there. >> I I will get it. I'm looking it up right now. >> Okay. Um I'll till you find that. Approval of grants, approval of field trips, approval of meeting minutes um from our regular meeting on October 20th, 2025.
I'm assuming that's still in the 13,000 range, but I'll >> $13,2518. >> Okay. Is there motion for approval? Um with that amendment to correct the dollar figure for the grants to the Medford from the Medford Education.
>> Second >> motion for approval seconded by member inappa. I didn't catch who was who moved the motion. >> Rinfeld >> I don't know if you did members. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Um, all those in favor, if you could call the role, please. >> Certainly. Member Ranley, >> yes. >> Member Graham, >> yes. >> Member Entapa, >> yes. >> Member Olane, >> yes. >> Member Rinfeld, >> yes.
>> Member Russo, yes. Mayor Lingern, >> yes. The affirmative, zero in the negative. The consent agenda is approved. We have no reports of subcommittees. We do have a um multiple reports from our superintendent. So, I'm going to turn it over to you, Dr. Glooy. First up is the
Mustang moment. >> Thank you. Yes, this evening we have some students from the Andrews uh with their principal, Miss Scain. So, I'm not I um principal Scain I believe will handle the introductions and then we
will uh pass it over to the students who are going to present about some advocacy this evening. Good evening, Mayor Longo Kern, Superintendent Gooi, members of the school committee. Thank you for allowing members of the Andrews Middle School community to speak with you regarding
our shared focus for the school year. Uh, creating a sense of belonging for students. Uh, one of the most important responsibilities we have as a school community is ensuring that every child feels a true sense of belonging. Belonging is not created by chance. It's
built intentionally through opportunities we provide for students through voice and choice. When students are empowered to share their ideas, reflect on their learning, and influence the school experience, they begin to see themselves as valued members of our
community. Our goal is to create classrooms here at Andrews where students are simply not compliant participants, but active partners. When students feel heard, have room to express themselves, and trust in their unique contributions to shape our
school, they thrive. And when they thrive, our community grows stronger. Earlier in mid October, I had a student approach me um who has been a member of the Andrews Middle School for three years, and she asked when we would be
having our first spirit week. And I shared with her that I would be happy to support any activities, but I would want it to come from the students. And I encouraged her to create a vision for the week. Our students this evening will share how they participated in the
week's events and what that meant to them. Our first student was not feeling well today, so she is actually on uh I believe on the Zoom. Gianna. Yes.
>> Giana, can you turn on your camera and audio for us? If she's not here, I do have her statement which I can read for her. >> Well, >> she is here. She is here. >> She is here. I did ask her to unmute. I
don't know if she's like having Oh, just lost track of her. Did she log on? I thought I saw someone come on. >> She's here. >> Oh, there we go. >> Hi. >> Hi, Giana. How are you?
>> Good. Sorry, I'm having problems. >> I know. I'm sorry you're not feeling well today, too. Go ahead. Take it away. >> Hi, my name is Gian Roio. I am in 8th grade. I have been a member at the Andrews Middle School since uh the sixth
grade. Um the Andrews Middle School spirit week meant to me for all my peers to come together and make memories with their with their friends and new people. Um, I brought it up to Miss Scain asking if
there was going to be a spirit week that Halloween. I think it's a good idea for spirit week to happen for people to express themselves and um create memories for the yearbook. Um,
I thought of the idea um about how people can support Mustang Pride while having fun. I wanted the students at AMS to enjoy and create memories. And seeing all the pictures and the ideas that
people came up with, it made me happy and the people who helped me make the ideas um the CCSR club um to see everybody happy and um make all the memories that we made.
Thank you. Thank you, Giana. I hope you feel better. >> Thank you. >> So, we have the rest of the students here at the school with us. So, I'm going to invite them to come on over now. >> Um, hi, my name is Nora Shaw. I'm in sixth grade at the Andrews Middle
School. I love being part of a group costume. The whole team building experience was like very empowering and it made me feel confident. my friend group was all like working together and like um collaborating and like having fun together. Um
we all contributed to it somehow like how my friend Catherine came up with the like whole concept of having being crayons and then like all of us working together on what we should do and um like some of us brought supplies for the like accessories and some of us just
like helped think of the ideas. All of it made me really feel like I was part of the Andreas community. The teachers all got in on it, too, by wearing six sevenear on the outfits, which is kind of ironic considering the fact that they all hate it whenever we do it.
>> Thank you for your time and have a great night. >> Raina, >> hi, my name is Raina Myers and I'm in sixth grade at the Andrew Middle School and I was also a crayon for group costume day. We had so much fun with this costume and one way it made me feel like I belonged is when we were in
school the day of. We got our costumes on and we got a lot of compliments on our hard work. We had dressed in our color and our friend Catherine sent us all a video and templates for our Crayola labels. >> Can you slow down? >> Okay. Uh should I read anything again?
>> You're doing a great job. Keep going. >> Okay. Um, we traveled as a pack and made a rule that every crayon should be with another in the halls and address each other only as their color and crayon. It really made me feel special, very loved and part of the Andrew community doing an expressive group costume with my
friends. Another thing I found amusing on costume was when all of the students in the all the teachers in the school dressed up as 67. My social studies teacher, Mr. Delaney, hates 67 with a passion. So to see him joining in was a shock. He even made the 67 joke in class
and said, "If you can't beat him, join him." It was a really fun concept and definitely added to the part of feeling connected and part of the community. Thank you and have a good night. >> Madison's next. Go. >> Hi, my name is Madison Converse. I'm in
eighth grade. Andrew's middle school has many fun spirit weeks. For spirit week, one of the themes was matching or costumes or matching costumes with a group. My friends and I decided to match and wear matching M&M shirt shirts. My friend Amelia came up with the idea and
we all coordinated by discussing what color M&M shirts we all wanted. We found a high ground where we all agreed and we were given our shirts. So on Halloween day, we all matched and were match and were being all matching M&M's. The teachers were also included. On AA, the
teachers dressed up as versions of my civics teacher. The spirit week helps add a sense of belonging because everybody has a way to be including and everybody's a chance to dress up. Thank you for your time. >> And last but definitely not least is Amelia.
>> Hi, my name is Amelia Lendiel. I'm in eighth grade and I'm here to talk about my experience with spirit week. Personally, I think spirit week is something everyone at AMS enjoys. It is a fun way to celebrate before a holiday. We had a spirit week the week of Halloween and it was a blast. Each day was a different theme. It's not just the
students who get involved. It's also the teachers. On that Wednesday, we had a theme that is something we do quite often throughout the school year. Student teacher swap day. The students the teachers dressed like the students and the students dress like the teachers. It is always a fun day. But
everyone's favorite was Friday when you got to wear your costumes. Now, my friends and I weren't all going trick-or-treating together sadly, but for school, we really wanted to do a group costume. So, me and my friend Madison, who just spoke, um, and I came up with the idea of M&M's. My mom and I
went to the store and got a bunch of different colored t-shirts and used our Cricut machine to put an M on all of them. I gave them out to all my friends the next day to wear. Personally, I think spirit week is a great way to make the school week a little bit more fun before a holiday. The whole school comes
together and really makes me feel like a part of the community. I hope everyone has a chance to feel like that throughout their time at AMS. Thank you for your time and have an amazing rest of your night. >> Thank you. Do you guys all want to come over? Does anyone have any questions for the kiddos?
>> Great job to you all. Um I'm going to turn it over to member Intapa. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um thank you all for talking about this tonight. It's amazing how one question and one sort of goal can create just sense um this great sense of community and great sense of
belonging. So, I really applaud you all for playing your part in that, getting your faculty and staff involved in the whole thing. It's really cool to see this all come together. Um, and definitely keep at it. You know, make this a new tradition at AMS. I know when I was at AMS, we had something similar. Um, but not as something as big as this.
And it's just really cool to see how you guys took this under your belt as sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth graders to just do all of this. Um, and there's a future in that. There's a if you if this is something you love uh if you decide to go to college, you can do that as a part of one of your college jobs.
