e 51 6704 we have roll call of the Medford School Committee Member Russo member brandley present member Graham here member in tapa is delayed is online um member ol present member reinfeld present member so presentent mayor Loker pres six present one absent so far um if we can rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America rep stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we have executive session pursuant to general laws 30A section A3 the me school committee will convene an executive session to update to get an update on negotiations with the Medford educational secretaries ask me Council 93 Meer Teachers Association for Kids Corner Meer teach Teachers Association for power professionals because an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position the committee and the chair so declares executive session puru pursuant to general laws 30A section A3 the Medford school committee will convene an executive session to discuss collective bargaining with MTA regarding a grievance dated March 2024 motion for to go into executive reinfeld seconded by second member Graham roll call please member branley yes yes member and tapa absent member olap yes member reinfeld yes member so yes may Longo yes six the affirmative one absent we're going to go into executive session and return at at or close to 6 p.m. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e my check one two check one two for spe e e now e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for M so there any student reps on student reps on do you know oh you're not on yet okay no problem oh that's right okay okay so no no student reps we'll go to the consent agenda bills and payrolls approval of capital purchases regular school committee meeting minutes from May 20th 2024 strategic and capital planning subcommittee minutes May 21st 2024 and curriculum instruction assessment and accountability subcommittee May 28 2024 motion to approve my member reinfeld seconded by second member L all those in favor all those opposed sent agenda is approved we have reports of subcommittees strategic and capital planning subcommittee meeting held on May 21st 2024 thank you mayor member um thank you mayor um I'm actually G to hold most of my comments because member Russo helpfully um crafted a policy that covers much of what we talked about um the the only other thing that I would add is that um we will be making updates to the existing um Capital plan for the schools in time for that next cycle next year assuming that that passes tonight so um we we can get to that later the process which I think was the more substantive part of our conversation later on thank you thank you curriculum instruction assessment and accountability subcommittee meeting held on May 28 2024 yep I don't have a lot to share this was really a foundational meeting we had a great crowd of people who gave us an overview of what was happening and we're moving forward towards phase two thank you member reinfeld uh we have our report of superintendent updates and comments Dr Maurice Edward Vincent good evening it's June 3r which means pride month has begun Medford kicked off its celebrations with a wonderful pride flag raising um festival at City Hall on this past Friday which I was pleased to attend I want to thank our mayor thank uh Miss Francis noaj the city's Dei director um the members of your team that helped to set it up it was truly an enjoyable event for all um I also want to just let the audience know that this Saturday students from Medford High School GSA will join The Wider Greater Boston um lgbtq I A 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+ Mustang in 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 um for our students with disabilities um it was a wonderful event students from other communities participated in that I just want to thank our special Educators um Miss Bowen and all the members of her team Miss Lauren pillo um Denise de Jans and many other um staff Miss principal Michelle croll 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 um say that last week we had a wonderful event the Junior Olympics for our fifth grade um students that are moving on to middle school next year and um we had some uh pretty bad weather last week so at the last minute tus University was willing to let us use their gantter Center and um we're very grateful to that we want to thank um Rachel Perry and um all the athletic the fizzed teachers that participated and the fifth grade staff all the principles were there we also want to thank um the pto's um Dr pushing 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 um recognizing some of our district Fine Arts students for their notable photography accomplishments and recognizing Medford students in the annual Scholastic competition that recognizes teens in grades 7 through 12 with regional and National Honors for their creativity in art and writing in 28 categories that will be presented this evening by Miss 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 mck elementary school and Mrs Christina LOD Dudley the new director of Kids Corner next we'll also invite Miss Stacy Schulman director of School counseling and Behavioral Health to tell us about the always inspiring Bloom sack leadership awards this unique academic and professional opportunity is made available to Medford Public School students through the extremely generous support of the bloom sack family and we look forward to hearing more from Miss Schulman and um Miss Nera one of our students who was the recipient of of that award Dr Peter Cushing will provide updates on the exciting progress being made on the mlin playground project the city's first universally accessible playground and the district's student Opportunity Act thank you and I look forward to this evening's presentations thank you Dr Edward Vincent um next we'll invite Miss Suzanne fee coordinator of Fine Arts to give us um Fine Arts student update welcome thank you very much for having us um if you could just indulge me for one minute before we get to the awards um we had a busy and exciting month in the art and music departments um May was Arts month and we had six Student Art exhibitions we had five all school art shows that featured artwork from all students in the school as well as musical performances including the band The Jazz Band ukulele performances recorder performances singing performances Orchestra and More in addition to all the music that enhanced the art show there were four concert events and two musicals and it was just a tremendous effort that um by all of our art and music staff and and with the support of building principles and our pto's and our grant partners that supplemented some of those activities we're just really proud of the month we had so I want to thank everybody who showed up and reached out about what a great um series of events we had but now on to um the photo contest and the Scholastic Art Award winners I'm joined by miss van Akin who has been a teacher at Medford High for many many years and plays a vital role in both both the photo contest and organizing the Scholastic art Awards and she is retiring at the end of this year and neither one of these events would be possible without her um extra help and time and dedication so I just want to acknowledge Miss Van Aken as [Applause] well Dr Cushing I think I have a um presentation to share so you can see the winning entries um so we'll start with the photo contest winners and the photo contest is a a wonderful um contest that we have at MHS because it brings out a lot of kids who aren't necessarily taking art classes and stuff so it's a great way to uh get more kids involved in the Arts um so when I call um you up if you're here we'll give you your award and your prize and your um matted photo and you could shake everyone's hand and come around this way a lot of our seniors are at the barbecue so I'll be chasing them at graduation to give them their Awards and prizes but we do have a lot of students here um so oh okay um well I'll just read through it and we have the photos um Connor oi in grade 12 got an honorable mention for his photo paddling down I don't think I think Connor left for the barbecue Caitlyn shuang an honorable mention for her um photo shove it yep make sure we show the show photo to both [Applause] sides hining in grade 12 an honorable mention for walking [Applause] trees Evelyn shamway who's not here received an honorable mention for reflection of the sky and now our