##VIDEO ID:dAjG9wnL6rU## e e e e thank you thank you okay we have the fourth regular meeting of the Medford school committee September 23rd 2024 first up is executive session at 5:00 pm regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. U this meeting is being recorded and it's being held in the Howard Alden Memorial Chambers Medford City Hall via remote participation and in person meeting can be viewed live on the meford public schools YouTube Channel Through Me Community media on your locable channels Comcast 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43 45 or 47 participants can log in or call by using the following Zoom link with meeting ID 965-5999 6881 um member Uso you could call the rooll pres seven present zero absent I don't believe any student reps are on just yet it's 5 o'clock if we all may rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands indivisible jusice and we have executive session pursuant chapter 30A section 212 to conduct strategy and preparation with non-union Personnel while contract negotiations with non-union Personnel specifically assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction assistant superintendent of enrichment Innovation and operations director of student services Director of Human Resources elementary middle and high school principles executive assistant mlin Middle School principal stien director of arts stien and data manager referred to appendix a and appendix B for the full West motion to ex enter executive session by member reinfeld seconded by member Graham all those in favor all those opposed roll call please yes yes 7ly affirmative Zer and the negative we are going to go into um executive sessions thank you mine didn't print right 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 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 we're recording e e e e e e e e BR back inous switching k e e e e just that just that one should [Laughter] still e e e e e e so uh testing one two can you hear me I just okay it's GNA take a couple of sex for uh people watching from home so I just want to double check hello hello y testing is this still feedbacking no we're good e okay we'll continue we're up and running um I'll turn it back over to the superintendent of schools Dr Edward 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 principles and teachers from different grade levels who raved about the attendance and engagement from parents Dr galy and I were at the high school's curriculum night last Thursday and the hallways felt just as busy as passing time does d 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 all 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 MCHC 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 want to 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 winitzer 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 Afterschool bus programming shortfalls in bus transportation are not a challenge unique to many edford 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 understood 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 comp 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 and 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 vac 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 in 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 want to share some news from our Vocational School our vacational 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 in marketing vocational students at the um who run the Mustang Mall this gives members of the community an opportunity to come up come into the store and um stock up on your Mustang apparel or you can also shop online we also want to share that our wonderful beastro 489 open their doors today to the community and our wonderful Culinary Arts students will be um serving delicious breakfast and lunch food options so please come by and support our students in bastro 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 stud hormell 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 Longo Kern Dave mcgilvery 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 tus Community Day join your neighbors family and friends on Sunday September 29th from 11: to 2: p.m at the T 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 rashash Shana rashash Shana is also known as the Jewish New Year it invites us to look back on the past year celebrate our achievements and consider the opp 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 ho will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony at the mlin 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 Kern 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 noaj a formal press release will be sent to the community later this week so tonight I am excited to welcome members of our city Air Team and principal of the mcglen 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 um approval from the committee and those will be presented by our director of Arts Miss Suzanne fee our director of student services Miss Jon Bowen and Dr krushing will be presenting on operations thank you thank you Dr Edward Vincent next we have a recommendation to approve budget transfer for City year work uh Mr Gerald McHugh come on up um Mr McHugh is our former Finance director and now a budget specialist right before you uh we have a transfer this um at at a previous school committee at the end of the summer you briefed on this opportunity that came uh late in the year just ahead of uh School opening uh so it wasn't part of the budget uh that was passed um in June um we do have a uh $500,000 contingency line uh that's titled undistributed salaries in the budget that's that's been a feature of the budget at least uh in FY 24 uh the cost to run this program in both schools is $200,000 um part of uh the services we'll receive is to support the after school program so um I allocated the the uh expense uh 65% in the school budget and 35% in the be after school revolving fund so in order to um make sure we also comply with reporting requirements it's important to have um these expenses reflected in the schools that they that are receiving the services that's how the state wants us to report school-based spending uh by school so um we've set up three new accounts in the admin system uh one for the misu and then uh with splitting the expense um at the mcglinn between the the middle and the Elementary uh so once those uh currently the in order to um proceed with getting the contract finalized we uh issued a purchase order which is 100% charge to the before and after school program uh until we could get these accounts set up and funded and once uh that happens um you know with your approval then we can uh adjust the purchase ordera to reflect uh these expenses thank you member Graham and then member Rell I was just going to make a motion to approve approval by member Graham member Rell um I want to thank you for bringing forward budget transfers to us I appreciate it and I wish we could figure out where the extra Echo is coming from but thank you and I'll second that motion for approval by member Graham seconded by member rouso all those in favor I roll call oh uh member brandley yes member Graham yes member Anapa yes member Ola yes member reinfeld yes member so yes mayor ler yes seven the affirmative zero the negative paper passes we have recommendation to approve $10,000 donation from the Cummings Foundation make a difference dollars program welcome Miss Suzanne F our director of Arts good evening everybody um I'm here to give an update and share some plans for this $10,000 donation that we got as you stated from the Cummings Foundation um we use these funds in the spring to uh create mini grants and the Don was intended to be um Arts based enr