Today is Monday, April 6th, 2026 and we are in the Howard Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall and via remote participation. This meeting is being recorded. The meeting can be viewed on live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable
channel, Comcast channel 9, 8 or 22, and Verizon channel 43,45 or 47. Since the meeting will be held remotely, participants can log or call in by using the following information. Zoom link is on our website and the city website. And
the meeting ID is 99787083285. Roll call. Member Rouso, please. Thank you. Member Graham >> here. >> Member Master Bony >> here. >> Member Olady is absent, but shortly he'll be here. Uh, member Parks >> here. >> Member Rinfeld, >> present.
>> Member cell present. Mayor Lingoker >> present. Six present, one absent for now. Um, thank you to our student ref for joining us tonight early, the earliest one here. Um, if we could 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 pursuant to chapters 30A section 212
to conduct strategy in preparation for non-UN personnel or contract negotiations with non-union personnel specifically but not limited to the superintendent assistant superintendent of academics and instruction chief operations officer director of student services director of human services and
resources elementary school principles four of them middle school principles two principal of the high school, executive director of Medford Vocational Technical High School, and the principal of Curtis Tus High School. The Medford School Committee will convene in public
session immediately following the conclusion of the executive session approximately at 6 p.m. Is there a motion to go into executive session? By member Reinfeld, seconded by Second. >> Member uh Master Bony. All those in favor, roll call.
>> Member Graham. >> Yes. Member Master Bony. >> Yes. >> Member Lead is absent. Member Parks. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member. Yes. Mayor Lgo. >> Six in the affirmative, one absent. U motion is approved um to go into executive session.
Be back as close to six as possible. Thank you. Okay, we'll get started. We got lots of kiddos in here. Thank you for your patience, everybody. We're going to get through a few things and we're going to go right to the Mustang moment. Um, we have the consent agenda, approval of bill and payroll,
approval of budget transfers, journal entry 20749, $2,673.50. Journal entry 20750, $427843. Journal entry 20751, $650.
Journal entry 20752, $13,798.18. Journal entry 207613,27257 and journal entry 20767 um for $273761. We also have approval of donations. First one of 4,000 by JS Limb Foundation
for MHS MVTS JS Limb science and mathematics prizes. Don donation of $2,250 by Arthur C. Mbott of Mabbat Associates for 2026 MHS MVTHS science and technology engineering
exposition. Approval of field trips Mount Cardigan State Forest, New Hampshire. Stacy Schulman and Emily Winskowski. >> Yes. >> Approval of meeting minutes. Regular meeting March 16th, 2026. Is there a motion on the floor?
>> Motion to approve >> by member Lady. Seconded by >> Second. >> Member Master Bony. All those in favor? >> Motion passes. I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent um Suzanne Galooi for our Mustang moment.
Good evening everybody. This is my absolute favorite part of the school committee agenda. So tonight we are making up for some time. We have three Mustang moments this evening and so I'm going to introduce each one. First, we're going to hear from the Misatuck
School Council. And to provide a little bit of context, we have fifth grade teacher uh Miss Frank here who will come up and give us a little bit of context before we hear from the students. Usually cat that doesn't in the back. >> Oh, there we go.
>> Yep. Okay. Thanks, Scott. All right. Good evening. My name is Miss Frank and I'm in charge of the Miss Tuck Student Council. The student council is a group of students elected by their classmates. Our goal is to create a school community that is inclusive, respectful, and kind where every student
voice is heard. This is the Missuck Student Council. Starting with Treasurer Yara, student rep Vera, and student rep Bell Val. And next slide. >> The student council of Mystic Elementary is a group of students elected by their
classmates to represent their views and interests. We are committed to promoting the principles of the school's culture and ensuring that every student's voice is heard. Our goal is to create a school community
that is inclusive, respectful, and kind. Our student council does its best to ensure that student voices are heard and valued in all aspects of school life. Next slide. Secretary Addie, student rep. Luke,
student rep. Lucas, >> the Missuck Student Council has one president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer from fifth grade, one class representative from each fourth grade class, and two class representatives from each fifth grade class.
As members of the student council, we have several responsibilities, including representing the views and interests of our classmates, attending student council meetings, and contributing to discussions, working with our classmates and reporting back to them on the work
of the student council, working on initiatives and projects that promote the values of our school, and supporting the school in creating an inclusive, kind, and respectful environment. President Lillian, Vice President Nora.
>> We are responsible for creating and leading schoolwide with responsive classroom assembly. >> This helps build public speaking confidence. >> Luke and Lucas, >> New Hampshire State Representative Dr.
Jennifer Manua has Monday, April 13th. Professor of public health at TUS, expert in community organization listens to consent. More speakers to come.
Yara, we fundraised for two Gaga pits. We have raised $291 in direct donation. We raised $1,02 in popcorn sales, but we only got to keep half. We have raised enough money
to reach our goal of $500. Lillian and Nora. twice a month. Fifth grade is paired with second grade, fourth grade is paired with first grade, and third grade is paired with kindergarten. Addie,
buddies create belonging. Meeting with buddies helps create a larger sense of belonging within Missuk community. Wherever students are in the building, they will know someone. I love how we get to meet with them and get to know them and keep and help them learn from a fifth grade student.
>> Student reps Robbley and student rep Trudeau. >> Buddies belonging pro poetry. These are examples of buddies doing the poetry with their buddies in fifth grade. >> Next slide. This is these are examples of buddies
doing poet poetry. These are these are more pictures buddies reading together. There's these are fourth graders reading with their buddies. >> Thank you. Don't sit down yet. I'm not sure if there are any questions before we take a
picture. Um, I just wanted to say I think it's amazing that you guys are starting doing this work so young. We're the high school student counselors. We're non- voting members of the school committee. We come up here and we sort of try and provide feedback on legislators, try to provide student opinion and we actually
do presentations occasionally on um student voice and and uh sort of what opinions we gather through surveys and other means. We're actually doing one tonight. Uh so it's super amazing to see that you guys are starting on this so early. Please continue to do this throughout your school careers. Stay
informed. Stay active. You know, this is really how we make a positive change. It's really important, really inspiring. And I bet you one of you might be sitting up in this seat and, you know, a few years. So, thank you so much for coming and for doing this.
>> Yeah. Well, you've got our microphone. What what advice do you have for us? What is what does the missuck council want to tell the school committee? >> Anyone? Not to put anyone on the spot, of course. >> Yeah.
No, >> they would like fewer standardized tests. >> Okay, thank you. Love that answer. >> Thank you. Okay, you want a picture? >> Did you want to say something? >> No. Okay. Do you want them to come up?
Okay. So, we're just going to have Ms. Frank and the student council come in here for a quick picture. That way the caregivers can get ready with their cameras. All right, our next Mustang moment. We are going to have the adviserss to the
unified program at Medford High School come on up. They're going to do some framing for this wonderful opportunity and they have some students with them that will be talking about their experiences in the program. Gotcha.
>> Hi everybody. Um we're here to talk about unified PE tonight. Um unified PE much like unified sports is um it's an initiative set forth by the Special Olympics. It brings students both with and without disabilities together um to
participate in in this case in a PE a physical education curriculum that is rooted in teamwork. >> This is our third year I think doing it and we're really starting to hit our stride. We have unbelievable kids as you'll see in a second and our high
school helper kids are great. So it's not about us, it's about them. We're going to have them tell you all about it. >> Great. So, we have Nolan, Ruby, Ella, Kelly, and Andrea up with us, and you can take it away. >> Yeah.
>> Oh, here. Gotcha. >> I think she broke. >> Okay. Uh, unified physical education brings students you guys just with and without disabilities together, fostering inclusion, respect, and teamwork through shared physical
activities, creating a supportive environment for all. >> Um, so why unified PE? It builds empathy and students learn to understand and appreciate differences while also connecting through similarities. It increases activity. Everyone
participates leading to improved health for all. Um it improves community. Unified PE fosters friendships and reduces isolation among peers and it promotes teamwork. Uh students collaborate enhancing respect and communication skills.
So, we have two videos to show you from what happens in our class. Um, there is no sound on it, so you just have to watch. >> Oh, this is hungry hungry hippos. That's right. >> Human hungry hungry hippos. >> You can't have a hungry hippate. you were there.
>> I saw Michael >> This was kind of like like a human bowling. We just worked on balancing on scooters and >> we got to knock stuff over. Everyone likes to break things. >> That's my >> That's you. That's you. I know her.
You sure about that? >> Um, we're going to have our students share some of their experiences. >> All right. You ready, Kelly? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. I like playing basketball with my friends. I like working forward
to seeing my friends in the gym. It makes me feel great. I like unifying PE. I like unifying PE because I like to play basketball. Coming to the unifying PE class makes me happy and excited to play games like
basketball and play football. >> Ready? >> What? >> I like to see some of my friends. We play basketball and other friends. What the hell? Sports. But they get me to
follow directions. show me me how to do it. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Do you have any questions? >> Do you have any questions? >> Which which sport besides basketball did
you like? I heard you say basketball a few times. >> What else do you like to play? I like to play flag football and doing some jabling and sports. And if you like the
caster the chicken h the hungry hungry hippo and like the hairman boink. >> Great. Good answer. >> Yep. Member Graham. >> Is everything else you want to ask have any questions?
>> Yes. Member Graham has a question for you. >> Um, I have a question. I wondered if we could be invited the next time you play Hungry Hungry Hippos. >> Can they come? >> Can we come? >> Can they come? >> Can we come? >> Can we be Can you let us next time you play? >> Will we let them play with us? >> Can we play with you? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay. >> See if we can take a picture. >> Great. Thank you. Do you want a picture? >> Could I just Could the advisers So, I I think you explained this at the beginning, but I just think it's like important to note. So Carla Andre do you
mind like explaining what your position is and then Malooi will you please explain what your position is so that everyone is aware even joining at home what the collaboration is like for this course. >> Sure. So I'm a high school physical education teacher. Um
yeah that's that's my job. >> I am the districtwide adapted physical education teacher and I also am the unified coach. Um, and so like I said before, it is an initiative put forth by the Special Olympics that we've adopted into our district. And unified PE kind of creates that opportunity, the
accessibility for students who might not be able to participate in a sport after school. Um, it creates that whole school environment that the Special Olympics and Unified really, you know, seeks to capture. >> Great. Perfect. Thank you. And Carla's position is districtwide. So there's
huge impact throughout the district. But this is just a really wonderful um demonstration of what unified means to our students and our um overall community for belonging. So thank you both for everything you do and wonderful
job. Was there another question? Member Ola Pad has a question. >> Just a quick question. Thank you so much for this. This is wonderful. This is one of my favorite programs that we do here in the district. A question for I just for the whole district and for families at home. Is there a application process to get involved? Is it a student by
student? Like how do you guys roll that out so we can have more and more people join um in the district? >> So uh with high school helpers >> Oh, hold on one minute. >> No, the microphone turned off. >> You have to wait till there.
