All right, we'll get [Music] started. The eighth regular meeting of the Thank you. The eighth regular meeting of the Medford School Committee, May 5th, 2025, 6 p.m. will come to
order, be held at the Howard Alder Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall, and via remote participation. This meeting is being recorded. It can also be viewed live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable
channel, Comcast 9,8 or 22 and Verizon channel 4345 and 47. Participants can log or call in by using the following Zoom link and the meeting ID is 9301206 2758. Member Rouso, if you could please
call the role. Member Branley member Graham here. Member Antapa here. Member present. Member Reinfeld is not here yet. Member present. Mayor Lgo present. Six present, one absent for
now. I'm running a little late. Um any student representatives on the meeting? Not that we're aware of just yet. Okay. And if we all could 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. [Music] We have number three. Um, is anybody have anything for good of the order? Hearing and seeing none, I'll move on to number four. Our consent
agenda, it's approval of bills and payrolls, approval of capital purchases, approval of grants, approval of field trips, and approval of meeting minutes. Um, the meeting minutes included here are regular meeting minutes from April 14th, 2025. Is there a motion on the
floor? Motion to approve. Motion for approval by member Olide, seconded by member Entapa. All those in favor? All those opposed? Consent agenda is approved. We have reports of
subcommittees. We do not have reports of subcommittees. We have three reports um from our superintendent. First up, recommendation to approve no school choice district school year 2025 to 2026. Dr. Suzanne B. Galooi, interim
superintendent. Thank you very much. Good evening. Good evening. So, under current school law, a school district is assumed to be accepting school choice for school year 2526
unless the school committee votes otherwise. So, I'm here tonight to discuss um and have you make a recommendation uh to approve the no school choice Medford public schools as a no school choice district.
I need to report this decision to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education um by June or within June of 2025. So after careful consideration, this has kind of also been our plan um
for the past several years, but it is my recommendation that we continue to not be a school choice um district. I think um it was in my transition plan. We are having a lot of conversations around enrollment and
capacity. We have three out of our four elementary schools um that are having some spacing um and some enrollment capacity issues as well as our thriving CTE program which is wonderful. Um but
there is uh a wait list for the CTE program. And so, and this school committee has also expressly made their priorities and goals well known about serving the needs of our Medford
families uh to the fullest. That is just um my request that we me make a recommendation to continue that Medford is a no school choice district. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy. Um, in our packet, we do have the explanation in writing. Is there a motion on the floor? Member Inappa to be a no school choice district. Second. Seconded by member Graham. All those in favor?
All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. We have number two, recommendation to approve budget transfers. Mr. Noel Vez, our director of finances, present. Welcome. Hello everyone. Today I have um
a budget transfer request in um totaling $25,97141 regarding um seven separate transactions um for different um middle for different school districts uh and schools just kind of moving some funding around as they um purchase their last items before we get to the end of the
school year. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Vez. Looks like a um a lot of office supplies, instructional supplies, transfers um and then contractual services to maintenance of equipment. Mhm.
Totaling 25,97141. Is there a motion on the floor to approve the budget transfers? Question. Sure. Member Graham. I don't know if this is actually a question um for you, but I was curious. Um, number
six, uh, the budget transfer will cover the need for sound system repair at the McGlin auditorium. Does that bring it to full function? Because I hear a lot of commentary from families that that sound
system is quite bad. Um, so does this like fix it, fix it, or is this like a small minor thing? So, this is more of a small minor thing. Um, we are aware of that right now. We're kind of running the preliminary numbers of what that would cost and we'll probably have that number I believe by July or August. But
that is something we are with myself and Peter have been um having conversations about and I won't hold you to this number. Do you have any like idea like in a ballpark? Is it like 5,000? Is it 50,000? Is it something in the middle? Peter has that number. I'm going to have
let Peter control that one. Sorry. I I have had people um interested in what it would take to fix it. So that's why I'm asking. Yeah. So um building uh 25 years old uh original sound system. Uh so you're looking at the neighborhood of 25
to $30,000. Um, what that would give you, uh, would give you a fiber optic board, um, using Cats 6 wiring to run from a sound board in the back of the house to a stage box that would allow you to have, uh, probably up to about 16
channels and then a line array with two new uh, four new speakers, but for for auditorium that size, you would probably only need two in the line array. uh plus some stage monitors so that people on stage are able to pick up and hear
what's going on. So fully installed um probably between 25 and $30,000. And that's a that's a really accurate estimate given what these systems cost. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Um and motion to approve the budget transfers.