enrichment that works to promote positivity and social change within our community so all the minig grants reflected that theme at the high school level we had the Ceramics Club working on um quote tiles that are hung in the halls of MHS um at the middle school level um at one of our art events we had um suminagashi art um a post for students and families to interact with um this one I'm really excited about outside the El office at Medford High we created a a look and find board that was designed by students in my design class and it's a it's a large board that just has sorry a bunch of imagery and then little papers that say can you find sort of like a where's Waldo but it's a great interactive way for um our non-english-speaking um newest students and little brothers and sisters when they're in the waiting room to feel welcome and um make that visit a little bit more um Pleasant and a little less nerve-wracking so that that artwork is getting framed now so we're really excited about that and then our other big project was the kindness campaign where we had students design posters and stickers and we had them printed and you can see them hung up here at City Hall at Colleen at menford public Library they're at every elementary school and middle school so those are some of the events um the projects that we did or sorry one more at the Andrews we did a specific um art display celebrating women artists of color and so those are some of the mini grants that we operated last spring starting in October we're opening that up again to hopefully have new and different um art-based grants across the district and I hope to be back in the spring to share those updates with you the other um big project that we did with some of these funds were our first ever summer arts workshops that were offered at all three levels K through 12 where students worked on art that was based on um social issues that were important to them and then the the littlest kids in our our K through three program worked for the week exploring of how to sort of share the theme of kindness through their art we had a waiting list um this year at both the elementary and the Middle School level and so this is another initiative we hope to expand next summer with maybe um getting more teachers so that we could offer maybe two classes at each um Elementary and Middle School level so that's an update on um what we've done and where we hope to be and we're really excited about this SCP any questions thank you Miss V no questions thank you so much for the presentation thank you appreciate it did we already motion to approve the coming scre did we already approved that okay oh so we recommend to motion to approve is there a motion to approve on the floor motion by member seconded by second member and TOA all those in favor we will accept $10,000 call thank you roll call roll yes uh member Graham yes member Anapa yes member elapa yes member reinfeld yes member so yes Mary L go yes seven the affirmative zero and the negative now we will accept $10,000 recommendation to approve a $1,000 donation to project transition Miss Joan Bowen director of pupil Services welcome good evening um one of our generous parents in our project transition program has donated anonymously $1,000 to be used um towards students programming vocational opportunities Community trips um things of that nature so um we are respectfully recommending that the school committee approved this generous and thoughtful donation uh for the students of project transition and for people who aren't aware um this is our program for our students 18 to 22 um it's um providing them with opportunity um to volunteer get jobs uh real life situations um and then when they age out at 22 uh we're hoping that they're able to give back to the community um some of our students in Project transition also work at um chapter's coffee cart in the library so it's a great way to get them um into the community and with this donation um the the district would be able to offer them uh a few more opportunities like that thank you very much Miss Bowen and we're s sad to hear that chapters is closing at the library I know I know it's very sad at the end of the month motion to approve second motion to approve by member so second by member reinfeld roll call please member brandley yes M Graham yes member Anapa yes m l yes member reinfeld yes member so yes M Loker yes always thank you thank you very much please thank the an anonymous donor for us City year partnership update miss Monica Roberts executive director of City year Miss Erica Alvarez Warner City year chief of staff and Mr Nick tuci principal of the mlin Middle School welcome I'll turn it to you thank you good evening everyone um good to see you all again um I am again Monica Roberts the executive director of City Rader Boston I am joined by my team oh the light is on yeah yeah is that okay sorry I'll start again good evening everyone um I am Monica Roberts the executive director of City Greater Boston it's good to see you all again um I am joined by my team I thought it might be helpful to see the faces on the ground who are working in our schools so I'm just going to askon to stand Miss Kayla David sorry Kayla tibo who is our impact director um supporting the manager on the ground as well as some other schools and then we also have Alyssa David who is working directly in the school supporting our marage coure team so hopefully you'll see their faces um and we're really happy to be joined by principal Nick Tucci to talk a little bit about what's happening on the ground so I um I just wanted to tea up the conversation today I also have with me my chief of staff Erica Alvarez Werner she will share an update and when we'll leave time at the end for questions should you have any is this working can you hear me great uh thank you so much for the opportunity to present um an update on our exciting new partnership with metr Public Schools excent how do I oh you're gonna do great thank you I know you're familiar with City ear but just as a quick refresher um City year partners with schools to ensure students success we recruit diverse young americore members ages 18 to 25 to serve full-time as tutors and mentors and to provide whole school support so um our core members there all day from the beginning of the day to the end of the day serving about a 10-hour day and some of the ways we support schools is through academic tutoring social emotional support for students attendance attendance support for schools um after school support which we'll talk a little bit more about and um certainly that full-time support adding capacity to classrooms where we partner with teachers so talk a little bit more about where our core members are partnered you can go to the next slide again our am Corps members are diverse passionate skilled 18 to 24 year olds they're committed to serving for 10 full-time all year uh to get to their 1700 hours of service um as I mentioned it is a full-time day in schools every day here the here's the fun part so here's Medford City or teams you can see uh the team at the mlin the team at the Miss pictured here they look happy and excited this is right about when they're about to start serving in your in your schools on the next slide you'll see how we uh placed our core members so at the mlin there's a team of six that includes a team leader which basically means it's a returning a mar core member that brings that added experience and leadership in addition to the um leadership that Caleb I mean Alyssa provides as our impact as the impact manager um and at the mcglen they're serving in one core member per grade three through eight and at the miss the team of five including a team leader is supporting three through