>> With um high school helpers, it's junior and seniors. Um, we go through course selection and we really want kids that like want to be there. Um, you know, with the choice program, it's working great, but sometimes if you have a kid that doesn't want to be there, you know, it could be an obstacle. But our high
school like high school helpers are tremendous. We have some of the best kids in school. Like every last period, Tuesday, Thursday, it's one of the highlights of my week. So awesome. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. And member Rinfeld. Yes. And I was just wondering what this looks like at
other schools. That's a great question. >> That is a good question. Um >> I think we are looking >> in the re in the coming years to to do this at the middle school level. Um that would be so we we started with unified sports and now we've unified PE at the
high school level and then we started with unified sports at the middle school level and so the next step would be unified PE at the middle school level. So I'm hoping the next two years we we'll get that going. >> Yeah. And is there any talk of kind of expanding it even beyond athletics?
>> Yeah, I so I in particular I do the athletics. Um so I guess yeah that would be outside my my realm but I'm I know that there's a best buddies program now and so I think we are expanding um with inclusivity as a whole through Medford which is great to see. >> And we saw the the best buddies our
Mustang moment few meetings ago. >> We thank you so much. We could get you those details. I know that um director Suzanne Fee is also, if it's not in place already, is working on unified um art up at the high school. So, we can
get those specifics for you. >> Ready for a picture? >> Sure. >> You said Okay. Three times a charm. There's one more. There's one more Mustang moment. Um, it is our honor to welcome, we're going to
invite um the adults up to talk about uh Massachusetts youth uh contest that one of our students won. So, we're going to get a little bit of framing about what that contest was before we hear from the student about um
her why in her poster. >> Okay. Good evening. I'm Margie Daniels. I'm the executive director of Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth. We're a nonprofit organization that serves school districts across the Commonwealth. And first of all, I want
to thank you for the privilege of being here tonight in front of you. Um, you have such a wonderful school system and you've been so involved with our organization for many years. We have a theme every year for a poster project and this year our theme was kind people
are the best kind of people. And I'm happy to tell you we had 151 entries um from across the Commonwealth. And to have an honorable mention in the Medford public schools is such an honor when there were so many students and you have
one. So I'm here with very good news that we are recognizing Norah Shaw tonight. Show him your picture. Beautiful. >> Yeah. Thank you. And we have a gift for you.
Would you like to unwrap it first? There's a certificate. So, open up the ribbon and take a look at the certificate first. Maybe you could show the audience for people sitting here. Thank you. and maybe we could get a
picture with you holding the certificate and um please step up with us. We can do a picture in one moment. So I do want to say that um we're joined by also principal SC and art teacher Pete Gallagher. And I do want to I'm not sure
if any adults also want to speak or if we could hear from the student too. >> So >> just speak into the microphone. >> Hold on. I coached her when she was way little, way little big. >> When I was like working on this project,
I was thinking about like sometimes how all schools have like positive posters and like when I look at them sometimes when I'm having like a rough day, it like does make my day better. So, I like seeing them. And when I was working on my poster, I was trying to think about that and put that into my poster. So,
thank you for having me. And Nora, just so you know, the judges are school superintendent, police chiefs, community members, school counselors. We have a very multidisciplinary group, and they just loved your poster. They thought it was beautiful. Now, there was something else
there. Ah, this is this is a gift for you. gift card. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. You're welcome. Maybe you'll buy some art supplies. You're very talented. >> So, thank you again. It's a pleasure to be here tonight.
>> Congratulations. Wonderful. >> Great. Um, let's let's move through this. Then it'll be dinner time. Yep. we are going to meet um AA Williams, our new district-wide
transportation director. I'm going to turn it over to you, Dr. Galooifi, for the official welcome. >> Thank you so much. Aa J. Williams is our new transportation manager. I am so happy and thrilled. Uh AA comes to us
with a lot of expertise and experience in school transportation. She has worked for uh Medway public schools, Asabet Valley Collaborative. Um she has a lot of experience in which I think she'll be able to make a lot of positive change
and improvements for Medford Public Schools. Um she has a wonderful way about her and I think she's got a skill in building community which is everything that Medford public schools is is striving for. So she's had a nice welcome. uh she's been meeting with
school leaders as well as our bus transportation partners um NRT and Eastern Bus and so I just wanted to have the opportunity to be able to welcome her formally at the school committee meeting so you could all see her. I think it's very important uh for the
community to also have an introduction to ANA so that they can also see the face that's behind the phone call or the email sometimes um as we know transportation goes. So I don't know I know if you >> so I just wanted to say thank you all
for giving me the opportunity. I'm really looking forward to working with the district. As Dr. you said, I've had the chance to meet with some of the bus vendors and the administrators, and I've had a few students that have popped in to ask some questions that I was able to find the answers for rather quickly. So,
I'm just really looking forward to it. It's a wonderful community and a very welcoming environment. >> Thank you so much. Very excited. >> Yeah, we're happy you're here. Member Russo, >> just wanted to say thank you. It's a really hard job. I'm sure you're well aware. Um, so I'm very grateful that
you're still smiling as well, which is um it, you know, it it when I hear about what this job is like, I'm just like people have passions, not necessarily the same as everybody else, but I'm glad you're you're into it. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you all. Have
a good evening. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, we have a report on the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget recommendations. Um Noel Vez, our director of finance and Jerry McHugh, our budget analyst, and welcome. Come on up and I'll turn over
to Dr. Galooi. >> Thank you. I do just want to start with a little bit of framing. So, good evening um honorable members of school committee and madame mayor. So, tonight's meeting serves to formally present our preliminary projections, expenditures, and identified school and
department needs. Um, our finance director, Noel Valz, and our budget analyst, Jerry McHugh, will walk you through the results of extensive collaborative sessions with school and department leaders. These meetings, as highlighted a little bit in the previous school committee meeting, were
instrumental in identifying the critical needs and strategic requests that have emerged from our classroom and operations. I want to stress that this is a deeply iterative process and the data shared tonight will also highlight a range of initial asks that we're still actively
reviewing. While the presentation will also show proactive areas that we've identified some meaningful savings. Our team will also explain some unanticipated expenses that arose throughout this fiscal year. and we'll continue and through this
process we will continue to refine and sharpen our budget projections and align our resources. I think it also is important to note that with the new leadership team that is has been working together this year at central office with that comes a little level of
auditing within their respective portfolios and this initial review is anchoring the structural structural and visionary work required to ensure that our fiscal footprint allows authentically and intentionally with our
district core values and and the evolving needs of our students, our staff, and our community. Although our work is far from finished, tonight's presentation is a testament to the consistency and coherence we are working to establish as through lines across
every level of the district. We're moving towards a unified vision that ensures every dollar supports our shared educational goals. I really want to extend my sincere gratitude to Jerry and Noel for their tireless efforts and work
in preparing the budget and for their commitment to transparency. As you will see this evening, their hard work as well as everyone involved in this process provides the solid foundation we need to move forward together to finalize a budget that serves all of our
students and the community. So, thank you very much. Oh, sorry about that. Thank you much, Superintendent, for those kind words. I also want to give a special thanks to uh Lisa Malone and Joan Allen who scheduled approximately 57 meetings during this
budget process. Um so that was very kind of them and also to um Dr. Talbot who also attended a lot of our meetings with us. really appreciated that to give us a better insight of um what finance and curriculum and how they are so important come together hand in hand. Um so as we'll start off right now you'll see in
um we kind of have a summary of our budget proposal here in page two. So this is a a total summary of the presentation we'll be giving tonight. Uh we've broken it out into what we feel are five categories that um that properly um explain everything we're
about to go through um and also discuss um each category in detail regarding what Gerald and myself as we met with principles, directors um in the needs and the wants of Metro Public Schools for fiscal year 27. Uh if you want to go through the numbers
real quick, as you know, we started off our general fund at $85,490,000. We have um from our voting from the Medford um community, we have our stabilization fund which will up us approximately 1,85,549
for a total budget appropriation base budget of $86,575,549. uh currently estimated salary, step increases, stipen increases, and contingency based off where we were last year, fiscical year 26 into fiscal year 27, we estimate $3.3 million
in unavoidable cost increases, which we'll go over in more detail later. We had calculated $3,59,000 three $3 3,59,160 and request new increased schoolbased from our principles and directors. We
have $987,000 for request increased facilities and operational spending. We have $554,000. And then just based on our um observation, reviewing, and certain programs that we've already paid for
that we won't need to pay for next year, we have an identified savings of $490,991, which gives us a total budget proposal of $94,32,696. Then through this presentation, we'll walk you through these numbers and get to that number.
So, first up, we want to go over some um unavoidable cost increases, these um these cost increases. So, we have two starting off the bat. Uh we have two teachers at the Curtis Tus who have been hitting a short tuition revolving fund
line. Uh we appro we we uh that reserve will be done regarding how much funding is left in it as of 6:30 2026. So we will have to absorb 198,560 thou $560 in salary
uh throughout the fiscal year. We had we had to hire or add eight additional par profofessionals to the budget. I'm sorry. I apologize. I went I went a little too close. I saw this. We have eight current uh par profofessionals um currently on before and after school
revolving fund that we would like to move back on to the general fund. Um, as you remember over the past couple years, we've we've been removing Paris little by little off the after school and before school revolving fund, and we're hoping this will be the last date that we remove. Um, their salaries next year
total $344,000. We have um we're hoping to also move u some of the salaries regarding where they were being charged to community schools. Uh, as of July of 2022, the athletic director and the administrative
assistant of the athletic department were being directly charged to community schools. Our goal is to move those salaries over for the administrative assistant. We're hoping to move 20% of their salary into into five different categories. uh athletics revolving athletics general
fund edgely field PE and community schools as we believe that properly represents um that employee in all the categories that that that employee currently works in. And with the athletic director, our goal is
to move 50% of the salary um to the athletic to the athletic general fund and keep 50% of the salary in community schools. Uh, another thing we talked another thing we have here is um through our
CSHS grant we purchased uh a software program that is no longer eligible to be charged to that grant. That grant uh while it is while it is a year-to-year grant, it allows only for one-time expenses on software and programs. So, every year you have to change um what
what you're going to be charging to that grant. And since we purchased it in fiscal year 26 through our CHS CSHS grant, we want to move that to our general ledger next year as it will no longer be eligible to be purchased through that grant. Next up, we have our um what we looked
at as unavoidable cost increases due to enrollment. Uh we'll be creating an access program at the McGlin Elementary School. So we'll need a teacher and a parah for that classroom.
Throughout fiscal year 26, we had an additional eight one-on-one paras that we had to hire due to existing IEPs for students new to the district. We had one at the high school, three at McGlin Middle, one at McGlin Elementary,
and three at the Missatuck who have moved in as of September of 2025. Uh along with those costs of the uh the eight moveins, um some of them came with transportation costs uh connected to
them as well as increase in rates for special education transportation as a whole, which we believe approximately will be $476,177. We also have uh special education paras uh one at the McGlin and one at the Roberts Elementary for classroom
coverage based on student programs and needs and we'll also need an additional teacher and parah for a fourth kindergarten class at the missuck based on what we projected enrollments. At the next slide here, we have a few
more what we believe are unavoidable cost increases. We have our janitorial contract, which is the cleaning of the high school and the McGlin. Uh the new contract will come in at $29,30.
Um and that is also based off of last year's was year one. We're going into year two in July. We have um the year two of our leasing payment for Motorola, all the all the new key fobs that we've added at $60,300.
