It would be easier. >> Hi everybody. >> Are we recording? Thank you, Mr. Piposelli. The 12th regular meeting of the Memphis School Committee will come to order. Uh, executive session is at 5:00 pm and regular meeting will be as close to 6 pm
as possible. This was in the Howard Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall and via remote participation. The meeting is being recorded. Meeting can be viewed live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable
channel, Comcast 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43,45 or 47. Participants can call or log in by using the following Zoom link. 913 49440286 is the meeting ID. Member if you could
please call the role. >> Member >> here. >> Member Master Bon >> here. >> Member Olady >> here. >> Member Parks >> here. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Member present. Mayor Lungo >> present. Seven present. Zero absent. I don't see our student reps here today. I know they were here the last meeting
when we changed to Zoom. So we'll welcome them when they get here. If we can all please rise to salute the flag. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. We have executive session upon a motion to enter executive session pursuant to general laws 30A section 21A. executive session to conduct a strategy session on the basis that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining
positions of the Medford School Committee. Specifically, the Medford School Committee will convene an executive session to discuss collective bargaining with the Massachusetts Teachers Association regarding a teacher grievance and in the chair so declares
and pursuant to general laws 30A section A3 to conduct a strategy session on the basis that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining positions of the Medford School Committee. Specifically, the Medford School Committee will convene an executive session to discuss collective bargaining with the Teamsters Local 25
regarding an administrative grievance and the chair so declares an executive sessions pursuant to chapter 3A section 212 to conduct strategy in preparation for non-UN personnel or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel. specifically been eliminated to the
assistant superintendent of academics and instructions, chief operations officer, the director of student services and assistant superintendent of student services and the director of human resources. A we will convene back in session as close to six as possible. Is there a
motion to enter executive session? >> By member Reinfeld, seconded by member Master Bony. All those in favor, please call the role, please. Member Graham. Yes. >> Member Maston. Yes. Member Olat. Yes. Member Parks. Yes. Member Rinfeld. Yes.
>> Member Yes. Mayor Lgo. >> Yes. Some of the affirmative zero in the negative motion to enter executive session has been approved. All righty. Welcome everybody. Welcome to our student representatives.
Thank you for being here. >> Thank you for your patience. We ran a bit over in our executive session. So, we're going to go quick through our consent agenda and then we'll get right to our Mustang moment. Um, we have approval of bill and payrolls, approval of donations, $100 impact church
donation to the McGlin Library, approval of meeting minutes from our regular meeting on May 18th, 2026. Is there a motion for approval? >> By member Lead, seconded by member Rinfeld. All those in favor, all those opposed. Paper passes. We do not have
any reports of subcommittees and we have a number of reports from our superintendent. So, I'm going to turn it over to you, Dr. Galooi, to start us off with our Mustang moment. Hello. Good evening. My favorite part of the school committee agenda. We have three Mustang moments tonight. And what
a wonderful display of community in the chambers. I'm so glad everyone was here to join us tonight. Um the first Mustang moment we're going to hear from I'm going to call up Director of Arts Suzanne Fee and she's going to frame a little bit of this acknowledgement this
evening. >> Good evening. I think Will is going to play a little video while I talk about why we're here tonight. Um, tonight we're proud to recognize a student whose dedication to the arts has made a lasting impact on countless young artists throughout our community. First
established in 2009 by the Medford Arts Center, the Medford Children's Art Showcase has become a cherished tradition, celebrating the creativity and talent of students from AC across our district. For years, this event has provided thousands of students with the
opportunity to see their artwork professionally displayed, recognized, and celebrated. What makes this accomplishment even more remarkable is that it represents three generations of commitments to the arts. In 2011, Jen Desotell's who is
Christine's mom and a wonderful computer teacher here at Medford High School, took over this project from MAC. It was then carried forward by Christine's sister, Julie, who revived and expanded the event in 2021. When Julie graduated, she entrusted this
important work to her younger sister, Christine, who embraced the responsibility and continued the tradition with the same passion, care, and dedication. Behind the scenes, Christine has coordinated artwork from schools across the district, individually matted matted
and labeled hundreds of pieces, organized reception events for families, and work closely with educators and community partners to ensure that every young artist feels valued and celebrated. Because of her efforts, thousands of students have experienced the pride of
seeing their work displayed publicly and have been encouraged to continue exploring their creativity. She has not only preserved a beloved community tradition, but she strengthened it for future generations. For her exceptional leadership, commitment to the arts, and service to
the students of Medford, it's my honor to present this award to Christine Desotell's. In the fall, Christine will be heading to the University of Maine to study marine biology. We wish her all the best as she heads into this next exciting chapter of her life. And I'm going to invite Christine to come up and
be celebrated and also just share a few words about her feelings about the experience. The point of the Medford Children's Art Showcase is to make students of every grade and
basically every single student in the district understand that they are an artist because they have made art. Um, a lot of other art showcases are about celebrating like maybe their best art or their it's like a competition and
they like rank them or something. And part of the point of this is that if you have done if you made the piece and you completed it and you put it all together and brought this idea to life in your own special way, then you deserve to be
celebrated and you deserve to feel pride for your accomplishment and for your piece. So every year we do grades three and seven. So, they're kind of the middle grades and they if we keep it at the same grades every
year, then we will eventually hopefully get every single student who passes through. And we try and get one piece from every student from every school. Sometimes we don't have a certain school because they have their own art showcase going on. Sometimes they just run out of time to get something to us. But the
goal is to make sure that they know that their art is important and they should keep making it. So, we also we have like little stickers that say I'm an artist so that they are noted as the ones being part of this showcase and we send them each an individualized
invitation that says your art is being displayed. Come and see it. And it's become a bit of a fixture at River's Edge where we display it. And we've had like people who live in the building above it come by as we're setting up and they're like,
"Oh, I love this show. It's like so cute and it's great to see all of the different ranges of interpretations of the same prompt. So like it'll be a self-portrait and some people do it landscape, some do
it vertical, some add all sorts of flourishes and others keep it really simple. And everybody gets to walk around and see the different ranges of ability and be inspired to keep going and keep
developing their skills. >> Thank you, Christine. And Christine has um been interested in finding a student who wants to carry on this work. So spread the word in the community if anyone wants to carry on the tradition to reach out to me. Um and
hopefully we can make this continue and keep the Desotell's family tradition going and the Medford public schools tradition going. So I want to thank Christine and also her mom and her sister who I wish I could go back in time and give you guys an award as well, but I hope Christine will share it with
you. Thank you. Next, I would like to we're going to acknowledge esports and so I'd like to call up our athletic director, Mr. Olirri. And I'm not quite sure if any of the coaches are here. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Good evening. Thank you for having us.
Uh like uh Superintendent Kooi said, this is a wonderful night um whenever athletics is in front of you for the Mustang moment. Um, and you've all heard of a dynasty. And as Will pointed out to me when I walked in, we have our very own dynasty here in Medford. We have a
three-time state champion uh Mario Kart team here tonight uh from our esports uh I'm going to introduce coach uh Lindseay Rabble and coach Tyler McCriedi and they're going to uh introduce the
students. So if you come forward with your sisters first. >> All right. Um we brought the trophies with us as props. Um but that will get set right there. Um so I just want to briefly introduce um the seasons that
we've had over the past year. Um, we were here last year as an esports team after having won our first state championship in spring of 2025. And of course, no team has an expectation that that success will continue over time. But we had a very successful fall season
going 7-1 in the regular season and then going on to win the state championships at Indicott College. Um, and then we had a very successful spring season, going undefeated in the regular season and then going on to win the state championships at Sutton High School. We additionally had an invitation to
compete at the Council of New England Secondary School Principles Association's uh, esports regional championships where we defeated another team before falling to Rhode Island's Mario Kart team. and we also competed in the play versus cup. Um falling short
there, but nevertheless, we've had a fantastic season and that is entirely due to the effort of these wonderful students that we have who I'm going to go ahead and introduce. Um so I have them in order up here. First we have Justin Lara, um Echo Valdez Melgar,
Jaylen Richardson, Juan Tapia, and Nobi Ash, um yeah, Noi Ashihara. All right, I guess if could everyone give them a round of applause for their fantastic work these past couple years. Do >> you want us to post for pictures? >> Yes, >> absolutely. Okay, let's be symmetrical.