five each is assigned to a partner teacher um before our americore members stepped foot in the school district they started with us in August so they uh participated in a very intensive four-week summer training you can see here some of the topics covered so really strong emphasis on building relationships with students and teachers instructional strategies understanding student development to provide that mentorship support um and then also some of the obviously the technical things they need to know like mandated reporting and uh CPR certification um and then throughout the year for two Fridays every month our core members are also getting a lot of professional development to make sure that they're um adequately prepared to support students here you can see a snapshot of the teacher and school onboarding process that we participated in so it's a four-step process starting with uh our leadership and school leadership uh to talk about student um school goals what we know are our conditions to ensure success um and impact for students um presenting to all staff at PD in August 26 to align with them as well um and then core members once they were finished with their training they came to schools and uh to acclimate themselves first participated in shadowing rotations to feel out classrooms and for teachers to feel out the core members um before re collecting their feedback and then determining with the principles um how exactly they were going to be placed based on that two-e trial period um Corp members have been placed um for maybe one or two weeks at this point and are just now in the stages of getting to know their classroom teachers doing those one-on-one conversations to um set set some goals and establish the expectations for the court member role in the classroom in terms of after school support you can see here um that our americ Corp members at both campuses um are supporting after school programming um every week so there our core members are surveying if our core members are part of the elementary school Community during the day they stay for after school programming same for Middle School uh so whether it's the enrichment clubs in the after school for the middle school or the regularly scheduled after school programming in elementary school um they're staying to provide that extra capacity and extra support to the existing programming um at the Miss they will also be adding a homework club uh in October serving I understand to be approximately 15 students who have been identified as really benefiting as students who could benefit from that support um again in addition to supporting at bringing additional capacity uh to enhance the the programming um I know there's also the opportunity to work with school leaders um on how this can evolve U for perhaps the second half of the year and add additional capacity beyond what we're doing now the priority now is to integrate into the existing programming and um um enhance the quality and then um hopefully expanding more in the second half of the year to address additional after school needs here you can just see our you know this is meant to exemplify our commitment to ongoing um Quality and model of fidelity and making sure that um we stay on the same page to ensure student impact so regular times you know obviously regular times with for School administration and city or leadership to me our core members are regularly meeting with their teachers starting they they'll be starting that um now that they have those placements to plan uh for students in October you can see that our core members will begin what we call Focus L support which is where they really begin that more targeted support with students who have been identified based on what the data tells us in terms of their English language arts and math um no you're good um and getting that um two or three three times a week really targeted support in English language arts math attendance um and the social emotional mentorship um here this was just to add some fun to some of the fun things that we've done Beyond um what we've already presented you may have heard that in September we City year was featured um as a partner for the New England Revolution and we had the opportunity to bring students and we're really thrilled with the level of enthusiasm and engagement of the families and students who came and um walked out on the field with the players and stayed for the game so that was a really fun night um and then some other on the next slide you can just highlights a couple of the other um whole school supports that we've been able to provide with curriculum nights ice cream social um just bringing again that additional capacity to create um a welcoming and librant culture for the school um I well I'm excited to pass it over to our principal tuie before taking any questions that you might have okay good evening and welcome um happy new school year I'm happy to kind of provide a little bit of information about um how I've been really excited and enthused to work with City here uh from my perspective uh at the start of every single school day you know you might see me at the front door greeting all students on a typical basis interacting with students asking about how their night went how their sports game went giving them high five and I also try to strive to make sure all my teachers are having positive interactions with all of our students students before the time they walk in the building and by the time they get to home room that's my goal and I always tell teachers I want to see a regular student have at least two positive interactions with their teachers before they even step foot in home uh well I can say that City year really helps us kind of accomplish that you know that's just an example of the life the energy the the the awesome excitement and engagement that they've been able to provide to our school Community because I really see it right from the Geto and I think that's really important to help our students feel like they belong and I see City year as being an important partner and helping us kind of achieve one of our core values here in the Metro Public Schools um thus far this year it's been a great to see City year be in our classes being tutors pushing into the classrooms and helping provide that targeted support uh I know that we've surveyed our faculty members and being able to solicit their feedback of where the highest priority areas they could use a city or core member in their class so I've sat down uh just in the past few days with Lissa David and we've hard scheduled out every single City your core so that we're using them very effectively in very targeted type of ways to be able to maximize the level of support that we can provide so this will be an ongoing conversation that will be data informed and we really hope that we'll continue this awesome work and partnership um I'm also excited with the role of our clubs and activities at the middle school level uh just this week to be able to have our city or Corp members be a part of the life and uh awesome energy and engagement of our clubs and activities at the middle school level and hopefully they can help us take it a step further with this wonderful partnership so um I'll just also mention they're part of our team at the mugglin middle school just like they would be at other Schools they're part of our staff professional development our faculty meetings and uh true partners and what we can offer our students so I just want to say that it's been a great few weeks in working with core members they've made a great first impression with our students and myself as the principal and I look forward to expanding this partnership I'm happy to take any questions you might have I want