And year two of our yellow bus elementary schools and also to accommodate new arrival dismissal times and the increased rates, we have uh 110,000 $110,000 140 uh to be added to our budget.
uh to including with enrollment, we're also going to be needing uh the creation of an access program at the McGlin Middle School. Um based on the enrollment numbers, it originally was a combined access/connections classroom. Um but we'll need to separate
that in fiscal year 27. So we'll need another teacher and par added to that. We'll be adding a second project transition teacher due to the program enrollment at the high school and we put in a number of $84,260
for that salary. Uh extend we need to increase for extended year programming due to student participation which will put us at $140,200. We also through uh through our AED audit, we're going to re our goal is to
replace 17 AEDs that are 20 years old, which comes in at $25,000. Sorry. Uh and then last uh we've got here some um malware servers and hypers servers
coming in at approximately $40,000 uh for cloud computing. Got a few more items uh regarding just what we're projecting and what we're looking at. So for heating electricity, we believe uh we believe we'll have to increase the budget by $197,000
based on fiscal year 25 spending, fiscical year 26 projections and what we believe the increase will be next year. Another 50,000 for custodial supplies. Unemployment at $35,000. Another $6,000 added to the high school
graduation budget to continue um with the amazing job that they do and uh with the cost of some of the the new cost and the higher cost of some of the rental and leases programs we do. For the athletic program, we're going to have a extra $84,000 in coaches stipens
based on the CBA. We have uh $50,000 in transportation based on um fiscal year one of the of the contract cost and then we'll be in year two of the contract cost and other expenses that the athletic director believes will equal about
$11,894. And we'd also like to add another $50,000 to the substitute teacher account. So, in summary, um we broke down here the $3 million into um existing funds that are no
longer available or sustainable at 662,000. Spending in fiscal year 26 that was unanticipated at 1.5 million. Unavoidable spending occurring in fiscal year 27 at 400,000.
and a fiscal year 27 budget increase based on recent spending history at $478,294 equaling 3,59,160. Okay, I'm going to um go over the uh school-based needs. So the these are uh proposals that were requested from
principles and directors um and our assistant superintendent. the um before I start, there was a lot of um there there was a number of requests from the high school for additional
staff for electives um that we chose not to go forward with right now except for a selected few that we'll talk about. Um, and mainly that's because they uh this is really the first
year that they've had sufficient time to work with the new schedule. Uh, last year the the the contract got settled late. They were a little bit behind in their um the development of the
schedule. So, um, we wanted them to, uh, have the time now to see if some of those electives can be incorporated into, uh, the schedule without the need for additional staff.
Um, however, we do have u some proposals. One uh would be an uh arch teacher for the high school. um because of the new schedule um a lot
of students were able to choose an art class and uh so that this enrollment is driving uh the need for this additional arts teacher. I will say you should have got in your email um a description by
principles and directors about their program. It's designed to be kind of a one-page narrative. um and provide supplemental information for you as you deliberate on the budget. Uh and this is certainly
highlighted in the arts program. Uh the second uh teacher is there's currently an elementary band teacher that is not a full-time teacher at the elementary schools. And we would propose to turn
that uh position into a full-time uh position. and that person would be elig uh able to come up to the high school in the afternoon and uh provide additional uh courses course selections
in periods six and seven. Uh similarly we we are proposing to add another technology teacher at the high school uh to broaden out those technology offerings. Uh and this would require us to outfit a existing classroom as a tech
lab uh for that teacher to teach from. We're all also proposing uh an additional translator because of the volume of translations we have uh mainly from the EL program all but also that
services all uh district-wide translation needs. and then an additional EL teacher at the McGlin to u provide pullout services for the newcomers program at that school.
Um there was also several proposals made by department heads to increase the quality of instructional materials that we use. Uh so the state uh provides a list of high quality instructional supplies, materials uh that can be
purchased and we think um this is going to help uh increase the rigor in uh in in all our programs. Um, and I won't repeat what's on the slide, but there's a variety of requests for supplies, kit
replacements, very important. Uh, materials for challenge courses and electives. Uh, there's a textbook replacement request uh in uh social social studies for psychology. Textbooks
are quite dated. uh and testing and assessment materials for uh the world language program. Uh another area that um is not that uh much money in the big scheme of things
but um it we feel it's it's very important to uh increase our commitment to professional development. And just as a benchmark u this the um foundation budget
uh is calculated uh to include 1.7% of the total budget for PD. Now schools aren't obligated to to spend that much on PD but uh it's just a
benchmark and and we're uh asking for something that's much smaller here. The other thing uh or the other part of this initiative is to uh distribute the implementation of the program of of uh
professional development uh into the program so that directors are responsible for um a a program for the s staff that's that's uniquely
uh um focused on their uh departments in order to um you know better meet the needs of the staff that's in those departments. Uh another
data point is that 81% of our teaching staff are in step five or higher. So you they're not uh having to participate in post-graduate courses and other courses
to maintain or achieve their lenture. So this is really going to be the only source of training for those teachers. Um and it will be about a third of 1% uh of the budget if this proposal goes
through. It's an increase. Uh currently the budget is about12,000. We're proposing to increase that by 165,000 for a budget of 277,000. Uh and that's outside of uh tuition
reimbursements. Then the next few slides will give you an idea of what each uh department is requesting. Uh I won't read you the slide but it's you sometimes it's curriculum
development um sometimes it's it's training funds to bring in u a subject matter expert uh during um PD days. Uh it could be
training and implementing certain parts of the curriculum or using um the supplies materials. We'll be providing some some for conference attendance as well. some directors expressed an interest in sending teachers to
um sending more teachers to conferences and that conferences can be a great way to uh pick up uh new information from a peer group uh in that department. Other requests we have are for um
uh new curriculums. Uh the science um department piloted a new robotics curriculum in FY26 and I believe some students came up and gave a demonstration to the committee earlier
this year. um that you know the the director was very creative in kind of cobbling together uh funds from federal grants and his own department budget and some uh middle school principles chipped
in with some uh funds that they had uh to get the program off the ground. But um the the the program is basically a very sophisticated computer program and it's based on the number of seats that we have. So the
cost of that particular curriculum is $75,000. And then we're also looking to implement a formal ELA curriculum in the middle school. Um, and we estimate that to be
uh $30,000. Although during the course of the year, a uh staff-led committee will um stakeholder committee will will uh evaluate different curriculums and come up with proposals on what must
might best meets the needs of Medford public schools. Um we also uh have to increase our uh budget for NWA map assessments
and we've been utilizing uh uh open architects dashboard it which is a uh program that gathers information from different databases that we operate operate uh school brain
and um desi information and just puts that in a digestible format for teachers to use. It's very been very well received um by our staff. So the cost of that uh we're using it for free this year and
the cost going forward would be $19,500. Um the uh we'd like to increase the band transportation budget so those uh so our bands can attend more competitions.
Um we also um are way behind in in implementing interactive panels throughout the school districts. We do have them uh in different classrooms. Um, and we have excluded the the high
school in this proposal because we expect that all those classrooms will have this technology. Uh, but this cost $180,000 would allow us to uh
install 60 uh interactive panels this year. and it's a five-year program to get the whole district um outfitted with interactive panels. Uh we also are uh looking to uh purchase uh
software that will uh improve our content protection for our students. So it's a platform that uh has a more robust contact prevention
uh functionality that that more than we have now and it has some functionality for classroom teachers to monitor uh use in their classroom. And finally um $2,000 for Curtis Tus. They'd like to have a
graduation ceremony uh going forward. So this provides some funding for them to do that. So to sum up the schoolbased sum uh schoolbased needs um new positions, increased funding for supplies,
increased PD and other school requests, and that total is $987,000. Next up, we're going to go over our facilities and operational needs. >> Noel, before you continue, can I just ask a general question? What is the
percent increase over 2026 budget? >> It's um it's around 9%. So, is this like everybody's wish list or >> how are we going to pair this down a bit?
>> It it they're not wish wish list. They're they're um identified spending and there's some um we recognize that, you know, we may not be able to get this amount of money.
There are some costs identified here that you know are not um are kind of bottom line. The collective bargaining for one um that's real. Some
of the um IEP spending um there might be a little bit of wiggle room to defer some of this spending into 28. Um we've pretty much screened out um the
spending that we thought were a little more wishlist than actual need. Um you know for facilities you know we'll is always um deferred maintenance is kind of a tried and true uh method
when you don't have sufficient funds. Uh but we could rely for instance for uh special ed transportation we could rely more heavily on circuit breaker funds. So we're trying we're trying to strike a
balance as how much circuit breaker we need we use in one fiscal year and how much we want to save the following fiscal year. Um there's money in um uh the homeless transportation
reimbursement account that we could tap uh to try to reduce the budget, but um >> yeah, we I mean we can only tax at 2 and a half%. So >> yeah, >> and we got health insurance that went up 10%. We have the debt we have to repay.
Yeah. >> Starting to repay for the McGlin and the Andrews HVAC work. >> So this the money is just not there. >> Yeah. Well, this was a starting point and then um you know we will we will absolutely
present uh you know in in the the the the final budget. So in our in our budget development policy this is a preliminary budget. There will be eventually a final budget and that budget will be balanced.
>> Thank you Mr. McHugh. That was the only thing I was just going to clarify which is why I wanted to frame at the beginning that this is pre preliminary as part of the school committee policy and we just wanted to be very transparent about what the asks were.
What is presented here tonight does align to our instructional vision, our strategic initiatives um and our core values. But we know, as I said, it's very it iterative um and still
there's refining um to do. Yeah. Yeah. This is 5 million off. I mean, I have to wipe out half the city departments to pay for this. I don't know which one you want me to get rid of. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Next up, we're going to go over our
facilities and operational needs. Um after after some extensive talk with uh myself, superintendent, and our new COO, Ken Lord, uh we reviewed a few areas and facilities that we really want to address and uh and work hard on. Uh
first step here is we have we were add a fourth carpenter uh maintenance worker. based on the amount of work in the schools and the amount of overtime we're paying to the maintenance workers. We believe that we can get a lot accomplished with adding an extra employee um who can really u bang out a
lot of things. As you know, we currently have um a three maintenance workers who oversee all the school departments um which is just um can backlog a lot of areas. Um based off of our fiscical year 25 um
invoice analysis and our fiscical year 26 projections um we're looking to increase the contract and maintenance lines by $359,000. We have um from the Habiban Associates um assessment project um hoping to increase the extraordinary maintenance
line by $70,000 to replace the water water heater tank number two at the Roberts Elementary School and $7,000 and increase for equipment repair line items.
Over in our technology department, we're hoping to add a little bit more uh technology infrastructure. We're currently uh with a cyber security package that includes other software increases at $52,000. So in total, based on our facility needs
and technology needs, we believe $554,255 would be the increase. On the next slide here, you have um just an idea of some of the maintenance services that the Medford Public Schools uses throughout the year. Um from pest
management to concrete repairs, heating, HVAC, uh fire extinguisher inspections. Um those numbers can get up there pretty quickly, but we just wanted to give an idea of exactly um everything Ken Lure does for us in overseas. Next up, we have some identified
savings. Um, so with the enrollment of the special needs programs at the Brooks Elementary School, we would go from five classrooms to four classrooms. We would have two learning groups and two languagebased groups.
Um there would be no FTE losses as uh we have a teacher who's retiring and that position would not be filled and then the parrot in that classroom would be absorbed into a vacant position at the end of the fiscal year. We have um our ELA curriculum payment
for um H Hotton Mifflin. We just finished paying off our third payment this fiscal year. So that is completely done. Our new contracts for telephone and copier lease save us approximately $95,000 and $62,000.