It's a great that's what I work in. I work as campus activities and we have eight student employees who do this every week and try to do something cool like that. So stick with it. Um do really cool things. If you go off to high when you go off to high school, keep doing it there. Work with the CCSR. Try to get some money to make it even
bigger and better. and just thank you for for trying to create a sense of community and working to create a sense of community amongst your amongst your peers. >> Thank you. >> Keep up the good work. All right, we're gonna um
>> thank you so much. Can I just like thank them before they go? I know um this is we had to shift to being um virtual and it was really nice to see how flexible you all were. We appreciate it. We're so glad you were able to join for this
Mustang moment and um keep up the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, mayor. >> Yes, member Rouso. >> I'd like to make a motion to take item number six out of order. >> Sure. A motion to take item six out of
order by member Rouso. Is there a second >> by member? Roll call, please. >> Member Branley. >> Yes. >> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member Entapa. >> Yes. >> Member. >> Yes.
>> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Yes. Mayor Langern. >> Uh yes, seven affirmative zero in the negative. Um I see number six as reports requested number so or
>> I see the presentations at the student advisory councils but I don't know if I'm looking at it. >> Yeah, no you're right. I'm sorry about that. Y present Yep. I see it now. Presentations of the student advisory council um on high school
transportation. So, we have Jaden Jaden on the call and he's going to be leading the presentation this evening. Will will screen share in just a minute. Um, but I also did notice that the that uh
assistant principal Sheila um Freighus is on the call who also works uh with the student advisory council and just wanted to make sure that people were aware of that. And we'll just We're all set for the
screen share. Thank you. Jaden, are you all set? >> Uh, is my mic working? >> Yes, we can hear you. Great. >> Okay, >> thank you. >> So, we at the student advisory committee, um, we've gotten feedback on
a newly implemented railing system. we have at the high school. And we've gotten some a bit of negative feedback about how the single railing system just isn't
working out. So, we've come up with a a few suggestions on how we could fix that. Um, one of them is Oh, and also like the bus system in general. Can we go back to the last
slide real quick? Um, one of them was if we could discuss like with the MBTA about having more buses for after school and stuff as well as creating a few more railings. That way they'll be less like trying to funnel in as many students
into uh I'm trying to remember the term for it. Um, bottlenecking and we can move on to the next slide. So these are two pictures of what we currently have right now. Um we have two
bus stops set up here. I believe you can see the railings if on the left side and you can see another one on the right side. And then if we could go to the next slide. And what we want is we want to implement
two more railings um along these two areas over here. That way more students will be able to like access the buses at the same time instead of the buses needing to wait for like others to finish loading their students before
they can take a spot. And I think we go to the next slide. These are just more images of uh the spots. So, we we want to talk to I believe the
director of transportation about how we can implement these changes, especially with the MBTA since they they'll have to we have to find a way for them to comply with these changes. And we'd also like to send out a survey to students about
their feedback on our current system and how they would feel about changing it up. And this is an easy change, but we can talk to Metalf Fab about how they if they want to make us two more railings
for this. Are there any questions? Um, member is it >> Jaden? >> Oh, >> yeah. >> Was that the last slide, Jaden? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Just just making sure. I wanted you to present first. Um, yeah. I'll
pass it over to a member in >> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Jaden, for presenting on this information and for talking about it. I'm going to second your thought process on interviewing and talking to the students at the high school, especially those who take the bus. Um, when you do when you try to
implement something new into someone's routine, it can have a bit of a, you know, push back at the beginning, but it's all about trying to find a way to, you know, ease someone into a new system or to figure out how, you know, what are the roadblocks? And sometimes they're, you know, um, obvious things where it's
like, oh, I don't like the railing is this. I don't like it because of that. Sometimes it's things that you would have never thought of. Um and so sending out a survey before you make any other changes and even putting in you know other like would a second railing work giving people options so they don't have to they don't have to think too much but
like to you know give some things that you're already thinking about and pitch some stuff is what I completely recommend as we try to solve the the overcrowding issue of getting onto the bus and making sure that everyone boards safely and effectively and as as quickly as possible. But um definitely leave a
section there for um you know what are some other alternative methods. You'd be surprised some people just like may have some other ideas that they've noticed in using it. Um and yeah talk to your users and I agree with what you are um
with with with your your sort of next steps that you're thinking of. So definitely create that survey if you want. I mean I won't I have a background in in product design and industrial design. We do stuff like this all the time in designing experiences. So, if you guys want to throw it my way, I'll volunteer myself to take a look at
something as well as I'm sure your building staff, um, Miss Freus as well. So, go for it. >> Yeah, we actually have the survey made already, I think. Um, we just haven't sent it out yet.
>> Way ahead of the game. Great. >> Member Rinfeld, I believe, was next. Then member Branley. >> Yep. Thank you. So, I remember the student council meeting when you all were discussing the problem and I love that you've got a solution and I've talked to a couple of your users and they've agreed that the I
definitely support getting a few more railings because I know you solved the the mass flood onto the buses, but the waiting has introduced a new problem. So my only recommendation is that you also talk to Kyle, your security monitor, who kind of oversees that bus process and
get that input already if as well if you haven't already because I know he he sees things from a particular perspective and that that big picture. So thanks for taking action to change to to fix a problem and I look forward to hearing how this goes particularly
around your conversation um with Mr. Schwarz uh and what what can be done in collaboration with the city and the MBTA? I think that's a that's a big question and I don't know if the mayor has things to say about that in terms of the relationship with the city
and the schools and the MBTA, but thank you so much for including all these voices in this problem solving. >> Thank you, member Branley and then member. >> Hello. Um so I just have a question about the signage. It says contact MBTA
signage for arrivals and departures in real time. >> What what is your vision for that? >> So um one of my other the one of the other members in student advisory committee they are in
robotics and in robotics there is like a sign with like the departures and like arrivals in real time of like >> like at the train station when you when you Okay. Just curious what you meant by that. >> We want to try and find a way to see if
we can like program that. And um we also signage might also refer to like just having signs out in front labeling like which bus goes where. >> Is is there a set spot for the bus? I have to say and I'm going to be really honest because I tend to be really
honest on these meetings. Um when I first pulled up to that I said, "Who the heck thought of this?" because as a mom who's dropping off, I'm like, do I pull up against it? Do I pull before it? Do I pull beside it? Do I pull Do I drive past this? And I sort of felt like it
blocked people from getting out of their cars to a degree. Um, but I guess in the big picture of everybody coming out at the same time, I can see why we would need to kind of funnel students. Um, but I just want us to be mindful of
the fact that in the morning when people are pulling up too that there is this um, you know, well, I mean, I guess this is beyond this. There should be some etiquette when people are pulling up. You know, there are people that are waiting in their cars for the kids to get out or kids that might need extra time. Buses are pulling up, buses are
pulling, you know, away. And I think to a degree it kind of bottlenecks people a little. So, I just want us to be mindful of that if we're going to put more up that we're giving maybe a little bit of space for cars to pull up and open their doors and just so that there's still
that passing lane to our left. So, just some things to think about. I love I love the idea of the signage. Um, I just am wondering if it would be really accurate um and if it would be worth it. I would love if it was accurate. I mean, I just know I've stood at the train
before and I'm like, that's the longest 12 minutes I ever spent waiting here. 45. So, just things to think about. Um, but I love your ideas. Thank you, >> member Graham. Then back to member and
>> thank you. Um, as it relates to um the idea of a late bus for the high school, um that's actually not something we've heard people talk about before. So, thank you for bringing that forward. Um, it makes a lot of sense. Like, I'm
surpris kind of surprised we've never heard anybody articulate that before. Um, because there is so much activity that happens after school at the high school. Um, so I think my request is that um, once our transportation coordinator gets
their feet under them, um, and we are starting to talk about next year's budget, can we, um, can we do a little bit of a dive into what additional coverage options might be, not just at the high school, but districtwide. um
because we have long been talking about increased transportation and we've not been able to um we've not been able to really expand in very many places um in the way that I would like to see us be able to do it, but I think it would be
helpful to have that conversation as part of the budget. So, I think with our transportation coordinator on board, there might be an opportunity to have a little bit more of a cohesive look at transportation so that we can um just be thoughtful about what we can can do and
can fund um in this upcoming budget versus what do we have to plan for down the road. So, thank you for bringing that forward. It makes perfect sense. I'm just like absolutely surprised we've never heard it before. So, um thank you for being at the meeting.