c category winners Jonathan malerba in grade 11 who you may recognize because he's at all of our events taking fabulous photos he won best action photo for Kaboom Conor oi Connor o again won for best landscap or cityscape but he is not here Emma beards lean grade 10 won best portrait for Thanksgiving Day yeah strassfield in grade 11 won third place and best nature photo for [Applause] Evergreen Julia hen Baker in grade 12 one for second place for Willie from [Applause] Boston and Ari Atwell and grade 11 won first place for swim Among the Stars [Applause] and our Scholastic Art Award winners this year uh Dakota Mahoney got an honorable mention for fragile tension um she's not here she's at the barbecue Lily bagen won a silver key for glass ceiling and she also wanted honorable mention for another piece and Stella heining again um won a gold key for um one of her ceramic pieces Shadow woman jar and an honorable mention for many faces [Applause] jar and and a silver key for her portfolio work wow so thank you very much if we could just do a quick photo that would be great e e member inapa awesome I just want to say thank you very much um director fee for presenting all this I just want to also say that um I have the distinct pleasure of working at an Art institution and being a graduate of an Art institution and and by doing that I get to see uh what everyone from around the state and around the country is producing you know watching our studio Foundation students go through the the system working with students all the time um and I can comfortably say I think for the first time that Medford is excelling in the Arts and I'm really really pleased to seeing all the work that's presented I mean these are just the award winners um we don't know what people are crafting personally what's in their full portfolios and just it's really refreshing to see this much attention to the Arts um and and seeing how many people were involved in the level that they're at at grade 10 grade 11 seniors um so whether or not they pursue to do an art education which I know some of uh the winners are um but I just want to say like this is phenomenal work and and thank you and congratulations to everyone who won an award and hopefully we'll see what you do next so thank [Applause] you yes thank you very much Miss B we have number three announcement of new positions new principal of the missu Elementary School Miss Nancy Sherman Hudson and the direct new director of Kids Corner Miss Christina lungo Dudley drit thank you so I would love for Mrs Sherman Hudson and Mrs Christina loango Dudley to come forward thank you to the both of you you um when we learned this year that Dr Kathy K we see you longtime principal of the missu elementary school planed 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 mck school our selection Mrs Nancy Sherman Hudson has a long and impressive res 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 missu as assistant principal in 2013 earlier this year Miss Sherman Hudson acted as interim principal of the misuk 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 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 misuk elementary school Mrs Nancy Sherman [Applause] Hudson okay my first job was done right thank you Dr Edward Vincent and school committee members I look forward to continue continuing to work alongside our very dedicated staff and families at the misitu a special thank you to Dr k for her mentoring and Leadership she modeled over the past 11 years thank you I'm so [Applause] excited 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 Miss Christina Luongo as the next director of medford's Kids Corner Child Care Center Miss Luongo Dudley is an accomplished educ early educator with experience ranging from infant care to pre 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 dadley developed a reputation for peer leadership effective communication in student enrichment please join me in welcoming the next Kids Corner director Mrs Christina Luongo [Applause] Dudley thank you good evening everyone I stand here today to say thank you for this wonderful opportunity it is with the utmost excitement and heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of our families for entrusting me with the privilege of educating and nurturing your children as your new director of Kids Corner daycare I am committed to providing a safe inclusive and engaging learning environment for every child family and staff member this would not have been possible without the support and guidance of many amazing people I would like to thank assistant superintendent Suzanne baloi for her mentorship and guidance throughout this process her continued partnership will only help me become a better individual and leader for our staff families and children finally I would like to thank superintendent Dr Maurice Edward Vincent for entrusting me to serve as the new director of Kids Corner I am eternally grateful I am excited for the future of Kids Corner daycare as I have many dreams and aspirations for its growth and development with the upcoming 2024 2025 school year I am thrilled to begin implementing fresh and innov changes I am truly excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and am confident that with the support of our community we can create a bright and prosperous future for the Center thank you thank you both congratulations we have number four Bloom sack leadership awards Miss Stacy shman director of School counseling and Behavioral health and I see Miss Boom saac in the audience welcome hi good evening I'm Stacy Schulman um drer School counseling and I am always thrilled to come here to talk about our students work um the bloom saac family um Miss Bloom saac is here with us this evening has sponsored a student every summer to attend the pre-ol program at tus for leadership for social change and we are thrilled that each of our students has done a project which we'll give back to Medford um miss nikira miss o Nira is here this evening to share her project with us so without further Ado I'll allow her to speak hi thank you for having me here today um I think we have a slideshow queued up thank you so um I had the privilege of doing this uh program during the summer at tus and one of our projects was to do something that we're passionate about so I did a research project about how we can increase representation and access to AP courses at Medford High School yeah so just for some um statistics um in school segregation accounts for about 40% of segregation at schools and sadly this is when you can kind of tell the level of course at the school Itself by the makeup of the students in the school and one way that we can combat that is looking at policy changes that we can make to increase access to these courses and this also applies to not only minority students but also low income students or students from single parent households who don't have access to tutoring or guidance that could help them succeed in these courses so some possible causes for this are um a lack of diversity in the teacher Workforce itself and this is really detrimental to the students themselves because studies actually show that students do better when they are represented within the teachers that they have and then also teacher expectations could be a root cause just because of implicit biases as well so just for some examples of policy that could lead to this um well the first one I have is tracking so I think meford High School actually got rid of this this year but before we had this policy where you had to take a math test in sixth grade and that kind of depended where you went um or what math classes you took in high school so this limited access to calculus for example for a lot of students who maybe didn't have access to tutoring to do well on these tests and this is not only this is not necessarily to say that we shouldn't use tracking in schools but just that we should also supplement tracking with for example more guidance for students who need them who are either minority students or low-income students and looking at how we can make these programs accessible for all students and then just some Community organizations that are doing that are working on this issue are for example the NAACP so they have science fairs that encourage achievement in stem and other academic subjects and these are some things some things that we can incorporate at Medford High School and communities other communities as well and thank you for