to thank um City and all of the members that aren't here today for what you're doing thus far but um principal Tui I wanted to just um ask you to piggy back specifically on one of our conversations about um future Educators and how you are mentoring and how you see that work potentially absolutely so I know a lot of our core members some of them are really interested in potentially jumping into the field of education and uh this is uh important for the Met for public schools to be on the the uh Cutting Edge to to be able to capture the best and brightest Educators that have a lot of energy and excitement and if we're able to work with our city or core member Partners to be able to develop them and nurture them and hopefully put them under our wing to be able to help to turn them into maybe future Educators and become Mustangs themselves so I think that I'm excited I've already had a few different conversations with core members in just a few weeks about that very topic and how we can continue to support them in their growth as professionals and hopefully ring them on in and bring the for public schools thank you so much for the update and Welcome to our classrooms thank you for joining us a member so oh somebody's online Jess name and address for the record please Jessica Hy full Lock Road um I just want to know are we going to be notified like if um our child's working with with um someone from cyia like oneon-one will we be notified of that yeah we will thank you for that question we will work with school leaders um so that families are aware uh our our miracor members are typically working in the classroom alongside the teacher so they'll be working sometimes whole class sometimes small groups sometimes individual so I think likely families of those uh students who are being served by a Amer Corp member will receive notice but we'll work with the school leaders on that thank you great thank you so much for presenting we appreciate it best of luck to the year we have a recommendation to approve new senior parking fee of $150 Dr Peter J Cushing assistant superintendent good evening madam mayor members of the school committee thank you for formally hearing this um proposal and went back with school leadership uh there are some students in the audience um president of the class who may also want to speak on it as well um it is I will say it is Mis listed as a senior only parking fee this would be a parking fee at $75 uh to park that would benefit it would go straight to student hardships um student events um and the $75 for seniors in addition would be to paint and decorate their personal parking space as many high schools do um if they so chose just to drive the car and not park it would be the $75 um if they so chose to paint and uh decorate their parking space um which really adds a lot of color a lot of fun to school parking lots that I've seen it in um it would be $150 um so um that would also go directly toward the senior class that part of this would go directly towards the senior class as a fundraiser to help offset things like their prom costs to offer students uh again seniors hardship waivers and things along those lines um I do have um members of the senior class too uh to speak on it if the committee would so like to entertain any questions um but happy to answer any as well so Dr just so thank you so much for listening to the school committee um two weeks ago and taking some of our ideas um back and and working this out so just so we have it straight $75 for any parking spot but any senior could also pay an additional 75 to paint their spot so we'll have ground art yes yes okay students would you like to come up actually just real quick just so everyone knows in looking at parking fees for area schools they range between 40 and $150 um just so that everyone is aware Dr Cushing before you step away though um are there schools where there's no charge um in all honesty not that I saw um but I do also know that there are some schools that don't allow parking such as Somerville High School okay um and yes thank you come on up name and address for the record and welcome um James Casey 835 F West guso 132 Grand so I'm senior class president and I'm senior class vice president and so just to resay what was just said the original $75 is just to park in general for any grade level anyone who parks at the school and that will go towards um hardships and like bus passes events field trips as well as Student Activities like the pep rally and other community events and then where I come in for the seniors the additional 75 is to paint your spot for the year and that will be your spot and um those funds will be used for class activities such as prom we hope to get senior t-shirts and this will just be like a fundraiser for our class oh where is it um it's just a fun activity I know a lot of other seniors have requested it so by like popular demand we want to just see if we can get this approved yeah we started we had our first meeting about it in the spring like to try and we had meeting with principal gabal and Miss frus Haley they were really on board with it and as said other Public Schools charged for it we found as little as $40 some schools up to $300 to park for the year so we found kind of a good medium at $75 and I think the most common concern was like we understand that paying for parking may come as a hardship to some students and the school is willing and prepared to like support students and ensure that every student who drives is able to acquire their own spot and be able to assist students that need it sounds great thank you I I think you you could even maybe have some donations from community members that want to paint too member V member uh so thank you mayor and thank you for doing this I have two questions you mentioned briefly that for other grade levels I'm assuming this is just for seniors not for juniors and Below but Juniors and below can have a spot and do we have what we need spots wise or is this a lottery system to determine who gets a spot I've been told that we have the amount of spots that okay I don't so as with most schools as the year goes on um spots become significantly more of a premium so I think what we're going to have to do as we look at the first year is first make sure seniors have spaces Juniors sophomores and then um perhaps a lottery uh there are there are there is a I think that as long as some students would be willing to park in the skate park area we have enough spaces however um that might be a further walk for some students who drive to school to get into the building um but the reality is is we do have enough spaces it's just those Prime spaces in the front of the building and on the side of the building tend to uh fill up as more more students get their permits and then their licenses and then my second question is is that when it comes to cleanup costs at the end of the year what does that look like so um the spots are simply painted over for the next year by the next group of students that would come in and if a space is not painted uh then that senior from the class of 2025 will have a legacy until it is painted over okay it's in in all in all fairness and all honesty it's definitely something that I think that we should entertain but as we bring on a brand new high school with brand new parking lots um we should see how it goes see what maybe rules regulations need to be put in effect um but you know I don't want to quell anyone's artistic uh parking space Integrity but I think when you're looking at what the work of the high school is going to be um we want to make sure that it's well presented thank you yes um us every student who pars of school like having an assigned spot will also allow staff to