Okay. >> Are you going to go on the inside? >> You got to go on the inside. >> Yes. Okay. >> Oh, excited. Okay. Thank you're on. Okay, three times a charm. Last Mustang moment for this evening uh is I'm going
to invite Dr. Kza to come up. She's going to frame some humanities acknowledgements through the humanities department. >> Good evening. I am so excited to be here to celebrate some of our humanities mustang and I'm calling it moments but I
know I'll try to be um as as um succinct as we can be. We do have a lot of um different um honores and on our slideshow we have um the geography be tonight the teen perspectives on immigration contest the scholastic
writing awards the ethics bowl the mock trial and the model UN you can see as we move through through two more slides that we do have a lot of students to honor so I just want to tell the students they're going to come up their advisor if they're here is going to
share a little bit of information about um the achievement or the student and if all the students can just stay until we're all done so we can take a picture. I think that was the plan. Um and we do have certificates but we will pass them out at a later date um because we do
want to make sure we honor and give a little time if you have any questions about anything. So I'm going to start with the first um event which was the middle school geography bee. I don't know if the students were able to come tonight. I know it's really busy this
time of year, but we have Elliot Kaminsky, Stefano Lazara, and Janie Schwarz. If they're here, I would love to come join me so I'm not alone up here. I will just share briefly that they participated in the geography middle
school B and answered a series of questions related to physical, cultural, economic, um, as well as political geography. And from the slideshow, you can see our winners. Um, I'm so happy that you're here and I'm not alone up here. A huge thank you to Mr. McCarthy,
Mr. Zizo, and the other seventh grade teachers as well. and we are going to give you a big congratulations. So, thank you. >> Do we have any questions? Any geographical questions we want to test him on? You know, anything? >> What was the question that won it for
you? What was the question that won it for you? Do you remember? >> No. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Thank you so much. Um you can you stay for a minute and then we'll Okay, awesome. U we also just wanted to call out that um Elliot
Kaminsky won has won it twice two years in a row which is awesome. So we just wanted to have a special slide dedicated to that as well. And then we're going to move to our next um contest. This one's a contest. So teen perspectives on immigration contest. And
I am going to turn it over to one of our winners. Um, you can see all the names on the slide there. Um, we have Resna Basnet, Valentina Burke, Laya Graham, and Sarah Carboni all winning the achievement. And I'm going to turn it over to them so that they can share a
little bit more about it. Thank you. >> Hi there. Um, so the immigration uh learning center runs the teen perspectives contests for um short essays and art pieces and students can enter their piece um for a chance to win
up to $300 in prize money. Um I think a few people from Medford um won some awards and a lot of other kids uh participated and had really um amazing works that were put into it. Um, and
it's for Malden and Medford and Everett public schools, I believe. Um, and this year the, um, prompt was how immigration benefits your community. So, it was a really cool opportunity to explore that theme. Um, and there was a lot of really
interesting pieces that people put into it. Okay, we're moving right along. So, we have our Scholastic Writing Awards, which you may recall um we have presented individually before, so I'm going to go as quickly as I can with that. I'm excited to announce that we
had two silver key recipients this year, which is huge. We have um Tristan Igano and Griffin Lynch Wood and they're going to come up and share a little bit more about their essays that got their their essay and short story that got them the Silver Key award. So, I'm going to ask
them to join. Come on up. And also, Mr. Ambrose is here to support his student. So, we welcome him in all of his hard work. Uh, hey guys. My name is Griffin Wood. Uh, I'm coming from Miss Sanford's 10th grade English class. I'm so glad to be here. Uh, my poem was called The Loudest
Bird and it was a satire piece about social media and how people will often post or in this case tweet using birds as a metaphor. Um, their certain messages and their opinions uh, often without thinking about how it will affect others or make other people feel. and I just thought that it was important
to sort of highlight that sort of issue in society and use this contest as a kind of um opportunity to to get that sort of thing out there. So, thank you. >> Hi, I'm uh Tristan Inggano. Um and I've been writing since probably about like fourth or fifth grade. And I wrote my I
wrote a short story that's kind of like it's very dark. It's like there's this guy and he kind of has this like twisted sense of like what's right and what's wrong. And I always find that very like fascinating when like characters in like books or like shows have that. It's just
always like a very interesting thing. So I wanted to like write my own story about that. And I just want to share how proud we all are of both of the students. Um, previous winners of silver keys include uh John Updike, Sylvia Pla, and Stephen
King. So, uh, Griffin and Tristan are in very good company of a bright futurist writers. We'll add that Miss Stamford wanted to be here, too, but she just had her third baby, so she is with us in spirit, probably watching. So, congratulations.
All right, we're moving right along. Um, we're going to move the next to our mock trial competition. And I'm going to invite Miss Du to come up. She can read the names and explain a little bit more and have a few students speak to it. Mu.
And if the students are here, if they want to join us, that would be wonderful. >> Two people. Great. >> Yeah. Um, I need the names. >> Oh, yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Cool. I'll go back to
>> Okay. Okay. So, a little bit about the mock trial competition team in Medford. It is one of the longestr running student activities at the school. And this year, the students traveled around to various courtrooms around the Commonwealth and they viewed civil and
criminal proceedings, not just to learn about the justice system, which is obviously a big part of the class called trial practice skills, but also to prepare for their competition season. and they honed their public speaking and their advocacy skills which have become so important right now at this time and
they gave excellent performances in three trials against neighboring schools. I am tremendously proud of these students and some of them will be continuing on as seniors taking the class to compete with me again next year. Our team received many compliments
this year from judges around the Commonwealth about their courtroom decorum and their knowledge of the rules of evidence, which can be very challenging even for licensed attorneys to learn and to harness. This year, um, we're not really sure what happened, but
we didn't make the yearbook. So, the graphic design class printed this beautiful picture. Each kid is going to receive this. Okay, this would have been our yearbook picture. Um, they're going to receive this. It's on card stock as a momento. It has the whole group and we
hope that they'll keep it and they'll remember this time and they'll use these public speaking and advocacy skills for years to come. Um, I have two students, um, Carly and Jack, who would like to say a few words about their experiences. Before that, let's go ahead and read the names of the whole team. Um, so some of
our seniors have graduated and they're not here this evening because various commitments, but Jacob Asetta, uh, Moisha Bernard, Rohan Gupta, he's here this evening with us. John Lucas, Saresh Maharajan, Laura Mousawi, Lucy
Rodriguez, Nelson Ruan, Carly Sensibash, she'll also be saying a few words, Sophia Sha, and Pixeni Ververis. Okay, I'm going to turn it over to the students. Uh, hi. I'm Carly Sensa. I'm a recently graduated Medford High student who was a
part of the recent mock trial. Uh, I just want to share that this was a really cool experience because most of the mock trial teams we went against were just clubs that met some days um in the week, but we got to see each other every day during second period. Um, I've always been kind of shy with public
speaking and I think that being a witness in all three of the trials really has helped me come out of my shell and work on my public speaking. And I just want to give a quick shout out to Miss Du who has really taught us about really important things about the law, especially in Massachusetts, that
I'll need in the future. And now I'm gonna pass this over to Jack. >> Thank you. Uh I'll keep it quick. Um Carly really hit on all the points. Um mock trial has helped a lot with public speaking, but also um being able to read and comprehend information really
quickly. Um with mock trial, a lot of it wasn't just being able to stand up and argue. who was also being able to um synthesize information from um bits of passages or things like that. Um so that was a really valuable skill. Um so yeah, that's about it. Thank you, Mr. Nu. Um
and thank you all of you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Next up, >> I'm still here. >> Um moving on, we have two left. We are going to celebrate our ethics bowl team which is run by Mr. EN. So I'm going to invite Mr. Edner to come up um along
with I believe one student is able to join. I just want to share um I'll let Mr. ENRE read the names but we're excited to continue our partnership with Tus University and continue to work um with the Ethics Bowl team. Without further ado, they're here.
>> Hi, good evening. Um so the ethics bowl program at Medford High, we've been doing it for about 12 years now, I want to say. Um it's a great program. It has the kids engaged in an array of skills both uh critical thinking, speaking, writing, argumentation. Um it operates
both as a club, so kids can come and take part and join in the the conversations. Um but then it's also a competitive side where kids are kind of locked in and then go to competition and compete. Um so I'm not going to go too much into detail because I think uh Victor is going to speak to kind of how it operates and the value of it. Um but
I just wanted to speak to to the participants this year. Uh we had Raul Gonzalez, uh Rohan who's here, Rohan Gupta, uh Nquille Manakar, uh Victor Menddees, uh Julia Sar Sarantonio, and James Sloan, who is a senior graduating
and heading off to uh Wesleyan. I think he's going to Wesian. So anyway, I'll turn it over to Victor. Thank you. >> Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing well. Um I just wanted to explain to you guys what Ethicsville really is. And um you guys might know that it is a debate styled club, but what really
distinguishes us is our approach and our emphasis. We tend to focus on um exploring the like ethical like landscape of like each case because we're given 15 real real world situations and we're given the chance to um
to really dive into them throughout the school year and then compete against some of the most like like a lot of the really prestigious private schools in the Northeast. Um at TUS it was really great this year. We competed against BBNN, um, Philips, Phillips Andover, and other
very good schools. And I just think it's very rare to find a club that is so collaborative yet still manages to compete with, you know, some of these really hard-hitting um, teams. And I think in a time that is so polarizing, it is so um important to not just choose
one side to like really understand the nuance in between every um situation. And I just wanted to say for like ethics, one of my like biggest regrets or like one of my only regrets is not joining sooner. I think that it really
could have given me so many more opportunities if we've competed harder and I'm very excited to try again next year and I hope we make it to finals and maybe we'll make it to nationals. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I want to move on to our last um set of awards. Um I also want to thank all of the school committee for their generosity. They have you have supported many of these teams in the past including the ethics bowl. So we do appreciate that and your commitment to
the students. Um I also want to thank Mr. Bowen Flynn and Miss Samford who helped support the humanities in department in many different ways. Uh we end with last but not least our model United Nations and I'm going to ask Mr.