We have our NEAS accreditation expenses which we completed this year. Uh so that's another $30,000 u from last year's budget that we would take off. And then just uh miscellaneous line items are um whether it's um little things that we purchased this year or
just balancing from positives in one area, negatives in one area, we came up with a $14,000 savings. Uh total identified savings of $490,991. Then we have here a few no cost proposals. Uh, we'd like to add two amm classrooms
at the Brooks. >> Convert to full day. >> Convert to full day. Yes. I'm sorry about that. Yep. Convert to full day. Uh, we currently we currently have a vacancy for a literacy coach. We'd like to convert that position into a math coach for fiscal year 27.
And then we would be um piloting a composting program at the high school and in Miss Tuck, but only in the back end of the kitchen. So that's where um all the cooking is done and that would be covered on the food service department budget and then we have here is just our
summary based on our first slide as we spoke about earlier our general fund and stabilization fund which total 86 million and then our estimated salary step increases our unavoidable cost increases. The request from principles and
directors, the request from our facilities and our identified savings and identified savings comes in at 94,32,696. And on the next slide, you'll just get an idea of um what the increases and decreases would look like um based on
actual numbers from our appropriation general fund um our stabilization fund that we would add next year at $750,000 which gets us to our total number 94,32,696. Thank you all for your time. That is our
presentation. Of course, we're here to answer any and all questions you have. member Russo. >> Thank you. Um, do we have a line item for device replenishment or is that not in the budget this year at all?
>> What was that? Could I hand >> for um computers replace replenishment for students? >> That was >> okay. So that's why it's not on this slide. It's just a standard line. Thank you. >> So the these are over was the uh increases to base budget. So that's in
our base budget. >> Member Graham and member Master Bony. >> Thank you. Um I know that the um state budget is still making its way through the process, but we are once again a minimum aid city and the governor's
budget proposed minimum aid at $75 a student. Is that correct? >> Was it 75 or 70? >> I think I believe >> 70. Um, have has the h has the House or the Senate budget been released yet to I
I know that they always tend to >> move that number a little bit >> yesterday. Okay. >> And last last year the minimum was $150 per student, >> right? And I I you know I think they're grappling with some of the same you know
the challenges all around. Um so I think that's something to look for. So this is like year seven of the Student Opportunity Act. Um there was only one year where we received more than minimum aid. Um and um this is another minimum
aid year. So presuming that the um you know any change to minimum aid would um be a boost to our >> you know to our numbers. Um I assume that some of So I I just think from from
a grounding perspective, um this is a picture of like the starting point of a budget request that says for us to meet the objectives of the district and to do to meet our obligations contractually, this is what the numbers look like. And
we'll approve some version of this um at our next meeting coming up. And then um that will go to the mayor and the council as a request. Um and then once the council and the mayor determine what those numbers actually are um to your
point Jerry, we before we um end the fiscal year hopefully. Um there would be another conversation to say like is if there is a gap, how do we close that gap and potentially like another public hearing? So between now and then, I assume there will be lots of things
going on from a funding perspect like from a like analysis of funding options um that might be outside of um just a direct ask from the city. Is that true? >> Yes. >> Um >> we we do have um an obligation to
schedule a public hearing before the vote on the budget. >> Yes. Um, and then I think the other question I had, um, which was on page, um, 18, um, for facilities and operations, um, one of the things that
this outlines is, um, an increase in our contracted maintenance line items. Can you, um, is that because we will save money by contracting folks in these spaces? Are we already spending this
money or has like has the cost just like risen dramatically? Like if we if we don't do this, what happens? I think is part of my question. But I mean, three people for a district of this size is like super anemic. And it's not shocking that we have the maintenance issues that
we have because we've been staffed this way forever. And I know that one of the things that we've been talking about as we continue to negotiate with our bargaining partners is how do we, you know, how do we set up that unit in a in a productive way? Um, but I'm just
curious like what the balance of internal staff to contracted services >> really should be for a district of our size and like how does this proposal fit into like moving towards something that is more ideal? I'm I'm gonna turn it over to Ken Lord in a second, but if you
remember last year, I I think just for starters, our maintenance budget was woefully underfunded. >> Yeah. We um proposed um a more realistic budget last year and in the final
negotiations of the budget, we were um given some stabilization fund money for specific projects which we're grateful for. Uh that helped a lot, but we had to reduce our maintenance ask by an
equivalent amount. So that's kind of how we negotiated the the gap last year. So while we were able to get some money for projects, we didn't really move the maintenance budgets forward
um which which we we will ask for now. And basically the the um the mix of in-house versus uh private, you know, varies from district to district and ba based on your uh
capacity, your in-house capacity, the type of systems you have. Um but I'll let Ken um expand on this. >> Yes, exactly what Jerry was just saying. you know, we use our in-house staff to do all the tasks that we feel we are
qualified and capable of doing up to the limit of the staff time that we have. So, we do farm out work that we could potentially do in-house if we had more staff inhouse and we could do it um more economically with in-house staff because you always pay more for bringing in
somebody from the outside. There are quite a few tasks that we just don't have the skill nor should we to do inhouse. You know, some real heavy repairs. We don't have licensed electricians on staff. We need certain kind of, you know, people to do different kinds of work that will kind of always farm out, inspections,
elevator, you know, those kinds of things. But, um, we're really struggling to keep up with the load of things that we can do in house with the staff that we have. They work incredibly hard. They're incredibly skilled. There's just not enough of them. Um, and what I did
to build the amount of contract services and the request this year is I looked at all the expenses from last year to holding them up in different categories and then we broke it up in each sum. We did it a little differently in the budget. So, we really identified which contract type of contract we would have
and that's going to enable me to go out to bid for contractors whereas now we really rely on the state uh tradesman contracts to do a peacemail. So, I hope that answers all your questions. >> It does. Thank you. before you don't go anywhere. >> Can't leave. >> Member Master Bony.
>> Yes. >> Oh, member. >> Thank you. Um and um I think you said this last year, but I've already forgotten. Sorry. Um what is a typical number of maintenance workers with this many buildings in a district? >> It really varies. Um I tried to do some
study around some some um surrounding cities and towns. they really vary wildly just based upon what they farm out. Um, and it's really kind of a um a function of what you can afford to do internally and the age of some of your buildings. You know, the older buildings take a lot more maintenance, a lot more
upkeep, but they are often more easily done inhouse because they're older systems and not as complex. Um, so for instance, the newer HVAC systems that we're installing really need to be farmed out stuff. Um, you know, we really need to be able to, you know, have people that are expert in those systems that we're installing now
maintain them. So, you're going to see things that our crews can handle internally need to be done externally move forward. So, >> but is is three um really outside, you know, if you had one of those bell curves, is it like one of those little tiny numbers way at the end
and you're like, we can't find us there. >> Yeah. My my initial reaction and the one now this is my seventh month in as confirmed after being seven months is we are wolffully underst staffed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I can't keep up with basic stuff that we can do and you know just to bring in an outside contractor cost you $1,000 just
to walk in the door, >> you know. So, >> okay. Thanks. >> We're in the same boat on the city side. Um member Master Bony, >> excuse me. Thank you. Um, so
I I think the f the phrase unavoidable cost is bugging me a little bit. I think there's a there's a combination of a lot of things in there. Um, >> Ryan, if you could shut yours off until you Yeah, everybody shut it off. Thank you. Member Rastone, you have the floor. >> Thanks, K. Um, I mean, I I think it it
varies, right, from things that would look like compliance, right? Special ed um resources. There's a lot of budget right sizing, which I think is great. that's, you know, shows that you all are looking backwards to to move forwards. Um, I also think there's some choices in there. You know, I think I wholeheartedly support moving paras off
revolving funds, right, in in concept, but that that feels like a choice at this at this time. Um, so, you know, this is a this is a great list of needs. It's not surprising. Um, there's a lot going on and there's a lot of work to do and a lot of improvements to make. Um,
Mayor Loco Kern also talked about a $5 million gap. Um, so I'm wondering what the process is behind the scenes that you all and with the superintendent are undertaking over the course of the next month to identify what's highest priority of these marginal changes, what's highest priority of our existing
um uh uh expenditures to understand to identify the least painful reductions here. Um, you know, these are a lot of great ideas. How do we where do we go from here? Um, I think is my question. mayor.
>> Yep. And and just to piggy back on that, I mean to to put something before us that's five million. It's a it it just makes the community, whoever's wa watching, it makes it seem like we're as bad off as like other local cities and towns that have just lost a big
override, two of whom um touch us. So, it just makes us look bad. And we'll talk Wednesday about, you know, the deficit that I'll I'll handle on the city side, but cutting city budgets to give a little more to the schools, like I always do it and I'll do it again, but when you bring something that's 5
million over, um it just seems like some of that job could have been done before tonight. >> Member Russo, >> thank you. Um in June of 2024, we approved our our budget
preparation schedule. Um, and very much the point of that was to have this exact conversation. I mean, if the answer was it was another 40 million to accomplish the goals of the district, then that's the answer. Um, the time to talk about what we have to cut is
is in the schedule and we have to do it and there's no nobody imagines we're going to find all this money. Um but to not tell the public and just treat them like adults that hey to operate the district at this is minimum. If you looked at the total new ads it was like
500,000 here and 400,000 like those are not numbers that make you think we're dramatically improving the district at all. They are not. So this this budget does not in my mind move the district particularly forward. This keeps the
district afloat. um this this budget request. This isn't the budget. This is the budget request. And I think we have to tell the public what it actually costs to do the job they think we're doing or want us to be doing. And then we can have the the other adult conversation
when we have to figure out, okay, we have to cut whether it's 5 million or 4 million or 3 million. There's no cutting that kind of money without laying people off. I'm going to be the first to say it. Like I looked at those numbers. We're going to not not pay electricity. We're not gonna not pay for, you know,
all the other things that aren't people. 85% or something of our budget is people. So when we go from what we believe we need to what we actually have, we're there's no scenario where that does not include
layoffs. So um I mean unless I'm really bad at math, which is possible. Um, but this process we we vetted and approved in 2024 specifically so the public would know what we as a body believe it would cost to perform the duty that we're
elected to um perform and that the professionals are hired to uh to execute on. So, I I think that's I I agree. It's incredibly awkward to be saying this like that's a lot more money
than we're going to have and we're going to have some ugly conversations and I hope the school committee is involved in those, not just the administration we like magically come back with here's the new number. Uh but we we have to tell the public the truth. This is our needs
assessment to do frankly no more in public schools than we did this year. Member Master Bony >> briefly. Um, members I totally agree 100%. I'm not asking for cuts. I'm asking to understand the process by which you all decide what's level
service, what's service expansion in this big list. Um, what's mostly tied to our district goals, right? So that we can make sure to explain those to residents. Um, and that so that I can understand the work that you all are doing to identify the risks and trade-offs of different choices that
we're going to make. So um you know when I see a big list my eyes kind of glaze over right I want to understand again like you know where summarizing where we're investing what's what's compliance what's level service what's expansion what's catching back up from something that we learned throughout the course of
the year again sort of in a summary this list um it's tough to to digest it even in the the couple times I've looked at it since we got it. Um, so that's the kind of information I'm looking at, not again not to cut, but to understand where we're at um in terms of priorities. >> Well, we I think um
that will when we come back to the committee um we we will show you how we reduce the budget. Um, one thing that is ongoing, the superintendent did say that um, we we continue to to um, polish
these numbers. Um, we've identified um, pockets of very low class size in some schools. So, we we we're going to be talking to principles about that. Um, that could provide some savings. Um
u and and then we'll let the uh high school finish their uh scheduling uh to see how that shakes out. So, this budget, you know, we tried to with the exception of that one um special needs
classroom at the Brooks, which which was kind um we we didn't want to talk about personnel right now. Um but certainly we have to look at that, you know, to get down to this this number. I will say
that, you know, the um the supplies and materials requests are based on the assistant superintendent's initiative to uh make our um instructional offerings more robust, more rigorous. Um and so we
have to buy um you know, better quality materials to make that happen. Uh but I I hear what you're saying. And so we'll try to address that when we uh come back for uh at least the public
hearing or maybe before then >> if I may. Dr. We'll see. Um I do want to just comment so the ongoing conversations that we're having as central leadership with school leaders with the department leaders as I said we're having conversations
about what the priorities are and where are those places that we we can reduce and where are those places that we want to be able to kind of hold firm in order to meet our instructional vision. It's never
I think that's why I started this evening with a little bit of framing. It's never ever my intention to come to a school committee meeting and present something that I feel is going to divide a community. Rather, there's been lots of messaging around transparency and
what are those costs. And so I just wanted to make sure in this process that we provided that level of transparency as mentioned by some school committee members as well as Jerry and Noel. There are pieces on there that maybe
um we're trying to move let's when we're talking about the revolving revolving accounts um things around materials to um enhance curriculum. There's also pieces around our some of
our entitlement grants that Kim uh Dr. Talbot and I have been having conversations around making sure that we're maybe being a little bit more strategic about leveraging that. We also are in talks I I we have applied I'm not
quite sure yet of the um award but we have applied for our second round of bar grant funding that also will drastically inform this budget in terms of what we can put on that bar foundation grant and
what we cannot. So, between grant funding and our revolving accounts and just making some of those choices that um member Master Bony is talking about, this tonight is just to show you
what it would take to operationalize completely and fully without having to rely on any sort of like grant funding or entitlements. It's certainly not at all to
cause any sort of turmoil or stress or division. Um I apologize if if that impact hit for people in the community, but this is just as I said, this is a new team and so sometimes pushing through to to make some change and add
some structures where there haven't been any or places where there have been some underfunding. Right now you are seeing some pieces in that are needed for uh operationally as well as educationally but this is not the end
and we're we we will be settling in the uncomfortable work but I just wanted to make that known member Reinfeld. >> Thank you. Um, so I have all kinds of
nitpicky questions, things like is the arts is that the theater teacher we've been talking about for the last two years. But what I really want to ask you about here in this what is essentially our budget committee of the whole um just as much as it is a regular meeting.