Motion for approval by member Graham, seconded by member Rinfeld. All those in favor? Do we have to roll call this because it's budget transfers? I don't believe so, but we can do it just in case. Okay. Um, roll call has been requested. Member Bradley? Yes. Member Graham? Yes.
Member Antappa? Yes. Member Olady? Yes. Member Rinfeld? Yes. Member say yes. Marilyn Booker, yes. Seven. The affirmative zero in the negative. Budget transfers have been approved. Thank you. We have number three, approval of the school year 2025 2026 school committee
calendar. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Lucy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, thank you. This is just a a draft of the school committee dates for next school year, keeping with the same kind of frequent schedule that we have now,
which is the first and third Monday of the month. um maybe with some careful tweaking around vacations, but I don't think it was that difficult this year. And there are some dates for um Mr. McHugh and Mr. VeZ's budget times
which will be fully developed and I can get that to you. But I'm not if you have any questions or if you if there are dates that you'd like to discuss, please let me know. Thank you, Dr. Galooi. member Graham.
Um, two, one question and maybe one comment. So, um, this year what we did was we put a third date in June on the calendar so that there's space on the calendar for what may need to happen,
which we would then cancel if we don't need it. Okay. And I was wondering if we should do the same for next year. I just know when we get to the end of the year, it is impossible to wedge things into the calendar versus like if it's there, we know it, we can
plan for it. So, I was wondering if we could amend this to add June 15th um if necessary. And it's I think it's fine to say if necessary. um but that we might want that and thank
ourselves in the our future selves might thank us if we put it on the calendar. Now that's fine. Um and then the other question I had um was whether these dates line up with our budget
um process policy. They do. They do. They absolutely do. Yes. Amazing. Okay. Thank you. Motion to approve as amended. Motion to approve by member Graham, seconded by member Branley. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. The school
committee meeting date calendar has been approved. Great. Thank you. Thank you. We do not have any pres presentations of the public or continued business. We do have new business. Um an MSBA update. Um I'll turn it over to
Member Graham. wanted to give this committee a quick update on where we are. So, um we have been um working since our invitation to the feasibility study to secure what is called an owner's project
manager. Um, and that process started with um, having to take some boilerplate documents, infuse our Medford specific things, and then go through all of the procurement hoops, um, that are required by both um, the city's procurement team
and the MSBA to push out a request. Um, so we put out what they call an RFS, which is a request for services. Um, and we did a walkthrough at the high school. We had good attendance. there were like 15 or 20 people there um from various organizations walking through just to
get a feel for the building itself um and get to hear some information from us um although it was not required and then uh they were asked to submit their proposals and um we received 10
proposals which everyone says wow it sounds like that's actually a lot like everybody that yes apparently it's very good um and people even on the tour um who are just so interested in this project. Like this is a very
desirable project in the world and I think it's like it has something for everyone. Like if you like space challenges, we've got that. If you like having to like not disrupt vocational programs, we've got that. Like we've just there's like something for everyone
in here. So like from a um you know from a you know the perspective of people who do this for a living it's I think it's a very desirable project. Um so we got 10 um RFS's last week. Um the OPM selection subcommittee met with three finalists
um and uh we met um each of them on Wednesday. So we had it was a very long day on Wednesday. Um the uh ultimate um winner of that um evaluation process was
unanimous. Um we we had three really good options. Um but one just sort of stood a little head and shoulders above the rest. Um their name is Left Field. They are OPMs by trade. So there's lots of organizations out there that do OPM
services and they do other things. I believe left field is just an OPM. That's what they do. This is their passion. Um they will bring a team to Medford um upon like sort of all these final steps. Um but our recommendation to MSBA is that we'll work with left
field. So we're um working through the final um back and forth on the contract negotiation right now. Um the building committee will meet next Monday um and actually get to meet the team from left field. Um, so if anybody, it's an open meeting, so if people would like to join
us, they're welcome to do so. Um, and then all our paperwork, uh, it's I think at six. Um, and we're still trying to lo find a location because the beastro is booked. So, um, but, uh, by Wednesday of
this week, we will have to submit our recommendation, um, and our request to work with left field to MSBA um, along with a whole slew of other, um, paperwork to sort of outline the process that we went
through and turn over all the documentation that they require. Um, and that deadline will put us on track for um going to what they call the the OPM selection panel um in early June. I believe it's June
2nd. And at that meeting um presuming that MSBA is in agreement with our selection, um they will give us the green light. we will execute the contract and we will um begin work immediately very immediately um to bring
on the designer. So that is the architect who will actually do the feasibility study and grapple with all of the like cool interesting really challenging things that um will go um will go into making decisions about what the future of the building looks like.
