##VIDEO ID:pVNz2f7XJUQ## testing testing thank you the first regular meeting of the Medford the first regular meeting of the Medford school committee will come come to order it is um January 13 2025 we have executive session at 5: pm and our regular meeting at our about 6: PM this meeting is being recorded the meeting can be viewed live on the Medford Public Schools YouTube channel or through Medford Community media on your local cable channel Comcast channel 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43 4547 participants can log or call in by using the following Zoom link the meeting ID is 971 0396 11191 um member rouso if you could please call the role bless you present here member Anapa here member ol pres member einfeld member so president mayor Longo president seven president zero opson if we all may rise to salute the flag flag United States indivisible Justice for All We Have executive session um a upon a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Mass General laws 30A section 21 A3 exe executive session of the meford school committee Pro to conduct a strategy session on the basis that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining positions of the Medford school committee specifically the medfit school committee will be discussing ongoing collective bargaining negotiations executive session pursuant to 30A section 212 to conduct strategy in preparation with non-union Personnel or contract negotiations with non-union Personnel um our interim superintendent of schools this med school committee will convene in public session immediately following the conclusion of the executive session at approximately 6 PM is there a motion to enter executive session by member olapade seconded by member inapa roll call please member brandley yes member Graham yes member and TOA yes member ol yes member reinfeld yes member so yes mayor lungo yes 7 the affirmative zero and the negative we will enter executive session from 207 um member and tapa oh thank you mayor um so it came up the other day about um possible conflict of interest due to some familial ties within the schools especially since we are going into Union uh MTA contract negotiations um I'm here to say that after talking with the lawyer of the day with the state they have advised me that due to the the severance of how far we are in terms of you know being family that and because there's no um financial gain on my end the only thing I have to do is file disclosure of appearance of conflict of interest as required by General law 26a section 23 B3 and I basically just have to file that that's been filed with the city clerk and I just have to read this on the floor and then we're fine but I do not have to abstain from Union negotiations with the MTA this is just the thing I have to do in order to actually be a voting member when it comes to that so it's basically this is on file with the city clerk but I basically am just an in-law relative to miss jacqulyn Gad the teacher at the Brooks Elementary I'm a second cousin or first cousin removed I'm not really to Miss Nicole suo teacher at the books Elementary I'm also technically a member of the mass Teachers Association but I'm in the association of professional administrators which is at the state level so it's a completely different subgroup than the MTA Medford Teachers Association my union gets no financial gain from any you know negotiations that happen between the city and the teachers so we've read this on the floor I'm fine to continue but just wanted it in record um and if people want to see the full thing they can contact the city clerk but thank you thank you member inapa so noted e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay um Dr kushin do we have any student reps oh that's right Sierra isil thank you for joining us that's our student rep for the evening um thank you for your patience as we finished up an executive session um is there a motion on the floor to approve the contract for our interim superintendent by member ol seconded by I'll second member branley roll call please who first and seconded it um member of member brandley seconded it thank you member brandley yes member Graham yes member Anapa yes member olapa yes member reinfeld yes member so yes mayor lokern yes s the affirmative zero the negative paper passes um we have good of the order which is our fourth item on the agenda hearing and seeing none we have our consent agenda which is approval bills and payrolls appr approval of capital purchases approval of Grants approval of fail trips one Fai trip is Dartmouth model un conference which is April 4th through the 6th 2025 and approv approval of the regular me meeting minutes from December 16 2024 motion on the floor by member Russo seconded by member reinfeld all those in favor I all those opposed the consent agenda is approved we do not have any reports of subcommittees this week um we do have uh reports of our superintendent first up is Dr edwad Vincent's updates and comments turn it to you good evening everyone for all those joining us tonight at tonight's meeting I hope everyone did have a wonderful holiday season and a joyous start to 2025 we recognize there has been much excitement and curiosity within our Medford Community since election day when question 7 and8 were passed by the voters we will use time during tonight's meeting to discuss the supplemental budget appropriation and there are lots of exciting news and developments happening across the district this week kindergarten enrollment it began on January 2nd Building Bridges to kindergarten is happening this Wednesday January 15th at 6:30 p.m. at Medford High School parents can register for kindergarten beforehand in the registration office and the Medford Family network is offering Child Care during the event grade nine CTE students they are set to choose their program the students have explored all 15 CTE programs they will choose their top three CTE programs or choose to take arts or technology electives for the rest of the year principal Fallon is offering an informational Zoom this Thursday January 16th at 6: PM all that information can be found online also this weekend Sunday January 19th is the sixth annual tus University classic the girls games will start at 12:00 noon and the boys their game will start at 1:30 p.m. it will be held in the cousins gymnasium at tus University also next week Wednesday January 22nd at 7 p.m. there's going to be the fifth grade orchestra concert it will take place at Medford High School and the tickets are $5 at the door so please come out