Souza Vieira. Boys basketball, Riley Brine and Alex Valera. Girls basketball, Shakira Young. Boys hockey, Sean Nestor and Chris Freeman. Girls hockey, all conference, Raeann Forbes. And all stars are Erin Allen and Lizzie McDonald. Gymnastics, Megan Sullivan, Jillian McElhaney, Ava Mastricola, and Julianne D'Orazio. Boys swimming, 200-yard freestyle, Peter DiPlacido, 100-yard butterfly, Brendan Sheehan, and the 400-yard freestyle relay, Alexander Nguyen. Samuel Cluggish, Peter DePlacebo, and Brendan Sheehan. Girls swimming, 100-yard freestyle, Dishan Ansah. Also, Tristan Howard placed second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.48 seconds at the New England Regionals. He also won the Division II State Championship in the 55-meter dash, completing that race in 6.4 seconds. Tristan qualified to compete in the nationals in the 60-meter dash. Tristan has committed to the University of Rhode Island for next year. So I just want to congratulate all our athletes. We're almost there. Last week, I conducted two middle school lottery visits at our two elementary schools, both the Roberts and the Brooks. This week, on Tuesday, tomorrow evening, I will be at the McGlynn Elementary School from 5 to 6 o'clock and the Columbus Elementary School from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. tomorrow evening. The next important dates regarding the middle school lottery are Wednesday, March 18th. Each grade five student will receive a lottery number in a letter to their parent or guardian or caregiver sent home with the student. And on Thursday, March 26th, the lottery drawing will take place at Medford High School Library from three o'clock to 4 p.m. This Wednesday, March 11th is the 10th Annual Transition Fair. It will be held at Winchester High School. The Medford Public Schools and the Winchester Public Schools Offices of Special Education collaborate together to host this informational fair designed for students 14 years of age and older with disabilities to help plan for life after high school. This free event will discuss community-based services available for young adults with disabilities. Exhibitors will include information regarding support for independent living skills, vocational training, educational programs, housing, and recreational opportunities. This Saturday, March 14th, at the McGlynn School, the Medford Family Network, and the Greater Boston Reading Council will present a character breakfast with Curious George. That's from 9.30 to 11 this Saturday. The event is free, but you must register with the Medford Family Network. Finally, the Building Bridges to Kindergarten meeting. We had an exceptional turnout last week. Over 100 families already registered for kindergarten during the first week, and that number is growing. The next and last week, There was a packed library at the high school with parents asking wonderful questions, excellent turnout. So I would like to thank our PIC for the work that they're doing, Ms. Maria Ibrahim and Ms. Jeannie Gleyona who is also supporting her right now with kindergarten registration. Please save the date, Tuesday, April 7th. We will have another Building Bridges to Kindergarten event from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m., and that is my update for the evening. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Member McLaughlin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah. Yes, so the deep cleaning was not able to take place. We will not be able to have the outside cleaners come until the 18th. Their phones are ringing off of the hook. They did come and do a deep cleaning over sanitization over February break, and we actually do have some of that product, the Genio product, so we are using that as well. And if Mr. McLaughlin is able to step out to join us, he could give you some specifics on that. But we were unable to secure the outside cleaner. They will not be available to come back to Medford Public until the 18th of March.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we have all administrators tomorrow is an administrative professional development day for school leaders So they will be at central office tomorrow where we're going to be working all school leaders have been talked already creating documents of what would happen in the event that we would need to close what would homework look like, and so tomorrow will be our first opportunity to be together to finish working on finalizing how we would be able to do homework packets, etc., for students in the event that we would need to close down a school or all schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So it is, it's, depending on the level, high school uses Google Classroom, but the principals are working collaboratively and Ms. Caldwell
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanted to say thank you, Mr. McLaughlin. And I wanted to ask Nurse Toni Ray and the city's doctor if you'd like to come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so I know I gave an overview, but I'm so appreciative of you both being here. And I did not know if you just wanted to give a medical update to the school community and the listening audience.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just. I just want to first thank you ladies for your presentation this evening. And I too as a senior got to go to Paris in April. And I remember being so excited at the Parent Information Center meeting that had happened sometime last year. But at the same time it's very unsettling to see how the illness is spreading at such rapid rates, especially right now in Italy and in different parts of Europe, that we do have to operate on the side of caution to keep everyone safe. But what I can assure you, not only with what the motion that did go forward, But we are going to do our due diligence and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Cushing talked about also wanting to notify our delegation to see if they can put forward some legislation to find ways to get greater compensation for families because it's not only Medford, it's the entire state. And again, where Dr. Riccadeli made reference to the Super's listserv to see all of the districts with all of the European countries that students were going to travel to next month. And that they're all, almost all of them have been canceled. And then with the recommendation of the governor that we can't ensure what could happen once you get there. But I can just assure everyone that we're gonna do our best to try to get more back for our students, and we will take up that conversation, that battle with Delta as well. And hopefully if the delegation can support that movement, that it won't only be Medford as a beneficiary, but our surrounding communities that are all in the same exact situation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's the motion that motion extension on the report. Yeah. I'm not sure if that's an option. So, uh, uh, member McLaughlin, I, I don't have a problem reaching out to Desi, but based on the fact that they gave a clear expectation that they want us to do the short form and the amount of money that we have been allocated, which is probably the equivalent of one FTE plus professional development, I do not see DESE granting an extension for the amount of money. If we had received millions, I could see DESE saying, yes, you need more time for that. The amount of money that we have received is truly such a small amount that we have been kind of scratching our heads to say, like, how can we realistically use this amount, which is going to decrease over the next seven years? So it's not even going to end up being the same exact amount every year. In terms of community engagement, I embrace and I welcome community engagement, but the community does need to understand that we are not receiving millions of dollars. We're receiving $138,660, which really doesn't yield that much for us. I understand and I respectfully
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say thank you to all the participants and thank you for continuing to have this great race on behalf of our schools. We're very appreciative.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we can definitely do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And did anybody notify the... No, that hasn't been... It hasn't been officially posted yet. I just did the... To all members of Save the Day. Okay. Okay. Just as a follow up, we said somebody would email the students. You will. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Roll call for the minutes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Superintendent. I just want to thank the Dream Team, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Dr. Chiesa, Ms. Campbell, and Ms. Champoli for spearheading all of this work together. Really, you're here making this presentation today, but what the school community hasn't been able to see is the hours that you guys have spent really looking at research, reaching out to other colleagues, and really trying to keep Medford at the forefront. We've said it many times that DESE has not yet given their final decision, and we are so grateful that Ms. Campbell is working closely with DESE and will be part of that team that makes the final recommendation for the state. So I think we need to always keep that in mind that what we're doing hasn't officially been sanctioned yet by DESE, but we're doing something that's positive and we're getting good results. And the addition of ECRI and other things that we're trying to do In terms of literacy, we are taking it seriously, and it is a priority for all of us. So I just want to continue to thank you for the hard work that you're doing on behalf of Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to echo what school committee member Van der Kloot just shared, that we are stretched very, very thin, especially in our finance department, and to take this on, but I am willing to reach out to MASC or speak with other school committees to see how they do address it. The fact that it is a 501c3 It is a freestanding entity, and so I just feel like my hands are so full with just all things education and instruction that to take this on, this is truly a whole other body of work that, yes, it's important, but I can just say that I commit to trying to find additional resources or other ways that other communities have figured it out.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I just want to address our students and say that yes, we definitely, Medford Public Schools really endorses and believes strongly in leadership skills. The teacher in me was listening to your persuasive arguments and how well written and how wonderfully you all presented this evening. And again, advocacy is truly important. It's an important skill that we want to continue to develop in all of our students. And again, we will take everything that was said this evening and the previous meetings that have already taken place and moving forward with the future committee of the whole to truly reflect on everything and address many of the concerns that were said this morning. I do not want anyone leaving here thinking that we do not support and encourage student advocacy and leadership skills and that is definitely a strong skill set that is developed in Medford and I want to see more of that skill set developed. I also want to thank Ms. Donlin for sharing and also being a courageous teacher to come up and share with us this evening, you know, her thoughts and the information that she had. So thank you. And thank you to parents for supporting their children. This is a wonderful family community and engagement. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Once it's scheduled, yes. I can actually work with Ms. Donlin as well. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to announce that last Friday, the Medford Public Schools unveiled its brand new website. The former website was developed in 2007. Over the course of the past two years, Allison Goldsberry, our webmaster, has been very busy, diligently researching other school system websites, discussing what works as well as what doesn't work with different focus groups, which included staff, parents, and students. She worked both with Tufts University students and our own vocational media students to put together a comprehensive more visual, and user-friendly site. As we are all aware, a website is a constant work in progress, but we feel the new site is very welcoming and helps to address many more of our needs. We encourage everyone to visit it and let us know what you think. I'd like to thank Allison Goldsberry, our webmaster, Tufts University students, and our own vocational media technology students for all of their time, hard work, efforts in updating the new website. As we just heard, I want to just highlight again the important health update on coronavirus. And I want to just thank our nursing director, Toni Wray, supervisor of health services for Medford Public Schools for presenting that timely information to the community this evening. Additionally, I want to recognize Team Medford, Maryann O'Connor, and I know your Chief of Staff, Mr. Rodriguez, and the Nursing Director here, Janet Leahy, for working collaboratively with Medford Public Schools to come up with an official, formal response as a city. Moving along, I want to recognize some of our CCSR students at the McGlynn Middle School. McGlynn Middle School was recently featured on Channel 4. The program, The Lookup Challenge, does just that. It challenges students to put down their phones and head out to play, read a good book, or just have a conversation with family and friends. Look Up Live is a non-profit startup whose mission is to support youth design solutions for technology and real life balance. Since before the holiday vacation, McGlynn Middle School students have been challenged to reflect upon how they can take a more balanced approach with their use of technology. In addition to that, this project was funded by the Cummings Foundation and the Crystal Campbell Community Betterment Fund, so we would like to thank them also for their continued support of Medford Public Schools. I also want to thank Brookline Bank and Members Plus Credit Union for their introduction to financial literacy. They presented to our eighth grade students at both the Andrews and McGlynn middle schools. The bankers presented very clear objectives. They engaged students in discussions on topics related to personal finance while making important connections with math in the classroom to their everyday lives. The bankers intend on making this an annual event. We appreciate their partnership with the Medford Public Schools. Later this evening, during our meeting tonight, Dr. Riccadeli will be explaining the middle school lottery process in detail. However, I wanted to just quickly share the schedule for informational meetings for fifth grade families, which I will host at each of our four elementary schools. The meetings will be posted on the blog and on our website, and fifth grade parents will also receive an invitation from their respective principal. The meeting schedule will be as follows. Tuesday, March 3rd, from 5.30 to 6.30, Brooks Elementary School, in the library. Thursday, March 5th, from 5.30 to 6.30, Roberts Elementary School, in the library. Tuesday, March 10, from 5 to 6 o'clock, McGlynn Elementary School in the library. And also on Tuesday, March 10, from 6.30 to 7.30, Columbus Elementary School in the evening in their library. Please be advised that this Wednesday, from 7 to 8.30 PM, in our Karen Theater at Medford High School will be course selection night for our eighth grade students who will be attending the high school complex next year. Parents, guardians, caregivers, and students, you're all urged to please attend. In the sports arena, middle school basketball, our Mustang middle school basketball program had a very successful season. The boys team finished with a 9-1 record. The girls team just finished and they were at eight and two, but actually since they just won the game this evening, they played against Everett and the girls won this evening, 34-32. That would have been a nail biter. A great game to have watched. So congratulations to both our boys and girls basketball teams. The boys game tomorrow, their final, will take place tomorrow and the girls final will take place in Revere on Wednesday. Tristan Howard, one of our great athletes at Medford High School, last Sunday at the MSTCA Boys and Girls Coaches Invitational held at the Reggie Lewis Center. Tristan Howard, our own Mustang, He won the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.56 seconds. Amazingly, he shares the title with Lawrence High School student Jeremiel German. They finished together in a dead heat. So the people who were at Reggie Lewis said it was another nail-biter, fascinating, exciting race, but just wonderful things that are happening with our own Mustangs. Sunday, the Medford girls varsity indoor track team finished in second place. This is again, our greater Boston league track championship. We finished right behind Malden with a total of 88 points. Five of the girls finished first in the following races. I just want to recognize them. We have junior Anaya Crump. She won the 300 meters. Sophomore Caressa Andrews won the high jump. Freshman. Anna Casey won the 600 meters. Freshman Ayazmin D'Souza-Vieira won the 1,000 meters. And freshman Maria Colombo won the two mile run. Congratulations to all of our athletes, our girls, varsity indoor track team members. I also want to just highlight another community outreach program. The Columbus School participated in Pennies for Patients. which raises money for Leukemia Society. And the Columbus School collected $3,336.59. Mrs. Galizo's class was raised the most out of that fundraising. Her classroom alone raised $936 in pennies, which is truly outstanding for the school. They were awarded a pizza party from the Leukemia Society for their outstanding efforts. And we want to say a special thank you to Assistant Principal Nancy Sherman Hudson, who led this important fundraising event. Great job, Columbus School. Please keep up the good work. So at the beginning of January, the Medford Vocational Technical High School's DECA program competed in the District Six competition held at Endicott College in Beverly. Students competed in business, law, and ethics, apparel and accessories marketing, automotive services marketing, entrepreneurship, human resource management, Quick Service Restaurant Management, Restaurant and Food Service Management, and Sports and Entertainment Marketing. Congratulations are in order for David Mai and Nevaeh Clark, who placed third in the Apparel and Accessories Marketing. Ruth McLaughlin and Nick Gomes, who placed third in Automotive Service Marketing. In late February, these students will be competing at the DECA State Tournament at the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston in the hopes of qualifying for the international DECA competition being held in Nashville in April. And Mr. Principal Chad Fallon will present to you a little later this evening. I am pleased to also announce two of our fine arts students who were selected to the prestigious Massachusetts Music Educators District Junior Festival. Two of our trombonists have been accepted to this prestigious Massachusetts Music Educators Association Northeast District Junior Festival due to their successful audition on Saturday. They are none other than our Medford High School freshman, Tegan Mustone, the name sounds familiar, offspring of our wonderful member, Ms. Mia Mustone, and Andrews Middle School seventh grader, Kian Leo. who were selected to rehearse and perform with the festival band under a guest conductor with other students from across Northeastern Massachusetts. The concert will be held at the Gavin Middle School in Wakefield in March. Congratulations to our fine arts students. In addition, I'm also pleased to announce that two McGlynn Middle School students received regional awards in the 2019-2020 Massachusetts Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Program. Sofia Hernandez won a gold key, and Kenza Balula won a silver key. Medford has had a number of students receive honorable mentions, but being named gold and silver key winners is a great honor. They will be presented with their awards in March at Tufts University. Congratulations to these students, fantastic job. Just a reminder, coming up this Saturday, the Medford Family Network's annual Valentine's Day Festival, Ice Cream Social, is being held this Saturday at the McGlynn School Cafeteria from 11 a.m. until 1.30. All of you are invited to support the Ice Cream Social and Medford Family Network. It is always a great event. Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in cookies in Convo at the high school. And I just had an opportunity to connect with staff and teachers during their lunch break over cookies and just talk and hear feedback and just have wonderful conversation. And I look forward to spreading that out to additional schools. But I was very pleased with the teachers who were able to avail themselves to participate in that. Additionally, earlier today, I had the opportunity to be with Global Scholars, which is one of our special programs that runs at the middle school levels, along with Dr. Riccardelli, our Director of Curriculum. We were able to look at instruction, teachers got to talk and really listen to students during their student panel, getting feedback from eighth graders on what they thought were the strengths and suggestions for how that special program can continue to improve. And so that was a wonderful opportunity that happened just earlier today. Lastly, my last invitation is that Mayo-Lungo-Koehn's volunteer members of the transition team, they're going to be hosting a beautification day on Sunday, February 23rd, starting at eight o'clock in the morning at our high school campus. For anyone who may want to join the volunteer crew, we're looking for interested parties. You can contact the mayor's office or contact my office to sign up, and I'd like to just thank everyone, and those are our announcements for today. Thank you, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can read it. Medford Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility was awarded $5,000 as one of the recipients of the $125,000 community fund payment from Encore Boston, granted by the Medford Community Fund. We recommend that the school committee approve this donation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just was going to echo what Dr. Riccadeli just shared, that in our individualized, the school presentations, we say that it is not an equal balance, but we do try to do it in an equitable way, a fair way. So again, English learners would be assigned to the McGlynn school, depending on what the specific programmatic areas are. So we don't have control over those numbers, it could be a fluctuation from one year to another year, but that was the most, I would say, equitable way to be able to try to balance the numbers. So that piece does need to remain intact so that students are assigned to the right programmatic area.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and the rationale and the sub lottery, a lot of that was also explained in person. We had sample PowerPoints for every single school, so a lot of that, it's just packaging it, putting it together, but definitely to explain that what we were talking about, trying to get a greater balance between the schools, that did take place. So that's something that I would gladly provide.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: As the PowerPoint is being pulled up, I wanted to just share that this draft strategic plan has been a compilation of work that has taken place over the past year. This work has been comprised of a diverse group of our district administrators. And in order to create this plan, we're going to show it to you through a PowerPoint slide deck. And I'm going to just highlight some of our key points. I do want to make mention that a lot of the research from this refers back to my work with NISP. And in NISP, it's actually officially referred to as a strategy for district improvement. And we've abbreviated it to call it our strategic plan. The supporting documentation, as you can see, has been built upon our Medford Public Schools District Improvement Plans, existing DESE data, city and district surveys, district administrators' feedback, the Mayor's Education Transition Subcommittee meeting, that took place at the McGlynn School and the Medford Mayoral Transition Committee recommendations. I do want to say that as this presentation takes place, I was going to hope that you would allow the entire team, as diverse administrators that you see here this evening, for us to be able to present the overview in full. And then at the conclusion of our presentation that you can ask all of us questions because many of your questions may be responded, answered in the presentation that takes place. The genesis of this plan, again, as I started to say, was from our new superintendent's induction program, which is a three-year program that I am part of in a cohort of 40 superintendents across the Commonwealth. This is a compilation and a reinvention of our existing Medford Public Schools district improvement plans. The data also took place from leadership retreats and meetings that have taken place over the past year. And this cross-disciplinary team of administrators that are here this evening, they represent both elementary, actually all, elementary, middle, and high school levels, special education, social emotional learning, curriculum, and central office. Our core values, when I came to Medford Public Schools, I talked about my core values of ACE, achievement, collaboration, and equity. Over the course of this year and working with the team, we've expanded that core value to also incorporate support. And this evening, as we give you the overview, you will see that our pillars, our core values, our achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. To give you an overview on achievement this evening, We have both Dr. Riccadeli and Headmaster Paul DeLeva, who are going to give you an overview of what achievement is all about. Is it possible to?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So what we have now is what are our next steps for engagement? As you can see, our core values are in the middle, and our intention for engagement is to engage all that's listed, to engage our subcommittee that will be addressing strategic planning, the school committee, our community at large, faculty and staff, caregivers, and school leaders. for collaboration, working together, making this a shared experience, a living document that we will all be able to refer to and to really make it something that when we talk about Medford Public Schools and we talk about our mustang country, that people will also be able to say that we represent ACES and what that stands for. We would like to market this widely and really have it owned by the entire community at large. And so our tagline for ACES, what we're committed to, our core values, our four pillars, our achievement, collaboration, equity, and support. I open the floor for questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So different initiatives are at different levels of completion as this is a fluid document in terms of initiatives that are taking place right now and initiatives that we would like to do in the future. So it is a fluid document. Some may be 80% completed, the sample that Dr. Cushing shared about two-way communication So they are at different levels of completion because we know that it is a fluid document it is a work in progress but again looking at all the data that was available and taking everything that Medford Public is doing and espouses to do and trying to bring it into one document where we're able to state our core values we're able to say this is the work that we're doing to have this be our guiding driving document as a district that I feel is the majority of the work that has taken place. And any member of this wonderfully gifted group of administrators that I get to work with, feel free to add to my remarks.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we do have professional development scheduled tomorrow with all administrators. This group of diverse administrators that you see here took on a lot of the the work of pulling together multiple initiatives and things that are taking place in the district. The larger administrative team meets monthly, and so this is also going to be presented to them at this state tomorrow, and we know that we will also be prepared to start meeting with the subcommittee as we continue to flesh this out and continue to build the glossary of terms. This was really an opportunity because there was a lot of questions about what was the strategic plan. What were we working on. What does it represent. And I really wanted the opportunity to present it to this entire body for you to see. that this is a combination of a year's work and where we are right now. So I would see us having a little bit more additional administrator input on some of the initiatives, knowing that it's not complete, that it will be a fluid document. It's a multi-year document. It's very ambitious. There are some things that will be able to happen immediately, like our website that was able to just be launched but it's that too is still going to be tweaked and there are other things that we have to schedule further out. So it will be fluid but it will be a kind of roadmap to guide the work that we are doing and will aspire to do in the future.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I do have a concern in terms of the demand and the time frame because some of the reports are are being generated in almost real time to get the packets to you on Friday. And because things are being added, and I know it's something that may end up going to the Rules Subcommittee, but there will definitely need to be like a clear cutoff time in order to get it done because the same exact administrators that you see who are still here this evening, they actually have other jobs and responsibilities where they're in the field servicing students. And the amount of time that some of the reports take requires them to stop doing the other work in order to do that. So I just want to be realistic in saying that we're going to get them printed in color and ready to be delivered to you, the entire school committee, by Friday evening, and to have it select portions of the reports online that there will need to probably be some kind of timeline that's generated in order for that to realistically be done. I just want to state that honestly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think Monday would be reasonable. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This is a very lengthy process, so we've actually started gathering the data, so by the time we get to the 24th, we should be ready to make a presentation, but it's been ongoing. It's a very long process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good morning, Mustang Nation. I'm so excited to be here because we are celebrating you, the class of 2020. So again, I have a few remarks to share. Please indulge me, but I want you to just enjoy this time, enjoy this celebration because we are celebrating you, whether you're in your living room or your kitchen, doesn't matter where you are, but we are there with you. And so I'm so glad to share this message. So good morning, Mustangs. Again, as I said, although this is not the graduation ceremony you may have envisioned, the Medford Public Schools still wanted to provide you and your family with the means to celebrate your wonderful achievements. Due to COVID-19, your senior year was cut short and your graduation ceremony was canceled. You all learned an important lesson. How following the rules is paramount, critically important during this unprecedented time. COVID is alive and well and lurking everywhere. Therefore, the precautions of always lies on this issue. We must be vigilant and focused. What I do affects each person I come in contact with. I respectfully request that we all follow the directives put forth by the CDC, Governor Baker, and Medford's Board of Health. The rules and regulations are provided for everyone's well-being. Additionally, during this COVID crisis, All of us witnessed the horrible killing of Mr. George Floyd. Everyone, what it is like to grow up black and brown in America. I know so many of you have raised your voices in support of Black Lives Matter. I think about the late Congressman John Lewis who stated, If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Continue to work for social justice, equality, and remember that love always wins. You are at a crossroads right now in your lives. Our world is rapidly changing, and you will be presented with new challenges, new routines, and new situations. You will be asked to evolve and find the strength to explore your life outside the comfort zone of Medford High School. You will grow in ways you never imagined before. It is my hope that in true Mustang fashion, you will speak your truth, spread love unconditionally, stand up for what you believe in and treat people the way you want to be treated. Mistakes, we all do. But mistakes mean you are trying and you will learn from them. do not allow this current situation to define you. Instead, look upon it as a bridge to opportunity, as a way to build your character and open the door to new possibilities. As President Obama said in his graduation remarks to the class of 2020, ground yourselves in values that last. like honesty, hard work, responsibility, fairness, generosity, and respect for others. Commit to moving this world onto a day where sexism, greed, status, and racial prejudice no longer exist. So today, we come together and celebrate the class of 2020. Please take the time to say thank you to your parents, to your grandparents, to your relatives, your caregivers, your teachers, your advisors, your coaches. Take a moment now, those of you on Zoom or on TV, give them a hug, embrace them, say thank you. They helped you get here today. They had your back the entire way. We wish you nothing but luck and happiness as you move forward with college, a career, or as you enter the military. COVID-19 may have stopped this class from seeing their usual senior graduation events. but I believe it has taught all of us something. Resilience. Never again will you take anything for granted. Never again will you think what you do does not affect others. More than ever, I am sure you now appreciate everything you have It is my belief that COVID-19 has made you wise beyond your years. Your Mustang roots, that the blue and white will forever run through your veins, and that the Mustang way is a way of life. Be well, be safe, be kind, and never stop reaching for the stars. Good luck and do remember, you just can't tame the Mustangs. When I say Mustang, you say pride. When I say Mustang, you say pride. Mustang. Mustang. Congratulations to the class of 2020.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Greetings, seniors. This is Superintendent Edouard-Vincent, and I'm really happy to be here this evening to recognize you on this special scholarship awards night. As you can see, I'm holding in my hand the Mustang mask. I am Mustang proud, just like all of you. I am also Mustang strong. Today, I'm speaking to you because schools are closed and we're not able to meet in person. But I want to congratulate all of you for your wonderful achievements. Why are we here tonight to celebrate you? We're here because you worked hard and you're being recognized. You're being recognized for your great achievements, but you're also being recognized financially. Some of you are going to receive scholarships tonight because you excelled in certain academic areas or maybe in sports or maybe in the arts. Others of you are being recognized because you wrote an essay for community service and you were selected because of your excellent persuasion skills and your ability to express through written word what it is that you do on behalf of the community of Medford. It doesn't matter the reason why you're being recognized. The fact is you're all being recognized with scholarships tonight. I want to congratulate you for your hard work As a Mustang, these 12 years, you're going on to college. You're going on to bigger, better, and a brighter future. And you have scholarship award money to support you with that. I encourage you, when you are in college, to continue to write for scholarships, to not give up, to continue to be dedicated to the community and to doing service learning projects, continuing to make your community a better place. I am so proud of all of you. Congratulations on your wonderful accomplishments this evening. whether it's for academics, whether it's sports, whether it's the arts, whether it's community service. Congratulations for your hard work. You deserve these scholarships. I wish you great success as you start school next year. And don't forget, we are Mustang strong and we are Mustang proud. Go Seniors!
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Madam Superintendent. Good evening. I did not have the opportunity last week but I do hope that everyone had a peaceful and joyous holiday. Also, I wanted to personally welcome Mayor Lungo-Koehn, Melanie McLaughlin, and Jenny Graham to the school committee. The inaugural celebration was a joyous one. We look forward to an ambitious and exciting year as we work together to provide the very best education for all of the children of our community. My mantra has been, one Medford, one district. We are stronger when we work together to improve the quality of life for all in Medford. With my father's passing, I appreciate Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell for handling last week's school committee meeting for me. In addition, I appreciate all of those who have expressed their sympathies to me and my family. He was my biggest supporter. and he will sorely be missed. Please note that in case of inclement weather coming up, our team is currently working diligently on putting together a policy to possibly utilize a two hour delay. The bus schedule would have to be realigned as well as principals must realign their classroom schedules in order for this to work. Most importantly, we have to also continue to work closely with the Department of Public Works to make sure that they're able to clear the parking lots and sidewalks surrounding the schools on time. Obviously, safety is our top priority, so we intend to meet with all parties and see if this is an option that could work for us in lieu of having to cancel school outright. So we are trying to come up with a happy medium. Additionally, graduation for the class of 2020, it is fast approaching, June of 2020. Seniors will need to order their caps and gowns on the following dates, this week, Wednesday, January 15th, and Thursday, January 16th, and or next week, Wednesday, January 22nd, or Thursday, January 23rd. Orders will take place outside of the gym on both dates, and the cost is $20 per student. So cash or checks only, and checks should be payable to cap and gown. Upcoming key events. There's a listening, this is for the listening audience. I want you all to know that during the month of February at our upcoming meetings, we'll be making announcements about the middle school lottery process for students starting sixth grade in August of 2020. Additionally, Building Bridges to Kindergarten information sessions will also be coming up and we'll have a presentation on that. At those Building Bridges to Kindergarten sessions, we encourage families to attend one of three informational sessions. And at those sessions, they have an opportunity to hear from our nursing department, representatives from the Parent Information Center, PIC. We will also have interpreters available if needed. And they will learn about the registration process. So that is upcoming information for our February meetings. So I want the community to rest assured that you are not late, that there's no need to be concerned about upcoming deadlines because you haven't missed anything yet. So I also want to share some good news about our former Mustangs. And it's nice to see so many Mustangs coming back and continuing to contribute to the success of Medford Public Schools. I'd like to recognize Lou Mandarini of Local 22. He went shopping right before the holidays with students from the vocational side of the house construction craft labors program in collaboration with the rotary. And they made. holiday food baskets for families in Medford. And Local 22 donated $1,400 worth of food products for this cause. And so in collaboration with our vocational students, donating over 2,000 non-perishable food items. So I just wanted to recognize their hard work and their commitment to giving back to the community. And so over 200 Medford families were able to have received these holiday baskets and nonperishable food items. So I was really happy about that and very proud of the work that's happening with students participating in community service. Additionally, Dave McGilvery, in November and December, Mr. McGilvery, who was a Boston Marathon director, he spoke at both middle schools, talking to our middle school students, motivating them, and encouraging them to always chase their dreams. Additionally, he was also one of the inaugural speakers last week at our legendary Chevalier Theater, and he also spoke. So he's a wonderful speaker, and again, as I am a new Mustang, clearly, once a Mustang, always a Mustang, and we appreciate graduates taking the time out of their busy schedules to enhance opportunities for the greater Medford community. I also wanna just share with you that yesterday, I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker at the Japanese Association of Greater Boston. They were celebrating the Japanese New Year for 2020. It took place in Arlington at their town hall. So I'm gonna ask you to bear with me. I may make a few errors, but I'm gonna just try to share a small snippet with you. Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, which means happy new year in Japanese. But for those of you who may not be aware, since 1980, Medford has a sister city in Japan, and the sister city in Japan is Nobeoka. Additionally, part of the Japanese tradition, they celebrate Bonninkai parties. And a Bonninkai party is a year-forgetting party. Its purpose is to leave the old year's worries and troubles behind. Additionally, I learned about ikigai, and ikigai means your purpose in life. It's something we should all pay more attention to, for it teaches to accept people as they are, urges us to step away from our often over-scheduled lives, and suggests that we all live in the moment. So I just wanted to say ikigai to all of you, and I'm glad to be back.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in response, in order to add an additional committee of the whole, that would be at our next regularly scheduled meeting, which is February 3rd, in response to your request, school committee member Graham. in keeping with the meetings that are lined up.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I, too, just wanted to say wonderful job. Thank you for bringing the holiday cheer. And I love that version of Jingle Bells. It was wonderful.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. This is a special opportunity for Medford to be able to recognize our state delegation members who are here this evening. And so I would like to ask Senator Patricia Jalen, Representative Christine Barber, Representative Sean Garberly, and Representative Paul Donato to please come forward. On behalf of the work that you did, especially for Medford, but in support and all the work that you did contributing to the successful adoption of the Student Opportunity Act, Medford Public Schools would like to officially recognize all of you. And in recognition of what you've done, we have a souvenir that we're going to present to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so Representative Donato, would you like to come forward? We thank you for ringing the bell of education for our students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Representative Sean Garvely.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Chiesa.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I too wanted to just echo what was said, that it was an excellent event and that I had the opportunity to go up and listen to one of the veterans sharing his real life experience story. And the classroom that he was in had some students that were, that particular classroom had English learners. And so he made the modifications to kind of And the teacher worked collaboratively with him to point out the key vocabulary terms. And I just think it's great that all students get to benefit from this real life history alive, I would say, the Veterans Day event. And so I'm so grateful for their service and thankful for the collaboration with the Veterans Office here and Mr. Durham as well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, good evening Mustang community. Tonight I do depart from my traditional superintendent's remarks and I have special remarks to make. Tonight is a special night that is both a happy and a sad occasion. The happy occasion is that it is the end of this school year and the beginning of our holiday season. So whether you celebrate Christmas, winter solstice, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, on behalf of my family, the Medford Public Schools family, we would like to wish you all a lovely and safe holiday season filled with family, friends, and neighbors. Additionally, on the other hand, it is also a sad occasion because today we have three members of our school committee that are transitioning and will no longer be with us for next year. And I would like to formally thank Mayor Stephanie Muccini-Burke, chair of the school committee, Erin DiBenedetto, and Michael Ruggiero, school committee members, who have all proudly served the Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the Medford Public Schools recognizes Mayor Stephanie Muccini-Burke for her contributions, service, and dedication to Medford Public Schools as the Chair of the Medford School Committee from 2016 through 2019. So we thank you and we present you with a glass apple that says Mayor Stephanie Muccini-Burke, Medford School Committee Chair, 2016 to 2019.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay, I would like to say Medford Public Schools recognizes Ms. Erin DiBenedetto for her contribution, service, and dedication to Medford Public Schools as a Medford School Committee member from 2012 through 2019. And we present you with your crystal apple as well. Medford School, Erin DiBenedetto. Please come forward, Erin.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Last but definitely not least, Medford Public Schools recognizes Mr. Michael Ruggiero for his contribution, service, and dedication to the Medford Public Schools as a Medford School Committee member from 2017 through 2019. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I, too, was going to take a little bit of time to talk about our boys' soccer, because that was kind of top of mind for the past few days. And I want to just share some of my reflections and thoughts with you and tell you what's happening in the wonderful Medford Public Schools. So as you heard from Headmaster DeLeva, the wonderful letters of support that we received, these are a few reflections. So a tremendous team that this community was happy to support for their great athletic achievements, but also for the upstanding way they carried themselves all year. We talk a lot about the importance of the Mustang Way, while these players exemplified it every time they took the field. They never dropped the ball. We did as the adults. So I truly felt that they should not have to pay the price for a no malice clerical error on our part. Despite working for two long days pleading our case to both the MIAA and the MIAC, they denied our Mustangs the opportunity to play. Mayor Burke, Athletic Director Bobby Maloney, Headmaster DeLeva, and many members of my team, we felt that this was an unfair decision for our students and took the MIAA to court to fight. It was the right thing to do. The court found in Medford's favor and the game was played on Saturday night. A very evenly matched game, if I say so myself. The Mustangs left it all on the field. I also say hats off to Lincoln Sudbury. They were not victorious, our Mustangs, but they were victorious in our hearts for never giving up. Mustang Country made up three quarters of the crowd, and Medford represented strongly. I felt like I was at a World Cup event, although I wasn't Lynn. The atmosphere was electric. Mustang Country chanted and cheered throughout the whole match. The MIAA stated that they felt badly that a clerical error had brought them to this decision, but that rules were made to be followed. I do agree. However, sometimes before a rule is applied, extenuating circumstances should be taken into account. In this case, I wonder if Medford's team was afforded fair consideration for all of the circumstances we presented. Sometimes the answer to every question may not be a yes or a no, but instead it might be maybe, or let's look more completely into this issue. At times we might ask to relook at an issue so that every individual feels that their predicament was heard. Well, what I can say this evening, We are so truly, truly appreciative of all the support Medford received from Mayor Burke, from the School Committee, from the City Council, the GBL League, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, Cambridge Mayor, Malden Public Schools Superintendent John Oteri, whose letter was read to you just a moment ago by Headmaster DeLeva. I want you to know Superintendent John O'Teary stood by my side and Dr. Peter Cushing the whole entire game, cheering on Medford Mustangs. I want to thank the 5,786 people and counting, family, friends, neighbors, and supporters of the Mustang boys soccer team who signed the change.org on petition for them to be able to play. The entire community was Medford strong and rallied behind our students. Lastly, we must thank our school committee attorney, Howard Greenspan, and our attorney who fought the MIAA for the students to be able to play, attorney John J. Jack McGlynn, Jr., and his law firm of McGlynn & McGlynn. Attorney McGlynn represented us strongly and successfully, and so I'm so grateful that we were able to play on Saturday and give it our best shot. So I just wanted to share those remarks with you regarding our soccer extravaganza the past few days. But as I transition from that, I wanna just let you know or share with you what else is happening in Medford, and there's a lot happening in Medford, so I wanna just try to go through these other updates so you're just aware. First thing, this coming Thursday, there's a very important traffic notice. Eversource is closing South Street. And this impacts us and it impacts our school buses. So everyone needs to know school bus route 13 and route 12, Maple Street at South Street. Students will not be able to use that stop anymore. Students are going to walk down to Winthrop at South Street near Goldilocks Bagels. to board the bus in the morning. And in the afternoon, they'll be dropped off at that same spot, Winthrop Street at South Street, very close to the Goldilocks Bagels. Another route, any other route using Winthrop Street will have to use Route 16 to get to the middle and elementary schools. So as you know, Route 16 has a lot of congestion, so it's going to be a longer commute, and we'll have to figure out the times, but I just want to, you know, prepare everyone in advance that the street is closing, so we have to be prepared for that. On the high school level, we have had a few technology glitches. We got a few emails and some questions about what's happening with technology. So we are actively working on fixing our technology at the high school in particular. The system, there are multiple systems going on to the device. Everyone is traveling with a mobile device and all of those devices logging on to our one system. It's also sometimes overwhelming our system. So we are working on a fix for that. So I just want you to know we are aware and we are working and meeting collaboratively to come up with solutions to help our technology challenges at the high school. Transitioning again, middle school winter sports. Just so you know, those of us who love our athletic events, after a very competitive fall season, middle school sports, winter season is starting. Boys and girls basketball tryouts were held last week, and they're going to begin their season the week of December 9th. Also, last week, Medford CPAC group and the Medford Family Network co-hosted a presentation supporting students with food allergies in schools. I was pleased to attend this important informational session at the Andrews Middle School. Over 50 people were in attendance to hear Dr. Michael Kistner of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and Dr. Jennifer Labovodich of Boston Children's Hospital, who discussed strategies so all of us are aware of student allergy issues. The doctors also stressed the need for supportive classroom environments and having strong emergency care plans in place. For those who are interested but may have missed the presentation, it is available on the school blog. And I'd like to recognize assistant superintendent Dr. Cushing and school committee members Van der Kloot and Kreatz were also in attendance at that presentation last week. Also, we had Jumpstart Read for the Record. That was held last week at the Columbus School. The book that everyone read was Thank You, Omu. This year, Jumpstart celebrated its 14th anniversary of Read for the Record. I know Dr. Kathy Kaye was very appreciative that Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Christine Patterson, McGlynn Middle School Principal Nick Tucci, and Director of English Language Arts and Humanity Dr. Nicole Chiesa, Director of Medford Family Network Marie Cassidy, and school committee members Kathy Krutz and Mia Mastone participated in reading the books to students. Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign highlights the importance of building literacy and language skills for every child. We have good news again in Mustang country. A new graduate, a student who just graduated in June 2019, my first official graduating class. Well, this freshman is already making a tremendous, tremendous mark in the world. His name is Connor McFarlane, a 2019 high school graduate. He won first place first place in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Innovation Challenge. Connor, a chemical engineering student, developed the improved insulin delivery. It's called an IID. An IID is an improved insulin delivery system for all insulin dependent diabetics that reduces pain, plastic waste, the amount of supplies needed to carry, and the amount of time spent managing the disease, allowing for more freedom for the patient. His project was awarded first place and audience choice for a prize of $1,250. I just want to say congratulations, Connor. We Mustangs are so proud of you. We also had a groundbreaking or a partial groundbreaking held for our new cosmetology salon. at the Medford Vocational Technical High School. Last year, in a coordinated effort between the Medford School Committee member, Mia Mastone, City Solicitor, Mark Rumley, and Vocational Principal, Chad Fallon, Medford alumnus, Charles Hoff, explored the opportunity to donate a gift to the school in memory of his mother. Principal Fallon shared with Mr. Hoff his vision to relocate the cosmetology program, which is currently located in the lower level of the school and not necessarily really accessible for everyone to the main level of the vocational school. We feel that it will allow a more direct access point and ample parking for clients, as well as people who would like to visit the salon, visit our bistro, our restaurant, and our automotive technology program. So that project, you'll hear about it again later today, but the hope is that it will be completed in the spring of 2020, around May. So we're excited about that. And there will be a formal ribbon cutting in May of 2020. Sandy Hook Promise presentation. The Medford Public Schools partnered with Sandy Hook Promise through a grant funded by the Attorney General's office to provide mental health training, suicide prevention, and school-based violence prevention programs to keep our students safe. The presentation, Start with Hello, was held last week at both the Andrews and McGlynn Middle Schools as well as the high school. The Attorney General's Office and Sandy Hook Promise will collaborate with the Medford Public Schools to train educators and students over the course of the next two years in the three Know the Signs programs, which will teach youth and adults how to identify, assess, and intervene before a young person hurts themselves or others. Special thanks to Stacey Shulman for applying for this important grant. And as I come to an end, very close, I wanna recognize our fine arts department. Those of you who love the arts, we all do. They have announced their winter concert schedule. Everything will be taking place at the high school. Everyone is invited. December 4th, high school chorus, senior string ensemble, and Robert's Hand Chimes. December 5th, high school orchestra. December 12th, middle school strings. That one says at the McGlynn School. January 21st, grade five strings, Troublemakers chorus and Roberts hand chimes, and January 22nd, high school band and middle school band. We'll continue to give reminders, but just for people to know, Winter Fine Arts Department has the winter concert schedule available. Also, our high school band will be selling Christmas trees and reefs in the high school parking lot as a fundraiser to help prepare for our trip 2020 to Pearl Harbor, which is going to be a very costly trip for our band to go all the way to Hawaii. So please, that is going to start the weekend of November 29th, right after Thanksgiving weekend, so I do hope that you are able to support that. Lastly, our Medford Family Network is hosting a coat drive throughout this entire month. Please, if anyone has gently worn clothing, coats or jackets that they wanna donate to the Medford Family Network, please bring it to the high school. Your donations would be greatly appreciated. I thank you for listening, and I wish you all an early, happy Thanksgiving.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't have the official timetable. I do know that it's closing officially on the 21st, and we will definitely be in close communication with Eversource. Again, sometimes when they dig or whatever they do, they find other challenges. Like on Winthrop Street. But we definitely have been communicating. We've been in early communication with the bus company. and just wanting to let people know that this is happening and there will be additional
