The open meeting law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is recorded. Therefore, please be aware that an audio and visual recording of this meeting is being made by Boston City TV, part of the City of Boston Office of Cable Communications, and is
being broadcast on Xfinity channel 26, RSCN channel 13, FiOS Channel 962, and livereamed on YouTube where a recording will be at the end of the meeting. And with that, I will hand it over to our chair, Jerry Boyd.
>> Great. Good evening everyone and welcome to the October uh disability commission advisory board meeting. A as always we have a very robust agenda. So I will not uh take too much time. I will call this
meeting to order and u we will start with introductions. Um, and uh, please Andrea, help me if I miss anyone or you know, anyone jump up and down and and let me know if I miss
anyone. So, uh, Carl, why don't we uh, why don't you introduce yourself? >> Yes. Hi, my name is Carl Richardson. I live in Brighton, Massachusetts of Brighton in the neighborhood of Brighton. I identify as a deaf blind person. I have salt and pepper here and
I am wearing a dark polo long sleeve polo shirt. >> Great. Um, Pette, why don't you introduce yourself, please? >> Good evening everybody. My name is Pette Durret. I live in the Madapan section of
Boston. I'm a African-American senior citizen and I'm good glad to see everyone tonight. >> Great. Um, and Olivia, why don't you introduce yourself, please?
>> Sure. My name is Olivia Richard. I am a resident of Brighton and I am a middle-aged white female with glasses and short brown hair. Um,
and I use a manual wheelchair. >> Great. and Wes, why don't you introduce yourself, please? >> Hi everybody. My name is Wes Ireland and I am using sign language
interpreters this evening. So you will hear female voices because I am using American Sign Language, but I am a man. Uh, I am a white man, uh, wearing a white shirt with pink stripes and the
Patriots logo on the left chest. I'm very excited about their fourth win and hoping for future successes. Um, I am an advisory board member and I live here in the north end of Boston.
Um, if I may, uh, it was very difficult to hear the interpreter, so I don't know if there's an issue with the microphone or or what. >> Agreed, Rachel. >> Okay, thank you. Lori, can we switch? I'm gonna put in my headphones. Okay,
>> great. Um, should we wait till or >> So, this is Wes. Would you like me to repeat what I just said with my introduction? >> Uh, sure. You can go ahead and repeat. I uh it was hard to hear. So,
>> can you hear the interpreter now? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Very well. >> Great. So, hi. Yes. This is Wes. And like I said, I'm a white man. I'm a deaf man. I'm using American Sign Language through the duration of this meeting. And I have two female interpreters, two female sign language interpreters. So, you'll be hearing their voices going
into English for what I have to say in sign language. Um, and my visual description is I'm wearing a white t-shirt, polo shirt with pink stripes and I have a Patriots logo um, over my left over my left chest and because I'm I'm doing that because I'm honoring the
fact that they've just won their fourth game so far and I'm hoping that they're going to be successful going through the season. Um, and I'm a board I'm a board member board member and I live at the North End. >> West, you're shorting them a game. They want
>> the fifth game. Fifth game. No, it was the fourth. They won the fourth game in um >> I'm going to differ with you. This is Carl >> number four >> on Sunday. They did on Sunday. It was
their fourth game on Sunday. >> No, no, no. Their their record is five five and two. Wes, they won their fourth game in a row Sunday. Moving on. >> All right. Yes. Fourth in a row. Fourth in a row.
>> Yes. >> Great. Anyway, hopefully that's the only thing we uh disagree on tonight. So, uh anyway, uh Paul Paul, go ahead, please. >> Hi, my name is Paul Karen. I live in the
West End of Boston. I have short cropped hair. I'm a Caucasian male. I serve as a mental health advocate through family members and friends and colleagues. with mental health disabilities. I work as a supervisor in the planning department and I'm also a vested member
of laborers local 151. >> Um, thank you Paul. And uh, Tara, would you like to introduce yourself please? >> Hi everyone. I'm Tara Southernard. I am a little person who uses a wheelchair.
Um, I wear glasses and I have dirty blonde hair. I live in Roxbury and I am an executive board member. >> Great. Um, and Richard, would you introduce yourself, please? >> Sure. >> Jerry, Richard Gloveski, live in Back
Bay. I'm a white male. I have a severely limited hearing and um I'm wearing a bluish sport jacket and I have I hate to say it, but Jerry, you can relate to this. I have mostly gray hair.
>> Right. Right. Yes, I I I would I would very much be able to relate to that. Um, Zaryi, please introduce yourself. >> Hi everyone, my name is Zary. I'm a hosting. I'm from South Boston. I'm a
white female wheelchair user and uh happy to be here. Happy International Disability Employment Awareness Week. >> Fantastic. Thank you for that reminder, uh, Zaryne. Yes, happy uh, dis a
national disability employment a month month awareness month. Um, and um, I am Jerry Boyd again. Um, I live in West Roxbury and has been as has been alluded
to, I have um salt and pepper hair, mostly uh salt at this point, not pepper. Um, and I um I'm wearing a uh a Kelly Green uh Kelly Green T-shirt. Um,
and I wear glasses. And I'm I'm also a wheelchair user. So, uh, did we get everybody from the advisory board? Uh, Andrea, uh, >> this is Andrea. >> This is Andrea. Yes, I believe so. Um, I
don't see any other names, but if someone is present under a different name, please raise your Zoom hand and uh, get introduced. >> Yeah. And, um, Commissioner, do you want to introduce yourself at this point? Thanks, Jerry. Hi, everybody. I'm
Christa Mccos. I'm the disability commissioner and ADA title 2 coordinator for the city of Boston, and I'm happy to be here tonight. Oh, I'm a female with blonde hair and an image of city hall in my background.
>> Great. Um, and uh, next on the agenda is the approval of last month's um, minutes. Do we have uh do we have any uh a motion to approve the minutes? >> This is Carl. I make I make a motion to
accept the minutes. >> Great. Any seconds? >> Paul, I second the motion. >> Great. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I or waving your hand or >> I.
>> Great. The motion uh passes unanimously. Excellent. Um and next we have a presentation from the Personal Care Attendant Workforce Council. Um uh Justin, I don't want to butcher your last name,
so if you could say your last name before you give your presentation, that would be great. >> Sure. Hi, thank you. Uh yes, my name's uh Justin Graca. Um, >> great. >> Um, so yes, >> yours.
>> Oh, okay. Great. Thanks so much. Um, just uh as I'm uh the I know so I was invited here uh by Kristen. Uh she serves on the uh Mass PCA council with me. Uh her and I go way back. She was actually my pure mentor when I was first
injured uh in the uh at Spalding at a time when I probably wasn't necessarily uh you know uh receptive to maybe to all that uh I was had to offer back then um that that she had to offer back then but definitely much more now. Um, I am a uh
C C5 uh quad wheelchair user. Um, I've been injured a little over 18 years. Um, and uh, yeah, and so and I've been, you know, I've been in the PCA program uh, for uh, 18 for, you know, over 18 years.
Uh, currently I've been serving on the Mass PCA council for just over three years. Um and uh you know was part of the last collective bargaining agreement among several those subcommittees uh as well. Um but yeah so uh Kristen asked me
to come and just share a little bit about uh the PCA program uh and you know what some of the challenges and stuff that are going on. So I will start to share my screen. Hopefully Oh, this isn't the right one.
Sorry everybody. >> Come on. We can have Andrea share if that's more helpful. Uh, >> I got it. I just need one sec. For whatever reason, it didn't pop up on the top here. All right.
All right. Um, so the, uh, Massachusetts PCA Workforce Council. So, I'm going to talk >> Can I Sorry, we have an issue with the interpreter. Would you mind pausing just one second? >> Sure. >> Um, Lorie's video is frozen. >> Rachel is here now.
>> Can you hear me frozen? >> Okay, we've got you, Rachel. >> Okay, great. Go ahead. Thanks. Um, >> okay, great. Thank you. Um, yeah, so I'm just gonna talk a little bit about um the PCA program uh right now. uh and
then you know who it serves and then some of the you know what the PCA workforce council is and then some of the challenges uh that are facing the PCA program down the line. All right. Um sorry this is
sorry it did not go to the beginning. My apologies. Okay, here we go. That's better. Um, the Massachusetts PCA program, uh, and I'm the current, uh, vice chair, uh, of the Massachusett Council. All right, great.
So, um, who the program serves? The PCA program is meant for individuals with, um, permanent or chronic disabilities, keep their independence, stay in the community, and manage their personal needs. So for you know I myself you know spinal cord injury that's you know def
definitely a permanent uh disability but you know there can also be for more uh chronic disabilities or debilitating ones things like MS Parkinson's uh cereble paly uh but it can also be for people you know who are are blind have
hearing issues have uh you know uh speech issues uh as well as several forms of autism people who have uh elderly people who have dementia So it does serve a wide variety uh a wideway array of people uh in the you
know disability community. Um sorry I'm just going to move this down so I can see my writing. Okay. Um so uh the mass so the the Massachusetts personal care program provides support and funding to the mass health members
who are permanently or chronically uh disabled and need assistance with their personal personal care. It is enables uh people with disabilities to control their own routine and it facilitates independent living in the community
rather than institutions nursing nursing homes assisted living centers etc. Uh the PCA program allows individuals to hire, supervise and fire their own PCA PCAs who is and they're paid through Mass Health. In order to be eligible for
the PCA program, individuals um must have mass mass health standard or common health and uh must need hand handson uh help with at least two activities of daily living.