Thank you, member Taba and Dr. Palooi. Nice. >> Yeah. Sorry if you principal. >> Yeah. How how is the weather out there right now? It looks freezing and I don't want to go walk outside in Boston either. It's too windy. Um I'm sorry if you saw the look on my face where I was confused. It's because I was like,
"Wait, we had a late bus." And then no, it wasn't. It was that the North Medford bus was so late that it felt like a late bus to get to the North Me Heights leaving high school every day. So that's where my kind of like what? We've never had this before. No, we haven't. Um, it was just that that bus used to get here so late and people would either take the
tea down at the bottom of the hill and not at the top of the high school in order to take like the late bus was just walking down the hill and taking the bus there. They didn't actually go up um to the sequence. So, um Jaden, a few things that I noted when when we were talking about the displays and I I'm sorry that
I missed the part of display art. So, I said that earlier. Um the T-creens are great. Look into and um your member in robotics may have done that. look into e- in look into using that. That's what they use at the green line stops. That's because one, it only uses energy to
change. And two, it's so much easier to read, especially if it's sunny out. You won't have to create a canopy and design a way that that um screen won't break. Um so that's something to note. Um, and then in term of member Branley's point
about confusing, you know, folks may be getting confused when they go um and see these is a simple change. Maybe just adding like a bus stop here sign so that way it signals to people that they're meant for the buses and not meant for um you know
personal vehicles. And so adding a bus stop here like they do if you've been on the green line in Boston. Um that may be something small that might signal to people, you know, that um but if you're curious about um what that eink signage looks like, if you go around Medford,
there's those kiosks. There's one in Hannes Square right on the corner by um the hardware store as well as one uh on the corner in the hillside across from the old hardware store, old hillside hardware. Um, those are some cool things to look at in terms of what that
technology looks like. And, um, you can use it as a you can order that stuff online and use it for display. People use it for um, weather stuff all the time. I'm sorry if I'm saying something that you already know. Um, but these are just things that I noted while we were talking. So, thank you for looking into this as complex as you are and I really
appreciate it. >> Um, Dr. So before I speak, I don't know, Jaden, do you want to have an opportunity to answer any of the questions or points that was brought to you before I speak? >> Um, no, I think I'm good. I'm like in
the as everyone was speaking, I was like writing down their suggestions for like the other members in the student advisory committee. >> Okay. because I just I wanted to point out when I joined the student advisory committee meeting last week and was speaking with the students, there was a
discussion on uh to member Branley's point where the railings were to be placed because we also have that did come up about just car drop offs as well as >> at the beginning of that drive we have
both the kids corner drop off door and the Medford Family Network dropoff door. So, I think the students were really very thoughtful about where they would want to place the other two railings to make sure that we're leaving that front
area as like a uh open for car drop off. Um but I think so that in addition to being very thoughtful about where those two hopeful two new um railings come from once Metal Fab is able to create them. Then they were having a discussion
about labeling them so that it's very clear which bus is lining up with which railing um which will also help off help with the the car drop off. Um there was a conversation too around uh internal
use of TV screens that like display student news and announcements throughout the day and using that as a way to keep students current. So the railings have really helped embarking on the bus. But what's happening now to in
member Rinfeld brought it up is waiting. So sometimes as the students are waiting for the buses to arrive and get on, that's creating um it's not even a bottleneck yet, but if there was an opportunity to have some students be
able to wait inside or somewhere else and keeping current updated uh information on the monitors throughout the school would be helpful. And then the other piece that I was going to mention is the part about the late bus and I think some of the things
that we're working through is also that change in our dismissal time. So because our dismissal time is 15 minutes later than it was before, the North Medford bus is also the bus that returns immediately to the high school for
athletics. And so trying to figure out, Evan is going to be working with um the school and the students to figure out what would be what would students need? It
might be to member Graham's point, we do have to be mindful of this for our budget build for next year, but what would be the need in terms of when students are staying late? Um at the middle school, you know, there are three days that there are late buses. And so trying to figure out what that need
would be for the North Medford, which is the only yellow bus we have at the high school. Um as the MBTA does continuously run, it does not run as frequently when it's after school. And that piece um Evan and the students
will be working hopefully in partnership with the city with the MBTA. In terms of that one yellow bus that we have for North Medford, um we're trying to figure out what would the actual need be. How many days would we need it? And so there
are some ongoing conversations with the school and the students to narrow that down. >> Great. Thank you, Dr. Lucy, and thank you, Jaden, for presenting. Um we look forward to the survey results, so please keep us posted on that as well.
Thank you, Jaden. Excellent job. >> Is there a motion to revert back? Do you want to talk um straightus? >> Okay, you're on mute, so please. >> Okay, thank you so much. Um great job, Jaden. I just wanted to talk a little
bit about the late bus um and just kind of the talk amongst the kids around belonging and equity right so there are some kids that can't do student advisory council because they have to go home right after school because there is no
late bus so the kids brought that to my attention I said let's look into it you know that we're we're focusing on belonging and equity that's what you know our goal So um that was a consistent thing that
has occurred over the last three years. So I'm very proud of them for uh kind of pushing that work forward. Secondly, it has been wonderful to be a part of um conversations with Matt Rice and SMMA about a new school. Wouldn't it be
amazing to have departure and arrival times and also like the MBTA have hearing impaired and and you know people that can't see the ability to put that something up to help people navigate the
buses in a new building. I know that's not anytime soon. Um, but you know, if we're thinking about the future, you know, I would love for us to be able to provide access to kids. I have a lot of ninth graders that come up and don't
understand where the bus stops and so on and so forth. And um, you know, I think it's important to provide them with as much information as possible so they're not scared about getting on the bus and riding the bus to Medford High School.
Um, you know, again, this is a work in progress, but uh it's been pretty exciting to sit in and listen to Matt and uh all the people at Medford High talk about a future in Medford. So, I'm pumped. This is the second time I've worked with SMMA
and uh let's make it better than Waltham and better than Somerville. Thank you. And also where our spirit week just started >> the Mustang. Thank you. so much. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Um motion to revert to the regular order of business. >> A motion for that. >> By member El P. Seconded by >> a second. Member Branley. Roll call, please.
>> Member Brley. >> Yes. >> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member. Yes. >> Member Olady. >> Yes. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Russo. Yes. Marilyn Gokern. >> Yes. Seven in the affirmative. Zero in
the negative. Motion for revert back to the regular order business has been approved. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Chad Fallon, executive director of CTE to give us an update on the CTE grants. >> Hi, good evening everyone.
I'm going to give an update tonight on some money that has entered into the district tonight. Um, and just share with you some of the initiatives that we're going to be using the money for. Um, I thought it was let me just move my screen here.
Helpful to remember when you think about um, career tech in Medford what we operate on. So for FY26 our budget was 254,500. of that we require, you know, we depend on the revenue that we generate in our programs and donations. So, with that
number added to the FY26 grant funding so far, we're going to be bringing in another 542,000 to our little school. The money that it's targeted for, um, this is going to be for specific, uh, professional
development for the career tech faculty. We're going to be working on aligning our programs to academic offerings in partnership with the Lynch School. um uh for Boston College. We're going to be funding to uh we got some funding to support the development of our new chapter 74 programs for plumbing and
information support services and networking. And we're going to be using money from our Perkins to upgrade equipment in culinary film and TV and cosmetology. Additionally, with Perkins, we use that money for OSHA training, um, specialized exams for students to strengthen their
own portfolio, and funds to subsidize the cost of boots and uniforms for students. The 422A was really a gift from the Department of Education. This is because we're in the pipeline for new programs. So, they said they this was an allocated amount of $35,000.