Um so that's really exciting. Um when we met with um all three vendors um I opened with saying that I am hopeful that my eighth grader sees the inside of something new before he graduates. Um so
I think they understand our urgency quite clearly. Um and even um we were able to have a lot of dialogue with all of the biders but with left hand specifically to really impress upon them just how overdue this is in Medford and
that we're very aware that every day that we wait means this will cost more. So um they are already thinking about how to accelerate the work that has to be done. That's and some of it can't be accelerated but where we can accelerate
things like paperwork and um getting you know through gates like we're we're ready to think about that and they were just all for um the energy that we imparted on them about what we are trying to do here. So um it was exciting. The team is amazing. um they
provide, you know, a project manager. There's actually two on our project. One is more um communications and engagement focused and the other is more construction focused. Um they seem like a very good team. They have a lot of nice energy. There's an educational
consultant who was the principal of a vocational school, maybe a superintendent, I can't remember, superintendent. Um along with another, you know, any other number of credentials. I think she was a special educator to start. Like she's she's sort
of got lots and lots of good history um behind her to help advise from an educational planning perspective which is an important part of this project. Um and then there's, you know, we got to meet the people who will be on the ground when there's construction going
on, you know, and everybody just really knew their stuff. So it was really exciting. Um and if you all would like to join us on Monday, you can meet them too. Um so our next thing is to work with um to get through this gate and
then work with left field to issue um a similar request for services for the designer um which is the architect. That selection process is quite different than what we've just done. Um
so we'll learn more about that as we go. questions. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Member Graham. Um, member Reinfeld. So, this sounds incredibly exciting and I love the timeline, not just because I also have an eighth grader. Um, I'm curious how the begin work immediately
in June lines up with community input. Um, particularly given that summer is a vacation time and our educators are gone. I know there's an architectural selection and that probably needs to happen before we get the community involved, but when can we expect those sorts of conversations and meetings?
Sure. Um the big thing is to get the designer on board because they need to be part of those engaged discussions. So my goal would be that we use the summer for what I would call paperwork. It's it's more than paperwork, but um for the
like not engaging part of this process, but to like fill out the team um get that designer on board if we can line up to the sort of the gates and stages that are outlined with MSBA so that come September, we're ready to go. So, in the
early fall, we want to be ready to be having those kinds of community conversations that can't happen until the designers on board. So the OPM will be very involved in that, but they can't do it without the designer because then we would just have to redo it and that would cost more money. Absolutely. And I
know you have a subcommittee for for engagement and communications. So we do um and they had they had already like watched all of those meetings of course and um they knew that we had a website. They had already seen it. So they're ready to bolster like on top of that.