Broofphy um to come up and speak a little bit more. You will see we've had numerous conferences as well as numerous awards um that I know that they're all excited to share with you. So thank you. >> Good evening. Um I just want to speak a
little bit about Model UN and then I have some students talking about it. Um the the club is uh fairly new. We've been doing this uh we I've been doing it for three or four years and we've gone from doing um two or three conferences a year. We did seven this year and now our
students are winning awards at almost every conference they go to. Um and I can see their growth from sophomore to junior year, speaking, being more confident, um able to write their position papers, and now they're going toe-to-toe with big model UM programs, private schools, um and bringing home
the big awards. So, I'm going to have a couple of our students, Topper Fowler and um Aaron Greenberg talk a little bit more about the uh the club. >> Are you going to read the names after? >> Yeah. >> Hello. I'm Aaron Greyberg. I'm the secretary of Model UN. >> And I'm Papa Fowler. I'm the secretary
general or at least the president of Model UN. >> So, Model United Nations is an afterchool club where students engage in discussions with other students. Students split up uh into several committee sessions to discuss different topics that could be real or fictional scenarios. They represent an entity that
that fits the topic trans historical figures like George Washington or a nation such as the United States. Students will collaborate towards a solution based on based on their beliefs. At Medford High, club members meet weekly on Mondays in our adviser, Mr. Broofy's room uh to conduct committee simulation, reflect on
conferences, and write position papers to prepare for future committees. >> In conferences, members address the problems presented to them and seek out a resolution to fix these issues. Throughout the 2025 2026 school year, Medford's Model United Nations Club has attended seven conferences, two of which
being multi-day conferences where students spent three days fully immersed in the experience of a United Nations delegate away from home. At these conferences, Medford High School has won numerous awards, including verbal commendations, best position paper, outstanding delegate, and best delegate. These awards do not just look good on
paper. Winning awards involves dedication in three key qualities. Penmanship, public speaking, and cooperation with others. As demonstrated through many awards, Medford High mastered these qualities through hard work and perseverance. So, I would just take like like to take
a brief moment to recognize the students here and my co-advisor and uh Jen Gates can't be here tonight, but our students who are assembled here have won awards. So Ryan Godley, uh Griffin Lynch, Christina Yo Sigley, um Topper Fowler,
Sophie Hook, Jadenville, Andrew Hong, um one one more slide. Uh Tess McMoral, um Elatche Joerger, Cassidy Collins have won all won awards. Thank you. Do we have time for a quick picture or
>> Why don't we do this group first and we'll do the rest in another group because this is a large one. >> It's a large group. Y >> we'll do model UN first and then everything. Velcro conference. Thank you. Congratulations.
I don't Thank you all so much. One more. One more. Thanks everybody. Congratulations Next up, we have the recognition of um CPAC retirements. I'm going to turn over to Dr. Suzanne Galooi, our superintendent, and Miss Joan Bowen,
director of student services. Thank you very much. This is a very um special recognition. Um, Director Bowen is going to speak in just a few minutes, but I just want to say that we are here to acknowledge the phenomenal CPAC um,
executive board members, and I do want to just thank them for a decade of dedicated service to families, to students, for creating that bridge between home and school. And without
your efforts, um, a lot of people may not have felt supported. So, I truly appreciate all of the support and dedication and guidance that you've been able to provide a lot of families. And so, on behalf of Memphis Public Schools, thank you very much. >> And I know Director Bowen is going to
get into a little specifics. >> This is a little lengthy just um so good evening everyone. Tonight, we have the honor of recognizing and celebrating four extraordinary executive board members of our CPAC, which is our special education parent advisory
council. whose dedication, leadership, and advocacy have made a meaningful difference in the lives of students, families, and our entire school district. What makes their contributions especially inspiring is that their commitment to CPAC began long before
they served on the executive board. They became involved because they generally genuinely cared about creating better opportunities for students with disabilities and supporting families throughout their educational journey. Over the past 10 years, they have
generously given their time, energy, and expertise to CPAC. They organized and hosted countless events both in person and via Zoom, responded to parents seeking guidance and support, and consistently made themselves available
whenever families needed them. All while balancing careers, family responsibilities, and their own busy lives. Their dedication has truly been remarkable. One of their greatest accomplishments has been ha helping to build a strong
and collaborative partnership between CPAC and the district. Together, they fostered a relationship grounded in trust, problem solving, and a shared commitment in supporting students and families. Whenever concerns or questions arose, they approached each situation
with compassion, thoughtfulness, and a genuine gen genuine desire to work together toward positive solutions. The strength of this partnership was recognized during a coordinated program review by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The district received a commendable rating which is the highest you can receive and review is noted that they had rarely seen a CPAC and school district work together so effectively. That recognition reflects the culture of collaboration these indiv individuals
help create. Their impact exceeds far beyond meetings and advoc advocacy. They understood that meaningful progress happens when people come together. And through the work on the universal safety committee and the creation of monthly admin meetings, they helped establish
opportunities for families and school leaders to listen, learn, and collaborate in ways that benefited students. They have also been instrumental in advancing some of the district's most meaningful initiatives, including adaptive physical education
and unified sports, helping to create more inclusive opportunities for students of all abilities. Through these efforts, they ensured that families felt not only heard, but valued as essential partners in the educational process. Perhaps the
most lasting contribution in their commitment is promoting acceptance, understanding, and belonging. They champion the development of a disability awareness curriculum, and they were instrumental in bringing Best Buddies to our high school. Thanks to their dedication, the program has flourished,
and we are excited to see it expand to the middle school in the fall. While we will certainly miss their leadership, the programs they help build, the partnerships they strengthen, and the lives they touch will continue to benefit for our community in many
years to come. On behalf of our school community, thank you for your vision, your advocacy, your kindness, and your unwavering commitment to make a difference. We are deeply grateful for all that you have done. So, please join me in congratulating and honoring the
CPAC executive board who will be retiring in June. Um, co-chairs Tanya Sullivan and Alex Lark. We have Secretary Annne Herszog Rouso who couldn't make it tonight as well as Jamal Anne Johnson who is our treasurer and she was not able to make it tonight
but we just want to celebrate them as they beginning on their new chapter. We wish them much much happiness, fulfillment and many wonderful adventures in the years ahead. Thank you. Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you. This is just a little token.
Say thank you. Thank you. >> I was going to uh do a little speech, but Joan pretty much covered everything, so there will be no speech. Um but we do want to, you know, thank you, Joan. You've been a obviously a pleasure to work with, as has the school committee, um and Superintendent Galooi and Mayor
Lungo Kern. So, um, we just want to thank you all and we're still around. So, if you need us, we're here, but we're officially retired, I guess. Yeah. In June. Yeah. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. >> Don't go don't go very far. >> Picture time.
>> Don't give her Well, before picture, I think the mayor has something for to acknowledge you as well. >> Yes. I I I too want to just thank you for everything you've done for students and families. 10 years is a really long time to be doing what you're doing. and I do get the emails so I see all the
Zoom meetings that you're having and support supports that you've been able to provide so many and we just really greatly appreciate all you've done for our community. I just have a citation that I'd like to give you. I'm sure Dr. Guzy might want to take a picture with you as well, but um just in recognition
of your contributions to CPAC and expertise supporting students and families signed on my behalf from the city of Medford. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Oh yeah. >> Well, Thank you. Turn it back over to Dr. Suzanne
Begalooi, our superintendent for recognition of Medford Public Schools retirements and employee anniversaries. Yes, this is like a bittersweet uh recognition right now. So, we have many. First, I'm going to acknowledge our retirees. We have several retirees. I am
going to call them by name and by role. Some are here tonight and so I would ask if you could come forward. We will give you an opportunity if you want to say something. No pressure. Uh and then we will do a picture. But um this year marks the end of a career for many
people. But um we want to just make sure that we say thank you for your unwavering dedication to the students and the families and the community of Medford Public Schools. Um, thank you for the tireless hours that you have put
and poured into your students. Um, you leave a lasting impression and I want you to know that we greatly appreciate everything that you have done. Um, teaching is one of those jobs that it fills your bucket, but there are but
it's also very tiring and very draining because you give so much of yourself um into your students. So everything that people have done, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you have done for these
past several years, some of you decades. Um, on behalf of the students and the families. So I'm just going to start reading the names now of retirees. We have Michael Allen, teacher at the Brooks. James Amarina, special education teacher at the high school. Patricia
Brle, science teacher at the high school. Diane Cabraw, cafeteria manager. Richard Cormio, vocational, well, electrical teacher at the high school. Maria Dorsey, library teacher at the high school. Paul Deo, teacher at the
Andrews. James Gered, teacher at the Roberts. Kelly Malloy, computer teacher at the Roberts. Lola Mrachi, special education teacher at the Andrews. Edward Mcavini, custodian at the high school. Joanne McCay, teacher at the Roberts.
Stephanie Mikoli, accounts payable, Medford High School. Maria Michelli, kindergarten teacher at the Brooks. Alexa Maize, afterchool group leader at the Brooks. Round of applause first.