like actually see it and know everyone who's parking at the school like there was an incident last week a freshman drove BMW to school un license but no one would know because they don't know who it is now everyone knows but but um it's like just another thing they can see if someone's leaving they can see exact who is parking where thank you member reinfeld all right I sort of hate to ask this um and this is not to curtail Artistic integrity are do we is either do we have Community standards for what gets painted or is there a uh protocol in place if somehow something that shouldn't be in the lot shows up in the lot I trust our students I think they're great but I just want to have that backup yeah I'll work with principal caral and um associate principal frus Haley to make sure that uh whatever students are painting uh at least gets submitted for approval prior to uh conceptual drawing something along those lines sound fair yeah I'm not a fan of censorship I just want to things can happen yep member Russo then member brandley um I would recommend that whatever Community standards are developed that first of all they're written down and then they're passed by our attorney because um students do have a First Amendment rights although it's slightly different um and it can't just be a matter of you don't like it the principal doesn't like it because that doesn't pass muster with we are the government the teach of the government we are all the government and so that is most people are confused on what the First Amendment means um but the government interfering with what can and can't be said well having varied rules about what can be said based on what the content is is not allowed so um you know somebody wants to do a rainbow flag here that's probably fine but then you go to certain places in this country in the same rainbow flag might get you you know expelled so um it's an example of of um the need to be very careful here um things some things are offensive to some people and they're not to others and it is not going to be up to the school to decide what's offensive and what's not so I think that's that's a danger here I think that is uh deeply concerning for me um and uh I I don't know that we have thought that part out um it can't just be that the principal doesn't like it or you take a vote of Administrators that those those are not options so having clear explicit guidelines ahead of time not afterwards ahead of time where you can say here are the guidelines and from the guidelines any rational person could say that's in or out of bounds that's how you avoid a First Amendment case here so um I'm going to guess that other schools that have the painting thing have already been through this hope probably didn't get it done beforehand and and had to deal with the consequences but we really should find out what other districts are using for guidelines the exact language and see if we like any of that um because that does wor it it'll just eat up huge amounts of resources and time and lawsuits God forbid but you know you know lawsuits cost a lot of money so um I'm very worried about that I'm also um I'm concerned about I'm not concerned about the $75 to paint I'm concerned about the $75 to park um and um I know that it was mentioned that we would set some money aside to help kids that couldn't afford it but as me some of you have heard many times okay not all there's a lot of new members here so most of you haven't heard a lot of the things I've had to say but um you know by the time you're in high school if you don't have the resources you're not asking for help that's not how it works when you've spent your childhood being aware that you don't have the resources you've learned to just stop asking because that's not for you that's for the kids with resources so I I'm opposed to charging $75 to park um the $75 to paint I'm still to that thank you thank you member Russo member brandley um I just want to pecky back with member rouso said about making sure that we have guidelines um I believe my favorite word here is being proactive um so we can just be proactive to protect you guys to protect us obviously as a district um and then I'm just also curious um with the paying um obviously you're paying if you if you're not paying you can still packets school you're not parking at school at all if you don't pay correct okay so that's obviously going to be told to everybody that's parking is goingon to understand that if you don't pay $75 you can't park at school but as one of the reased I very understanding of fees in general um and so while I think that uh the high school leadership is really looking for a way to be able to provide for students you know in a way that's more readily available um you know I also having worked with this group for the best part of the last six years to understand the position on fees across the board and it's something I'm very sensitive to uh I also will make sure that the community standards are Ed uh cross referencing multiple school districts as well as uh beinged by attorney grean prior to that piece of this moving forward so in theory $75 parking fee um if approved by this body could move forward uh and then the second piece could be to the seniors as we wait two or three weeks to develop and bet properly those Community standards uh that are respectful of the First Amendment within the within the realm of school to use Supreme Court's words um we would be make sure that those are well vetted as well and well um and so then just my other question is would this be something that's done after school when when would we be painting if that was the case do you have any ideas Mr Casey hope we were hoping a weekend maybe Saturday and Sunday because some people like have to do like a base coat and a drive something on top it could take significant amount of hours but then we try Andi that may not work with and obviously the school's being used during that time too for activities um okay so do we have to motion on the floor to make this two separate votes 175 for the spot and then 175 for the painting if somebody wants to sever otherwise you can we can move approval of the whole thing I'd like to sever it so that we can have motion to sever the $75 for the spot and then $75 for the painting if that's possible motion to sever the the 150 into two by member brandley is there a second second member Graham all those in favor those opposed so is there a motion on the floor for the $75 I have a question about the 75 to park is that just during school hours I because I have seen in districts where you're not parking during the day but if you are doing some sort of activity that has you there late at night Sports things um theater things run in that sometimes the car comes in after when bus service isn't the one I think it's it would be to park at any time um however um I don't know how you would be able to monitor after hours that would be the challenge um but our after hours parking usually isn't a problem with the exception of the other enormously successful Peril night High School yeah where we needed a parking de yep and maybe this will encourage more car pooling too okay anything else no I just want to say that I yes I think we shouldn't be charging people to get to school but we charge for people to take the bus and I don't think that parking should be free when we're charging fa amilies to um pay for their own te passes I think there's an equity and an environmental impact to that that decision member Graham um I just want to point out that this committee uh several years ago uh made a resolution to make those bus passes free and that uh the decision to start charging for those again was not brought before this committee so as far as I'm