Uh what makes the uh PCA program unique? Um the Massachusetts PCA program is a self uh direct care model. the people with the disability, the consumer um are the are in direct control uh of how and
when they uh their their uh care is going to be given. Um the direct care model comes from the independent living movement um which you know is a disability movement. Um the PCA program is very different from the traditional
medical model of having a certified nurse assistance come in uh you know to take care of you. You're you know in your own home. Uh and then consumers are able to live at their home with dignity and stay out of medical facilities. Uh and the PCA program represents a you
know hard uh fought uh you know uh hard hard hard fought and one um you know living independently in their homes. Um the PCA program again as I said uh is uh is a self-care program meaning the
consumer is the employer. The consumer employer is responsible for managing their care and overseeing their personal care attendance. You know Mass Health essentially considers consumer employers to be running a small business from their home. you know, Mass Health's providing the funds, but the consumer is
doing, you know, all other aspects uh of that business. Um, PCAs do not work for Mass Health, an agency, the PCM, the personal care management agency like the um Boston Center for Independent Living or the fiscal intermediary. Uh, PCA's
work for the uh disabled consumer. Uh, they they are the boss, the employer, the supervisor, and the scheduler. Uh, consumer employers recruit, hire, fire, determine work schedules, train, supervise, approve time sheets, and
evaluate the PCA's performance. They're kind of the beall end all. Uh, consumer employers must follow uh all program rules and regulations and keep track of their available hours to make sure they're not violating any rules. Uh, and then PCA's um should not be hindering a
consumer's ability to want to live independently. uh you know they are there to help you assist you um you know uh with everything that you're not able to do yourself and you know if there's anything that you want to try and be doing uh independently that is their job
uh to do and they should not be you know trying to prevent you from doing it if you feel that you are capable uh and wanting to do so. Um so the eligibility uh for the program you uh you know to be in order to be eligible for the program you must need
assistance with uh two uh at least two um uh forms of uh date excuse me uh two forms of hands-on activities such as uh ADLs. These are things such uh such as mobility transfers, passive range of
motion, transportation to medical appointments, bathing and grooming, dressing or undressing, eating and toileting. They're all the kind of direct care, hands-on aspects of the program. They're getting you in and out of bed. They're bringing you to the shower. Uh they're, you know, getting
you dressed. So, the core principles of it. Uh in addition to that, there are the instrumental activities of daily living. They're called IADLs. They're things such as laundry, shopping, housekeeping, meal preparation, and cleanup, transportation to medical appointments, maintaining medical
equipment. They're not the hands-on uh you know direct care aspects of the the care where you're dealing with the consumer, but they are essential to living you know a comfortable uh and independent life. You know we all want to wear you know clean clothes, live in a clean home, have good food prepared
for us. Um some of the program logistics, there are approximately 60,000 PCAs in Massachusetts. There's about uh 45,000 consumers uh with disabilities served by PCAs.
Uh about 70% of the consumers um are served by family members or friends who work for them as their PCA. Uh the remaining 30% of consumer employers hire PCAs independently. A significant portion of PCAs are women of color and
im immigrants. Uh many PCAs work for more than one consumer. Um and PCAs are represented by the uh 1199 SEIU PCA union which is engages in collective bargaining with the work PCA workforce
council. Um so the inner workings of the PCA program there are three main companies that u make up the program and allow it to f uh function. That's the personal care management agency uh or PCM. These are things like the Boston Center for
Independent Living, Stavros, you know, among others. Uh they complete the annual assessments to determine the number of hours that a consumer may need. Uh then there's Massachusetts uh Medicaid or Mass Health. That's the uh
Mass Health Standard or Commonwealth or Common Health. um must be enrolled uh in the Mass Health program to take part in the PCA program. Uh and then there's the fiscal intermediary which is Tempest Unlimited. They're the ones who are uh
providing the the paychecks and you know and pay stops for PCAS. Um so this is kind of just going uh into the personal care management agency again. you know, they are the ones who are sending out the evaluators uh to the
consumer's home, you know, doing the time to task uh uh you know, uh observation of them or evaluation of them. They will provide you, you know, or ask you the types of services that you think you need. Uh they will provide
you with training uh if uh you need to. they'll inform you of all the rules and regulations, responsibilities uh within the program and then all of that uh information gets worked up into the service agreement which is then submitted to Mass Health.
Um, Mass Up will receive those prior authorizations, determine the consumer's eligibility for those services, uh, and then once they've made that decision, they'll inform the PCM, the fiscal intermediary, and the consumer of their choice of their decision, and then
provide them the money. Uh, and then the fiscal intermediary, which is Tempest Unlimited, they receive the funds from Mass Health for the services. They process the time sheets. They process the uh payroll for uh tax purposes, the W2 forms, and then they'll
report any fraud to the attorney general's office should it occur. Um so the program challenges going forward. Um so there are couple of significant challenges uh to the program uh continuing there is the uh continued
growth. Um the PCA program is a substantial part of the mass health budget. I believe it is on track to be about $2 billion uh of the budget. So it's definitely a significant amount of money. Uh Mass Health is concerned about the continued growth of the program. It does get
larger every year. Uh so that is definitely a top concern because being able to sustain that growth. Um the state is bracing for significant cuts uh to Medicaid funding. You know, we all know that uh just, you know, f the
federal federal funding is under under attack right now for Medicaid dollars. You know, Massachusetts itself uh is under attack. So, and every meeting that the council has, all we all they talk about is upcoming cuts. Um this could potentially result in uh two, you know,
into cuts to the PCA services uh and prevent future individuals from getting on the program. um shortages of workers. There is a severe nationwide shortage of healthcare workers and this is going back uh to before the pandemic. I know this is
something that I've experienced firsthand, you know, constantly is having trouble finding uh good quality uh PCAs. Uh and then change to immigration status has exacerbated this issue and created lots of confusion. you know, as I said, a lot of uh PCAs, you
know, are uh immigrants and changes uh to status, you know, has affected some people's ability to be able uh to work and put a lot of fear out out there. Um I didn't uh put it as a slide just because um the uh
sorry, this keeps going forward. I didn't put it as a slide, but there are um a bunch uh some new regulation changes uh that are coming to the program as well. Uh we were informed of this at a council meeting most recently. Um that is going to create you know
additional challenges to you know being able to hire uh a PCA and get them working for you as quickly as you know a consumer might need. All right. Um so the uh Massachusetts
PCA workforce council. Um so we are uh our creation and purpose. Um we are a panel of consumer employers uh you know living in the Massachusetts community. We were established in 2006 by the Massachusetts legislature. We are part
of the governance structure of the PCA program. Um it is uh we are designed to support and strengthen the self-direct care model uh of people with disabilities. Uh and we help to ensure the stability, quality and uh
accessibility of the PCA workforce. Uh our responses are our purpose and responsibility. Uh we represent the employer employer of record during the collective bargaining uh process for the PCA contract. you know, I was part of the last collective bargaining process
for the current contract uh and they are, you know, we are already gearing up uh for the next uh negotiation which will begin next year uh which I believe Kristen will be joining me on. So looking forward uh to that. It is you know a very interesting uh experience uh
but an very important one as well um to support consumers right to self-direct and help amplify their voices. you know, we are that representation of the consumer employers on there. Uh to improve the quality and stability of the
workforce council um of the PCA workforce, you know, we want to make sure that there are, you know, good jobs out there and good people that are fulfilling them. uh to develop and maintain the PCA directory. There the there is a mass health uh directory that
for uh PCAs to uh post job or sorry look for jobs. Consumers can actually post jobs as well and you can find out you know where what their availability is, the types of things they need, all that sort of stuff. Uh to advise the state on
policies affecting the PCA program. you know that is kind of a very key thing uh that you know we work very closely with them to you know explain to them how you know these policies are going to have an impact and the importance of you know getting the information out there. Uh we
also work very closely with the 1199 SEIU PCA union. Uh you know we have several uh you know joint committees with them. Uh we talk to them on a regular basis. uh you know they are are partners uh in this uh and to pro
promote fair wages and benefit fair wages and working conditions for PCA's uh through our subcommittees you know we have the labor management committee uh which you know uh discuss discusses all issues that come up for PCAS the training committee to develop um new
training programs uh the racial justice committee to talk about inadequacies um and the you know deep uh racial divides that can happen occur within the program. Our recruit recruitment and retention task force, you know, to find uh more uh PCAs and keep them going. Uh
we also this past year uh developed a task force on developing new training materials um for consumer employers uh and how the program works, which is a little bit how uh this presentation uh came together. uh as well as another um
to prevent uh abuse and neglect of consumers and kind of fill uh the holes and gaps in the system that are there. Um so, so uh how can you help? Um so disability advocates are encouraged to educate legislators and
the public on the program's importance. you know, that's really the only way to get it out there. A lot of people don't even necessarily know that this program is out there. Um, to advocate strongly for funding and policy support. You know, there's so, you know, so, as I
said, so many, you know, attacks coming and, uh, with, you know, budget cuts, the the more funding uh, the pol the program gets, the better we are. uh attend public meetings, you know, meetings such as this uh our council meetings, our subcommittee meetings.