listening to my presentation [Applause] thanks great job thank you so much for presenting mayor member Russo I'm sorry I just started eating a cookie um could we get that presentation sent to us please thank you so much wonderful thank you thank you thank you for joining us miss Blom saac you hear me and thank you for the donation yeah thank thank you thank you miss m shman I'm GNA use my yes [Applause] okay we have number five our mlin playground update presented by Dr Peter Cushing assistant superintendent good evening Madame mayor members of the school committee thank you very much for this opportunity to present um I'll just preface this uh as we head into this slideshow presentation by saying uh they say a picture is worth a thousand words I'll say in this instance uh the pictures don't do the the project Justice by any stretch of the imagination um and I know that several of you have been out to the site we also have a tour for uh members of the city council members of the school committee uh this Thursday at one o'clock as well um and so we look forward to sharing with you the live inperson um progress I also have online uh my co-chair of the design committee uh Shenene Peloquin who has been really invaluable as a part of this um so I will start to move through the slideshow right now all right so here is uh the overall conceptual design of the um construction as was proposed to you uh I want you to hold this in your mind as we go through um you can see here uh one of the areas that was really prone to flooding this is now where we have built an elevated deck um playground structures last for about 20 to 25 years in the most ideal conditions this was installed in 20 1 so we got about 22 years out of it used to be part of the Mystic River it's a really wet ground that is overly saturated and the playground was floated for much of the year in the winter I would wager you could have ice skated on a significant portion of it um so why the flooding well because it was a river and the drainage was not well maintained well cared for uh I want to thank the DPW for in the last year and a half they went in they really excavated put in some temporary drains um and they did a really great job and the land itself is just wet a lot of the time uh so what's going on behind the fence thank you all for being at the groundbreaking back in December I should say the snow breaking at that time um but we uh we've been working really hard um over the winter to really demolish the old playground build in drainage the drainage is really amazing um it's it's oversized or I'd say properly sized which means it's rather large to handle the amount of water that we're going through we've put in Rain Gardens uh we've done electricity out to the playground so we're not running uh extension cords we've done data ports out to the playground so that we'll have that available the rocks and the boulders that you'll see throughout the site have actually been brought in from car park and that work that's been done there it's a really cool it adds a really cool feel to the playground just the boulders themselves um we've been finalizing playu design colors uh we've been having weekly meetings with our uh design team and construction team we've been ironing out some of our uh differences and some of our uh you know questions that arise um and so I put this image up there again just so that you can get a sense of the massive scale that this project was it started with resurfacing the playground and the CPC and others were like how about we time out on that because that was going to be in of itself well over half a million dollars to just rip up and replace the soft surfacing and so what they did was they funded a design study that was put on hold I'm going to be honest for probably about 18 months while covid took precedent um and why I want you to really get a vision for this picture this aerial is for how we took a lot of underutilized space and with chenine and others others input really moved forward with maximizing our space so here you can see the Pavilion in phase one right um all that gray dark tar will be covered with port in place uh the turf field was recently installed the Pavilion now has its roof on uh we hope to have outdoor uh movies concerts things along those lines where families and School uh Personnel can enjoy the turf field um we've done 66 new native trees countless bushes shrubs and other things the the Landscaping looks absolutely beautiful um and the tree area students repeatedly said that if anything happens to this tree uh we'll just die or we won't be able to really enjoy I forget chenine can add um she's a co-host so she can chime in I forget their exact statement but basically they would have been despondent if we had done anything to that tree so uh we've been extraordinarily careful with it um there's a graval pathway around the tree that will be covered in a semi-permeable pavement called flexxip pave and in the lower corner you can see the deck that will serve as another Outdoor Classroom type space uh we've put in multiple picnic tables uh that are accessible um and so moving through the pictures here's our o our classroom the logs are set so that there's multiple SP bases for for uh accessible seating wheelchair seating uh and all of the gravel in this area will be covered with the flexible uh flexi pave permeable Paving and accessible garden beds allow for a wheelchair to go underneath and multiple Heights for students of various Heights and sizes um coming up next fencing will be installed we're expecting pavement to go in this week the asphalt pavement that needs 28 days to cure uh we'll start digging in playground equipment areas and creating landforms we have some hills to create throughout the remaining area um and lots more to come uh so if you have any questions feel free to email chenine or Amanda sella they're really taking point on answering questions I'm always happy to answer any questions but um look forward to seeing anyone who hasn't been able to make it to the site this coming Thursday at 1 o'clock we're hoping that it is not a monsoon as it has been the last two Thursdays so if you have any questions feel free or chenine do you want to chime in I think you covered it pretty well member Graham thank you um I actually have had a chance to tour the playground and it's super exciting um the I was inv D in the CPC applications that started this actually that happened before I was on the school committee um and it started out as a collaboration between the pto's at the three um schools that got resurfacing at that time so it was the miss the Brooks and um the mlin and the folks at the mclin um were very committed to making sure that what they did for that school served the school for the Long Haul and not in the just the immediate like I want the same as everybody else kind of way um so I want to just say thank you to them for their patience because this has been a long process um much to all of our you know suin like we all could have done without covid but here we are um and the project is amazing and we're still accepting donations um maybe we can put another reminder in the weekly um in the weekly um update from the super superintendent that that's happening um so we are still looking for Community donations um to support you know making sure that we can really sort of dress this um proper place out the way that it deserves to be um there's so many trees going in uh it's going to be the Envy of every Elementary School and the question's going to be which one is next so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to find some money for for those conversations um quickly because this playground is um far above anything that Medford Public Schools has ever been able to see or or um deliver to it students before thank you thing Madame mayor that I do want to say publicly I've said it to everybody here I really feel that it's a smaller project but this should serve as inspiration for everybody for the Metford high school project as to what good design good construction oversight um and good process of getting Community involvement uh really really can do thank you and just from the chair I want to thank you Dr Cushing as well as the committee that worked on this for quite some time I know member Graham's one of those people member former member mlin and um Miss Peloquin and a number of other um people that just put their time and soul into this um so happy to see it come to fruition it was