to support those events as a reminder as well this Wednesday January 15th will be an early release day for all of our students middle schools are dismissed at 11:30 a.m. and all other students are dismissed at noon additionally Medford Public Schools will be closed on Monday January 20th in observance of Dr Martin Luther King Jr day before we hear from Mr McHugh on the supplemental budget appropriation I'd like to use this space to say thank you as you all know this is my last school committee meeting in my role as superintendent and Friday is my last day serving in this position at large these past few weeks have offered an opportunity to reflect on the past seven years ultimately what I keep coming back to is that the Medford public schools are in a better position academically operationally social emotionally and financially than we were when I joined in 2018 together we created The District's first ever strategic Vision built on the aces model of achievement collaboration equity and support the vision included districtwide alignment on measurements of academic Su success alignment on observational and evaluative feedback and alignment on instructional practice culminating in the district's new instructional Vision Vision which was presented to the school committee and all MPS Staff last fall since I've started we have hired seven new building principles across our eight schools who are each tremendous and not only what they do but how they do it and how they treat people a healthy school climate begins at the top and I am so appreciative and thankful for the work our building principles and District administrators have done to guide Mustang Nation to where it is today when reflecting on the most unforeseen challenge of any of us will ever experience the covid-19 pandemic my mind races back to one of the F most famous quotes and messages from Dr King to me his quote the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of Challenge and controversy speaks on how we approach the pandemic we strived to not only meet the needs of all students but we specifically championed to have our special education in English language students back in the classroom first I am immense proud of the work I have done in this District in collaboration with so many others to Champion the Civil Rights and Freedoms of all of our students I know that this work along with the other Wonder wonderful events and goals happening in the district will continue and grow under the leadership of Dr gusi Medford is a beautiful place to send your students to school the work towards building a new Medford High School for the students the in the City of Medford has only just begun tonight's agenda is reserved for explaining how we will use money from the city specifically earmarked to invest in education last but not least the Educators and staff in our school Community are all deeply passionate and committed to enhancing the lives of our students throughout these past few days I have visited our schools and seen our staff members in action I happy to report they are of course doing a terrific job in visiting the schools though I realized I am going to miss seeing pencils drop on the ground and the artwork that decorates classrooms and yes even at Medford High School hearing the word bro 500 times in the hallway however these past few days and weeks since the separation announcement was made has truly shown me that the district is in a good place it's a tremendous place to work to live and even a better place for students to earn an education and so as I begin my final week and on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr weekend I hope I have championed the rights and educational opportunities in a way Dr King would have been proud I believe all students have the right to an equal education across all of our schools through achievement collaboration equity and support I am honored to have worked in a community that strives and works towards those values so in true Mustang fashion I will share with you one final poem the Mustang alamada by the stared Mystic Waters flowing to the sea rise our hallowed Halls of learning rich in memory bold Traditions truth and honor alien to All Fears Sheltering our fond Ambitions through the toiling years as we now in contemplation view the scroll of time hearts of stir with Recollections wake in world's Sublime sing of many sports Triumph proms of courtly Grace deepening friendships without number time cannot erase in honor of final parting this our prayer shall be guide our strivings Brad in Vision ordain Victory thus United firm in purpose Resolute in might stand we now in dedication to the truth and right hail to these our Alma Mar long s her Praises sing loyalties to Proud traditions we in honor bring as her stalwart Sons and Daughters hold fond memories bright join we now United voices to the blue and white I thank you again and I am forever grateful for this opportunity to have served this wonderful City for seven years and I too am Medford thank you thank you Dr Edward vinon and hopefully anybody that is um G to be around will stick around at the end we're going to present you with a gift and we have a cake to thank you for all you've done over this last seven years we have our report on the implementation of the budget reductions included in the 2024 2025 annual school budget this will be presented by our budget analyst Mr Gerald McHugh welcome thank you um at the request of the school committee um a report was requested to to uh summarize how we um implemented uh the cuts that were adopted in the FY 25 budget uh so uh you do have a copy of the report I can go through it um and and summarize it if that's acceptable or if you have questions okay fine um so I I tried to uh outline the V various categories that we approached um these reductions uh in the elementary schools we had originally uh proposed to reduce classroom teachers by five two of these positions were added back in the final budget um as a result of uh an extra allocation of funds from the city uh for a net reduction of three and these um were basically uh designed to take into account low enrollment in certain uh classrooms uh in the middle school we reduced um two guidance Council of positions uh in one physical education uh position um the guidance council's uh reductions were adopted in the final budget and the uh P the PE position was eliminated uh however uh it was not ultimately reduced uh due to uh issues around uh seniority and bumping um and couldn't couldn't be resolved before the beginning of school so