There's also the disability alliance. Uh there I know there are other um you know, advocacy groups uh meetings that occur within the state on a regular basis. So going to them um writing letters of support and concern uh you know especially to your elected uh
officials you know any news outlets anything that you can get out there uh and then to reach out to your contacts and you know get them to be active too uh you know kind of uh you know what's what's this group I you know can imagine is doing and why why I'm here talking about the PCA program.
Um all right uh that's kind of just you know the brief overview uh of the program. uh and then what the the council does. There's you know certainly a lot more that uh I could go into about it. So if you know if you have any questions or anything you like to
discuss you know now you know I can take some questions or if not thanks Justin for that very uh very thorough um overview of of the program itself and specifically what your what
the council does. And I I want to uh thank you and and your other council members for uh for your hard work and for you know advocating you know uh um for the program and for those of us who use the use the program. I really
appreciate um I really appreciate that. Um um any questions from the advisory board? Oh, great. Let's see. >> This is Andrea Jerry. I don't see any questions from the board. There's one
question from the public in the chat if you'd like to take questions from the public after the board. >> Um Justin, uh this is Jerry again. Um I had u I have a question. you said at the beginning
and at at v various points throughout your presentation that you're you're involved in collective uh the collective bargaining, but just just uh to be clear, you're you're there um you're there uh um bargaining on behalf of of
the consumers in the program. Is that correct? >> Yes. Yeah, we're we are representing the consumer's voice uh uh in that. I mean uh in those negotiations we are when we do those I mean we are sitting on the mass health side of the the table um and
you know uh do uh caucus with them uh you know and and discuss the proposals that are on there but we are still you know representing that you know consumer consumer voice uh on there and you know again really kind of anytime you know
when the union makes a proposal you know we're you trying our best to explain to them why, you know, why we think it might be good, you know, or why it might be, you know, in that than that aspect. >> Sure. And I see the commissioner has her
hand raised. Go ahead, commissioner. >> Thanks, Jerry. Um, one thing that was recently approved, too, was um a pay differential for PCAs who engage in complex care. >> Do you want to talk about that a little bit, Justin? >> Sure. Yeah. Um the well there there's
actually two uh two different things that were uh approved this past year. There was the wage scale differential. Um that's for PCAs who've been uh you know working as a PCA for a long time going all the way back to 2008 when they unionized. Um so if you've been working
for as a number of years it's based on the number of hours you've worked. Um but if you've been working for a long time you are eligible for a pay raise. you know, kind of a way to keep uh you know, PCAs, you know, in uh the program, you know, to keep working to get those
payraises. Um and then the complex care differential um really is, I mean, I would say is, you know, predominantly meant for uh wheelchair users. Um you know, it is, you know, often times the people who you are wheelchair users have
a lot harder time finding uh people uh to to, you know, PCAs to work for them. Um and so this was kind of a differential that was put in place to be a little bit extra incentive to get um you know consumers who have those more complex issues who need more than some
of just the the more basic uh ADLs um that will get an extra $3.25 uh per hour. Um I I'm not 100% sure if Mass Health has officially um announced what that criteria is going to be. Um
but it is going to be um a consumer who does u a bowel program with you know rectal stimulation. So if you know if you have a bowel program then you'll be eligible for it. And then if you have introathinal uh feeding tube um well those are the
two main criteria that uh Mass Health is looking at to to you know apply for that complex care. Um, and they are they are open to expanding it um, you know, in the future, but you know, they kind of just really need to see. They've never done anything like this before, so they
just have to see how the program goes first and how much money it is. You know, they're just working off their estimates right now. They don't have any hard numbers yet to determine exactly what the cost is going to be. >> Justin, this is Jerry. Do we know when that's going to uh, go into effect? Yes,
complex care starts in uh January of uh 2026, so next year. Um, and at our last council meeting, they did tell us that the letters um because they they are going to inform consumers uh who are eligible uh those letters of eligibility
are going to be uh start going out in December. >> Oh, that that's great. I thought maybe consumers would be responsible for being for saying, "Hey, you know, how do how do I get evaluated or how do I, you know, how how do I, you know, see if I
meet that that criteria or not?" But they but Mass Health is is automatically uh do doing that. >> Yes. Yeah, they do have uh like they do have all, you know, all all the data supposedly, you know, of who who the
people that would uh apply for it. it's already notated on or sorry noted on the prior authorization or at least it's supposed to be notated on the prior authorization. So that's where uh that's where they're getting they're that's where they're getting the estimate of
how many people it will be. Um you know certainly if you don't qualify and you think that you should uh you can appeal it. Um, and the main thing is that it's it comes from uh your primary care doctor putting it on your PA. And Mass
Health did inform us um that it will be something that has to be done yearly. Uh that there will be a specific form that needs to get filled out yearly by your primary care noting that you know you require you know rectal stimulation or
you or the use of a feeding tube. >> Sure. Sure. Thank you uh for that. And um uh just one other question. You said that u you said that the council was just informed of some uh regulations that could could make it difficult to uh
either find or or retain uh PCAs. Uh are you able to go into any of that now or or is that going to be coming down the pike? >> I mean, I can talk about about it a little bit. I mean, I I I personally don't even know all of it myself. You know, they did just introduce it to us.
I think there are some some I think will be less severe than others. I think the big ones are going to be um uh you know, right now when uh PCA, you know, you hire a new PCA, generally I have them
start, or at least for me, you know, I don't know what your everybody else's experience is, but you know, generally I have them start right away. we get the paperwork handled. Um, you know, afterwards, you know, it takes a little time to submit it. Sometimes there's a lot of there can be a lot of issues with it. Um, and then Mass Health, but
eventually they get on and Mass Health does the back pay uh for all that time. Um, they have informed us they are no longer going to be doing that. It is I guess that does violate um strict labor laws. Um so it will be that um all new
hire paperwork will need to be submitted and approved um by Tempest before PCA can start. So there you know there will be kind of a time gap or you know between you know like I said you know when I hire a PCA I need them to start
immediately. Um but uh and we've worried about the back you know the back pay afterwards but that is going to they're no longer going to do that. um which you know is definitely going to cause uh you know an issue uh with delays of service. Um you know they are
Massoft is uh really pushing their uh electronic new hire um system which is called paperworker and it's you know a guided system that um you know walks you through step by step what needs to get side signed and everything that anything
that is missed will get flagged. Um, so you know if the either the you know if the consumer didn't sign a spot that they were supposed to sign or the PCA didn't sign it uh you know it will show up and can't be submitted until that's
fixed. So that is will be the fastest way of getting people on there. Um but that is uh but yeah there will still be a delay. >> Sure. Thank you for uh being able to being able to share that and thanks
again for uh for coming to the meeting. Um I know >> I was just going to say to you they are going to be announcing some listening sessions in November for the upcoming changes. Um >> okay >> I don't have the dates in front of me but look you can be on the lookout for
them. >> And I know Andrea you said that uh you said that there was a member of the public that would like to ask a question. I know we typically uh wait until public comment, but uh but if there's a m if if we have time uh you
know I I don't see any reason why we can't allow that question now. >> Sounds good. It's a pretty quick question, but I also saw Wes raised his hand with the Zoom hand function. Not sure if he has a question. >> I don't see his hand raised at least on my view, but anyway, if you do have a
question, please Wes, go ahead. >> Hi there, it's Wes. Yeah, I did um I was just I I was I did have a question and I don't know if it's maybe it's not part of the presentation, but is there any other thoughts about the
PCA services now in terms of um the exempt services the exempt category? >> What do you mean by exempt? Oh, yes. The estate, you know, the um the the estate the requirement that you have the estate recovery,
the new estate recovery uh ruling that just happened. Is there anything more about that? Is that related to does that impact the PCA services? >> Um I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with uh with that. I don't know, Kristen. I just saw you
came off. >> I do. Yep. Yeah. So, that was passed uh Wes. It hasn't been implemented yet, but previously Mass Health would start to track all of your um earnings and assets at age 55. And then when you pass away,
they would go after what they call state recovery, which means the state would basically keep track of all the billing that they spent on you from age 55 until you pass away. But now that's been resolved. So that they are not going to do that moving forward. And that's just
difficult for people who have like worked for the last 30, 40 years and have saved and bought a house. they wouldn't have been able to leave that house potentially to their family because they'd have to pay Mass Health back for all the money that Mass Health had spent on them. But that has been resolved and that will no longer be the
case moving forward. >> That actually I have a question. >> All right. >> That was a big victory for advocates. A really big victory. C >> can I can I ask a question about that? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> So now like for instance uh can can
somebody hand like hand down a house? uh to >> like like could I like could my could like my mom give me her house because right right now the house is in a trust >> like I >> that might be a little bit complex. We should have a one-on-one about that >> but um
>> yeah I know there's like things with asset tests and things if you're on common health it wouldn't affect it but if you're on mass health standard it could affect it. Okay. But what what was referencing was the estate recovery specifically which has to do with um
people on the maps health program um who are working earning have assets and income and previously they would have be liable for anything after age 55 anything the mass health spent they could recoup but now that that since uh with a lot of hard work from advocates
um that's been changed and uh it's no longer in place. That's that's a great um thing to point out. Thanks, Wes. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Thank you. And um do I think we would still have time to >> Yeah. And I'm actually I'm I'm curious.