pretty exciting to to tour it like member Graham said um to see an in park that's this inclusive and it's going to be utilized by the entire Community not just those three schools um is something to be proud of thank you um member Russo then um we have some Miss Peloquin thank you um I I brought my kids to the old playground when they were little and even did skate not on skates but it was definitely skating material um and it's really I did get to tour it and it is um while it is when I T it it's far from done it is shocking that it's the same footprint really that's sort of the thing that's hard to really wrap your head around is that the old one felt frankly small um and this just feels so big it's like like a tardis or something from Doctor Who it's like how on Earth did you get all this in here doesn't feel crowded um it's really amazing and um I I cannot say enough good things about it and I'm I'm super excited for the stuff that's yet to come um I know that you know there's a lot of not you know there's a lot of stuff that looks tar colored but that's going to be colorful and you know and um and U I can't remember I think it was Miss pelicin who explained the the way the the the the color differentials will help those with low vision um and you know just the thoughtfulness around things because you know when you first glance at it you're like there's all these opportunities for kids to fall but of course we want kids to have the opportunity to fall the you know the the old playgrounds of make them so safe that they are can't possibly skin and neede but also they're boring um is thankfully becoming a thing of the past because like I drive through Belmont every day and they have a beautiful playground it looks like architecturally like gorgeous but it's all brown and it is all that style of nobody can get hurt in our playgrounds um and I'm sure it costs probably more than our playground um but I'm glad we're not going there and that it's going to be a place the kids can't get enough of um and my kids are way too old to enjoy it so I'll just go by myself but thank you so much for all the work and it's really an enormous number of people involved um and I want to thank the mayor and and and the residents for funing it through the CPC because um it it wasn't the cheapest thing we could have done is an understatement but I think our kids are really going to uh benefit from it and not just the kids at the mcglenn like my kids didn't go to the mcglenn but we went there anyways um so I think the the the kids of the entire city are going to drive there there's parking especially on a weekend so thank you thank you me ruso I I think we used a number of funding sources arpa cdbg CPA and one or two other as well so it takes a village including when you have to finance something um Miss Pelin sure yeah the other funding source was a federal earmark from representative Barber through DCR uh I just wanted to say for those of you who who are able to visit or who are already visited you'll hear me say this as well but I think one of the things to know is that this is the this is the precedent Setter it's not that the other schools aren't going to get this it's that this is the way we're doing things from now on right we want to make sure we have robust Community input processes and really hear from the kids first and I'm really proud of the way that this community has listened to the kids and then the staff on how to make it really workable um and then the other thing to know for those of you who haven't heard us present before is that we did also use CPC funding to do assessments of the other MPS playgrounds because there are six total that are owned and we were able to get new equipment for the Roberts and Brooks that had broken equipment and a new um just a new panel for the misuk as well to make things safe so those playgrounds have been inspected and are now safe and they will last longer um while we figure out the funding pieces for how to to improve those schoolyards when the time comes but those playgrounds are are as you know they they're up to the standard of care uh with the new surfacing and replacement equipment so those schools did get pieces of equipment and um and we anticipate these these kinds of processes of of really deciding what works for each School in the future thank you very much thank you thank you Dr Cushing um we have a an update also by Dr Peter Cushing assistant superintendent student Opportunity Act um good evening this was a report that we initially hope originally hoped to get a vote for you on April sorry on April 29th um but due to budgets and other presentations and stuff um the proverbial can was uh kicked so I'm presenting here tonight uh on our student Opportunity Act submission uh we um we receive student Opportunity Act was first conceived um to really Rectify funding disparities uh for districts across the Commonwealth uh who you know typically Urban um typically underserved um received significant funding uh this Medford as part of our Chapter 70 money so this is all now rolled into our Chapter 70 money receives approximately an additional $135,000 um based on the governor's allotment this year we may be receiving more based on the house and the Senate that's a May um we anticipate that we will however these are are numbers that we've already really accounted for this is not in addition to we're not getting an additional check or anything along those lines but then there are certain requirements that we have to do as part of the plan um so um this is our report so three key priorities continued development of early of a robust early literacy program for grades K to five in all uh in all four of our elementary schools a commitment to early literacy screening in grades K through three with continued monitoring throughout Middle School uh and refine the Medford High School Saturday acceleration Academy program that began in January 2024 to provide targeted support to identified high school students and Rising ninth graders so uh identified eighth graders that are rising to ninth grade as well um so the Investments that we're planning and again only $135,000 a year approximately um so but these investments will come out to about $720,000 over the next three years um $165,000 for early literacy screening and support uh $435,000 for comprehensive support for early literacy programming and uh really intense um in-kind professional development $120,000 for Saturday acceleration academy uh and so this is directly taken to from our our application that I provided to you uh that the district has committed to these in initiatives despite significant fiscal challenges on the horizon that nominal support from the student Opportunity Act will amarate to a certain degree basically we are picking up the lion share with local money to really support this because the student Opportunity Act doesn't really deliver a whole lot to the students of Medford um so one thing though that uh under the new student opportunity act pieces that they've put in the last year year and a half is to really try to figure out how we're going to measure family engagement this is something that we and most districts are struggling with we are trying to really engage families uh recently we had about 60 families 60 individuals sign up for an event that Miss shman Put on We had 16 actually show up um so just some of the challenges that we face but we're going to review metrics from our mass communication system we're going to deploy surveys as needed to families uh we're going to monitor School site count and that'll be a panorama survey that we're working on with the high school and hopefully get down to the other schools as well we'll monitor School site Council compositions to include family representatives of our targeted groups um review data from Talking Points uh explore and deploy further rounds future roundtables for families and caregiver we've had some success with those at the height of the pandemic less success with those as we came out of the pandemic so the school leadership respectfully requests a vote of the medord school committee to approve the plan that you have in front of you I gave you the brief right now uh and for me to also amend the date to June 3D 2024 as opposed to the April 29th in your packet motion to approve the plan motion to approve the plan by member Graham seconded by second member Ola all those in favor I those oppos motion passes thank you Dr kushin thank you we have no presentations