Um, the other thing that I appreciated that they talked a lot about is that community engagement now is not just about hearing like whether people want a pool or don't want a pool. Like that's important. Um, but it's also important for the community engagement to start
now so that we are building community interest in the project in the leadup to what will be a debt exclusion vote. So, they're very tuned in to the fact that that they play a really really important role in helping us like tell this story
again and again and again in all kinds of different ways in the leadup to what ultimately will be a really big ask. Great. Thank you so much for laying that out and congratulations. I just want to thank the selection team
who accommodated my awful schedule last week and it was a very, very long day on Wednesday, but we got it done. So awesome. Great work. Thank you to the selection team. Um, no further questions. We'll go on
to resolutions. Um, first is 2025-13 offered by member Rouso. Memphis School Committee may send a delegate, an alternate delegate to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, MASC, Massachusetts Association of School
Superintendent, MASS, an annual joint conference for the purpose of voting during the delegate assembly on the resolutions o of the MASC. The conference is Wednesday, November 12th through Saturday, November 15th, with the de delegate assembly being held on Friday, November 14th. Voting is only
allowed in person and thus is recommended that only members who are able and planning to attend the conference be nominated. Are there any nominations for delegate member Graham Russo to be our delegate? He
loves this activity so much. Okay. Um we have member Russo nominated. If there are no other nominations, do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by member Olade. All those in favor? All those
opposed. Thank you, member Russo, for representing Medford School Committee. Are there nominations for an alternate delegate? No, no. Oh, that was really loud. Sorry. You're good. Really loud. No. Who would like to be an alternate delegate if we have no nominations? Is anybody else
planning on going to the conference? Not a definite, but Okay. Okay. Member could plan on going. You should be the alternate. Okay. So, we have a member inapper and member planning on going. So, one of you two maybe could Would one of you like to be
an alternate? nominated member. Okay. Member in Taba has been nominated by member Olady. Seconded by member Branley. All those in favor? Um motion passes. Um member in Topper. Thank you for being the alternate
delegate for the Memphis School Committee. Easy peasy. Okay. 2025-14 offered by member Rouso. Resolution in support of Massachusetts Association of School Committees resolutions reaffirmation. Whereas the Massachusetts Association of School Committees MASC
bylaws Article 9 Section 1 requires adopted resolutions of the association to expire 3 years after adoption. Whereas the MASC bylaws article 9 section one requires members member school committees to vote for the readoption of expiring resolutions for
consideration at the annual conference. And whereas the following resolutions are matters the Medford School Committee has previously supported. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Medford School Committee reaffirm support for the following resolutions regarding sanctuary laws for transgender students
to increase the maximum balance allowed by the special education reserve fund. membership of the board of elementary and secondary education to request the secretary of the Memphis School Committee convey to the MASC resolutions committee chair our
support for the above resolutions being reaffirmed and requests the secretary of the Memphis school committee engage with the MASC resolutions committee and other Massachusetts school committees as necessary to reaffirm the above resolutions pursuant to the bylaws of the MASC
See, mayor. Yes, member Russo. Thank you. Um so um this last year we did this for the first time because the MASC two or three years ago made a change because every resolution that had been approved by the body just stayed as
a resolution forever to be worked on by the MASC which as you can imagine that list just grew and grew and grew. Um and of course if everything's important then nothing is important. So um so they change the rules to require so the
things stay active as resolutions for three years. I'm pretty sure it's three years and then at that point they would drop off unless school committees vote to say no we really want to continue to work on this. Uh so these are the three there were I think I can't remember we
got our packets from the association. There was a bunch of them. These were the three that I thought were timely and and necessary to continue to work on. The first two are pretty self-explanatory. The last one is because um the board of elementary and secondary
education does not allow educators in Massachusetts to be on the board, which pretty much every school committee member and probably every educator thinks is insane. So, um, that's what this is about is trying to make a change there so that there can
actually be some professional educators on the board of education. So, seems reasonable. But if you have any other questions, let me know. But I motion to approve. Motion to approve by member Rouso,