Good evening. I had to write this down because I was going to have a slideshow, but Lisa said I couldn't do that. >> Um, >> Mr. Coro, can I just interrupt one moment? I'm so sorry. >> No, sorry. >> I forgot a name. I had it on the other
list. It didn't transfer over. My deepest, deepest apologies. Gina Capola, paraprofessional, Andrews Elementary. Gina, in my mind, you weren't leaving. My apologies, Gina. You're on the other list. I'll say your name twice. Mr.
Cormio, go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. Uh, please remember to bring No, this is the wrong one. Sorry. This one. Okay. Uh, good evening and thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. Uh, my journey at MVTHS the Vogue began in September of 1971 when I entered the
school as a freshman. I didn't know then that 36 years later I would return to teach in the very room that started my career as an electrician. Now here I am at the end of a 19-year career that saw the voke grow from a school struggling to survive where students were looked
down upon as not being smart enough for college to where it is today, a school of choice rather than a last option. Many have asked me what I like about my job and that's pretty easy. Watching a student come in with a dream and leave with a career that I have had the honor
of being a part of is the greatest and most rewarding feeling. Being a part of the total reimaging of the school with my colleagues and their students. Projects like the beastro, the robotics and engineering space, and most recently the new plumbing shop that'll open next
year. Transforming a dark and dingy section of the girls locker room into a vibrant workspace built by the students for the students. Point of irony, my first home room in 1971 was a V220 right across the hall from the plumbing shop. So, I'm going to
start and end my career here in the in the same spot. I'd like to thank Bill Mahoney, Roy Bellson, and Tom Richie for giving me this opportunity. And I want to thank Heidi who held my job when I caught a little cancer there back in 2013.
Chad, I want to thank you also for listening and guiding us and letting us do our own thing. And to you, Medford, thank you for allowing me the honor of teaching your students. And of course, I have to thank my wife and my family. This doesn't happen without their
support. And you know, I I'm a pretty lucky guy. So, what's next? Well, in September, we're going to go to Germany. I'm going to the wedding of the man who gave my stem cells, who saved my life. And then the uh the only other thing that I'm sure of is that I'm going to be spending a lot of time with those eight humans who call me Papa. This has been a
hell of a ride. Thank you very much. >> Okay, thank you. Um, so I'm going to wrap up my career in numbers. 34 years, four superintendent, six principles, four schools, up to 700
students, hundreds of families, hundreds of colleagues. but one teacher with the hope to make an impact on my students. I want to thank my family
and all of you. Thank you. Hi, good evening. Thank you very much for inviting us for this honor. I wasn't going to speak um because I'm like some of my students uh afraid to speak in front of crowds. But at any rate, um I
just want to say uh how much as a special education teacher, um I've fel felt privileged to work with uh students who sometimes struggled. Um I've worked at the Curtis Tus School as well as
Medford High School uh for the past 24 years. And um I I just feel that the special ed department has um helped so many students and hopefully I've had uh something to do with that. Just very
brief, not my whole biography, but uh my personal story, not to top Mr. Cormio, but um I was a senior in 1970 and graduated in 1971 in the first uh graduating class at the new Medford High
School. Um my wife Denise, my three sons, my mother, my mother-in-law, my sister, my brother-in-law are all U Medford graduates. So um I started in business uh world for first half of my
life and then I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I became a teacher in 2001 and uh so I've kind of gone full full circle as a as a Mustang student and employee. Thank you for listening.
>> Thank you. Hi, I'm Lola Machrachi and I've taught at the Andrews Middle School. I want to say what an honor and a privilege it's been to teach the students of Medford for the past 40 years and only in Medford. And I too am a Mustang and I
will always be a Mustang. I thank you all very much. And yes, I'm Gina Kala. Many of you know me, but I I want to thank everybody um school committee, citizens of Medford, my bosses who are out over there and the
special ed department because it has been my life and my honor to be with these children. And I thank you, Madame Mayor, and you Suzanne, who's known me for a long time, Dr. Galooi,
Dr. case left. But all right, I want to thank her. Joan Bowen, my biggest member, um, mentor. Joan, that's you. And everybody else that I worked with at Medford Public Schools. You I'm not done though, Paul. You know me.
I'll be back day in and day out just to do something either and if it's volunteering or whatever. But um I thank you all for the opportunity to have your children and they are the best kids. I always say Medford gives too much. Um I
love them all. Thank you so much. >> We can we'll do a picture. Okay. Did anybody else want to say anything? Okay. All the retirees, let's come do a picture, please. Medford Public Schools and Tus University are here to honor um
>> Oh, you have one more. I'm so sorry. >> Oh my gosh. >> So, one more acknowledgement before we move on. Um, I would I'm going to list the names of our employees that
have given years of dedication to Medford Public Schools. I'm going to list uh teachers and staff members that have given 25 years, 30 plus years, and 40 years to Medford Public Schools. I'm just going to ask for them to stand up.
Um, we have like citations. People that aren't here will make sure that they get to them. but 25 years in Medford public schools this this year. Uh John Bissell Jr. Doug Bowen Flynn, Jonathan Brown, Holly Cassabon,
James Dickens, Kathleen Ellis, Michelle Foxson, Nancy Gersich, Jacqueline Harvey, Sha Lai, Mike Lazaro, Joseph Olette, Andre Pierre Paul, Stephanie
Roach, Lucille Shed, Jonathan Wilson. Could you please stand? 30 years. Adeline Laney Cahill, Michael Coats, Robert Ferrante, Deborah Nataro, Diane
Serbanian, Lynn Travers, Lauren McCarthy. 40 years of service, Marie Cunningham and Anne Patton. Could I just quickly have you come up here for a photo, Please. Okay,
>> I'll turn it over to you anyway. Medford public schools and Tus University honor Marie Cassidy, founder of the Medford Family Network, Dr. Suzanne Be Galooi, superintendent, and Mr. Roco Dico, associate vice president of government and community relations at
Tus University. Thank you. I'm just going to say a little brief if that's okay, Mr. Dico. Um, I mean, where do we begin to talk about Marie Cassidy
and the impact she's made on the Medford community um, since 1993. So, it's impossible to sum up into words what Marie Cassidy means to the city of Medford and to Medford families.
We could try. Um, she's been the driving force to the Medford family network. She started the program and has just with persistence, grit, love, uh, and dedication has just poured her entire
self into the program as well as the Medford community. And for that, many Medford families have felt that support through the resources, the guidance, um the training, and the materials that you've
been able to provide to families for decades. So, I know that um we're not going to necessarily say goodbye to Marie. I don't think that that's possible. But I do want to on behalf of Medford Public Schools, thank you for everything you've done for our families
and for our students. Your impact is profound and it is seen, visible, and felt. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor Longo Kern, Dr. Galooi, and the members of the Medford School Committee. Uh my name is Rocka Dico. I'm the associate vice president of
government community relations at Tus University. Uh at TUS, we often talk about the importance of civic engagement and we value our partnerships and collaborations with the city, Medford public schools and local nonprofit organizations. We treasure our
partnership with the Medford Family Network. Um and as Dr. Guzy was saying, for over three decades, that iconic purple door uh has been, you know, a beacon for everyone in the community. Um, and for so many families, over 400
TUS families call Medford home. And many of those families have benefited from the programs at the Medford Family Network, including my own. And when we think about the heart and soul of the network, we think of Marie Cassidy. Um, she is a fixture at the
Medford Family Network, but she's also been a fixture at Tus University. She's at Tus Community Day every year. She has served on our Tish College community research board. She is an alumni technically because she received an honorary degree from TUS as well. Uh um
so today on behalf of President Sunil Kumar and Tus University and in honor of Marie Cassidy, Tus University would like to announce a $50,000 donation to the Medford Family Network. Oh my god. Oh my god.
Oh my god. This is absolutely incredible. How how do I begin? How do I say anything? You know, I'm going have to start with a song. You know that. Good evening school committee and everyone. How are you? Great. Great. Good evening school committee and
everyone. How are you? Great. Great. >> We all are here tonight cuz I think we got it right. Good evening school committee and everyone. How are you? Great. Great. Woo. Thank you so so much.
Oh, there are no words. I do not know where to begin. This is unbelievable. It has been more than a joy and an honor for me to have this role. I have been privileged every single day of my life. I really have. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Every moment of it. I look to
our families and the star of this story is the story. the story of our families, of our members, of our struggles, of their struggles, and the winning of those struggles and the getting through it and the picking themselves up year after year because we have an amazing
staff, three of whom are here with me this evening. If you could please raise your wonderful hands. You have Irene Shamway is here, Brenda Kennedy is here, and Cindy Sag. I have an amazing team and they represent with me decades of
work. I think we have like thousands of years of staff time when you pull it all together. It's been an amazing amazing time. And this Medford School Committee and the Medford public schools have been opened up with welcome arms to us year after year. when we didn't have a place
to be, all the schools, the elementary schools of which there were 11 by the time at that time if you may remember opened up their arms to us and let the Medford Family Network have a place there in their and then we opened up our arms at Medford High School in 2003 and
were able to be a really permanent place in the in the school in the in the city. Um I I don't know how to thank all of you enough to thank the city enough. Every uh organization, every business has opened up their arms to us. Tops
University, what an honor has been to be with you and all of your students. I had t scholars for many, many years and they were amazing and implemented programs that live to this day at the at the Medford Family Network. Um the focus group helped us set up every every every
September. We just had um a wonderful um working regulation right at Tus University. Um the students came out and work with our students with our families putting on some athletic programs. So I cannot thank everyone enough. Um as I do
33 years and I keep saying I'm only 29. So I don't know how that happened but it's been an absolute honor and I will always always have this wonderful wonderful memory. Thank you so very much. Marie. Yes. Thank you so much.