Um I some of these costs for software, instructional materials, curricula, um all of those what I'm not seeing in this summary is are those expected to be the
same costs year upon year or is this um or these one-time costs that we won't have to is it investing in buying the software or is it a subscription that we're going to be paying year after years. So there are I think one, two, three, four, five, six things that I
flagged as wondering um whether those are year upon year and if and things like the um the 360 boards, right? You said this is a five-year process. Are we frontloading it? Are we pacing it out evenly? What does I would love to
understand more about that for for these items the e- health software the transitioning the servers the instructional materials robotics and ELA the uh open architecture and technology upgrades
you already >> I got it yeah so um regarding when you were talking about curriculum u for most of those those would be um a yearly cost robotics specifically We know it would be a yearly cost program uh that complex um that we want to continue it. It
wouldn't be uh something like uh like a whole mifflin where we pay three years for it and we get to keep it. Um that would be a yearly cost. Uh another thing you had mentioned was the um ELA program for the middle school. >> I believe that's still being reviewed on right now. Um but again,
>> right, I know there wasn't a specific >> there wasn't a specific Yeah. curriculum. Yeah, that would um again I I would I would defer to Superintendent Dr. tal about on that a little bit more when it comes to curriculum, but I know that they differ. Some are yearly costs, some are you buy the program for three years and you get to keep it. Um so, um
in that area, but there are some that are definitely a yearly cost that we're hoping to add to the baseline of the budget. >> Okay, that's important to know. Um and then my other question is I'm wondering about some of these additional costs. I also wasn't sure about the term
unavoidable, but um things that are either coming off of revolving accounts or there are some things that I understood to have been included in the infusion of override funds that were then going to progress, things like transportation, some of the
CBA stipen type adjustments, um all of those. And so I'm wondering with the anticipation that there would be a 2 and a half% increase every year why those are additional that we hadn't
planned on before kind of above and beyond a two 2.5%. >> Yeah. So we um well first of all the the first bucket of unavoidable expenses was unavoidable and and including
unsustainable. So >> okay >> for the for some of them and I I take the um full responsibility for some of the confusion but I just felt it was easier to kind of fold them in um to
that category. Uh but those are certainly some of that spending can be pushed off to a future fiscal year. Uh it's not unavoidable in the same way that collective bargaining
increases are. So the the um there was some spending in FY25 that was associated with the collective bargaining in uh uh
contract that got signed for the teachers pair professionals uh came later in FY26 uh and we utilized um money that we have in our case budget for
uh collective bargaining. >> That's the undistributed funds or >> Yes. So, so any contracts that aren't settled yet, um we anticipate um what we think the eventual result of that bargaining is
and that gets distributed and we utilized uh over a million dollars in stabilization fund >> to help support that as well. >> Okay. >> Uh so those funds got spent and they they become part of
the base budget now. So going forward in 27, >> we're seeing increases on top of >> increases over and above uh the current fiscal year. And we did have the plan in utilizing stabilization funds. We were
able to create uh a fund of a little over $2 million um for the three years um that the teachers contract would be in effect. And then we are slowly uh reducing that
so we don't have we we have because that they are part of our base budget we have to um replace those funds >> and if we used all 2 million in FY26
we'd be faced with replacing 2 million this year. So, uh, we do have to replace about $335,000. >> Okay, >> that's shifting from stabilization fund into general fund in FY27.
U, but that's hopefully that answers your question about why we have increases in 27. >> So, the I guess it was a question around the carryover and when you you mentioned reserve in here and what that is reserve the same thing as the undistributed Or
is there a separate reserve? >> Well, the stabilization fund is the reserve. >> Yeah, >> it's too I mean we might we we may call undistributed funds reserves too, but um the stabilization fund was designed to
help fund uh the teachers contract through the three years uh of their contract. >> Okay. Um, and the other thing that would be helpful to
see in addition to whether this is a piece of a hole or going forward, um, oh no, now I just lost it. Um, was actually this is probably my homework to go back and look at it side
by side with the spending. Um, because I recognize there's a lot of right sizing here and particularly on the revolving funds. I know it wasn't entirely fair to mention those because this is really the first time we've looked rigorously at those funds and where
things are coming from and to on that. Um I may have more questions but I see more red lights so I will sort through my notes. >> Member Olady, member Grant then member Graham and member Parks. >> Thank you. Um this is actually to go a
little bit um off of what member Ryan was mentioning and I know I recognize that the unanticipated costs are in that unanticipated or you know under underexpected um that being said I think $ 1.5 million cost to the FY26 budget is quite large and I think that um going
forward are there things that we can be doing to kind of plan accordingly you know based off of what's changed a lot of these are um student need and district need so they're not things that you know again they're just based off of what's growingly needed. needed by our students and and our faculty. So, it's
hard to kind of pre-plan, but is there um budget forecast that we can do? Are there things that we might be able to implement going forward to kind of maybe ideally plan for that? >> Well, that that's what our um budget meetings are designed to do um with the
principles and directors. Uh so I think what we've listed out are things that um we were not able to predict but to the extent we can we try to >> uh identify those. So that's part of why
we do enrollment projections why we do um by class size estimates >> um to help us understand do we need to add staff? Can we shift staff from one area to another? Uh but in some of these
cases, these were uh people moving into Medford with uh identified needs um and uh or a um a mix of students. There was a couple, you know, a a
student in special needs can require a certain amount of services in grade two and that may change dramatically in grade three, you know, as they as they grow older. So, um those are the things
that kind of pop up once once they occur. And then uh particularly in the area of special needs where there's IEPs, those are those are contracts between the school department and the parent and so they have to we have to
make sure that we're providing the services that are necessary on those uh documents. >> Thank you. Um my second question goes to the professional development that was um noted I think on uh slide 13. Um it's
recommending or s it's noting that one-third of 1% of the total budget is going to be going towards PD or like that increase. Is that what is the general norm? Is there a best practice that we're following when it comes to that? Do we have the numbers on that? I'm not quite sure.
>> Yeah. Well, I think every school system is different, but what what we did say during the presentation is that for foundation budget, the budget that Desi puts together uh for Medford and for any
other district, um they you have an allocation for professional development and it's 1.7% of the budget. So, I'm not aware of any district that spends up to that amount of money, but
it's certainly u you know, we're not we're not close to that area. And it it wasn't too long ago that we we didn't have any budget for professional development in the general fund. We more or less relied on uh some of the title grants to provide, you know, minimum
amount. But uh there should be like an ongoing uh ongoing resources to develop professional development plans and those the needs uh of our teachers could can
can vary from year to year. We identify you know in analyzing data we might identify gaps that we have to close and that might require training as well. Um there could be um um I know in the case
of the arts the the uh the the uh director wants a um you know has identified the need for more robust program at the elementary schools. So that kind of takes
uh development you know acquisition of curriculum and then we have to train our teachers to be able to um implement it with fidelity. >> Absolutely. Thank you. And then my final question for the moment um on slide 19
when we talk about the technology infrastructure that um cyber security upgrade package is that recognized because of an emergent issue that came that the district came aware of or is that just an ongoing IT you know increase or upgrade that we've been working towards?
>> Can you can you talk to it? So, um, that was an assessment that I did when I when I got here compared to what I'm used to and what I feel is really needed is to have increased cyber security protection. So, that this is what's called a managed detection response system. So, as opposed to a system that just passively sits in the background
and we have to monitor and check, this is a company that watches these systems and they take action immediately upon sensing a cyber security threat. Okay, >> that's what that system is. >> Awesome. Thank you so much, >> Member Graham and then member Parks, I think it was, and then member Russo.