concerned um there's a policy compliance issue there because we were very clear that we did not want to charge kids um for those bus passes to get to school um I am hopeful that if the overrides are successful we can immediately Institute a change there I acknowledge that the program as it was originally envisioned may need to change but if we're talking about um transit in compliance with our policy uh being charged I'm ju Just overall not in favor of that in any regard so um but I do want to point out for everybody who is new we did this we said it we voted on it and it like reappeared um and that was not a decision by this group so um we need to get back to addressing that just as soon as there's more than no money in the budget um the other thing I would like to put um on the table for the Administration to consider is that we should know who is parking in our school and whether we charge for it or not every person parking in our bu in our parking lot including staff should have to have a parking permit they should have to be registered with the school with a license plate and a car um that they're going to be driving to school without exception and then obviously you deal with visitors sort of separately and there's visitor parking now that's very well signed um so that should be happening I'm surprised it's not frankly because we have no way of knowing which of those cars are there um in a in a way that is consistent with what we're trying to do in the building so that is maybe a separate issue I would like to hear a report on it some point in time but um it doesn't that that parking permit does not have to come with the fee necessarily um depending on how this vote goes tonight but I I would be absolutely in favor of making sure that we understand um who is um driving cars onto the campus thank you member Graham so to the is there a motion on the floor for approval of the 75,000 to park $75 per car yes per car motion motion by member reinfeld seconded by motion for $75 to park is there a second okay is there a motion to charge the senior $75 for a parking space to um put artwork on their spots uh motion to approve the senior decorate your parking space $75 fee by member Graham seconded by I can second that member brenley all those in favor I all those opposed motion passes mayor member Russo um I think there's a another not relevant to the vote um but having funds available for Student Activities is um is a budgetary issue that you know right now it's everybody just raise all the money you can any which way you can rather than just providing you a reasonable amount of Student Activity money um and I think that that's that's an issue we need to um address hopefully at the overrides pass we can put a small amount of money small budget wise not necessarily small if you're a student and you want to use Student Activity money but um money directly into that rather than just relying exclusively on um using all your free time to raise money which I I mean I all of us were teenagers once some of us very recently and um you probably could do something else with your time other than than raising money for your your favorite clubs like doing the activities in the clubs um so I hope we can get to that point where we're not expecting that of um of students thank you thank you memb so thank you for being here have fun painting um we have no presentations of the public we have continued business um we have resolution 202 24-31 offered by by me Russo second reading of policy ac- nondiscrimination including harassment and retaliation May member Russo motion to wave the second reading motion to wave the second reading by member Russo second to by second member inapa all those in favor I I all those are passed anybody want to give a quick summary of what the vote were taken before we take our second reading so tired I don't remember what is it's a discrimination including harassment thank you yes um so this um as I mentioned in our last meeting um is a is one of many policies I'll be putting forward to deal with the title nine changes Title Nine thank you Title Nine changes that came from the Department of Education recently and our professional association provided templates well they provided the language um and so this is one of many they they come together and sort of as a set but rather than make us have to pass um 45 pages of policy in one night um uh they're broken up so I assume everybody can read but it's on harassment and retaliation motion to approve motion for approval by members Graham seconded by second three-way tie Rob Pap shoot member reinfeld all those in favor all those opposed second reading is passed new business 2024-25 ballot questions be resolved that the Medford school committee support the following ballot initiatives question two concerning the use of mcast as a high high school graduation requirement the Medford school committee supports the use of robust assessment and rigorous education standards in public education but rejects the use of high stakes testing as a gatekeeping tool to Define define student competencies this ballot question does not eliminate the mcass as a standardized assessment tool but rather constrains its influence over classroom teaching practices and empowers our Educators to consistently employ Equitable practices for facilitated facilitating student learning question seven concerning the stabilization of the Medford Public Schools budget and investment in the Medford Department of Public Works the method school committee recognizes the need to permanently fund essential activities and jobs previously and currently supported by temporary pandemic relief funds the assessment of tax dollars for this purpose avoids intuity the suite of devastating cuts for staff and services proposed in the last budget cycle and establishes these roles and responsibilities as essential fixtures in the fiscal year 2025 budget and Beyond in addition the mudford school committee believes that timely and effective maintenance of the city's roads and sidewalks is essential for students and staff safety increase staff capacity within the Department of Public Works improves accessibility and expands Transportation options for all members of the school Community question eight concerning the expansion of educational offerings and services for the Medford Public Schools this Medford school committee is keenly aware of existing and emerging operational instructional challenges in our schools as well as increasing competition in neighboring districts to attract and retained staff the funds assessed by this initiative will allow the district to expand educational offerings for students students make long deferred improvements to infrastructure and increase compensation for educators and power Professionals in supporting the above measures the methord school committee recognizes the multifaceted impact of these actions on Medford taxpayers and affirms Medford Public School's commitment to open and transparent budgeting as dictated by law and our professional and personal responsibility to the citizens of Medford continued collaboration with our state delegation as well as public and private Partners to increase Revenue to The District in support of diverse and impactful learning opportunities datadriven and pedological sound decisionmaking centered on the educational needs of the students access to highquality professional development for educator and staff professional development and providing financial assistance for economically disadvantaged members of the school Community as we work towards free enrichment and extracurricular activities while maintaining affordability of services and educational opportunities remember reinfeld thank you yes so my