Don't go far. Oh, hold on. Marie, Marie, Marie, Marie, you need to come back. Miss Cassidy, you need to come back. On behalf of school committee and the district, we also have a recognition of
your retirement that was that Ireina will present to you that was specifically made by our students. >> Oh. >> In our CTE shops. >> Oh my goodness. >> Um, Miss Malone, the two shops are >> carpentry and metal fab.
>> Oh. Oh my god. Oh, this is beautiful. Oh my gosh, it's absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. It's our logo, our current logo. A friend to know, a place to grow. I
made that up 33 years ago. Medford Feeling Network. Marie Cassidy, founder, established in 1993. This is beautiful. Oh my god, I love this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you for everything that you've done. We appreciate it. >> Loved it. >> We're going to do a picture. Of course,
it's the last one of the night, so we're going to bring it home. Okay, bring it home. >> Why don't we um there's a recommendation to approve the donation to the Medford Family Network um from Tus University of 50,000. So, if we could maybe just take a roll call vote on that.
>> You didn't bring a big check, Roco, so we could take a picture with you two. >> Okay. >> Fair. >> We appreciate the donation. It will go to good use. Motion to approve by member Rinfeld. Seconded by member Graham.
>> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member Master Bony. >> Yes. >> Member Olat. Yes. >> Member Parks. >> Yes. >> Member Ryfeld. Yes. >> Member Erso. Absolutely. Member Mayor Lungo Kern. >> Yes. Seven in the affirmative. Zero the negative. We will accept that donation. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very very much.
>> Why don't we bring um you up Marie and then maybe Roco you can grab get one in one after and with Marie and we can publicize it. All right, Marie, it's your month. I mean, you're citizen of the year, retirement teddy
bear picnic, retirement party this week, school committee, it's all about you. Congratulations. Welld deserved. Um, thank you. Um, we're going to get to a little business. So, we have a recommendation from Dr. Suzanne Galooi, our superintendent to approve amended school year 2627 MPS
district calendar. Thank you. I think I'm Mr. Pippa. Oh, thank you. I don't have my zoom on so hopefully it's displaying. I just wanted so I came before you to give you an update regarding next year's calendar. This
first slide um that displays what was discussed just are the highlights in the last presentation around some of the challenges for school year 2627 calendar as Labor Day is very late this year. Um
it is September 7th. So that means that teachers report on Monday, August 31st for 2 days of professional development and students grades 1 through 12 plus do not start until Wednesday, September
2nd. Um and then Friday is a no school day in observance of Labor Day per the collective bargaining agreement with teachers making the last day of school set for June 23rd. That is without the five snow days that the Department of
Education has us factor in in case we need them. And as we reflect on this year, we needed four of those five days, thus moving the last day of school date up by four days. Um, if we go to the next slide, part of
the work that the district has done in partnership and collaboration with the teachers union was to talk about the challenges that arose around Good Friday and that it wasn't as simple as to say
that we would recognize Good Friday as a school day off because per the five days that the Department of Education requires you to put in for snow day, days brings us exactly up to June 30th. So there was no wiggle room. Um I did
present to this body and the community about the challenges and the data that the Good Friday day provided the district and the community and reflected on our staff not being a
true representation of the community population. and therefore a lot of our staff members um celebrate Good Friday. The work that we've done with the teachers union to get to an understanding is as follows. So Good
Friday, which is March 26th, will now be a district-wide day off. Uh school will be closed. It'll be a day off for students and staff. And then the previously planned March 2nd professional development day will now
become a full school day for students, teachers and staff. And what we are doing with the time that was allotted on that um professional development day is it is being divided up amongst the four
remaining professional development days. And so that each of those four days, there are two before students start in August, one on the election day in November, and then one on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King weekend.
Those four professional development days will now go until 4 p.m. for staff. This was the um recommendation and proposal of the teachers union and in collaboration with our district team felt that it was a wonderful um solution
to the challenge that we have for next school year. We love additional professional development time and adding that to an existing professional development day really allows a lot of breath and opportunity for the um what
we are going to have the teachers engage in especially the the two days in August as we're getting ready to kick off the year. That is the um agreement that both sides came to in a memorandum of understanding. And then the only
additional piece that I want to call out that is a change since the last time that I presented to this body is a slight date change for Eid outfitter is now moved uh Mr. Pipelli is that March or May. Okay. Okay, just making sure I I had the
correct month or previously we had it on March 10th, but it was brought to our attention due to the shift in the moon cycle that it is actually March 9th. And so we made that change on the calendar that you have in as part of your packet.
And I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Is there a motion for motion for approval or anybody have any questions? Well, member Graham, >> I just want to thank the teachers union um and the district for the creative
work um and and make a note that this does unevenly um acknowledge religious holidays for this next year. Um, and I just want to make sure that the community understands
that this is a sort of an extraordinary calendar situation um that we find ourselves in and um that we would be revisiting and re we we would be coming back to our policy the year after this. So um this is indeed a one-time event or
maybe it happens every I don't know seven years or something. I I'm sure there's some it will happen again sometime in the future, but um you know, I just want people to to know that it's our full intention to um observe our policy and the religious holidays that
it lays out um in future years. >> Thank you, Member Graham. Member to approve. >> Yep. So, building on what member Graham said, I just want to make special recognition of Eidal Aada, which is Monday the 17th. Um, that is now an
inschool day and I want to make extra sure we are being sensitive there um around that observation and understanding that that is an important day for many in our community. We have school and I think recognizing that is
really important. that is the one holiday that isn't on a weekend or a day off now. And I do not want this to be singling out our Muslim community members um in this in not in having school on this day. And
um I know we've had some challenges in the past ensuring that this is a no tests, no exams. It's in May. It's a tough time and I really want to build that awareness in the district. Um, I don't love that we were not able to give
it off along with others. I understand the challenges of staff, but I just I want to acknowledge that and how that lands. I understand how extenduating these circumstances are and I appreciate the work and the thoughtfulness that
went into negotiating all of the pieces. Calendars are far more complicated than I was expecting. Um but just to recognize that this is a day that is in our policy and this is kind of the one day um where we are going to school
against that policy. So registering that >> thank you member Rinfeld. Is there a motion >> just quickly comment? >> Yep. Dr. Galooi and then we um Ryan our student rep would like to say a few words. >> Okay. No, I I appreciate the um
sentiment and the reminder. Um the district has been doing a lot of planning and conver and had have engaged in a lot of conversation in the planning for next year. Um we're actually dedicating some of our administrative
retreat to that, but we're trying to be proactive and make sure that some of the oversight that happened this year does not happen again. Um so I thank you for that reminder, >> Ryan. How are you?
Sorry about that. Oh my god. Um um you said the Tuesday at the MLK day is a professional development day and I was just wondering um do the students not have school that day or do we still have school? >> That's correct. No school. Yes, there's
no school that day because it's a professional development day for the staff. >> All right, just to make that clear. >> Thank you, Ryan. >> Thank you, Ryan. Is there a motion on the floor? >> Yes. >> Me by member Graham, seconded by
member Lead. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? New school calendar has been accepted. Um, last for superintendent reports is a recommendation to approve updated metro public schools handbook. Dr. Lucy,
thank you very much. So, I do believe that members have received um copies. I made sure that well first I will say that I when I first presented this it was tabled with feedback from this body
for things to update edit and align and so that work has been done and what I'm going to do this evening is review what those updates and alignments were uh I know that you are equipped with the updates and recommendations
from the previous school committee meeting on this that which is in May 18th. Those remain still intact in terms of proposed changes and this evening I'm going to talk about the updates. So for
this evening the updates from the May 18th all of the handbooks across the district have been updated so that school the way school committee is represented is aligned. All names and roles are listed as applicable and a
link to the school committee tab on the metro public schools website has been provided so that people can uh learn more about the school committee and know the channels to reach out if people want to communicate. The second piece was elementary recess.
Um there was no not necessarily an alignment that was needed here, but I think it's important to just recognize that Medford for public schools believes that recess is an essential component for a child's physical, social, and
emotional uh development and will not be withheld as disciplinary measure for anything other than direct logical consequence for an unsafe body. Um that commitment is seen structurally in all four elementary handbooks across three
distinct policies slashpractices. Um, one is in the discipline code which speaks specifically around um, practices for students well-being and times when there may be an unsafe body and students
may need to take uh, time out to self-regulate. The other one is under recess expectations where it is explicitly stated that the handbook um protects recess and it may not be removed for consequences
um unless it's an unsafe body. And then also in homework expectations where the handbooks specifically say that recess is not to be used for academic penalties especially for homework. Um incompletion of homework will not result in the loss
of recess. And then I did say this at the last meeting, but I do think it's very important. All four elementary schools are responsive classroom schools. And so this is part of the tenants of responsive classroom, very much tied to logical consequences so
that students are able to make connections between their behaviors and consequences. Um, but I did have meetings with the elementary principles in order to review this and just remind
what our expectations are around recess and the use of recess. Um, so if there's any further questions on that, I'm happy to answer. The next part was uh the Corey statement that PR that Dr. Croll
put in her handbook and it is now within all of the handbooks. So that regardless of the school, this statement that explains to caregivers how they complete a quory is now part of all handbooks.