seconded by member Graham. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Motion passes. 2025-15 offered by member Reinfeld be resolved that the family engagement and communication subcommittee will meet to discuss protocols for fa family
communications around after school enrollment and academic transitions. This meeting will include the director of communications as well as relevant program directors and school leaders. Member Rinfeld. Thank you. So, one of the things we uh
hear a lot is what do I expect when uh there's an afterchool lottery or when my child is coming to kindergarten or moving up to sixth grade or to eighth grade? And I think the district has done a really nice job in bringing on a director of communications to centralize
some of the communications coming out of the central leadership. But I think we do better in some areas than others when it comes to communicating expectations about um transitions for families. And so knowing that we have a director of
communications now and we recognize some of the the things that are always going to need to be communicated. Obviously there are program specific things that need to come from a program in the moment. But I think overall I think we are at a point where we can really start
to put together some frequently asked questions and some schedules that can be communicated to families in advance. And so I would just like to have a deeper conversation and bring um director Pipachelli into that conversation to discuss how his position can support
some of these very broad communications that affect a lot of people. Mayor, yes, Dr. Galooi. Um thank you for this. I think I know that I had reported and spoke about to this board um spoke about
my meet and greets that I had at all of the elementary well at all of the schools but at every single elementary school and at some of the middle schools this topic came up a lot and so I would welcome the opportunity to have
continued conversation. I think we are trying internally to really look at our current afterchool what we're able to offer for opportunities. Um and so I think that it's important to keep the lines of communication open and um Will
does an exceptional job with communication. So I think I think it would be positive and beneficial. Yeah. And I will just add this isn't to take um authority away from people who are doing communication, but it's to support them in that work and to I think this
meeting could also give some of our families a chance to communicate to us. I know you heard a lot of it at the meet and greets. um but what they would like to know, what they are expecting, so we can be ahead of that and not have all of our folks on the ground
spending all their time answering questions about things that could have been communicated in advance so that they can focus on doing the work and executing on it. Yeah. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Member Reinfeld. So, motion approval by member Reinfeld, seconded by
member um Graham. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion passes. 2025-16 offered by member Reinfeld. Whereas the federal government's current approach to taxation and tariffs has the potential to affect supply chains for
school supplies. Whereas shipping ports are currently experiencing fluctuations in their regular traffic from international goods and shipping. be resolved that the superintendent shall direct school and department leaders to identify the essential supplies for classroom use in 2025 2026 school year
and make student supply lists available to families by June 2nd. He had further resolved that the district make every effort to anticipate internal needs for such materials so that a reserve of necessary supplies will be available throughout the year in the event of product scarcity andor rising costs
including for students and staff experiencing economic hardship. Good resolution. Thank you, member Ryanfeld. I think this mostly speaks for itself. This is kind of a trumped up version of our don't run out of paper resolution that I think we passed la this time last year. Um, but um, and I I do apologize
because I know it is work to put together those school supply lists because they do change from year to year and I hate putting more work on school staff in this busy time. But I think it's really important that we give our families and indeed our the people in the system as much lead time as possible to pull together what they need for
academic success in the new year when in the new academic year when we don't necessarily know what's coming down the line. Dr. Lucy, is that did you Okay. Um, thank you. So, I just I do want to make sure I note one
quick thing or just a few quick things. One, student, we can work to get the student supply lists. Um, they may fluctuate. I think the the harder piece would be checking in with with secondary. Um, that was that was actually I was going to mention that
because I know that class selections are still being made and we're still figuring out what the offerings are. So I would look to you to advise on how best to handle that if there are core supplies that are needed and with the disclaimer that we cannot give this
these elective. Sorry, I cut you off. No, no, no, no, no, no. But yes, I did me mean to mention that. No, I appreciate that because that would be the bigger lift right now because of the the middle school and high school builds with the passing of the new contract.