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It was about the internet connections where our system's been crashing. So we've been working on that, we've been meeting and we have some, we'll be able to present out on that sometime next month to give you a more robust update on what's happening with technology. But just to let everyone know that we are definitely aware of the Internet challenges.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And we can definitely, if it's not already up on the blog, we'll definitely get it up as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I can do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: a very brief presentation to share with the committee. This year we have continued to expand our learning walks. And I think the video, the video will kind of put into pictures what I could say through words. The one thing that is different this year than what occurred from last year is that we have scaled it up. It's not only the four elementary schools, but it's all the middle schools and the high schools, including the Curtis Tufts. And so, Dr. Cushing, are you able to push play? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Also this year, we had the pleasure of having school committee members join us. So you'll see some of your colleagues there. We had all administrators participate in at least one, if not two, learning walks district-wide. That was at Curtis Tufts School. An important part of the learning walk process is the debrief, which takes place at the end of every learning walk. So throughout these videos, clips, you're seeing several administrators around a table debriefing, discussing the core actions, and talking about next steps for each school. All learning walks included students that were L's and students with disabilities. So we were focusing on subgroups as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So essentially, I hope, even though it was a very short video clip, the intention was to show how we as a district are scaling up our instructional eye, that we're taking instruction very seriously, that all administrators, principals, assistant principals, Headmasters, not only were administrators participating in their own respective school, but every principal or headmaster participated in a different school as well. So the conversation that was happening, the pushing, the professional pushing and pulling on one another, looking at instruction, we continue to focus on Mathematics as an area that we're paying very close attention to it. And again, as I said before, we included special education administrators. Mr. Paul Textera, our EL administrator. Mr. Rocco Cieri, all administrators, irregardless of what your content was, participated. in a learning walk, contributing towards our intentionality on instruction, improving teaching and learning for all of our students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So my final report today is on my goals for 1920. I wanted to use the video for you to see the instructional work that is happening in the school. We've been working, a cross-functional group of us, under district improvement goals. We've been working on our strategic plan, looking at what is happening academically and really trying to connect that. So, right now we're in the process of synthesizing our district priority goals, which have been in place, to develop a targeted multi-year plan to guide all of our work. our partnerships, etc., anything that is school-related, always remembering to keep that laser-like focus on instruction. The cross-functional team has already convened. We've been working collaboratively. We are in the midst of really trying to finalize and provide additional data on our strategic plan based on the goals that we've been working on in the past. So that will be more to come. We would like to present that next month to the committee. Our district-wide focus on instruction, as last year we started the learning walk protocol within the district, which was a new practice. This year, if you look at that, we are asking, or what we've done already, is increase that scope to include all secondary schools, so it's the entire district that is participating in learning walks, looking at mathematics instruction, using common language, the five core actions, to ground our conversations and again expanding it to all administrators so that everyone has skin in the game, everyone is invested in the work that's happening instructionally. Our student learning goal I am on page two right now. Our student learning goal, again, math being the content area that as a district we are working on making improvements. If you recall a year ago, I spoke about a very ambitious goal of trying to see a 10% improvement at the elementary level. At the bottom of page two, I specifically targeted grades three through five. Last year we were at 40.6% of students that were meeting or exceeding state expectations according to the MCAS. So we moved from 40.6 to 43.3%. which was an increase of approximately 6.7%. However, I had hoped to see an increase of 10%, which is very aggressive, but nonetheless, I had hoped we would have hit the target of 45%. So we did not make that target this first year. So once again, I am putting another aggressive target of an additional 10%. So I would like to see us hit a target of 47.6% next year at the elementary level. Again, I feel that that is a reasonable goal to see another 10% increase. And I want to, although we weren't able to make 10% last year, it was 6.7%. I still feel that we have to have a standard of something that we are moving towards and so I'm keeping that goal of 10% and just wanting to see that needle move every single year. So my student learning goal is to continue to see noted improvement at the elementary level in mathematics. My professional practice goal continues to be the work that I'm doing with the new superintendents induction program where I travel almost on a monthly basis to Marlboro. I'm part of a cohort of 40 superintendents. that are participating in DESE designed professional development for superintendents. And so this is our professional practice goal that they are continuing to provide the professional development and guidance for the work that we're doing. So my professional practice goal, I'm in year two. I have one more year with the NISP training as the formal professional practice goal. So I wanted to get this into your hands for you to have access to it and see what it is that I'm working on and what I hope to achieve during this school year, 19-20. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I am requesting a motion to accept my goals.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just want to comment that the goals from last year were guided through NISPP based on the data that was available. Because when I started, the MCAS data had already come out. So through the coursework that I'm taking with NISPP, when they looked also at the data and said, this is where you are. Math, again, was one of the goals. NISPP was the one that said year one for superintendents is the entry plan because the entry plan is a year-long process. Some of the work that you see here, this being year two, this is part of the curriculum or coursework that we're doing with NISP as well. And so, um, when I had said the 10% last year, I was encouraged by Dr. Bair, Carla Bair, who said, go for something, um, aggressive, even if you don't achieve it. So I'm definitely open to, you know, next year or at the end of this school year to change, um, the goals. But I want you to know that I've, you know, this wasn't, I just didn't wake up and just do it. It was part of the curriculum that we're kind of following and the coursework that we're taking through NSSEP.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. This past weekend featured perfect fall weather, and many events were held outside that our students and families could enjoy, including the Harvest Your Energy Festival, the McGlynn Middle School's PTO Yard Sale, and the Brooks PTO Annual Fall Fest. However, the weather last Thursday was not so great. with the high winds and heavy rains. I'd like to thank many people who worked on behalf of keeping our schools smooth functioning. I'd like to recognize John McLaughlin and the Building and Grounds Department, the Medford Police and Fire Departments, the City's Department of Public Works, and Eastern Bus Company, who working together made it possible for the schools to safely remain in session that day. Despite the weather on Thursday, Medford High School and the Medford Vocational Technical High School held the eighth grade open house. The Karen Theater was filled with students and parents and guardians, and there was standing room only space. High school student ambassadors led tours all over the campus, including the science labs, the fine arts department, the library media center, the vocational technical programs, and the athletic wing. where all the sports teams were present. I'm glad that so many of our rising 8th graders and their families were able to attend this important informational session. I'm also pleased to announce that two of our Medford High School students, Lang and Qing Cheng, twin sisters, each received $500 from the Pace family and the FAA USA. the Federazzini Associazioni Abruzzi to celebrate Italian Heritage Month. To be considered for the scholarship, the students had to write an essay describing their experiences with Italian culture and language. The students plan to continue to study the Italian language in college and hope to travel to Italy someday. Congratulations to the both of them. I'm also pleased to announce that due to the efforts of Molly Layden, our Director of Technology, Library and Media, who applied for a Makerspace grant through the Verizon Foundation, the Medford Public Schools was selected and we will be awarded $10,000. So it came in after the announcement, so we'll presented formally at our next meeting. This grant will enable Medford High School and the Medford Vocational Technical High School to create a shared STEAM makerspace to be used by core academic subjects and CTE programs that will enable academic and career preparation connections. Students and teachers in multiple programs and courses will use the makerspace to plan, design, create, and synthesize projects using interdisciplinary project-based learning to solve and engage in STEAM activities. This is a long-time goal of this department and the Medford Public School District. Molly will be in attendance, as I said, at our next meeting to explain the full process in more detail. In the meantime, we thank Verizon for choosing us and commend Molly for applying for the grant. Also, recently, Casset, Inc., in collaboration with the Sons of Italy, welcomed students in honor of Italian American Heritage Month, which is the month of October. Students were invited to create a booklet on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, which celebrated his life and his works. The winners of the essay contest were hosted at this event. Casset Inc. is a non-profit educational and professional organization that promotes Italian language and culture in public and private schools throughout New England. As you are aware, Medford is one of the schools who partner with them. Medford took home second and third place awards. First place went to Our Lady's Academy, fourth grade in Waltham. The students were awarded $250. Our second place students were from the Brooks Elementary School, the fifth grade class. They were awarded $200. And I'd like to say a special thanks to the teachers, Jennifer Conte, Laura Odegardi, and Principal Suzanne Galussi. Our third place winners were at the McGlynn Elementary School, fifth grade classroom. And I'd also, they were, the students were awarded $150. And special thanks to the teacher, Debbie Notaro, and principal, Diane Garino. Just a reminder to everyone that this Wednesday, October 23rd, Medford High School will be hosting both the planning for college information session for students with IEPs and on 504s and their parents or guardians at 5.30 p.m. in the third floor science lecture hall. And the annual college fair will be immediately following that in the Medford High School gym at 6.30 p.m. So this Wednesday, October 23rd. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely I can definitely look this is the first time I'm hearing it so it was not Brought to my attention and you said it was bus number two.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The current teacher is a certified teacher, but not certified in science, has had a lot of exposure, has worked with science and science programming. So I was given that information. His current role, he was operating as the building, he was building based, the ISS at the Andrews. So at this point in time, because We don't have, we didn't have the complete information in terms of the length of the leave. So the normal practice would be to put a substitute in place. So that's who was there for the time being. And we'll be able to revisit that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I just wanted to weigh in to say that, again, this is new. We are working cooperatively with the state, and this didn't exist before. The screening mechanisms, I mean, they were there, but they weren't available to us in the capacity that they're available right now. If a teacher, a highly qualified teacher has a student that is displaying difficulty or there's a red flag that is alerted, after monitoring that student, we would definitely not allow that student to struggle for eight or nine months. We would definitely take the appropriate steps. However, at the same time, we have to be very careful because we don't want to automatically say a student has to go on an IEP or a student mislabel students. So when we're trying to do the least restrictive, you try the least restrictive efforts possible, I would say, at the beginning. And then as you see a child needs additional support, we will definitely give the children support. The fact that we are front-loading, we're partnering. Alexia wanted to partner with us. We are being proactive in getting the professional development done early, having these resources at our fingertips, so that when DESE makes the decision next year at the end of 20, school year 20, in the fall of 2020, that we will be in a very strong position to be able to say whether DESE says we're going with maps or we're going with Lexia or some other screener, Medford Public Schools teachers in K-2 will have had solid training over the course of this entire year to be able to identify and work with those students. So I do want to assure the school committee and our listening audience that we are taking this very seriously. And I want to acknowledge and really applaud the work that's been happening with Associate Superintendent Caldwell, Dr. Chiesa, and Ms. Campbell, and Ms. Champoli, the work that they've been doing, meeting for hours, really looking at the data, looking at what the best products are out there. In response to a comment that Member Mustone made earlier, asking why Lexia, are we just, you know, where we just kind of recruited. Lexia is one of the top programs. It is very expensive, if you remember me making an analogy a few months back about what version of the plan that we would want to go with. Lexia is one of the costly brands, but it's also a good one. And so what we can do is wait and see. But we also have to wait on what the state tells us and take our final marching orders from the state. But in the meantime, we are being trained. Our teachers are being trained and we are now looking at these early literacy assessments to be able to determine whether or not we have students that are showing those tendencies. And that's what the state wants. So I do want to say we're doing what the state wants us to do, and we're in a good position because we're doing it early. And so next year, again, we will be in a much stronger position. And I just want to really restate that, that we're not taking it lightly. We're not sleeping at the wheel. We are very alert, very attentive to this. And it is important. It's important for our students and we want to get it right. But this is our time to learn. This is our time to figure it out and get it right. So a year from now, we will be close to smooth sailing. Right.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Okay. Good evening, everyone. So Medford High School students visited the opera. Last week, students taking Italian at Medford High School attended Pagliacci, an Italian opera composed by Ruggiero Leoncavallo. Leading up to the performance, students learned about the story of Pagliacci. Pagliacci is a wonderful opera full of romance, betrayal, madness, and vengeance. This was such a great opportunity for our students. Our world language department always tries to teach cultural enrichment along with teaching languages. In terms of middle school, middle school sports, I just wanted to follow up and keep you in the loop on what's happening with our middle school sports programming. Currently, the Mustangs all have winning records. Boys and girls cross country are three and zero, softball is three and two, and baseball is four and one. Congratulations to the coaches and athletes for their strong performances straight out of the gate. I would also like to just update you that Dr. Stacey Mulligan, our grade 10 assistant principal, also took on the role this year of diversity and inclusion coordinator for the Medford Public Schools. Her plan over the course of this school year will be to work with central office, faculty, and staff to help address the needs of our diverse school district. Dr. Mulligan plans to conduct a few new initiatives this year, including instituting implicit bias, cultural proficiency training district-wide, hosting a four-part symposium series discussing race and education, in establishing the Medford Chapter of ALANA Educators. And ALANA stands for African, Latino, Asian, and Native American. Last Thursday, the ALANA hosted their first monthly gathering at Salvatore's in Medford, Medford Square. At the event, educators discussed best practices and shared expertise, as well as discussed options for career advancement. We all appreciate Dr. Mulligan's leadership on these important issues. The McGlynn School. The McGlynn third graders received a visit from the Medford Rotary Club, who provided students with dictionaries and bookmarks. In addition, The Medford Kiwanis Club made financial donations to CCSR, the Mustang Cheerleaders, and the Mustang Athletic Department. So the Medford Public Schools appreciates the continuing support that these service clubs provide to our students. Back at the middle schools. Last week, along with Mayor Burke and Dr. Cushing, I attended the first of the Greater Boston PFLAG presentations, which was held at the Andrews Middle School. This presentation will also be held at the McGlynn Middle School and Medford High School. The eighth graders learned about the importance of making sure all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer are valued as part of the Andrews community. The students were encouraged to always be kind, supportive, and inclusive to all. Schools should be a safe place for our students. We thank CCSR and the Foundation Trust Grant for bringing this important and informative presentation to our schools. The McGlynn 8th graders participated in a field trip to learn about the college process. Tufts University hosted the students. The admissions office made a presentation and students could ask questions. Then the students were taken on a tour of the campus and they were able to eat lunch at Tufts University in a cafeteria at Tufts University. Principal Tucci had the students prepared for this field trip by having teachers discuss their college experiences with them during their wind walk on college day at the McGlynn. which was on October 2nd. It was an excellent opportunity for them. I would like to thank Tufts University for their generosity in agreeing to engage our young students. I also just want to remind everyone that Medford Public Schools continues to provide free breakfast for all students. It is our hope that all students will take advantage of this opportunity and start the day with a healthy breakfast. Lastly, Yom Kippur begins tomorrow at sundown. It is the holiest day of the Jewish year. I extend all good wishes to all of our Jewish friends as they begin this solemn holiday. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'll get the official dates and send them out to you. Great. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. OK.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we'll definitely do that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm going to ask Assistant Superintendent Christine Patterson to come forward. She has all of the details, but it definitely is more than cereal. Right.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Have fun.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good evening, everyone. I just want to give you a brief update. It's October. We are up and running. Not only are we going to be conducting learning walks this year at all elementary schools, we have rolled it up through all of the schools. I'm pleased to announce that many of you will be joining us for at least one of the mathematical learning walks to see what the work looks like. Leslie will continue to partner with us And we will be using the five core actions, continuing that work, building a common language amongst teachers, administrators, and the central office team to do that work. So just wanted to let you know, the month of October, we are gathering our baseline data, and I look forward to updating you on how we do with the end of those learning walks, and hearing your feedback as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we definitely will be looking at EL, not only our EL students, we'll be looking at our students with disabilities. We'll also, during the walks, have an opportunity to look at full-size classrooms and some smaller classroom settings. So we do want to be able to report out on what our subgroups are doing as well, so that we have a well-balanced view of what's happening in the district. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would like to begin this evening very appreciative of the conversations that have gone forth thus far. But I do want us to recognize another Mustang, a student that actually had a wonderful recognition this year. I want to congratulate Antonia Collins. She's a 2019 graduate of Medford High School who received a second place scholarship of $1,000 through the National Spanish Examinations. Ms. Collins was an advanced placement student under Ms. Lepore and currently is studying at Howard University in Washington, D.C. students become eligible for the scholarship by scoring in either the gold, silver, or bronze categories on the National Spanish Examinations. According to Kevin Sesna Busemi, National Director of the Exams, earning a scholarship for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious. because only 12 students are chosen from among 150,000 students who take the national Spanish exam each year. So that's a very incredible feat. And students from Medford High School have a long history of high achievement on these exams, and that is a reflection of our strong world language department. So I just wanted to recognize Antonia Collins on being one of 12 in a pool of 150,000. So congratulations to her. So last Thursday, Mayor Burke and I visited with Jonah Alberto, the student at the McGlynn Elementary School, who found a Ramset Power charge bit in front of the school. Jonah brought the charge to his teacher, and the teacher immediately reported it to school leadership. Upon seeing the item, which looks similar to a .22 caliber bullet casing, the school leadership immediately contacted the Medford police in my office. The Medford police confirmed the item was a Ramset power charge bit, which is used in construction to drive nails or bolts into concrete or other solid items. We applaud Jonah for seeing something and saying something. Also last Thursday evening, the McGlynn Middle School hosted their annual curriculum night. Parents had the opportunity to follow their child's schedule with a 12 minute mini class. The event was well attended, and parents had the opportunity to experience a simulated middle school schedule. It was an enjoyable evening for all. More good news. Our Mustang athletes are in full swing for the fall season, including, for the first time, our middle school sports. Athletic director Bobby Maloney is here tonight to provide a more in-depth report on our school sports. Friday morning, I had the pleasure to listen as Mr. Fabian Ramirez delivered his message of anti-bullying to students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. at the McGlynn School, courtesy of the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility, CCSR. Mr. Ramirez punctuated his message with lots of jokes, so he really had the students' attention. He spoke about the importance of treating people the way you want to be treated. He advocated for students to reach out to a trusted teacher or Councilor if they ever had a bullying issue arise. It was a wonderful presentation and important message. We thank CCSR and the Cummings Foundation for providing us with this opportunity. Our Mustang Band and Color Guard competed this weekend at Hormel Stadium and placed second. Congratulations to all of our talented students, band director, Haley Rello, and fine arts director, Tony Zigney, on this outstanding achievement. It was a beautiful day, lots of smiles, smiling faces, and a wonderful event for our students, and they did a fantastic job. Also, this weekend was very, very busy in Medford. In addition to the Mustang band competition, Medford Kiwanis hosted their annual jail day fundraiser. Both CCSR students and the Mustang cheerleaders donated their time to assist Kiwanians who have always been very generous to our schools. Cache hosted the annual Mystic River celebration. The annual motorcycle ride in memory of Crystal Campbell was held this weekend as well. The ride, which one of our own teachers, Miss Lisa Dunphy, works along with Mr. John Joyce to annually fundraise for the Crystal Campbell Scholarship. And we all enjoy the Tufts Community Day, where over 60 non-profits from across Medford and Somerville came together for a day of entertainment, food, and valuable information. Both the Medford Public Schools and CCSR hosted a table at yesterday's event. And which we heard a robust presentation already, but Global Climate Change Week is from September 20th through September 27th, and our teachers are continuing to address topics over the course of this week. And those are my updates for today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, just in terms of the students that need additional supports, we do have co-teaching, and we do have, under our new EL programming at the McGlynn, EL teachers are supporting content instruction. So there is another adult supporting and scaffolding the work for those students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Based on what I looked at, the supplies, they are like paper plates. Didn't see anything that probably doesn't already exist within a school building There were a few things that definitely need to be on backorder, but it's not like it's something that's a $70 Piece of equipment if it's you know paper plates, maybe I don't know if it's a fractions activity. I mean it's something that could be At the dollar store, you could probably get 100 paper plates for a dollar. I'm just saying, when I looked at the list of supplies, because that was brought to my attention, it was really normal, hands-on activities that I said the kids are probably going to have a lot of fun using these materials to understand the mathematics, the mathematical concepts that are being taught. But I still feel, while the curriculum is new and it's being introduced, This curriculum is a rigorous curriculum in terms of it's forcing the children to truly think mathematically. So even if it were to ask for a round peg and you need a square peg, a teacher could go and consult with another classroom. It might be from a different, the former curriculum that you had. Sometimes you can say, well, I don't have the round, but I have the square and you can make adjustments with that. So I don't feel that there was anything on that list that would prevent a skilled teacher from being able to execute the lesson. You could be creative and swap something out temporarily until those other, until the other materials are available. And because everything is available online, you're not teaching the entire chapter in one day. It's one lesson at a time. So I know with the loading dock, that was true, that the backlog of everything coming in at the same exact time and trying to get the materials delivered. But I don't know, Faiza, can you give a tentative time frame for when you think everyone should have a hard copy in hand?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to publicly thank Ms. Diane Caldwell for her wonderful leadership with the team of administrators that she's working with, Dr. Chiesa, Katie Trampoli, and Susanna Campbell. The fact that you see the three different programs that are listed here, we are truly ahead of the curve, ahead of the eight ball. We're going to be doing our own data analysis and our own data collection alongside with DESE. And over the course of this year, to really look at what are the strengths and weaknesses of these programs, DESE will be collecting their data. But once they gather all the data, they're gonna make a recommendation to the state, but we're not sitting down and just ignoring this mandate. So I just wanted to restate that we are taking it very seriously, and we want to be able to get an accurate read on where our students are at this point in time. And so I just wanted to emphasize that to you all, the committee, that we are taking this very seriously. Our teachers are taking it very seriously, and I look forward to see what the data, the preliminary data shows us regarding these assessments and sharing that information with you, the committee, as well. Thank you very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So good evening, everyone. I'd like to say welcome back to year two for me, but an exciting new school year. I can't believe how time flies by. I've had the honor of serving as your superintendent for a full year now, and I'm looking forward to continuing our work together as we move the Medford public schools forward. We are one Medford, one district. A new school year always brings with it new members of our school community. So I would like to take this opportunity just to officially introduce some of our new administrators that are here with us today and recognize them. If you are here, please feel free to stand. Our new assistant superintendent, Dr. Peter Cushing. who will be focusing on our secondary, middle, and high schools. Our new Director of Pupil Services, Ms. Joan Bowen, who replaced Kathleen Madaglio, who retired in June. And for the past six years, Director Bowen served as the coordinator of secondary special education and transition programs for the Medford Public Schools. We have a new assistant principal at the Andrews Middle School, Julia McEwen, who replaced Dave DiMattea, who retired in June. At the Curtis Tufts School, we have a new principal, Miss Lisa Kingsley, who began her duties officially today. She replaces Brian Toomey, who transitioned to a new role in another district. We'd like to recognize Alice Beth Fitzpatrick, a Medford High School guidance Councilor, who was appointed as assistant director of CTE programs for the Medford Vocational Technical High School. Maureen Lavin, who is a veteran and middle and high school educator in Medford Public Schools. She was appointed to temporarily fill the director of guidance position to cover a long-term leave. Lisa Ionelli, who was appointed our coordinator of secondary special education programs at the high school, replacing Joan Bowen's position. And we'd like to recognize Lauren Perillo. who was appointed coordinator of special education programs at the Columbus, McGlynn, and Andrews middle schools, replacing Lisa Ionelli. So we had a lot of movement happening, but I just wanted us to take this time to formally welcome all of our new additions to the Mustang family. So at this time, Over the course of the summer and at the start of the school year, we had many, many wonderful partners from the community. Team Medford and other parts of the community that are supporting our schools. And we wanted to recognize and say thank you. And so some of our wonderful community partners have actually come out today to give us this opportunity to recognize them. So I wanted to ask if Miss Diane Caldwell could come forward just so that we could formally thank the many friends and partners who have supported Medford Public Schools in a very generous way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm going to say their names. OK. Sam Terrabelsi, who's the director of infrastructure. Miss Sue Sandberg, who's the CEO. Can you please wave so everyone knows who you are? Thank you, Sue. We have with us Janet Peralt. Thank you, Janet. We have from WB Mason, Stephanie Altavesta. And from Armstrong Ambulance, Mr. Davin Forse, operations manager.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also have a few additional pointers that I want to just bring up as well. When I mentioned the extreme generosity, the generosity of the business community has been great. In addition to what Team Medford just presented, their sincere dedication to us, we also received a generous donation from Wegmans. of 200 backpacks that were filled with school supplies. And they came to the school and dropped them off and backpacks were sent out. And in addition to Wegmans, we had another partner, a friend of the community, a Jero that has been working with Medford Public Schools for a very, very long time. They also donated an additional 200 backpacks with school supplies. And as we present additional reports to you this evening, you'll continue to hear our partners and how we say thank you to Joseph's Transportation and many other good partners in the community that are supporting what's happening in Medford Public Schools. Over the summer, we had two first ever events. Many of you were able to come and support that. We had our sixth grade welcome barbecue. And we had our summer Medford High School graduation. So I just wanted to mention that in my opening remarks to thank all of you who were able to support us. It was a fun event. We were very grateful. The weather was very cooperative. We were working hard, working collaboratively as a team. And both principals, Principal Tucci and Principal Downs, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Director of Curriculum Bernadette Riccidelli, Andrew's Assistant Principal Julia McEwen, and McGlynn Assistant Principal Jody Lu, our Public Relations Director Lisa Evangelista, school committee members Kathy Crux, Mia Mastone, Paulette VanderKloot. They were able to jump in and help serve that day with food. We want to thank the city's Department of Public Works. They came out, they cleared the area, they cleaned it, made it ready for the barbecue, and they came back and they collected whatever trash was left over. So we're truly appreciative of the collaborative effort. And once again, Wegmans stepped up and Wegmans provided, graciously provided all the water and sports drinks to all of our students for that evening. And we had a collaborative effort of both PTOs, middle school PTOs, parents chipping in to make it such a wonderful event, and teachers working as well. So we were really, really appreciative of that. And our high school graduation, summer graduation, thank you again. for supporting that event, the headmaster, and all that happened, and you'll hear about that later today. But what I can say is that those students who graduated, they got to feel like they were Mustangs, and Mustangs never give up, even if it was a little later. But we're really proud of them, and I thank you again, the school committee, for your support during the summer months for that special event. I just want to say I'm wrapping up, but today we had another first in our district. Today was the first time we had middle school sports tryouts. So stay tuned. You'll be hearing more about that. But our middle school students had the opportunity. to participate in cross country, baseball, and softball. So tryouts are happening. And as you know, we're part of the Greater Boston League, which includes Malden, Everett, Somerville, and Revere. So we're excited about that. And the first game is September 16th, so you'll continue to hear about what's happening with sports, all things middle school. And last but not least, this is a quick follow-up to one of our students that graduated class of 2017, a very proud Mustang, Mr. Joseph Farrar. And at the end of the school year, last school year, we mentioned that he was working, he was part of the team. Our director of science, Rocco Sieri, had talked about it. But I just wanted to give you a highlight. We are beyond proud that Joseph Farah, a 2017 graduate of Medford High School, and currently a physics major, and at the Honors College of UMass Boston is sharing in a $3 million breakthrough prize. I just felt it was worthy of announcing to all of you for being part of the Event Horizon Telescope, the EHT. collaboration that took the first image of a black hole in April. When the image was recorded, Farrah was the only undergraduate on the 347-member team. As UMass Chancellor Newman stated, what a remarkable scientific achievement for an undergraduate to have contributed to a landmark discovery of this importance is nothing short of astounding. UMass Boston is immensely proud of Joseph Farris' gifts and simply delighted that he has been recognized by this award. So I want to say to all of you, yes, let's give him a round of applause. I am looking forward to another great year, and as always, go Mustangs.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Dr. Cushing is right there. He's going to push play.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So here is a very short, short video. Five minutes on our opening of school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This is a Super Bowl for our students, that we're going to be the best we can possibly be. So that was my theme, my words of encouragement this year. I know you can do it. I know we can do it together. First day of school. I'm excited.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: a very warm welcome to our new kindergartners. What grade is that? We worked all night to get these colors. Beautiful. Lots of big happy smiles coming through the door. That's what made me feel good. Yes. And our kindergarteners are just amazing. We champions, we truth seekers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: be excited.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, we did say that there was a debate about which program we would work with and the timing and the training that it would require. So we and then we pursued the grant as well with the state. So we were awarded that for one school only from the state. It's a different program. So we have not begun implementing the dyslexia screening as of right now, but that is what was said in the late spring, and we'll be able to pull up those records and get them for us for next time that we meet. What were our next steps?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There were different programs that DESE, with this particular grant, I don't know if it was 20 communities. It was a limited number of communities that DESE was working with. And again, Medford was selected to be one of those districts to pilot. So I truly believe they're going to take the data from this year of study. There's a lot of professional development, a lot of communication with DESE. So I think as they're looking at the different communities that are piloting the different programs, based on that information, it's probably going to take at least a year to a year and a half for DESE to be able to say, based on the pilot districts and what the data yielded, which direction they're going to recommend the state moves in. So there is still going to be, there's this, I feel, a window of opportunity where even if you stop moving forward in one direction, a year's time to a year and a half, DESE could potentially say, let's course correct and start another path. So we're kind of working with them. and also just thinking about what our next steps need to continue to be.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely try to reach out to DESE to see if they would be able to come and talk about where they are with the status of dyslexia or what it is, how they're gathering the data. So I can definitely work on that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I wanna say, if my memory serves me correctly, and I need to go back and find that, I wanna say it was going to be the early fall. We were waiting. for the kindergarten students to get the preliminary baseline screening, letter recognition, et cetera, to start the year off, and that the dyslexia screening was going to happen at the end of like the first term around that point in time. So I'll definitely be able to gather that information and represent it to you or put it in your packets for you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You are. Ms. Lazzaro. So what we're going to present to you shortly is the results of the outcome of the middle school lottery. And we're going to show you the data from the fall, or not from the fall, the data from the late spring when we initially presented the information, and then where we ended up at the end of the school year, taking into account students that were added. So these are our most recent numbers that are gonna be shared with you. So this presentation is titled, once again, Correcting the Imbalance. This was the state of the two middle schools prior to the middle school lottery. So here is the McGlynn Middle School, the racial breakdown. This is the original data prior to the lottery, followed by the Andrews Middle School. And this is the McGlynn socioeconomic status breakdown. And blue represents families that are paying. And the following slide is the Andrews. And so what did we do to solve this disparity? We conducted the lottery. And as you can see here, students and families would no longer choose which middle school to attend, but would be randomly assigned to a middle school. Students who were English learners and or students with specific special education needs, they would be automatically assigned to the corresponding middle school that offered their program. And so the purpose of the lottery, a lot of people wanted to find out, did it work? The answer is yes. Although it's not a perfect system, it helped to create greater balance between the schools. So once again, I show you the original data. This is the racial breakdown of the McGlynn, followed by the Andrews, And for school year 2019-20, this is the new breakdown of the McGlynn School and the new breakdown of the Andrews Middle School. Dr. Cushing, I was going to ask you to go back one more time just for a quick second. And Andrews, okay, you can move forward, thank you. So what you can see is that the incoming sixth grade classes, they're not 100% equal, but they are much closer to equity, to an equitable balance between the two schools. And so by having the lottery, it's going to allow us to have a student body that will more closely reflect balanced demographics between both schools in the coming years. Again, looking at the SES, our socioeconomic status, the next slide, please. This is the original McGlynn's socioeconomic status. And this is the original Andrews School. The next slide will show you the 2019 data for the McGlynn Middle School as it stands right now. And the following slide is the Andrews. just give you a moment to reflect. So as you can see, um, it is definitely a much more even distribution at the sixth grade between both schools as opposed to the previous years. And I want to say that, um, I want to thank you all, Mayor Burke, and you, the esteemed members of the school committee, because I know that this was a courageous decision initially to look at data and think about how could we bring about greater balance, correcting the imbalance that took place. And so a lot of people, including parents in the community, were wondering how this was going to play out And would it actually make a difference? And by doing the random lottery, it did make, at least at the sixth grade level, it was random, but it made a noticeable significant difference in terms of bringing about greater balance between the two sixth grade classrooms. And so I just want to thank you all for your support. and to see that this is the outcome of what happened. And so I truly am grateful to you all and to the community the parents the students who kind of went on this journey with us trusted us and to be able to show the data that the data did move and that we made a difference for this sixth grade incoming class. And we truly are committed to continuing to create opportunities for both schools to work collaboratively together, because I truly believe that we are one Medford, one district. And so this was our report. And once again, our final slide, I will say, go Mustangs, because we are one Mustang community. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The students that are assigned the students with special needs and or else based on what is spelled out within the respective individualized education plans. Students are assigned based on that information, so although you could have. the same title of the programming, it's not the same exact, it's not identical. And so it is something that the special education team definitely looks carefully at and looks at what offering each school has. So we're not able to have identical programming of everything in each building, because it would be a lot of significant human capital implications for doing that. But with the way the programs are divvied up right now, we are able to have teachers that are highly qualified meeting the needs of those respective students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you for the feedback.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the one piece would be that, for example, the McGlynn houses the EL program. So because the EL teachers are based at the McGlynn, Of course, we would not see the same numbers reflected at the Andrews, whereas the Andrews does house one of our specialized special education programs, the TLP program. That program does not exist at the McGlynn. So the students, so you could have a higher number of students with disabilities at one school because they're housing a specific program, but that was what we had. We know that it's not exactly 50-50. So I don't have the numbers just right now, how many students are in this specialized program. but that is something that I could definitely get.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On Monday, June 17th, my team and I engaged in a three-day retreat with all school administrators. The interactive retreat continued until Wednesday, June 19th, and was held at the Bistro 489. We discussed many topics including, but not limited to, the social-emotional health of our students, leadership and professional development, mentorship of new educators, events scheduling across the district, after school programming and space, technology updates in the district, and mobile communication apps. Medford High School assistant principal, Gail Trainor, was presented with the newly inaugurated Mustang Administrator Unsung Hero Award for her outstanding work, not only as an assistant principal, but also for her work as coordinator for the Credit for Life Financial Literacy Fair, and her meticulous planning and organization of the recent Medford High School, Medford Vocational School graduation ceremony. We were excited that our incoming assistant superintendent, Dr. Peter Cushing, also joined us during the retreat. Administrators will continue their work over the summer, the work that was started at the retreat, in preparation for the new school year. And we will have a opening of school administrative meeting in August for all administrators, again, for us to work and plan for the school year that's coming. Medford Public Schools is going to be quite busy over the summer. Summer school began today, as well as our annual summer fun day camp. Some of Medford's recreation programs are being held in the district, as well as special education and EL summer programs. The vocational side of the house hosted their CTE camp for middle schoolers last week, and over 40 students participated. Many athletic camps are also being hosted by the Medford High School basketball, volleyball, and soccer programs. Mustang Girls softball team had a good run in the MIAA softball playoffs, earning a bye in the first round, beating the Woburn Tanners in the second round, and unfortunately, losing to Central Catholic in the third round. The team finished with a 19-3 record. Congratulations to Coach Dempsey, Coach Paggs, and the girls on a fantastic season. Additionally, Coach Dempsey notified me that Captain Brenna Forbes will be named to both the Boston Globe and the Boston Heralds, all scholastic softball teams. It is not often that a high school athlete is selected by both of Boston newspapers. A National Honor Society student, Brianna will be attending Colby College in the fall and is planning to play both hockey and softball there. We congratulate her and her family, and as many of you know, her mother, Rayanne, is a Medford High School girls hockey coach. Tristan Howard, he competed nationally in the 200 meters last weekend. Unfortunately, he was disqualified for stepping out of bounds. Had he stayed in bounds, he would have finished 18th in the nation. We still applaud him for a fantastic year and look forward to his senior year in the fall. Athletic Director Bob Maloney and Headmaster DeLeva welcomed a new girls basketball coach at Medford High School. Molly Waite, an educator in Melrose, was chosen as the new head coach. She has experience as both a player at Westfield State University and as a coach at many different levels. We welcome Coach Wyatt to the Mustang family. Last Saturday, the top two winners from the Andrews Middle School 7th grade science fair were asked to present their work at the MIT Museum for visitors and guests. The students, Eric Brown, Matthew Harris, and Sarah Braverman, attended with their teacher, Eric Prylison, and were excited to be able to discuss their projects. Mr. Prylison connected with the museum last year, and the museum decided to partner with the Andrews in this way. Some of you were able to join with us as Medford High School's Gay-Straight Alliance, GSA, dedicated the pride flag along with a plaque that reads, Love Wins, in the main lobby of the school. If you noticed it in last Thursday's Globe, the GSA was highlighted for their participation in Boston's 2019 Pride Parade. We applaud Nicole Shalafo and Emily Simpson and all the students for their outstanding work. We have spoken a lot about the opportunity for the middle school students to work together, and this year, Learn Something, Make Something in the library was introduced to students in the Andrews and McGlynn Middle School Libraries. The MPS Middle School Libraries and Medford Public Library successfully partnered to offer a series of STEAM workshops to middle school students during the year. All workshops were held after school in the school library about every other week, alternating between the two schools. All middle school students were invited to sign up. The workshops provided a nice bridge between books and hands-on learning and had students see the library as a place for active learning and critical thinking. The Medford Public Schools would like to thank the Medford Public Library, the Medford Arts Council, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their support of this wonderful project. We can't wait to see what they will do next year. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Is that how we want to do it?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, good evening. Dr. Cushing, can you come forward, please? This evening I present to you my recommendation to appoint Dr. Peter Cushing to the position of assistant superintendent. Upon the conclusion of an extensive leadership search, it is the administration's recommendation to offer the position of assistant superintendent to Dr. Peter J. Cushing. Dr. Cushing began his teaching career as a long-term substitute in the Lynn Public Schools. During his tenure, he had a myriad of experiences, including teaching history and serving students in the Alternative Education Program for transition back to the comprehensive high schools. Dr. Cushing earned his master's degree in educational leadership from Boston College at the Lynch School of Education, where he served as a supervisor for student teachers. Dr. Cushing continued his educational track by earning a doctorate from Boston College as well. Dr. Cushing's experience includes teaching in Arlington Public Schools, serving as vice principal and then principal at Narragansett Regional Middle School. Under Dr. Cushing's strong leadership, he led Narragansett Regional Middle School to level one status under the previous accountability system. He is currently serving in Webster Public Schools as principal of Bartlett High School, a turnaround school. Dr. Cushing's educational passions include focusing on issues of equity for students in economically disadvantaged subgroups, building school pride, academic professional development, collaborative leadership, and fostering strong and positive relationships among all stakeholders. His diverse educational experiences and successes will benefit Medford Public Schools. It is with great excitement that I recommend the approval for Dr. Cushing's appointment to the position of assistant superintendent.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening. It was a fantastic weekend, I can say. Action-packed weekend. There were a lot of events in Medford. We had Diversity Day at Tufts Park, Girls on the Run, We also had the cardboard canoes. racing at Bright's Pond with administrators and students. And it was a lot of fun to be had by all who were able to attend. The weather really turned out beautifully. And again, yesterday we celebrated Medford Day over at the Andrews Field, which was another wonderful opportunity to see us all together. Everyone came out. And again, it just reminds me of one Medford and one beautiful district city that we are in. I wanted to share that tomorrow there are a lot of activities. This is our final official school committee meeting before the close of school because this year Old Man Winter was very cooperative and so the last day of school is Thursday, June 13th. So although we have a meeting scheduled for the 17th, school is not officially in session. So I just want to give the listening audience and those of you here some of the things that are coming up. So tomorrow we have graduation for the Curtis Tufts High School at 11 o'clock at the Irish American Club. Also tomorrow at the Brooks Elementary School at 3 o'clock, CCSR will host their ribbon cutting for their newly painted playground, which was one of their projects. Tomorrow is also the beginning of our spring MIAA tournament play for the following Mustang sports. Boys Tennis will play at North Andover tomorrow at 4 o'clock and Boys Lacrosse will also play tomorrow at Westford Academy. And just a side note, Tristan Howard of our outdoor track team He placed fourth in the States in the 200 meters this weekend and qualified for the New England Championships, which will be held this Saturday. So Tristan did compete, mostly against seniors, so this is quite an accomplishment because we still have him. Congratulations, Tristan. Also, tomorrow evening, our vocational school, we have the robotics and engineering program will host their annual open house from 6 to 8 o'clock. And they have extended the invitation to all, but especially to our middle school students who may want to see what the robotics and engineering program looks like. Our new football coach, John Curley, will also be hosting a meeting for students and their parents who might be interested in playing football in the fall. That meeting is tomorrow evening at 6 o'clock in CAF II. Graduation, yes, the big graduation for our high school seniors. Go Mustangs, I'm getting excited already. Is this Wednesday, June 5th at six o'clock at Tufts University. And our guest speaker is our own, Medford's own Mr. McGilvery. Dave McGilvery. Dave McGilvery, who I'm sure is going to, yes, give an inspirational speech for our students. On Friday, June 7th from 8 to 9, our guidance department will be hosting coffee with the Councilors for interested parents in CAF 1 of Medford High School. Friday also will be the ribbon-cutting for our new orchard and outdoor classroom at Medford High School at 2.30 p.m. in the inner courtyard. On Saturday, June 8th, Medford CCSR Slavery Memorial Unveiling Ceremony will be held at 10.30 a.m. at the Salem Street Burial Ground here in Medford Square. And I would also like to thank Armstrong Ambulance for inviting the Votes Health Assisting Program to a free Stop the Bleed workshop at their headquarters in Arlington. during National EMS Week. We had 15 students along with their teachers, nurses Linda Trofimbo and Sandra Savini. They were able to attend this workshop and learn about the importance of the immediate use of tourniquets. In addition, students were able to review the steps for CPR and AED, as well as learning how to choke save infants or adults that are choking. The paramedics showed them how to intubate a patient using a special instrument called a laryngoscope, and we are appreciative of Armstrong's strong partnership with Medford Public Schools. Also, the past few weeks, we opened our new Mustang Mall, which is located in the lobby of our high school. I also want to recognize that today, earlier today, we had the unveiling of an additional 3D, three-dimensional sidewalk at the Roberts Elementary School, so similar to the Brooks, and so I'm thankful to the mayor's office and the teams that put that together. to put the 3D sidewalk and there was a lot of positive media coverage and hopefully we'll be able to grow it to all of our schools. I wanted to recognize, I didn't have a chance to thank our newly, Marie Cassidy received her honorary doctorate from Tufts University and so I have to stop calling her Dr. Cassidy yet. That is a great accomplishment and we are all very, very proud of her and the work that she is doing and continues to do on behalf of all of Medford at the Medford Family Network. And again, I want to just send out a special thank you to D.A. Marion Ryan for her generous donation towards the Junior class up all-night party that had happened a few weeks back And that's held at Tufts University immediately following the junior prom so I think da Ryan for her support of Medford Public Schools. And coming up, our vocational school is having summer camp for middle school students, grades 6 to 8, the week of June 17th. It will start on Monday the 17th to the 21st. It's from 8.30 to 12.30. and the cost per student is $100. Interested parents can contact the Vogue main office. And in addition, our regular summer school begins on Tuesday, June 18th, and that runs until Wednesday, July 31st. There will be no classes on July 4th and July 5th. And that's what's happening in Medford Public Schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I want to echo what has been said, and as a new kid on the block, I've only been here for a little under a year, 11 months, so I think I'm not quite a toddler. However, I just want to say I have truly enjoyed working with Ms. Kathy Medaglio, and she's such a hard worker, a tireless worker, works very, very long, long hours. and has great insight. And I look forward to finding a creative way to continue to tap into your creative insight. And I'm just so appreciative of having had this one year to work with you. I do look forward to working with Joan as well, and I know you've trained her well. But I want to just say thank you for all your years of service and for all that you've done for Medford Public Schools. Thank you so much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so attached, this was the report from our last session that was tabled, but this was just a comprehensive listing of all of the assessments that are given over the course of the school year to support teaching and learning. at elementary, middle, and high school levels. And the addendum, the added sheet gave the official MCAS test sessions and the amount of sessions that students do take. So I feel that it is very self-explanatory, but I'm open to answering any questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I agree with you. I feel that the MCAS scores, although they are very important to have a standard that you can measure yourself against the state in how surrounding districts are doing, But the real work that actually happens day to day over the course of the school year, what's happening in November, what's happening in January, the incremental steps that take place over the course of the year. So I will definitely be able to work on that and try to select other pieces of data to be able to show that we are moving the needle. And this assessment inventory report Again, the directors worked on it and really thought about what were the key, the kind of key levers that take us from here to preparing the students to take the state-level assessments. So that is something that I will definitely be able to do for you during next school year. Great.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, it will definitely be budgeted.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And just part of best practices, once an assessment is given, you analyze the data, the teachers, and whether it's their planning time, The data is looked at to inform next steps. So when you hear me talking about data informed decisions, you need to have an assessment so you know where to start and what areas you need to focus on. And the math coaches, the beauty of having them is that they are able to kind of work side by side with the teachers, help them impact the data. come up with additional lessons to target areas of weakness. So, yes, you got that unsolicited feedback, but it is happening in all areas. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It depends on the level that the student is. Some students can finish the assessment in a shorter amount of time. And now that the computers are online, If someone were to need more than two and a half hours, then the test is not taken away from them. So DESE gives you their recommended amount of time, but a testing session should never be longer than one school day. There are rules. So two to two and a half hours. is the recommended amount of time for an assessment. Some students do need a little bit longer and others don't. So it's, you know, it's hard to tell until the assessment's in front of them. And now that the assessment is online, it's, you know, it's even harder to say is someone struggling or not. We're still, you know, figuring out how students are responding to the state assessments since they're taking it online.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: They still will have a lunch period. They still have a break. They still will... So, I mean, worst-case scenario, it might be four and a half to five hours, For the purpose of DESE, you're not... But I mean from the planning, I'm teaching fifth grade.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would say it depends on how the assessment is. So if you're the teacher of record, sometimes, depending on how many students are left, they may move a smaller group of students to a different location and have them, it's supervised, So if you have 20, 25 students and 22 of them have completed the test, you don't say to the 22, okay, close your computers, silently read for the remainder of the time. They may at that point in time say, okay, two or three students or four students need a little more time, let them continue testing with a proctor. and the other students can go back. But you have to understand, the children are young, it's stressful, so usually after testing, the teachers try not to give them something that's so cognitively demanding, because it does cause stress sometimes. So they try to make it be, you know, they finish testing, but it's not something that's so, you know, intense, or they start introducing new content. They give the students time to kind of decompress and do something that's less stressful, still academic, but less stressful so that they can just kind of, you know, regroup until they get the hang of it. I mean, by the time they're in middle school, I think they're pretty much professionals. But third, fourth, fifth grade, you could still see them being tired after testing. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, they don't start from the top. It is saved. They will have to reset it or if there have been a few computers, Chromebooks that just weren't functioning, so they'd have to close the session and then reopen it on a new computer that's functioning. So they're able to go back and continue from, you know, whatever point they were at. Okay. Thank you. Okay.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. Dr. Riccidelli.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sorry. We'll present that report. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Bedford is very generous to offer $40,000 in tuition reimbursement. That tuition reimbursement allows you to get a step in lane increase. So we are paying for you to take the course and then we're paying you again to receive an increase in your pay until you retire. So I didn't have that as an option from the district that I came from. I would definitely have taken advantage of that since I enjoyed going to school a lot. However, I think it's a very generous offering to offer $40,000 every year to pay for professional development. That's a commitment and an investment that we're making to have highly qualified and teachers that are getting top-notch professional development. In regards to the comment about the curriculum committee, the comment that was made at the last session was about attending the conference, a professional development conference that was out of state. And again, we approved 150 conference days. So that's one of, we're only in school 180 days a year. So to have 150 conference days, that's a significant number of days that people throughout the district are accessing professional development, and sometimes you may have more than one person attending a particular conference, but you do have to have people back home, and you do have to have a reasonable amount, but I feel that 150 conference days, as they come in, that's a very generous and reasonable number.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We are being very generous. And although there was dissatisfaction expressed, I think if we were to pool the 150 people who were able to participate in professional development conferences, I think they would be satisfied with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can definitely try to find some information from colleagues, but I mean, with it being the last week and a half of school, it's the timing. It can come in October, of course.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I am a lover of the arts and last week I had the opportunity to not only hear the strings at the McGlynn and the week before that at the Andrews and I was bragging and saying that we have the Medford Pops. So we should be on the lookout. We have wonderful, talented musicians. in Medford Public Schools. Again, I want to thank all the students, thank the teachers, Mr. Zigney's direction and leadership, and again, a special thanks to the parents for supporting your children and encouraging them to be the best that they can possibly be. Thank you again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Amy Nguyen. And Cindy Nguyen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so to your first comment about the difference in outcomes between the Brooks School and some of the other schools, there are definitely differences, demographic differences between the different schools that we have. But with that information, there are a lot of factors that you would not be able to take into consideration. or that you wouldn't be aware of that we take into consideration. So, for example, with staffing, where you are asking what would be done in terms of a difference in outcomes, some schools have higher EL populations, some schools have higher students with disabilities. Some schools have higher students, a greater number of students of high needs. So depending on what those needs are of the students, the teachers have to make accommodations. When I look at the data and the progress of the students, I am looking at it holistically, the whole picture. So I know that we cannot compare every school one school to another school exactly because they're not the same. They don't have the same exact makeup. Although they're taking the same assessment, they are getting different results. As I look at data, I look at how are we doing with student growth as a district, how are we making gains, and I look at those gains. I'm going to look, for example, at the Columbus. When we look at the MCAS data, which is one assessment, in ELA, this is their aggregate data. At the Columbus School, they exceeded their target. So you have to understand that each school is given its own target. So we're not comparing one school against another school, but each school's being compared to itself. So in this assessment, looking at the accountability report, In 2017, the number was 492.3 for achievement, and the school moved to 494.9. It exceeded the state target by a change of 2.6. Granted, it's not the same rate as some of the other schools, but I look at what Desi is saying, and in ELA, combined at the Columbus School, they exceeded their target. That's for all students. For African American and black students, they improved, but it was below target. So there was an improvement of, or a change of one point, but it was below the target. So the original achievement scores were 483.8 in 2017. It was 484.8 in 2018, a change of one point. The state's target was 485.4. So the school received two points. But it improved, but it was below the target. So I look at each school to see where are they exceeding targets. At the Columbus School for students of Hispanic or Latino descent, they've exceeded the target. And there was a change of a 4.6 increase. And so I look at that. This is an ELA. If I look at the math, once again, at the Columbus, they exceeded the target. It was 483.6 in 2017, 489.7 in 2018. There was a change of 6.1. The target was 485.4, and we were talking about 168 students that were tested. They exceeded the target. In mathematics, They exceeded the target for African-American students and Latino students. In science, that was an area where we did see a drop. There was a change of 10 points. The reason, the state declares that we declined in science. We are aware of that. Economically disadvantaged, also there was a decline there. For student growth percentile, we were below target. in both ELA and in math there. For our English language proficiency, or our students who are English language learners, we exceeded the target. In 2017, the rate was 38.3. In 2018, the rate was 62.3. It was a change of 24 points. The next target's going to be 70.2, and that's in regards to 53 students. For students that were formerly English language learners, the original rate in 2017 was 38.3. In 2018, it was 62.3. Again, it was another change of 24 points. They exceeded the target. In terms of absenteeism for all students, there was an improvement, but it was below target. So in 2017, the rate was 9.4%. In 2018, the rate was 8.2%. There was a change of 1.2%, the target being 7.5. That's regarding 330 students. So I want to say, I know that you're asking about the 2018 data. Myself and my leadership team, we look at the data of our students, we look at the data of all of the schools, and we do make necessary accommodations. When you talk about moving staff, we do have teachers who are vested, who have committed to the buildings that they're working in. And just because you're not seeing identical outcomes does not mean that you're seeing a difference in the quality of the work or the teaching an instruction that is taking place. So I feel sometimes when there's an ask about why is one school doing better than another school, which may have higher needs or a different population, that may have more economically disadvantaged students, it sometimes feels like there's a judgment being made on a school that is lower performing. We are working collaboratively as a team to look at our data, but later today we are going to be talking about all of the assessments that take place, not just resting upon one assessment that is given by the state. We know it's important and we need to continue to see the needle move. We are committed to moving the needle in the right direction, but I do not want it to be something where we are trying to pit one school against another school when we're not comparing apples and apples.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Where the demographics are changes, we do have schools that have greater numbers of Title I staff, which again, that's part of the funding where those schools will be targeted to get additional supports. We have staff members who are in the process of pursuing grants. to see if we can get more social-emotional support for some of our schools that have students that have higher needs in the areas of social-emotional learning and wellness. So there are things that we are doing as a district to support those schools. But all schools are being supported. The principals are here. They work collaboratively with their staff. We're not able, again, When we think about the different schools and we think about the populations that are at schools, we also have neighborhood schools at the elementary level. And so you cannot change some students that may not be in an area or they may receive assistance for housing so that those students may not be as economically disadvantaged as others. But we are finding ways to support those schools. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think we can always try to pursue grants. Off the top of my head, I couldn't say which particular grant funding would be able to support additional professional development, but I'm definitely not opposed to it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Just very excited to have Joan be part of the team. And I want to say congratulations to her. And she has served Medford for 26 years. And I know she will continue to serve this district very well and be a very positive addition to our team. and I look forward to working with her on my executive cabinet. Congratulations, Joan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just feel that this is... We've been down this path before. We need to do research and look at what's feasible. To say that we're going to implement something in October without even knowing what's actually feasible just doesn't seem like a sound decision to me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would have to get the numbers for the other elementary schools. I would speak to the principals to find out what is happening. I know that Columbus has a different setup than the other schools, but some students may be eating breakfast at home and not eating at school. That is also an option. Or they may not like what's being offered. So I can't say you're going to get the numbers of 93% at the remaining other three schools. I'm not convinced that that is the case.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: This was a report to inform. This was not a recommendation to approve. This was a report to inform everyone about the Project Bread initiatives. This was not a recommendation to approve.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: June 17th? Yeah, that's going to be a busy night. I would like to have Toni Wray, our Director of Nursing as well, continue to work in probably consult with Penny as well, about how we feel the work aligns with what we're doing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I was just going to say that similar to what happened with FOSS as a district, we did not have a unified math curriculum at the middle school level. And so, charged with knowing that math was one of the areas as a district that that was our weak side. We had the two math coaches under the leadership of Ms. Kahn working with our elementary schools in illustrative math. They have gone, they've looked at math in other districts, and this was the math curriculum that has kind of risen to the top as one of the stronger math curriculums out there. to address the needs of our students. And so today's presentation is a recommendation to approve the illustrative math curriculum. And we have done some footwork to find out what the professional development costs would take in order for us to launch it successfully. And there is a cost involved, but we're prepared to do that in order to give everyone the same mathematical foundational base with this new curriculum so that we can have a coherent curriculum at the middle school level.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, all middle school math teachers, EL teachers, and special education teachers. So we were making sure to be inclusive of all teachers working with students around mathematics.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Like the science teachers or the... So for this math training, we wanted to do it before the school year ended. So this would actually be during a school day where the math teachers would be pulled and we would have either coverage or substitutes covering the class so that the teachers can get two-day intensive training before the academic year ends.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, one of the pieces I do want to say, though, what is most concerning to me is that at the middle school level, there was no uniform curriculum for mathematics. How can you measure your growth or your progress if you have seven or eight different, one person's using CMP, another person is using illustrative math, and I don't even know what all of the other programs they were using. So we had no uniform way of saying, let's look at an assessment. You know, the last report is our assessment inventory. We did not have one at the middle school level for mathematics. So I think first and foremost, we definitely need to have something in place where it can be measured and it can be closely monitored. Illustrative math right now is being used by many of our surrounding districts that are competitive with Medford or possibly even outperforming us in some areas. Math is an area of weakness for us. It's an area where we do need to focus. I don't think we're going to get the perfect solution, but I feel like from the feedback of the research where FISA has gone out and this kind has gone out to surrounding communities to actually go and observe where they're further ahead than where we are, I am definitely in support of illustrative math versus just saying we're going to do something and not having it be uniform.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Cambridge has greater diversity.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Somerville as well. Waltham is comparable.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just... Oh, wonderful.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, yes, bon voyage.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oddly, everyone's not here.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this evening we have a presentation for you from Dr. Nadine Gabb, who's going to talk about what research says about dyslexia. And in terms of discussing students on the floor of the school committee, normally that is not done. That is not recommended practice. I appreciate what has been said, and I know that there's work that we can all do. But in terms of having a report on a general number of students that may or may not have a particular disability, I would have to defer to our Director of Pupil Services for the total number of students with a particular disability.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So once you see the presentations today and what the district is doing, I think you're going to receive a lot of new information today and know the direction that the district is moving in.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to just comment that Dr. Garb did did come and do a robust professional development session for our administrators. So you're seeing an abbreviated version of a much shorter condensed version. So we are definitely taking dyslexia very seriously and working on developing ourselves and being prepared to address the mandate that has come down from the state.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's an unfunded mandate.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to preface that Dr. Chiesa, our Director of Humanities, is working very closely with our special education administrators, Katie Trampoli and Susanna Campbell, and really looking at what the district's next steps are going to be based on the guidance that we do have currently from the state. So I look forward to the presentation. Dr. Chiesa.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this is going to be a district-wide initiative. So it's not like you're going to have an option to not do it. So I think you're implying that people have an option to say that they're not going to screen or not going to implement the curriculum. It's something that we're going to do district-wide. Although DESE is still waiting to give guidance, right now we don't have something formally in place, so trying to at least put a measure in place as a district so that we can at least get preliminary information while we are waiting to get our official marching orders from DESE. But it's not going to be optional. So this is something that will be happening district wide. And so it's it's not something I don't anticipate teachers saying I am not going to be screening or passing out or completing the screener.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And receive quality professional development. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we need to determine who is at risk and who is not at risk in regards to even what Dr. Garb shared. Her platform currently isn't available while it's still being tested. So again, in the absence of having nothing in place, by at least adopting a screener to at least let us rule in and rule out Teachers haven't been trained yet. And the Shaywitz, although it's not perfect, it is something that is being used to let you know who is at risk and who is not at risk. So once you're able to at least identify those students, then you can start giving them additional supports where that wasn't happening before. So we weren't even able to identify students early on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My only hesitation would be if we go down the financial path. and a year from now DESE gives a different mandate and says that as a state, the state of Massachusetts needs to follow X programming, then we're going to be required to make that shift. So I just want to put that out as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, but this is like a modest investment, I would say, very modest. And so you have the modest level and you have the Mercedes-Benz. And if you want to spend top dollar for a program, yes, it will work. But if DESE ends up giving us a different charge, then we're going to have to invest again. Again, this is to put something in place while we're waiting one more year to get an official marching orders from DESE. But at least we're screening to be able to rule in who's at risk and to rule out.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: But the students will receive. I feel like where there's maybe misunderstanding is once the screener takes place and we are able to identify students who are definitely at risk, the students that are at risk are going to receive immediate support and interventions to start working with the deficit, the gap that's there. So it's not like once they're identified, we just say, oh, well, you're identified.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think that that's reasonable, and also the length of time that, if we're thinking about our early childhood children, how long we're going to be screening them. or putting them through the test. And so we have to just think about the length of some of these assessments, how much time it's going to take. It needs to be administered usually one-on-one. So that is something while the teacher or a designated person is administering the test, then someone else is teaching the students. So if you have 20 students and if it's something that's 10 minutes, okay. But if it's something that ends up taking an hour or so, kids do get tired. So there are a lot of factors that I think have to be taken into consideration.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, I wanted to say welcome spring. Although the weather hasn't really been fully cooperative this past month, spring sports are active and back up and running. Spring concerts are in full swing. And the Medford Family Network has released their annual traveling playground schedule, which begins this month. Time is also counting down for our seniors, and they will be graduating this year on June 5th. So it's a countdown for our seniors. Last week, or the past few weeks, we've been quite busy in Medford. Last week we had our middle school lottery, which took place last Tuesday at the library in the high school. And as I've always stated, that I do believe that we are one Medford, one district, and that both middle schools are going to offer our students a quality education. And so having said that, both middle schools will be offering orientation sessions, welcome houses, I should say, welcome sessions for families. So this week, actually, on Wednesday, from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 8th, the Andrews School will be hosting their welcome orientation for families. And next week, on Tuesday, May 14th, the McGlynn Middle School will also be hosting their welcome orientation session for families from six to eight p.m. I did receive a lot of questions as to why both schools were not happening on the same exact day. And it is because, from a parking perspective, both schools being located on the same campus. When you have large events, we do encounter serious parking challenges, so that was why we separated the welcome sessions. But I do look forward to being at both welcome sessions and welcoming and greeting families at both schools. And I want to say that although the system was not a perfect system, it's moving us a step closer. I've said before that my core values are ACE, academic achievement for all, collaboration for all. and equity for all, and my hope is that we are continuing to move in that direction. When we did have the lottery, we had Douglas Thorpe, who was a CPA from the firm of Johnson O'Connor in Wakefield. He organized and produced the lottery numbers, and he brought a team along with him, another colleague that helped. I want to especially thank my colleagues from the district who really helped to make the lottery happen, and I want to recognize Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction. I want to recognize my Associate Superintendent, Ms. Diane Caldwell for supporting the event, Headmaster DeLeva, and Mr. Paul Textera, our Director of EL. who supported us with looking at our numbers and trying to make this as equitable a process as possible. I also want to say and send out a very special thank you to Kim Miles, who's in our district, is in our data department. She truly put in a lot of extra work and worked really hard and tirelessly on that project. So thank you to all of you. I also want to just let the community know and let you know that spring brings us back to our Walk to School Wednesdays. And I know that both the Columbus and Roberts schools are participating in that event. It's important that our students are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It also helps to bring our community together to shed light on the need for increased road safety around school campuses as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle. I know that Mayor Burke joined the Columbus School last Wednesday, and I will be joining some schools later in the month as well. Again, on this Wednesday, May 8th, all of our elementary schools will be hosting open houses for our incoming kindergarten students. And the open houses will be held from 2 to 3 o'clock this Wednesday, May 8th. Last Friday at the high school, Medford High School hosted a wonderful job fair where over 200 job opportunities for our Medford High School students and our Medford Vocational Technical High School students got to meet with employers. And I just want to thank the employers that were there during this job fair and recognize them. TURC, which is Information Technology, it's a paid student internship, Medford's after school program, the Charles River Canoe and Kayak, Market Basket, Members Plus Credit Union, Malden YMCA, Boston Area YMCA, Panera Bread, Dunkin' Donuts, Yavner Dental, Stop and Shop, Panda Express, Kelly's Roast Beef, Goldilocks Bagels, Diano's Pasta, Wegmans, Armstrong Ambulance, Nike Outlet, Century Bank, Medford's Department of Public Works, and Whole Foods. I want to recognize them because the employers were able to interview students right on the spot, and we appreciate the members of our business community and our nonprofit community that took the time out to meet with our students and give them an opportunity. I also want to send out a special thank you to Mr. Joel Menasha of our guidance department for organizing this important youth event. Last weekend, Retta Smith, who's our district's nutritionist, and some of our CCSR students put together benches to establish an outdoor classroom area in the inner courtyard. So next time you're at the high school, if you're walking through the breezeway or you want to go out and see some beautiful benches. So we do have an area now that's designated as an outdoor classroom with appropriate seating. And so we're hoping now that teachers will be able to really take advantage of that and have enough space, comfortable seating for their students to enjoy the outdoors and continue learning. So I want to thank Mrs. Smith and the CCSR students for stepping forward on that initiative. On an academic side of the house, in AP Calculus, students in Ms. Barbara Chen's class were asked to construct a three-dimensional, a 3D model of a solid figure with a known cross-section and then determine the volume of the solid for their fourth quarter project. One application in Integral Calculus is to approximate the volume of a solid with a known cross-section. The cross-section can be a square, a rectangle, an isosceles triangle, an equilateral triangle, or a semicircle. This solid is sitting on an enclosed region which is perpendicular to either the x-axis or the y-axis. The project helped the students visually see the actual solid, not imagination. the students had the opportunity to practice the proper use of calculus notations. They applied and connected important concepts, such as the fundamental theorem of calculus and limits. The students were able to transfer their learning from geometry class, the area of formulas, into definite integral. So calculating the volume of the solid, and photos of this activity can be found on our blog. just again to let the community know that this week does begin the start of Ramadan for our Muslim community neighbors and we would like to wish them a happy Ramadan season or Ramadan Mubarak. Also, last Wednesday, we had a group of students go to Day on the Hill. The teacher that led that activity was Mr. Joe Donlan. We had two school committee members attend with our students, member Kathy Krutz and Paul Russo. The students got to meet our representatives, Representative Barber, Sean Garberly, Paul Donato, and it was about 10 students, and they were able to tour and spend time in the chamber, and it was a wonderful learning experience, and I thank you, the school committee members, for continuing to support the school district, not only here at our formal meetings, but constantly coming out to support us and support the children during their learning. Additionally, last Thursday we had an Italy Culture Day at the district, and again, Cassett hosted that. We had the honor of having Deputy Consul General Emilia Luciani come with members. We had the current president of Cassett, Anne-Marie Cugno, who was there, many other members. Representative Paul Donato did come out to support the event. We had school committee member Ms. Paulette Vanderkloot there. And at that event, we had Italian musicians who sang. We had opera singers. We had an Italian chef where students had the opportunity to make pasta. and you also had an opportunity to go and see a virtual tour of Italy where you put on goggles and you got to hop on a, I actually went to Rome. a mini trip, I was on a Vesper, and you could turn your head around, and it was a wonderful learning experience. The kids were really excited, and we had a few hundred students who were able to be in the Karen Theater, and many administrators participated. We also had the opportunity to learn some authentic Italian dance or folk dance. folklore dance from different regions, and so that was a lot of fun, and it was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Italian culture. Also, last Friday was a wonderful, wonderful packed event that took place at the Bistro. And this was our CCSR, our Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility gathering. I want to recognize Mr. Skorka and Mr. Richard Trotter for hosting this dinner. We were thanking the Cummings Foundation for their continued financial contribution for the Crystal Campbell Betterment community betterment project. They were representatives there as well. And we had, I think there were definitely over 150 people, and we had additional people inside the little room off of the bistro. But it was a great time, raffles, food, festivities. And so I want to just thank school committee members Kathy Krutz, Paul Lusso, Erinda Benedetto, and Ms. Paulette Van der Kloot, and Mayor Burke was there as well, supporting that wonderful event. We continue to celebrate the wonderful 3D sidewalk at the Brooks School, which has received so much national recognition, and we're very proud of what our students continue to do with CCSR. Also, I would like to say this past Saturday at the West Medford Community Center, I'd like to thank them for inviting me and for inviting all of you, the school committee members coming out on a Saturday, Mayor Burke, all of our city council members as well, to really engage with the community. It was a crowded space and I do see Ms. Melanie McLaughlin, she was there as well, one of the parents, CPAC representative there as well, and we had Senator Jalen and Representative Barber, who was there as well, and it was, the two hours went by, two hours plus went by very quickly, but it was a wonderful community engagement event. So thank you, and those are my announcements for this week.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't remember the actual Ms. Dr. Riccadeli, could you come forward to tell us? It cost $1,100. $1,100, thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think having gone through it this first time, I feel that we really would be able to do it independently ourselves. Because of the level of complexity and where we had the special categories, we really just wanted to make sure that we kind of stuck to the rules and we wanted it to be as fair a process as possible.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I appreciate you saying that because I've received a lot of emails as well. And I think for this year that this was what we could do to take a first step. There has been a lot of questions about could we do a more thorough, a more robust feasibility study. And so although we had the original you know, based strictly on numbers that it was a no. One of my most recent emails was, is it possible just to do 6th grade and then again split up 7th and 8th? So we are definitely open to trying to come up with a solution that would be fair to all and at the same time continue to let the students have access to one another. Again, I truly believe in our rich diversity here in Medford, and we can build upon that and learn upon that. That's one of our greatest strengths. And truly, if I had the magic wand, I would have just had everyone move together. So we are committed to doing the feasibility study and taking it very seriously to look at the footprint of both schools, you know, from recommendations of moving the McGlynn School Elementary into the Andrews Building and making the entire McGlynn complex become a 678. So there have been a lot of different ideas that have been put forward. So by doing a feasibility study, we can really find out what are the capacities of the building. If there is another solution, what would the cost be? What are the things that would need to happen if we were to, you know, reconfigure the space? What would the cost be? And kind of do a cost-benefit analysis to say, well, this is what the result could be.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. I agree. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If it can be one. I don't know the parameters of all of them, but we don't need to have five. So hopefully we can get it down to less than five and try to understand why the calendars aren't talking to one another. So I can definitely work on that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We definitely could have students work on design. I was thinking about some of our art students possibly. I think that could be a project that they could work on in terms of with all of the sports clubs and things that we have, extracurricular activities. In terms of scholarships and things like that, I'm not really clear in terms of is that the right way to go in terms of design, but we could definitely ask students. It could be something working with CCSR where they're always thinking about projects. So it could definitely be something that we could have students get involved with helping to design.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the parents of a child at the Columbus Elementary School donated a special chair designed to improve focus. Our recommendation is for the school committee to except the chair, and in your packets you saw a sample of it. And so Kathy Principal, Dr. Kay, wrote a letter to the family, dear Mr. Bernstein and Ms. Hudson, I recently learned of your incredible generosity towards the students of the Columbus Elementary School. Therefore, I want to send this formal thank you for the chair you donated to Ms. Burke's first grade classroom. I am sure this seat will provide many years of improved, focused learning. It is through the support of parents like you that helped make the Columbus a fun and interactive place to learn. I cannot thank you enough.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. First, I would like to congratulate the Medford Family Network on their hugely successful sixth annual night of 10,000 lights held here at City Hall on Saturday evening. As all of you know, the Family Network is led by Marie Cassidy, a dedicated Dynamo who always puts our children and families first. We are so blessed to have her. and clearly Tufts University noticed her outstanding service as they will be awarding her an honorary degree in public service during their commencement exercises on May 19th. We congratulate Marie on this most wonderful honor. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Shannon Deimos, the assistant principal at the Brooks Elementary School. who won a seat on the Tewksbury School Committee. Shannon is a dedicated educator in our community, and we wish her luck as she adds this role to her already outstanding portfolio. I'd also like to say congratulations to Sarah Grant and the Medford High School Drama Club on their outstanding production of the musical Fame this past weekend. All the shows were sold out and everyone who attended raved about the students' performances. I would also like to congratulate the students, teachers, and staff on the Brooks Annual Disco-themed Viva Variety Show that was held this past Friday and Saturday evenings. The show featured skits, singing, dancing, poetry reading, and entertaining musicians. The evening began with a staff video entitled, We Are Family. Both nights the school was packed and the performances were fun and uplifting. A great job done by all. This coming week, on Thursday, April 11th, the Medford Public Schools Office of Clinical and Behavioral Services, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Partnership for Youth Incorporated will be hosting a parent informational meeting called Navigating the Cyber World at 6.30 p.m. at the McGlynn Middle School. All Medford parents are cordially invited to attend. Information will be presented that discusses internet use across all student age groups. For those interested but who are unable to attend on Thursday, this presentation will be held again in May. Last week, MIDE engineers visited the McGlynn Middle School and worked with the entire 6th grade in conducting the experiments that incorporated STEM curriculum shared by the math and science teachers to include not only the concept of density, but also the measurement and calculation of volumes of different shapes and related terms. It was rewarding to watch students develop their hypotheses and observe the results. The Medford Public Schools appreciates our partnership with MIDE, and I also would like to thank Assistant Principal Jody Lu for helping to organize these events. And it was a great event by all. Also last week, the Medford High School students in Mr. Towers' class raised over $2,000 for their Bring Backpacks to Baltimore project. It was highlighted on Channel 4, WBZ, by the news anchor Paula Eben in her Eye on Education segment. The students raised money for this project through a GoFundMe page and by organizing the Mr. MHS pageant. It is so rewarding to hear about how our students are caring for others, both in our community and beyond. This weekend, Medford High School girls softball hosts its annual Crystal Campbell Memorial Tournament at Columbus Park. The tournament kicks off with an opening ceremony this Saturday, April 13th at 9.30 a.m. Then the Lady Mustangs will take on Arlington Catholic at 10 a.m. Billerica and Swamp Scott will follow at 1 p.m. The consolation and championship games will take place on Sunday April 14th. The team is selling t-shirts, raffles, and hosting a concession stand. Additionally, during April vacation week on Wednesday, the 17th, the softball team will be hosting the Red Sox World Series Trophy at John Brewer's Tavern. Patrons will be able to take photos with the trophy for a donation to the Crystal Campbell Scholarship Fund. As always, all proceeds raised at all of these events will benefit the Campbell Scholarship Fund. CCSR has requested that I announce the following program fair dates. Columbus Elementary School, Thursday, April 11th, from 5.30 to 7 p.m. Medford High School, Thursday, April 25th from 2.30 to 4 p.m. in the Medford High School lobby. The Curtis Tufts is on Wednesday, May 22nd from 9 to 11 a.m. Roberts Elementary School is Thursday, May 23rd during lunch, 11.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Brooks Elementary School, Friday, May 31st, from 9 to 9.30 a.m. McGlynn Middle School, Wednesday, June 5th, from 9.35 to 10.20 a.m., during their wind block. McGlynn Elementary School, Thursday, June 6th, from 1.30 p.m., and that will take place in the cafeteria. Tomorrow night at the Medford High School Library, building bridges to kindergarten will be held at 7 p.m. The Medford Family Network will also be in attendance. Additionally, the Parent Information Center will be open for extended hours for kindergarten registration tomorrow night from 3 to 6 p.m. Lastly, I would like to thank you, a special thank you to the entire Medford Public School community, administrators, school leaders, teachers, Mayor Burke, school committee members, former Mayor Glynn, and city Councilors for all your support during my time of bereavement. I'd like to thank Fred Dello Russo for all of the personal effort that he made as well. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Well, from my understanding, the MCAS does not, when you're saying placement, let me qualify it. There are some students at the middle school level, you're saying transitioning from middle to high school? Yes. So some students, depending on the level of math that they may have taken, may be on a different, If they took a more accelerated math in eighth grade, they would then move to a different level at high school. But that's not the MCAS. It's not related to the MCAS. It's related to how they're performing. Okay, great. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So at the beginning of this past school year, I was tasked, as you know, I'm part of the new superintendent's induction program, which is from the state. DESE offers this program for all first-time superintendents. being new to the district and seeing what my entry plan would look like, I was tasked with really seeing how I would enter the district. And what's most important with an entry is giving yourself time to be able to listen, to be able to learn, and the last step would be to be able to lead. And so as you guys have received the report in hand, I will just quote some particular sections of the report. I'm on page one. And again, it clearly states, the purpose of my original entry plan was to establish an effective and successful entry into Medford Public Schools. The objectives of my entry work are the following. build trust and relationships, assess Medford Public Schools' strengths and challenges, and collaboratively create a plan for improving teaching and learning for students. And the three components of the entry plan and the entry plan process are listening, learning, and eventually leading. And so in this entry plan report, The last few pages in the appendix, which starting on page 15, but on page 16, 17, all the way through page 20, listed many of the key events that were both community-based or school-based events that gave me an opportunity to not only listen, but to continue to learn about the district. learn what's important, what matters, what makes Medford Public Schools tick, what makes Medford Public Schools a special place that it actually is and that I love coming to every day to work. And so I talk in the entry plan about how there were challenges at the start of the school year. When I started in July, we had some administrative shifts that took place, and we had to be very responsive. And so that was something which kind of That became our highest priority to make sure that all schools were ready and open and prepared to start strong. And so that's a very important commitment. At the beginning of the school year, we received our finalized state results from the state testing to see what our status was with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Ed. I had many, many opportunities to be in all of the schools to interact with not only school leaders, teachers, students, and itinerants, directors, all of the staff that make Medford Public Schools the rich place that it actually is. I had the opportunity to meet with many political officials that have come to visit the school, to welcome me to Medford, but also to see what is Medford Public Schools doing. We had some unexpected events where we had media coverage at the beginning of the school year when we were dealing with excessive heat and when we had the bullet casing that was found at the back of the high school field. I mentioned how we had to have two evacuations in one day at the high school, again, out of an abundance of caution. So there were many, many events that have happened since the start of the school year. But during that time of listening, I had the opportunity to truly learn a lot. And so I am now on page 8. And when I entered, I had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with you, all of the school committee members, and all school leaders. And I asked the following questions. What is our greatest strength as a district? Or what are you most proud of? in terms of the work that you're doing in Medford Public Schools? What is a challenge that Medford needs to address? And are there ways that I can either support your growth and development, which I spoke with the school leaders about? And for school committee members, I asked about are there particular special projects or initiatives that you would like to see the district address? And so those were the questions. that I continued to ask and look at the data from the responses and really figure out what was the body of work that needed to be covered. And so on page 8, school committee members and school leaders identified the following areas. A greater focus on CEL, social-emotional learning, and response to intervention. at the K-8 level, upgrading technology tools where needed around the district, a more effective focus on math, addressing perceived salary inequities among administrators, addressing the impacts of the different schedules at Medford High School and the vocational school, ensuring safety throughout the entire district, addressing the middle school challenge, and looking at staffing needs from custodians to kindergarten aides to adjustment Councilors, paraprofessionals, teachers, and administrators. From assessment data, I looked at, as a district, I looked at our MCAS assessment. to see where we were standing in terms of with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. And in comparison to some of our surrounding districts, how are we performing in comparison to the state? And so because we had just a very robust presentation by our directors, I just said let's make reference to the MCAS reports that were previously presented in October of last year and last month, March of 2019. I am also still looking at our subgroup data, because that is important, as well as we look at how our students are performing as a district. From observations and looking at reports and contracts, this year a significant amount of time of my entry process has been dedicated to collective bargaining agreements, the CBAs. This year all of our contracts were up and we have successfully completed seven. We are still working on finalizing four more CBA contracts. So that has really given me a great opportunity to get to understand the details of all of the different contracts, working with those unions, and working collaboratively with you, the school committee, and we've been discussing the majority of the contracts in our executive sessions. So that was an important piece of my learning as well for how the district is working. And looking at other documents. We looked at school improvement plans, school safety plans. We had our plans that were submitted to us, which we are working on. to continue to improve safety at all of our schools. We have looked at master schedules and trying to find ways to align schedules, improve schedules, so we maximize time on learning. Looking at enrollment projections and the patterns, our fluctuating numbers of our newcomers, English learners that are coming in, looking at staffing allocations, attendance data, looking at both students and staff across the district, financial documents, which we look at all the time when we have school committee meetings, but really looking at our finances. And when I think about us as a district, you know, although we have normally we're allocated approximately 58 million, we need $60 million plus to operate. So every year we need to close a $2 million gap, which is significant. And so I do spend a lot of time with Christine because we realize that it takes a lot to run the entire district and to run it well. I looked at district policies and I've met with several subcommittees. So we're looking at policies that either need to be updated. And so a lot of time has been spent looking at documents as well and how we can continue to improve. From school visits and conversations with students, being in schools, normally teachers are teaching, so I don't interrupt them. You know, I will have conversations with them during instructional observations, but when I am observing in a classroom, I always go to the students and ask them to tell me, what are you working on? And so if the students are able to explain it in their own language, that they truly understand what they're working on. I know that the teacher has already fully explained it to the students. So I truly enjoy having conversations with students, being in classrooms, observing, being with the administrators, seeing that work happen as well. And when I'm in schools, if I'm not, a teacher is not directly instructing school leaders and or teachers will always have conversations with me. I've been welcomed back to classrooms. Teachers have really received me warmly. I have many teachers that have said, when are you getting to my classroom? And so I say, I'm coming back. I've had students request me to return to their classroom to continue to be part of their learning and just support the instruction that's happening. And so that has been very, very positive. When I come back from being in the field and return to central office, I am beaming. I feel like I'm walking on air because it's a charge. I know that I have a job to do, but being with the students, being in schools, seeing solid teaching and instruction taking place, it makes you feel like we're moving in the right direction. And so when I think about Medford, I feel like as a district, what I've seen so far is we have really, really good bones. we are in a good position, and I am ready and excited about moving us to the next level. And so I feel like the work that's ahead of us is fine-tuning, improving, and challenging ourselves as a district, and continuing to work collaboratively with school leaders, with the directors, and with teachers. So there is some key work that is already underway that's taking place in the district, and I have highlighted just a few of them. We have a very active, robust partnership with Lesley University, not only in their use of the gym and athletic partnership, but we actually have an academic partnership where they truly are committed to supporting Medford Public Schools and continuing to support our instruction with math learning walks. Dr. Patricia Cren de Galarce also supports our special education subcommittee meeting and attends those meetings whenever her schedule permits. We have implemented an elementary mathematics coaching program that did not exist before. We have two math coaches that are working at all four elementary schools supporting teachers coaching teachers, working alongside teachers, modeling for teachers, helping to keep their eyes on mathematics, and really giving an additional focus. We also have expanded our Tufts University STEM partnership to middle and elementary schools. We have implemented a full lottery process this year for all middle schools to balance our demographics. We are in the process of looking to adopt a new middle school mathematics curriculum because at the middle schools, there are multiple mathematics curriculum that are in place. And so you are getting a lot of varied outcomes from different curriculum, but it's important to have coherence and alignment. so that when you're going in to assess a program, you're not looking at one program in one room and you go to another classroom and seeing something that's completely different. So that's something that we are hoping to be able to do. It does need to happen so we can just have consistency, coherence, and alignment for our middle school mathematics. Additionally, we are launching the FOSS science. It's in our elementary schools. The teachers have been trained, had a wonderful day of training. And they are piloting, and they're all using the curriculum right now. And it's wonderful to see that in action. We also have developed clear expectations for monitoring student progress in reading and in mathematics at the elementary levels. Again, these systems and structures, we're trying to put them in place so that we are able to better monitor our work and be able to look at the data that comes from that. Additionally, we have consistent implementation of our K-2 response to intervention for literacy. This year, there was a great focus. Dr. Chiesa working with all of our elementary schools to make sure that, again, there is consistency and coherence for kindergarten, first, and second grades. I did mention the Lesley University SPED subcommittee work, and we have launched a district safety team to examine external reports and streamline safety policies, practices, and routines, including school bus preparedness and homeschool communication systems for programs housed in schools. So that's some of the key work that we have been working on thus far. Our major themes that emerged during this entry process is we clearly have strong Medford pride. The Mustang Way is alive and well. We've seen that there are some disagreements about the value of the elementary early release on the Wednesdays. We've identified that we do have, we currently have some inadequate data systems in terms of how we are housing our internal data, and so that's something that we are looking at intentionally. And so by bringing about some consistent practices, that's going to help with that area. We are also working on addressing students' social-emotional learning needs. Again, we know that we have weaker mathematics performance, and so we are continuing to keep a very close watch on how we are working in mathematics. Another theme that emerged is that there's difficulty in taking the maximum advantage of our high school complex between the Medford High School, the comprehensive side, and our vocational technical side, because we currently have two different schedules. We have a five-day schedule and a six-day schedule. And so trying to make the schedules match is a challenge. And so that's something that was in their collective bargaining agreement. So it is something that we are really paying close attention to. because Medford High School, the complex has so much to offer our students. It's exciting being at the high school complex, but because the schools are on two slightly different schedules, if we can get the schedules to align, then we would be able to have even more students benefiting from being a Mustang at the high school and having opportunities, greater opportunities on both sides of the house. So that's something that we're very aware of and we are trying to see how we can make the two schedules work. And that's going to involve a lot of partnership with the Teachers Association to collaborate with them and say, you know, let's find a way to make these two schedules talk to one another so we can maximize that. And the last area, again, was emergency preparedness, that we are very aware that it's critically important here in Medford, and just in society and the world this day, and we are taking it very seriously. So in summation, or in closing, Medford Public Schools is a richly diverse school community nestled within a burgeoning city with such great potential. We are committed to being one Medford that holds high academic standards for all our students. We are committed to improving ourselves by working collaboratively and tapping into the intellectual capital of the entire school community and our community partners. Medford continues to evolve into a special city in which to live, work, and raise our families. Medford Public Schools is a supportive and welcoming place that celebrates our diversity. We see our diversity as a strength. As Dr. King had preached, the world must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools. While the face of Medford is constantly changing, that face makes Medford a more livable, attractive, and welcoming place to be. As I have spent this valuable time listening and learning from colleagues in the community, I am ever so eager to continue leading this district into the future. The next phase of this work will be to finish gathering all data for the remainder of this year and present a proposed district strategy for improvement at the start of the next school year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So we currently are, looking at the schedule, and they've been actually looking at the schedule all year. The challenge is because we have a contract in place for three years, we have to honor the contract which still maintained the separate schedules. So we are continuing to look to see how we could potentially have the two schools talk to each other. But in order to do that, it's probably going to take like a year and a half to two years for that to actually be able to happen. Because on the cooperative side of the house, the vocational side of the house, when the students are doing their co-ops, they have their instructional weeks and then they have their hands-on week. So we want to keep the integrity of our robust vocational programming in place. So we need to have time to sit down and really negotiate that with the union and come up with the best plan that will allow the most amount of students to be able to really benefit from both schedules, from what the entire complex offers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: When you're proposing a change, someone experiences loss. So I would say where people were accustomed to having a certain schedule, once we say the schedule needs to change, I think initially they may be Saddened because they feel there's a loss but I'm thinking about the students and and you know seeing how much is available at the complex. I keep saying, there were so many times that I say to myself, wow, I wish more kids could have access to this. I mean, we've even talked about, is there a way to give some students access to minis? But in order for that to happen, you need to be able to have a schedule which allows that. But we need to have the conversation, and I'm not sure if that, when the merge, happened, I don't think that the schedule piece had been tackled at that point in time. So although the merge happened where the two schools became one, they were still on two different schedules. So they're, you know, it's in some areas you are able to make it work, but it's, you know, There's sacrifices that are being made, and if we're able to have one schedule that both schools are operating on the same schedule, then we really would be able to give our high school students a phenomenal learning experience, even greater than what they are already having. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: points that you have brought to our attention is about some of the policies that were outdated that needed to be updated. And so that is something where we're trying to at least begin the process of looking at some of our existing policies that are online to make sure that they are updated and reflective of now 2019. So that's something that you clearly brought to my attention. And so it's something that we are definitely aware of. But just the scope of work to go through all of the existing policies that are already there and trying to finish the negotiations and all of those pieces, I could not prioritize that this year. But it is something that was So I think it's important that we take it as a data point and that we do need to have updated.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so one of the pieces, or one of my earlier observations where I talked about where we are trying to consistently progress monitor. So I think because we had... different pieces of data that were generated, but it wasn't aligned across the schools. It was difficult to be able to present or paint a picture. And so that is part of the work that we've also been working on, about bringing coherence and alignment so that we would have consistent data to look at, and then from that data be able to make strategic informed decisions. So schools having a data person, schools having functioning, highly functioning instructional leadership teams looking at the data, but they need to be looking at consistent data or the same data. So those are pieces of things that we are working on. So you will see more of that. So sometimes you can take a staff person within a school and train them. to support the data work that happens at schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So that was also brought to my attention, the middle school schedule, it does change. And so it is something that, I am willing to look at, but similar to what I said earlier, when you are proposing a significant change for what people have been accustomed to having, when you're making a proposal that may not have been as clearly spelled out in the contract, now you have to have a side agreement. So the middle school schedule, The two schedules are aligned, although they're moving on, you know, to your point. And so that is something that is on my radar as well. I am aware of that. But again, it's going to involve negotiating with the teachers for the middle school schedule as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I thank my team for their support.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. The Roberts School, I want to give an update. On Thursday, March 7th, the Roberts School experienced an unanticipated event that involved the Medford Police and the school being required to shelter in place. This was done in order to ensure the safety of all of the children and adults in the after-school program. I'd like to personally thank the after-school team, school administration, Medford Police parents and students for their cooperative spirit during such a serious time. At that time I released a statement stating that all families had been notified and in fact an attempt was made but not all families were contacted. For that I sincerely apologize for providing misinformation. I was greatly relieved when the serious issue was resolved by the Medford Police. I do not have any other information regarding the incident and I would ask families to reach out to the Medford Police for additional information regarding that. That situation was a learning experience for all of us and we have made immediate internal security changes to ensure rapid communication to all families. Additionally, last Monday at the high school, we had our Black History Month assembly. The Medford High School and the Medford Vocational Technical High School celebrated Black History Month. I would like to thank Assistant Principal Dr. Stacey Mulligan, who took the lead on this project, and she told me the students took the idea and ran with it. They really planned an incredible and entertaining event. I want to thank all of the students who took part in the program. Ebion Abshir, who acted as MC, Jovia Morambe, who performed an Alicia Keys song while playing the keyboard, Chioma Opara, our own student representative on the school committee, she read an original poem, Antonia Collins and Nadia Farmer gave the history of West Medford, and Edwins Bozeal discussed the history of African American music from 1919 to 2019. And he was assisted by Shane Colbert, who also DJed for the event. The students also participated in a fashion show. And I would also like to just extend a special thank you to Headmaster DeLeva. and the Director of Diversity, Neil Osborne, for their remarks. I'd also like to thank Tony Fonseca, a former Mustang Method High School graduate, along with the students who provided a great multicultural drum performance. So it truly was a wonderful event. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the Citywide Elementary PTO group which put together a wonderful evening with the Harlem Wizards. I'm told that they sold over 800 tickets for the event. The gymnasium was packed and it was truly a fun event for all. I know that they worked very hard on getting this fundraising event together, so congratulations to them, and thank you. Last week, on March 14th, it was Pi Day, and I had the opportunity to celebrate Pi Day at the McGlynn Middle School, and seventh grade teachers Robin Irving and Patty Haas, they had multiple hands-on activities for students. They invited many members of central office to come and participate and it was a wonderful learning event, and they got to see how Pi could relate to the real world. So it was a fun learning time for all that were involved. An update on Tristan Howard. Last Friday, Tristan traveled to New York City to compete in the New Balance Nationals. He competed in the emerging elite division. In the 55 meter dash, Tristan finished in 11th place, completing it in 6.57 seconds. So that's pretty fast. Unfortunately, only the top eight moved on to the finals. However, we're very proud of that accomplishment. And in addition to that, in the 200 meter, Tristan finished in ninth place. completing it in 22.3 seconds. And again, only the top eight moved on. But we want to say congratulations to Tristan. It was truly a great learning experience for him. And the good news is he is only a junior, so we have another year to continue to see what wonderful things he will do. This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the Japanese Learning School graduation ceremony. They hosted their ceremony at the high school and I wanted to thank Japanese Consul General Michi and Principal Ishikawa for inviting Mayor Burke and myself to participate in that ceremony. There were many graduates. The Japanese Learning School, which takes place at the high school, educates approximately 800 students per year from kindergarten through high school. It also teaches Japanese as a second language. So they have been with Medford High School for the past 45 years. So it is truly a longstanding partnership. And it was a pleasure to share in that special day with them. Lastly, some upcoming events. We have a transition fair getting ready to happen. So that's going to take place on Wednesday in our wonderful Bistro 489 from 6 to 9 p.m. and the Medford Public Schools and Winchester Public Schools Offices of Special Education are holding their annual transition fair designed for students 14 years of age and older with disabilities to help plan for life after high school. Parents, guardians, and students are encouraged to attend this free event to learn about community-based services available for adults with disabilities. The exhibitors will include information regarding support for independent living skills, vocational training, adapted educational programs, and recreational opportunities, and also supportive housing. So that's the transition fair, so please spread the word. And also on Wednesday of this week, it's our early release day, Wednesday, March 20th. And I know that the McGlynn Middle School is hosting a free ice skating event at La Conte for middle school students. And at Medford High School, Priscilla's Pantry will offer rice and beans from 12 to 1230 and CAF 3 for any student who might be interested. And those are my updates for this week.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, and there were a lot of inquiries, but we truly, I didn't have that information. Remember, Ms. Stone had more information than me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. Kahn's coming forward. The following three presentations from Ms. Kahn, Rocco Sieri, and Dr. Chiesa are going to address a follow-up to our presentation that had taken place in the fall, kind of where we were and what have we been doing strategically as a district, And I believe that all of these reports are going to be quite informative for you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: How long should the test take? So the only thing with duration would be some students need more time than others, but the intention could be one instructional period that the students are allowed to have.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I also just wanted to make one comment back on page 5 when we were looking at the difference when you talked about number and operations fractions, and that definitely was something that, you know, stuck out. And the fact that in third grade the students seem to have truly mastered it, so it did make us really think about what Ms. Kahn said earlier about the third grade students had the benefit of using this particular curriculum since kindergarten, where the fourth grade had a different start. And so I'm very curious to see how the students will do, now that we're armed with this information, we're able to kind of be strategic and intentional. about our instruction of fractions. So I just wanted to say that it is something that we are aware of and we're paying close attention to continue to make data-informed decisions for our students. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, but do you have the per subject breakdown on that? Yes. Ms. Lazzaro left the original, the fall reports.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm concerned just about the timetable, not getting the information, but getting that information and just thinking in terms of everything else that's being done to have it by April 8th is very quick. I know you said not including the unit assessments, but I would prefer to give you a more accurate list, a more thorough list.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sure. Because we have two meetings back-to-back in April, and with back-to-back meetings, that ties up central office very... The time demand is... As soon as possible?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening everyone. So this afternoon, I had the pleasure to, we were welcomed to the Japanese Consul General's house, Japanese Consul General Michi's home for lunch today. We were invited due to our longstanding support of the Japanese Learning School. Mayor Burke, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, and Assistant Superintendent of Finance Christine Patterson and myself had a wonderful nine course meal, Japanese lunch, and learned about the Japanese culture today. They could not have been more welcoming to all of us. So we were very appreciative of that opportunity. Things that are going on in Medford right now. As you are aware, our CCSR teams have expanded into all of our elementary and middle schools, as well as to the Curtis Tufts High School. I would like to highlight a few of the projects that have been done at the Roberts, McGlynn Middle, and the Brooks. Robert CCSR. The Robert CCSR club recently held a soup drive. They partnered with the Super Bowl of Caring to collect cans of soup for the friends of Francis Food Pantry. Student members created posters and a flyer to spread the word throughout the school community. CCSR collected 385 cans of soup. So congratulations to the Robert CCSR group. Brooke CCSR, Brooke School third graders and CCSR members, Georgia Scott and Addie Costello, aka Rebel Recyclers. began a new recycling program in the school's cafeteria. They are collectively, they are working on collecting stretchy number four plastics and delivering them to Whole Foods for processing. The program is a big hit with the students. McGlynn Middle School CCSR. The McGlynn Middle School CCSR hosted a food drive the week of February 11th, led by 8th graders Sejean Maguire, Glorine Vixama, Saica Correales, and 7th grader Elijah Buttello. After researching local food pantries, they chose to send their donations to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. This is a local organization that provides homeless and near homeless individuals and families in the Somerville and Boston area with support. So I just want to congratulate all of our CCSR members and the programs that they're working on to make Medford a better place. And in the end, make the world a better place. Also, in following up on that, Mayor Burke just signed into law the Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance that will go into effect this summer. The ordinance began as a CCSR proposal by Medford High School student Rubia Fernandez, Fernandez. So we just want to recognize that hard work and that Medford's now going to be banning plastic bags, which is important for our environment. Winter sports season. The Mustangs winter sports season has ended. Boys basketball and boys hockey both qualified for MIAA tournament play. Tristan Howard, which we recognized earlier today, he placed eighth in the 55 meters at the New England track championships held last weekend. He heads to New York to compete in the nationals this Friday. We wish him luck and congratulate him and all of our athletes that are so hardworking. Please note that spring sports tryouts will be starting on March 18th. Also, we would like to welcome our newly hired football coach to the Medford Public Schools, Mr. John Curley. When coach Jason Nascimento decided not to return as a Mustang football coach to spend more time with his growing family, we established a committee to seek his replacement. That committee completed thorough screenings of 20 applicants for the position. Six applicants were selected for the first interview round and three were selected for the second set of interviews with Headmaster DeLeva, Athletic Director Maloney, and Assistant Director Perry. As part of the final interview, each of the finalists were asked to present their five-year plan for Medford High School football program, and John Curley was selected. He brings with him many years of football coaching experience. He played football at Somerville High School and Nichols College. He has 12 years of football coaching experience at various levels, including Somerville Pop Warner, Arlington High School, Somerville High School, Stoneham High School, Shawsheen Technical High School, Nichols College, and the Charlestown Townies Semi-Professional Football Organization. He holds a bachelor's degree from Nichols College and is heads-up concussion certified, as well as CPR, AED, and first aid certified. I would like to extend a sincere thanks to Coach Nascimento for his 10 years of dedicated service to the football program. Thank you, Coach Nascimento, and welcome, Coach Curley. Speaking of concussion training, Medford High School Athletics is hosting a concussion training for all athletes and coaches on Tuesday, March 12th in the Caron Theater from 3 to 5 p.m. There is a flyer in the back of your packets. As we are all aware, concussions are no longer a simple bump on the head or bell ringers. It is our job to keep young athletes protected by better understanding the symptoms, treatment, and prevention of concussions. The Massachusetts Concussion Management Coalition, MCMC, will provide the training to learn more about the recognition, prevention, care, and management of sports-related concussions. So all are invited. The Medford Vocational Technical High School sophomore cosmetology students are learning wet styling, which is featured on the Massachusetts State Board of Cosmetology licensing exam. This timeless method of hairstyling is commonly used to create big and glamorous Hollywood hair. So the students put their new skills to work by paying tribute to the Academy Awards. The students were randomly assigned a celebrity hairstyle to recreate. In addition, combining academics with shop, they also wrote a short biography on their Academy Award winner. The graphics program produced the clapper board signs so students could record their projects for display. The display was in the cosmetology program room on a red carpet covered table with Academy Award trophies in between the students' work. The students recreated the hairstyles of Julia Roberts, Joan Crawford, Betty Davis, Reese Witherspoon, Catherine Hepburn, Louise Fletcher, Elizabeth Taylor, Emma Stone, Julie Andrews, Viola Davis, Ginger Rogers, Cher, Joanne Woodward, Jennifer Hudson, Vivian Lee, Meryl Streep, and Octavia Spencer. The students were very proud to show off their projects. And I went down to look at it. And they had the pictures and the mannequin heads. And they were really excited. And it was wonderful. And other students were coming down to look at the work that the students had done. So it was a great project. And I was really proud of their work. Also, vocational side news. I would like to announce that Ms. Alice Beth Fitzpatrick has been appointed interim assistant director, principal for the Medford Vocational Technical High School, replacing Jill Sawyer, who left the district for another position. Alice Beth has been a guidance Councilor for the Medford Public Schools for the past 12 years. She will be at our next meeting, presenting with Principal Fallon, We are excited to welcome her aboard onto the administrative team. Additionally, this is more vocational news. Last week, I actually used the services offered by our automotive shop. My car's tire sensor light had to be adjusted. I was driving and the sensor had come on and I said, you know what? And everyone said, go bring it over to the vocational shop. So I did. And they were able to inspect my car, change my inspection sticker, And in addition, repair the sensor damage that I wasn't aware of. I just could see it showing up on the car. So while I was there, I got to spend time with the students. And of course, the students at that time were asking me, why hadn't we had a snow day? They were, the pressure was on. But I want to say that when they did do the first check of my car, and they took care of the sticker, they did end up finding out that I also had a nail in my tire. And so I was really surprised and so pleased that here on the Medford High School campus, you can bring your car for service, have it served by students, and they found a nail and they repaired the nail the following day. And I just want the community to know, you know, Come to Medford Vocational High School. Get your inspection sticker done for your car, your brakes. Get nails taken out of your tires. They can fix sensors.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Come and eat in the bistro and have a wonderful meal. We have a lot that we are offering.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, you can. You can go to the Mustang Mall and go shopping.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You know, I owe them a visit, so I'll say that. And I want to also just note that while I was in the automotive shop, I was pleased to see female students because normally it's traditionally a male pathway, or that's the way kind of society had set it up. So there were three students. And one of the students that I asked, Veronica, I said, well, what do you like doing on cars? And she said, I like brakes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Kindergarten registration. So our little ones are coming on board. Kindergarten registration officially started yesterday. at the Parent Information Center. So the forms can now be downloaded from our website. However, all registrations must be made in person. So the first of three Building Bridges to Kindergarten informational presentations will be held this Thursday, tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. in the library of Medford High School. Additionally, the If They Had Known presentation is being held on two different nights for parents. This is a 35-minute film that focuses on the risks of current party culture. It is not a film about addiction. It is a candid film spoken by kids, two kids, about the risks of recreationally mixing prescription drugs with alcohol. The film is an honest and emotional account of a real event. Parents of all schools are cordially invited to attend one of these presentations. The film will be followed by a question and answer session. It will be presented at the McGlynn Middle School tomorrow evening, Thursday, March 7th at 7 o'clock and next Thursday, March 14th at the Karen Theater at Medford High School. I would like to thank Tony Vento, our director of health services, and Rachel Perry, our assistant director of health education, for bringing this important topic of discussion to our district. So it's a great opportunity and I hope many families are able to take advantage of it. So both of our middle schools are now featuring lunch with the principals, and I just wanted to highlight that. Principal Downs hosts lunch each month with six students from each grade. These students are selected by their teachers and eat lunch with Mr. Downs in his conference room. Principal Downs believes it is a great way for him to learn more about his students. Likewise, Principal Nick Tucci also hosts lunch each month with students who are Mustang Way role models. Mr. Tucci selects a student a week, and at the end of the month, they all have lunch together. I love this idea because the principals are reaching their students in all different ways, and rewarding their examples of leadership, responsibility, and respect, which is truly the Mustang Way. A reminder again to save your dates, save the date, mark your calendars for Friday, April 5, 2019 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. That's our second annual Credit for Life Financial Literacy Fair, which will be held here in the gym. The fair is for the junior class. And this fair began last year with a $5,000 grant from State Treasurer Deb Goldberg's office. The State Treasurer just approved Medford High for a $2,500 grant for this year's event. I have heard from many people that last year's event was a great success, and I can't wait to witness it this year. The committee preparing the fair are Director of Curriculum, Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, Assistant Principal, Gail Trainor, and Medford Vocational Teacher, Marketing Teacher, Kristen Kulin, who was just here. and our PR person, Lisa Evangelista, helping out with this event. This year, math teachers have added financial literacy to their curriculum so students are even better prepared for the fair. All of you are welcome to attend on April 5th, so please save that date.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Friday, April 5th, 2019. Lastly, on last Friday, the West Medford Community Center, it hosts First Friday Words in Music. And with March being Women's History Month, I was asked to attend and participate in a Facebook Live program. I was interviewed for about an hour about my childhood in Medford, my educational background, and how I came to love the world of education. I want to thank Mayor Burke and member Paulette Van der Kloot for attending last week. So those are my updates from Medford, and thank you for listening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I don't have who all of the presenters are going to be, but I can definitely get that information to you probably by tomorrow. Okay? But it is an informative event, and I'm not sure if they'll have neurologists, but it will definitely be informative for us to learn more about that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So this proposal that you received is an attempt to truly increase transparency and provide opportunities for greater conversation at the subcommittee level. And you've received samples. So the attached documents represent a proposed timeline for the personnel budget subcommittee to hold working meetings for development of the 2020 budget. As you can see, a sample of the document format that would be used during the budget development is attached. And the format is intended to inform of the past year's budget. fiscal year 18 compared to the current year budget fiscal year 19, as well as expenditures year to date in a proposed column for fiscal year 20. So the proposed figures will be submitted by department heads, building principals and administrators that ultimately get presented to the subcommittee, and eventually the full budget process will be presented to you as a whole group. So approval of a schedule is recommended in order to plan and notify all involved who are preparing to submit documents.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No meetings have been planned. So these aren't the dates? These are the proposed dates. So once we receive confirmation from the body, then we'll be able to reach out. to directors and principals, but the dates can be shifted. We can work with that, but it was the process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I guess my question was going to be then what is the purpose of the subcommittee? Because we have seven subcommittees and in subcommittee the premise would be that the representative members that are there are given the authority to kind of think about the same way we've met with rules, we just met about the media technology, that was not the entire body. And all of the decisions that are being made will, in the end, impact the entire district. I feel like some of the conversations, even with the department heads, that this is just to kind of have it be a fairer process or the intention is to be more transparent with the budget personnel subcommittee so that when the actual budget, like our budget meetings are still going to happen, they're not going away, but when the actual budget meetings take place, that the subcommittee members would be able to speak more, in a more, I would say in greater detail, to some of, like the rationale, because I also am looking at it from the time perspective, that when you sit down and you have the budget, you can spend six hours, seven hours going through it and we meet in the evening. So just in terms of how sharp are we going to be, how much are we going to be able to authentically give that 110%. And I feel like in the subcommittee, with a group or if more people want to come, I'm willing to speak to Howard to get legal guidance on what can happen. But I just feel like by breaking it out this way, having having the department heads and the school leaders say, these are the proposed things that I want to be able to purchase, but to be able to have it in a greater dialogue and a more meaningful conversation so that when we get our official allocation, it doesn't seem like we're pitting one school against another or we're picking favorites, that I feel like it will end up bringing about greater participation from the entire school community, but also greater transparency about the process. Mr. Russo.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Are you making a motion? Cathy? No, Member Van der Kloot and Member Benedetto. Well, Cathy's going to cheer right now.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the Medford Public Schools would like to thank the class of 1965 for their generous ongoing donations to provide funds to support our students. The class of 1965 gives money to pay for T-passes and school supplies for those students who have financial need and the district is grateful for their continued generosity. We thank Sharon Diaso, president of the class of 1965, along with her colleagues who were there, which I'll ask to introduce themselves, for spearheading this work. And again, thank you for your continued support of our students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Ms. D'Eso, can you please come forward?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Am I missing? That's correct. So as part of my updates and comments, I wanted to start by saying that I'm going to be showing a brief video that kind of captures the work that took place during our learning walks, the mathematics learning walks, the second round. I also just wanted to share that later on today, I would be presenting on our 5-6 middle school transition later for those who are interested in that report. But as most of you are aware, over the past two weeks, my team and I, along with members of Lesley University, completed our second round of our math learning walks, visiting the Brooks, Columbus, Roberts, and the McGlynn. Our former media teacher, Jack Dempsey, put together this video clip. And so I just want the school committee to know that he was not available to film when we were at the Brooks School, but we do have footage and photos from all of the schools that we did visit. Evidence.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for your patience in watching that video, but I wanted to really focus and share with you this go-around that although you hear that we're talking about math learning walks and focusing on core actions, what does it actually look like? And so for the second round, these instructional rounds looked significantly different than the ones that took place in the fall. Because in the fall, for the sake of time, we tried doing two schools in one day. And so in speaking with our partners at Lesley, Patricia said, you know what, we'll make the sacrifice of time. let's separate it out so we can spend more time at each school and go deeper. And so what you saw were clips that when we conducted these learning walks, we met before the walk to kind of just do a quick overview of what the core actions were. Everyone got their assigned schedule. We went into the classrooms, observed instruction for an hour, and after observing instruction for an hour, we came back. And every group debriefed what they saw. And each school leader gave us specific core actions that they were focusing on with their respective school. So we worked in small groups, looked at our data. And so you saw a lot of stickies up on charts, but that was like part of the main meat of the work. And so I'm very appreciative to Jack for showing the discussions that would happen after observations, how we would debrief as a team and talk about what could next steps look like for that particular school. So I hope that this video piece that you got to see kind of opened your eyes, and I was fortunate that I had spoken with Paulette close to the time that I was doing one of the walks, and she was able to join for one of the walks. But we're going to do the walks again at the end of the school year, and so I do want to put it out to all of the school committee members who are interested. If your schedules allow, you need about three hours of time to participate in a learning walk, if you can even do one, once we have the dates, once all regular testing is done, I will put it out and hopefully be able to have more of you participate. in it, but it's truly, I feel it's like revolutionary work. We are all using the same language, talking about the instruction. And so although instruction was always happening, but now that we have a common language, I think we'll be able to see greater results in a shorter amount of time.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes we're definitely seeing in the beauty one of the comments that was made by Dr. Bernadette Rigodelli when she was comparing one school to another one of the schools we each group So if you were in group two, you might have been observing grade four. So you might have had the opportunity to see four different fourth grade classrooms. And so for the most part, there's a pacing guide, a scope and sequence. The same content should be taught. So as you go into different rooms, everyone has their own unique style of teaching. but you're seeing the same content being taught to students and able to see how they are responding. In some of the other learning walks, because I didn't give really specifics, I just said we want to observe instruction and the principals were able to design a schedule. So we got sometimes you might go to another school and observe a third, a fourth, a fifth grade, and maybe a second grade classroom math instruction. And so we were able to see a significant difference. The language, we hear a lot of appropriate academic discourse taking place, official vocabulary. And again, in this go-around, you got to see all of the other directors participating in this instructional round because we do plan on scaling up the work throughout the district. And so it's important, even though the learning walks are happening at the elementary levels, you saw Headmaster DeLeva, you were able to see Principal Tucci, Principal Downs, Principal Toomey from the other schools, they too came to participate to see what would it look like. So Patricia, who's usually Our Leslie partner, who's usually with me, we've been partnering. Even she has said she has seen significant difference in terms of from where in the math language, how students were working with math in the fall to now at this midpoint. It's very intentional. Teachers are using manipulatives. Teachers are using manipulatives. You saw cutouts, magnets. It wasn't the same exact tool in every single classroom, but students are being given access They're multiple modalities, they're using videos, they're using magnets, they have opportunities to draw, they're using small whiteboards. So we're really happy to just see intentional practice and intentional attention being given to mathematics.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: for math or... Yes, we observe inclusion classes. When I've done my walks, I've gone to visit even sub-separate classrooms, depending what the classroom is. This particular time, my rounds, I was only in one room that was an inclusion room, but other members of the team could have been in rooms that had inclusion going on. Not everyone's scheduled for this second go around. Not everyone was able to hop in at this second round, but it was open and we intend on scaling it. The director of English language learners was there because EL students also take math. And so again, it's using the team leveraging members of the team to all work collaboratively towards one end to improve outcomes for all of our students.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So during the learning walks, we had our math coaches and our Fiza Khan, who's our supervisor of math, with us as well. So the coaches for this year, we had them focusing on grades three, four, and five at all of the elementary schools. So that is their main focus when they are in the schools two days a week. They are, when we do the purpose of the rounds, you know, one of the schools, we had four groups, we had a very large grouping, so we observed 16 classrooms. So taking 16 classrooms of a school, that would include all third, fourth, and fifth. So sometimes you were able to observe mathematics at kindergarten or first grade or second grade in order for everyone to have the opportunity to visit four classrooms. So it's 16 classrooms being observed, four rounds, each individual round was 15 minutes long. So for all elementary schools, we were able to go into third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Every classroom is observed by a school leader, just because we have to follow the evaluation process. Every classroom is observed, but during a round, It's only 16 classrooms. So if there are 30 classrooms, we'll get to like half the school, depending on the total number.