The other piece was around secondary attendance, specifically the middle schools, as there was not um clear alignment for both schools. And so there were a couple meetings had um between myself and principal Tucci and principal
Scain and a lot of discussion to make sure that we're adding the clarity that was seen at the high school around the time that constitutes what a full day of school means and what does not like what would equal an absence. So in other
words, students need to be present for three hours and 15 minutes um in order for that day to be counted as a full day. And at the end of this um at the end of this work,
principal uh Scain pretty much uh aligned to the language that was in the McGlin Middle School around attendance practices and language within the handbook. I don't think I need to read all of them all of that language because
it's pretty lengthy unless you would like me to. Um and then after this attendance piece there was the academic dishonesty panel. Oh, do you want me to pause Mr. Russo?
>> Member Russo. >> Thank you. Um I know when we had met we had talked about um if recess is taken away that there would be a Is it in here? that that we would that each school would be logging exactly
that this has happened and that it would be collected by you and all the gory details. I I don't think this belongs in this but I think it would be important to note it. I also noticed that um under the discipline code section, recess is
still listed um as one of the uh loss of building activities, assemblies, intramurals, field trips, extracurricular activities, and recess is still there. Um so I'm not sure what changed. No, I I
because all of the four elementary schools were aligned, there wasn't really a change in language. So, this piece under the I would say that there's some repetitive nature to this. So, the discipline code and the recess expectations
both are there for when students are exhibiting an unsafe body. And sometimes that can happen during recess. And I would say that that's part of the recess expectations. So sometimes when students are outside and engaged in recess if
they have an unsafe body, they may need to remove themselves from play so that they can calm down, regulate. The discipline part is sometimes there are moments where a student is exhibiting unsafe behavior prior to recess and
they're just not at a state where they're ready to be with their class as they're going to recess. Um, and so they may need to stay inside until they're able to regulate their body and then be able to join the class outside.
>> That all makes complete sense to me. But a serious conduct violation refers the student to the office. Appropriate disciplinary action will be ter determined by an administrator. So if a student calls a teacher the f-word,
um what is to prevent the administrator from determining that a loss of recess is an appropriate disciplinary action? That isn't a logical consequence. And um I not that I think it's okay if our students are doing that. I want to be
clear. But um it just this is wide open for interpretation. And um and and I'm really still very uncomfortable that there is nothing in here that doesn't prevent one administrator from deciding that all kinds of things are reasons to take
recess away and another administrator follows the uh intent. I think that everybody sort of is on the same page with um but if recess is just going to be listed there as something that can be a
disciplinary consequence based on the opinion of an administrator and it has nothing to do with unsafe bodies. There's no mention of unsafe bodies here. Um I I'm I'm still uncomfortable with that as being the policy to approve
this. >> I can take it back to the elementary principles. I I have no problem adding the word unsafe. I just wouldn't want to remove the school leaders
autonomy in some of these situations where it very clearly may warrant that students are not safe to go to recess, which would fall under the discipline code in my opinion. So I I have no
problem maybe adding um a a footnote or a parenthesy, but I don't want to take remove that completely because there are there is no all of this is just has so much so so many shades of gray. it's not it's not a
concrete um situation and so to remove it completely I think um may also hinder in some problem solving capacity for school leaders. >> I think I would be okay with it
literally being in here the way it is if we also added an administrative burden. something needs to be written up explaining why recess was taken away perhaps sent home to the parent um as well as sent to the main office to
your office for you to understand not once a year that there's an administrator who's taking recess away all the time like that's that's not helpful for the kid at the end of the year for you to find out that there's an administrator who has a very different understanding than the other
administrators I mean we all know that they're all coming to work with all the best intentions. They're all individuals though and they're not working together in the same building and they can't see each other's, you know, learning from each other in a professional learning community is important, but like our principles and
assistant principles have an incredible amount of stuff to deal with on a daily basis. So, I mean, I feel like there needs to be some way for you to know quickly. I mean, what if it's just a new administrator like that? They do not
understand that in Medford taking recess away is not acceptable under most circumstances. Um, so if if that can end up in here as well because I think parents also need to know there's an expectation because Facebook is the way we get it resolved
now. Facebook is how after nine years of school committee, Facebook is how I have found out that yes, there's some place where recess is still being taken away for things that the parents at least don't believe is appropriate. And there's no teachers and there's no
administrators having a dialogue on Facebook about what the behavior was and there shouldn't be. Um, so it's all very one-sided and I don't think the parents necessarily have the the caregivers have the information they need um to know
this this nuance. Um, and I'm not I don't want to be I don't want the school committee getting monthly reports of this. I want you cuz I know where you stand on this to be able to quickly respond when there is in fact um a variance from what your expectations are
of administrators. Um, and I want parents to know or caregivers to know that that's that's a real thing that's happening. Um, because Facebook is just really it's it's bad for the community. It's bad for the sense of what Meford
Public Schools represents. It also puts those of us that get tagged in a really awful place because we can't find anything out about what actually happened and why it was taken away and um because we don't have access to student information. Um, and I'm sure you don't enjoy this topic coming up
over and over again, year after year. So, >> no, but I would say I mean I do appreciate data. I have not heard of recess being taken away. So, and I'm not on >> right. I mean, I think there's been four cases at least this year where it's become a Facebook topic. Um,
and it's, you know, and it's that not that the caregivers are like blowing anything out of perspective, like they don't they're not there and we're not there and the teachers and the administration aren't in that Facebook group and shouldn't be. Um, so, but it
has a really it has a pileon effect. Oh, yeah. this has been a problem forever and oh this is we keep trying to fix it and the school committee says we fixed it and then it's like you know the next school year starts and it's again um but you know as a school committee member I
don't know is it again or is it like a kid was experiencing unsafe body at recess and they had to have you know some I don't think it is consequence it's just like an intervention in some way versus like and I think that gets
mixed up also because caregivers were students gets mixed up with the, you know, I looked funny at a teacher when I was a kid and I didn't have recess for a week or I didn't do my homework so I couldn't have recess. Those are things that aren't happening in Medford as far as I know and shouldn't be happening.
But caregivers all were students and we all have our memories that we bring to these things when they the the fire gets lit on Facebook and it's just bad for the district. It's just not a good look. So figuring out how to keep it from
becoming an issue that ends up making people go to Facebook, especially now that Facebook allows anonymous posts, which drives me crazy. But thank you, >> member Reinfeld. >> Um, so on that, what I would just love to see is that value statement that you
just read, I would like to see that in the handbook that clarifies what the conditions would be for that. Um, I thought it was a really good encapsulation of where we stand on recess. And I I see your argument for saying that this is an if the serious
conduct violation is violence and physical >> yes invasion of another student's space during unstructured learning t or unstructured time. I just think the value statement can make that clear and maybe resolve some
of this without having to necessarily delete this. I more I I will say I've heard more reports of threaten threats of recess being taken away or a few pieces being shaved off of recess. Um and I don't know one of the things that
drives me nuts is threats that cannot be like if you say you're going to do something that consequence needs to happen. And there's a there's I've heard more incidents of threatening to take recess away and knowing that that's is it a thing, is it not a thing? So I
think the value statement would clarify this for me. >> I'm happy to add that in and I thank you for that additional data point. I'll make sure I cover that with the principles. >> So is that a motion as amended? I think we're not done going through the
changes. I also had a couple of questions about the attendance. I don't know if that's now or later. Okay. Um I will just note that major religious holidays is listed twice and I'm wondering if the second as a excused absences for major religious holidays and other op other reasons for absence
may also include major religious holidays and I didn't know if that was supposed to be minor or if it was just repeated. That's a consistency. >> I think it's just repeated. I'll bring that up. Um and then I wanted to clarify it physician statement may be required.
So it is not necessarily required for when a student has a cold and the parent says student is going to be absent. This is definitely a point question I get asked by parents. Do I really need to get a doctor's note for meeting some of these symptoms that are
on the list the very extensive list of don't send your children to school if these symptoms symptoms are here. Um and that the policy and the practice in this handbook is around um repeated illness, chronic illness, some kind of acknowledgement that this
is an extended medical circumstance rather than we are staying home because we are potentially contagious in this moment. >> Yes. And so I think because once students move, especially when you get to high school and and some
of the unexcused absences really can impact um your grade or your attendance, >> it is the it will be excused if there is a medical note explaining the reason for
students to be home. Um it's not that there isn't trust there. It's just um when the parent calls, if it if this is extending beyond like a day or two and it's consecutive, then it is best to get a doctor's note.