goal here is to give this body the opportunity to articulate how these ballot questions um map to the needs of our school Community these are the three questions that I believe most directly uh affect the student and educator experience uh I do intend to divide this motion so that each component can be voted on separately um I'm happy to do that now or give an overview of um of what I've laid out here described the ballot question mapped it to the needs um and articulated a position um I'm happy to note right question two was about eliminating the mcast te test not as a required assessment but as a graduation requirement this is something that Medford Educators and parents have been asking for for many years and it allows uh our Educators to better focus on diverse learning styles needs it expands the definition of success reduces anxiety and increases Equity um question seven is a direct response to the budget crisis that we saw last spring um to replace those one-time funds we all I assume remember how devastating The $2.7 Million worth of Cuts Plus the 2.2 million that we didn't even identify what those would be um so that's ballot question seven uh along with the the Department of Public Works we've spent a lot of time talking about transportation and how there are not necessarily viable alternatives for our families and students within certain distances some of that is on busing um which is also addressed by the ballot initiatives but also on street and sidewalk repair which makes safer environments for everyone um and then question 8 I think really addresses the challenges these underlying challenges that we have seen um come up right we heard enrollment in the Arts is low and it's not because students don't want to be taking Arts it's because they don't have room in their schedule many people enrolled in vocational programs aren't able to take the AP courses that will um assist in that and so I just found out that my fourth grader in taking um starting an instrument is probably going to be missing art class or science class every week and that's that's a that's a problem and so we need to expand what we offer we probably need to expand the teacher workday um the the student learning opportunities we are at the state minimum for how much time students instructional time students have in class um but if we're going to ask people to teach to spend more time in the classroom we have to pay them for that we found we found out how low many of our STI bends are we have been hearing for years about competition with other districts um and so that is question eight and then the final section of this motion is an acknowledge M that this doesn't solve all the problems we are still committed as a body to working to make sure our students and Educators have what they need so I welcome edits or additions from my colleagues and I really appreciate the opportunity to articulate how these three ballot questions impact our students thank you member reinfeld and member brandley um so I just have a question on number two um if we eliminate the mcast as the standard then what are we using as a requirement for competency to graduate so it it moves to the district to Define student competencies so what's our definition so the school committee does have um graduation requirements outlined in the handbook yeah okay yeah it says this test is not the key thing that says yes or no you graduate remember Russo um I also you know I was talking to a friend who lives in Cambridge about this question and um it was interesting because she's a highly engaged uh voter an attorney she had read the actual State packet the the there's a little booklet the booklet that comes out and explains it and she had read it and her impression was that it removed the mcast and I haven't received mine yet so I haven't read it yet so I don't know what the language is exactly but I think it's such an important thing we we first of all in Massachusetts cannot end if it's not mcast it has to be something else because the federal government requires that we do this testing the federal government does not require that it be a graduation requirement so we could not the state could not end mcast I mean if they did they just have to Institute something new and give it a new name that would be mcast um so I think anybody who's afraid that we're going to stop being able to compare comp Medford to other districts if that's something you want to do and you want this one test you'll still be able to do that um but it does mean and it and you know it's it's talked about as it's not a common thing but it does happen where students are excellent students they are engaged they did great grades but they are for whatever reason just incapable of passing this test they cannot get a diploma in this state which is insane um teachers assess their students all the time and if the professionals with Masters and phds think that this student is is competent I don't know why that isn't good enough rather than a test that was written by frankly not Educators um in you know some offices somewhere in why did desie move I don't know where I don't know where they moved um that they're the wrong people to determine that this person is ready for graduation um and before that before we had the mcast for requirements for graduation we were still at the top Massachusetts as a whole was still at the top for Education it's not like the mcast made us number one we were number one before so um I think you know the harm that the the stress the pressure the teach to the test all that other stuff is uh it's just NE it's just negatively impact AC in education that's not exactly news and uh I'm very supportive of getting rid of the mcast requirement thank you thank you member Russo member and TAA I I sort of piggyback thank you um mayor I also piggyback the comments of my peers surrounding the mcast um I used to used to be joked about that I was going to run for school committee when I was at the misuk because I was so against the mcast and it's actually my grandfather who was a longtime educator in wilington retired early because of this becoming a requirement for um graduation I've also heard horror stories of students who were capable and were great students but you know due to whatever you know it's an equity issue it's an equality issue of accessibility and they could not um almost did not graduate because of that um so I am very much in support of that first question 100% um of not I mean I I was able to afford higher education because of the mcast because I was able to get a scholarship because of it so I'm very fortunate and privileged that that was a thing um so yes the the the the unfortunate misconception that we're just getting rid of it and like what happens if we get rid of it it's we're just getting rid of it as a requirement to move on to higher education or wherever you may want to go um so for question two you know I'm a huge huge supporter of that um so yeah thank you so is there a motion to sever so we can so I will motion to sever each question yeah second seconded by member Graham and brenley um all those in favor to sever I all those opposed motion to sever has been approved so we have the first piece which is question two concerning the use of mcast as a high school graduation requirement um is there a motion for on the floor motion motion for approval by member in tapa seconded by member reinfeld all those in favor roll call roll call vote is being requested member brandley yes member Graham yes member Anapa [Music] yes member Ola yes member reinfeld yes mayor Loker yes seven in the affirmative zero and the negative um first section passes question seven concerning stabilizing the Medford Public Schools and investing in Medford