This is Wes again because Yeah. I I was just curious about this because of the um I was just curious about the status of that um that particular practice. So I appreciate that. >> Great. Um Andrea, do we have that
question from the public? Yes. Uh the question is, is the Massachusetts PCA program open only to US citizens? >> Uh yes, you have to be Well, I mean, you have to be on Mass Health for or have
some form of mass health. So, yeah, I guess it's whatever the status is uh for for that. >> And Justin, just one other thing before you go. Um, you have to be a you have to have a u not only do you have to have
need assistance with the uh ADLs and IADLs, but you als you have to have a permanent disability. Correct. >> Uh, yes. Yeah. Per permanent or chronic disability. Yep. >> Great. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
>> Oh, thank you. And next on the agenda is uh the chair's report. And uh I'll make my my uh report very brief. Uh it kind of u piggybacks on um on the uh uh on the report that
that Olivia gave in my uh mystead. I wasn't able to attend last last month's meeting. Uh, but I know she and the commissioner talked about um early voting and and different ways that that
folks can vote. Um um and uh the election is is fast approaching. The election is on November 4th. Uh and I would encourage everyone uh um within the sound of my voice uh and even not
with in the sound of my voice, everybody here uh on the meeting to to get out and vote uh either early or on November 4th and and to encourage all their family and friends to uh to do that because uh
as we are seeing elections have consequences and uh sometimes dire consequences. And uh and disability advocates for years uh have have said um uh people with
disabilities should vote as as if their life depends on it because it does and we are seeing the results of the of this last election cycle that the that true words have not been spoken. So, uh,
early voting in the city starts on Saturday, October 25th, and I believe, uh, that, uh, there's early voting in every, uh, neighborhood in the city. Uh, and that, and early voting lasts through
until Friday, uh, October, uh, 31st. Uh, so please, I would encourage everyone to to to get out and vote. Um, you know, I take advantage of early voting whenever I can. Um, you know, I
use the automark machine because because, you know, I have dexterity issues. Um, you know, and I happy to report that over the last couple of election cycles, you know, uh, the election staff wherever I voted, uh, you
know, has been very good about, you know, knowing how to use the machine and and whatnot and make sure that it's in working order. So kudos to the elections department for for you know all the their hard work and all their trainings
and and the commissioner and and uh and staff for helping with those trainings uh because it does appear to be uh it does appear to be working and and I I just can't uh encourage uh everyone uh
enough to uh to go out and vote um you know um you know vote in this this election because again even though the mayor does not have a challenger, she uh she has not been u been voted in for the
next election. Uh so we do have to go through the election and there are you know city council uh city council uh elections um throughout the city. So this this election cycle is very very important.
So, I would encourage everyone to to to get out and and vote where they can uh when they where they can and when they can um during the early voting period or on election day. So, with that, we will move into the commissioner's report.
Take it away, Commissioner. >> Thanks, Jerry. And um yeah, I just wanted to extend my thanks to Justin. Like he said, we've known each other for a very long time. And if any board members have any questions that do come up, you can always reach out to me as well because I've been on the PCA program for many years and I know a lot
about it. So with that, we will share my slides and I will give my reports a little bit brief tonight. Um so we will start with um just what Jerry was talking about
municipal elections 2025. Um as Jerry said inerson voting is on Tuesday, November 4th. Again, Mayor Woo is running unopposed, but many many city councilors are not. So if you don't know your polling location, there's a link in my slide deck. You can click on that and
find out where you should vote. Early voting, as Jerry said, is October 25th through October 31st, Halloween. And you can find polling locations at the link in the stack. Also, and as Jerry said, they are um different dates in different neighborhoods and also in Boston City
Hall. The deadline to register to vote is October 25th at 5:00 p.m. So, you still have time to register if you haven't yet. And uh the deadline's coming up quick, though, so please pay attention. One other thing I wanted to update people on because you may not not have heard of this, but it's a very
interesting um day that we have in Boston. So, I I thought I'd share with the board. It's called Boston Deployables Day. So, this is a day when the city um the city does a lot of work behind the scenes on flooding and mitigating climate change. So many city
buildings and many private buildings have temporary barriers that they can deploy in the event of a predicted flood. And they're metal barriers that form like a fence around a building to protect the building's infrastructure and systems from flooding. So the city
has one day every year where all the buildings who have this system in place deploy it and they put it up so people can see what it looks like. Uh my office does a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that people with disabilities are considered in all flooding and other
emergency situations. And with deployables particularly, we make sure that um when they are deployed that there's an accessible path of travel still. People can still get in and out of buildings if they're using a wheelchair. Um recently, uh there was some discussion about channeling people
into a bike lane instead of the sidewalk in a on a flooding event and if deployables are in place. Um so we want to make sure that the bike lane is safe and accessible to people with disabilities. Um and if you click on that link, there will be some pictures. You could see what the temporary flood barriers look like. Um, it's just a
really interesting thing and I figured you may be wanting to see it to check out uh the barriers and the access uh that we've worked on to create in case of an emergency flooding. Okay, next slide. So, some department updates. Um, as we
know, this is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and we've been hosting our four annual webinars that support disabled residents who are seeking employment. So, our webinars are always on Wednesdays in October and they're open to everyone. We've held
three so far. Uh, the first one is Pathways to Employment with the City of Boston. Um, that's finished. And has the recording been posted yet, Andrea? Do we know? >> The Pathways to Employment is posted on our YouTube. Um, the others are coming soon.
>> Cool. So, the pathways um brings together human resources departments from the four main city of Boston agencies that do hiring. That's uh the general city of Boston uh website. That's most of the jobs in city hall. And then the Boston Public Health Commission has a separate human
resources department, the Boston Public Schools, and the Boston Housing Authority. They all have different uh human resources departments and have different requirements on residency and hours, virtual work. They all kind of do things their own way. So, we bring
people with disabilities on so they can ask questions and learn about how to apply for jobs with the city. The second uh webinar that we always do is know your rights as a an employee with a disability. And that's really important because it talks about, you know, what rights you do have, talking about
reasonable accommodations that you can request and um all the essentials you need to know um as an employee. Uh the third webinar that we had was on banking and savings and other tools for financial empowerment. As Justin mentioned, um you know, there's his
mother has a house in trust. There are all kinds of issues to consider when you have a disability because you may have to um not save amount of money or you might not be able to have too many assets or, you know, you need to figure out what to do with your paycheck once you get it if you haven't worked before. So, that's a super um helpful webinar
and you can always watch that once it's posted on YouTube. And then the big one still coming up a week from tonight is the triple AAA's of housing, finding accessible, affordable, and available housing. And that's with the city of Austin, um the mayor's office of housing. Um we'll talk about lotteryies,
firsttime home buyers, um and other products and tools that are available from the city to help get people housed. Another event that we do every fall is a civic engagement event. And we usually do this in person in city hall. We usually invite people to come into city
hall and to see the city council chamber and meet their representatives and you know register to vote. But in order to accommodate people's busy schedules um we held an evening session this year and since no staff are there in the evening we um did a virtual information session.
Uh it was well attended for our first virtual event and so we're going to just try to assess it um over the course of the year and see if we want to do another virtual one next year or if we want to go back to the inerson event. But um it's always one of our favorite events because we really love it when people with disabilities use their voice
whether it's coming to these board meetings or testifying at city council or even as Jerry said just going out and voting. So anything that you can do to um get involved in local government is going to really be impactful not only for you but for everyone with a disability.
Next slide. So just a few um updates about the advisory board. Um, one thing I did want to mention was that um, the disability policy consortium had an event last week where they presented the John Winsky
award. Uh, as many of you know, John Winsky was a longtime board member on our advisory advisory board who passed away several years ago. He was um a lifelong advocate and um, founder of the DP DPC. Um, John was an amazing um, board member, friend, advocate, and we
love John. And this year, Carl Richardson was honored with the John Winsky Award. So really proud of Carl. And the award is presented to an individual or a group who's gone above and beyond service to the disability community. Uh from grassroots activists
to systems change catalysts to legislative leaders. And we know that Carl does so much work at the state house to improve accessibility. And um he's just a huge advocate as far as communication for people who are deaf and blind. um his work with the FCC um
and then all his advocacy about transportation as well. So, congratulations to Carl. Um we still have three open seats on the advisory board. Um the openings have been advertised. We did a press release and we received a lot of interest. Um myself
and Andrea are currently doing interviews with prospective candidates and we hope to make recommendations to Mayor Woo by the end of the month. So stay tuned. Um it would be great if we could have these three seats filled uh in January.