>> But that one time it can be the parent. >> Yes. >> They don't have to pony up for a co-ayment or if they don't have health insurance. >> Yes. No. Very valid. >> That's really Yes. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. and they could always reach out to D um
director Silva who has um the relationship and the contact with Dr. um Sabia because sometimes he will for your point about if families don't have health insurance or don't have a regular doctor that is why we have him here in
the school district and people can use that access if needed. Does that is that sorry this is maybe a little bit off topic but is that the sort of thing that having a larger teen health space in the high school would help with
>> potentially. Okay. All right. My other questions are things you haven't presented yet, so I'll let that happen. >> Okay. So, I'll move on. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um so the academic dishonesty panel I think the bigger piece here again was
the clarification statement that's at the front not necessarily changes in the process though there are some pieces at the bottom. So this statement here about the academic dishonesty panel states that when academic dishonesty is
suspected, teachers first address the concern privately with students to allow the student to clarify the situation. If confirmed, the incident is logged in school brains. Parents are notified and progressive developmentally appropriate consequences are applied. If the teacher
and student disagree on the determination of academic dishonesty or the resulting consequences, the matter can be referred to the academic honesty panel. This panel is composed of the principal or a design, a teacher, and
the student. This panel functions as a formal appeals process to review documentation, hear perspectives, and make a definitive recorded determination to resolve the dispute. So then the rest of the already approved
um part of the academic dishonesty panel that is part of the AI policy talks about what that process is, talks about the consequence for the first offense and then consequences for subsequent offenses. Um, and then there are
additional notes um that speak about repeated offenses um and offenses that are tied to like for example leadership roles or the honor society. And then there is the
purpose, the composition and then student participation in the panel. Um and there was discussion around um student participation and confidentiality. So that if
the student is part of this panel but depending on the particular case that may go before the panel um the student there may not be student representation on that panel other than the student itself um for confidentiality purposes.
I thought >> sorry, mayor. Thank you. Great. >> Reinfeld. >> Thank you. Um, so my question last time was around which teacher and which student. The new text in the beginning seems to be a teacher,
not necessarily the teacher involved in the dispute, but the student who was involved in the dispute. Am I reading that correctly? >> Yes. >> Okay. because that is not necessarily clear in panel composition. Um so I
think it could the teacher on the panel be the teacher involved in the dispute or is that not or is it it must be an outside teacher? >> Do we have have we >> I don't have that clarification. >> Okay. >> I would have to ask that question. Yeah,
that because that was the clarification I was looking for. Is is somebody evaluating their own judgment or is it necessarily someone who has not seen that this content before? I can have the conversation and bring it
back, but I would assume it is a different educator. Um, that's not part of the initial this >> that's how I read it in the in the opening text. And >> yeah, I think we're just looking at definite articles and indefinite
articles. >> I know. >> I'm I'm happy for a language suggestion. In my conversations with secondary leaders, >> this was very much that the the original policy already laid out what the first offense would be, what the second offense would be.
>> I think that's really clear. I just want to know what teacher is evaluating it. Is it >> Well, in the conversations I had, this was very much to be used for appeal review. >> So, is it the teacher and the student
sitting down with the principal or their design? Is that the panel or is there an outside? No. No, because that's part of the first that's part of the initial we're going to deal with this internally um confidentially between the student and the family and the teacher. This
would be >> if you're if we're invoking the panel >> um the principal may remain or the principal may decide a designate. So maybe the assistant principal is >> more appropriate in in this case and it would be a different teacher
>> but there are not outside so a different so teacher not involved in the initial disagreement that would be my suggested language >> I'm just going to type that >> and this but the student on the panel is
is part of the panel or is just in the room. >> The discussion for that based on confidentiality was said student. >> Okay. >> I think there >> the >> So there aren't other students reviewing the students work?
>> No. >> Okay. >> No, I don't think that would be necessarily be appropriate um for confidentiality reasons. >> Okay. I think as long as we clarify that it is a different teacher, I'm >> not involved in >> I'm willing to see how this plays out.
Yeah. Yes. >> A teacher not involved in the initial I think we're calling it a disagreement, not a dispute, right? >> Yes. Yes. >> Right. I can add that in. Thank you.
Should I go on or are there any other questions to this one? >> Um, >> students, >> not on this one. I had a couple of AI questions, but that's not new. >> Student reps. Yep. >> Uh, may I ask why should it be a different teacher?
>> I'm sorry, what? >> Oh, why should it be a different teacher than the one that is not in the dispute? So in the discussions the panel would be the panel would be used when the
disagreement can't be resolved at that initial original um with the original party. So that would involve the teacher and the principal, maybe the caregiver, the parents, the student. And so this would just be uh neutral, unbiased
kind of perspective um to hear the review and both sides. Does that make sense? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Should I keep going? Yes, please.
>> Okay. And then the other pieces were around bus expectations. So there are two pieces of bus expectations. First is elementary schools. Um there's there was great
alignment. The there was always alignment around the elementary schools. There were a few pieces missing that we felt would be important for families to be aware of and some language that existed in the middle school bus expectations
that um was felt would be appropriate to bring over to the elementary bus expectations. And that was around um just making sure parents know the appropriate place to go for information,
who the contact people are. um statements around the bus, just over general expectations around the bus being an extension of the school day. And therefore, the same expectations that students have around their behavior
and conduct while they're in school still applies to while they're on the bus. Um areas of that is around um use of technology, remaining in their seats, how they're treating their peers. um
harassment, things around um graffiti, things around their language. So, just to make sure that it's very clear for students and families what the expectations are when students ride the bus. The other piece is we did in this
um iteration of the handbook did specifically name Eastern Bus. I don't know if families think that Meford Public Schools owns their buses, but just to be clear, uh, who our vendor is and that Eastern Bus as our vendor does
have surveillance within their buses, um, video and audio recording. And so we wanted to make sure that that was part of the handbook so that it's very clear for caregivers um, that that is part of
Eastern Bus busing. And then we left in some of the the the list of expectations and then just put in here um the email address to transportation just to make sure it was all aligned with the email address and
the phone number so caregivers knew exactly how to contact um I know Williams our transportation supervisor and I'm not sure if you want me to go to middle. I could just really briefly say middle school, the language really
remained the same except adding in the extension of the day expectations from school to transport to and from as well as the surveillance uh language so that it's very clear for middle school families that Eastern
buses are equipped with surveillance. And those are the updates to transportation. I think we have a student question. >> Um, so with the extension of the school day um connotation in the uh student
handbook, does that mean students can't use their phones on the bus? >> Correct. >> I find that to be a little unfair because if you're walking home or driving home, I feel like you get to use your phone. So, um, if you're walking,
so that means, um, I feel like if we put that in to the buses, we also have to kind of want to walking home and driving. And I feel like that's kind of
makes unequal um, opportunity for um, the use of technology. Do you understand what I mean? >> I do. I 100% know what you mean. I think the difficulty is, and remember, Ryan, right now I'm talking about elementary
and and middle school. So, I'm not talking about high school. Um, the difficulty is for in school. Cell phones are often away. They're not used while you're in
school on the school bus. I understand where you're coming from, but unfortunately what happens sometimes is inappropriate use of the cell phone, which could be that we have found that sometimes there's inappropriate use of what people are viewing, inappropriate
use of taking pictures or taking videos of other students without their permission. And so I understand that this might be a really upsetting for some students to hear, but it provides a layer of safety for everybody on that
short ride home. And then once they're home, the caregivers can decide how the phones are being used. But it really provides just a clear expectation for all students about what their experience
on the bus is going to be. Um I have a suggestion. How about um discipline that certain student that that is using the technology in appropriately and all the other well- behaved students get that kind of
reward. And how about disappointing the certain student and maybe banning the student from the bus or having them sit next to the driver and the driver monitor monitors the situation.
Um yeah, that's an idea. >> I understand that that and that's a great idea. Um, unfortunately it's not necessarily attainable on every single bus for
elementary and middle school. Um, we're trying really hard to put monitors on buses that uh would be helpful to have an additional adult on the bus, but some buses it's just the bus driver. And so
it's really hard to know where that consequence would need to lay. And sometimes what we also want to do is lessen any sort of like group mentality
that could be targeted. >> And I have another question. Why is this for the elementary and middle schools and not for the high school? I'm just wondering. That's a great question, Ryan. So, the majority of the high
school busing is the MBTA and so that is not necessarily part of the extension here of Medford Public Schools. So, that is difficult for us. We have expectations, but it's difficult for us to um it's even more difficult
for us to monitor that. Why is it difficult if it's running if so the bus makes a trip only for the high school students? So I'm wondering why is that difficult? Um >> well maybe I should know this but
sitting here right now I'm not quite sure if MBTA has surveillance. Like I'm not quite sure if there's video or audio recording on an MBTA bus or Yes. or if they would give us access to that recording. And we have that with
Eastern Bus. >> All right. Um, thank you, Dr. Gothy. >> Thank you, Ryan. And that's it for updates on this part. So, you have two our updates from May 18th and then this evening's updates.