That's going to be super helpful in the work that we need to do over the next six months to get a program open in the fall. 422A for 35,000. I had applied for this grant. The this is 426. This is for competency based implementation. This is um all of the
frameworks for every chapter 74 program were rewritten and and um basically put public just this school year. So, we're going to take this money again for targeted professional development for teachers, to work on scope and sequence planning, and again to the work that it takes to align academic courses to our
CTE programs. Uh, this was Perkins, which I had mentioned this every year. We usually do not do salaries out of Perkins. We take the allocated amount and we use it for supplies and equipment. So, that was the 64,000 for three different programs. And the last grant that was a year in
delay, uh, but we did finally receive it was our, uh, latest round of skills capital. And this is $44,000 that we're putting directly into the auto tech program to, um, educate students and train students on EV engines, uh,
electric cars, and hybrid, um, motors. This, just so you know, is the fourth time that we've received these funds. In previous years, we had used it to build the beastro, upgrade our engineering shop, 300,000 for our construction program, and this is the uh
fourth year of this award for us. Um, and also just want to brag that it's the second highest award in the state. So, really happy for Medford. Uh, this last grant, I don't, you know, I'm a little superstitious, so I don't want to say too much. This is the one that, well, we just applied for just
last month. Uh if we get this one, this will be a big one and this will help us really um deploy the two new programs in the fall. This was a grant that was targeted specifically for schools looking to add programs to add seats for kids. Um so we should be finding out somewhere at the end of December. Uh
fingers crossed on this one. And that is a quick update. >> Thank you, Mr. Fallon. Great job on those grants. Remember, >> um, yes, if we can get the whole 60 million, I hope we can make some more space. Yes, that'd be great.
>> Me, too, Paul. >> Thank you, Member Graham. >> Thanks. I just wanted to say thank you for pulling it all together so we can understand like a lot of this stuff comes in in like dribbles and we hear about them in oneoff ways, but when you
see them sort of tallied up um it it makes a big difference. And then I my question was we don't need to accept these because they're grants. Is that correct or do we need to motion to approve these? you. This is for information. You do not
need to approve them. It's just so that you are aware of what has been awarded and how it's being used. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> Member Branley. >> Um I just want to thank Mr. Fallon for all his hard work always. It constantly
amazes me what you do. um you know, managing all of these businesses, you know, in staff, in students, in all the the the pots that you have your hand in actually amazes me. Um as I depart my seat here at the school committee, I
hope that this committee truly remembers what a crown jewel this this Vogue is. Um I become part of the Vogue family. Um staying there, that's for sure. I'm not leaving the Vogue family um no matter what. But um I'm really really proud of
you guys. Thank you for everything that you do. I will continue to plug the Vogue here, there, and everywhere. Um and so if you haven't ordered your pies yet for Thanksgiving, I think it would be a great idea. I have my little flyer here. I know I'm blurry, but you can
order pies at the Beastro through Friday. So just send a little email right to Chef P. It says Beastro right on there. And um he'll get your pies ready for you. Thank you, member Branley. Um, thank you, Mr. Palen. >> Thank you, everybody. Have a good
>> You too. Next up, we have HMFH school use report. I'll pass it over to you, Dr. Agalooi. >> Thank you very much. I'm just going to give it a second for um Mr. Pibiselli to do the screen share for me. Thank you so much.
Okay, great. So, good evening. I do want to begin this presentation just a little bit um on the next slide by grounding us in how we arrived at this discussion tonight. So last May during the school committee subcommittee meeting on enrollment and overcrowding uh there was
a resolution that was brought forward that acknowledged the pressure that some of our elementary schools were facing around shifting enrollment uneven capacity across the buildings and a need for both immediate relief and long-term
planning. And you can see this what is on this slide was not only a clip from the presentation last year but also the shortterm and the long-term um suggestions, ideas, solutions that we discussed. So
since this meeting, we have taken some meaningful steps to address short-term needs um for this current school year. So we did wind that's why there's a little green check mark. We did wind up relocating um the MEEP at the Roberts to
the Misatuck which allowed for some additional space at the Roberts. Um where the Roberts is experiencing some overcrowding. Um this kindergarten class was not as large as we have seen since COVID. Uh we're keeping a close eye on
that, but there needed to be a little bit of a relief. And so there was also an additional an additional special education teacher at the Robert that was hi Roberts that was hired this year um to ensure inclusive specialist coverage.
And then we did launch a comprehensive space utilization study using HMFH um to see how our K to8 buildings how the space is being used currently and what opportunities you know exist.
You'll also notice on this screen as part of last year's work, we did review the district did review a lot of long-term solutions. We, as you have listed here, where we looked at the possibility of a weighted lottery for
kindergarten, gradspan restructuring, um a review of where we're placing our special education programs. Uh we really did take a comprehensive look at at what other opportunities could be but decided
really what is best for this the district at the time is let's get a better understanding as to how our spaces are used so that we have some information when we are discussing next steps. So that's what we are here tonight to do
is discuss the space utilization study. So right here on this slide, what you can see is this captures the work that HMFH did during the space utilization study. Um
they visited all four elementary schools as well as the McGlin Middle School and the Andrews Middle School and they looked at the current use of classrooms. They identified spaces within each school that could possibly be used as add additional classrooms. But I think
it's important to note that the criteria that they used were that these were the size of these classrooms, if these classrooms had windows, and how close they were to circulation paths. um that will come up in future conversations. So I think it's important to note and then uh they did know based
on the framing from that subcommittee meeting that the places of particular interest regarding capacity is were the Brooks and the Roberts elementary schools. So this right here, the chart below here
just shows this was HMFH findings for how classrooms were used last year. And so you can see that they have tallied core classrooms last year by grade level
span. Um, I think it's important to note that subsparate specialized programs are not reflected in these numbers. And where you see some of the where some of them are located is in this orange box
where it says possible additional classroom space. And that is based on enrollment numbers, class sizes, and again their criteria of the size of the classroom, if they had windows, and
proximity to circulation paths. You also would notice the last um and maybe just if I keep on that span for just a second. So at the Brooks that meant that there were six classrooms that they felt the district could take an additional look at and see all right how are these
six being used can we leverage these in a different way is there something we can do and so forth down the list so missuck they wanted us to look at five Robert's five McGlin elementary middle seven between the two of them andrews nine
the last two rows talk about how we are currently using like how many students within that grade span across the district are an average in these classrooms and how many we can put in there per the CBA. I just want to note
that when they did this um you know there there is some leverage here uh they used the old CBA and not the current CBA. Next slide please. So, taking the results that they gave us and knowing that they said that they
these classrooms warranted an additional review and to build on that, we did conduct just an initial uh internal walkthrough. And we did that specifically at the Andrews because so many classrooms were identified as, hey,
there are nine classrooms here that warrant a review. And we also noticed that because of the criteria they came up with around windows and size and circulation paths, there were a lot of classrooms that they did not include in
the original report. And so it was important for us to get um a better understanding uh by walking the building about where are these nine classes and why weren't all of them, you know, part of this of the report.
So what we came to find out is that there were several spaces that are currently being used differently than from what the original intention was. When a space utilization study is done, they're using the original floor plans
and they're looking at, okay, when this building was built, this is how this room was supposed to be used. And then they're kind of looking at how it's currently being used and that's how they're flagging these spaces. Um, there were several spaces that warrant a further review. And it's also
important to note that if we were going to maybe repurpose some of these areas that there are varying levels of renovation or facility work that may need to happen in order to make them efficient to the purpose that we need it
to be. Next slide, please. Thank you. So this first column here, I know it's a lot of words, but I just wanted to show everyone this first column are the four
options that HMFH gave us as to at the end of their space study, here are some things that you could look at. And what we did here internally is is say like for each option are renovations
involved? Is redistricting within the city involved? Are there going to be increased transportation needs? And then just some like additional notes to consider. So the first option was basically like everything stays the same. um the four elementary schools,
nothing changes, but you just look at each building, specifically the Roberts and the Brooks, to see where we can free up space. And so, does that require renovation? Potentially. Does it require redistricting? Maybe potentially. Um
especially where some of the MEEPs are considered. And then are there transportation needs potentially if we're looking at um programs and space? I do think what's important to note is that because of the varying capacity and
enrollment from school to school that additional space that we would find is limited for multi-use. It's like not evenly distributed across all four schools. So we are going to find greater capacity at the mituck and less at the
other three buildings. Um, option two, which I will just paraphrase for what HMFH has listed here, but option two is basically to say that the elementary schools become K to4, the McGlin Middle becomes
a 5 to6 and the Andrews becomes a 7 to 8. And so that option for just an initial review, will that involve renovations? Potentially, redistricting, no. transportation. Yes, we are now it would
um we would now have to be talking about um transporting fifth grade students as well as sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Um it would create additional space in all four elementary schools and it would remove the need for middle school assignment process because every
student would go to the McGlin and every student would go to the Andrews. Option three and four um were a little out of the box, but option three here, they suggested that the McGlin becomes
entirely middle school and kindergarten and then that the Andrews would take the fifth grade from the Brooks, the Matuck, and the Roberts and one through four from the McGlin. So for us that would require renovation,
redistricting, and transportation. um to equip a middle school space to now take in first graders is definitely going to require renovation and the newly built McGlin playground.