of the public we do have continued business um we have msba MCH SBA update table from May 20th 2024 presented by member gram School building committee meeting uh May 13 2024 member G thank you um just a few brief updates um the there are five deliverables in the eligibility phase two of the five have been submitted to msba already um the remaining three are on track um we I am anticipating that in our meeting tomorrow night the chapter 74 eligibility form will be finalized and approved by the committee um and they will do a first um draft review of our um our educational profile where we will look at that before the before June is out so we are sort of pushing um hard to make sure that we are getting all of our deliverables in just as quickly as we we possibly can I'm working with the mayor and the count uh the president of the council to make sure that the right votes get taken to fund the feasibility study um which will rely on free cash so all of that also just to happen here in the month of June in some capacity um in terms of some of the work the committee has been doing we have established um two subcommittees uh so far one is about Communications and Community engagement actually three subcommittees um Communications and community engagement has built a plan that includes um some surveying that we'll do in the short term to um ask the community sort of what their questions are so that the website can attempt to answer some of those questions proactively um we also have talked about a strategy of how to start to include the community in the conversation um it's a little bit of a boring conversation right now because it's a lot of paperwork um but once we sort of move into the next phases we're actually talking about things like feasibility study and envisioning what a new building could look like that'll be a sort of a completely different scenario um so we have a plan um that includes things like being at tables at community events and having a pitch deck for lack of a better term that we can use to go talk to all the boards and commissions who might be interested so we have some like upfront planning and Survey work happening um really over the course of the summer and then um you know sort of really just using this time to set the stage for good proactive communication um we also had a rules and onboarding subcommittee meet um we have established and passed our operating rules which um are very similar to what they are here um in terms of um using Robert's Rules of Order and um trying to take a more actually a less formal tone than we do even here um but outlining the same rules of public participation that we use here so that we can make sure that our meetings can um remain productive um and you know overall uh have established a path for what happens when we need to onboard new people so we have sort of plans in place for all of that so that somebody coming on board can um get up to speed quickly if that becomes necessary which over the life of a five to sevene project it's inevitable um the the website the dedicated website is just about complete in its draft form and it will include bios of all the folks that are on the committee it will include um all of our minutes and all of our agendas um and all the documents that we have talked about um so far submitted documents um that kind of thing um and then just other helpful links FAQs Etc so all of that um is about done and ready to be launched but um our anticipation is that there won't be a lot of traction for that until we get into the feasibility the feasibility study phase which is just a little ways down the road for us um again we have to be done by January 27 um we're on track to be done um far sooner than that um and the sooner that we're done the sooner we can get in the queue to go to the board meeting which happens every other month um and then um the sooner that we can um move on to those next phases we also had a finance subcommittee meeting um where we um talked with um Alicia hunt who's our director of planning and sustain development and sustainability is that right okay um and she was immensely helpful um there's been a lot of questions around um the site of the new high school and whether there are other possibilities besides where Medford High is right now um and she went through she pulled up a map and went through what those options might be um in terms of sort of things that she would be thinking about um we don't need that information just yet but at some point will so um you know for example like people have asked about Place dead Park as a potential site I think that has been noted before she actually said that's sort of not on her hit hit parade of places to um look namely because we would be burying the high school further into a corner of the city that is um the wealthiest corner of the city um so we'd be sort of advantaging students already who generally have lots of Advantage um in terms of getting getting to the high school and then you know there's sort of a whole bunch of Transportation concerns with that with that location as well um she did site toughs Park is maybe some place to think about because even though it is also sort of in a corner of the city which is its own um Challenge from a transportation perspective her thought was like it is in a corner of the city that would actually Advantage students who are historically disadvantaged in terms of their ability to get back and forth um she also said that you know her planner heart says she would love to see Medford High back in the middle of the city just like it used to be one day uh long ago and so that's sort of also a conversation we talked about like the complex over at hormell um and sort of ruled that out for the most part um because it would be too congested with elementary middle and high school all sort of having to convene in the same place um so we had a really really good discussion we also talked with um Fiona Maxwell who's our purchasing official for the city and she's certified um and meets requirements by msba um and she is starting to work on collecting um model documents for bringing on our owner's project manager which will be our next um our next phase and we talked about again an aggressive goal that on the day where they approve us to go into the owner's project manager selection phase that our RFP goes out the door that same day um and so that's going to take some advanced work in planning and so she is starting to talk to the local communities around us who have done this before to start to pull some of those things together so everybody's like really eager to to get past this phase which is um which is exciting and um you know has been you know helpful and collaborative um all throughout the process so it is a big committee everything is going great so far we've had great attendance and great participation um and there's just like a lot of sort of leg work to do between now and you know say the fall so will'll continue to sort of work through that we have a meeting tomorrow night um our meetings are in the beastro so people are welcome to join us in person um they are on Zoom we've not seen a lot of traction yet um it is June and there are a few million things happening at the same time so I'm not surprised but um I also think the time for that participation is going to be once we get into the feasibility study where we're hiring a designer who's actually engaging with us to say tell us tell us what you want this place to look like and what you want it to be and what you want to be able to do in the space um much like what we talked about with mlin like how do you really thoughtfully design like every last nook and cranny of a building so it both serves a need and provides some flexibility so all of that's like sort of down the line and that's where really we'll be talking to you know to teachers to staff um to students to the community um and all of that good stuff so all that's very much to come so that's just a quick update of of what we're doing but we do have um a pretty robust communication plan um getting underway and um everyone's excited take any questions thank you member Russo thank you um I I have no questions other than is there actually a bet whether we can be the fastest at this project in the history of the state because I'm um I mean we had documents done before we begun which has to be unusual so I'm I'm excited by um um Vice chair Graham's um ability to keep the the gas pedal accelerator excuse me um press to the