And I do have notes of language that I will update um regarding who's in attendance for a panel review, the duplicate of major religious holidays, and the addition of the elementary
recess statement. Member Parks, >> is it possible um I know some of our schools have assigned seats and some don't. Is it possible? Is that something that might be in one
of these policies or is that not something that would be? It's so I um sometimes I struggle a little bit between like that that fine balance between alignment and autonomy. Um and
yes, uh we could probably be maybe a little bit more aligned than we currently are. Um, most of the schools, one of the things that I did talk to the principles about is a lot of the schools will have, I guess, for lack of a better word,
developmental seating so that the older kids are sitting in the bus, fifth graders all the way up to kindergarten. And it goes that way. And if there are siblings, then the older siblings have to sit in the front with their younger
sibling and not vice versa. Um but maybe with the absence of one school assigned seating is usually a consequence for a student that is not following the bus expectations and need a specific
seat so that they are within either u two things removed from some peers that they're having difficulty with andor in eyesight of the bus driver um or near the monitor if it is a bus that has a
monitor. Um, that's typically how it goes. Um, again, I'm happy to have that conversation, but there is a there is a slight autonomy piece. I think we know alignment is
critical and it helps but we also have four schools that are so different and even if we just look at like enrollment on the bus um some of our schools don't have the sheer number of students that
ride the bus as other schools do. So, I hate to kind of make a blanket statement around seat assignments that may be really hindering one school versus the other where right
now it's kind of used as a consequence. But I'm happy to revisit that if it doesn't go well. I think Erica >> member Rinel. >> Yep. Uh I would just like to
motion to put a line in the AI guidance that AI tools, educators should not use AI tools, provide feedback or assign grades. Um we had just to be very clear that AI should not be grading
um people's work and this can go in the educational staff s uh section but I realize that the educational staff section is not in the McGllin middle school handbook. It is in the Andrews and the high school that only but the
McGllin middle only has the student use of AI. Um, I think there's we've discussed many times in this committee that there's going to be a space to review the AI policy in general, but I think we need a clarification about grading in
these handbooks that are going out next year just because we did see some confusion around that in this school year. >> Okay. So, I'll make sure that section's added to the McGuin Middle and that's added. Uh and to be clear, this can go we we
have the line educators use of generative AI should not be used as a should be used as a tool to support the teaching and learning environment but is not to be solely relied upon in place of educator review and judgment. Grading is sort of covered there but I think an explicit line that these tools are not
to be used to provide direct feedback or assign grades to students. >> Thank you for specifically calling that out. It's page 27 in Andrews, 47 in Medford High School, and as noted, not in the
McGlin. >> Okay. >> Um, that's it. Never mind. That's good. Um Ryan, >> um so does that mean teachers can or cannot um use AI to create
lessons or can >> the polic Yeah. those guidelines outline how teachers can use in lesson planning preparing assessments. the the the guidelines go through that. It is just the grading that I want that needs to
change. >> So the teachers can use AI just in a certain way, right? >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you for bringing that up. >> Yeah. >> Any motions or further questions? Member um Russo.
>> Motion to table to the next meeting until we see the recess update. Sorry. >> Motion to motion to table by member Rouso. >> Second. >> Seconded by member Oladi. All those in favor?
>> I. All those opposed? Motion is tabled to see the revised edits. >> Mayor, >> member Graham, >> can I just ask my colleagues who provided a lot of feedback to maybe um
check in with the superintendent before the next meeting um so that >> get this done >> there? Yeah. We can actually get it done in our last meeting. >> Thank you. >> Sounds good. >> Yeah. Thank you. If I'm with everything you said, I just would don't want to do
it again. >> We do not have any um presentations of advisory council or presentations of the public. We do have two resolutions. Um no continued business with new business 2026-12 offering.
>> Member Rinfeld and member Rouso. This is an update to policy JJH student travel. Would you like one of me to turn it over to you for a quick update and a motion? Member Graham.
>> I said motion to wait the reading. >> Motion second. Seconded by member Rouso. All those in favor? >> I those opposed? Member Rinfeld or member Rouso. Would you like to member Rinfeld? >> Yep. It is not the state. It is not the state law, but it is our policy to
approve field trips. We have discovered that occasionally when people have suddenly qualify for a national competition and have to go out of state between meetings, we don't have a procedure for um for approving that. So, this attempts to put that in place
without adding excess meetings. The only reason we would meet about that would be if there were something controversial and we needed to actively discuss it. approve >> motion to approve um
>> the first reading. >> Yes. And if if in between readings if we can make sure Attorney Greenspan reviewed this. I don't know. I just want to make sure we don't have to be BCCD to not violate open meeting law. Um motion for approval. Seconded. Roll
>> call. Um, member Graham, >> yes. >> Member Master Bunny, >> yes. >> Member Olati, >> yes. >> Member Parks, >> member Rinfeld, >> yes. >> Member So, yes. Mayor Long, >> yes. >> Yes. 7 affirmative. Zero in the negative. First reading is approved. It
will be run by attorney Greenspan on exactly how to email us. And then we'll take our third reading next time. 2026-13 resolution to establish a special education reserve fund for Medford.
Whereas the Medford Public School District reading >> Thank you. Motion to wave the reading by member Graham, seconded by me member Reinfeld. All those in favor? >> All those opposed. Um the reading is waved. If somebody could give an explanation, I'll turn
over to you, member Parks, as it's your resolution if you don't mind. Okay. Um, so this resolution is to establish a special ed reserve fund for Medford. Um, which I learned about uh when I was attending the um charting the course
training um when I first started this role. Um, and basically it allows um us to um put aside up to 2% of our um total
annual expenditures um into a reserve fund, an interest bearing fund um that can be used for um unanticipated or unbudgeted costs of special ed services and programming out of district tuition for students um
special education transportation services um and uh recovery high school program tuition. And um given that um we have consistently seen um fluctuating
um you know costs year-over-year and um students move in midyear requiring these services. um and that has not been budgeted for at the beginning of the year. This um fund would be able to help offset those costs
um as it grows. And so this resolution is to help with that. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion to approve by member Rinfeld, second by member Graham. All those in favor. >> Oh, member. >> Wait, there is there is one correction
though actually in it. Um before the role is called, member Russo. >> Thank you. Um I'd like to amend um 3E. Um the current language is current language is any other
permissible revenue. I'm sorry, 3E other extraordinary expenses related to special education staffing, evaluation, and assessment services. What I would like it to say is extraordinary expenses related to special education staffing, evaluation, and assessment services that
were not anticipated in the current fiscal year's operating budget, provided that any such expense funded through the reserve shall be incorporated into the district's annual operating budget in the subsequent fiscal year and may not be funded through the reserve in consecutive years, fiscal years. My
concern is that we will treat this like we do with other slush funds, if you will. um revolving accounts. Um and I don't if this year we need a new teacher because we have some new needs. We absolutely that's the purpose of this.
Next year because we don't have enough money in the budget. That is not a use for this fund. So um the looking at the law, this is the law doesn't say anything about this. We literally could just fund our special ed department
through this fund, which would be crazy. Um, and I want to make sure that whatever we do, we're making it clear that this is for this year only. So that's my amendment. >> The the expenditure is just for for that certain year. Wait, >> oh, so it's not for year-over-year costs
is what you're saying basically. Well, I'm saying if you, you know, we have a student who moves in and has a very specific special need and requires a certain kind of staff member and we hire them and the student is here next year too, that fund is not paying for next year. That is an operating budget.
>> It's not an ongoing operating cost that we continue to take from Yes. has to get absorbed into >> has to get into absorbed into the budget no matter what on earth that means >> which is my understanding of the intent of this >> but it does feel like a little bit of an
open door for >> the intent of it and that was also sort of the intent of putting in maintaining a minimum balance in this fund so that a there would be something that continuously collects interest in the
account but also to prevent from drawing it down completely once we get it to that minimum place. But >> and if you accept it as a friendly amendment, then we don't have to. >> Okay.
>> Member Ryanfeld. >> Oh, sorry. >> Sorry. This is procedural. I since I made the motion, do I need to accept it or can member parks accept? I will if member parks is comfortable, I accept this as part of the motion. There is one correction though. It's um going to city
council on June 23rd and not June 9th as it >> I will accept that amendment as well. >> What was the date? Sorry. >> The 23rd. >> Okay. And I think we probably need a roll call. Who who first and seconded that?
Sorry. >> I f I first. >> Roll call as amended. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member Maserone. Yes. >> Member Olady. Yes. Member Parks, >> yes. >> Member Rinfeld, >> yes. >> Member So, yes. Mayor Longgo, >> yes. Seven, the affirmative, zero in the
negative. Paper passes. >> No reports requested. Um, condolences. The members of the Medford School Committee expressed their sincerest condolences to the family of Marin Henghan, who was a dedicated member of the Medford Public Schools for 28 years, most recently at the Andrews Middle
School. This loss is deeply felt across our entire district. Maren's former husband, William Henigan, and her grandchildren are members of the Missuck school community. If we all may rise for a moment of silence, please. Our next regular meeting is June 15th,
next Monday at 5:00 p.m. executive 5 5:30 executive session. We got to figure that out in 6 p.m. meeting 5 here in the Alden memorial chambers and in addition to Zoom. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjourn
>> by member Reinfeld. seconded by >> member Graham.