And then just a note about in in-person meetings. Um just checking on board members interests in resuming in person or hybrid meetings in January. Um I know we've brought it up now and again, but it has been five years since the pandemic. Uh we've been meeting
virtually 5 years. It's gone by pretty quickly what I think of it, but um just wanted to open that up to the board to see if there's any interest. uh we could always do hybrid um but wanted to see if anyone was interested in coming back in person. >> This is Andrea. I'll just add one extra
sentence which is that with um a good number of potentially new folks who need swearing in and a number of you who are on holdover status who may need re-swearing in. Um part of this uh is us asking if you all want to come in in person in January do all that together.
Uh and we could invite that way one you're all doing it all at once. Um and uh we may be able to invite the mayor as well. So even if you're not ready to say yes, I'm going to come back all 10 meetings next year um wondering your interest in January at least for an
in-person event uh with your new members. I will I will say um this is Jerry just to chime in that we did discuss this at at the executive committee meeting this month and and you
know I'm definitely in favor of of you know an inerson swearing in for January and if we combine that with a meeting that you know all that's all the all the better too. Um so >> yeah we can see how it goes. count count
me as a count me as highly in favor of a of a inerson swearing in anyway. And that would be great if we had the had the three new uh three new um members and and if the mayor could uh could participate and swear us in that would
be even better. So, >> and Mrs. Carl, I totally second that. um because many of you, many of the newer members I've ever actually never met in person. So, it would be kind of cool to meet some of us in person. And um we
don't have to do this all the time, but occasionally I think it would help to have an inerson meeting. >> Great. Um I saw that Olivia had her hand up and um my report's going to pivot in a minute. Did you have a question about something we just discussed, Olivia?
Sorry, I had a comment. Um, I'm very much in favor of in-person meetings. Um, I think it'll also give us a chance to
boost public attendance and make us more accessible to the Boston that we seek to represent. >> Okay. Um, and for those of you who aren't able to attend in person, I see
Tara's comment in the chat. Um, don't worry, we will at least be hybrid, but um, it will be great to see everybody in person and we can use uh, January as a little test to see how everybody feels, how it is to get back into city hall. Um, so thank you for those who
commented. Um, I'm going to go to the next slide and I'm going to turn it over to Andrea for an update on um, the airline rules and regulations. >> Yeah. Hi, Commissioner. Thank you. So, uh this was a request from um an advisory board member uh to update folks
on uh particularly because as we've reported to you all uh as a as a commission, as an office, we have met uh and did some work on this back in 2024. So, to recap, in December 2024, the Biden administration finalized a new
regulation or rule related to wheelchairs and airline travel. The rule, for example, requires annual training for airline staff and contractors who handle wheelchairs or who support people with disabilities.
The rule created specific expectations for what exactly airlines must do if a wheelchair is damaged or delayed and a whole bunch more things. Um, but there's not a lot of room on here. So, uh, regulations like this are typically
given a specific effective date, you know, a few months later to give affected entities time to plan, right? They actually had to develop those trainings if they didn't have them already, that kind of thing. Uh, when it was finalized in 2024, the effective
dates ranged depending on which portion of the rule was being impacted from January 2026 to June of 2026. Sorry, that should say January 2025. The Trump administration recently announced that they are pushing back
that effective date for a number of new requirements. Basically, what they're saying is we are not going to enforce the following four things. Airlines liability and their specific requirements for mishandled wheelchairs.
The annual frequency that was required for the refresher training. pre-eparture notifications and fair differential uh when it comes to reimbursements. So for those four things, the Trump administration has announced they are
not planning to enforce that until January 1 of 2027. And that is in part because they've announced that they want to release their own proposed rule on these topics. And they've announced they plan to uh
propose that in August of 2026. Um, so the whole rule isn't rolled back and uh everything that existed and was required before 2024 still required. Um, it's just they want to put their own spin on these four
areas. So, um, still have right to travel. The Air Carrier Access Act is still the law. Um, but there may be some tweaks to what the Biden administration tried to tweak. Great. Thank you, Andrea. And then another thing that we do um
every couple months is get an update on the Boston Public School transportation from Dan Rosenard. And I believe Dan is with us tonight to give another update. Welcome, Dan. >> Yes. Thank you, uh, Commissioner. And yeah, thank you to the the board for I
think this is the the third uh consecutive year that I've had the the privilege of joining this meeting around this time of year. Uh briefly introduce myself for those I haven't had a chance to to meet before. My name is Dan
Rosenard. I'm the executive director of transportation for Boston Public Schools. I'm a white male uh with short brown hair and a a purple checkered button-up shirt and live in the West
Roxberry neighborhood of Boston. Um to to briefly give an overview and happy to take more questions. uh Boston public schools transportation. We provide yellow bus service for uh
about 20,000 students in the city of Boston who attend uh both Boston public schools as well as uh charter uh private and uh special education out of district schools
uh within uh you know that transportation that includes uh just over 6,000 students with disabilities who received DVL bus service um including uh many of them who receive uh
either door-to-door bus service or uh bus service that includes a bus monitor uh based on you know their specific individualized education plan. Um we also provide uh free M7 MBTA
passes to all Boston students in grades uh 7 through 12. uh to help um both uh n tra travel travel to and from school and their extracurriculars as well as to have uh access to the MBTA outside of school and on the weekends throughout
the year. Going to share my screen. I have uh just two slides uh that I want to present. Uh we have um and this is a sim those of you who may have seen uh been here when I've been
here in the past um we have a couple different metrics that we use to uh measure the performance of our operation and um want to update you know all of you on on that performance now that we're a couple months into the start of
the most recent school year. Uh so the the first uh and kind of key measure of our performance our operation is what we call on-time performance. On-time performance measures in the morning the percentage of buses that arrive at
school prior to the bell. So that's making sure that students arrive at school prior to the start of uh classes in the morning prior to their morning bell. And in the afternoon or what we call PM on time performance measures the percentage of buses that arrive at
school prior to the scheduled departure time, which is uh typically 10 minutes after the afternoon bell to give students, you know, a few minutes to transition from classes to the bus. Uh we've had so far this school year uh
we've had um although we're not where we you know want to be we've had a a very strong start to the school year particularly relative to past years. Uh so on the the first day of the school year we had uh the highest ontime performance on record for uh day one of
the school year both in the morning and the afternoon which was uh we were very happy about. And so far this school year, our morning on-time performance has averaged 89%. Which is the highest on record for uh
you know this up until this time of this you know period of the school year. And in the afternoon our on-time performance so far this year is 83% um which is our our second highest on record. we were in 2023 24 we were 85%
uh so far you know through this period of the year. So on-time performance that's kind of the the primary meas measure of our performance. Uh we also are very focused on uh what we staffing and then what we call coverage to make
sure that we have the the staff and we're providing the the service that's um needed to all of our students. And so, um, we started this school year with, uh, 700 fully staffed with both bus drivers and bus monitors. We had 726
bus drivers at the start of the school year, which is, um, right in range with where we've been the last the last two years. Um, we've seen a a slight uptick in the number of our trips that have been what we call uncovered so far this
school year, which basically means there's not a a driver or bus available at the scheduled time. Um, that actually has not been driven by by bus drivers, but has been driven by um bus the availability of the buses themselves. Um
our fleet has been aging over the past several years and uh we saw some delays at the start of this fall with um both uh we had um 40 new buses that were supposed to arrive over the summer that
were delayed until uh the fall. Those are starting to arrive uh over the next couple weeks. And we also saw um some parts that we had ordered um as far back as as last February that were supposed to arrive over the summer.
And because of unfortunately some of the what we're seeing happen on the federal level with tariffs um and and trade in general uh those parts were delayed um getting into the country and then arriving to us. So we
we saw some um challenges with our bus maintenance and and just availability of buses at the beginning of the year and as a result we saw um the percent of uncovered trips uh ticked up from where it was last year at.16%
to this year. It's been 48% so far this school year. Um and we're we're working hard to to get that number back down as close to zero as possible. And then we started this school year with 713 bus monitors. A bus monitor is
an additional adult on the bus who's there to support students with disabilities who require um you know additional support uh to ride the bus safely. Um and we have uh one thing that we've been um very focused on and and
very pleased to see is we've continued to see uh decreases year-over-year in uh one of the most important me metrics that we track which is the number of students each day who don't have uh their required bus monitor. Um and so
two years ago you'll see in 2023 24 over 150 students every day were not receiving their required bus monitor. Last year those numbers improved somewhat. It was 60 in the morning and 111 in the afternoon on average last
year. We've continued to make progress on that front. So far this year we're averaging uh 47 students in the morning and 76 in the afternoon. uh not having the required bus monitor. Um and that's for uh just kind of a
point of reference that's out of um a little over 3,000 students who require a bus monitor on a daily basis. So um our goal is to have this be of course zero every day. We want to make sure 100% of of students are receiving that, you
know, any required supports and service to be able to ride the bus safely. Um, but we're continuing to work to make progress. Uh, so that's just a it's a very brief update. Um, you like I said, I I really appreciate it's a it's a privilege to be able to come and and
present to this group each year. So, I really appreciate the opportunity and I will pause there and very happy to take any questions that anyone has. >> This is Andrea Jerry. There's a question in the chat from Wes I can read out if you'd like to recognize.