uh that access though the Andrews is on campus to the McGlin, it's not adjacent. And so walking first graders or second graders um from the McGlin to be able to use that playground also just seems like
another um barrier and it would impact time on learning. uh similar rationale for option four which is very similar but instead of kindergarten the McGlin becomes we put all the prek at the McGllin plus the
middle school grades and then the Andrews takes the fifth grade from the Brooks the missuck and the Roberts and again K to four from the McGlin um same rationale it would require that even like
Still, that requires the renovation to equip middle school spaces to take on younger students. Definitely redistricting if we're bringing all prek to the option before all K. Definitely increase in transportation and again not
direct access to the playground. Thank you. So the recom recommendation from the district is that based on this utilization study we would recommend a further review of option two. Um it
would not be for next school year 2627. It would be a further review for school year 2728. We do feel that option two uh requires a further review with a committee of
varied stakeholders. We do think that it could effectively address immediate and long-term needs for the district and minimize disruption to the greater community. We do think it's the most um balanced and cost-effective uh for the
district and the needs of the existing facilities. And then also it addresses the middle school um it allows us to address the middle school programming. So it would eliminate the lottery process for entry
as I previously stated. Um all students would go to both the McGlin and then the Andrews. Uh this would also address demographic disparities between the two schools um based on the programming that is happening right now at the two
schools. And um it would eliminate that programming piece where some programs are at the McGlin specialized programs for EL and Special Education and some are at the Andrews. Um this would mean that we would have programming at both.
So with that said, what we see as next steps would be as mentioned during the subcommittee meeting last year, uh the establishment of a task force to further review option two, which we believe is the most valuable option to partner with
the existing school teams uh in that work to explore and identify actual capacity and then create advisory three deliverables um to this committee and to inform planning for school year 2728.
We would say that the development of this task force would be that we're gathering uh stakeholder interest in early January so that we are convening this work late January so that we can be finished in a reasonable amount of time so that
we're able to present at the end of the year to the school committee. And then for next year, um, we would for middle school assignment continue to use the existing lottery system that is currently in place and has been in place
for the past seven years to assign sixth grade students for uh, school year 2627. And I know that's a lot to probably take in, but at this time I'm happy to have answer questions and have a
conversation. Thank you, Mr. Pipelli. >> Thank you, Dr. Galooi. Member Rousell. >> Thank you. Um, I really am happy to see that the slide suggested option two because that was after reading those
options. I'm like, please let that be the one. Um, I'm especially excited for the, you know, one of the things that we have talked about in the past, um, is that students with certain types of disabilities don't really get a choice
as to which middle school like they would end up they're out of the lottery. Um, and so I'm excited that we will no longer have a essentially a class of students that doesn't get the same choice that other students get. The same for our EL
students. Um, so um from an equity perspective, I'm very excited about this. I am curious and I realize that that's part of what the um the committee that will be created to do this will have to investigate is I'm I'm curious
about how that will affect uh programming at the elementary schools around um special ed and um I think we have e at all the all the schools but um I don't think we have newcomers at all the schools so it would be interesting
to see if we can um solve that problem of you you know, some students have to go from one grade to another and change to a different school or we used to have that. I'm not sure the current layout. Um, so I I'd like I feel like the middle
school equity part is almost just solved by default with this approach. Um, but I would like to know how that what what areas of equity we are still missing at the elementary level that we could really um maybe drive this all the way
home. So, thank you for the presentation. I look forward to hearing from the group of people that will provide recommendations. >> Thank you, member Graham. I and then member
I think Aaron was first. >> Okay, you went unmuted so I went with you. I wasn't sure. Member Pady. >> Yeah, thank you so much and thank you for this presentation. This gives some really good I think insight into this next step and I'm really excited for the prospect of it. Um, and I'm sure that
the task force will kind of go into the nitty-gritty of this. Obviously, this is kind of a very like altitude level approach to this discussion since we're so early in when we talk about transportation. And I know that's going to be one of the biggest conversations that are going to come up just with navigating at least with option two
fifth graders all now going to the McGlin and the Brooks for example. Have we thought about what the cost will be about rerouting buses and busing in that regard? I know that we already have though that bus routing already set up, but I know that's going to be a big
conversation for a lot of parents especially about navigating timeline um about students schedules and how that's going to shift probably more drastically than we may for you know initially envision. Um and I'm again that may be a more task force conversation as we kind of get into it but just something that
I'm wondering about. Um, and then the other portion of that is do we have like a set set of criteria or like deliverables for the April May 26 presentation we're looking for? Um, and if we do, could we have that sent to us
just so that we have that that physical copy as well? >> Two great questions. first for the transportation. Um, I agree and I think that's another reason why I'm very grateful that we have a dedicated
position now to transportation with somebody with that, you know, expertise that has done this job in other districts who will be, I think, a key person to participate on this task force um and be able to kind of have those conversations. I think that's a lot of
data that we're are going to have to um review, look into, and run some numbers. I think when we do get to that part of the work with the with the task force, um happy to share. I think that would definitely be part of the deliverables.
And I think, you know, one of the things I want to say too on this call is that this is not like set in stone. This does not mean like this is what we're doing. It just means that as a result of the space utilization study, let's do right by the data that's in front of us. Let's
just explore a little bit more. Is it even viable to do this option? And so I would say that a lot of the deliverables are going to be around the actual viability of what what is it going to
take to be able to do this? because I would say if we're going to entertain it, I could see deliverables deliverables being somewhat scenario-based because it's going to involve some level of renovation. So,
you have the transportation costs, but in order to maybe make some of the spaces we need to, I think even if it's something as simple as like putting up a wall, um there's going to be some sort of level of renovation. And I think what
this report is going to have to detail very transparently is what would have to be involved in order to fulfill option two uh if it's possible at all. >> Does that >> Yeah, that was great. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Um member Graham and member and and then we have um >> Josh. Um, thank you. So, I I agree that this at this point appears
to be our best option. Um, I think this study from HF HMFH was um really good and important to help us like debunk our own opinions about what happens in our buildings, right? like these buildings are busting at the seams and and they are in their current configuration, but
they clearly identified that um there's there's like more than meets the eye, which I think is really important. Um I think I just want to flag that as this task force is like doing its work, we are going to start like receiving a
bunch of information about our like communitydriven input from our strategic plan. And I would like this task force as they think about this question of like how do we do this to also think about like anything that we're going to
collect or glean through that process about middle school because let's say the the overwhelming feedback is middle school should have an X class that it doesn't have right now. Obviously, if we're planning on like making changes to
buildings and schedules and structures and all of that stuff, really sort of thinking about all of that at the same time like seems to make a lot of sense to me. So, I would want this group to certainly be able to like raise the flag like, hey, this actually isn't viable
for these reasons, right? because I think that's one possibility, but more importantly to like take sort of a broader lens to what they're going to consider and say what is the right way for us to do middle school and can we get there? How do we get there in this
like reconfigured model? So I think there's like a sort of a broader mission and I think there's lots of questions. There's like a financial aspect of this. There's a transportation aspect. There's like what classes should we be teaching like in a five six school does it work the same way as middle school now? Like
there's a million questions for us to think about and answer um and be thoughtful about. So I think that's really important. Um so I'm you know I'm hopeful that we can like sort of start to meld these two efforts together as they as they continue towards the April
May time frame. Um, but I I personally think that the committee needs to say yes, this is where we want to go because otherwise like it's it's very amorphous for a task force to like
have a kind of charge. Um, but there's like 10 people on the call tonight. Most of them are people who work at NPS. And what I don't want to do is say have us like take some sort of a vote tonight that then tomorrow everyone's like the
school committee voted to do this thing and they didn't even tell us about it. So um because that's fair. Um, so what I kind of am thinking about is do we table this for a vote at our next meeting and
between now and then we let the public know that we are considering um a reconfiguration at our middle schools that will have impacts to both elementary and middle and that we um that in this reconfiguration it will not
happen in August of this year but instead we're planning for the future. future and that what we are inviting input on in our next meeting are the kinds of things people want the task force to consider so that we can create
some space to collect some of that information before the task force gets going instead of like the task force comes to us and presents you know here's what we think and here's what we recommend and then then people come in and they're like did you think about this and this and this and this and this
so I think what I would like to do and let other people chat before I do this, but is to make a motion to table this to next week with some promotion of like this this consideration being out there so that if there are people who want to talk about what the task force the scope
of the task force is or the kinds of questions they're going to be asked to answer that we can hear that from people before and not after um the task force feels like it's done. >> Thank you. Member Graham, member member
inappa and then member Rinfeld. >> Yeah, thank you all for this information and I'll actually, you know, preemptively second that motion with the amendment of um for the December 1st meeting to earmark that for the December 1st meeting because that I believe is the the next meeting that we have. Um
>> I'll also say so we're talking a lot about a lot of stuff and what this option looks like and you know reverting to things. I have a question about staffing and a question about how our faculty will be impacted by this change in terms of um retention with faculty.