floor in a way that amazes me and I feel like nobody's getting run over which is also kind of impressive so I wanted to thank you for that because uh like every time I come to a meeting I can't believe we're we're done with that document already like we are we are less we are what 30 days into a of a of a we have 172 days I think yeah so we're doing we're doing good but let's I'm excited thank you thank you thank you member Graham um we have new business offered by member rouso 202 24-28 budget preparation and schedule motion to wave this reading second will this be going into committee or no that want to vote tonight for first reading tonight first reading um so I would ask to withraw that motion to wave the reading oh if you don't mind sure I'm just it's a lot of text I'm wondering I know but gonna reading sorry budget purpose I do believe me I'd rather not have to read it all but I feel like it we have to it's up to you I don't care I don't mind for I just I think it should be read yeah I'll read it um see if I find any typos or anything as I go through really oh all right um this is um H policy DBC which is really hard to say budget preparation and schedule preparation of the annual budget will be scheduled in phases with attention to specific deadlines this policy aims to increase transparency into how the public schools budget is developed to to ensure the school committee is appropriately involved in budget development and to increase participa public participation and understanding of how this Tech of how their tax dollars are spent educating the children of our great City phase one planning Target dates of October 1 to December 15 one enrollment projections Staffing current and required recommended policy changes three expenditure projections of the costs of this year's operation at next year's estimated prices adjustment adjusted for enrollment changes and other cost information four Revenue projections including best estimates of federal state and Grant funds five facilities information especially projected surpluses and deficits in classroom space and future needs for repairs six cost Effectiveness and other special studies of designated programs activities and policies seven draft of the basic School allocation rates and factors and other proposed changes phase two paret uh budget request formulation Target dates of December 15 to February 1st within the framework outlined in Phase One the budget is formulated as follows one issue budget manual for next fiscal year procedures and forms including School allocation and factors and conduct orientation two principles discuss budget needs with school councils and provide feedback to the superintendent three conduct school committee committee of the whole meetings with public input to discuss priorities and possible initiatives four conduct administrative review of budget requests including discussion with principles five inclusion of net School spending eligible portions of the capital Improvement plan six develop the proposed budget for the me for public schools seven submit the proposed budget to the school committee for its review phase three school committee review and approval of budget request Target date of February 1 to February 28 the budget is presented to the school committee for its review and for public testimony one budget presentation by the superintendent two public hearings will be scheduled pursuant to Master General Law chapter 17 section 38n three school committee's budget decision meetings four final school committee decision and approval for submission to the city council excuse me phase four superintendent and school committee receive projected Municipal allocation Target date March 1st number one the municipal leadership will notify the superintendent and the school committee in writing of the projected Municipal allocation phase five projected reconciled proposed reconcile budget developed in response to the proposed projected Municipal allocation excuse me Target date of March 1 through May 1 the proposed reconciled budget including all required cuts to meet the projected Municipal allocation is presented to the school committee for review and public testimony one if the propos if the projected Municipal allocation is less than the budget request a the superintendent will develop a proposed reconciled budget with cuts to meet the projected Municipal allocation B the proposed reconciled budget reflects cting Cuts required to meet the proposed reconcile budget that should actually say U projected Municipal allocation sorry uh will be made available to the school committee and the public C if the proposed Municipal allocation is more than 1% less than the budget request a public hearing will be scheduled pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 17 section 38n section six school committee transmission to city government Target date May 15 one the school committee School the school committee budget request and presentation will be forwarded to the mayor and city council two the proposed reconciled budget in response to projected Municipal allocation will be forwarded to the mayor and city council three a cover letter written by the school committee will be included with the above Nam documents phase seven city council review and approval Target date May 15 through June 30 let's hope it's never that late the city council approves the municipal budget with the final allocation for me meford Public Schools one review and approval by the city council phase eight school committee of review and approval of final budget Target date June 1 through june30 the school committee finalizes a budget for the upcoming fiscal year one the municipal allocation received from the city council if the municipal allocation is the same as the budget request the school committee will meet to provide approval for the final budget three if the municipal allocation is less than the budget request a the superintendent will provide any updates to the proposed reconciled budget presented in Phase five the the updated proposed reconciled budget reflecting the recommended Cuts will be made available to the school committee and the public C if the municipal allocation is more than 1% less than the budget request a public hearing will be scheduled pursuant to master Law chapter 17 section 38n D if a public hearing is required a regular or special school committee meeting will be scheduled no less than five days five business days after the public hearing to approve the proposed reconcile budget e if a public hearing is not required a regular or special school committee meeting will be scheduled to approve the proposed reconciled budget and then four the final budget will be posted to the Meer Public Schools website there's a few definitions motion to wave the definitions reading motion to wave the definitions um by member reinfeld seconded by member Graham all those in favor I supposed definition section is waved budget request Capital Improvement plan Capital Improvement projects capital budget final budget Municipal allocation net School spending Pro projected Municipal allocation and proposed reconciled budget for the definitions thank you member Russo um I from the chair if I may I just want to see if the superintendent can comment on whether or not the central Administration yourself and um CFO especially have reviewed this and have been able to um imple Implement comment on it as I know it's pretty lengthy and I want to make sure that this is feasible mayor member Uso okay just speak on it real quick first um so um most of this is actually stuff we already do um especially the budg budget preparation stuff and the planning um and you know those are sections that are for the administration so obviously any changes additions subtractions that they would like I obviously I think we would be happy to consider those changes um the dates are um were difficult because the city council passed a budget ordinance it says on March 1st that the mayor's office will tell the school district or I don't know if they tell the city council or the school district what the um potential allocation will be so we had to really the dates on this really had to be planned around that date I mean to pretend we don't get a number when we get a number doesn't make any sense so that's why a lot of the stuff is sort of backed up that March one date is so important in this um and then you know one of the things in this current budget cycle that I I think I don't know if everybody