>> Thank you. Um, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you to this team for doing this work. Um when we started working with this revised budget process maybe three years ago now um I think it has allowed us to really have a
different kind of conversation um both with the community and with our partners at the city council and the mayor's office. Um and it's the kind of transparency I think we all talk about and and want and desire. And I think one
of the things that um Medford is seeing and feeling right now is that transparency comes with discomfort. Um it it's easier to just be like mad about somebody doing something behind closed doors than to like have to sit in the discomfort of like
>> we don't have that answer just yet, right? Like that's that's uncomfortable for people and I totally get that. I think it allows people to engage with the process in a in a completely different way and I think we're all better for that. Um, and I recognize
that that is a lot of work for you all because essentially you're you're preparing like multiple iterations of a budget. Um, so I just wanted to say thank you because I think transparency really matters to to people in Medford. Um, and it's a work in progress in terms
of how we get there. But like it starts with all of you telling us plainly like what is going to help us meet our instructional vision and what are the obligations that we have to students. Um so I just wanted to say thank you for all of that. I think it's really really
really important and um you know I just like mark in my calendar that April through June is going to be uncomfortable um because it is and it is every year like good times bad times it doesn't matter because the truth is our students always deserve more than we can
give them. That's just sort of how this this works. Um I wish it weren't. Um and I look forward to you know all the ways that you know government can work together federally etc etc etc federally
federally and um increase funding for things that matter like educating our future. So um I just wanted to say thank you for the work. >> Thank you. I you know I I just want to say that um the
uh you know we every every budget has a story to it and the story of this one was the unusually high number of unavoidable costs that we got tagged with this year and looking into next year. Um
so um hopefully that's not the new normal, but um you know that that has the potential of like squeezing out all the other good things that uh
directors need >> that Ken Lord needs as well. Um, so that's another reason trying to get everything on the table so we can work collectively to to come to a reasonable
uh bottom line. >> Member Parks. >> Thank you. Um just for clarification the um page five the uh I mean or six but really I was just more looking at the addition of eight
pair professionals the special education transportation but it could apply to any of these. These are actual costs that were unanticipated this past year that arose that are going to be carried forward in next year's
budget. Yes, >> but we're not accounting for potential new costs that could arise or doing some percentage allocation into the requested budget. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> I'll finish my question after there
could be um one thing now that we have our new transportation coordinator on board. What we want to do is um go through an exercise of placing all our students into um onto transportation
and to see so so frequently what happens when you get new students in uh it can be difficult to get them assigned transportation with the current provider that we have uh just because they're all booked up or they they don't want to hire additional
drivers depending on what time of the year it is. Uh so it forces us to go out and look for independent contractors uh to fill that need. Now there could be opportunities to get those students into
transportation we're already buying. Um what mainly we we try for uh new costs that we haven't taken into account. We always try to keep a balance of circuit breaker funds uh on tap that's un um
allocated. >> Uh we want to use it for a future year, but if we have to use it in the current year um to to meet new students um then that's our kind of safety net for that.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Member Rouso, >> thank you. Um, you know, the professional development line item is fascinating. In 2001, the the state budget actually had a mandatory spending, um, which would have put us
adjusted for inflation at spending almost a million dollars this year on professional development. So, I mean, the 1.7 would put us at 1.46 million. That's for last year's budget, by the way. Um so um a lot of the stuff that we want to do
in the district requires professional development. You know, we a few years ago I was going on about um restorative justice, which is a massive professional development effort, multi-year professional development effort. And I know there's some of that going on, but we can't pretend that for a quarter of a
million dollars, we're actually training up 800 employees um in a way that would meet the goals of of these uh providers of this uh instructional material. Um, so I just wanted to point out that um, I
mean I don't know what the professional devel development budgets are everywhere. I'm sure in 2001 um, a lot of communities lost their minds when they were required to spend that much money. Um because if after 25 years
we're still only coming to a quarter of what they thought was a good idea in 2001, that tells me that we are um it's sort of like our maintenance staff. It's like way out on the end of a bell curve of what's appropriate spending. Um
the other I just wanted to make that point. Um the other thing though about um how we deal with these unanticipated expenses like the way a district that is wellunded and does that is they actually budget more than they need and they put that into a stabilization fund and it
sits there and then just like with you know like you don't have a snowstorm for a decade and then you have snowageddon um if you budget for the amount of snow you typically get then you're really in trouble when snowageddon hits. Um, so
we're still in my mind far away from being able to set up stabilization funds where we sit on millions of dollars waiting for the day when there's unanticipated um expenses. Um, I hope we can get there
because as everyone in this room knows, like when you have a surprise 20 students that need a lot of stuff. Um, we will provide that even if the consequence is laying off staff. Like we don't have a choice but to provide that
and we shouldn't have a choice. But um without that um stabilization option, we would perhaps come to city council or we would have a mid-year deficit and have to close it, which is a horrible idea um to
have to go through that. So, um I I do hope that this is not the new normal. I feel like we won't know. Um my question though I did have a question somewhere on all that was um are any of these things these unanticipated expenses
well let me rephrase that um does the size of these un unanticipated expenses any of that related to tariffs or inflation >> that you know I mean >> no >> no okay >> well
>> no I I should say too that the um the spending is occurring all throughout the year. So what we presented tonight is the fully annualized cost of those uh
of that spending and that that that is not the the hit on this year's budget. >> Okay. >> Although we we're we're having to address that, you know, as in our budget projections. >> Yeah. I mean, the way I I feel like we typically are also solving this is we're
not hiring critical positions we need because we won't have the money if we do and you know we have we have school district school committee and we have superintendent goals and a lot of that hiring is a big part of meeting those goals. So not hiring people because
we're going to run out of money because of unanticipated costs is really pushing us, you know, is not meeting our goals. And it's really hard to um you know, when we look at the actual budget book, we'll see a number of positions that
say, you know, unfilled or whatever the the language is. Um, and I think that like we don't really have time to get into that level of detail in these meetings, but like the consequence of not having those people is real. If it wasn't, we wouldn't even budget for
them, right? Like we're not hiring extra staff to stand around. Uh, so I don't know where I was going with that exactly. It's getting late and I'm hungry. Um, so thank you. >> Okay, are we ready to go on to number four? Gone green billing fiscal year 25
Kenneth Lord chief operating officer and Noel as director of finance >> here. >> Hey everyone, it's me again. >> Welcome back here with my best friend Ken. Yeah. So,
um, few weeks ago, we received a series of invoices from Gone Green, which is our electrical subcontractor who comes in and does a lot of the work. These are from fiscal 25. >> There are series of invoices that were not processed on our end for payment, but they were received. And so, we're
here seeking permission to submit those to payment for this fiscal year. So, we do need your approval and city council's approval in order to pay something out of this fiscal year that occurred into the last fiscal year. >> Um, these invoices,
it's not entirely clear to us where the failure was. We know what happened. Um, the invoices received, they were not processed for payment. Um, we've put new systems in place and there were some systems already put in place to try to prevent this in the future. Um, we're not entirely sure why the vendor didn't,
you know, was more loudly complaining. Yeah. >> Um they have some issues on their end of billing, but um they were sent in promptly after the work was done at the time and just not processed. >> Yeah.
>> Is there interest on the bills? >> No. No. >> Member Rouso, >> thank you. I appreciate this. I do know that like some Gone Green invoices have been getting paid because I see them. Um, so I'm I'm sure you've you got you've got a great handle on this. I'll
make a motion to approve. >> Can you just >> second? >> Just um before the rolls called, can you just outline the cost, the total cost? >> Sure. It's uh 48,6651. >> And how many bills total was that? >> Uh you know, you would ask me that. It's
probably 25 or so invoices. I didn't have the exact number. I can get that for you, though. So they like put in a folder by someone or something. How did 25 invoices from one company >> and it's unclear whether they were processed by facilities or not processed by accounts payable?
>> I can't technically find out because they were sent by email like because the process is invoices received, it's printed, it's manually signed off and then it's manually sent over to accounts payable for them to enter into the billing system. So I can't prove where that failed. And during that time when
these occurred, there were several staffing changes. There were people in these departments that aren't here anymore. So we're kind of, you know, a little bit of a loss of how this could happen at this magnitude. >> Member Ryan. Oh, sorry. >> I was just going to I'm sorry if you already said point of clarification was
that this the invoices primarily occurred between August okay of 2024 and January of 2025. >> Correct. So, our leadership team looked very different at that point. Um, and I just am hoping you can state for the record
what's being done to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> Yeah. A couple things have changed. Um, the administrative assistant who processes these invoices in her second year and she actually now tracks the actual invoice numbers and notes what's been done. Um I'm looking to implement a
tighter process as far as verifying work and verifying the invoices that it's been processed. Um we're also have much more increased con much more it's not right but um a greater communication with vendors to make sure that they are sending us their bills in a timely
fashion so that not only makes closing the fiscal year more appropriate but also making sure we don't miss anything. Um so we are actively and proactively contacting vendors on a regular basis. say, "Do we have all your invoices? Has this been paid? Are you looking for anything outstanding?" Try to make sure that we're not missing something on our
end that they may have just not sent in or sent in incorrectly or got in the wrong place because some of that always happens as far as that. >> Great. And thank you to the people doing that work because it's it spends it it takes a lot more time than one thinks to chase people down. >> Yes, it does. >> Amazingly, there is not uncommon for us
to have to chase a vendor to give us an invoice. It's like we want to pay you, you know, get I don't know why, but sometimes it happens. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. There's a motion for approval by member Rouso, second by member Graham. Do you want a roll call, please?
>> Member Graham. >> Member Master Bony. Yes. >> Member Olady. Yes. Member Parks. >> Yes. >> Member Rinfeld. Yes. >> Member So, yes. Mayor Lgo, >> yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Paper passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Presentations of student advisory council student survey
on lunch and transportation. Welcome. >> Hello everyone. We'll try to be a bit quick because we know how late it is, but it's also an important thing to talk about. So I don't think that we want to rush too much. Uh we sent a survey a couple weeks ago just sort of trying to
gauge the policy of student opinion on the state of buses and the state of school lunch in light of the schedule changes for this year as well as um the implementation of bus barriers uh continued implementation of bus
barriers. We just wanted to see how these changes sort of affected schools, the students in the district as well as sort of evaluate what changes needed to be make could be made or what concerns um may or may not already be being addressed uh in the district.
So starting with maybe a lunch or lunch survey, these were two separate surveys. Uh we should have the response numbers on these. Um so we just started we wanted to sort of see what how how much kids were getting school lunch. Um and a pretty sizable uh portion of students
get school lunch every day. So that means that anything that affects the quality of um of the lunch experience is going to be affecting a really large portion of Medford High School students. Um if you go to the next slide, it's a bit more clear. We sort of broke it down into ranges just to be a bit more
readable. um rather than each number one through 10 being in a separate category. But this is the same data as the graph before. >> Yeah. So on this slide we asked students to what extent do you feel lunch lines are overcrowded? And it's interesting we
have a key that says not crowded and 0% of students said the lunch lines were not crowded at all. 50% said they were very crowded. 29 29.7% said crowded. So crowding is a big issue in the lunch lines and like even just a few days ago.