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh no, no, no, yes, every classroom. That's why I'm saying sometimes it could be English language learner, whatever the grade level was, they're all teaching the same content. And so if you're looking at the standard and you're looking at how students, how the content's being presented to them, how do students have access to the content, and we're using the core actions to ground us in the same language. Okay, thank you. Okay, so I, that was part one of the report. I'm gonna try to abbreviate what's been happening in Medford over the past week or so, yes, since we just met last Monday. So one of our students at the Andrews Middle School, Brianna St. Germain, met Master Chef Leon. About two years ago, Brianna's mother reached out to the chef, asking him to send Brianna an autographed photo. He went above and beyond and went to their home and gave Brianna a cooking lesson. And she got to see one of his championship shirts received from the Master Chef show, judged by Chef Gordon Ramsay. Daniel Pontes Macedo, or Master Chef Leon, grew up in Medford and Somerville and served as a substitute teacher for a time for the Medford public schools. Chef Leon and Brianna made a wonderful steak dinner for her family. How wonderful that Master Chef Leon took time out of his schedule to spend with a local fan. Brianna has a memory that will last a lifetime. So although Medford Community Schools is not hosting a February vacation camp this year, they are hosting a volleyball camp at the McGlynn School, and there are extended ice skating hours available for all at the La Conte Rink. So we want people to be aware of that. Parents can find out additional information on our website and blog. Last Wednesday night, ninth grade course selection night, was held at Medford High School. It was a packed house. Students and parents first heard from Headmaster DeLeva and Principal Fallon. and then they were able to meet with curriculum directors in the library. One parent actually took the time to drop Headmaster DeLaver an email, applauding him and the rest of his staff on a wonderful presentation. She loved the fact that the high school and the vocational technical high school had merged and were able to offer so much more to all of our students. She expressed how great it was that the vocational technical track of study was no longer deemed a consolation prize. She couldn't rave about the course selection night enough. So I just want to say congratulations to the team, Headmaster DeLeva, and all who worked on coordinating that event. Also, last week, last Thursday, there was a vaping presentation and hidden in plain sight. It was held last Thursday night at the McGlynn School. Parents attended while their children were enjoying the annual Valentine's Day dance. There were over 100 students at the dance enjoying themselves. I did pop my head in for a while. Approximately 25 parents attended the vaping presentation by Diane Knight, the nurse and director of the Northeast Tobacco-Free Community Partnership. The Tobacco-Free Community Partnership is funded by the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program to support communities' efforts to help people quit using tobacco, prevent youth from starting, and protecting everyone from secondhand smoke. Her presentation was extremely informative. Then parents were escorted to the hidden in plain sight room, where parents could learn how their children might try to hide tobacco or marijuana or other drug paraphernalia. I know that I did learn a lot. School committee members Kathy Krutz and Paul Russo were also in attendance. And I want to thank Toni Wray, our Director of Health Services, Rachel Perry, our Director of Health Education, as well as Team Medford, Penny Bruce, who spearheaded the Hidden in Plain Sight presentation, Principal Nick Tucci for hosting and collaborating, this wonderful presentation and I think it should be repeated throughout the district because it was truly informative and it can help us keep all of our children safe. Some Mustang news. Last week we did mention that Tristan Howard won the Northeast Conference title for Indoor Track. So there are four regions in the state. And this past weekend, Tristan came in second place in the 55-meter race in the state finals. He qualified for the nationals and will be traveling to Chicago in the early spring sometime in March. So I just want to say congratulations to Tristan again, and he will be joining us on our March 4th meeting. Professional culture training. Last Wednesday, we had training with staff, but two weeks before that, we hosted professional culture training for both our administrators in the district, as well as our high school and middle school teachers. The training was provided by All One Health, our EAP provider, with additional information that was provided by DESE. The professional development session discussed harassment, sexual harassment, and bullying in the workplace. It also discussed the importance of reliability and responsibility of educators in a school community. It was a crowded, caring theater with approximately 300 educators who actively participated and they professionally pushed the presenters and provided administration with constructive feedback to build upon. So I was very appreciative of their participation and their feedback. That was last week. Last week as well, we had some excitement at Medford High School. On Friday, evacuations at Medford High School. So due to an electrical issue, and a Trojan Transformer issue, Medford High School had to be evacuated twice during Friday's classes. Both times, this was done out of an abundance of caution. At no time were students or staff in any danger. Building principals make the call when incidents like this occur. We appreciate that parents and guardians are nervous and want to be sure that their children are safe. Please know our goal is to issue notifications with the best information possible, as soon as possible. We strongly advise parents to listen to a verbal call from the building administrator or read posts on our blog, Twitter, or website. The facts will be listed there. Random posts on Facebook about what might be happening do not help anyone in these situations. We appreciate everyone's cooperation. I would like to publicly thank Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Christine Patterson, Headmaster DeLeva, Principal Fallon, Director of Building and Grounds John McLaughlin, the Medford Police Department, the Medford Fire Department, our assistant principals, Gail Trainor, David Blouk, Stephen Burnham, and Stacey Mulligan, our school resource officer, Rich Zeobro, our security officer, Bill Mazzica, my staff assistant, Emily Lazzaro, Eastern Bus Company, and our PR person, Lisa Evangelista, as well as the staff, custodians, all who work together to keep our students safe, In addition, a big thank you to the students who were very, very cooperative and paid attention to directions. They made me proud and they did act like true, true Mustangs and I just want to publicly thank them and acknowledge their support. Also, just as a reminder to all our listening audience, that fire lanes around our school buildings are marked clearly for that purpose. Fire lanes are not for parking. The Medford Police will be randomly patrolling the school and ticketing those who might park there. Fire lanes are for the safety of all in our buildings, so please be mindful of this. Friday was an example when we had at one point four fire trucks at the high school, police cars supporting us while we were trying to get to the root cause. So please keep that in mind. I also want to just recognize Saturday was a wonderful event. It was Medford Family Network's annual Valentine's Day Festival, and we had over 300 families that enjoyed the entertainment, food, and especially the ice cream. A great time was had by all. A few members of the city council joined. with all of the members of our school committee, and I thank all of you for being there, especially for the meet and greet. But I also want to acknowledge our city council members who were there, Rick Caraviello, George Scarpelli, Council President John Falco, and Council Vice President Breanna Lungo-Koehn, and State Representative Paul Donato. They were all there. It was really a happy event, a love fest. It was wonderful. I'd like to definitely extend a warm thanks to our director, Marie Cassidy. She has a heart the size of this room. And all of her staff, the friends of the Medford Family Network for hosting the lovely day and really reaching out to families. In addition, our family network also had hosted Friday night for family and friends, and again, it was held in gyms one and two at the high school, and featured knuckle bones and lots of games. They had over 40 families participate, which amounted to, these were families with multiple children, so there were a couple hundred people in the gymnasium participating in that event as well, and it's an excellent event. You should really stay tuned to their postings. Friday evening, after the excitement of the school day, I had the opportunity to go to the West Manfred Community Center. for their Black History Month kickoff. And with February being Black History Month, the West Medford Community Center presented a multimedia celebration that acknowledged African American veterans. There were poetry and spoken words from different genres. There was music provided by S Factor, an acapella group from Tufts University, and school committee member Paul Russo was able to be in attendance and attended the full event. from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday night for that kickoff. So that was great to see you there. I want to just make a brief announcement because we know that there are also going to be reports tomorrow about some inclement weather coming our way. in the afternoon, late afternoon for dismissal. So in preparation for that inclement weather, we are not having afternoon events at the school. There will not be the enrichment program at the Andrews and McGlynn. Families are going to be notified that at dismissal time, we will have regular dismissal. We won't be sending late buses, and we'll be doing that for all of our after-school programming tomorrow because we're unsure how it's going to be, but it looks like it's going to be worse in the evening, the evening commute. So we will continue to send notifications out. through phone calls and through our blogspot and website. Lastly, I'd like to wish all of you a very happy Valentine's Day for you and your families, and happy President's Day, which will be next week, and a restful February vacation, and take advantage, rest, relax, and I look forward to seeing you all in early March again.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You're welcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as I present to you this evening the fifth, sixth grade proposal, I do realize that many parents were wondering what was the district's position going to be. In my executive summary, normally the traditional method of choosing a middle school has entrenched misnomers that one middle school is better than the other. As an educator and superintendent, I am using my guiding principles of ACE, academic achievement for all, collaboration for all, and equity for all. In the vein of equity, it is my firm belief that the quality of education and level of commitment from the teaching staff will afford all students an excellent experience and growth in their educational development. In order to ensure equity for all of our students, a cohort model is being implemented. There will be a lottery, and 50% of students will be randomly selected from each elementary school, each fifth grade classroom. Half the students from each elementary school will go to the Andrews, and half will go to the McGlynn. Understanding the concerns, of parents dropping off and picking up at multiple locations, there will be an accommodation for sibling preference. Additionally, to support the needs of students, if there is an educational service requirement only offered at one middle school, then those needs would be accommodated for placement as well. This decision is not made without extensive review of the data and the need for a blended middle school environment. For example, the McGlynn Middle School data reveals that 60% of students are economically disadvantaged versus the Andrews Middle School with only 29% economically disadvantaged students. There are also vast differences in the number and percentages of ethnic backgrounds of our students that further drives the need for a lottery system. This system will provide all students with the opportunity to learn and share from each other's differences as they develop socially and emotionally in the middle school environment. My message is one Medford, one district. And this is fair and an unbiased process. This fair and unbiased process will demonstrate the power of equity and the value of a diverse learning environment. And the following tables, before you break out the configurations of the schools and what the potential numbers would look like. So I'm open for questions.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So could I comment? I just wanted to comment that I know, as you said, I did present the 5, 6, 7, 8 model. And so with our current enrollment right now, the Andrews and the McGlynn approximately, we're talking about 1,000 students, 500 students at each school. And by adding the fifth grade, that would put us at about a little over 1,300 students. which would significantly increase the enrollment at the schools, because as we were talking, that would end up putting 650 students in each building. So right now, the Andrews has like 472, the McGlynn has approximately 450. And so I know we would end up confronting a capacity challenge for the size of the building. So that was additional data that I was trying to unearth. But I'm still always willing to look at other options. But from a physical plant, physical capacity, We're talking 500, maybe 550, but to go all the way up to 650 students per building, we would come into a space issue.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So where we talked about sibling preference, at the McGlynn, since it's already one campus, it would be the option of reverse sibling preference for a parent. Maybe they may have a child in fourth grade and a child in second grade, and so to keep them in one building. But I thought about that as well, and I felt like if I said that McGlynn students were required to stay the full eight years at the McGlynn. And the remaining three elementary schools, those children would have an option of traveling as a cohort that I felt if we're going to try to be fair, then we should do it for all of the schools. And we're going to honor sibling preference as long as, you know, if a student is in the school currently, you know, matriculated, enrolled in school at that time. So that was a way to try to say, I didn't want to say the Roberts, the Brooks, and the Columbus, you know, half to the Andrews, and then the McGlynn, you don't have that option. You're required to stay. I kind of felt like if we're going to do it for one, do it for all of them, and just do it fairly.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: My recommendation with this current proposal would be sibling preference if you had a rising sixth grader and you had a student in seventh or going into eighth grade. So you need to be enrolled. So it couldn't be someone who graduated and you have someone coming up because then you Yep, the whole point is to make it convenient for parents that they're not dropping one student at the McGlynn and one student at another location, but if you're now having one child at the high school then You should be in the lottery just like everyone else It's randomized It's unless your child has a special programmatic need or sibling preference of a sibling currently enrolled.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I truly believe that this is the fair way. I have been in the schools. I've been looking at instruction. I love being in the field. I feel there is this perception. There's a perception gap about the two middle schools. And again, I wish Jessetta McGlynn on. I was there Thursday evening, I was there Saturday again. Being at the schools, children are learning. I believe that we have high quality teachers, we have fully licensed, certified teachers across the whole entire district. So no matter what middle school your child ends up, it's not like one school only has licensed teachers and the other school has substitutes. I believe when I say one Medford, one district, that no matter which school your child goes to, they are going to receive a quality education by teachers that are caring and will push them academically.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I want to say, where you were talking about the friends from parents that I've had the opportunity to speak with, one of the things that was said in the past was that Some students ended up not being able to have even one friend. But if you think you have a group and you do 50-50, if you have eight friends, maybe in your cohort it'll be four going to one school, four going to another school. But this is really an opportunity to unify the district because all the students end up together at the high school campus. And they have, right now, the partnership between Principal Downs and Principal Tucci. They're working collaboratively. They have after school enrichment program. So they do provide students with opportunities to mingle between the two schools. And so I feel what's most important is that the parents know that their child is receiving a quality education by teachers that are highly, all professional, all certified, and by teachers that are going to provide their child with a quality, rigorous learning experience.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so they have enrichment programs. So some of it is with the arts. Some of the offerings are available at both locations. So that's three days a week where they have the late buses, and families choose to allow their students to participate in that enrichment programming. It's an option to the families. And so I don't see any of that changing, any of that going away.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. So yes, we will still honor if someone is required to have a certain amount of ESL instruction, they need a specialized program. For ELL, they would still be assigned to the McGlynn Middle, because that's where those expert teachers are housed. And if students have particular disabilities, if they're part of the TLP program, the TLP program is still, the therapeutic learning program is still housed at the Andrews. So for those pieces, we would take that into consideration, and then the remaining students would be added to the lottery.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Can I ask when you're saying the steps?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I do want to say, as the school committee, that the final decision will be from you. But I do also want to say, I think it would be wrong of me not to say it, that the current system that is in place is a segregated system. It's very segregated, and we need to call it as it is. And when you look at the tables, and you see how the schools are divided out, We are educating all children, so I just want to formally say that we are endorsing segregation, and that's for the community to hear as well. I know it's hard, it's 2019, and this is Medford, but the current system is a segregated system, and it says something about us as a district, so I encourage bringing it to Committee of the Whole, But the final decision will be the decision of the school committee. So I just want to say that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: McGlynn Elementary.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, all elementary schools have approximately 500 students as well. Right. The fifth grade. The fifth grade class is 86 students, I believe, at the MacLennan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have a group of administrators that have been working on our safe havens report, things that we can do as a district, but we don't have a formal open forum.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I know you're all so busy, but... We could definitely look into... Then I'd like to make a motion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: thing would be for us to bring it back to the subcommittee and address it in subcommittee. So motioned.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: E. I feel it should go back to subcommittee. There's a motion on the floor to add it.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No. Next week's meeting, we do have committee of the whole at 615. And then we will also have executive session on Monday the 11th.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I'm really pleased to recognize the volunteers that have been working at all of our elementary schools, the work that they are giving of their time to give back to Medford and to our students. And we wanted to take this opportunity to really recognize them. I also want to thank Member Mustone as well for really helping to coordinate today's effort. First, I would like to recognize the members from the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization, which is currently at the Roberts. and the Columbus School. And it is our hope, once the program has an opportunity to expand, that we would be able to expand it to all of our elementary schools. And so, we have some certificates that we would like to recognize those of you who are here today. And so, our first recipient is Samuel Krexler.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Aiden Lewis.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening, everyone. A number of you have expressed interest in the wonderful work that was being done by Priscilla's Pantry, the free food pantry at Medford High School and the Medford Vocational Technical High School. The next lunch will be hosted this Wednesday, February 6th from 12 to 12.30 in Caf 3. There is a flyer in your folders with this information. You are all welcome to attend. In addition, Greta Smith, the nutrition specialist for the Medford Public Schools, provided me with the most updated data regarding students accessing the pantry. So on December 6th, three visitors went to the pantry and three bags were taken. On December 31st, it was also three and three. On December 20th, there were 15 visitors and 15 bags. On January 3rd, there were 11 visitors and 14 bags that were taken. On January 10th, there were 18 visitors, 26 bags that were taken. On January 17th, there were 9 visitors and 11 bags that were taken. And just last week, on January 24th, there were 34 visitors and 40 bags were taken. So the word is getting out and families are knowing that the food pantry is there as a support resource. So the numbers have significantly increased from December 3rd of three visitors and three bags being taken to last week, 34 visitors and 40 bags being taken.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So additionally, since we last met, I had the distinct pleasure to be asked to be a keynote speaker at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon, hosted by the Mystic Valley NAACP, Mayor Burke, Neil Osborne of the City's Diversity Office, the Medford Human Rights Commission, and the Medford Interfaith Clergy Association, and of course, St. Raphael's Parish. I spoke a little bit about the history of African Americans in the city of Medford, which goes back to approximately 1638, as well as my personal history, having grown up in West Medford, one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in the United States. I felt like I had come full circle as I began my educational journey first at Hervey School for Kindergarten and then as a student at St. Ray's for grades one through eight. So many people came before me, paving the way for me as a first generation Haitian American to realize my dream to become superintendent of schools in my hometown of Medford. Dr. King had strong faith and urged all people to love your neighbor as yourself. That definitely is a mantra of mine. The night before the King luncheon on January 20th, the Patriots had won the AFC Championship. And it resonated with me that day that if you fight the good fight and never give up until the clock reaches zero, you, we can all achieve victory. At that time, the Patriots were underdogs for the AFC championship. And yet, they came out on top. And I shared, similarly, abolitionists and George Stearns, who was an abolitionist from Medford. They were underdogs in their time. And yet, in the end, they came out on top. And because of their sacrifice and the work that they fought for, I am able to stand here before you as your superintendent. I'm honored to have participated in that wonderful event, and I'd also like to recognize that school committee members, Paulette Van der Kloot, Kathy Krutz, and Paul Russo were all participants in that event as well. And the Mayor, Mayor Burke, again, hosted it and was also a keynote speaker. So thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On a different note, I just want to recognize the work that our Mustangs are doing, and that our Mustangs are doing pretty, I would say, outstanding work for this winter season. They are really in good shape. So some of our highlights include that yesterday, our Mustang, Tristan Howard, of the indoor track team, he won the Northeast Conference's 55-meter dash by completing the race in 6.6 seconds. Currently, he is the fastest in Massachusetts and New England in this event. He also finished first in the long jump, jumping an impressive 21 feet, and he had the fastest 200 meter time in the relay race. Tristan also qualified for the state championships in four different events. the 300-meter dash, the 55-meter dash, the shot put, and the long jump. So great work, Tristan.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So our Lady Mustang basketball team won the annual Tufts University Cup versus Somerville, which was held last Sunday at Cousins Gym at Tufts University. The boys basketball team have climbed and have made the MIAA State Tournament bid, and a highlight of their season to date was upsetting Everett, 57-56. So one point victory, but we'll take it, a W for W. So we are very proud of all of our hardworking Mustang athletes. In addition, Mr. Maloney, he asked that I extend an invitation to all of the school committee members for Saturday, February 16th at 3 p.m. at Le Conte Rink. Mayor Burke will be honoring the late John Welch for his many years of service and dedication to both the La Conte Rink and the citizens of Medford. Mr. Welch was an educator in the Somerville Public Schools who lost his battle with ALS in December. So save the date, Saturday, February 16th at 3 p.m. La Conte Rink. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Chef Ryan Echols from Project Bread to the Medford Public Schools. Chef Echols, who works for Project Bread, started working at Medford High School to introduce some healthier and tastier meals to our students. He will be at Medford High School until the end of March, when he'll move to the McGlynn K-8 school. He plans to work on skill development with our dedicated school food service staff. The goal is to make sure that our staff feels comfortable preparing these meals when he moves on. What Chef Eccles does is provide a sample of a menu item to students in one week and then offers that sample as a choice for lunch the following week. This allows our students to try a wealth of different and healthy meal options. Chef Eccles hails from California and previously served as a senior teaching assistant and lead chef at Mount Diablo High School in Concord, California, and a FoodWise Kids Instructor at the Center for Urban Education, Sustainable Agriculture in San Francisco. Chef Eccles attended the San Francisco Baking Institute in the College of Worcester in Ohio. He is currently a part-time chef at Haley House in Boston, and we are pleased he will be serving the staff and students of Medford Public Schools. I would also like to take this time to congratulate our senior Arden Ingersoll. who plays the string bass and who, for the second year in a row, has been accepted to the Massachusetts All-State Orchestra, which will perform at Symphony Hall in Boston on March 2, 2019. He was among 1,800 students who auditioned for the event, sponsored by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association at Shrewsbury High School on January 26. Additionally, I'd also like to congratulate Medford High School freshman cellist Catherine Schmidt, who has been accepted to the prestigious Massachusetts Music Educators Association Northeast District Junior Festival. Fewer than half of the more than 1,000 students who auditioned were selected to participate. The festival concert will be held at the Galvin Middle School in Wakefield on March 31, 2019. So congratulations to Catherine as well. So this past weekend, our Mustangs once again participated in the Ethics Bowl. And so the Ethics Bowl team won the New England Ethics Bowl at Tufts University. So congratulations for that. So this debate style competition centered around 15 topical cases, which Medford has prepared for since September. While they spend months preparing, they cannot bring anything with them to the competition, and their arguments must be given extemporaneously. Once an argument is presented, the opposing team offers a rebuttal to which the team must respond, and this is followed up by a Q&A by the judges. Teams are scored on the quality of their remarks in all three sections. Medford competed against Phillips Exeter Academy, our sort of arch rival, Phillips Andover Academy, Lexington High School, Noble and Greenoff, Boston University Academy, and the River School. Medford defeated Phillips Exeter Academy in the semifinal round and then beat Noble and Greenoff in the final round. Some of the teams in attendance are ranked among the most elite schools in the country. I really loved what their advisor, Eric Ensor, Medford High School English teacher said. This win speaks to the caliber of the students here in Medford and the quality of the education they have received from the Medford public schools. I see it as an affirmation of public education as a whole. The other regional was held in Purchase, New York. So now Medford will compete virtually against the winner in a playoff. Whoever wins will qualify to compete at the national competition in North Carolina at UMC Chapel Hill. Medford attended the national competition there two years ago, where they finished 10th. For the third year in a row, The trustees of the James and Thelma Connors Foundation are pleased to announce that the James and Thelma Connors Scholarship Fund application process is now open for the entire city of Medford students. The scholarship fund will award up to 50 scholarships in the amount of $3,000 each to successful applicants. Over the course of the past two years, over $219,000 has been distributed amongst Medford students. Mr. Connors was a lifelong resident of Medford, who after his graduation from Medford High School, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. When he returned, he worked in the trucking industry. and also owned JC's lock and key service. When he retired, Jim became a long time volunteer at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Jim was known for always having a kind word and a smile for all. When his sister Thelma passed away, Jim decided he'd like to establish a scholarship to assist Medford students. Therefore, the James and Thelma Connors Foundation was developed and is now a 501c3 nonprofit private foundation. Applications can be made online. The website link is posted on our Medford Public Schools website and on the blog. Application deadline is February 28th, so do not let that deadline pass you by. So over the course of the past two weeks, my team and I, along with members of Lesley University, completed our second round of math learning walks, visiting the Brooks, the Columbus, the Roberts, and the McGlynn. We visited classrooms to witness a 15-minute snapshot of instruction, where we looked for evidence of the five core actions, which are evidence-based responses, academic discourse, productive struggle, access for all, and feedback. We met as a group afterwards to debrief and record our findings. The principals at each of the schools asked that we please leave our findings posted so that their teachers could review them at their convenience. And so that data is being shared with all the schools, the elementary schools. Patricia Cren de Glarce, who is the Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Ed, as well as a director for the Center for Inclusive and Special Education at Lesley University, mentioned how she has already noticed and seen a difference in the quality of instruction since our first visit in September at the start of the school year. and she has been accompanying me on all of the learning walks. Additionally, for this second round, we had Dr. Hilary Kreisberg, who is the director and assistant professor of the Center for Mathematics Achievement from Lesley University, also weighing in and participating this last time in two of the learning walks. I also want to note that we had participation from many of our other school leaders, not just the four elementary schools. We had Headmaster DeLeva, Principal Downs, Principal Tucci, Principal Toomey, our Director of Science, Rocco Sieri, Director of EL, Paul Textera, Director of Humanities, Dr. Nicole Chiesa, and Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the district. All of them were participating. Our Associate Superintendent, Diane Caldwell, have participated in learning walks throughout the year, but we have scaled up our work so that it can continue to grow within the district. Lastly, on Friday, I had the opportunity to go to a wonderful winter fest at the McGlynn Elementary School, and it was an evening of fun games, music, fun and merriment hosted by their PTO. And the parents braved the cold weather, if you remember how cold it was last Friday, and they braved the cold temperatures and went out to participate in the winter festival at the McGlynn School. So the last closing notes, I want to give you three more calendar notes to keep in mind. For our rising ninth graders, this Wednesday is going to be course selection at the high school from 7 to 8.30 p.m. And all of our directors will be available in the library to provide support and answer questions for our rising ninth graders who are going to register for high school. Vaping. Our vaping professional session is coming up this week, What Parents Should Know and Hidden in Plain Sight. It's gonna be presented this Thursday, February 7th at the McGlynn School at 5.30 p.m. This is a parent-guardian only event presented by the Medford Public Schools Health Department and the City of Medford's Prevention Office. While this is being held, the McGlynn Middle School will be hosting a Valentine's Day dance that will begin at five o'clock for students. And this coming Saturday, the annual Valentine Festival, which is hosted by the Friends of the Medford Family Network, it's going to be held this Saturday from 11 to 1 at the McGlynn School Cafeteria. However, there's a special treat this year. Please remember that prior to the festival in the McGlynn Auditorium, from 10 to 11 o'clock, there will be an opportunity to meet and greet all of the school committee members, and all are welcome. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Thank you for that, and that is my report for this week.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening everyone. So this past week, it's only been one week, but there's still a lot happening in the district. Coming up very soon, I just want to, in light of last week's presentation, I wanted to let parents know and the community, all of you know, that there will be a presentation about what parents need to know about vaping and hidden in plain sight. It will be on Thursday, February 7th at 5.30 at the McGlynn School Auditorium. This presentation will be provided to parents and guardians about the new look of nicotine addiction Parents will learn about these harmful products and how to protect their children from this latest trend. There will also be a hidden in plain sight area. This invitation is to all parents and guardians in the district who might be interested, and it is an adult-only event. The presentation is in collaboration with Toni Wray of our health department from the district and Team Medford, Medford's Board of Health Prevention Office. So please save the date, Thursday, February 7th at 5.30 p.m. at the McGlynn School Auditorium. Last week on Tuesday, Mayor Burke and myself, we had the opportunity to go downtown Boston to meet with Mayor Walsh at City Hall. We attended a meeting to discuss the potential overhaul of the state's 26-year-old funding formula. It's our hope that it will be updated so all students can benefit and bridge between urban and suburban school performances. This potential funding will benefit Medford greatly. And in addition to that, last Wednesday, Mayor Burke and Assistant Superintendent Christine Patterson They went to the State House, Senator Chang-Diaz and many other mayors and superintendents and school administrators, members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and others were there in support of the revamped version of the Senate's funding bill from last session. And so the proposed bill will be called the Education Promise Act. And again, this will hugely benefit our district and correct some historic funding inequities. So I'm very optimistic and hopeful that this bill will go through and benefit Medford. Last Wednesday, I also attended NSSEP training as it was my fifth session of one-year training. And again, I continue to work with a group of cohorts of close to 40 superintendents across the state where we participate in professional development. We have opportunities to look at our district's vision, looking at data and what potential theories of action can be for each respective district. So as I continue to work on looking at Medford and making Medford stronger and continuing to improve our schools, I continue to learn a lot from being at those professional development sessions, hearing from other superintendents and other leaders within the state to help inform and guide the work that I'm doing. So that was last week, Wednesday, and I was in Marlborough for the entire day. My next meeting with them will be in February, on February 6th. So it is frequent, but it's making sure that we're all moving at the same pace. Something that's happening right now in Medford, we have a wonderful computer science curriculum. And we are expanding our K-12 computer science learning for our students. Last year, Edison Robotics, Edbots, were integrated into our technology curriculum. This year, coding and robotics have been expanded to all K-8 schools. The Edison devices have a variety of programming languages that are appropriate for younger and older learners and teaches students computational thinking and computer programming in an age-appropriate way and with plenty of hands-on learning. Students were able to code the robots to respond to light and sound, follow lines, and avoid obstacles. The students can also code the robots to communicate with each other or to respond to claps or music. These robots are ideal for STEM projects and are suitable for students from kindergarten all the way through high school. And again, this is preparing our students for tomorrow, artificial intelligence and things along those lines. Additionally, I just wanted to give an update about Priscilla's Pantry, the Medford High School Hope Chest and Priscilla's Pantry, a free food pantry at Medford High School that assists Medford High and Medford Vocational Technical High School students. We hosted a free chili, they hosted a free chili lunch on early release Wednesday. No school lunches are traditionally offered on early release days. And with the assistance of the food pantry, Red Smith, our district nutritionist, made two types of chili, meat and bean, and vegetarian chili. Students not only were able to grab a steaming bowl of chili, but also left with the ingredients needed to make the same meal at their homes. So Priscilla's Pantry hopes to not only feed hungry students, but empower students to cook for themselves. They hope to provide this interactive lunch experience on future early release days. Last week, for our students, we also had a special presentation, ending distracted driving presentation. So this presentation was for our sophomore class at the high school. And the students listened to an end distracting driving presentation provided by the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Attorney Joel Feldman, who began the end distracted driving program 10 years ago in memory of his daughter, Casey Feldman, opened the program. Casey was 21 years old and in a crosswalk when a distracted driver hit and killed her. Medford resident, Emily Stein, the president of Safe Roads Alliance, lost her dad to a distracted driver. Both of the speakers explained how a few seconds can change everything. They urged the students to pay attention on the road and focus on the task at hand, which should be driving only. During the presentation, the speakers asked the students if their parents texted while driving. Unfortunately, a number of hands did go up. We can't tell our children to stay safe, and not to text and drive, and then witness us doing exactly what we told them not to do. So this was a very powerful and very important presentation for our students, and we did have support, I believe Ms. Dever from the mayor's office, Dever Wood came to support us for that presentation. Also, I just wanted to announce that at the end of this month coming up before January ends We have four dates slated for math learning walk to as you know in collaboration and partnership with Lesley University We did baseline data in the fall and so we are now getting ready to do our mid-year check-in update for all of our elementary schools and so We are in the process of combining teams. We will be having directors and administrators and leaders on the Lesley University side coming to support our learning walk as we continue to gather data to look at the progress that we've made from the start of school year to the midpoint. So those are my announcements for today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We will have this on our website. I believe it may already be posted. I know they are notifying parents at the school there's going to be a dance happening at the same time. So as parents go to the school to drop their children off for the event, while the students are enjoying themselves at the dance, parents will be able to go to the auditorium and participate in this very informative presentation to really help them be aware of what's happening and for the hidden and plain sight for the parents to be able to see what could be right under their noses and they're not aware of. So I wanted to make sure that we just announce this to the community and as you talk with people, and you can have it on the blog spot in the website, but to continue to just let people know that this is happening, let the community know, and I think it's just another opportunity to continue to inform the community about these addictions and how we can work together support our youngsters.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So you're requesting, I will get the exact number of students that participated in the last early release?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I will try to find out that information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So it's just a total number of homeless within the district and total number of students served?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So hot off the press, I was texted some intel. Approximately 15 students participated and had some chili. So it's approximately around 15, but I will get a confirmation.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Please tell us about the job.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just want to say, point of clarification, that not all schools carry the same amount of EL teachers because they don't carry the full program.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Member DiBenedetto, we do have it down for February to present the status of the information that we have for 501c3s.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Happy New Year. While the majority of the past few weeks in metropolitan schools have been, most of us have been on holiday break, many families were assisted by different students and groups from our school community. And prior, this was an oversight that I did not have an opportunity to mention a little earlier, but it's a highlight that I think is important and worthy of sharing with the team. The Lure Club, Glue Glue, at Medford High School, this club was formed from Miss Nyland's French class students. They were motivated by CCSR, our Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility program to make a difference in the world. With the support of Ms. Nyland, the club created Thanksgiving baskets that went to Medford High School families. The students collected the foods and donations from peers, teachers, and many businesses in Medford in order to make baskets for homeless families in our schools. And they were able to provide Thanksgiving dinner to over 15 Medford High School families, and so we're very proud of the students' accomplishments, and I wanted to say that it was an oversight that I didn't recognize them last time, but I wanted to extend a special thank you to Club Lurgluglu for their work in Miss Nyland's students. I also wanted to recognize Nuha Eliazid. She is a CCSR student as well as a sophomore at Medford High School. And as part of her project over the holiday break, she conducted a toy drive at the Franciscan Children's Hospital, where over 50 toys were collected and delivered to the hospital, and the hospital was very grateful. So I just wanted to recognize her for, again, making a difference in the lives of children that are sick and at the hospital. So thank you for that. Medford High School's transitional program. The students and staff at Project Transition at Medford High School, hosted a holiday gathering along with Malden High School's transitional program. And according to Ms. Huther, a teacher in the program, our access program, she explained that getting these groups of students together was one of the best social opportunities the students have ever had. It provided the students the ability to network outside of their world. Truly, this is what our program is all about. A special thanks to Headmaster Paul DeLeva for his assistance in helping to make it happen for our students at Medford High School and Malden High School. So we were very happy about that event. Also, I'd like to acknowledge our Medford High School's AP in Honors Calculus class. Prior to vacation, Dismissal, students in Ms. Chen's class completed projects on related rates of change and optimization. Students were asked to choose a real-life application problem and then create a three-dimensional physical model. This is one way for students to engage in learning as well as deepen their understanding of mathematics. Using appropriate materials, students produced shadow boxes for the purpose of communicating the mathematical problem and its calculus solution to the audience. In addition to the shadow box, the students had to submit a typed manuscript that described their work. On the project due date, students were given opportunities to engage in an evaluation process. They spent time looking at one another's projects and graded them based on creativity, clarity, and explanation, and the overall presentation. These presentations are very informative And there are photos that are posted on the blog. So please, if you have an opportunity, go to the blog to look at that work. But just excellent work that's happening with our AP and honors calculus students. I also wanted to say over the last time that we met, we had a wonderful ceremony here when our new police chief, John Buckley, was sworn in. It was a fabulous ceremony. and he was sworn into office on Wednesday, December 19, and I was honored to join him here, be here with him and many other dignitaries, his family, fellow department heads, and our wonderful band, the Medford High School String Ensemble, I should say, under the direction of our finance director, Tony Zigny, provided the musical selections for the ceremony. Chief Buckley stated that he plans to continue Medford's community policing initiatives that had begun under Chief Sacco, and he also pledged to reach out to Medford's richly diverse community. We in the Medford Public Schools welcome him aboard and are eager to collaborate with him. Another great partner is Tufts University, and Tufts University will once again be hosting the Tufts Classic at Cousins Gym, Sunday, January 20th. both Medford High School boys and girls basketball teams will be playing the Somerville High School boys and girls basketball teams. Each winner will take home the Tufts Cup. The girls games open the tournament at 12.30 and the boys games will follow at 2 o'clock. There is no admission fee. Instead, Tufts University is collecting perishable food items for Medford and Somerville food pantries. So I hope some of you are able to come out and really support that wonderful event. That date is Sunday, January 20th at 12.30 and 2. Cousins Gym. Lesley University, as I continue to work with our partner, Lesley, it's part of the work that I've been doing with my entry plan and also part of the entry plan is looking at our data as a district. And as we had talked about earlier, math was an identified area that we wanted to work on. And so when you hear me talking about Lesley, the focus really is to address how we performed at the elementary levels. In particular, we're having a particular focus on elementary math, to try to increase outcomes for all students. And since we last met, I had the opportunity to go to Lesley University, and I met with Patricia Cren de Galarce, who is our lead partner on the educational side. And in addition to that, I got to meet with the Board of Trustee member, Art Bartich, who is one of the authors of an early childhood math book, a co-author, and supports the what-if math. And I also had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Rohan Kandargi from MIT. He's a K-12 administrator who works for the Office of Government and Community Relations. He also was very interested in continuing to partner with Medford and with Leslie and looking at opportunities to see how we can continue to make meaningful math partnerships. The conversations that I had with Art Bardage, we're looking at early childhood mathematics and different ways to make math become alive at the youngest levels so that it carries all the way through to the high school levels and in meeting with Patricia, Dr. Galarza, Brenda Galarza. We are in the process of scheduling our second math learning rounds, instructional rounds, and we are going to be scheduling those for the end of January. And we are intending on going a little deeper this time as we go to each school. And so I had the opportunity to also meet many professors at the university. who are interested in continuing to collaborate with us, whether it's conducting learning walks and looking at instruction, or providing support in professional development fashion. So that work is still continuing. On our facilities front, the Karen Theater, the heating coil was replaced over a break. so it is now fixed in the Karen Theater. And building grounds, we are still working and making progress on the gymnasium, but I just wanted to put that forward as well. Lastly, I had the opportunity to look at instruction with Mr. Headmaster Paul DeLeva, and we spent some time, we went to Access Classrooms today, and really got to see wonderful work. The students are so excited to be learning and having us there as guests. We also spent some time on the vocational side of the house and went into carpentry, got to see a beautiful table being sanded by a student. I wish I could have displayed a picture. And the students in our carpentry are getting ready to work on a project where they're going to be constructing bed frames for refugee children. And it's through the Boston Cares Foundation. And so in Medford, we are doing great things to make a difference in the lives of our own community, but also in the lives of the greater community. And so they have not started that project yet, but the wood has been delivered. And so I will definitely keep you posted on the progress that they make there. I got to spend time in Meadowfab. Students shared with me some of their beautiful creations. I saw some steel roses that were made by the students. Beautiful. And they're really excited about the work that's happening there. So I want to continue to just be in classrooms, look at instruction at all levels. It's not always mathematics, but just promoting what's best for the district. And so that's my report for today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Mr. Benedetto.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm very excited to have Dr. Randy Schuster come to present to us this evening. She did come in December to present to our administrative team. And there were many, many rave reviews. And so I want you to be able to participate in the wealth of knowledge that will be shared by her this evening. Thank you, Dr. Schuster.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Christine Patterson will be sitting in on interviews.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to comment and say that there are definitely some strict procedures that are in place. We do have Saturday detention. There still is the social probation, which usually, if it results in a suspension or something along those lines, it's a 30-day social probation, the administrator, the parents come, they meet with the school administrators, whether it's the headmaster or the assistant submasters. So there are structures that are in place to deal with discipline. And again, with the bathroom situation, I have been speaking with some of the assistant submasters. And students can sometimes be very savvy in terms of where they conceal the jewels. So you have to actually catch them in the act. And so sometimes it's very difficult to catch them in the act. But it is something that is on everyone's radar. They are working collaboratively. When they do catch it, they confiscate it immediately and they follow the disciplinary procedures that are in place. Yes.