>> Sure. Um yeah, thank you for your uh report, Dan. glad to see that there's there's improvements. Uh but we uh but we also recognize that uh even though there's 89% on time performance or 83%
that there that still leaves you know 10% or or 11% of of of buses that aren't on time that uh that uh you know uh parents schedules get disrupted, students schedules get disrupted. So, I
know you're continuing to work on that, but yes, read Andrea, please read read uh read Wes's question. >> Yep. So, West Ireland in the chat has asked, "Does the ontime performance metric include the door-to-door service?
Also, is there any data available on the coverage and reporting KPIs on the door-to-door service portion?" >> Yes, thank you uh for that question. Great. Um that's a great question. So
we uh one thing that's very important to us is is we uh we route our buses inclusively. And so we we do not uh transport door-to-door students separately from general education students or students who are receiving
corner stop transportation. Um so we don't have a a separate metric for on-time performance for door-to-door service. Uh, so that on-time performance metric, it does include all of our students receiving door-to-door service.
Um, we have done some analysis in the past to try as best as possible to look at um how service for students receiving door-to-door transportation uh is specifically and we found that it's it
um it is, you know, very much in line with the overall on-time performance. it's doesn't seem to be higher or lower. And then you also asked is there any data available on the coverage and reporting KPIs on the doortodoor service
portion. Um so I think yeah my answer would be very similar which is because we are routing and transporting all students whether they receive doortodoor or corner service together. Um we don't have KPIs specific to doortodoor but
those uh coverage KPIs would include students receiving doortodoor and then I I do see there's there's two other questions in the chat and Andrea if it's okay maybe I can read those out and answer those >> defer to the chair but I am thinking he'll say yes.
>> Yeah. Uh this is Jerry, go right ahead. Or if the uh uh if the advisory board member who who who is asking the question wants to wants to ask it uh uh you know you know verbally uh you can go
ahead and do so but if you want Jan to read it out go right ahead. So go ahead. >> Thank you chair. Um, so I see there's there's one question from from Tara. How are uncovered bus students getting to
school? And then there's another question which I think is very similar from Aaron Gel. Um, hi Dan, thanks for your presentation. Happy to see some overall improvement. I'm wondering what the plan is for students when buses are uncovered or if
there is not a monitor available. Um so excellent questions and yes that is um really really important is making sure that we're getting all students to school. So when a bus is uh uncovered uh so meaning that the entire you know
there's not a driver or a bus available for that bus uh what we will do is we will communicate to families and to schools who are impacted to let them know that there's not a bus available at the scheduled time. And then as soon as
a bus or a driver frees up completing their normal their regularly scheduled trip, another bus or driver, we will then send coverage for that trip. So we will always make sure to send coverage for every trip. Unfortunately, when a trip is uncovered at the scheduled time,
it typically means that that coverage is going to be um you know delayed and potentially significantly delayed. And uh similarly, if there's um not a monitor available for a trip, and that means a student who requires a monitor
is is maybe not able to ride at their scheduled time. Um we'll communicate that to families and uh offer and and can provide as needed a a backup bus with a monitor um as soon as one is available.
And then it looks like there's a a follow-up question there. What about when students are stranded in the PM run? Who stays with them in school at school and ensures their needs are met? And so, um, great question. I think that from from our from the transportation side, the process would be very similar,
which we would communicate to the school and family and then get a backup bus there as soon as possible to to transport any students home who are stranded there. and uh the school and typically some combination of the the
school leader, school admin, uh teachers, um the school will coordinate to make sure that there's staff there supporting those students. And then chair, I see another question in the chat. Um I don't know, do you
want me to read and respond to that? >> Go ahead. And I think that that would have to be the last last question. But >> thank you, chair. Um, so there's a question. When I report a school bus driver driving dangerously or aggressive, what happens? This happened
twice in the last year. Uh, really appreciate that question. So, um, bus drivers are employees of a contractor, Transdev, who we we work with. They employ and oversee the bus drivers. Um and every one of our school buses is
equipped with uh two onboard cameras as well as a GPS teleatic system which collectively is monitoring uh the driving of the school buses and flagging any potentially unsafe driving behaviors. So, anytime we get a report,
whether it's from a school, a parent, or a, you know, member of the public about a u potentially unsafe driving behaviors, we take that report, we report that to transdev through our ticketing system, and then they, their
safety team, the transdev safety team, they have 15 safety trainers. They would review both the report as well as the the camera footage and the GPS foot telematics footage from the bus to um you know verify validate it identif you
know and then based on what they find that driver may be sent for for coaching for retraining or for other you know appropriate steps as needed to ensure that you know they're driving safely.
And with that, I'll I'll pause and and just conclude again just saying thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. Really appreciate it. And I'll pass it back to you, chair. >> Great. Thank you so much again, uh, Diana. We look forward to uh, you know, we look forward to anytime that you're
available to come to to the meeting to share share data. Um, and you know, I I know we'll probably u you know, get an update at least one other time, you know, during the school year. So, thank thank you for your availability and and
being able to to tackle our tough questions and and tough questions, you know, from from our our uh our school families out there. So, thank you. Do you have any other anything else on
your report, Commissioner, or should we move on on the agenda? Yep. That wraps up my report. Thanks, Jerry. But I see Pette has her hand raised. >> Oh, go ahead, Pette. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. Um, what
is he still here? >> I don't I think uh >> Plette, even if Dan had to hop off, we can follow up with him if you need. So, go ahead now. >> Oh, there he Dan's there. Dan's there. >> Okay. Sorry. So, I'm thinking about the statistics and you saying that the
numbers were included. Wouldn't separating them make it easier for you to see or to pinpoint issues that come up with students with disabilities? >> Yeah. So, the the reason it's I appreciate that question. The reason
it's difficult to separate is because students with disabilities aren't transported separately. So, the vast majority of our buses have um both uh general education students as well as
students with disabilities on board. And so, um, it's hard to kind of separate out specifically students with disabilities, but we we do try to, um, in dive in on the data and cut it in different ways to see if there are any
specific, um, kind of trends or or different kind of subgroups of buses that are being disproportionately impacted in in any way. >> So, I just want to add to that. So, aren't the doortodoors the students with
disabilities? >> Yes. >> So, those numbers could be separated out from the kids that get picked up on the corner. Correct. >> Not necessarily because many most buses will have some corner pickups and some
doortodoor pickups. >> Okay. So it is possible to have the doortodoor statistics but not to separate out uh the the corner pickups if you follow my reasoning.
>> Like everybody everybody could be on the bus. Right. >> Right. >> But the but the doortodoors are only students with disabilities. Correct. >> Yes. Uh >> so you could keep those numbers separate.
I I Yes. I I think all all the routes have basically a mixture of both corner and doortodoor. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. I hope you think about that. >> Yes. Well, we'll definitely uh take it back and try to think about other ways
to to cut the data. >> Okay. I know we had another question uh in the chat, but in the interest of time, I really am going to move us forward and uh we can respond to we can get you an answer to that uh question,
the person that put it in the chat. Thank you for for uh raising the question. And again, thank you, Dan, for for your presentation and we can see how we can see how, you know, uh, families out there want answers to their
questions and and it's it's a it's a hot topic. So, we definitely will either have you back soon or or get more more data from you on a regular basis. Thank you so much, Dan. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda is the
architectural access uh report from uh from Patricia. Go ahead, Patricia. Thank you, Jerry. Hello, everyone. My name is Patricia Mendes. I'm the director of architectural access for the disabilities commission.
I am wearing glasses and I have short hair and I'm wearing black today. Uh today I'm going to briefly talk about the new cutter school. So I'm going to share a brochure.
Um I hope you guys can see it. Can you see my screen? >> Yes. Yes. >> Anybody give me a nod? >> Yes. >> Yep, we can see it. >> Thank you. Um, the new Carter School is a brand new
Boston public school and it it has been opened and our commissioner Macage was invited to the ribbon cutting. Um it serves 60 student ages 3 to 21 years
old. And I am posting I'm going to share the whole brochure and I'm sharing the the name and email of the principal and the assistant principal. Okay, now I'm sharing the second page of
the brochure and is showing two photographs uh showing the students with disabilities posing for photos and in the classrooms. Now I'm going to the next page and uh
this page shows one of the outdoors spaces and it shows some uh trees and greenery and also the outdoor space that has uh an
accessible route. is all flat with a great accessible surface and open air and you see the blue sky on the outdoor space. And the other photo is showing the literacy center which is an indoor
space uh and it looks very open and um it has a lot of light. These spaces are going to be therapeut therapeutic spaces and there's a music therapy and
expressive arts space and also a literacy center. Okay. The next the next page shows the amazing swimming pool and has a zero step entrance
and is an aquatic therapy space. And the other photo is showing an indoor gym with half a court of basketball court.