Is are we expecting I mean obviously this is something that the the task force would look at but are we expecting to retain all of our faculty? Are we expecting that this will lessen positions high bring up positions keep them the same um in terms of how class sizes are impacted by um funneling all
of one. you know, by making this switch with option two, um you know, what what does that look like? Um just to um get ahead of any rumor mill or ahead of any, you know, anxieties that may occur because when I hear this, that's
immediately where I think of is I think of how are faculty impacted, how, you know, what do jobs look like? What do what do position numbers look like? FTEES, all that fun numbers stuff that we do every budget season. um yeah, how is that impacted? And I'm not sure if
there's any initial thoughts about that or if we have to wait until um you know the committee meets and and like member Graham said, I completely concur with the idea of like we don't want anyone to think we're taking a motion tonight to put this into effect to do this. We don't want that um narrative because unfortunately that you know we just
don't we just don't want to scare anyone in in terms of that we're making this huge change suddenly and that this will come into play in August and um and all of that. But that's um that's my my my initial question is is what are we looking at with staffing?
>> Yeah. And first of all >> Yeah. And I think that's why it was important for me to say that it's not for next year. And it also is not a definite it's not a definite decision. It's one that just warrants another review. I
think it's a balance. So we're in total partnership all the time with our teachers. So this is not about you know reducing this is about we also heard teachers come to school committee meetings to talk about the overcrowding um at some of our schools and so you
know some of this work was also in response to like their input. So I think just taking a closer look at what our options and our possibilities are is where we are in this process
when we get and also for the task force. I mean this is I I welcome um you know teachers perspective and participation on the the task force like it's great if this this should be an opportunity for
varied stakeholders to dig into the work. Um, and I would say as we go along, this has to be we have monthly uh joint labor meetings with our our teachers and we're just starting up um
with our paraprofessionals. So I do imagine that this would be like ongoing conversation so that people feel like they understand what is happening and then when we get to a point of advisory as to what we feel we
our next steps should be then I would imagine the appropriate conversations um will happen as a result of of what the advisory is. Thank you. And I understand all that, but my my question still stands of
preliminary. Do we think that staffing changes will occur in terms of like >> Yeah. >> We just don't know that as as of yet, right? Um but Dr. >> right? Then that that's a viable answer, too. Like if we don't know, we don't
know. But I just wanted to put it out there and ask, do we know? And if we don't know, we don't know. But if we do know, I'd like to know. I I we haven't done the work, so I don't know. Um that's why I've updated you with what
the what HMFH said and the further dive that we need to do with uh a task force. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um member Reinfeld. >> Yep. I won't so my my colleagues co colleagues covered a lot of the things I
was jotting down. So thank you. Won't repeat. Um, I have one question and one comment left that I haven't crossed out yet. Um, in the in our strategic planning subcommittee, we talked about looking at the missuck in particular for some early childhood focused. I didn't
see that on the list. Um, we also got some negative feedback about that on on our from the public on our on our call, but I'm wondering what happened to that thinking or did that just get absorbed into well, we're looking at a high school that has space
for early childhood, so let's not implement that change and then have to implement a new change. And then my comment is around the type of learning that's going to be occurring in these spaces. member Graham covered a little bit in terms of what does a late elementary school and early middle
school look like now that we're thinking there's a middle school and a junior high or however we frame that. But I was a little bit appalled when you said that the the space company didn't look at some of the special education spaces. And so I really really don't want that
to be an afterthought. Um and particularly as we're looking at the equity across the different grade levels and the different schools, the type of learning that is happening in these classrooms and the need, the student need, the teacher need, the community need in these classrooms. I really hope
that this task force will be really focused on that. Um it seems like I I really appreciate what the space utilization study showed us and what um HFMFn did. Sorry, I got the letters wrong. Uh, I think a lot of that was the
number of students and the space available and doing that math, right? I think options three and four were surprising to me. Um, not just because of the playground, but thinking about we've got middle schoolers and kindergarters and I already hear about the McGlin cafeteria and the choice
vocabulary people are learning. Um, so all this to say, I think this is a really good start. I appreciate getting some input before we officially vote to study it further. Um, and just being aware that the Thanksgiving holiday is between our next meeting and
our next meeting is the day a lot of people are getting back from family activities or travel. Um, so making sure we get this messaging out early and not as people are leaving for a Thanksgiving break. So, thank you and I look forward to the next steps.
>> Thank you for that. Thank you. >> Is is it okay if I quickly respond? >> Yes, Dr. >> Uh, thank you for that. I think um Will and I can do that pretty quickly. Um, the Mistatuck was one of the things that internally the district looked at as a
possible long-term solution. HMFH did not um have that in their options. uh we could always like go back to them and that's something that maybe through the task force if that's something that we want to look at um might require
additional funding but you never know with these things but they did not bring that up as uh a suggestion um and I agree around the the type of learning the only thing I want to clarify about the the space is
their criteria again so they did look at some of the special education classrooms just in case people have the same kind of wondering as they're listening to this. They were reflected in those additional potential classrooms to look
at. And it wasn't because it's a special classroom, a subspar, a service provider classroom. It really was the size of the room in relation to the amount of students in the space. And
so it was a flag for the district to look and say, is this a space that we could like repurpose because the number of students is not at like the class level cap that it can be. And we do know that depending
on the programs, um maybe for some of them we could look into that, but not all. And so for some of our programs we need, uh additional space. And so that was just a little flag for the district to have those internal conversations. The pieces that surprised me were in
some of the schools there were like internal classrooms that weren't necessarily uh flagged by HMFH that I'm very interested in having the task force look at. Some of
those internal classrooms are um around what our specialist classrooms are uh being currently used as. So, art, tech lab, um spaces like that. And I'm not taking we're not like, you know, doing
anything right now, but just to take a make sure we're not leaving any stone unturned. Member Graham. >> Yeah, I just also wanted to mention that I think the staffing question that was
raised by member inappa is a fair a good and fair one. But I think before we can talk about that question, we have to talk about what is going to happen in the building and how do we like reinvision how we meet the needs because it's not exactly the same. But at the
end of the day, we're still educating the same number of kids. So, we might not do it exactly the same way that we've always done it. But like I it's too soon to say yes or no or something in the middle, but at the end of the day, we have the same number of kids to
educate um and hopefully a growing number of kids to educate as more students decide to, you know, stick with NPS. So I think that is a question for the ta the task force like the finance side of the task force to vet um but not
until we've decided how do we educate students what does middle school look like what supports are needed and how does that change as we move into these new thing into these new structures so it's very much on my mind I just think there's a whole slew of things that we
have to decide and a whole slew of opportunities to evaluate before we get Thank you, member Graham. Um Josh name and address for the record. >> Uh good evening. Uh Josh Terrell, 86 Newurn Avenue. Uh longtime listener, first- time caller. Um I've lived in
South Medford for almost 10 years now. Uh I've got two young children and uh my son is heading to the Missatuck for kindergarten next year. Um, so in regards to the school use report, um, I actually didn't plan for this, but member Rinfeld and Dr. Galooi really teed up my question.