That's all still very fluid right now. And some of the supplies are really kind of positioned at that level. When we're talking supplies at elementary, they're all suggested. None of it is like required, but we can work to do that. I
think our meeting So, you would like this by the June 2nd meeting? I was thinking that gives us slight because normally I think the lists go home on the last day of school in elementary school. They typically Yes. At least that's when I've gotten them. I'll just say that. Yes. But and I and I think secondary is more when the students
receive their schedules in the middle of the summer. So, we can try our best. I just don't know if I can sit here and like tell you we're going to have a complete full list by June 2nd. That seems fair to me. And I think it's
in draft mode. I can show you one in draft mode. Um, and then the other piece I did want to say, and if you have like specific questions, I know that Noel can answer some of them. He's in he's been keeping in constant communication with his MASBO
network and other financial directors across the Commonwealth. And so they are definitely tracking a lot of this piece for you and has, you know, given me a lot of information pertaining to this subject. Um because I know a lot of the
conversations that have been happening that Noel has been having and I don't necessarily want to speak for him but um you know the anticipated piece would probably fall heavy on technology and CTE. A lot of what people are feeling
right now is that we'll be okay with consumables. A lot of them are made in this country, but the p some of the materials that CTE may need and um things around technology uh devices would be the the pieces that
are are being tracked a little bit more closely with this uncertain time right now. But I welcome if you have specific questions, um Noel might be able to answer them a little in in more detail than myself. And then maybe if I don't know
if you want to adjust and just be resolved that the superintendent requests district, school and department leaders to identify the essential supplies for next year um and make them available as soon as possible versus by
June 2nd as we just heard that it that might not June second might not be possible by all from all but I think the resolution goes a long way that you want them out as soon as soon as they can. I'm okay. I I normally don't like the vague language of as soon as possible or
at earliest convenience, but I think that's reasonable. So, I accept that amendment. Okay. I think member Russo had member Russo. Thank you. Um, you know, I feel like it's been many years where we've talked
about or I've talked about um, you know, we have these huge supply lists. everybody has to descend on target. Um, and the things that people are being asked to buy for the most part are not they're good for a couple thousand years
probably. I mean, I don't know how long a rema paper is actually good for, but if it's not in the sun, it's probably good for a very long time. So, I just I if we weren't dealing with the schedule change, I would feel like I would say, "Let's do it now." But we should just order a truckload or two of
this stuff and have our students buy it from us at a discount because it'll be cheaper if we're ordering pallets of paper and pallets of three ring binders than Target's going to sell them for. So next year we should do that. Okay. I
I there's so much going on right now. I feel like it's totally not okay to ask for this because it is a logistics piece of work. It's not really I don't think it costs that much. It's just a it's a logistics effort and I don't think we have the bandwidth. But something to
think about for next year because um I do think it's silly that you know these things that are the same things that my kids bought when they were in kindergarten are the same things being bought today in kindergarten. And they do not go bad other than maybe glue. Um,
and there's no reason we can't buy them in bulk and have them for our students at a lower cost or maybe someday at no cost. But that's, you know, that's a different conversation. But, um, and I think that it might help teachers also
to be like, okay, we have, you know, 20 students and I need 20 of these and if we can get the parents out of the middle, then the teachers can just fill out a requisition to get 20 of those. And it just seems really clean and people aren't driving all over on
weekends when they're busy and Facebook black market. Facebook black market and you know it seems like an awful lot of effort by an awful lot of people when I think that if we took it out of the hands of you know the caregivers and just teachers fill out a form. I want
this many things for my classroom for my students. It just seems really straightforward. Um but next year we should approach that. Thank you. Thank you, member Russo. Okay, so there's a motion on the floor by member
Ryanfeld as amended. Member Inappa. Oh. Oh, as amended. So, we're changing the shall to requests and the June 2nd to as soon as possible. A motion by member Rinfeld, seconded by member inappa. All those in favor? All those opposed. Motion is
approved. Offered by member inappa food allergy awareness week proclamation. Whereas as whereas more than 33 million Americans have food allergies, nearly 6 million are children under the age of 18. Whereas research shows that the
prevalence of food allergy is increasing among children and adults. Whereas nine food nine foods cause the majority of all food allergy reactions in the US which is shellfish, fish, milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, wheat, and
sesame. Food allergy reactions can range from mild symptoms to severe reactions such as anaphilaxis. Whereas anaphilaxis is a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death. Whereas every 10 seconds food allergy sends a
patient to the emergency room. Reactions typically occur when an individual unknowingly eats a food containing an ingredient ingredient to which they are allergic. Whereas emergency medical treatment for severe allergic reactions to food has increased by 377% in only a
decade. Whereas children childhood food allergies cost US families 34 billion each year. Whereas now, therefore, be it resolved that the Medford Public Schools and the Medford School Committee proclaim May 11th through the 17th, 2025 food allergy awareness week and the