The next slide shows three different photos of students with disabilities having fun and receiving instruction. Okay, then that last last slide shows an
overview photo like bird's perspective of the new building. And after this brochure, I'm going to show um more slides with more photos. And I'm
going to invite Commissioner Macos to tell us about the photos. So, um, I can jump in if you want, Patricia. Um, >> please. >> So, the Carter School was, um, it's a brand new building. It's built on the site of the former charter school and
the programming used to be what was called multi- handicapped students and it's students with complex u medical needs um sometimes called medically fragile um people students with um mental um cognitive disabilities and
physical disabilities um who are really um you know lucky to be able to go to this school because it has so much um you know built built in space that uh benefits them. It's like the the building is actually part of the
therapies that they get. So, the zero entry pool like Patricia mentioned, um they have a rooftop playground which is fully inclusive and I got to go to the school yesterday or earlier this week to do a reading with students and um I got
to try out some of the play equipment that's all accessible on the playground roof. Um do you have those pictures, Patricia? Yep. Here we go. So, um that's a sound machine on the left and you just pull it or you can bang on it and it makes all kinds of acoustic noises that
um stimulating for students. And then on the right we see a communication board. Um the students can point to um different letters or emotions. Um those who can't communicate verbally can use a communication board to let teachers and assistants know um what they need or how
they're feeling. So that's a great tool. And then the next slide is pictures of me on a swing and on a carousel. Uh, two things I haven't done in a long time, but um, all the play equipment is fully
accessible. So, it was it was a treat for me to be able to try it out. And then the best part of it was an accessible trampoline. Do we have that picture? >> Oh, it it gave us a video so I can >> Okay, that's okay. um we can set it
afterwards, but I was um able to try the accessible trampoline, which was really fun. So, um I'm just highlighting some of the fun aspects of the uh school. There's a a longer shot of the swings that are all accessible. Um but like I
said that the building is really built for fully immersive learning. Um like Patricia said, there are bright open spaces. um they paid attention to acoustics and all um all the features that are necessary to um help kids
thrive and learn and grow. And our architectural access team, Patricia and her staff um worked with the public facilities department of the city of Boston to um do the plans for this building. So, we were really excited to see it finally built and open for the
students who go there. I think right now they have 52 students, but they can go up to 60. So, it's um it's really a model for um inclusive learning um for students with um multiple disabilities and I was really happy to go do a
reading especially um we talked about um National Disability Employment Awareness Month and we read u books by disabled authors and I answered questions for the students. So, it was a very nice outing that we had and I look forward to going
back again. Turn it back to you Patricia. Thank you, M commissioner. Um, no, that's it for my report. Short and sweet. >> Great, Patricia. Thank you so much and thank you uh, Commissioner for
highlighting u the work of the school before I saw uh before I saw the information on the news uh this week. I'm glad it did get coverage. I had no idea about the about the school. So
that's great that it's such a such a a model for uh uh you know accessible and inclusive learning and and that the play structures are all all accessible. Um and you know if you do go again uh let
us know you know maybe some of us on the on the advisory board uh would be happy to uh to go to represent you know our different communities as well. So um and I see Zary had a question or a
comment. >> Yeah. Thank you very much and uh Commissioner I think this is such a beautiful model and my question um has
to do especially since this is um National Disability Employee Awareness Month. I wonder if there is uh any uh thought behind perhaps hiring faculty and teachers with disabilities in the
school who would be mentors as well. So that's one question and then the second question is around the disabilities that are included within the school. Is there specific disabilities or any kind of
disability that is complex in nature? >> Yeah. So, um those are two really good questions. Um one thing I will say, one thing I was really happy to see was um one of the students who I mean I'm sorry, one of the um professionals who works in the library is a former um
intern of ours at city hall. um she was a Boston public school student with a disability and she did an internship with us probably about 10 years ago and she went on to college and then graduate school and now she is working at the Carter School as a librarian. So I was
thrilled uh to see her there. And as far as teachers with disabilities um I'm not sure how that would work. Um I know that you know anybody's um I'm sure they you know they hire I mean I'm sorry they interview people who apply. I'm not sure how they um I just
don't know what those statistics are, but um I do know that um one of the reasons they wanted me to come is because um I do use a wheelchair and having that representation is so important for students like you said because um one of the questions that they asked me was um who do I see as an
inspiration and like who inspires me someone with a disability? And I talked a little bit about Judy Humeman because we were um they're actually reading her book Rolling Warrior uh about her life story. So they all knew Judy and were happy to hear that. And then I also
talked about you know some of my mentors in Boston how we have a lot of disability advocates who started the independent living movement like Charlie Carr and um John Kelly and a lot of other people who are have been in the movement for years and Zary you as well. Um, and then just I talked about the
students themselves who um inspired me to do my work. So um it's it's a great point and um I I can say I don't know but I did see um one of the the staff members not a teacher but staff member the librarian who who has a disability. >> This was a question commissioner about
the the student population. Um and my understanding is that the population is students for whom in um inclusive general education is not the best fit for them which tends to mean students with multiple and complex disabilities.
Um BPS is committed to inclusion. Uh every school is an inclusion school. Um but this school is is designed for students who need additional supports that would be difficult to um get in an inclusion school. So that does tend to
be uh the the superintendent has described them as among the most medically fragile students um in the population. >> Great. U thank you again Patricia for your for your report and thank you commissioner for for uh representing us
at the uh at the school. Um, you know, it seems like a very very um cool cool place. Um, uh, and again, just thank you for for going um, and representing. Um, and the
next part of the agenda is just the uh, board member shoutouts. Uh don't be shy, but don't feel like you have to shout out. But if there's if there's anything that you haven't shared uh yet tonight that that you want to share about
something that you've done uh since the last meeting or maybe something that you forgot uh to share at a previous meeting, feel free to uh now's the opportunity to share. And I do see Olivia with her hand raised.
Yes. Um, one of the things that's happened since the government shutdown, uh, but was put into place before it, is that
continuums of care, which are organizations and systems that take care of people with chronic homelessness, substance use, and uh, which are disab disabilities
um no longer can use their continuum of care funds for housing, which is huge. This is threatening tenencies for some of the most vulnerable and
chronically ill tenants that Boston has. Um, Chappa is fighting back on that. Um, I'm part of the public housing group,
but I wanted to raise this as an issue um that will be coming across resulting in increased homelessness. >> Thank you for raising that, Olivia. just
another consequence of the government shutdown. Let's hope it uh let's hope that both sides come to their senses soon u and and gets the uh government running and and those funds can be uh
can be used. So, uh Carl, you have your you had your hand raised. >> Yeah, there were two things I want to um bring up quickly. So, um the first thing is that next Tuesday
on the 28th, the city of Boston is having a hearing um uh proposing an ordinance on autonomous vehicles where they're doing a study to um look at the financial impact on union
drivers and things. Well, I I don't think that's a bad thing. What concerns me about this study that they're proposing that the mayor take on, it does not really have anything from the resident point of view, not just uh people with disabilities, but the
elderly, those to which owner of vehicles is a barrier, those who can't always access public transportation. Um, I think there's a lot of potential benefit. I do think that, you know, we need to ask the right questions like,
are there going to be wave vehicles for wheelchair users? And, you know, so I think there are some questions to ask, but what concerns me about the hearing next Tuesday is they're not asking those questions and they're not really looking at it at the potential impact. They're
only looking at it on how could it affect drivers. So, I would ask anybody I'm planning on testifying the hearing next Tuesday and um you know just if you don't feel like going at least watch the hearing after the fact and maybe you can learn a little bit. I just started
Tuesday the 28th at 2:00 in the city hall council chambers. The other thing I wanted to ask was um a number of months ago, Jerry, I um and others from the Boston disability
community participated in a uh with IHD on looking at bike lane for people with disabilities. I believe on behalf of you know the city of Boston. I was wondering if the commissioner's office could maybe
share what was done with that study and and and and what's going to be um how they're using it. So that those are my two things I wanted to talk about. Thank you. >> Yes, Carl, thanks for highlighting that. Uh I know I was able I participated
along with you in the in the bike lanes u study as well. Um I don't know if we have time right now. Andrea, do you want to share? Do you know have any information about uh about the upcoming hearing uh that you can share really
quickly and or do you have any information about about the uh IH IHC bike lane study? >> Yeah, I'll give very quick um and then we can definitely get into more details on the bike lane study at our next
meeting. Um on the hearing, it's a hearing on an ordinance proposed by city councilors. It's not an ordinance that has been proposed by the mayor's office. Um so I will say it is not uh the mayoral um priority uh in terms of how
to address uh autonomous vehicles. Um that's all I know for now, but I can present more when I learn more. Um on the bike lanes um we did finish uh IHCD did provide us um a report that we have
uh met with the streets cabinet about. Uh we've developed a handful of next steps related to bike lane design. Some of them involve research. Uh for example, are there things like speed bumps for bike lanes? We we not that we
know of that anyone's done. Let's find out. So, some research questions that we're taking on um as well as some design priorities uh that we're going to start trying to standardize from green paint and signage uh to uh