I forget what the lunch was exactly, but there was a lot of hype around it causing a lot of pushing and shoving and crowding. And so that's definitely something we want to address in the future. >> Um this is obviously a very triangular distribution here. it might be more
normal. But um yeah, there's not a ton that we gleaned here. We just wanted to see if there was any real trend that we saw. We see that most of the crowding like is moderate. So we're not seeing students that are like extremely distraught like most students you know
are fine. Although of course if you know kids are getting punched or kids are getting you know having extremely negative physical experiences at least it's good to know that that is maybe the m minority uh in our sample here >> I guess this is along the same lines so
I'll go again uh so yeah we see again the majority of students are subject to sort of the effects of crowding they're subject to this unwanted physical contact or like shoving or whatnot um in the last two weeks uh This is again not as concerning as maybe some of our other data points, but we're still seeing, you
know, 67% of students um being subject to that, which is obviously not what we want to be able to see. And and that means that, you know, this is a thing that needs to be addressed. And now for this question, we ask students how often they've been unable to eat
lunch due to time constraints. You see that while that between about 75% of students on either one to 10 days have had been unable to eat the lunch they wanted to eat because of time constraints and 25% of students said
they were fine. If you just sum up all of those points from 1 to 10 we see 75% of students were unable to eat all the food they wanted due to time constraints. >> Yeah. And and really this is a a really important slide to look at here because we see that 25 almost 26% of students
every day in the last two weeks were were unable to eat all the food that they wanted. Not because of the the school lunch didn't provide the food for them, but because students have very limited time. And we saw that with the decrease in time in the schedule. We've also seen especially I've looked at a couple of student complaints and talked
to other members of student representatives. One of the concerns that we've seen is that because lunch times are shorter, students have to go into the line earlier into the lunch to get their food, to have time to eat, which means that the lunch line is longer at a time, which means kids have to get there earlier, which means the
lunch line is longer. And so we see this sort of confounding effect that makes it more difficult. And that was some of the things that we heard in maybe the open response sections of this that inform uh this question. Yeah. Yeah. Then we ask students, what do they think railings or belt barriers
would improve the state of the lunch lines? Because currently it's kind of just this bottleneck that happens where you have like at minimum three different lines kind of going into the narrow doorway with people coming in from all angles trying to get lunch in time so
they they can't have time to eat all their lunch. We see about 73% students said no, they don't think it would improve the state. And then 26% students said they would improve the state. So again, this doesn't seem like the best solution, at least by popular
opinion. Um, so we we would be looking at maybe other possible answers to this issue, and we we heard a couple of them in the response. Um, I think what are some final main takeaways we took for lunch? Of course, there was complaints of food and all of that sort of stuff, but we also
understand that that is not really um the things that we'd be looking at to solve in the short term. things that are, you know, we want to look at things that are obtainable. We want to identify where the real problems areas are. We want to try to enable um a better lunch experience for students of Medford High.
And so looking at our data, looking at all the open response questions, I think I I really again like to accentuate the fact that because of purely time constraints, students aren't able to eat the food that is provided to them. It's not that we're not providing students with enough food necessarily, but that they just simply cannot consume it in
the time that's provided. And maybe that's because they're talking to their are not doing the other things that they should be doing during lunch. It's possible that there are other issues, but we believe that that really needs addressing because 25% of 26% is just unacceptable
uh in in my opinion. >> Yeah. And so these next few slides will go into the bus schedule survey we've put out. At first, here are just a few demographics about how students get to school with most students taking the bus, either like the yellow bus or like
the MBTA in the morning with 60% of students and then walking's 10%, car or car pools like 51%, bike 4.8% and then >> there was some others. >> Some others just 1%.
>> It's you can select multiple ways you get to school. >> Yes. Uh we saw again an increase in bus ridership on the way home. This of course makes sense. You know parents are not available to get their kids to school in the in the evening a lot of
the time. Um so that just should be a probably an area of greater focus looking into this results in the evening than it is in the morning. We again wanted to just get a pulse on general bus ridership. Um and again four to five days 60 you know 68 70% of
students 70 roughly 70% is again a decent portion of the student base at Medford High School. So this you know fixes changes to this would be changes to um to the lives improvement of lives of most students at Medford High School
and we again see that you know almost 90% of students take buses utilize the buses that are provided which is again a significant portion even if it's not every day. Then this is just looking at the demographics on which buses are the most popular to take with the 134 being the
most of 41.9% of students and then the yellow bus being the least of 21.5% of students. And a lot of this goes into our consideration on ways to organize the bus pickup area. For instance, having maybe designated spots that are closer
to the sidewalk or guess closer to like the crosswalk that are more is more open, which would allow like for like the 134 and 101 of a greater amount of students who take that take those buses, they can have more space to line up. Whereas maybe the
yellow bus or the 95 can have spots further along the sidewalk where there's less space but also less students. And so to try and find ways to better coordinate the bus. I I want to make two two clarifications just for the data on this slideshow. Um this question there's less responses because of course the
students that do not take buses cannot answer this question. In fact, they weren't served this question. But then also um this there are you know the students that are taking buses only one or two days a week or you know less than one day a week to go to the library or whatnot um may mess up these results
because these aren't weighted by how much how how many days students take buses. Uh so this might be some of the reason why the 134 is higher just because it goes by 9 square in the library but we still think that it's generally representative based off of
other data. Um also just for representatives that haven't surveyed the way that the bus system works just in front of our school haven't been there because I think that I'm not sure um just who is aware um there's a bus lane on the if you're coming up the hill on the left side of the school where all
the buses will go through and um There are currently in place aluminum barriers that we put up this year to sort of prevent students from falling into the buses or into the road, but we see that they also cause, you know, that might be safer um inherently because they're not falling into the dangerous movement
vehicles, but there's also a crowding issue which is introduced, which we'll get to later. Um and so currently these buses don't have designated spots. They just sort of go through and park and so all the students need to run to their bus when it shows up. Um which causes some issues. So we just want to make sure that we're on the same page of what
the current situation is like. So when when we talk about addressing these issues, we have sort of a united um thinking. Uh this question was added late. Uh so we do not believe that this data is necessarily representative. Again, 26 is
just not enough. Um it's just not enough. But we still see that 76 77% of students that at least responded to this question wanted to would use a utilize a late bus. This other was like probably um
the the the reality of the situation is if there's 70% of students even if this is a very small sample statistically it's likely that still a significant amount of students would be willing to use a late bus even if the error bars are long larger than we'd want. So I think it's it's still a helpful question. Um, and there's a a lot of we
we didn't bother including all of the other responses because students could select other. Um, but a lot of them were just a mix. You can see um very few of them were actually alternative locations. Uh so we just didn't necessarily bother um but we saw you
know most of the demand for um late bus locations if we are talking about this because we understand it would be a budgetary ask because currently you know students that can take a car, students that can take a bike, students that are maybe more advantaged in terms of um monetary
um basis for their families are able to access the extracurricular activities, are able to stay after with their teachers, are able to do all of these We do not have a late bus. And so, um, with some exceptions, students that have to ride the bus, students that live farther away from the school because our school is in a more affluent part of
Medford are put at not only a disadvantage from all the other factors in their life, but also a disadvantage academically. Like we are able to come after school on Thursdays and, you know, participate in student involvement and
be here. But like you take the car, you your parents drive you or you drive you most of the time. I, you know, it's a 20-minute walk. It's not short, but I can do it. Um, and so like we see this select this selection in our school, in our clubs, and our after school
activities, and we really just want to try and maintain an equitable learning environment. So, even if this doesn't get addressed this fiscal year with with the budgetary constraints that we just spent, you know, time talking about, we we do think that the lack of a late bus is really hurting our disadvantaged uh
population at Medford High School. Yeah. And so recently around I think it was like December or January added a second bus railing as a way because before with only one bus railing then all the buses would then park in front of that one bus railing to cause a lot of congestion. And so now there's a
second bus railing where generally like the 134 and like 95 for instance can park at the two of them. And we asked students had this improved the bus departure time crowding or safety and there's a resounding 61% or 62% said that it did not help a a lot at all
because there's still and part of that reason could be because one like the buses still can only park in front of them. At least that's how that's being coordinated currently. And so there's still a lot of crowding. That's like one of the big things we saw in the responses how there's just a lot of crowding, a lot of bottlenecks that
happen at those two railings. And we also see that like even if a student's bus isn't the one that's pulled up, they still want to like stand in front of that railing to make sure that they have a spot for when their bus comes. And so there's a lot of congestion, a lot of
just like human body density that happens at the bus railings currently. >> Yes. And and again, because the buses don't have designated spots, if students want to have first positions on their bus, be able to sit comfortably down, which of course the students want to do on their long bus rides home. uh they
need to be ready by the bus railings. They don't know which bus is going to come. They don't know where the buses are going to park. And so when you know I saw today literally outside the school when I was leaving um the 1:34 I believe no 101 was very late. And so um you had a bunch of the kids moving sitting
around and then when the bus pulled up to one of the railings they had they like this sort of cloud of kids ran into the other people that were waiting for the 134 um because they don't have designated spots and so students just have to sort of move as a group to the location. And so in these sort of um
other categories, we saw either sentiment of like it didn't improve significantly um or we saw that like there was still significant crowding because of these issues that I just talked about. These were the main sort of other responses in this category. We couldn't include them
all. Um but those were generally the sum of what they were talking about. Uh here going along with this idea we see a lot of significant quantity of students think that uh individual locations would help and this is with still bus railings which the students were saying were not beneficial before
right so that negative percentage we believe is at least significantly attributed to the to to students that were previously you know saying that they didn't want bus railings and almost all of the other category here were people saying yes individual locations are good we just do not want the bus
railings present there um and so we I think that there we we would like to do another version of the survey just without the railings ask about individual locations but based off of you know anecdotal student opinions we've inter have talked to a couple other students and just based off the results of this forum we feel like as
you know a lower cost option here of course require coordination with the MBTA but just like in the middle schools um if we can just designate certain portions of that of the um sidewalk area to the outside the what is it called
like that courtyard. >> Yeah. >> Um >> the west courtyard. >> The west courtyard. If we can if we can uh allocate specific areas for the four different buses outside the west courtyard, I think >> we and most other students believe that that would significantly uh help aid in a lot of issues we see with buses as
sort of um more easily implemented solution. >> Thank you. I think that was I love that you did a survey and telling us what the students um feel is necessary and issues and concerns. I really appreciate the
presentation. If there's any questions member Ryenfeld, >> uh not questions so much, but just to say we just met our new transportation manager. Obviously, she's new. I assume you've met with her, but some of this on the bus front certainly seems like it could be very quickly pilotable.
Um, and I would love to see the results because we've we've the bus the late bus we talked about that on a I think was our Zoom only meeting. Um, so I'm excited to see that analysis once our new transportation manager kind of gets feet under her. I don't want to throw
everything at her the first week. >> So I'm excited about that. There's really clear actionable things. Um, my question on the not a question, I promise. Uh on the >> It's fine. >> No, it's a question. I'm going to ask it. Um,
so there are questions of time, there's questions of space. Time turns out to be one of those really complicated things with lots of ripple effect. Um, but the space question is interesting. I think we heard some strong feelings about railings, particularly in cafeterias. I have all kinds of questions about how
this applies at the elementary school. But the question for you is, we are currently thinking about a new high school in Medford and there's an opportunity. And so I guess my question is what advice would you have to the design team knowing that we are still in that collecting input phase phase or
maybe this is something you could write up and send separately but what would the student body of Medford High School want to see in the cafeteria or maybe you've already had that conversation with the architects. I don't know, but this seems like a great opportunity to look at the space that's needed and are
there ways to improve that traffic, that crowding, that physical contact by changing the layout. >> Yeah, we I mean we definitely want to do I think we'd want to do another site, another survey. Uh because the cafeteria question is hard. If it
was easy and it wasn't cost prohibitive, then it would not be a problem. And you know some of the issue of the cafeteria is the design of the cafeteria space. That is most certainly true. Um you know students have to go to the far side and then when they come out of the cafeteria line they have to intersect back with
the crowd that's already there. So there isn't capability for sort of smooth flow. Um >> sounds like the driveways at the high school. >> Sure. Yes. That is an apt comparison. Um, and then I think this is, you know, it's it's maybe
I think buses are a bit easier to talk about just because the student opinion has been more united in terms of possible solutions. I think we always have a dissenting opinion whenever we do anything like this. It's just how it works. But
>> we don't know what that's like on school committee at all. >> Sure. >> Of course. never heard a negative voice ever. Um, no, but uh, you know, I think that buses are a bit of an easier problem to address and that also goes into traffic in the traffic flow conversation because if we're expecting,
you know, buses to be lining up um, in parallel like at this like on the bus lane at the same time, which we do see, but they not they might need to pass each other, right? That's a whole another consideration. I mean, they do that at, you know, the the Andrews to
some extent. Um but it it's just I think I think the current causeway is wide enough. There are considerations of course I think that there it is difficult to give you concrete stuff right now after you know a preliminary survey but we could that is certainly I think important
feedback that could be provided and we we would love to I think you know provide a write up or something. >> Thank you. And then the other piece I would just um urge you to keep in mind with the buses and transportation is thinking about the safety components of people who aren't taking buses and
walking, biking, and all of that. >> I think um the good thing about the way our school is currently set up is that the west courtyard is not the only exit that students can take off of campus. In fact, I don't even think it's the least like it's not even in many cases the closest exit to the bottom of the hill.