Uh, if the recommended models by HMFH frees up classroom space across the district, my question is, could some of that space be used to expand access to full-time prek? Um, I usually hold court at Tus Park. Um, and a lot of the
parents of the playground tell me, uh, the meat program and the staff are wonderful, but the schedule is just impossible. Um, the issue isn't about like program quality, it's just availability. Um, you know, we personally were offered 10 hours a week at Missatuck for our son and we had to
opt out for something private that met our needs. So, um, if this reconfiguration suggests space can be gained, even if the gains are modest, um, I I I feel like it's worth asking whether this is an avenue to expand the programming in the long term, not just
rebalance. Um, I have more questions than answers about this right now, but I'd love to see the topic of expanding preK added to future agendas for broader public comment. >> Thank you, Josh. >> Yeah, really appreciate that. So, I do
think it's important to note that through the MSBA process that we're going through um at Medford High School, our educational plan includes the creation of an early childhood center, which would bring um preschool, our MU
municipal daycare, MFN, all in one space up here at the high school. And part of that was because we do want to have conversations about what would it mean to increase not only the capacity for preschool programming but
also um full day preschool program. So it is part of the ongoing conversation. I can't necessarily give a timeline to it but uh I do think it's it's um worth a further dive. >> Thank you Dr. Lucy.
Member Graham has her hand up. >> Yes, Member Graham. >> Hi. >> Sorry if you can hear my dog whining in the background here. She decided to join us. Um I just have a motion which I'm going to put in the chat so that people can read it or copy it if they need to
so that we are on the record. um which is um the motion would be to table the recommendation to adopt option two which would move all elementary schools to prek to 4, change our McGlin Middle School to 5 to 6 and change our Andrews Middle to 7 to 8 upon validation of the
feasibility of the decision to be a decision by the 2B formed middle school transition task force until our December 2nd meeting. further um requests that the administration invite the public to attend the 122 meeting to provide input
on the scope of the questions and considerations to be addressed by the task force. Oh, amendment 121. Okay. Um happy to take that amendment. And um I'm also going to add in um
this change would take effect in the 2728 school year. Just so that that's clear as well. Hold on, I'm just retyping. >> I already got it.
>> I'm just going to put it in the chat. Um, so that is the uh motion. Okay. a motion to table by member Graham and I believe me on top of you earlier said you wanted to second it.
>> Yes, but I'll also mention that um if it be take kindly to the amendment of removing the 2728 I know it provides clarity but in case the recommendation is that we need a further delay to change things around. I don't want to pin us to 2728 if we unless this has no
not that it has no merit but unless it doesn't pin us to 2728 but I know the intention is to say it's not going to happen in 2627 but I just don't want to make it so that way we are forced to then do 2728 >> I think that's the upon validation of
the feasibility part like it could be happening later but I want to be really clear because what I don't want is a bunch of parents to feel like they need to truck themselves out on December 1st to say you haven't thought this through. There isn't enough time because we're
not intending to do this this year. So, that's not on the table. >> Can we put it in uh at the earliest the 2728 school year early school year? Would that work? Is that an okay amendment to make? And if so, I'll second.
Um motion to approve by member Graham, seconded a motion to table um amended by member and member Rouso. >> No, no, I just think that it's important to when we direct others to do work to
set an expectation. Um so I mean our overcrowding is a perennial issue. Um, we receive numerous communications from parents and a lot of freaking out at the beginning of every
school year about we have to add another kindergarten classroom. But I mean, my own husband works in a kindergarten classroom essentially. It it's a lovely classroom. There isn't a window and it's in the corner and um it is not intended
to be a classroom. Um so I I I think the urgency of saying the goal here is 2728 and let them decide that it's not possible for whatever reason rather than giving people an out we're supposed to
be the ones giving the direction and I I always expect that when we give direction if it's runs into problems people come back to us and say this is we tried but here's why we're not going to get there rather than giving them the out before
we even tried. But regardless, I I I'll just take this language and move along. >> Member Graham. >> Good. Okay. So, you're good, member. So, or
would you like to remove the >> No, it's fine. Uh yeah, I mean we are overcrowded so I think everybody's goal is to fix this issue by 2728 but I hear what you're saying ment. So we're going to move approval to table um as amended. Um roll
call please. >> Member Bradley. >> Yes. >> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member Da. >> Yes. >> Member. >> Yes. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member so yes. May go. >> Yes. The affirmative. Um zero in the
negative. This motion is tabled. We do not have any reports of subcommittees nor presentations to the public. Continued business, but we do have new business 2025-36 offered by member inappa. Whereas navigating and obtaining a 504 plan may
be complex for families and friends of students navigating accommodations for the first time. And be it resolved that the administration, health services, and student services departments will look into drafting a notice sent to families and caregivers on a yearly basis about
504 plans. Content may include but not be limited to guidance on how to navigate how to apply, any needed documentation, what a 504 is and who qualifies. member in Tapa. >> Thank you, mayor. This uh motion comes
out of a conversation that we had at a lovely round table um surrounding allergens and surrounding families and and parents and caregivers and friends of students who have um major food allergies within the system. um and was talked about about how navigating a 504
plan was difficult and how you know the uh community member in particular did not feel and I don't want to misquote them um did not feel um that they had the adequate resources to figure this out and to figure out that they could actually get a 504 plan for their students allergy due to the nature of it
um and a whole bunch of other stuff and so this comes from just looking at what that may look like you know we do yearly notices for other things you know in the past and I think we still do um we do a yearly notice around gun safety and around storage. Um and so just as one
example, but um looking at you know what that language looks like like what those guides kind of look like in terms of helping families understand um the really intense process of a 504. I will say on a personal note um I had a 504 plan when I was in Memphis public
schools. um I was almost not granted it because that um option was not given to my folks and that an IEP they were screening me for an IEP. I didn't qualify for an IEP and we almost um didn't pursue that until um we were
presented with the thought process of doing a 504 and I was able to be properly supported in Metford public schools or uh given support systems in the metro public schools to um be the best student that I could um with my
disability and working towards um different academic goals. So that that's what this motion is. It's to look at what that language looks like to what other resources may look like. It's to really spark a conversation around making sure that our families know what a 504 is and know how to get access to
it. Especially for those who may not um have known that, whether that be they haven't had one in the past, they don't have a child who has that in the past, they didn't have one um where they are not aware of other families that have done so. >> Motion to approve. Can can I just
>> Yes, Dr. Galooi, I figured you'd want to respond. Yes. >> Um, I think the what I think is very important that U member and Tapa has raised is just that like the need for continuous communication or making sure
parents know where to go to find supports or resources um that they feel they may need or at least want to discuss. Uh, I do want to make it very clear that a 504 plan um follows an eligibility process just like
an IEP does. And so they can't like just be given. There is a formal process um with a team uh with caregivers, with a school-based team. Um we do have on our website a lot of information. Um
Miss Bone who uh oversees 504s with Mr. Pivicelli has really done like a a little audit of the website to make sure that all of the information is updated and current. And I think really happy to
at the start of every year like especially since we have a formalized communication system with the memo to put reminders in there about where parents can find like uh supports uh for their students if need be. um maybe
sections on the website that help where they can find those resources. Um I just want to be careful about how it's communicated just so that where parents know that there is an eligibility like process.
>> Yeah, thank you. that that's exactly why I put in the motion eligibility requirements. So that way people know you know we make sure that we're making it so known that you know there is an eligibility aspect but also what are the eligibilities and what are the things people may not realize that their
student may be eligible. The whole point of this is to make sure that families know that if their student is eligible that they seek it out and they go for it and they try to um obtain a 504 because some families may not realize that their students are eligible until it's too late and until they are in the later grades. And so all about that early intervention and notifying noticing
these things now is what what this is really aiming for. So I I really hear what you have to say and I thank you for bringing that up. >> Yeah. And on that website, to your point, on the website, um, Miss Bowen made sure that there was a link there to like there's a frequently asked
questions document that is she's been working on internally and that is going up, Miss Joan pro probably in the next week. We we're just getting some feedback from other administrators and then it will be up with all the
information um and the process that parents and caregivers can follow. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, member, you're on mute. >> You're muted. You're mute. Member.