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We're going to ask Toni Wray and Rachel Perry to come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And at our monthly admin meetings as well, there is an update, and so they're being told on a monthly basis as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, they are aware. They are definitely aware. No one would be surprised to see that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. And these five rules were based upon the samples that other districts are currently using. So it was kind of like a potpourri, but the language that was removed. Mark Rumley said, you know, the pieces that needed to be removed were removed. But again, there's always a possibility of doing a committee of the whole. And we can also revisit this in another retreat Dorothy Presser, also talking about norms and rules of engagement, going deeper with that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Alright, the winner is Mara Kennedy. Mara Kennedy. 49 Salton Stall Road, Medford.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It's sufficient heat in the gym area?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening everyone. So last Thursday, prior to the winter high school orchestra concert, we enjoyed a wonderful event celebrating former school committee member Lina DiGentimasso. The Medford High School Music Room was dedicated in her honor by Mayor Burke. Lena and her family could not have been more appreciative. I would be remiss if I did not thank our Fine Arts Director, Tony Zigny, for his gracious assistance, and the Medford High School Orchestra for their wonderful musical selections. I'd also like to recognize Principal Chad Fallon and the Culinary Arts Program for providing the pre-ceremony reception. It was truly a collaborative effort between the school committee the city council to honor Ms. DeGenta Maso, who devoted a great part of her life to the Medford Public Schools and our community. The plaque is in place right now over the door of the music room in A building. So I wanted to just recognize that. I also wanted to talk a little bit about CCSR. Our CCSR students have been quite busy of late. The Medford High School members have been visiting with students in both, the high school students have been visiting with our students at the elementary and middle school levels to discuss CCSR goals and objectives. And they were assisted, again, by Rhetta Smith and the Garden Club in planting the new orchard that we do now have in place, and we'll hear a little bit more about that in detail. And some of them are here with us. We had 10 pear trees. planted, blackberries and raspberries were planted. Not at this point in time. You'll come up a little later for a separate report. And currently the CCSR are in the process of collecting toys for Tots. So I just want to put that out there as well. Our Spanish II honors class at the high school, they have Skyped with students in Bolivia. and our students were able to practice their conversational Spanish, while their students were able to practice conversational English, and our students truly enjoyed this learning experience. This unique learning experience, I should say. Hope Chest, so last week, the Medford High School Vocational School Hope Chest Food Pantry, Priscilla's Pantry, opened. and the pantry is available for all students and is free of charge. The pantry has shelf-stable foods and household goods. It will be open Thursdays after school from 2.30 to 3.30 with the hopes of expanding operating hours in the near future. The pantry is located next to the third floor lecture hall in C building. And I would like to thank the following who made Priscilla's Pantry possible. the Hoff Family Foundation, the Greater Boston Food Bank, in partnership with the Malden YMCA, along with the district's nutritionist, Retta Smith, and teachers Annie Saulnier, Emily Polini, and John Wilson. This is another great example of collaboration that benefits our students and families. Empowering Girls Conference. So on Wednesday, November 28th, a group of 8th grade students from the Andrews Middle School attended the Empowering Girls 2018 conference at the Cary Memorial Building in Lexington. It was hosted by Middlesex DA, Marion Ryan, and the all-day program was designed for middle school girls with the theme of She Persisted. The students and their chaperones, Katie Fumara, who's an adjustment Councilor, and Yvonne Santos, a guidance Councilor, were met with opening remarks from Marion Ryan. who discussed the importance of persisting through difficulties and going after the career you want. The Andrews students listened to guest speakers, asked questions, participated in activities, and left feeling empowered and invigorated about their futures. Thanks to D.A. Ryan, the Empowering Girls 2018 program, it ended up being a huge success, and the Andrews will definitely return next year. On the sports venue, Medford High School and our vocational school combined, our winter sports season has officially begun. And our La Conte ice rink is offering expanded public skating over the holiday break. And all of that is listed on our website and our blog. I continue to have a focus on looking at instruction. I am really trying to stick to my goal of being in schools at least twice a week. And I am continuing to witness and observe instruction. Over the past two weeks, I have been at the Columbus, the Roberts, the Brooks. It's really uplifting to see how devoted our teachers are. in terms of implementing their curriculum and really being focused on our students. Additionally, earlier today I was at the Columbus and I was able to spend time with one of our math coaches. As you know, math is one of my goals and a serious focus of a lot of my instruction, although it's not exclusively mathematics. And I was able to work with Ellie O'Leary today. And I spent time with the fifth grade team at the Columbus School. I had the opportunity to observe inclusion math and special education teacher Wendy Anderson was working collaboratively with the teacher, so it was wonderful to see inclusion at work and instruction happening and students focusing on math and having an opportunity to productively struggle. and be challenged, but know it's for a good reason, a good cause. So as I've been looking at instruction, I've had the opportunity to look at instruction with principals. When I was at the Brooks, I got to walk this last time with the assistant principal and members of my leadership team, and I also go to schools independently, so just continuing to keep my eyes on instruction. Another important thing happening in the district right now is ACE advisors and coaches in education. This past week, Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell, Principals Nick Tucci of the McGlynn Middle School and Michael Downs, Principal of the Andrews Middle School, Assistant Principal David Blouk at the high school, as well as Penny Funiali and Lisa Bandonian, met to discuss the ACE project at the middle schools. The ACE project, again, Advisors and Coaches in Education, is a project of the Medford Health Department, Team Medford, and Medford Public Schools. The purpose of the ACE project is to educate and train club advisors and coaches on how to effectively build meaningful relationships with students through search institutes, evidence-based model for developmental relationships, which will help to reduce substance abuse and other risky behaviors in youth. Medford High School already has ACE in place, so this is now moving down to the middle schools. on safety. Our principals and administrators have been actively working together on upgrading our building security plans. All schools-based principals, Officer Ziobro and John McLaughlin, we met in a closed-door meeting session to discuss our current security practices and measures and examining the Safe Havens reports from a district perspective of what things we can do to continue to keep Medford safe. Additionally, last week, Officer Ziobro, Lieutenant Paul Covino, Principal Nick Tucci and Principal Brian Toomey, They all attended safety workshops that were conducted by Safe Havens last week. And they reported out on the workshops, and they shared with the principal group when we were discussing our security and safety plans. MSBA, which is the Massachusetts School Building Authority, The MSBA did announce at the end of last week that they awarded their award recipients. They awarded 14 districts. Unfortunately, at this time Medford was not selected this year. However, we will continue to apply. for funding to renovate our high school complex. In light of not being selected, we will continue to work collaboratively with the city for targeted capital improvement projects. So it's something that we're gonna continue to work on and work at. Another very important topic that has surfaced and the school committee members were requesting an update on vaping. And vaping is definitely a serious concern that the country is facing and Medford is not excluded from this challenge. We take this very seriously as a district and as a city. Our school administration is very aware of the public health issues and how it's affecting our students and the community at large. Here is, I'm going to share just a few brief overview of steps that we've taken thus far and that we're going to continue to address the issue of vaping as a district. with a focus on the whole child. We have engaged in specific student education around vaping. They are addressing it in some portions of the curriculum that we're using, the Michigan model. Student support to assist students who are at risk and engaging in risky behaviors. Community partnerships in collaboration with the Medford Board of Health. and frequent ongoing education and outreach for parents and staff. We are also looking into providing in collaboration with the city, providing like a parent support group that could be available to parents at the high school and offer that. So those are some of the things that we're trying to do. So knowing that vaping is truly a serious concern. I wanted to just put it on the floor that it is something that we are taking very seriously, but because this is truly a large issue, we did not have enough time to prepare a comprehensive report. on specific numbers and statistics of things that are happening. So we're in the process of combining that to come back to you in January to give you a more robust presentation. And we would like to, we are trying to ask Dr. Schuster and Team Medford from the Department of Public Health to come and share their wealth of knowledge with us. So I'm shooting for the second meeting in January. Dr. Schuster has already conducted professional development with members of Team Medford at the high school to all school leaders and director-level administrators, and that was a very, very informative training, a lot of positive feedback, and they would like her to come back, and we would like her to also be able to come and present as an expert in the field. So that is where we are with our work around vaping. On another note, I wanted to just say today I had the pleasure of being at the Roberts School. I was invited to see their hand chimes concert. And their music instructor, Mr. Jim Connors, is truly masterful. Our arts department as a district is phenomenal. And today was another special treat by fourth and fifth graders. They played the hand chimes. In addition to that, musical pieces, drums, xylophones, recorders. And I saw for the first time today tenor recorder and a bass recorder, I had not seen them. So students were not only playing traditional recorders, but tenor and bass recorders. So I could definitely see that under Mr. Connor's leadership that we definitely have additional, the band pipeline in the making. hear the band music playing as I observed them. So that was truly a positive experience. And I want to just thank the Roberts School, Principal Johnson, and the team that were there to during the concert, it was really a great experience. And then lastly, I would like to wish all of you, the school committee and the members of the community, a happy holiday season, a restful break. I know Hanukkah has ended, but happy Hanukkah to all of those who did celebrate the holiday. I'd like to wish merry Christmas and happy Kwanzaa, and a healthy, happy, prosperous, peaceful new year to you all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Test.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to participate, the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to participate in my first Medford High School, our Mustang pep rally. That was truly a phenomenal event. Getting this.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: It was truly a phenomenal event, seeing the excitement of the team, the staff, the unified spirit of everyone, and really cheering on our Mustangs and a great performance by our band, our cheerleaders, and it was just a wonderful time of the school coming together and really celebrating. So that was a wonderful event, the pep rally, my first pep rally, and I definitely am looking forward to many more. We were accompanied by the mayor and many members of the school committee. were able to come out as well and support the pep rally. So that was an enjoyable event. I want to just recognize all of our Medford Mustang football players. I say that our players have heart. As you know, Thanksgiving Day was one of the coldest days on record. And so our Mustangs, they gave it their all. So we did have a tough loss, but it was very close. It was 28 to 24 with Malden. But I want to just say a great thanks, a special thanks to Coach Nascimento, all of his staff, all of the players, the family members that were there, Headmaster DeLeva and Principal Fallon, they were also present. Many directors, I was able to make it there with my son and really, I saw a member, Van der Kloot, there as well, braving the cold. And so we still were able to have a very enjoyable Thanksgiving. And so I want to just recognize our Medford Mustangs and say just for them, go Mustangs! So I'm going to continue to support you. So last Monday, When we came back off of the Thanksgiving break, we had our second retreat with the school committee. And as a team, we had an opportunity with my leadership team as well, Associate Superintendent Caldwell and Assistant Superintendent Patterson. We were able to have rich discussions with Dorothy Presser from MASC, who was our presenter, and my coach from NSUP, Dr. Carla Baer, as well, who participated, and we were beginning to kind of lay the foundation of what is to come, my goals, what will come by the end of the year, my district improvement goals. And so I look forward to those retreats and I thank you all for participating in that with me. on Friday that just happened this past weekend. There's always a lot happening in Medford, so I want to keep everyone informed. We had our official ribbon-cutting for the new basketball court and the new scoreboard. The Leslie Lynx, the basketball team, and our Medford Mustang basketball players were there for the ceremony. It was a basketball team a basketball game that was taking place. Mayor Burke was there, member Kathy Krutz, Lesley University officials, Medford High coaches, my associate superintendent Diane Caldwell, we all participated in the official opening celebrating the gymnasium and the new scoreboards. So that was a very happy occasion. On this past Saturday, we had a very successful Girls on the Run program that took place at Hormel Stadium. Girls on the Run Greater Boston is an independent nonprofit organization affiliated with Girls on the Run International, which has over 200 chapters across the United States. This program helps to build competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and contribution through research-based lessons that incorporate running. So girls from the McGlynn Elementary and the Roberts Elementary both fielded teams, and I'd like to just thank Megan Richard, for helping to spearhead this initiative along with the coaching staffs at both the McGlynn and the Roberts schools. Associate Superintendent Diane Caldwell and McGlynn Elementary Assistant Principal Doreen Andrews were seen there cheering on the girls during that event. So that was a very positive event for our students and empowering for them. Also, last week we had six Medford High School student-athletes and two coaches attend the 25th annual MIAA Sportsmanship Summit at Gillette Stadium. Over 500 student-athletes and coaches from around the state attended breakout sessions throughout the day to learn about the importance of sportsmanship. On Thursday, this coming Thursday, just a reminder to everyone, December 6th at 7.30 in the Caron Theater, Mayor Burke, along with members of the school committee, will be able to honor former long-time school committee member Lina DiGentimaso. And so we're going to have the music room named after her. And so I want to thank school committee member Erin DeBenedetto and city council member Michael Marks for their dedication on this particular project. And I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday evening to enjoy our wonderful holiday show that will also follow the dedication. I want to say from a collaborative level between Medford Public Schools and the City, we are continuing to work collaboratively with the Mayor and the Board of Health as we look at social emotional learning initiatives. So that continues to be a top priority for us and we've had many fruitful meetings around that. I want to just let people know that our winter sports programming has officially started and it's going to begin the second week of December, but get ready for that. So right now we're in December, we are entering the season of giving. And Medford Public Schools will be hosting a lot of fundraising activities and events. And we hope that the community will be able to join us for those. The Mustang Band parents will be continuing to sell Christmas trees. They sold trees this weekend and next weekend on Saturday and Sunday. So if you are looking for trees, come support the band. And they will be selling on Saturday between 11 and 5 and Sunday between 10 and 4. Medford High School and the McGlynn Elementary School, as well as the city of Medford, are collecting new unwrapped toys for the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots campaign. So again, please, while you're doing your holiday shopping, please remember those that are less fortunate and work collaboratively with the city. Our own Medford Family Network is also hosting their Mitten Trail in their classrooms. So take a moment to come by and grab a mitten to assist our families that are in need. We would greatly appreciate that. Our Medford Vocational Technical High School is once again working with our Rotary Club, the Medford Rotary Club, to put together food baskets for those in need, the donations of non-perishable food items, is greatly appreciated to that cause. The Mustang Key Club is conducting a canned food drive for those in need as well. So we are, as a community, as a district, really thinking about helping those that need the help during this holiday time. So the Medford Community Coalition, in collaboration with our Medford Family Network, is hosting a toy drive at the Real Gusto on High Street this Wednesday, December 5th at 6 o'clock. So if you're able, you are welcome to come support that cause. And our Medford Mustang Mall at the high school, which is run by our vocational students in the marketing program, they are having extended holiday shopping hours to the community. So please come by and support them between 7, 15, and 4 o'clock. We're just encouraging, again, wearing our Mustang gear. It's wonderful holiday gifts. So those are a lot of things that are happening in the district over the next, the past few weeks and what's going to be coming. I also want to just take a quick moment to recognize that we had our own Kathy Madaglio and our parent, Melanie McLaughlin, who is part of our Special Ed, our CPAC team, that they were on NPR and there was a story titled Medford Schools Working to Improve Emergency Plans for Students with Disabilities. So it was recently aired on NPR and they were interviewed by Carrie Young and Carla Andre, one of our special ed teachers was also involved in that. So Medford has a lot happening and I continue to look forward to keeping you updated. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in your packets, as an educator and an administrator, DESE, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has an expectation that all educators have goals, and so I myself fall into that category. Shared with you are my improvement goals that I worked on collaboratively with the training that I've been receiving at NISPP, the new Superintendent's Induction Program, which is endorsed by DESE. And I have provided you with the four goals that I will be working on this year, which kind of overlap and work address the work that I also talked to you about a little earlier with my entry plan. So under district improvement goals, effective entry and direction setting. And so by the late spring, the district will have a broad understanding from key stakeholder groups about the district's most critical needs and promising strategies that will address them most effectively. I talked about the key actions that were listed there. I won't go through all of them. But the key actions, next report will be coming from me in February in regards to status of the entry plan findings. Our next district improvement goal is going to be developing a district-wide focus on instruction. So working with principals and other district leaders, I will have working to develop a common language, a common vocabulary about instruction as a foundation for their future work to continue to see improved outcomes for our students. So working on developing consistent language between all of us who are looking at instruction and evaluating teachers. And I detail and explain the learning walks that I will be continuing to conduct I'm working, continuing to collaborate with Lesley University. And I have given myself the charge of trying to conduct at least five school and classroom visits at each school. I expect to exceed that, but that is my expectation to be able to continue to be in schools looking at instruction. And by the end of this academic year, to have truly taken the time to have introduced the core actions to all leaders and teachers, and so that rollout has actually already started. So that's my second district improvement goal. Under student learning goal for elementary mathematics, that was my focus for this year, to improve elementary achievement outcomes in mathematics by deepening teacher and principal knowledge of mathematics. And so talking about the key actions supporting the development and implementation of an effective elementary mathematics coaching program, which we have in place right now, and develop continued development with our partnership with Lesley University and looking at benchmarking, we will be conducting our second formal walk in January. and ensuring that high quality targeted professional development in mathematics is available and conduct school visits again focused on the five core actions which I have presented to you at an earlier time in mathematics. I list the benchmarks there as well. Again, under benchmarks for student learning goal, I have put in an ambitious goal of seeing an increase of our students' performance from meeting and exceeding expectations on the state assessment. We currently were at 40.6, hoping to move to 45%. I would like to see an approximate, that's an increase of approximately 10% of our third through fifth graders. So that is my goal. And I will do everything that I can to try to achieve that goal, but it is an ambitious goal to try to see a 10% improvement at that grade span. Last goal is my professional practice goal. As I've mentioned before, I am in a training session with the new superintendent induction program, which is to develop skills in strategy development, data analysis, and instructional leadership by completing the first year of the program. And so I intend on participating in all eight day-long sessions, completing all assignments, which I have been doing to date, and consulting and meeting with my leadership coach on a monthly basis. And the benchmarks will be the documentation from the NIFA program at its completion. So those are my goals that I present to the team.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'll make that adjustment.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so I did work in collaboration with my coach, Dr. Beer, and we discussed the focus. Not only did, as a district, did we make an investment in having two full-time coaches assigned to the elementary schools. So that's a 2.0 FTE, and I feel for that kind of investment to have each school receiving coaching two days a week, two full days a week, coaching support. that you expect to see an outcome from that investment. And so principals, when they are going to look at instruction, they are looking at mathematics instruction. There is extra scrutiny, I feel, that's being given to math. Additional support with the planning of mathematics and professional development opportunities that teachers have been afforded, that I feel, you know, it is an ambitious goal. I don't know what our outcomes will be, but I would like to just push the bar and say, let's go for a 10% increase. That is significant. But I expect to see improved outcomes. That's my expectation for the investment that we're making and the support that's being given.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you very much. I appreciate very much that. consideration and, you know, we can think very creatively about ways to work with our high school students in supporting our elementary students in their mathematics work. So I appreciate that very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I will look into seeing if we can get extended hours, and we'll get it up on the... Website.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I don't know if anybody's... Could I ask Tony, are you able to speak to that? Tony Zigny, or... Okay. But I can follow up to find out and see if we can get that advertised as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like our Director of Fine Arts, Mr. Tony Zigny, to please come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: have played a positive role in the lives of so many of the students here and how they've gone on to have great success in their careers. So I just want to congratulate them all, all the inductees, and just encourage that positive work. Also yesterday was the Jingle Bell run and my associate superintendent, Diane Caldwell, and many others were there to participate in that fundraiser. And that was a fun event for families and children of all ages. And I really hope that it was a fruitful, or I would say lucrative, fundraiser for them. But it was definitely the holiday spirit reindeers and other things. So I was pleased to hear that that was a great event. And my final comments will be, since this is our short week, Wednesday is early release for all of our schools because we're getting ready to go into the Thanksgiving holiday break. So I just wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving break. If you do celebrate it and just enjoy the time with your family and friends. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Project HAIR grant will be presented by Rachel Perry. Thank you. Please come forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'd like to ask Tony Vento, our Supervisor of Health Services, to please come forward. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Stacey Shulman is going to come forward to present that report.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Um, I'm not going to say yes, but I don't know how much of it I actually would have access to, but I'm willing to.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Dr. Bernadette Rigodelli, Director of E-12.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, Paul DeLava, Headmaster, and Principal Chad Collin. Good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Dr. Chiesa, our Director of Humanities.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good afternoon everyone. I am so excited to be here today. This is my very first Hall of Fame event. As you know, I was born in Medford and grew up in Medford, but I did not attend public schools. remaining three are Cougars. But nonetheless, I'm very, very excited to be here to celebrate with all of you. All of you who are wearing the blue tags, congratulations on the awards that you've received in the past. And those of you who are wearing the white tags, congratulations today. I'm so excited to be part of this event with you. And I continue, I look forward to continuing to see more Mustangs become Hall of Famers. So have a great rest of the day.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for and justice for all.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Prior to that, I just wanted to make a few brief statements to talk about things that have happened in the district these past two weeks since we haven't met. We've had a lot of exciting activities. Our DA, Marion Ryan, came to the high school and presented the Cut It Out program and she spoke with both our cosmetology and health assistance students and it teaches them about their future work roles and how to notice symptoms of domestic violence and how to refer clients to get help. So that was a wonderful training that did take place at the vocational school. In addition to that, our garden club did host a harvest party. We, as a school committee, had a wonderful retreat, and I'm looking forward to our next session. I continue to work with my mentor, Carla Bear. I had the pleasure of attending the State of the City Luncheon that took place for Mayor Burke, and that was a wonderful opportunity to be with other department heads from the city. The McGlynn School hosted an ethnic pride week where students really were able to celebrate all of their cultures. And it culminated with a wonderful fashion show. And I did get to see school committee member Kreatz there as well. And the students were really excited about demonstrating their pride from where they attended. I also had the opportunity to attend Chief Sacco's retirement, which was a wonderful tribute and honor to his many, many years of service to Medford. And on the instructional front, I'm continuing to conduct instructional rounds. I had the pleasure of walking with Charlene Douglas, who is the MTA president, and we were able to go and look at instruction at both the Brooks and the McGlynn schools last week, so we are continuing to look at instruction and build a collaborative partnership. So there were many, many positive things that happened. The Roberts playground, we had a wonderful ribbon cutting, and I hope for our next school committee meeting to be able to show a short video clip showing the many stages that the playground went through. And so I want to just thank again the CPC, the Roberts Community PTO. I want to thank all the members that worked collaboratively together. I want to thank Cheryl Rodriguez for being a strong parent advocate. And the schoolyard came out beautifully. And so I'm so happy to see that again another collaborative effort producing a beautiful play surface for all students to be able to enjoy. The last piece that I did want to mention was that last week we did have an empty bullet casing that was located on the field of the high school. and that a concerned citizen did turn it over to our school officer, Officer Mazeka, and that the appropriate steps were followed. Police were notified. They investigated. We communicated to families that evening, and the following day, we had nine police officers walked the field with metal detectors. Then they came into the high school and they continued to search the different floors, the high traffic areas. And we had a canine, a dog, come into the school building. Three dogs. to three dogs in the end. We had one dog from Cambridge, one from the state police, and our Medford police dog to search the property and go back and look at the field. And so nothing else was found. I want to just thank Chief Sacco and all the police officers who worked collaboratively to keep Medford safe and that it truly is a priority. So those are the things that I wanted to report out and I was very pleased with that outcome.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Say it right, no? Yes, so Rocco Sieri, our director of science, is going to present the award. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: CCSR project, and in addition to that, after him, we will have Michael Skorker speaking, who's our program coordinator for CCSR, and we're gonna hear from four wonderful Medford High School students, and I want to say their names correctly, Sam Klugisch, Stephan Lungscher, Nicole Chin, and Tia Ballot. So I look forward to hearing from everyone this evening. Good evening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And we'll see you Sunday. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And I'd like to see Amelia Jensen come forward, our Director of Guidance, to update us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Our associate superintendent, Ms. Diane Caldwell.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Any questions? Ms. Caldwell, could you mention the Read for Bingo, the Reading Bingo that's taking place this evening?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK. All right. Thank you. We had a committee of the whole meeting with the school committee to review our MCAS data as a district. And we had very lengthy discussions about the progress that we made and the areas that we need to continue to focus on. And it is, I know, quite lengthy. It is a four-page report, but we did discuss... the progress of all of the schools. Math is an area that we will continue to focus on this year, and look at our math with diligence. We're gonna continue to work on science and ELA, and we will continue to bring updates on our assessments moving forward throughout this year, so that we don't have to wait only until the end of the year to hear official results.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have a presentation from Jenny, and I'm not sure of the other parents' names, but please come forward. And a flyer was put in the additional folder.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for the past two weeks, I have, again, continuing to be out in the field. And there have just been a few things that have been happening in the school system that I wanted to just recognize today. Later, you'll be receiving a more in-depth report from Chad Fallon, our headmaster at the vocational school. But I just wanted to recognize that we were there and several members of the school committee were able to attend the Bistro's grand opening, which was definitely a fun event. I also participated in my NSUP training, which is the new superintendent induction program. And so I will continue to participate in that all year. I was in Marlborough and we were working on looking at district initiatives and continuing to work towards our assignments and leading towards our end goal of having a new district vision that will be three to five years in scope. Additionally, I was able to attend the Mayor's big table, big ideas. It was a cross-functional team of members of the city where we had an opportunity to look at issues that are facing Medford and our students. around food, housing, and health concerns. So that was very informative for me to see how other aspects of the city are going to support the work that's happening for our students food pantry and those things along those lines. I also wanted to just recognize the Yoki restaurant that did a golf tournament to support our Medford family network. The golf tournament raised $5,000. There were 72 golfers who participated. This event took place on Columbus Day and I'm just very appreciative and thankful for their support of our own Medford Family Network. There was also another band clinic that took place. And so our band is very, very active. A lot of families are involved, including members of our school committee. And this clinic that took place over the past weekend was an opportunity for our band students and the other bands that chose to participate to receive feedback. and be critiqued in order to improve their practice. So again, having that criticism, but positive criticism to help you improve. It's a best practice, and I just thought it was worthy of noting that even in a non-academic setting, such as band, that that's something that they actively participate in. So they are striving to be even more excellent than where they are right now. And so I just wanted to recognize their hard work. And I want to recognize the Band families because they truly practice a lot late in the evening. And so when I'm leaving late in the evening, they're still there. And so I just want to recognize their hard work and dedication. On the sports front, we've been having some victories with our different sports teams. And we've truly been enjoying that as well. Lastly, I just wanted to recognize yesterday, those of you who were able to come out, there was a Taste of Italy at Medford High School that was a fundraiser for the Kiwanis, and they also support Medford Public Schools, and so I was able to really taste delicious Italian food yesterday, and there was a lot of camaraderie and friendship, and a lot of friends of Medford Public Schools were there, I want to thank them for their continued support and committee member Paulette Van der Kloot was there sitting at the table with me yesterday. But again, there were many other members from Medford who were able to support that event. So I just wanted to recognize those things that happened over the past two weeks and continue just to keep you informed of what's happening in Medford and Medford Public Schools. Following that, I would like to present my first report to you on the math learning walk to give you a report of findings. I did share this with you. I wanted to just share with the team and the community at large that the math learning walk that took place with Lesley University being our partner the math director, math coaches, all elementary school principals, my associate superintendent, Diane Caldwell, Bernadette Riccardelli, director of curriculum, Lisa Evangelista was also able to accompany us on these math learning walks. So it was a cross-functional team. And on this form where I talk about what was the lens that we used to look at instruction, and we used the five core actions. So when we went in to look at instruction, we wanted to all be in agreement so that we were looking at the same things or looking for the same indicators. And so by using the core actions, they were in bold. The five key core actions are evidence-based responses, productive struggle, academic discourse, access for all, and feedback. These five core actions, although we were using it during the math learning walk, the five core actions are applicable to all content areas. So that includes literacy, that includes science and social studies. So the core actions are these five key moves that you should be able to see happening during a lesson. So when we went to observe classrooms, we were only in the classroom for 15 minutes. So we did not see a full lesson from start to finish. Sometimes we saw the beginning of a lesson, sometimes we saw the middle, and depending on the schedule, sometimes we saw the end of the lesson. We were able to look at approximately 48 classrooms across all four schools, about 12 classrooms per elementary school, and each team had approximately three to four people looking at instruction. So we were looking at the five core actions, and we were also looking at the general environment of classrooms. And so in this report, I was really pleased to just highlight that in every single classroom, we observed three of the five core actions in all classrooms at some level. Those three areas where we saw greater evidence during the instruction that we were looking at during this 15-minute clip, it was evidence-based responses, academic discourse, teachers using official academic language during instruction, and access for all, which really is what are the types of accommodations that teachers are using. Are they meeting the needs of students with disabilities? Are they meeting the needs of students that are English language learners? Are they meeting the needs of students that are gifted and talented? So both ends of the spectrum, all types of learners, was there access for all? And we saw plenty of it. We saw a lot of use, appropriate use of technology, the use of manipulatives, because it was math, there were a lot of counters and blocks and cubes. So students that want to touch manipulatives to help them understand a concept, they had more than one modality to grasp what was being taught. So we were really pleased with that. And the other two core actions that we didn't see as much evidence of were productive struggle and feedback. And so productive struggle, again, It's not that it did not exist, we just did not see it at the same extent as the other three core actions. I think also it's important that I say the teachers, when we went in to observe, they had no idea what indicators we were using. And so the five core actions, now that we are sharing it with you, what the five core actions were that we used The school leaders ended up learning about the core actions, but now the teachers are going to find out. These are the five core actions. And so we're going to roll it out slowly throughout the district so that they can just be aware. These are just best practices. It already exists, but it's being able to call it out and being able to use it. So as moving forward in professional development with the additional department heads and directors and others that are going into classrooms, we're going to start using common language of the core actions to say, are we seeing evidence of these core actions while we are looking at instruction? So that is my synopsis. And again, from the environmental perspective, elementary classrooms truly are warm, welcoming, and very, very inviting. So we were very excited about that positive piece of data as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: We have Nelida Lepore. Yes, Nelida Lepore, please come and share with us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would like to call Judith Cromer forward to present the report on the Massachusetts Safety and Justice Board. And Mr. DeLego is going to just turn this on.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Motion carries. Thank you. I would like to call the following people forward to report on our coordinated program review. Kathy Medaglio, who's our Director of Pupil Services. Paul DeLeva, Headmaster of the High School. Paul Texterra, who is our Director of English Language Learners, English Learners. And Chad Fallon, who is our Headmaster Principal at the Vocational School.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I wanted to just make a few comments just about things that were happening in Medford as well this week, or the past two weeks I should say. So I just wanted to inform the school community that I had the opportunity of conducting four math learning walks at all of our elementary schools. The walks consisted of 10 to 12 people participating. And I wanted to recognize all of those who supported us in gathering baseline data. Ellie O'Leary and Grace Vasili, who are our new math coaches, elementary math coaches. Fiza Khan, who's our math coordinator. Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, our director of curriculum. Diane Caldwell, our associate superintendent. Lisa Evangelista, who's our public relations representative, who was also documenting our work. We had principals Suzanne Galussi, her assistant principal, Shannon Demos, principal Kathy Kaye at the Columbus, Kirk Johnson at the Roberts with his assistant principal, Andy O'Brien, Diane Garino at the McGlynn Elementary, and Doreen Andrews, her assistant principal. Our Lesley partners who also participated were Dr. Patricia Cren de Galarse, Sue Cusack and Christina Jash, and myself. It was a wonderful time of learning and observing and gathering baseline data, mathematics data, and specifically we were looking at core actions. We observed approximately 48 classrooms, and the things that we were looking for were evidence-based responses in mathematics, productive struggle, students being challenged, evidence of academic discourse, that students were using appropriate academic vocabulary and not saying things such as the thingy, but using the actual academic vocabulary of the course that was being taught. Access for all, what kind of accommodations or enhancements were being used, whether it was technology for all learners, and feedback, were students being given feedback during these instructional lessons that we were observing. So at our next school committee, I will present a more kind of robust report on the actual findings, but I wanted to just recognize that those were some of the things that were happening since we last met over the past two weeks. I also just wanted to update the community that last week we did have an isolated medical incident that occurred at the high school and that, yes, Mayor Burke and the whole school committee was notified and that all official protocols were followed. I also would like to report on our middle school. We had the opportunity to begin getting baseline data at both the McGlynn and the Andrews. and looking at practices and getting ready to go deeply and look at instruction. I did have the opportunity to spend some time at the Andrews. I was in a math classroom, Ms. Forty and Mr., where am I going right now, social studies class. Mr. DeWaldi. Yes, Mr. DeWaldi. Science. About protons and neutrons and electrons. And it was just wonderful to hear the academic vocabulary and the work was really cognitively demanding. And I asked the students, you know, in the math class, was it difficult? Was it hard? And they raised their hands feeling like, you know, they were understanding what was being taught, and the teacher was able to say, you know, after one day, they were remembering what they had taught in the past. So it was just very, very encouraging, and I look forward to doing much more of that. I also had the pleasure of attending a breakfast in Lowell with our DA, Marion Ryan, where she invited school superintendents, fire chiefs, and police chiefs for all of Middlesex County, and we met, and she really talked about the opioid crisis and how it is affecting our communities and how we can work together to educate all our constituents. So that was very informative. And lastly, I'd just like to recognize our media tech students at the vocational school. They scheduled an interview with me. They interviewed me at the media center. And the students not only conducted the interview, but they also were handling the cameras and the teleprompters behind the scenes. So it was really a coordinated event. And if you want additional information or look at that video of that, you can find it on our blog. For those of you who are interested, mpsadvantage.education. But I'm really excited and I want to continue to just share the bright things that are happening in Medford Public Schools. Wonderful, thank you so much. You're welcome for that. And without much further ado, I want to thank Dr. Bernadette Riccadeli, our Director of Curriculum, and our Headmaster, Paul DeLeva, who are going to share the updates on our new accountability system from the state, talking about the changes and what it means, what what does our MCAS data look like and what does it mean? So please. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the answer to your question is yes. All students is everyone including... Right, oh, I see what you're saying, yeah. All students count for 50% of the score. And then the students that are our lowest performance are counted a second time, and they are 50.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I would like to ask Megan Fidler-Carey, our new before and after school program coordinator, to come forward and present the updates. I know you've been very busy these past few weeks, months I should say, going back to the summer.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yeah, I'm asking Christine if she could just comment.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good to see you. I'm very excited to present Dr. Connor Behr, who is my I'm NISP coach. I'm in the new superintendent induction program. And Dr. Baird, I'm going to just pass the baton on to you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just wanted to say, because I didn't read this portion of my report for the listening audience, that Dr. Carla Baer, is serving as my one-to-one NSUP coach. Dr. Bayer is the former deputy commissioner at DESE. She also served as superintendent of schools in Massachusetts for nearly 20 years, including, most recently, eight years in Lowell, and before that, nine years in Wellesley. So I just wanted to put that down so they know your context and your broad experiences. And I am so grateful to be the beneficiary of having you as my coach.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'd like to ask Mr. Rocco Sieri to come forward and update us on FOSS. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: In terms of, you know, I do truly fully support the FOSS program. I'm very familiar with it. As you can see, the price tag is very costly. So I'm just wondering in terms of our current budget for this year to accelerate the adoption to January or halfway point, are we talking about half the cost? because what's unique about it is that you are working with live organisms. So I don't think there's a real way to get a discount on that portion of the science, that hands-on portion. I myself am willing to do the legwork with collaborating with the teachers union and seeing if we could have more people get trained But in terms of actually looking at that price tag to do the entire district at this point, and I don't think it was budgeted for this year, that's over $100,000 that we'd be talking about.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I like the idea, but the thing with FOSS is because they're consumable, if we get it early this year, we would still need to repurchase again next year because Some of the organisms do die.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will definitely be willing to negotiate with the company and we need to negotiate with the teachers union as well because I don't know the total number of hours that are required for full training of the FOSS and the total number of hours that we have left over for the remaining of the year. Okay. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Our associate superintendent, Ms. Caldwell, is going to report on our enrollment numbers.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So within your hands right now is the entry plan that I have been using as I've arrived in Medford. And so there are three key pieces to the plan, where the plan is an opportunity for me to have the chance to listen, learn, and be able to lead. I start the entry plan with an introductory letter. If you'll indulge me, I'll just quickly read the letter to you and just point out some of the key highlights of the entry plan. So it is with great excitement and expectation that I begin this new academic year as the Medford Superintendent of Schools. It was 24 years ago that I began my career in education, and now I have come full circle, serving the entire Medford Public School District. Over the course of my career, I have worn hats, many hats, as a teacher, a lead teacher, assistant principal, principal, network, and instructional superintendent, and now superintendent of schools. Although I have many experiences, I am beginning a new journey with eight uniquely diverse schools, and this entry plan is the roadmap that I will follow. In order to foster strong communication, collaboration, and achievement, I must take time to learn about all of the schools. the school leaders, the school communities, and critical stakeholders that make our schools successful. In order to do this effectively, I will be visiting all our schools and working collaboratively with school administrators, directors, and central office staff. Additionally, I will be reaching out to community partners to schedule or attend community meetings. My goal is for us and for all of us to be able to touch base and look at ways to deepen our existing partnerships. As I gather information from all my internal and external stakeholders, I will analyze the data and make the necessary adjustments to keep the focus on accelerating achievement for our nearly 4,800 students in Medford. This entry plan will be a journey of listening, observing, reflecting, commenting, adjusting, and growing. In closing, I thank you for the warm reception that I have received thus far. My core values that guide my work are ACE, achievement, believing in high achievement, collaboration, and equity. I look forward to this new journey of listening, learning, and leading together. In partnership for children, Marice Edouard-Vincent. And so I just wanted to say that this journey, starting in July, having the opportunity to listen, to meet one-on-one with all school leaders, with all members here of the school committee, asking consistent questions, trying to gather information. And I am continuing to meet with school leaders, and other central office administrators. And so this will continue to happen, continuing through September and into October, which would be the listening phase. As we transition between from, I would say, October, I want to move into the learning phase. And during that learning phase, I will have the opportunity to look at a lot of critical documents. And those of you who have the entry plan, I've jumped over to page five, going on to page six. And so I do give a list of the documents that will be reviewed. And there are more, but this is just a sampling, looking at our state data, our district assessments that we give, whether it's AP tests, our school improvement plans, looking at data, looking at our subgroups, looking at areas where we have not excelled. That's an important part of creating our next phase or our next roadmap for how we're going to excel in areas where we struggle. Looking at our data for our English language learners, the WIDA access test, looking at data for our students with disabilities, and working closely with our special education department. Looking again at attendance and suspension data, looking at family engagement data, so I appreciate finding out about this Google form because that will be part of engaging our family groups and the different booster organizations that support Medford Public Schools. Looking at our scheduling, looking at our pacing guides that we use for our curriculum in schools, continuing to monitor our enrollment projections, looking at our staffing allocations, our emergency plans, and continuing to review our budget. So it is a wide area of documents that I am collecting and information that's being gathered during this phase two, which is the learning phase. The final phase of the entry plan would be taking all of that data and really looking at how I will continue to lead Medford Public Schools. And taking the information from the findings, from the interviews, from interactions with both internal and external stakeholders, taking all of that information to come up with the strongest plan to accelerate student achievement for all of our learners. So I hope, my intention is, I'm now on page seven, that by December of 18, that I will be at a good point to really take the data that I've gathered from July until December and compile that data to be prepared to make a presentation here to the school committee sometime in January possibly early February to give you the findings, and that information will go into planning our district plan, our strategic plan, our academic plan for school year 2019. The entry plan, I am part of the NISP program, the New Superintendents Induction Program, and my coach is Dr. Carla Baer, who was also former superintendent and brings a great amount of experience in both multiple settings as a former superintendent. And she has been working closely with me and I would like to also give her an opportunity to come and speak with you as a school committee and the community to know what I am learning during our new superintendent induction classes. and the things that I'm learning that I will also be able to apply here to the school district. So that is my entry plan in a nutshell, but it is just to lay out the work that I've been doing thus far and the work that I plan to continue doing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Definitely, the capital plan and thinking about how we can work strategically on the city side to come up with very creative ways. So I will be working closely with them, and physical plant is definitely important. Thank you for that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, so the administrative assistant position is actually posted right now, and we are in the process of reviewing resumes. Yeah, so the end is near, and an administrative assistant hopefully will be able to have someone in place soon.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'm going to give the report on Lesley, but I would like to call up Bob Maloney, Mr. Maloney, and yes, Ms. Perry, Rachel Perry as well, to just give us a quick update on the