So students that are walking, students that are taking their bike often exit out of the front entrance of the school because then they do not have to deal with the crowds. Make that more explicit is probably a good idea. I think that you know it is certainly an issue. There is a choke point you know at the um would be the south corner of the west
courtyard like the trying to trying to triangulate but the corner closer to you know uh the main street um because that's there's a that's kind of where the buses pull up. have to sit there. Um, so we just want to try and I think
when you talk about bus ridership and this is the reason why we did this question in the beginning is like we want to move the higher volume buses into the court into is the inner two spots is the middle two spots next to the courtyard so that those students are are in that you know location that can
hire us more rather than just being on a sidewalk which is you know rather skinny and could provide congestion issues. But yeah, safety is very important. That was why the bus railings were there in the first place. And so we still have a bit mixed feelings on that because even if they're causing worse crowding, if they stop students from, you know, getting
their foot um run over by a bus, I know that that was a problem, you know, a couple years back. Um maybe they're still worth it to have in place. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. >> Dr. I just have one quick question. You
mentioned maybe potentially doing another survey on this original survey. >> Do we get a sense of what did you was there a question that asked the grade span? I noticed participation for the lunch varied between 118 to 128
responses. Do we know what that breakdown was across the 1,200 students? Like was one particular grade >> Actually we could pull that information. I think we we didn't explicitly. We can
actually pull some of that information. We didn't include it on the slideshow because we didn't think it was particularly insightful. In fact, there were quite a few questions that weren't necessarily included. But one of the things that we sort of asked was if students felt that the lunch lines were longer or like shorter or meaningfully different from previous years. We saw
very mixed results um on some of that because a lot of the of course generally longer was the consensus. Um but we There was of course an option for students that didn't go to school last year. So we can certainly pull the ninth graders out. But yes, that is something
we'd like to do sort of going forward is is look at those demographics. Um but no, unfortunately in the survey we do not have the information, but that would be a consideration for follow-ups and I think that is important. So thank you for bringing that to our attention. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. Yes, >> do not have any presentations of the public. We do have continued business. MSBA project update. Member Graham, chair of the Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee, I'll turn it to you.
>> Thank you. Um I will try to be brief and thorough at the same time, so we'll see how it goes. Um okay so the first thing I wanted to cover was um some conversation around the process where we are the option selection etc. So as I
think you all know um the MSBA asked us to move um more quickly from 29 to 3 to five options or so um than we originally anticipated. So we have done that. Um we have notified the MSBA. they've acknowledged that they received that and
they are now um working through providing their feedback on our PDP submission. So all of that is happening and we're expecting answers from the MSBA in the coming days. Um we one of the things that I think is noteworthy
about the six options is that um I don't I don't think there was any clear favorite like in all the discussion I don't think there is a clear winner of any of these options if you are just thinking about like the thing that looks like it's going to work the best for us
because it's a really complicated site. What the six options do though is pretty comprehensively allow us to explore all the facets of what's possible on the site. So I'm excited about that. Um we did hear um from the committee lots of
questions about things like could you explore this without needing modulars? Could you explore this option to look a little bit more like this other option that couldn't go forward? Which is all like exactly what happens at this phase of design. Um earlier today I did send a
a form out for the building committee to provide that kind of input to the project team so that the project team can either integrate that into their next iteration of design or um provide some documentation about why it it can't or it's not possible or it can't. Um so
all of that is happening right now from a selection perspective. Um we don't have plans to to like pair down from six before we get to one. So we'll go from six to one as our next plan. Um between now and then a couple of other important
things are h will be happening. Um first uh we will we have also today asked for um the building committee to provide any suggestions that they have for space changes. um whether that is adding or
subtracting from um the space summary. And um those proposals will be collected up and provided um and noticed on the agenda for our meeting on the 27th where we will be considering and voting on anything that might change the space allocation as it was originally
envisioned. Um based on whatever is approved in that um meeting on the 27th, a revised um request will go to the two estimators on the project for a second round of costing where more things are
known about these options and they can get a little bit more um precise. Although I say a little bit because I think we're still at the a little bit phase um when it comes to cost. Um but that next round again is
really intended to help us compare the options to each other. Um and um you know I think we'll see some combination of like changes to space on the 27th and some com and and yet another combination of um options because whatever we
eliminate on the 27th is gone forever. Um we also have options to carry forward options which you saw some of that in our last um costing and we can continue to do that at this phase so that we have sort of all the options on the table. Um
the group is also um slated to come to our meeting here on May 4th um with an update and in particular if there are any um edits or comments from the MSBA about the ED plan which again is the
purview of this committee um I would envision I would envision those being surfaced on the 4th. Um we do have a series of upcoming community events scheduled. Um the next one is on the 15th. Um, last week I also um spent some
time in the recording studio with our CTE studio students and Matt and we actually went and did like a a little like you know virtual walking tour of each of the six options and h I we sort of talked a little bit about what's to
come for each of these options. So what is the option? What is it? What are we seeing in the picture? What is possible? What's not possible? um just to give people an orientation of um the six if they haven't tuned in yet so that people can watch those. Our CT students are um
editing and um preparing those now. So you should see those in the coming days which is super exciting. Um we also are um working on um in addition to our community forums a list of events um
across the spring where we will be out in various places in the community. um so people can come and ask their live questions. We are planning um a trip to the senior center, the senior center and a mailer that will go to every household in Medford. Um and then I think the sort
of last bucket is maybe like a catchall and um just a couple of other things happening last week. Um, thanks to a suggestion and some guidance from David Teddiscoco, who's a resident, um, we put in a federal grant request, um, for $3
million to fund the Medford Family Network space in the welcome center, at least I think substantially, um, based on the current numbers. Um, and, uh, whether that goes forward this year or perhaps like primes the pump for next
year, I think either way, um, I will take $3 million. Um, we did meet with Medford Wreck today and we were talking about the pool and the options for the pool and some of the things um, from a more visionary perspective that our pool experts here in Medford would like to
see us think about and consider. Um, and Kevin graciously also offered to begin looking for um, grant funding for the pool. Um, so we'll take that um, as well. So um, that more to come there. Um
we did um also talk um with um Kevin from a really preliminary contingency planning space and we start talking about the things that will be impacted on the site during construction, how do we start to make sure that um our full
cadre of programming can continue through construction. So if um for example we pick a design that builds something on the field um that means we will be displacing soccer and lacrosse and where do they go? So, we're having all those conversations and there's some related work um that the city is um
contemplating around Hormel Stadium so that it can be ready um to receive students if um it comes to that. Um we did also talk um uh with Kevin about um you know other alternatives like the TUS
pool etc. I think um we've had a lot of conversations about the pool and we are exploring every avenue to make um the priority of the pool um remain a priority but not drive the entirety of the design decision- making um about the
high school project. And um I don't have any answers for that yet, just questions and conversation that we're having particularly with our state delegation. um our state delegation was in um a week and a half ago where we gave them an update on the project and we had launch
of Beastro 489 and we talked with them um about any variety of things um on the on the docket in terms of the project. Um we also talked about you know my desire to see the state um increase reimbursement when you're building
vocational programs. Vocational programs are expensive. They are the future. They're the thing that at the state level everyone is talking about. And yet there's like no additional reimbursement. And in fact, there is a bill um there are multiple bills that seem to have stripped out the additional reimbursement for vocational programs,
which is um sad and not aligned with I think the future of education. So um hopeful that um we can continue to have that conversation with them. Um we are also talking with them because we are in conversation with DCR who is our biggest largest neighbor by far. Um, and they
all but surround us actually on the site when you look at a map. And um, we are talking to them about um, as well as Friends of the Fells about both um, construction, post construction um, needs that that we we have and share
with them like like access um to the site um, in a way that is not um, just the main sort of access road right now. um which would um we think would be mutually beneficial um with DCR, but obviously that brings up lots of planning and permitting sort of
questions that create a long tale potentially depending on what um where we go with all of those options in in collaboration with DCR. So, we wanted to make sure our state delegation was um aware of and involved in that discussion
early on. Um they were extremely supportive and excited about the project. Um they uh raved about the blueberry bread pudding at the beastro and that was like very excellent um uh
dessert topping I guess I would say and um it was it was a good conversation and they're eager to help um any way that they can which I think is great. Um, I think other than that's sort of like a a an as fast as possible like roundup of
everything that's going on, but there's like literally tons and tons of planning going on. I know that the um SMMA is talking to the um city's traffic engineer um about some exciting things um that the traffic engineer is
suggesting in terms of um the the entrance and exit. Um these next phase this next phase of design will also allow us to look more carefully at circulation around the building. Um which will improve traffic flow on and
off the site. It will plan for things like where do buses go, where do people go, where do cars go, where do bikes go, etc. So much to the point of the conversation that our students were just having with us, um our site was not
planned for any of these things in mind. And I think the most exciting thing that I heard today was that um after a pretty thorough walkthrough of our pool space, if the pool remains in its current location, there are some options to
still improve that back corner of the building if circulation around the back corner remains an issue that I don't think anybody was really thinking about before um this detailed walkthrough. So that was exciting um and it would not impact the the size of the pool, etc. So, um much more to come on all of this.
Um but just mark your calendar. The 15 4:15 is our next community forum. 427 is where we'll take up um space change considerations and proposals. Um and then um the team will be here on May 4th to talk about any um feedback on the ed
plan. Questions? >> No. Thank you for the presentation. Do you have a question? Okay. Um, we don't have any new businesses or reports requested, but we do have a couple condolences. The members of the Memphis School Committee expressed its sincerest
condolences to the family of David P. Scary, Medford High School social studies teacher, best buddies adviser, unified co basketball coach, and former varsity basketball coach John Scar's father. and the members of the Medford School Committee expressed their sincere
condolences to the family of Lax Parasian. Lot Max graduated from Medford High School in 1978 and served the Medford High School community for many years, most recently as a security monitor from 2019 to 2024. If we all may
rise for a moment of silence, please. Thank you. Our next regular meeting will be next Monday, April 13th, 2026 here in the Aldermorial Chambers and via Zoom. >> Motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjurnn by member Rinfeld, second by member Master Bony. Although