>> Sorry about that. >> Very what you were talking about. >> Thank you. This doesn't need to go into the resolution, but I think the other thing that I'd love to see as part of this is a conversation with the 504 coordinators. Um because I have heard from caregivers who are going through
this process that they feel like some of sometimes their coordinator and their team isn't expecting the particular accommodations and they would like the team to be thinking about other options that maybe they've received
doing this work as teachers in other districts as coordinators in other districts. So I think as this communication goes out and we may be seeing more people coming to the process, I would love to see a little more um conversation among the people who will be interfacing with the
families about doing that and doing that in a really accessible uh culturally sensitive way. Um, this isn't picking on anyone in particular, but just to make sure that we really are a strong team in responding to these requests and in
really becoming a team in putting them in place. >> Thank you. >> Um, so is there a motion for approval? >> Seconded by second.
Okay. Roll call, please. >> Member Brley, >> yes. >> Member Graham, >> yes. >> Member Intava, >> yes. >> Member, >> yes. >> Member Rinfeld, >> yes. >> Member So, yes. Mayor Langokarn,
>> yes. Seven, the affirmative zero in the negative. Motion passes. Thank you, Member Inappa. Um, also offered by member in TAPA is 2025-37 be resolved that the metro public schools will work alongside a register of voters to best identify how we can
improve engagement engaging our student population in the following but not limited to areas. Pre-registering to vote, absentee mail and ballots if traveling, currently stationed elsewhere than than mass or at a higher education institution. Identify roadblocks and barriers outside
the norm of registering. how to address um a letter, etc. Action items will be created to then send to an ad hoc committee created by the superintendent of key stakeholders to best identify ways to strengthen our voter education plan across the district. Member in
Tapa. >> Thank you, mayor. You know, this comes out of my work um personally at my day job. Um, a lot of for context, um, during election season and not during election season, I work heavily with our college students at the Masters College
of Art and Design to get them educated on on civic and just sort of catch them up to speed um, alongside the director of government and corporate relations and my other team in student engagement to help students figure out a way to make a plan to vote, to figure out
voting stuff. During the 2024 um presidential election, I was deal I was dealing with a lot of shocking um questions, a lot of things that uh I never would have thought of that our students here were wondering. Things
like um all right, I know who my register voter is, but I don't know how to address a letter because my state requires that I send in a letter application if I can't make it in person. Or um oh yeah, I live uh I'm just going to go early vote at the MFA. where do you live? Oh, I live in Quincy.
That's not how that works. Um, and so really helping catch our Medford students up to date um on how these things work, their rights as voters, their rights as um and their ways that they can do it. um because I want our Medford public school students to be the
leaders that I work with to help educate um other students and to get them aware of, you know, how to pre-register at the age they can pre-register um you know, if they live in the dorms, can they register to vote in the dorms or should they, you know, stay at home or should
they stay registered at home? all these things that they may have questioned especially for our students who may be shipped off in the military um and how they um sorry I thought my computer for a second how they you know how they have voting rights and all that. Um so this is really an ask for the administration
to take a look at how we can best support our students. I'm thankful for our faculty members that go to our register of voters um and pull out registered to vote cards and help get students um pre-registered or registered. Um the Medford Register of Voters have had a conversation with
them, especially Jim Blanchard, the elections manager, talking about how they would love this support. Um because they would love the support from the schools to help work together collaboratively to make this as easy as, you know, the committee could come out and say, "We have cards
to hand out." Or it's a bunch of QR codes that get posted outside of every bathroom, you know, around election season. whether or not they're eligible or not to do it, at least the information is there and it's ready. Um, and we're lucky that Massachusetts, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, um, has an amazing one-stop shop for all these
things, but it's about getting our students there in the first place to learn about it so that they know about it before they need it and to be better civic leaders, uh, not just in Medford, but wherever they may choose to go once they leave here. So, that's what this motion is. Um, like I said, it could be
as simple as there's a sign that's printed really nice that gets put up every year or year round outside the guidance office. It could be that we send out a yearly notice about voting and registering to vote. Um, or we put together voting packages, whatever it may be. Um, again, super open-ended.
That's why I'm having the experts talk about it. I've talked to Will about this a few times about what the graphic design looks like or what have you. Um, but I think that's enough of me talking. I think the motion stands for what it is itself. >> Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, member. Member Graham, then member Rinfeld.
>> Thank you. I was actually um wondering if this might be like a great place to plug our student advisory council into the conversation. Um I I think when adults do things sometimes it works and
when peers do things there's a different lens that is effective. And so I'm wondering if it might make sense to like amend the motion to ask the administration to work with the student advisory council to explore solutions
um that might improve our statistics. And I think my other um my other question is like what are what are the statistics now and what are we trying to achieve and I don't you probably don't know the answer to that question but I
would be curious if we're going to invest time and energy in this um which is really important. It would also be nice to be able to say it worked or it kind of worked or you know this is this is where we saw movement and I don't know how to like frame those kinds of
metrics but I assume the elections manager does um and could provide that input to us. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Reinfeld. >> Yep. I really like the idea of bringing in the the student council on this and I
think this feels like something that guidance can lead in the same way that this is a this is it's a it's information about what happens after high school and in some cases during high school and careers. Um the other person that I would recommend potentially bringing in on the city side
is Matise from the um off the office of prevention and outreach. is the youth coordinator and and some of our community liaison to think about how to make sure this language gets to people um in all of the ways that they
communicate with families. >> Thank you. Um member Tupper I move are you moving approval and seconded by >> Yeah, I happily accept the amendments. I I will say that the reason I left it
kind of vague was to assist the superintendent and helping, you know, find that, make sure it's availability. Um, in previous conversations, I brought up specifically the CCSR and this being some kind of civicled project to help survey the students and figure out where their needs are because like you said, like when it's peer-to-peer, it's a
whole difference of of experience and a whole different outcome in terms of surveys. Um, so getting the SACE involved, getting the CCSR involved to figure out how we can, like I said, find those weird little uh gaps
in be registering or may not be doing it. It's all about building this routine early on and anything we can do to help support that. And also, it may not apply to students, but it sure as heck can maybe apply to their families and making sure that they can take that guide and help assist their families when it comes
to voting, um, assist their friends and more. um spread the wealth, right? So, thank you. I I motion to approve and accept the amendments. >> Motion to approve by member inappa and
amended by me um member Graham, seconded by >> I'll second. >> Member Branley. Um roll call, please. >> Branley, >> yes. >> Member Graham, >> yes. Member Antappa,
>> yes. >> Member, >> yes. >> Member Rinfeld, >> yes. >> Member, yes. Mayor Logan, >> yes. 70 the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes. Um, we do not have any reports requested.
We do have a couple condolences. The members of the Medford School Committee expressed the sincerest condolences to the family of Paul Matal, former Medford Public Schools physical education teacher, coach, class of 1966 graduate, and 2010 Medford Hall of Fame inductee.
The members of the Medford School Committee expressed their sincer condolences to the family of Francis Franny Geodano, owner of Medford's Arthur's Pastry and former school committee and city council member. And lastly, the members of the Meford School Committee express their sincerest
condolences to the family of Robera Lynch, retired Meford public schools teacher and par profofessional. We all just may take a moment of silence, please. >> Thank you. Our next regular meeting which you we
already mentioned was is December 1st, 2025 in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall in addition to Zoom. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn by member Reinfeld. Seconded by
>> second member. All those in favor? >> I. >> We'll call it. >> No. Yes. I had to roll call. Sorry. Member Brley, you said yes. Member Graham. Member Graham.
>> Yes. >> Member Entapa. >> Yes. >> Member Olady. >> Yes. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rouso. Yes. Mayor Lang Go. >> Yes. Um meeting