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I had called Ms. Perry up as well, because I didn't know. I knew last week there was a question about the pool. But the report's in your folders. So thank you for that. I also want to just report out a little bit that's been happening with Lesley, and I'm really excited to share that our work with Lesley is not just going to be athletic, but that there is an authentic plan to have an academic partnership as well. So in late August, as you can see, on the 30th of August, we had the opportunity, my leadership team had the opportunity to meet with Lesley University Interim President, Dr. Richard Hanson, the Provost, Dr. Margaret Everett, the Associate Dean, Dr. Patricia Crandell-Agarce, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Bernice Braden, and the Assistant Professor, the Director of the STEAM Learning Lab, Susan Cusack, to discuss our collaboration. And during that time, we had the opportunity to meet in the Bistro, so we were highlighting, we were in the Foundry Room, but we were highlighting, again, the wonderful assets that Medford Public Schools does have to offer. So some of the key things that Leslie is willing to offer to Medford Public Schools is both offering online and face-to-face professional development in areas of response to intervention, RTI, mathematics and other content areas. They want to continue to work with us on finding ways to think about inclusive practices for not only our students, but staff and parents. Additionally, looking at additional professional development that could be offered for neighboring districts and using Medford as a potential site so that if it was something that they were offering to other schools, we would be able to benefit alongside some of our neighboring colleagues for courses that could help our teachers, again, have opportunities for excellent professional development. Stacey Schulman, our coordinator of clinical services, she's also rebooting our cell opportunities, so that's another piece. She'll be working collaboratively with Michael Skorka and Maureen Lavin as a district to help with our CEL opportunities, social-emotional learning, and Lesley University is also willing to offer workshops and support that work with us as well. Lastly, At the end of this month, I will be conducting some baseline learning walks with Lesley University, and they're going to be helping us look at math instruction at our four elementary schools. And so what we would like to do is go in and just look at what math instruction looks like now in September, late September, early October. And then we will go back at a later point in the year, because as a district, we made an investment in having side-by-side math coaching at the elementary school levels, and working collaboratively with our math coordinator, Fajah Khan, as well, to improve math instruction for the entire district. So although Leslie is, you know, very famous for their work with literacy. They actually also are very excited about embarking on this journey with us. And Dr. Patricia Cren de la Galarce will be spearheading that work as we go and look at instruction to gather baseline information.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I will work with Dr. Patricia, because she's also the director of their Center for Special Education. So that is a wonderful connection there. And we have already begun our partnership. So you can update me, and then I will continue to make that happen.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I beg to differ about that assessment. I feel with the math, it is true that the new math right now is definitely there are a lot of literacy strategies that are there with the math problems. However, there are also still strong instructional practices that can happen in the area of math that were not being addressed. In speaking with Leslie and trying to do a partnership that was manageable, like one project that they would, because they're gonna be taking some of their professors to come offline to be available to gather the preliminary data. In order for them to do that, we could not be too broad and not be able to get enough information and do it well. So even in our conversations, especially my conversations with Dr. Patricia, we talked about in mathematics, the literacy that is present, which is one of the pieces that a lot of students have difficulty with, because there are so many words. And so we were talking about what are strategies which would end up including literacy strategies, but what are strategies that could be used, which could transfer over to math instruction. So we were talking about looking at best practices, but in order to come up with what we think could potentially be those best practices, we need to go in and see. So when I talked about listening, observing, and looking at it, and then coming up with an action plan, Leslie wants to be a partner with us, and they are willing to work with us. And so we wanted to just, we're, as a district, we were making a decision to focus on improving math instruction, but improving instruction in any content area, all of the other content areas will benefit as well. So the strategies that we can look at that are gonna happen in mathematics because there is so much literacy with the word problems, those skills can still be transferred over to science, to reading, to other content areas as well. So I don't want it to be like, oh, we're only looking at math and we're not looking at anything else. but the strategy was, as a district, we are a stronger performing district in literacy, in ELA. So that is our stronger muscle, and math has been our weaker side, so we're just trying to give some additional attention to math to build that muscle a little more, but we definitely are not going to ignore literacy. We're going to continue to keep a very, very close watch on how students are performing in ELA as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's definitely not my expectation. I think we have to look at where the children are developmentally. So third grade is the first time that students take a formalized assessment. So when you think about kindergarten, first grade, second grade, the foundations being set in third grade, that's the first time they take a formal assessment. So for some students, the stress of taking a standardized test in third grade, they are still young. And so third grade, although that's our baseline data, I still feel like the students need time. So if we look at our students' data over time, and you look at how they perform over time, starting in third grade, which we know is our baseline, year, all the way through high school, where you end up seeing significantly greater outcomes as the children get older. And again, thinking about our different populations at the elementary school levels. For English language learners, there is that silent phase, which I think I had talked about before, between five and seven years while they are acquiring the language. So they're not able to produce, they're not able to perform as well in the lower grades, but as they acquire the vocabulary and as they acquire greater academic language, the students are able to excel and they are able to do well. So although looking at the third grade numbers, you may be alarmed, I'm not so much alarmed about our performance in terms of how we are as a district in literacy. I was truly more concerned about the mathematics because the gap is getting wider. And in mathematics right now, one of the challenges is because there is so much language. And reading about math is not the same as just doing straight computation. So there's a different level of teaching that needs to go, that needs to take place in order for teachers to show students how to unpack the mathematical, like what is this word problem actually asking? because it's not something that you would normally do. So if students were just strictly working on algorithms, I believe they would be able to solve the algorithms. But once you add that word problem, all of a sudden, there is confusion. Am I being asked to add? Am I being asked to subtract? Am I going to multiply or divide? So that is the only reason why I was saying, let's take the strategy of focusing on the mathematics and the what students are getting tripped up with is around the word problems. And so by tackling that, although it's mathematics, we're also going to be addressing literacy at the same time. Just one more thing.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. Thank you. And that's also part of my learning phase, looking at the data that is available and then seeing what that data says. because again, the state assessment is only at the end of the year, and that is something that I've been talking a lot about with my associate superintendent, Diane Caldwell, about how we look at the data that's available to us, district-based data, and using that to inform instruction in our next steps.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I'm very pleased to announce that the school committee unanimously agreed to accept the memorandum of agreement that was ratified by the Teachers Union and The motion was passed by Erin DeBenedetto, and Ms. VanderKloot seconded.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I'm so excited to be here this evening. Thank you. I would like to say that I feel that opening of school has been absolutely tremendous. I want to recognize our new student member of the school committee again as well, Jas Versu, and I said we're beginning this journey together this year. I'm very excited to introduce him, and I also would like to recognize that we have several new principals and new administrators who have joined our team. We have I like to call him Captain Principal Michael Downs, who is our new administrator at the Andrews Middle School. I'd like to recognize Mr. Paul DeLeva, who is our new administrator, transitioned from the Andrews to Medford High School. Thank you so much for that, your support in working with us. I'd like to also recognize that we have some new assistant headmasters. We have Dr. Stacey Mulligan, who is at Medford High School, here with us today. I'd also like to recognize Stephen Burnett, who's with us also here, well, from the high school. I'd like to recognize Katie Champoli, who's new with us this year on the special education team, the coordinator of special ed. And for our supervisor of mathematics, we have Miss Faiza Khan, is working with us, so I wanted to just recognize all of the new members of the team who are working with us to really ensure that this is a very strong year. And in addition to just these opening comments about feeling that I've had a tremendous start, I'd like to just take a few moments to show you a visual image of that.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, I did. I rode the school bus day one and I got on bus 10 and it took me to the Columbus School. And so I surprised all the children, the bus driver, and the parents that were waiting at the bus stop. So I just wanted to say happy first day. I think I was more excited than they were. But it was definitely an enjoyable experience. And they were very well behaved for me, by the way.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No, no sing-alongs. We just had conversations. everyone was excited about it being the first day of school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. I just want to recognize all the principals and administrators that are here as well this evening. I see Kathy Medaglio, and Bernadette Riccadeli, and Nick Tucci just came. And this is his first official full year as well. being the administrator, and Mr. Kirk Johnson, I see you in the back, and I just want to thank you for your support. I really feel fortunate to be leading Medford Public Schools with such a great team.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The bistro's not officially open, but the students are baking cookies. I did get fresh blueberry muffins today. So they are practicing, they're setting up tables, and I think it's gonna be at least another week or two before they start actually serving.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just wanted to, thank you, thank you Mayor. I just wanted to comment in terms of some of the vocational teachers. The challenge is that a lot of them are able to be compensated at a significantly higher rate in their actual field. So HVAC and with all the construction happening all over the casino, Boston, all over the state, there's so much construction happening that it's very difficult to either maintain or find. So I know Chad has been reposting and using all of his connections, and it has been a real challenge. So we are taking it very seriously, but it has been a challenge for us.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Testing. There we go. Good afternoon. I'm very excited to be here this afternoon to present my final task so I thank you for that opportunity once again. Welcome. So I was charged with a task, a middle school task.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There are two middle schools in our city. Both schools have essentially the same curriculum and staffing levels.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the problem of practice, as Mayor Berk just read to us, was that there's an unusual trend of increased student enrollment at the Andrews. And so this first slide is just demonstrating an increase in enrollment at Andrews and a decrease in enrollment at Livergrande. And so although I was given some data, I went and did a little more research going back to 2013-14. And so as we're looking at enrollment trends for both the McGlynn and Andrews, the light blue is the McGlynn and the color purple represents the Andrews. And so for grade six, as you can see, there has been a gap, and the gap is getting wider for this current school year and moving into next year, an even wider gap. Grade 7 and Grade 8, the enrollment projections have been pretty consistent, but Grade 6 has been one of the grades where there's been significant or noticeable changes. And I wanted to just highlight that that key problem is happening at 6th grade. Some data that was also shared with me to examine was demographic data. And I'm just going to highlight the two largest gaps are for free and reduced lunch, which is the bottom. two bars and here enrollment of our Caucasian families between Andrews and McGlynn. The other populations, the gap is much smaller, but it was presented in the data that I was given and it was just worth noting in this pattern that there is possibly a perception gap. And the data that isn't shown here is ELL data. Andrews has 0.2% English ELL students and McGlynn has 13%. Here's just one additional piece of data. which shows the performance of the two schools, light blue being the McGlynn and Andrew's purple, this is grade 6, blue 8, MCAS. And there is a 20 point gap in ELA of students, the percent of students meeting and exceeding. And in math, the data is there as well, 23% and 48%. But as I show this MCAS data, if we look back, there are some areas where there is a higher ELL population. The students with disabilities, it's 19 and 20%. Although they're servicing different students or high-need students, It's different populations, but that could be part of the story of the data. Although I'm presenting numbers, I do realize that there is a story behind the numbers that are being presented, and I don't have that full picture. So by front-loading that data, I want to just present the task that I had. I was presented with seven options, and these are the seven options that are before you. Option one to make no changes, add specialized programming, eliminate choice, and a lottery system. So these were the seven possible outcomes that I was charged with thinking about possible solutions. And so as I was looking at the data and thinking about the task that was at hand, what struck out to me is that change cannot happen overnight, that change does in fact take time. And some of the imbalance that is happening is because of parent choice. And so when you're trying to allow opportunities and choice, sometimes for one reason or another, people may choose another school. And so when we're thinking about this, adding a different program may not necessarily improve enrollment. So thinking about scales and just thinking about trying to balance, that balance doesn't necessarily mean it has to be exactly equal, but that you're trying to offer, make sure that both schools are able to offer interesting and or programming that both families and students want to be involved in. So as I was presenting the data and talking about that, this is a challenge. And as this challenge, thinking about what could a solution be. So one step in the solution would be to formally engage the district and the community. in a more comprehensive process to gather additional information because that will allow us to think about outcomes, intended and or unintended outcomes if we were to make a drastic shift. So adaptive and technical change does take time. It doesn't happen all at once. So collectively, I felt that many of the options did take away choice from parents, which, you know, parents, and as a parent myself, you do like to have the opportunity of having a choice. But some of the recommended suggestions kind of felt more technical, and that we were not going to be able to address the root cause. So I was thinking about not necessarily looking at a structure, but thinking about what is the plan going to be. So if we build a structure first and not have a thorough or well thought out plan, then usually you end up having to go back and make multiple corrections. So for some of those reasons, I felt like it would have been short sighted of me to only pick one of the seven options that was available. And as I was thinking about it and thinking about going after finding more qualitative and quantitative data to be able to make a sound decision that would be beneficial to all. And the key question that I continued to ask myself was, how is this shift going to impact the district? families, students, and other stakeholders. So I had some suggestions of short-term options and long-term options. And so these options were considering that Medford has a lot of involvement with the arts already. You hear a lot of talk about STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but where there is a vibrant arts and musical community that's here, I really thought that it could possibly be more formalized as STEAM, which is science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. And thinking about, from the STEAM perspective, to introduce it at an earlier grade level. As early as fourth or fifth grade could be a possible option in terms of innovating. because although there is a challenge at the McGlynn and Andrews, as I looked at data going back to fourth and fifth grades, there's actually been fluctuation at lower grades as well. So there's something happening where, and I'm just gonna read a little of that, because this is, I wanna say it correctly. In fiscal year, year 17, There was a 19 student drop from grade 1 to grade 2. And some of this was happening at the McGlynn Elementary School side. Then a significant 53 student drop between grades 3 and 4. So from grades 4 to 5, it increases again by approximately 34 students. And if this is potentially a feeder school to McGlynn Middle, what is causing some of the fluctuation that could be happening at other grade levels? And overall across the district during that time, there was a 50 student drop in enrollment from grade four to grade five. So wondering where were some of those students going, is it a transient population, because again, I have limited data, but trying to piece the story together. And so because there are some clear fluctuations at the elementary school grades, I was thinking about targeting the elementary school grades so that we could put stronger or additional programming in at the elementary level, which would continue on through to the middle schools. And so adding steam, possibly at fourth or fifth grade, considering I know that there is a robust Italian program here, but consider adding an additional world language to promote language fluency, again at the lower grades that will continue on through middle school. leveraging some of the 18 career paths that are here at the Comprehensive High School and thinking about which ones of the hands-on career pathways could be brought down to the middle schools. So thinking about which ones would align more specifically to STEAM or if there was interest based on a survey. So those were some things that I thought about as short-term solutions or options that could help to stabilize enrollment patterns. And on the long-term option, these were in addition to the seven suggestions that were given. consider adding an international baccalaureate, which is a more rigorous academic program which starts at the middle school level, possibly adding a strand, and the math, all of the instructional components are more rigorous than our standard high school strand. And so for parents that would be interested in really pushing that academic rigor, an IB strand is something that could be considered. I have said that there could be a cost thinking about professional development and training for some of the staff for an international baccalaureate program, but again this would be more of a long-term option. Another possibility would be long-term thinking about a possible district restructure. Again, I'm saying costly, that there could be some costs involved, and I was not able to accurately map out what that could potentially be. But one way to think about restructuring would be to consider having pre-K to four at elementary schools, and taking the 5th grade out of the current elementary schools and so this McGlynn Andrews Challenge could possibly bring 5th graders together and have a lower middle school, grades 5 and 6 in one building, possibly the McGlynn, and having all 7th and 8th at the Andrews, so having a lower middle school and an upper middle school, so where parents at the sixth grade level are trying to decide which pathway they want to take to have a pathway where all the students were together and that additional rigorous programming could be available to all students. And again, with the reconfiguration, leveraging the existing programs that we have here, seeing which pathways could be at the upper middle school and or the lower middle school. So trying to create coherence and alignment so that as the students come up to the high school and are thinking about what track they want to follow, that they will have been exposed to many career paths at the middle school level. So these are just alternative options in addition to the original seven. trying to be a good student, the task was for me to respond to one of the options, or to consider, option one being to leave things as they are. And I said, I'm saying, I'm calling it limited data, but based on the data that was available. Again, not knowing the full story and But based on the data that was available, if I had to pick a scenario, I would opt with scenario two, adding selected programming to the Midland. And that goal of adding selected programming would be trying to align it again to the career path here at the high school. something aligned to science and technology, a STEAM program, knowing that they have a higher ELL population, so giving students an opportunity to have hands-on learning. Project-based learning is good for all students, but thinking about a strategy that would be able to help the students continue to have improved academic outcomes. this could be a possible solution. And that would involve PD and coaching plan from the Lynn teachers. partnering with the teachers association and letting them know this is a plan that we would like to do to try to accelerate student outcomes, monitor the progress, and again, not knowing what would be available, but looking at possibly trying to add additional funding to the McGlynn where they do have higher, they have double the amount of free and reduced lunch students than the Andrews. Again, similar population of students with disabilities and their English language learners. And I was also thinking about really being intentional about an outreach campaign to really let the community, students, parents, know about what is available at both schools what makes each school special and target rising 6th grade, so the current 5th grade students and talk to the current 6th grade families that are there to say what impacted them and made them make the school their current choice. And so this way we could see improvement targeted, our improvement, this way improvement can be targeted based on the data. And it would allow us to try to address the root cause. Because we still don't know what the real root cause is without being told by the constituents. And then rebranding of the school, highlighting bright spots and celebrating student accomplishments. so that the community at large knows that good things are happening at the McGlynn School as well to balance enrollment. And so how would that look? These would be the steps that I would take to lead this process if I was making the decisions. I would conduct an outreach campaign. I would intentionally engage all stakeholders And in these, once all stakeholders have been engaged, community meetings would be afforded, or at different locations, not necessarily only at the schools, but where people, where you can meet people and have people give feedback. And again, including stakeholders, which would be community partners, university partners, as well. So once these community meetings meetings where we would have an opportunity to come, hear the data in user-friendly language, understand what the challenge is and what does it mean in terms of staffing. If the school is over-enrolled by 50, by 70, at some point you're going to end up having to remove staffing from one school and continue to send staffing to another school because of the over-enrollment. And that would have an impact on culture and climate. So there are unintended outcomes and consequences sometimes when we are forced to make changes because of fluctuating enrollment patterns. So at these opportunities, the stakeholders would be able to engage with the data. After we would have these community meetings, where all stakeholders would be able to provide feedback and possible solutions, all of those solutions would be brought to a cross-functional steering committee. And that steering committee would consist of members of the school committee, a few members, principals, teachers, a few parents, and say, we conducted community meetings. These were some of the suggestions or best thinking that has come out of the community meetings. And based on that process, The steering committee would vet, look at costs to see what is actually feasible and what is not feasible. And based on those determinations, we would make a recommendation to say this is what we're going to bring to the school committee. I would present to the school committee, these are the recommendations from the scared steering committee, and I would like to be able to present at least three options. Three options that I would be able to live with as the superintendent, but three options that the cross-functional team of stakeholders contributed toward. And so that it would be a group decision. And so the school committee would be presented with three options. And of those three possible options, the school committee would pick an option that they felt would best serve the school community and the district at that time. And once that did happen, based on the recommendation from the school committee, we would create a strategic plan And that strategic plan is what we will use moving forward.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And there is a slight appendix and I will leave it with you. These were just bright spots of the areas where the McGlynn school is actually outperforming the state with some of their subgroups, subpopulations. So I wanted to just show that for English language learners, the McGlynn students are at 65%, whereas the state, other great 68 ELL peers across the state are at 49%. So leveraging what's working and again celebrating those wins.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I had the great fortune today of being able to go visit schools today. The Roberts, the McGriff, Andrews, and here also at the high school. And so in my time at the school, I know that there is currently new leadership. And I am wondering, with the over enrollment of 15 to potentially even 70 students at the other school, is there a possibility to continue to do some campaigning and explain to parents the predicament that the district is now in and asking parents to say, based on the leadership that is working at the school now, are there families that would volunteer to change their selection? And so I just was wondering that would not involve having to change staff, shifting space, and I was just wondering if that was still a possibility to formally present this data to the rising sixth grade families that have selected the school and say would they mind reconsidering or were there families that would volunteer to see if we could at least balance the numbers and have an additional 25 to 30 students register for the McGlynn so that the numbers could be more balanced between both schools. And so that was just a suggestion of something that, you know, might be a possibility if parents truly understand the position that it puts the district in. Any other questions on the presentation?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: selected option with the data set that I was given. And so I know of the early childhood programming, but just thinking about two middle schools on a campus, essentially the same campus within walking distance of one another, and that's what caused me to start thinking about other options and saying, how could we leverage? They're not located on opposite sides of the city, It's the same campus, so there could be additional options outside of those seven. And so, and then from my visits today, knowing that the early childhood classrooms that are here, and just thinking about how you can open up enrollment, open up more early childhood seats, that parents, if given an option, would most likely jump at that opportunity. But again, it's a shift, and that's why I did list it as kind of a long-term, because thinking about Lacey Accreditation, thinking about the elementary schools, and a shift of saying we want to add additional or pre-K seats and move fifth grade potentially to another location that's talking about adding people and moving people and change seats time and people need to be able to think about it and understand the larger picture. So that was why I kind of put that out there as something to be considered.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: There was one other alternative that I just had listed in my notes, but I would have needed a feasibility study, but one suggestion was to possibly relocate the 8th grade to the high school. And by having 8th grade here, the opportunity to be teaching algebra in 8th grade so that by senior year the students would be able to take more advanced mathematics. And from a licensure perspective, high school teachers are licensed in 12, middle school license is 5-8, so that if 5th grade moved up, the same license, the same teacher group, but they would have more content area. So there was some wiggle room, and I know that some people are nervous about 8th grade, potentially having 8th grade with seniors, but this is such a large, large facility that if that was something that was done in a long-term plan, that they could be isolated to one part of the building. But I was just trying to think about other ways to use the existing buildings that we currently have and supporting the fluctuations because some of the schools are currently having bubble classrooms right now, which are bubbling up. And we may end up facing another problem where there's not enough room at one location, no room in the inn, and then trying to figure out where are we gonna place them. So that was another long-term suggestion.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So the first thing that was coming to mind when there's an emergency, and I'm just thinking about what is the alternative site or alternative location, because for this kind of, the fact that this takes place at 9.30 in the morning and rush hour, health, Sanitation issues, it's really a crisis. We would have to definitely notify families immediately, even if it was through roll call or connected. I don't know the logistics of an evacuation plan, but I would recommend evacuating the school. to the evacuation plan facility. So logistically, some schools, if something like that were to happen, where the MacLennan Andrews are on a very similar campus, to be able to say we're bringing the students over, using the auditorium, the cafeteria, and the other large spaces to bring the students to keep them safe, But the fact that food would not be able to be prepared, restrooms could not be used, students could not drink, we would not be able to leave them in that space. So we would have to notify and immediately look to the alternative location to bring the children to a place where everyone is safe and sound and all families are notified to this alternative location. But again, for some of the schools that are at a greater distance, That would require, I would say, orchestration of a lot more offices. Of course, Mayor Burke, he would definitely be notified right away. I don't know who would be able to get access to school buses right away, how quickly they would be able to be deployed. transport from Brooks here to the high school or to another school, but we would definitely need to move quickly. And I think that evacuating the building, acquiring the school buses, notifying families, that all of that should be able to happen in one hour's time, or we should be prepared to do that in one hour's time. And I say that If during a fire drill, the expectation is that you evacuate the building in under two minutes, and that's for students that are definitely ambulatory and that no fire egresses are blocked, so if in this event of an emergency, that that could be part of the emergency evacuation plan, emergency contingency plan, so working with the Metro Police Department, maybe for escort, but for families to be aware, this is what would happen, these are the steps. So it would definitely involve all the departments of the city, and the number one priority would be keeping all students safe. Very good.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, um, interestingly enough, I had a situation. It was not a water main break, but I was at one of my schools, the Nathan Hale School. Um, it's an elementary single-strand T5 school, and there was a smell. The heat was on, but there was a smell like gas was coming into the building, and we were trying to figure out where the smell was coming from, but we could not figure out. And the smell kept getting stronger, So we evacuated the building and the closest station is the Shelburne Athletic Center. It's not even a 10 minute walk, but we evacuated and went to that building and that's part of our safety plan. We called them and said we're on our way. Everyone grabbed their jackets and we walked to that other location. We were there for under 30 minutes. The fire department was called. The fire department came. They cleared the building and what had happened was there was an actual fire. not immediately at the school, but the smoke from the fire somehow got into the venting system. So the smell that it was giving off made everyone think it was the actual school, but something smelled like it just wasn't safe. And so we took the route of safety first. And we wanted to be safe, not sorry. And again we evacuated, we were there for less than 30 minutes, and we walked back. So the whole entire evacuation was under an hour.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: At that school, the students, it does not carry a separate program. There are students with disabilities, but all students are ambulatory. So it's an older building, no elevator, no wheelchair-bound students. So everyone, all teachers, all staff, paraprofessionals, everyone evacuated and went to the alternative site. So with that, that's something that in the evacuation or safety contingency plan for schools that have students that are wheelchair bound or severe disabilities, the, you know, the location, the alternate site would need to be able to accommodate those students. Great, thank you. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: You've seen them? Yes, they have happened. The first, I'm all joking aside, the first thing that came to mind was fundraise. I was like, oh my goodness. With the $250,000 shortage for special education and the homeless transportation, I feel that we would have to look at our budget. We would have to address We would have to take from someplace else in order to support these two populations of marginalized students where students with disabilities and students that are homeless are already facing challenges. to take away $250,000, which also includes transporting them to school, that would definitely be a hardship. However, there are creative ways to look. Also, I'd be very interested in looking at other forms of transportation, so if we're talking about students that could potentially be wheelchair-bound students, is there a way to partner with the MBTA for their wheelchair, handicapped, accessible transportation rights that they have? and to say this is an extenuating circumstance, would they possibly be able to partner with the school? Again, I think sometimes there are a lot of community partners that we overlook and that community partners are often willing to support. Also, hospitals, Mass General, we have Lawrence here, we have the smaller hospitals, but partners, Beth Israel, many of the large hospitals to be able to reach out to them to say this is challenge that we are experiencing and to explain these are our populations and I'm saying hospitals because many of the students with disabilities have also serious medical needs so the hospitals are aware that this is not something that we're making up. and to ask them on their philanthropic side if they would be able to support us in this particular endeavor based on the limited budget that we have available. So I would be willing to look at partner agencies and see how we could work collaboratively to provide transportation for our special needs students and students that are homeless. So those are just some of the things that I would do in addition to making cuts at the district level. The additional $150,000 in emergency building repairs, I know that on the vocational side of the house that there is a strong partnership with some of the local unions right now that are partnering with the district training our students on the vocational side of the house and for some of these building repairs. Today when I was there, I know that some of the students are allowed to do their practicum or their placements actually in the field. So possibly asking those local unions Would they be able to work with us where we provide them with students that also are being trained? Is there a way that they could reciprocate and possibly not do the work for free, but this $150,000 even to be able to have that number cut in half by 75 and maybe work with 75,000 and think about fundraising the remaining 75,000. I don't know the philanthropic circles here in Medford yet, but to look at that, I do believe that partnering with community partners and businesses if they know what it's for and what it's actually going to do, they will be willing to step up to the plate and support the school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I definitely have some flexibility. If I were to be selected, I do have some flexibility. I am committed to completing all my evaluations for the principals that I have worked with this year. closing up the year on a strong note, but I definitely have availability that if that were to happen, I could modify my schedule to be able to support work here in Medford and finish my work out in Boston as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I guess my question would be, when do you expect to be making a final decision?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I just would like to say thank you again for selecting me to be part of this process. It really has been my greatest professional honor to come back home to Medford. and be able to present to you and be part of this process, preparing the documents, studying the data, learning about the schools, and going to the schools. And so what I can say is my word that I assure you that if I were to be selected, I would give you 100%, I would give you my best. and nothing less. I believe in working hard. I am truly a committed educator and I will take all of my experience, all of my skills, all of my knowledge that I've gained these past 24 years and bring those skills here to Medford, back home, and use them here and learn from the team of wonderful people that I got to meet today. So I hope to hear a positive response, but I respect the process, and I thank you again, and I thank the Medford public school community that has really treated me warmly as I've been in all the schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Good evening school committee and members of the community. I thank you for this opportunity to come before you this evening. I consider it a great privilege and honor to come home to Medford, my city, my town of birth. I'm a native of Medford. I was born in Medford at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I started my education here at the Hervey School. I started my kindergarten experience at the Hervey School and continued at St. Raphael's and continued on to Arlington Catholic. During my education here in Medford, I had an opportunity to have great mentors within the community who were strong educational representatives who really instilled and inspired me to consider education as a career path. I am a first generation Haitian American. And my parents were very hardworking. They both were custodians at Tufts University. And they really taught us the importance of hard work, commitment, and really trying your best to improve your educational outcomes or your life outcomes. And I think coming from that background of hard work and dedication that I went on to college, Wheelock College, and I went into the field of education. I was a teacher. I started as a substitute teacher, then a teacher. I became an assistant principal, a principal, and a network superintendent. And currently I'm an instructional superintendent with Boston Public Schools. So I've been in education for 24 and a half years. And I feel with all of my experience that when this opportunity came to apply for the superintendency of Medford, I really considered it an opportunity to come back home to Medford. And so that brings me here. here today.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: OK. So in my current role right now, I am an instructional superintendent. I am over a teaching and learning team. And it's TLT 1A. So the combined teaching and learning team consists of 30 schools. And I am responsible for half of that. The focus is K-8 schools. And we have dual language, early childhood schools, elementary K-5 schools, K-6, 6-8, K-8. So there are multiple configurations of the schools that I work with. And from an instructional perspective, I support the schools. So every school is required to have an instructional focus. And we conduct instructional focus reviews. So I support the principals instructionally. I supervise them. I do their evaluations. I support principals if they have any challenges, if they need support for professional development, if there are concerns from families, I will support the schools in that regard. So I would be the first point of contact on an instructional level for schools.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So some schools do have different instructional methods that they're using, but based on their data, each school designs or creates an instructional focus. So for some schools, depending on the constituencies that are there based on the results of data, they may say that they're going to focus on increasing rigor. They may be looking at productive struggle. Some schools may have a focus on discourse, student-to-student discourse, teacher-to-student discourse. So they would look at data. Some schools are focusing on writing. So it's individualized to the needs of each respective school, but the focus has to be based on data. So it's not that they just feel like, you know, we're gonna look at student discourse, but there's a reason why. So if they maybe have a high English language learner population, and they want the students to use more academic vocabulary, or the students are still learning how to produce language, then that school could potentially have an instructional focus that deals with discourse and developing discourse and looking at the ratio of student-to-student talk versus teacher-to-student talk. And so when we conduct instructional focus reviews, it's a cross-functional team that goes into the schools and we go into multiple classrooms and we look for evidence of the instructional focus. And so we either see the instructional focus being implemented or we don't see it. And at the end of the instructional focus review, we give feedback to the school. And by giving the school feedback, we can say we saw evidence of your instructional focus, maybe in three out of four areas. And we can be as granular as based on these number of classrooms, this is where we saw evidence, this is where we did not see evidence. And then the schools take that information and they work with their instructional leadership teams to address their instructional focus.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would say one of the challenges that principals sometimes face when we're looking at the instructional realm is if something were to potentially happen operationally or if something were to happen such as, you know, they're going into conduct a common planning time meeting, but they may be called out to go address a disciplinary challenge. Or they may need to meet with a parent. So sometimes principals will say that there was a conflict and they were pulled away from working on that particular challenge. Another challenge as well sometimes is based on the curriculum or the programming that is at a particular school. Sometimes they may need or would like to have more resources, but there are limited resources. So sometimes that's a challenge that they say, I would like to have more of something.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So my challenge working with the schools right now is sometimes just balancing the sheer number. So there's no way that I could possibly get to every school every single week. So sometimes a challenge would be trying to manage if I'm going to be on a two-week cycle or a three-week cycle with the school. So depending on the level of the work that I'm doing at the school, I may be able to go to two to three schools a day. So if they have an instructional leadership team meeting before school, then I could start there and then go to two schools and possibly support them during common planning time meeting or planning or doing observational rounds. That's my own personal challenge, is trying to get to more schools and be value add. So not just go through as a drive-by, but go through to actually support the instruction that's happening.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Of which I'm skeptical. A skeptical practice.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: That's the point. I'm trying to just think through my portfolio of schools. and I want to answer the question, but I would say, um, I have some skepticism with, I was thinking about how some of our sciences are being implemented. Um, and my skeptic, not with the content of science, but more skepticism with the frequency of implementation, um, that, If you're not able, like that's one of the things that in my own mind I'm thinking about. If you're not able to dedicate enough time to the instruction of science, I'm skeptical that I'm going to see outcomes move significantly. And that is something where I feel that we are struggling because science is an area that has been grossly neglected. as a district and even within the TLT, within the teaching and learning team, that it's an area where people struggle to find time to fully implement it. And I'm skeptical about if we're not able to create the time without robbing Peter to pay Paul, taking away from history, taking away from social studies. So it's like they feel it's almost like I have to implement one or I implement the other, but it can never be implemented well. And I'm skeptical about seeing the needle actually move if we're not able to come up with a real solution. I hope I answered your question.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I feel that I am a distributive leader. My management style is one where I'm collaborative. I work very well in teams. I believe in delegating and building and working with the team's strengths. I don't believe that I'm the keeper of all the knowledge. I believe that everyone who's part of the team or working with me has something valuable to contribute, and through their contributions, we can be the most effective team.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: A number two person who would be working with me would have, I feel, a complementary skill set. So I am, you know, I feel I'm a creative, a creative thinker. I think very quickly. I move very quickly. So if I had someone who had a complementary skill set that they also, too, would be able to move quickly. But one thing that I would not do specifically would be, like, I am not one to necessarily go into graphs and always do a punch list. So I feel that having someone with a complementary skill set would be someone who would work well with having a punch list and saying, okay, these are all the things we said that we were going to do. Let's just cross-reference to see if we've accomplished those things.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, always. I would go back to follow-up to make sure that we get to the end goal. By style, I'm not a micromanager. I believe in delegating, trusting that everyone who's part of the team has the skill set and the ability to do what they're being asked. And I would also focus on creating the conditions where there was definitely relational trust, so that if you encounter difficulty, you would be able to say, I'm stuck, I need help, that the person would communicate that. So when it came time to report back on where we were with this particular product or what we were trying to meet, that I would be able to then say, OK, let's see how we can strategize. Let's see if we can bring in an additional voice to help get to the deadline.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as superintendent, the primary function would be to ensure that all schools are fully functioning, that you have an instructional leader in every building, that every building has teachers and staff just to be in compliance from a central office level to make sure that you have all central office representatives there so that the central office function of the school connecting to the mayor's office and the other city departments, that there's communication going back and forth between all of those departments. So the superintendent has to be the one who's managing what's happening at the schools and managing what's happening at Central in regards to, and communicating with the mayor's office and realizing that we're not an entity unto ourselves, but that we have other parts of the city that work in collaboration with us. So I feel that that would be the primary role, and ensuring, again, whoever the team of instructional leaders are that are at the schools, that they have access to me as the superintendent come voice concerns, say, you know, come celebrate. These are bright spots that we have happening in our schools. So to have that open communication line to ensure that the students are being educated at the highest levels. And you said the second part.