the decision was to uh go with that position for an additional year uh and there'll be a proposal in the supplemental budget to to fund that position in fy2 uh at the High school it was a proposal to reduce uh classroom teachers by six two of these positions were added back in the final budget for net reduction of four uh of these three had become vacant uh during the course of the year were not replaced um one of the vocational uh program positions was reduced due to low enrollment and adjustments were made to teaching schedules ny25 to make sure there was coverage in all classes uh for administrators the original proposal was to uh reduce the administrative ranks um by uh by six um four of these were restored in the final budget um two positions uh man uh coordinating uh finance and music were Consolidated for one of the reduction c s um returning to a previous management structure um to implement this cut um a district-wide music teacher was hired to cover uh some Elementary classrooms that the coordinator had covered and also uh to take on the uh director responsibilities for the high school band um funding for this teaching position is included in supplemental budget proposal um the other position was that was eliminated was a director of professional learning and assessment and this work was distributed among nine um nine administrators for a total of $23,000 in stiens um the um the the distribution of that work was by Design so it wouldn't be uh burdensome on any one particular uh uh administrator and um one of those stiens is only uh through the end of this year and will uh not be carried into FY 26 for administrative assist uh assistance um seven uh positions were proposed to be eliminated um some of these savings uh allowed us to convert two 10-month positions to 12-month positions uh and to create a position that was responsible for [Music] transportation um and then we combined um certain programs like Health Services was combined um with the guidance program uh in terms of support uh uh multiple curriculum departments were handled by one uh individual instead of two um and then there were four uh stiens uh three stiens created um to um take on any work that could not be distributed to other administrative assistants uh and the total of those stip were three stiens for $950 each for total uh 8,50 uh and then of course the school committee uh provided a early retirement program for administrative assistance which was quite successful and uh five individuals retired under that program and that meant that we only uh uh had to make one uh layoff out of the administrative assistant ranks um for nurses we had proposed osed a reduction in nurse nursing staff by four districtwide one of these positions was added back in the final budget uh and we are proposing to back uh add back a an additional Nur nuris py supplemental appropriation um other positions included uh five positions that were formally funded in the Essa program um two literacy coaches and three PA professional Behavior Specialists these positions were not originally carried into fy2 under our initial budget proposal and um the all these positions were added back in the final budget due to the additional city funding so I I hope that provides you with the context you were interested in happy to answer any questions on thank you Mr mchu um member Graham thank you um just one quick question or clarification I believe the the one Administrative Assistant who um was laid off was pretty quickly recalled um to fill an open position yes is that Sheed correct yes and she declined okay I just wanted to make sure that the committee knew that because it happened within like weeks of July one so thank you thank you member Grim member reinfeld y thank you for this overview I think I was the one who initially wanted this report and um one thing that I don't see a lot of here and I imagine will be coming up in presumably that some of it is going to be addressed in the supplemental proposal but uh part of the reason for this report was to inform the fiscal year 26 budgets particularly around the impact on students I know at the Elementary level it ended up tweaking some of the class sizes middle schools I'm still concerned about the loss of the guidance counselors um and bringing that back I think I have a middle schooler I've seen it's working but I think we've lost some of the aspects of student support because these guidance counselors are spending their whole time teaching and it's affecting also other classes in teaching um and so I'm hoping see a little more information about the impact on the students um member Graham mentioned what was happening with um with the uh the administrative assistance um and the you know I T these stiens were I talked to a few of the people who received the stiens to cover some of the responsibilities from the director of professional learning and assessment and that seems to be working reasonably well um I'm curious where you see needing to in invest in fiscal year 26 for some of the the less budgetary impact but the student experience yep um so first of all this report just is really addresses the cuts that were made so over the course of the year um you know we're responding to the needs of the schools as they come up um if somebody resigns if somebody um is out longterm and you know needs uh coverage or so those so there's always that um that issue when you implement the budget it's kind of your your best theory of the case when the year starts and then um you have to make adjustments as you go along so we do make those adjustments when it's necessary we for the supplemental budget we are also at the same time evaluating um proposals from the uh directors and principles and so some of that uh has informed our supplemental appropriation proposal um we wanted to um identify things that we thought we could get going now versus waiting until July 1 um with respect to the guidance council is that is a proposal from the director and so we're addressing that as part of the uh FY 26 budget um of course there's a lot of needs there's some I think exciting new programming too in some uh areas and um so we have to crunch all those numbers get it all together and then kind of collectively figure out you know what can what is Affordable or sustainable yeah so thank you that's useful to hear kind of what are the Urgent needs that are being addressed by this immediate infusion of override funds but to note that this is still a conversation that we're having about the next corre cor um and with Fidelity to the the the way