agrees but I certainly think many people in the community would want to know is like when we had our presentation of the budget last time or the time before and we we cut 2.2 million and still had 2.7 million left to figure out how to cut um and I understand why we did that because like it was probably very hard to even wrap our heads around where we would make those cuts but it's June and if we still had to make those cuts that's not a lot of time for the community to respond for us to respond for staff to be like all right we've just decided we're laying off another 50 people they got families and mortgages and so I felt it was really important that when we get an allocation a projected alloc that we take it completely seriously and that we have a document that says if that's our number here is how we'll get there um we still don't have that now and I understand why and I I actually support that because this Gap was so phenomenally large but in a normal year even if there's a gap we need to be able to say this is how we're going to do it now we aren't going to put names and say these people are getting laid off all the way back in febr February that would or March that would make no sense but you know how are we going to get from what we need to what we think we may get the public should know that we should know that um and not a few weeks before school's out um so that was sort of my um my point in all that and then also telling the city council I mean the city council has traditionally received our budget book that we get and that's that's the that's the recommended budget from the school committee that's not what will actually happen um and I think that if we have the budget request which is that this is what we would like and then if we only get that projected allocation this is what it will look like and a letter that says here's how we did it and no we don't like it but um I think that they need that for their deliberations because I know the superintendent was in the hot seat and you know it it's too big of a the budget is too big to just drill you for an hour or two even and think that that's enough that's that's not it's just too much um for the city council to actually take all that in and to get to all their questions really um so there is this other thing in here of having the budget hearing possibly up to three times and that is to say if we are really going to have to make cuts that are bigger than I just picked 1% because I looked at the math and thought that's that's still a lot um if we have to cut 1% or more then the public should be able to have a say just like with the regular budget hearing which is why we have to have the budget hearing so the public can say what they think about it um and so um that's the that's the overview of this and uh I apologize for it being so long and wordy but I just felt like I couldn't I this is shorter than it was but um thank you thank you Meo drinon even if you don't have comment just think there is time needed to discuss it with Central and our CFO I mean the I I appreciate um that it's mapped out the way that it is mapped out I just was um looking at between phase one and phase two um the phase one October one is when we have our first enrollment projections that are submitted to desie um so it it definitely is a very um early start knowing that like September to October um I would love to be able to um 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 um I understand the March 1 um Target date like how you were backwards mapping I'm just wondering if um from October 1 to December 15 um with the start of school would 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 um if I could at least try to unpack the Tim taes for phase one and phase two not what's listed within it um I I I am completely you know in support of the pieces that are listed within it I'm just trying to think of uh realistically with like the team would they be able to get every every single piece done during that October October 1 where we're still you know monitoring some pieces Meo um you know it it is uh phase one and phase to frankly are the superintendent's office and they could have just been called phase one um so those dates um you know between October 1 and February 1 honestly I don't I don't think anybody cares where and how you have to switch that around so you know the December thing really bothered me when I was doing it because I'm like it's like December 31st well like it's like it's it's the holidays or winter break or whatever you call it and um that and I know that that wasn't a lot of time um so certainly if you want to move the dates around or move things in phase one and two around I think that's fine I some of this Lang I did get from um Cambridge Public Schools which frankly they were the only school system I could find that had anything um everybody had the same block paragraph that we all inherit from masc which essentially says we'll do a budget gee thanks um so uh yeah so definitely that stuff feels very much squishy and whatever you recommend for changes I I'm sure we would be fine with or I would be fine with I can't speak for the committee but um that's how those came about member Graham thank you um I you know one of the things that I feel like we have seen H we see it happen in different ways every year but certainly we're seeing it this year is like you know we get to the point where we're like talking about the budget with the community and all of a sudden what we're asking for and what we think we're going to get all gets like mush together and people get really confused so what when I think about being led by a strategic plan I think that means like somebody sitting down at some point in time and saying in order to make progress strategically on whatever our objectives are like here's what we need to do next year and then you have to sort of let reality like play play its course and and you adjust from there but we've not yet ever really gotten to a point where like that what do we need need to do the things that we're setting out to do is not muddied by some Financial reality um and I think it's a disservice to the community because I think people have questions about are we doing strategic thinking are we doing things that you know improve the Arts programming across the district from you know K to 12 like nobody sees that work because it gets sort of buried under everything that happens um when you start talking about the reality so um I think it's important we've we've sort of bifurcated these two things but it's still very it's so tight and close together it's still quite muddy um and I would also say that we are unusual in that we are in June and still talking about a budget that does not happen across the state people are passing school committee budgets in January and they're feeling like they're behind like there are communities that pass budgets before January AR like none of this is unusual in terms of um sort of endeavoring to have a better process and I I feel like maybe those communities have figured out that like the gauntlet of May and June is just not the time to be also hashing out like the you know whether you're GNA have enough paper next year like all of all of the things that sort of converge in May and June like we need to start to offload some of that stuff it's just like an unsustainable amount of activity that has to happen during that time both for the superintendent for all of Medford Public Schools for this body for everybody so um I think there's a way for us to sort of be thoughtful and strategic and do our part and do so in a little bit more of a a pathway when we can take advantage of what are historically like generally sort of light meetings in January and February and March um to really hash out the the Strategic details and then we're sort of on our way so I like the timeline um I have been pushing to do things sooner earlier since I um started on the committee and we're not there yet like and even here here we are it's June and I was like it's earlier than ever before and it's here we it's still June we're still talking about this in June and people don't have clarity about like what exactly is happening and what that means and and to some degree that will always be the case because we are dependent on um the mayor putting out her budgets she has work to do to do that that has nothing to do with us um and the council has to agree to all of it so there there are still those things that are going to push