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So if I was chosen to be the superintendent as part of my entry, my first step would have to be to listen and listen with both ears. I would need to listen. I would need to have an opportunity to learn what is the context of Medford right now, what's happening in Medford, and once I gather that information, once I listen, I learn, and I would be learning not only from the schools, but from other stakeholders, from parents, from community partners. Once I gather that information and I'm able to really look more closely at all the data that is available, then I would be better poised to make a decision to say, okay, based on what I've listened to and heard, based on what the stakeholders have shared with me, based on all of that data, this is how I would like to move forward and lead. So I feel like as a superintendent, I cannot just come and jump and say, this is what I'm going to do. I need to know what's happening, what is working, what we have room to maybe make some slight shifts, and then move forward from there.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I can repeat if you need me to for anything. First and foremost, I want to say that I know the merger between the general high school and the vocational side of the high school. It is a great idea that the schools have merged, but I also know that there was some For some people, there were some pain points because you felt like you were giving up something in the merging of the two schools. But in the end, you end up making a stronger district. Right now, with CTE programming, and I will also call it project-based learning, when you look at the programming that is in place and how the school district can advance in three to five years. If we are able to fine tune and have master students that at the end of their time at Medford High School, that they would be able to, one, be employed and or for career and or college path, leave with official certifications, that will allow them to be job ready. I feel that that is what needs to happen and to look at the pathway of also adding college level courses. at the high school level as an extension so that students who are graduating, depending on their levels and abilities, they would be able to be graduating with college credits. So it does require strict implementation of the Mass Corps, making sure that they get all the official basics. And then with their specialty classes, where they can continue to have placements, internship placements, but to build upon that and add the college partnerships. Bunker Hill, I know Tufts is nearby. We possibly, I'm just thinking about schools that you could tap into in the three to five year range to go with that specific pathway where students would be finishing high school. with college credits. I feel that that would be the next iteration or the next level of CTE so that, yes, they are college and career ready, and some students have already achieved college credits at the high school level, and it can be done. In terms of technology, technology is a must in terms of where we are moving in order to be competitive with the rest of the world. Technology, it's important to have, but if you put technology in the hands of the students, you have to make sure that as they're using the technology, that appropriate professional development and training has also happened for the teachers. And so in one of my schools that was on my portfolio received one-to-one iPads. for all the students. The students, as we know, are using their phones, are using technology all the time to really advance the work that they're doing. students have grass technology at a faster rate than some of the teachers. And so I think in order to use technology, it should be used, it should be integrated, but it should not just be an add-on, such as type up your notes in a Google Doc and send your notes to me. But really having students doing research, embedding links, doing presentations, really taking technology to a level where they're able to present portfolios to display their work that they've had for over the course of the year or in increments, incremental sessions over the year.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And you're saying to improve academic data?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I did spend quite a bit of time looking at your state data on the DESE site. And if I could start with some of the bright spots that I had noted. And then I can go into what some of my wonderings were. And so I can share that with the team. So bright spots, I started with the high school. that 91% of your students were proficient or higher on the grade 10 ELA with student growth percentile of 70, which is outstanding. 40 to 60 is the range. 51 is what you're looking for. And high school ELA SGP is 70. The SGP is a student growth percentile. And what it is is taking a student from one year, that cohort, and measuring that same student a year later with other students who performed at the same level as that child. So it's not across the entire state. So sometimes when you look at SGP, people may say, oh, it's Medford Public Schools. No, it's across the entire state of Massachusetts. So that's something, a tremendous bright spot and something to applaud. At grade 10 math, 77% of your students scored at proficient or higher with the SGP of 61. And again, the range being 40 to 60, that's where the state designates it as the regular expected growth. So 61 is above that. I looked also at your grade 10 ELA, where students scored a two or higher. And you had 85% of your students, of the 344 students, scoring and at the state, at that particular number, the state was at 86%, so you were neck and neck with the state. For your AP test scores, students scoring a 3 or higher, you were at 84.5, whereas the state was only at 65.7. So that's really something to applaud your AP teachers. and what's happening there. And so with our Mass Corps in 2017, you had 100% versus the state at 77.4%. And so you also did well with attendance at 94.4% student absence. Your days were, although Attendance and absences is something we want to work with. Average student absences were nine days. The state was at 9.5 for Medford and 11.6 for the state. Your in-school suspensions were lower than the state at zero. Your out-of-school suspensions were 5.3. The state was at 4.2, but still It's a very respectable number. So those were some of the areas that had really jumped out at me as tremendous bright spots to be proud of as a district. Some of the areas where I had wonderings was on the open response in high schools, where we did have a tour above. I was wondering about that, I was wondering about Introductory physics of the 211 students who were taking that test and there was like a 47% I looked at all of our students and looked at, for all students, reading, writing, and math, and noticed that for special ed students, that that was one of the areas where we had a wider gap. And so I also wonder about our English language learners. and how our English language learners are, they're not graduating at the same rate as your gen ed students. So it's almost like one out of every two, or 50%, 55% graduation rate, so that was something that kind of had me wondering. So at the elementary levels, we have, several level two schools. As a district, we are a solid level two district. In 2015, that was the only year where there was a dip down to a level three for one year. But from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, we brought it back up and became a level two district. 2017, the district has no official level until the state gives the official new designations. So as I think about the elementary levels where I know, when I think about English language learners and I think about students with disabilities, if we do not have a strong foundation, then you're not going to be able to stand tall and stand proud. So as I applaud the high school ELA scores and the math scores, I feel that something solid and strong is happening in terms of English instruction at the upper grades. However, when they get to middle school, I am wondering what is happening with our students with disabilities and our English language learners, and specifically what instructional strategies are being used for those students. So when I was leading a school and we realized that we needed to have a sheltered English immersion program, an SCI program for our English language learners, we drastically changed how we were teaching. So I believe in having a growth mindset and not looking at English language learners or students with disabilities from a deficit perspective. And so look at their ability, English language learners, to speak more than one language. Myself, I can speak another language. They're actually using more parts of the brain to be able to communicate. in two different languages, and sometimes to even be able to read and write in another language. But as you're acquiring English, there is a silent phase that is five to seven years. So if you're getting English language learners at the elementary levels, coming in at first, second, third grade, you have to give them five to seven years before they are actually English dominant. So that brings you to the end of middle school. And so when you get to the end of middle school, going into high school, that's when you're able to see a lot of students that were Ls, they end up flapping, and you end up saying, wow, they're actually performing on par. So it's that silent phase where, like sponges, they are taking in the other language and processing it. Students who speak another language, they originally pick up social English very quickly. but they don't pick up the academic language. And it's the academic language that is inside all of the content, all of the books, everything that's being taught. So those are some of the strategies that I would recommend using at the elementary levels, using cognates. Clustering languages could be a possibility depending on what the languages are. So if you use some of the Romance languages, whether it could be French or Spanish, or Portuguese or Italian, taking some languages that have similar bases, clustering them and teaching them so that when you're using a specific word in English that has a cognate in their native language, they're able to make the connection very quickly. And so by doing that, when you chunk the information, you build background knowledge, those were some of the things that I did working with large populations of students that were ELLs. For students with disabilities, that same strategy works. The best practices that work for students with disabilities also work for ELLs. increasing visuals, using non-traditional methods of instruction. So do not talk at the children all day in lecture style. That's not gonna work. Give them opportunities to listen. Books on tape, let them listen auditorily. Let them have opportunities to speak. Let them have opportunities to practice the language, make mistakes with the language. Give them opportunities to turn and talk. And again, that gives them that opportunity to build the discourse and become stronger students. So I feel like if there's a stronger base at the elementary level, when they get to middle school and you're teaching specific by-content areas, the children are older, they're more mature, they're able to take on more responsibility, so that by the time they are at high school, they are young adults, they are able to kind of spread their wings and really fly and succeed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes. 2015, I started actually as a network superintendent, and so under that structure, it was a slightly different structure. At that time, as a network superintendent, I was responsible for both instructional and operational needs of a building, so I was the point person for both sides of the house, and I would report directly to the superintendent. Now, as an instructional superintendent, I have a counterpart, who is operational superintendent, and the two of us work collaboratively. I see.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: To answer that question, when I think about the outcomes of the students going down, I would have to really attribute it to there's a lot of trauma in Boston. And I have to say, honestly, social emotional learning, there's a body of research and a lot of people are realizing right now that social emotional learning does impact how students perform. And I do feel, being a large urban district, that the amount of trauma that many students face and encounter between shootings near schools, shootings when students are at recess, violence on the streets, that that does have an impact in terms of when it gets to the schools. And so some schools where outcomes have actually dropped. If you were to speak to principals, the instructional leaders of the schools, they would say there has been a significant increase in the amount of trauma that they're experiencing. High poverty, high free and reduced lunch, English language learners, newcomers to the country. There are a lot of factors. I don't want it to sound like I'm making an excuse, but a lot of the schools are trauma-charged, and I don't say that lightly. That's a reality. And so how teachers have to teach the children now, they have to really use a lot of different strategies. They have to take care of the child, the whole child first, I would say. They have to look at, is this child ready to do the work that I'm gonna put before them, or does this child need some other kind of intervention before I can even start teaching the academic content? So I would say, I know the Boston Magazine, they would write their piece based on strictly numbers, what's black and white and what's factual. But what they aren't able to see is what's happening in the schools and what the students are encountering, what they are dealing with, and that they're coming to school every day. And they're coming to learn. They're coming to learn. They want to learn. But there are a lot of challenges and obstacles that they have to overcome. So that's what I feel has led to that decline. And so we are back at the drawing board once again, trying to figure out, okay, what's the next strategy that we need to put in place? And so now we are really, really focusing on social-emotional learning.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So first and foremost, I would want to ensure that all teachers have a growth mindset and believe first and foremost that the children actually can learn. because sometimes people have a deficit mindset and they say, well, they don't speak English or they have a disability. They're not going to be able to get this anyway. I'm not going to focus on them. And so I think the first piece would be to make sure that they have a growth mindset. We are teaching children and we all make mistakes even as adults. So as a teacher, I love teaching, even working with teachers, giving teachers feedback. it's important to be able to observe the practice, observe the work, go in, see what are the teachers doing, what's happening, are you using strategies, are you using sheltered instruction, I think of the sheltered instruction observation protocol, which talks about allowing additional wait time, using the visuals, speaking at, not speaking at a rapid rate of speed, so that the students can actually hear and catch the words of what you're saying so they're able to piece it together and make sense. So in terms of helping a teacher, if a teacher came from a parochial school or a private school or from a school of affluence and they're teaching in a high-need school, they're still teaching children. It's not like you're teaching children in one location and you're teaching puppies in another. You are teaching children. And so I believe that all children can be taught and that it's the mindset and a willingness to learn, and that everyone can grow together.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Sometimes teachers aren't even aware. In Boston, it's a real issue. It is a gap. that if you walk into rooms with students, sub-separate rooms with students with disabilities, all you will see is black and brown. And on top of that, all you'll usually see are males. You might see one girl. And so it's something that has happened, and I've seen it happen. But sometimes teachers don't realize the data. I'm gonna go back to that. When I was an assistant principal, and I took over for an interim piece of time. In a two week period at the school, I processed 250 discipline incident reports in 10 days. And I went to the principal and said, is this normal? Because I was a classroom teacher and I came out to cover a leave. And he said, this is not normal. And so he said, disaggregate the data. And when I went through the 250 incident reports, 50 incident reports were from one classroom. And so he called the staff meeting, and at the staff meeting, we presented the data. So I believe in letting the data do the talking. And so the data was to the staff, We had 250 incident reports in a 10-day time frame. Once the entire school body heard that, everyone was surprised. And we did not say any names, but we did say 50 incident reports came from one classroom. Eight came from another classroom. And when they realized that these 250 incident reports were generated from a very small segment of the school community, and it was made public, without any names, the following week, there was a miraculous improvement, and we had 50 incident reports. And again, this was a high-need school, with probably 600 students. And at that time we did have a special set of students that had behavioral challenges, so we had a sub-separate classroom for students with behavioral challenges. And so we brought the incident reports down to 50, which was the normal For that size school, that was a normal expectation. And again, the incident report was just so you could know what was happening. So thinking about what you're saying, I would say the same thing, presenting the data. Present the data to the principals, present the data. Is there a particular school that has the highest number of discipline referrals? and or special ed referrals? And if so, let's investigate why. And let's investigate who. Is it a school that has a special needs population of students that have behavioral concerns? Is it a school that has high English language learner populations? What are the challenges at that particular school? And then unpack it from there. This is what the data says. Can you help me understand what the data says? Now let's come up with an action plan to address this, because it's not acceptable.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Recess. I am an advocate of recess. I believe children need to get out and stretch and play and have fresh air. So at the elementary levels, it should be a non-negotiable. And for middle schools, I'm not sure if at the middle school level here, children do have recess, but I believe in children being able to have time to go outside, to stretch, to play, to run. It's good for their heart. It's good for them to be able to come back into the classroom after lunch and be able to learn for the second half of the day. So I am an advocate of recess, and I think it's important just for helping kids to stay healthy, giving them an opportunity to socialize outside of the instructional day, as opposed to wanting to socialize during instructional time in the classroom.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So recess as punishment is what you're saying.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Honestly, I personally believe that we really should not use recess as punishment. That we should keep it separate. But you also have to look at each situation respectively and be able to say, for example, Is it a child that's physically assaulting other children at recess? So now at the end of recess, five children are going to the nurse to say that I was kicked on the playground or I was physically assaulted. Then in that particular situation, I would say recess is an opportunity for children to play, to socialize, and have a good time. For this particular incident, you used recess in the wrong way. You made a poor decision. You physically hurt some of your classmates. So today, you have to spend recess with me or whoever the designee, I mean, I wouldn't be at the school, but the school leader, the principal could say that. And so, but personally, I believe children should be able to have recess, but if there is an extenuating circumstance and they feel that recess needs to be taken away, it should be taken away for a short period of time. You should not say, I'm taking away recess for a month, like when you ground your child and say, you know, no TB for two weeks. No, I don't believe in something like that. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I'm thinking.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I think I'm biased. I'm just thinking of so many bright spots right now. Something that did not go well. I'm thinking about one of the times a schedule change. One of the times I, as a principal, I ended up changing the schedule. And I took some liberties. in changing the schedule. And I wanted to move to a 60-minute block. But according to the contract, it should have been 48 minutes. And so myself, 48 minutes, I was like, 48, 50, 60, no big deal. But what I was thinking was when I changed to the 60-minute block schedule from the 48 minutes, the teachers ended up with a 60-minute planning period as well as opposed to the 48 minutes. But for the specialists that were teaching during the planning period, it was a 60-minute block. And so there was tension. because some people loved having the 60 minutes because they felt like you could actually do more during that block of time, but because it was in violation of the contract, we had to go back to the 48 minutes to respect the contract. And so I had taken that liberty, and then afterwards there was more discussion, but that was one of the times where I was eager and I was like, okay, this is the new schedule. And I had to go back and say, I'm sorry, this couldn't work. We have to go back to 48 minutes. So we did go back to the 48-minute schedule.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So balancing academic rigor with the social emotional needs of the child. Currently, I have several schools that have integrated sensory rooms. And so in these rooms, it's a space within the school where there are squishies, there are beanbags, there could be balls, because students do have, go into crisis or do have moments of difficulty where they're not functioning in the classroom. So for schools that have been able to design this sensory space, we've been using that as an alternative, one school calls it an alternative learning environment. It's not something that is used for the entire day, but it's something that's used for the student to have an opportunity to de-escalate and to be able to return to the classroom to participate in their learning. So that would be something that I would definitely say I would advocate for if the school has the physical ability, the physical space to create this alternative learning environment for students that may have severe anxiety, may be dealing with trauma, or something that is overwhelming them, that's preventing them from functioning within the classroom setting. At the same time, you would need to have personnel, and again, the staffing for that, whether it's a paraprofessional, or whether you have itinerants, sometimes, you know, looking at the flexible scheduling, so if you were to have an OT or a PT person who has a free period, and you could say during this time of the day, I will be in the alternative learning space, so that sometimes you can even say to children, you can't go to the space right now, one o'clock you'll be able to go to this space and have that opportunity. I've also seen low tech things such as just having a tent, a small little tent in a classroom and some classrooms just have it labeled like cool down area. It was like camp cool down and so sometimes just having an area that you have sensory tools, things that they can squeeze or touch or maybe color. to be intentional about having a toolkit. Another school has little shoeboxes that are social-emotional. They're like little toolboxes that have social-emotional tools within them. So I feel like the way to address it is to address it proactively, not waiting for something to happen, but already have it in place so that when a child is in crisis, you have a plan of action, and then that will allow you, the teacher, to be able to teach the rest of the class or the rest of the students. If, as a teacher, you get bogged down too much with what's happening social-emotionally with a child, then the instruction is not moving forward. So even with trauma, traumatic incidents or students that are dealing with severe anxiety, you cannot water down the content. You cannot water down your instruction because it might be two students, it could be three students in the classroom, but what about the remaining students that aren't having that issue? So I feel you have to have a plan in place, a robust plan to address social emotional needs, but at the same time balance that with this is the content, this is what I'm teaching. And is what I'm teaching engaging? Because I feel like what's being taught also needs to be cognitively demanding and engaging for the students so that they want to do the work. Do you feel that I responded to your question? Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So, no, civic engagement, yes, I believe strongly in civic engagement, especially at the high school levels where they are getting ready to vote at the age of 18. It's very important to educate and inform children and students, young adults, how to be responsible citizens. and what their rights are. So I would be an advocate of promoting opportunities for students to engage in that. And there are debate leagues and all of those things where students have those opportunities, but also, I would say, creating opportunities, creating forums here at the schools to have discussions. on issues that could be, you know, in the media right now, what's happening, almost kind of like, you know, what's social studies, what is currently happening in our world. So providing students with those opportunities to talk about it, to debate about it, and to engage in discussions and set it up. You can set it up in a formal structure. And I would work very collaboratively with the history team, the history teachers. to say let's try to make this a more formalized process or a frequent process so the students are informed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So specifically right now that baton was officially handed over to the operational side of the house. So the operational superintendents support that, but what we've done in the past with the walkouts that the students have participated in is we have administrators on the key train stations at the checkpoints, so if we know, we usually know in advance which schools are they walking out from, which particular high schools, and myself, I went down to City Hall, so all of central office was kind of deployed, And so we went to, so there were definitely a lot of adults there. The students were allowed to go to, you know, to actively engage in the process, but there were adults there. Within the train stations, transit police were notified. We knew they were on the T. School police were notified. So we did have strategic checkpoints. Safety was aware, like every, all hands on deck. to ensure that students remain safe. And for the most part, they do remain safe. Sometimes they end up getting into a scuffle, but there are enough adults there to intervene. So even though it does happen, we have deployed the other adult staff to be able to support the process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Yes, the students that did not participate in the walkout remained at school and they were taught. So yeah, instruction always continued. So for students that were not doing it, they continued to be taught. And sometimes they may have them, some schools had them go to an auditorium, so they did kind of an assembly for the students that did not go, but just to acknowledge that it was happening. And of course, we strongly encourage them to stay in school and that they should be in school during the school day. But again, that's not what happened. So we had to go to plan B. Thank you.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: With schools, I've been in schools when we've gone into safe mode. That's been several times since I was in one of the highest needs area. So once that does happen when you're physically at a school, everyone is trained. They make the announcement, we know what's happening. We have a system called Crisis Go in Boston where it's an app and it goes to all key central office administrators. So it lets us know if something is happening at one of the 125 schools at any given moment. And so we have a robust safety team. So when that happens, they are deployed and they will head over to the school. And depending on whose teaching and learning team it's within, then that respective instructional superintendent and our operational superintendent will go to provide support. at that location. So I am not necessarily the one who is saying, okay, I'm calling the police. But if I'm notified first, I will talk with the operational superintendent, pass the baton on, and we start the ball rolling from there. And then it goes out on crisis go. Do you play a role in the training? In the training? I do not directly train. I've participated in trainings, but I am not. We bring in professionals, we bring in the police, the police are You know, we have designated Boston police that are school police officers. And so they are all hands on deck, you know, deeply involved. So some trainings will happen at central office or trainings will happen at specific school sites. If there's a particular crisis going on, then we realize, okay, let's do it here at this place. So trainings are available, and support personnel are available. And we partner closely with school police and Boston police, because there are Boston police that are designated to BPS. Very good.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So for upkeep and maintenance, we do have a large... I know it sounds like... We have a lot of teams. So we do have... We have a grounds crew and we have maintenance crew. So depending, you know, my first school was on three city blocks, so depending on the physical location and layout of the school, that would determine how much support or how little support you receive. But the maintenance of schools, like the lawn being cut or flowers or mulch, snow shovel removal, Custodians help with that. Materials are delivered. If stuff isn't delivered, we call the supervisors right away to say this needs to be done. We have a lot of outdoor classrooms. So now that the winter, the snow is finally melting away, so the outdoor classrooms will need, so the grounds crew will come and they will prune and they'll get the outdoor classrooms back up to par so that the students can go out and use them. So in terms of looking at it from a specific budgetary perspective, it's already embedded within the school budget.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Not on the specific school one. It's just embedded within the district budget. Got it. So you're not going to see it say that. But if something needs to be done, or if a building is not clean, when I go into a building, or if a parent ends up saying the girls' bathroom or the boys' bathroom, The boys' bathroom sometimes is not the cleanest. And I just say that because they like to play there. And so sometimes the reports will come back and it will be like, this needs to be done. So we also, if I'm called in and we go into the boys' bathroom and really see like, you know what, we can't wait until after third lunch for the boys' bathroom to be cleaned, it needs to be cleaned after every lunch, then that could be something that I would speak to the custodial supervisor about to say like, we really need for maintenance purposes and for health cleanliness purposes, we need a more frequent pass over the restrooms at lunchtime. So I have that flexibility and the school leaders have that flexibility to be able to say that. Because it's about safety first, but it's also about the health and sanitation. You don't want children using dirty facilities. and you don't want them having health problems because they don't want to use the facilities. So that is a serious need and it should definitely be addressed.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So our budgets in Boston are based on a weighted student funding. So the budget process is I've worked with budgets and I work with all of my schools on their budget. We have a budget collaborative process, a very long elaborative process. Elaborate, elaborate, I'm sorry. But what I can say is in terms of working with the budgets, the majority of the budget is normally consumed by human resources, all of the people. By the time you pay for people benefits, you are left with a very small amount of money, grant money that may be targeted for ELLs, grant money targeted for students with disabilities, and there's a very small amount of money that you're left with that you have wiggle room. But even with that amount of money that you are left with, I do work with principals and talking with them to say, how are you gonna be strategic about the use of these funds? Sometimes they allocate, it could be 10,000 towards stipends, because they're planning on doing professional development or special projects with teachers, a certain amount of money from that pool towards field trips. So there were certain things that they allocate up front, and then whatever's left over, they pursue partnerships with community partners.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I know that there are partnerships already with some of the colleges and universities, with Tufts and I believe Harvard. I would like to add the community colleges. I am seriously interested in looking at what I had said earlier about the early college credit for students that are capable to complete the required Mass Corps and have time to be able to push themselves in that area. So I would definitely want to see college partnerships. And for the community, I would definitely be interested in just seeing how we could have other community partners support the school, whether it was with resources. I'm thinking of one of my schools that is generously, receives a lot of generous funds from the New Market Foundation, and so they provide that school, they've given them three sets of, three classroom sets of technology, Chromebooks, and so we do have a lot of schools that are slowly building up their, technology, and so that would be one way to work with community partners that if they're not able to come into the schools as a resource to volunteer and to support, but to be able to support an initiative that is taking place at the school to enhance the school. Because if you can have a partner help provide with technology, then that would be savings for the school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: The O'Shaughnessy Foundation was a specific grant which was targeted to work with some of our lowest need schools and it brought in coaching and support to those particular schools. So, like pursuing grants, whether it's Nellie Mae or other foundations to pursue monies to supplement what is here at the district, I definitely would be interested in doing that. The New Market Group Foundation, the business group, they support a cluster of schools that are located within a one-mile radius of where they are physically located. And so it's a group of businesses that contribute as a collective, and then they say to the principal, what would you like from us this year? And so I'm saying if there could be an equivalent in Medford to possibly have a group of businesses that work together and say, would you be willing to either adopt a particular school and see what it is, a need that the school may have.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I believe strongly in marketing, and I also believe strongly in communicating. So as we now have this comprehensive high school that is offering so much, we need to reach back to the middle schools. And even in upper elementary, to start doing an exploratory, I would say at fourth and fifth grades, to start saying to them, do you know when you get to high school? These are all the options that are available to you. Start generating that excitement at the elementary level so that as they work their way up, they're thinking about it and saying, what is it that I would be good at? What is it that I could do? Because this is going to be offered to them. And again, once they get to the high school, they're going to have all of these options. but sometimes it's overwhelming, it's too much, so you need to bring it back earlier. And maybe in middle school, have the middle schoolers come, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, have them come on a field trip, have them come, do an exploration just to think about it, see what it looks like. We do something in Boston, we did like a science week where kids did hands-on science, Maybe to take that as an opportunity to go to the middle schools and give them, maybe it doesn't need to be a full week, but to give them an opportunity to come to the high school and spend maybe two days. Give them time. They could still have their regular grade level work. but give them time to explore, actual hands-on experience to explore some of the options. So then it won't seem like a mystery. Now it's going to be like, wow, I want to do this, or I think I'm interested. And so they'll have options. I think they'll have greater options in front of them. That would be my recommendation. Thank you very much.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with collective bargaining, I have not been on an official collective bargaining team. I have been one of the contributors to the collective bargaining. We do have an office of labor relations where they head up what happens with collective bargaining and the office of human capital. And then they ask instructional superintendents, operational superintendents across section, including principals, they will ask us to contribute to what it is that they're going to be presenting as the negotiations come closer. So if there are things that, you know, you look at in a particular contract and you end up saying, you know, this is something that we would recommend, they have to also look at what is the cost going to be because you can't, you know, break the bank as it is. We have a $1.1 billion budget and it doesn't seem to be going down. And so in negotiations, it's millions and millions of dollars that end up going to the cost of living increase. And so that's something that has to be taken into consideration. So for collective bargaining, I have not been on the teams, but I've contributed to the work that has been done.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I believe in professional development. We also call it, refer to it as professional learning. We have to keep in mind that we're teaching adults and so adults don't like to be spoken to or spoken at. especially teachers. So we have made a really big attempt to break down our professional learning into smaller learning communities. So we do have professional learning communities right now where they are made up of six to 10 principals in each professional learning community and we rotate The schools that we go to, because it's a reasonable number, I work with one middle school grouping, and I also work, I have one larger group, which is the 15 early childhood schools that are within the district. And so for professional learning, we make sure that it's relevant and appropriate to the age that the children are being taught. And so the professional learning communities, that is how we have been doing the work, in small clustered groupings. But I do believe professional learning should involve some kind of an anchor text, reading, articles, videos, opportunities for principals to be able to turn and talk, share, and learn from one another. So have an opportunity to present their own case studies, and say, this is a challenge I'm working with, and use the collective minds of the group to tackle their challenge. So it should be about their learning, and at the same time, moving forward the district's vision and mission, but improving their learning and keeping them excited about the work that they're doing every day.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would love, love to see Medford continue to move forward on their academic trajectory. As I said, with the current system, we are a solid level two district right now. We are fairly, essentially neck and neck with the state, but we have a lot of other cities. Some of them are the Ws that are doing a little better than Medford, and they're level one districts. And I feel that we want to definitely take what we're doing, build upon that, and move the school forward. Again, I was not able to drill down. Looking at the state site, I could only look as available at the global district level and global school level, but to be able to drill down and look at what the data is saying more deeply and be able to come up with a targeted plan to move Medford forward so that we continue on that path, I feel that it is within reach. It's within our grasp. We just have to keep at it and get there. And, you know, I do want to also just acknowledge the teachers, because in order for a district to be a level two district, the teachers are the ones, boots on the ground, doing the work every day in the classrooms. So there definitely is something happening that's very good. So the instructional core is there. There's evidence of that. And the leadership that is helping to maintain the instructional core that's in place. So the instructional leaders of the school and the instructional leadership of Superintendent Belson, helping to move the school forward and not backwards.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Thank you. Wait a minute.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: Oh, you're going to Harvard and Tufts.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So when I was a principal, we were teaching Japanese. It was being taught in the advanced work classes, so at fourth and fifth grade, students were receiving Japanese as a supplemental enrichment, I do believe that we can bring language, a foreign language, down to the elementary level. No questions about that. I think in order for us to be able to compete globally, we're going to need to be bilingual. We're going to need students who speak Spanish, Mandarin, these are the global, I mean, even though some are learning Cantonese, but I would say Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, if you're going to be working with countries in the Middle East, and not wanting to limit students' potentials. We have other languages, of course, the Romance languages, French and Portuguese and Italian and Greek. We have many other languages that do exist, but you, I feel in order for students to be able to be competitive, they will need to be able to have an additional language that you are able to communicate in and be able to compete globally. You don't want to be left out. You don't want to be left behind. And that is one of the ways in which it can happen. and to do it with intentionality. I also have in my portfolio of schools, I have a level one dual language school and that's the Hurley School and they are doing it. It's two weeks on off and the students are learning. in both English and Spanish, so when they reach eighth grade, the majority of the students are fully bilingual in both English and in Spanish, and biliterate, and many of them transition on to our dual-language high school. Some of them do not transition to a dual-language high school, and they decide to go to a traditional high school, but when they leave, they have up to eighth-grade literacy, fluency to be able to read and write in another language. So it can happen. I'm seeing it happen now. And it allows you to compete.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I would first start off by saying that I would say that every language and every culture is an asset And we probably would need to spend time talking about differences and talking about acknowledging and respecting cultural and linguistic differences that exist just amongst Medford public schools. Once we see the value in what every culture and language, the linguistic diversity that already exists here can offer, then we can build from that. I believe that that also is a mindset that sometimes people feel like Certain cultures or certain languages don't count or don't matter and so they don't feel like they need to learn from the other cultures. So I think if you have a mindset where you can learn from others, you can learn something the same way we can teach something, that you can learn something valuable from another culture and be able to embrace that culture and find ways to celebrate our differences and engage the entire community in that process.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So with this sixth grade vacancy, am I talking from a principal lens or from the superintendent lens? Superintendent. The superintendent lens. So with, and I'm only asking for that, just for the context. So with the vacancy, sometimes we have sometimes we overlook what's already amongst us. So I would first start with the teachers and speaking with the teachers to say, we have the sixth grade vacancy. That would be my first pass to say, we're going to be posting this position. We're going to be looking for diverse candidates to come into our sixth grade. Do you know of people who are looking? So I always start with kind of my first immediate circle, just to start getting resumes coming forward. And sometimes when you start within your immediate circle, you can find out about interest, even if it's someone at a different grade level. It could potentially be someone who's a specialist, who is a licensed teacher, who was also looking for an opportunity to transition into a sixth grade vacancy, which would create a vacancy in the special, I understand that, but if you're looking at the sixth grade content teacher where a set of students are not receiving content instruction, I would prefer to not have a substitute for all day instruction as opposed to if it's a content where every 45 minutes it's, or 48 minutes, it's a new person coming into the classroom. So I would start there. I would also talk with the colleges and universities. I went to Wheelock undergrad, Wheelock, Lesley, reach out Tufts, reach out to the local schools and say we have an immediate vacancy. Who's on your short list? Who's a strong candidate on your short list? And I would, so I would network. speak with the teachers, and then bring the candidates in. So depending on the school, we've done performatives where we have candidates who are interested in coming to teach at a school. We ask them to come and do a demonstration lesson. And so we speak with their administrator. We set up a time and we actually have them teach. I just did this a week and a half ago at one of my schools. I was in an early childhood classroom. and they had a teacher come and do a demonstration read aloud, picture walk with the students, and there were six of us in the classroom observing, and there were three teachers, early childhood teachers from the school also observing. And we used a rubric, and we were looking to see, looking for evidence of what the teacher was doing, what teacher moves, how was she interacting with the students, she was singing, She, you know, what was the tone of her voice? How did the students respond to her? Was her lesson cognitively demanding for those children? Were they challenged? Were they engaged? And so she did a 20-minute demonstration lesson. Based on that demonstration lesson, we debriefed with the teacher afterwards and said that we would follow up and get in touch with her. So that's one of the strategies where you can have the person come and perform for you or we've also traveled to the school to see the teacher in action with their current students because their students are accustomed to them and moving them to go to another school. Sometimes the children aren't sure how to interact. That's another way. So I believe, I mean, granted if it's not in Hartford that the person is teaching, then if it was local, I would definitely be willing to go and look at the instruction to make sure that we're bringing on a highly qualified teacher who's able to produce.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So in my current role, I do support principals. I'm kind of called in when there's a question, so I'm always looking at instruction and providing feedback, and I provide feedback to the teachers directly sometimes before I leave, or I'll give it to the principal and check in with them next time I'm there. I also support teachers that are underperforming, and if principals have a question, they'll say, I want you to come and see. And so I've gone in to see whether their assessment is accurate or inaccurate. And usually, if it's an underperforming teacher, it's seriously underperforming, where it's, you know, we have coaches, we have peer assistants, and so we have a lot of kind of progressive measures of support. So if teachers need help, they have peer assistants, people who can come in and help them side by side teach, side by side coach. And if that still isn't working, then we have to use the evaluation tool. But we meet, I debriefed with the principal and the teacher, giving them feedback on what we saw, feedback on what we want to see next time, and how we expect it to look. And so I've done that as well.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So as part of my entry plan where I would be out within the community dealing with all stakeholders, I would hope before the budget process actually takes place in the fall probably by November, start having budget conversations and doing a survey or getting feedback from the stakeholders and the constituents to see what is it they would like to see happen with the money. It's a limited pool of money. and you have to wait until you get your official disbursement. So you can have an idea and you can have your first original budget, but you don't know if it's gonna go up a little or if it's gonna go down a little.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: And so with that, and a lot of times, in my context, Boston, the mayor has helped to supplement and kind of close the gap when it's a specific need and maybe the money isn't there. So you need to have a tight plan in place. What is the plan? Is it a sound plan, reasonable plan, logical plan? And then look at that plan and look at what the money is that's available. What do you have available? And then you have to work from there. So I could want the sky, the sun, and the moon. And I'm only able to acquire a flower. So I have to be reasonable. You have to balance the budget. So it's not like you have a credit card and you can say, I'm going to put it on credit. So we can dream big. I think it's great to know what people's dreams are and what their expectations are. But it's good to just have all the voices create an opportunity. for the voices of all stakeholders to be heard. But then, when you actually have the budget, to look at what's reasonable and will position Medford for the next phase of the work.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So meeting, going to a community meeting about the budget, are you saying?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I have, from a budget perspective, I actually have a designated budget liaison who, so I have a a budget analyst who works with me.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: No. I've had my superintendent license for a while. I did not work with people outside of Boston. When I was at Boston College, it was Professor Lynch who did the budgeting coursework.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: If I could go to the board tomorrow, I would be talking about if there was ever a possibility, if I was allowed to dream, that as we look at the accountability structure, the current accountability structure that's in place, it's in place but it's based on a test that students take in ELA, two sessions out of 180 days of school and two days of math out of 180 days of school. And I almost wish that there was a way in which we could balance that I believe in accountability, but that it did not have to be the end all and be all to designate an entire school the work that they've done for that entirety. And I know there has to be a standard, but I wish that was something that I could, you know, speak to the department about and say, could there be other measures that we use to assess schools?
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: I would love to be able to use non-tangible measures like the culture and the climate, the environment, the engagement, the instruction that's happening in the schools, the populations. Although we look at the subgroups and how the subgroups perform, but being able to, you know, if you have a school that has a high ELL population or a high students with disabilities population, they may be taking the MCAS ALT. So their performance is always going to look like they're not learning anything or they're not progressing at the rate, the same rate as everyone else is progressing. But if you look at the individual needs of that school, you would see that they are progressing and they're progressing at an alternative rate. So I wish that the accountability system was not the only way, the only measure that was used. to assess the school.
[Marice Edouard-Vincent]: So I just want to say thank you to all of you, the school committee members. I want to say again that I consider this truly an honor and privilege to come back to Medford, home for me, and to take all my experience of being, different experience of teaching and being a principal and being a superintendent at the, network superintendent and instructional superintendent, and bring all of the skills that I've learned back to Medford, that would be, you know, a great honor for me. And I just wanna say thank you again for this opportunity.