Medford Public Schools and encourage the residents of the city of Medford and its associates to increase their understanding and awareness of food allergies and anaphilaxics. The source can be found at the Food Allergy Research Education, which is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of
life and the health of individuals with food allergies and to providing them hope throughout the promise of new treatments. I'll pass it on to you, my fellow um colleague with allergies. Member Inappa. Thank you, Mayor. Um yeah, it's no
surprise to anyone um that this is a huge, you know, aspect of my life as someone who suffered with an anaphilaxis, you know, tree nut allergy for all my life. Um I think it was actually the first meeting um with that whole chaos of me uh coming on to the committee where I promised I wasn't
going to say anything and lay back and then ended up going into a whole tirade about how I went through therapy as a child. Um, and I did that. Um, I ended up going through therapy as a child because of an allergy incident within my elementary school where um, that was a safe haven for me. That was a place
where I felt like I could be safe and eat food and not have to worry. And, um, I found something with nuts in it in the school and it was being served by the school and I spiraled. Um, and I was put into therapy for it. And, you know, that shouldn't happen to any child. And, you know, they the school took abrupt
action. I actually remember um the vice principal at the time, Miss Brener, sitting me down in her office and made me look through all of the food information sheets. Didn't make me, but was like, "This is everything." Like, I I would refuse to eat anything cuz I didn't trust it um in the school system.
Um and so, you know, we've evolved and we've changed and yeah, it's it's real. the the you know, Gen Z is showing um really alarming statistics of the increase of those with food allergies and the awareness level does not match
the increase that people are suffering from it. You know, some people still think hand sanitizer kills those germs or I can eat it two seats away or if I just wipe it with hot water, it'll be fine. And it's not. Um it's not okay. Um and you know, how do people use
epinephrine? You know, auto injectors. My entire senior thesis was in epinephrine auto injectors and the lack of people knowing how to use them and it's no fault of their own. They just weren't taught. Um so looking at ways that we can better make this aware. You start with a proclamation. I want to thank the Peloquin family for sending
this our way and making us aware of this and telling their story. Um but yeah, I just wanted to put this proclamation forward so we can get the ball rolling on, you know, better ways to make sure that the community is aware of how to deal with this issue.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Member Inappa. Thank you for putting this on. Shenine Pelquin emailed us all her child. You know, um children with food allergies, one one thing for us adults to have them, but children with food allergies is scary and um it's so hard.
So, bringing awareness through the school committee and obviously I'm sure we'll all do it next week through our social media accounts is so important. I'm going to pass it off to Dr. I think we have somebody on Zoom that would like to speak. We do. Um, thank you very much for this resolution. It is very
important. Um, I too am an adult with food allergies and I carry my EpiPen around with me always. Um, but our director of nursing, Jen Silva, has just consistently been an advocate and a champion um, for this work. she and her
whole entire department um especially with a lot of information and a lot of training for staff around the use of proper EpiPen if need be. Um she is on via Zoom and uh has some things to share about the work of the of the district
and her department. Hey, thank you Dr. Lucy and good evening. Uh John, thank you for bringing this forward. This is so important and I'm so excited about um us making this proclamation to make May 11th to 17th food allergy awareness week in our schools. Um I would like to talk a
little bit about how we currently promote food allergy awareness though we all know there's so much more work to do. Um so first I'd like to talk a little bit about our food services director Rea Smith and her staff and how diligently they work to ensure that our students with food allergies um who need
meal modifications can access school meals. Um, Breta really works with families who need support and who need different meals um, in the cafeteria to make sure those meals are safe to consume. Our building administration, our nurses, our cafeteria staff all work
with families to determine different systems that can be used in the cafeterias um to keep kids safe with food allergies. Um, some of our cafeterias are using what we call um, peanut tables rather than peanut free tables, which are kind of a thing of the past. Um, and at those peanut tables, a
student who has a peanut containing meal can actually sit with a friend um, and eat at that table to sort of keep it a little bit more contained. Um, we also have some schools that are using sort of individual desks so that students um, can eat and prevent crosscontamination. And all of these really are efforts to
support our mission to be inclusive and not exclude students with food allergies. Our nurses train all staff on how to give um, epinephrine. And I don't know um people without food allergies may not know this but there has been a huge advancement in medication um for
food allergies for um emergencies. Um now we have an intraasal spray that we can use um which is much easier for lay people to give rather than an injection. Um so soon enough we'll be training all of our staff how to give that as well which is a big um improvement. Um at the
Mituck Elementary School, students have had the opportunity to participate in what we call the Be a PAL or protect a life program. Um what the Be a PAL program does is it helps children learn how to um protect a life by being a good friend to others with food allergies. Um
what they do is they partner sort of older students um to be leaders to younger elementary students and those students mentor those students about food allergies. Um, our nurses, Karen Roberto and Lori Boreelloo, train those leaders about food allergy awareness.