us to having budget discussions in June which is fine I just think we should have less of budget discussions in June and more budget discussions earlier um in the cycle so that um we are not part of like what the ultimate um sort of June Rush looks like right so I think we have an opportunity to try this and if it doesn't work we can revisit it um so I'm I'm in full support um and would make a motion to approve it with that one amendment of um talking about the municipal allocation in uh instead of the uh proposed reconcile budget in Phase five item 1B motion by member Graham as amended I have another minor um text uh I think you it was in Section 8 Part D um I can just send this to you but to move that phrase to approve the proposed reconcile reconciled budget to after meeting so special school committee meeting to approve the proposed reconciled budget will be scheduled no less than five business days you stumbled over it when reading it the same way that I stumbled over it at home um and I did have a question on this um um so you talk in phase two about discussing the budget needs with the principles I was wondering about uh the department heads uh and potentially that's part of the presentations we get regularly from the Department's I don't know if that's part of the budget process or if it's part of the update this is what we've been doing this is where we are and this is what we anticipate needing for next year so build some of that strategic planning into those updates that we're already getting or if not make sure it's in the in the process of crafting the budget I think one of the big questions that people have had that I've seen from people is who exactly how how are we getting these numbers why are we what is this what is the plan for this department and that department and what are their needs and I know it's allocated by school and the principles are really important but thinking about the Departments and giving us a better sense of where those numbers and allocations are coming from because I I think that also informs how we spend our money and what our priorities are member rousel and then Dr Edward vinsent thank you um you know in my seven and a half years now we've done budgets this will be the third way that we've done them um and when I started the way we did them I mean it was just the way it been done I was new um was that every department head every principal came before the committee they told us what they wanted but of course we're not their boss superintendent's their boss so everything that they were presenting superintendent already had of course like vetted or I assumed um I mean it made no sense that we were being presented with something that the superintendent had already said yeah that's fine um as if we were going to somehow be a decision maker in it it was it was informational but the the biggest flaw in that was that you know if a department had had like a big spend they wanted to really do something big with the department and the superintendent after talking to how much about how much money there was was like we can't do it this year Well we never hear about it so you know if we were hearing about those things that we weren't going to get to do because we didn't have the resources in those meetings then that could have been useful and and helpful so that was the first couple of years years and then remember Graham got on and we that got turned upside down where it was here's the list of things we would do if we had the money um and that we did that I think two years and then we have this pandemic thing that happened oh actually no we I got my time r a little off but anyways we had a laundry list of things we would do if we could and many of those things were not like you know nice to have they were things you're like wait the Public Schools doesn't do that stuff like how are you operating a public school and not doing that which was sort of the whole point was to have that in black and white um and this year we haven't we sort of done it a different way because we just because we knew how big the the budget Gap was so a lot of that stuff kind of fell to the way to the side as we could have done it but what honestly what was the point it it sort of felt like this year like what was the point um so um I forgot what my point was in response to your question what what was what was your question my question was how do we make transparent those priorities not just at in the individual schools but across the areas uh the the department areas the that that sorry thank you um so I guess part of the problem with that type of transparency is that the I mean it isn't really appropriate to think department heads and principles are going to come and essentially just ignore what their boss said and say here's what we think that the priorities for science should be and if the superintendent doesn't agree I don't think we should hear about it because that's that's not transparency we hire and supervise a superintendent and if she believes that's not the way to do it right now or we can't afford it I think that that's that that's that's not transparent for us but it's on the other side of a veil that is like etched in stone in the law and you know we can we can dig and we can you know throw the the fishing hook in and try and pull that stuff out and we will hear from the community and other folks like you know science which is doing great by the way but I'm using it as an example science has a problem like we did before we bought um and maybe we can push but um I I just think having it it really felt like a dog and pony show where the department heads and the principls told us stuff and every year they seem to sort of have everything they needed and it was like two months of Committee of the holes it was like on top of school committee meeting two months of Committee of the hols where at the end you were just like okay I know what's going on but there's no strategic anything involved because it's already been sought decided by the superintendent which is appropriate um so I I understand that desire but I also feel like getting that that desire satisfied is is some in some ways outside of our jurisdiction if you will so right then maybe what I'm asking is if those those that budget presentation can be tied more closely to the Strategic plan and the direction that we're headed mayor Dr edw Vinson was next and then I'll go to mem gram so in response to um 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 um we did have a different way of doing the budget um in previous years um in agreement with what member Russo was saying and what we found at least this particular year um how the numbers were explained and how you have to work with what you're given um our priority is to truly align our resources and work smarter um on behalf of the district we do have a strategic plan that we are in the process proc 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 um 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 AB and c and it's like well forget about that work let's go do this so in 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 I I do feel that um having everyone come up to present what their wish list is is it necessarily um 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 um and and do things more efficiently so I I I just want to say that that's 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 thank you yeah I don't support doing the same work over and over to be clear thank you okay member Graham and then we'll take a m a vote sure I just wanted to revise my motion a little bit and I think this might help so um a motion to approve this on first reading um with two amendments one is um section five item 1B um in that second line um it shouldn't say proposed reconciled budget it should say proposed Municipal allocation um and then with a second amendment um in phase two item number two it says principles and we're going to add and department heads discuss budget needs with school councils and provide feedback to the superintendent motion for approval as amended twice by member Graham seconded by member reinfeld uh all those in favor I all those opposed motion passes we our next meeting is June 10th 2024 here at the Alden Memorial Chambers that's next Monday in addition to zoom this will be the last regular meeting of the meford school committee for school year 2324 there motion to adjourn my member brandley seconded by member inapa all those in favor I all those opposed