Department of Public Works $3.5 million ballot question on no the November ballot is there a motion on the floor for approval motion to approve by member Graham second to by second member reinfeld roll call roll call by member [Laughter] Graham I need a giant screen but then nobody be able to see um it is okay member of brandley no mogram yes member Anapa yes member olap yes member reinfeld yes member so yes Maryland goer yes six in the affirmative one in the negative uh motion to support question seven on the ballot for $3.5 million override passed question eight concerning the expansion of educational offerings and services for The Med Medford Public Schools now if I may from the chair this is directly related somewhat to salaries and in full disclosure my sister is a teacher so I'll be abstaining from this vote is it but is there a motion on the floor for approval motion to approve by member op second or by second member Graham roll call roll call please member brandley no member Graham yes member Anapa yes member alapa yes member ryanfeld yes member so yes and mayor Longo Kern has abstained due to conflict of interest so five in the affirmative one in the negative one exstension motion passes thank you I think we sorry I think Simon are you here for this question do you want I'm so sorry we have our frequent flyer would you like to speak okay well thank you for being here yes thanks for showing your support um 202 24-34 offered by Member rouso First reading of policy ADC Tobacco productss on school premises prohibited tobacco use on school property by staff members prohibited use of any tobacco products including but not limited to cigarettes cigars little cigars chewing tobacco pipe tobacco and snuff and electric cigarettes electronic cigarettes electronic pipes pipes I didn't realize this was many things or other similar products that rely on vaporization or alization within the school buildings school facilities on school grounds or school buses or at school sponsored events by any individual including School Personnel is prohibited at all times staff members who violate this policy will be referred to their immediate supervisor is there a motion on the floor for approval I have some I have a couple of questions member reld I'm curious what happened to the language about student use and signage from the original policy or what's online May yes member Uso um I actually submitted two policies um and the other one got dropped by accident um because somebody thought it was the same policy so on the next agenda there will be a different one which is around use by students and staff so thank you so on that one I would want to add nicotine pouches uh and gum and I'm not sure if that belongs in the staff one as well but that's a non-tobacco product but it is this is things like Zin and yeah so that's it's not tobacco but it is nicotine okay so the amendment is to um add to the listing of the products um to include what is it uh nicotine pouches and I I actually wasn't sure about gum because I know some people need that I don't know what our school policy is on gum actually but I know that's helping to combat addiction yeah Dr Edward Von just mentioned that would about people that are prescribed and that's gum or patches patches so I think we should not patches pouches the pop in your mouth yeah yeah people that are this is a thing B in their bottles somebody okay I have I have assistant supers here saying yes so are we excluding that from the policy if people are prescribed to and they're trying to quit they wouldn't be prescribed a pouch the POU pches are in yeah activity but we're excluding anything that is prescribed by a doctor for those trying to quit like like patches and yeah gum unless yes okay okay motion on the floor for approval as amended by member Russo seconded by member branley all those in favor I all those opposed motion passes as amended 202 4-35 offered by myself consolidation language fac facilities maintenance um the city facilities director would support school facility needs by being a resource to the assistant superintendent for enrichment and Innovation and the director of building and grounds the support of that the city facilities director would provide to the school department would include creation of policies and procedures to ensure preventative maintenance tasks are completed promptly esta ing regular maintenance contracts that comply with procurement law for school facilities beginning January 1 or sooner depending on funding in need review the RFP for the new cleaning contracts that the mlin and Andrews and serve on the review and selection committee create a list of annual maintenance tasks to feed the deployment of operations hero assess skill gaps and professional development needs and provide training as identified set on the hiring committee for the planned msba operations facilities professionals other related items as identified by the team the assistant superintendent for Richmond Innovation will continue to supervise the director of building grounds and the building and grounds director will continue to oversee all School building staff with the support of the assistant superintendent for en richment Innovation and operations thank you from the chair this is the vote that was taken in in June for consolidation and at that time um the school committee wanted to make sure before we made any changes or consolidation we came to you with language and this is um something member Graham um helped me helped me with as well but drafted this up with her edits um to try to move this forward especially where if we do have an override that passes um some of that funding will be going to much needed preventative maintenance and it's going to take months to obtain those contracts and and do it the right way so and the msba projects also extremely important we get the right professionals on staff member Russo um if I could make a friendly Amendment to the title of the assistant superintendent in the opening paragraph to include um and operations and operations thank you and then i' motion to approve that and operations so motion for approval as amended by member rouso seconded by second member Graham all those in favor I all those opposed motion passes thank you everybody thank [Music] you we do not have any requested reports we have two condolences um the Medford school committee expresses its sincere condolences to the family of Francis elf husband of the former Administrative Assistant to assistant superintendent Steven mascal Rose Mar Al and Uncle to the former school public information officer Lisa Evangelista also the members of the Medford school committee Express their sincerest condolences to the family of Kevin brine brother of John Brian who is a member of the Medford High School buildings and grounds Department if we all may rise for a moment of silence please please our next regular meeting will be October 7 2024 at the in here in the Alder Memorial Chambers Metford City Hall in addition to zoom and we will have a committee executive executive session meeting beforehand to finish our work from this evening is there a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn by member brandley before the um Ro is called just keep an eye out for all the amazing City and I'm sure superintendent mentioned the school events that are coming up over the next several weeks and the first one up is Run Medford Friday night is for the students the kids that will be at hormell stadium for two or three hours I hope you all stop by and Saturday is a two mile walk a 5k and a five M so if you haven't registered please do so get in shape it's look hope hopefully be a beautiful weekend motion to adjourn by member brandley seconded by member