And then those leaders visit assigned classrooms throughout the year and work to teach younger students about snack rules. Um, their goal is to teach them about how serious um, even life-threatening food allergies can be, how important it is not to share food with each other um, because of food
allergies, and about washing hands after every snack and meal to prevent crosscontamination. Um, as part of our professional development this year, Karen and Lori also educated their fellow nurses about the BA PAL program so that we can work on bringing it to all of our schools in the district. And
in addition, this past weekend there was um a New England school nurse conference where Karen and Lori had the opportunity to present their work to about 300 school nurses. Um, so it's pretty exciting to share what they've been doing. Last thing I want to talk about is that we are currently um working with
caregivers to form a food allergy educational support group. Um the objective really is to provide camaraderie, friendship, networking, um support, education for all of our families who are um managing their children who have been diagnosed with food allergies. We've affiliated with
the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America in New England um to provide support for the group. And Dr. Savior, our school physician, is also providing um some support at a physician level for the group and we're looking forward to our first meeting via Zoom on May 15th at 7:30. Um again, thank you so much. I
appreciate that this proclamation was made. Thank you very much, Miss Silva. Member. Yeah. So, thank you so much. Um, and I actually meant to mention that in my whole, you know, speech on top of the speech of, um, so like many of us, I got
to go serve lunch for um, you know, um, I'm going to lunch service hero uh, day and I got to visit my old uh, school, the missuck. And um, they sort of gave me a tour of the building and I got to feel like, you know, principal for the day. And it felt really wrong to be back there because that was a no-go
zone as a student. Um, and one of the things that I was really happy to learn about was that the nut the, you know, the peanut tree table is now the peanut tree nut table and where, you know, I used to have to sit there away from all my friends and I used to have to sit there and eat, you know, lunch every
day. And now that's not the case and that those students don't feel, you know, ostracized from the group and separated from the group because of something they can't control. Um, so I was really happy to see that and they showed me the bathroom that they lead the students to so they can properly wash their hands so they're not bringing it back to the classroom where they may
sit next to that student. Um, so so thank you nurse Silva for for bringing that director Silva for bring that um to all of our attention. It was really nice to see that um on Friday. So thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion on the floor by member and for this
proclamation seconded by member Rinfeld. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Motion is approved. Next week will be declared food allergy awareness month a week, sorry, week. Um, we do not have reports
requested or condolences, which is nice. Um, we have our next regular meeting on May 19th, 2025 here in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall in addition to Zoom and again next week 6 to 8 on Monday the 12th is our MSBA is
the MSBA committee meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn? Yes. Before we adjourn, before I call the role, um, I just know we there's some great happenings um for our schools and in the city this week. Tomorrow is the PTO fundraiser. It's the
Harlem Wizards. You can buy tickets, I believe, at the door 6 pm. Doors open. Show starts at 7. All proceeds go to um our PTO's, which is elementary, I believe, PTO's, which is great. And then on the 10th of May, we have our
disability fair. That's at the McGlin school from 11 to 2. That's going to be um a great session. You can just pop in or you can stay the whole time. So, please join us at our uh disability fair, which again is May 10th, Saturday,
um 11 to 2:00 p.m. And to all those moms out there, happy Mother's Day. Motion to adjourn by member Rinfeld, seconded by member in Tapa. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion's approved. Good night, everybody. Thank you.