reflectability on dividers between parking lanes and bike lanes to make sure that they're visible. Um so, I can definitely provide some more details next month. I don't want to get too technical without slides and images and text in front of me, but um
definitely some action items came out of that report. So, thank you both and everyone else who participated. >> Great. Um thank you. Um po uh Paul, you had your hand raised. >> Yes. Just a quick on mental health day was October 10th from mental health
perspective and October 20 sorry it was October 10th. October 2025 is significant month for mental health we just had world mental health day and on October 7th was a national international
day of prayer. It's also ADHD awareness month and depression awareness month. Um, so and that October has been a pretty important month for mental health and disabilities. So I just wanted to run that by everyone. Although the dates
have passed, it's still plenty of resources for the whole month um throughout the world. And on one more thing, I was able to attend a documentary last night at Mass General called White N. I don't want to go into
it too much. Um, we're able to go and meet executive producer Bill Barton. And it's about three gentlemen who have experienced physical disabilities and the awareness they have brought to housing and
u civil rights over the last three decades for physical and mental disabilities. I don't want to give too much away, but if folks could have maybe look up White N. It's a disability documentary. It was shown last night at
the Russell Museum at Mass General. It would be well worth um people's interest. Thank you. >> Thank you, Paul. And uh Zary, I see you have your hand raised. >> Sorry about that. Yes. Hi. Uh, well,
Paul stole my thunder, but I'm glad he did. Um, yes, the film was wonderful last night and is going to be introduced to public soon. So, as soon as we have it out, I'll make sure we make sure that
people can view the film. But Charlie Carr was one of the people who was um showcased in the film. So I highly recommend it if you have an opportunity to see it. Um but I also had if I may
two announcements to make. One is um from one of our attending physicians. His name is Richie Sap and uh Dr. SAP is an emergency physician at Mass General
Hospital and he's hosting a MGH disability health day and basically they are looking for people with disabilities who would like to share their experiences and help teach residents
how to provide better care. They went to have a small group session where residents can practice talking with and learning from people who are deaf, blind, nonverbal, or have intellectual,
developmental, and physical disabilities. If you're interested, um, we would have you join us that afternoon, talk with residents and answer their questions about your experiences
with healthcare. And if you're able to participate in a structured interview simulation, um, please reach out to me. I can send you his information. But I think this is a great opportunity for a community to
have an impact in our residents, connect with the community and learn from them. Um, so I'm happy to share that information and although this is coming from Mass General, I think your voices will impact how we can initiate the
conversation with all hospitals. Um, so this is this is a great project. And then the second event is coming up next week on the 29th and I put a put the information
in a chat but basically it's sponsored by our disability employee resource group at MGB and we are calling it celebrating the disabilities and elevating voices. Our keynote speakers
are Charisma and Cole Signor who are YouTube sensations and they're going to be speaking about interable relationship and how they have marketed themselves to have a business and then in the
afternoon we have internal resources uh where we are working with community to support employment within healthcare and even outside of healthcare. So, we would love to invite you to join us and uh if
you need more information, feel free to contact me. Thank you. >> Great. Zoe, those are are great opportunities and resources. Thank you. Uh Rich, uh you um you have the floor,
sir. >> Oh, thanks, Jerry. So, um, the Baker Center for Children and Families, which is the premier entity around this area, if not throughout the country, that deals with kids mental health and helps their families cope with the challenges their children face, is having it super
kaywalk on Saturday morning on the esplanade. Um it's a very inexpensive event to attend and if anybody would like to or even be able to attend as my guest just to u familiarize yourself uh more with the Baker Center just let me
know. Um it's a family event. So if you have a spouse, a significant other, children or parents or others you might like to bring. Um they're more than welcome. Um I think you'll enjoy it and hopefully the weather will be warm enough uh for all of us.
Thank you so much Rich. Um in the interest of time I am going to move on. Thank you for everybody uh who shared and if you have anything else to to share you could you know definitely put it in the u put it in the chat. Um but
thank you for everyone for sharing uh uh this month. Um, and uh, next on the agenda is old business. And uh, forgive me, but I think Andrea, I think you we said at the exact meeting that we didn't
have any old business. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Awesome. Awesome. Uh, so moving right along on the agenda then is uh, new business. Does anybody have any new business that they'd like to uh propose
for the advisory board? I'm not seeing any any new business either. Is that correct, Andrea? >> This is Andrea. Not seeing any hands raised or comments in the chat. >> Awesome. Awesome. So we we will have a few minutes for u public input. Then
this is the uh time that we have set aside. I I do know that we've we have um we have um answered several questions in the in the chat from members of the public and I appreciate that you that you uh raised those you know at the
appropriate times. Uh we do, you know, value and rely on your your public input every every month, but this is uh the time of the meeting where uh where you can ask about anything that we've discussed uh tonight or any other
matter. Um Andrea, there are there are some rules though. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Mostly technical rules. Uh hi, this is Andrea. Um, if you have a member, if you have a question or a comment that you would like to make, uh,
you may notice you can't simply unmute yourself, uh, please use the Zoom raise hand function. Uh, turn on your camera and wave. I'll scroll through the gallery to see you waving. Uh, or note in the chat that you have a question. Uh
once you are recognized by the chair, I will send you a request to unmute or if you would like to sign your question in American Sign Language, uh I will pin you uh so the interpreters uh can find you. We do limit public input to two
minutes. Um so you will have two minutes to make your question or comment um before we move to the next member of the public. Jerry, I will let you know if I see anyone raise a hand or put a comment in the chat. >> Yeah, please. Because as of now, I don't
see anyone. I do know that we we had u several members of the public join us this evening. So, again, I would want uh uh any members of the public to have an opportunity to to have their voices heard. So, please uh please feel free to
ask a question if you have one. And I don't see um I don't see uh any hands raised or any any Oh, wait a minute. >> I see someone asking if they can put their question in the chat. And absolutely, please go ahead, Rashma. >> Yeah. Um go ahead, Andrea, if you want
to read that out. >> I think she's typing, so I'll give her a second. She said, "Can I put my question in my chat?" Oh goodness. >> Can I can I ask a question? Yes. >> Yes. >> Uh I saw that late. Sorry about that. >> No worries. And here it is. >> So the question I have an observation I
don't know if it is relevant to this meeting. It is about autogenerated captions for online meetings. Whenever I attend online meetings with autogenerated captions, I notice that some of the words in the captions are either misspelled or not culturally
relevant. For example, this morning I attended an online workshop with a facilitator called Adrien. A D R I E N E. However, the captions and transcript
spelled out Adrien. A D R I A N. Now, if I were to look back at the transcript, I would think that a male person called Adrien, A D R I A N, hosted the workshop. I am sure that the AI algorithm or whatever they call it at
the back end is smart enough to capture the names of participants and spell them correctly whenever someone mentions their name. The spelling of someone's name differently in the autogenerated captions might be a small issue, but it certainly doesn't make one feel
included. That is all I have. Thank you. >> It's a very good point. I appreciate that. Does any uh does anyone who has experience with AI captions uh have any comment or or uh any any thoughts they
want to share? >> I'll just say this is Carl. We are using human writer for this this this meeting tonight. >> Yes. Um, any other members of the public with
uh a comment before we adjourn? We do have about three minutes left and I'm sure the the interpreters will will have to will have to uh leave at that point and we want to maintain communication access for everyone. So, but does anyone else from the public have a question?
And I do see that there is a uh >> there's a shout out to our cart provider who's wonderful and does these meetings. Um, this is Andrea. I'll just add on that note, Jerry, that um there's a lot more technology out there these days that can do transcriptions to varying
levels of accuracy. Um at least when it comes to title 2 entities, so referring there to ADA title 2 covering local governments, um we are required to give uh you know first consideration to the
specific accommodation someone requests. So if someone requests specifically that a cart captioner provider be scheduled for a meeting, we are required to you know do best efforts to get that uh and
only use uh you know AI or other if if that's the alternative. Um, so the city of Boston does have contracts in place and procedures in place to get CART providers for any of our meetings. If you're able to request in advance, if
you're ever not sure who to request that from for a City of Boston meeting, you can contact our office and we can try and figure it out for you. Um, but yeah, it's it's a wild world out there of technology um, working or not for
transcriptions, unfortunately. Sure. And Zaryi had a comment uh regarding this too. Andrea, if you want to read that out. >> Yeah, sure. Her comment in the chat is, "I wonder if we can discuss use of apps such as text to speech, uh, including
AVA as an alternative to CART. >> I would I wouldn't be opposed to to having that as a future agenda item." Um, I don't know if the commissioner's office has any thoughts or Andrea, you
want to have a comment or anything? We're always happy to learn about new tech and make sure we're using the thing that works best for people with disabilities. So, always happy to hear from the board about what works well for you. >> Great. So, maybe we can discuss it at a
future meeting. Um, but in the interest of time, uh, Carl, do you want to make your motion? >> Why are you picking on me? No, I'm kidding. >> Uh, yes. I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> I second. >> Paul, I second.
>> Okay, Paul and and Paul say, uh, we can have co- second. U, all in favor say I. >> I. Hi. >> Thank you for a very love uh lively
meeting tonight and a lovely meeting uh tonight. Please please please remember to vote either early or or in person and we will see everyone uh on the 10th. We do not have a meeting in November. We have a combined November December
meeting on December 10th. So see everyone then and have a good start to your holiday season. Take care now.