the questions kind of directed us we to uh make the Investments great thank you thank you Mr McHugh we're going to go on to um number three which is also a pres presentation by you of our supplemental appropriation presentation next slide um so this there's um two two sums of money that were approved by the voters uh question seven provided uh the $3.5 million $3 million for the schools um for operational costs but but called out uh certain areas funding for the cost of teachers literacy coaches Behavior Specialists administrative assistants nurses and uh regular facilities maintenance uh another $5,000 was directed to the city's Department of Public Works question eight um specifically provided for for um compensation for teachers and Par professionals uh funds that might be needed to develop a new high school schedule um such a schedule thank you such a schedule will um will be designed to improve access to the Arts and Vocational programming and to expand classroom instructional opportunities and that you know it's presumed that you know the these f fund will will carry forward into future fiscal years um the next slide is uh more of a value statement uh of how we U you know look at look at how um how we distribute fundings and we wanted to be uh first what's in the best interest of students and then um making sure that all areas of operation are at operations are adequately funded um for question seven the um we have kind of we've broken up question seven into um five different categories we have um money that was Advanced by the city at the time the FY 25 budget was adopted you might remember that um early in the process I had identified uh I think a little over $2 million in cuts that would have to be affected to balance the budget and that there were still an additional uh four or five million cuts that you know weren't addressed uh at that time when I was just trying to um communicate to the school committee kind of the magnitude of our our budget problem in FY 25 um the city um heard that and um proposed new money and then proposed an additional sum of uh 1,750,000 as U more or less a down payment in advance of the U uh the override vote so it was um a bit of a risk for the city to undertake that because it wasn't necessarily sure that it would pass but now that it has passed um we will Reserve uh that amount of money to um allow the city uh to retain those funds for things that it's already um for uh expens that were already provided for uh when the initial budget was passed uh and as I alluded to in my my previous um report there were handful of positions that uh were not originally funded in the fy2 budget but were um um still retained in fy2 that have to be funded now we've identified certain new positions um during the course of the year that we uh would like to use these funds um to balance our budget um we're proposing new positions as well uh as a result of um budget discussions with principles and administrators and other expenses for facilities uh technology um to shore up um funding in those areas so in terms of the money that the city Advanced um 14 positions were added back to the budget two elementary teachers two High School teachers two literacy coaches a nurse four curriculum administrators and three pair professionals uh uh Behavior Specialists um 500,000 was also provided to do uh re fresh of our Chromebooks that our students use um and this will um uh in this and you know provides a budget now for the annual um refresh of our um all deployed devices the the positions that were not originally funded in the FY 25 budget include a kindergarten teacher uh that was retained um because of projected enrollment uh the uh PE teacher at the middle school I talked about and at administrative floater um which was a position that had existed um but was funded in the Food Service budget uh that person uh did some work for the Food Service uh department but was frequently deployed out into the other schools as needed um this position um however we failed to provide for this position in the general fund budget in FY 25 because we depended on having that position when we uh reduce the administrative assistance staff so we're looking to reinstate that position on the general fund with these uh with the supplement funding um we had also positions that were identified uh as needed um after the fy2 budget was um adopted and these include two swing shift custodians that were provided for in the uh custodians collective bargaining agreement and this provides uh Medford Public Schools with coverage over the weekends when we have uh different Community groups in using the schools uh and reduces our Reliance on overtime to provide that coverage we hired an additional payroll Administrative Assistant uh during the course of the year uh there were um uh medically related leaves of absences um in the uh payroll department there was only uh two um uh administr assistance that provide payroll um provide a payroll function and um we think that in you probably were aware of payroll Pro problems within the payroll department um in FY 24 and prior uh and you know our view is that was related to understaffing in that department and we feel like uh the payroll supervisor and three payroll administrative assistance is really the proper Staffing for the amount of uh people that are on the payroll Fe for the variety of um fringe benefits that that midford offers to its um uh employees um and the uh issues around payroll have been greatly reduced now that we we have a staffing up the stuff and of course we talked about the district byde music teacher that we we hired to uh uh make sure we had adequate um teaching capabilities for our students in the middle school and the Medford High School band um continuing on um these are uh we uh well these are these are new positions sorry let me see I miss Page uh so new positions um we've identified since the passage um of the it said supplemental appropriation should said say uh FY 25 budget um we feel like um we we you know based on on community input um we're proposing a teacher to um identify and Implement inclusion opportunities for for our students with disabilities and this will be paired with um another program that we'll talk about in a minute called the best buddies program which um is is kind of provides um or or links up um special need students with kind of peers in the General Ed program and that um is designed to um support uh student growth uh for both students that are participating in that program we're also proposing that we add back a nurse floater um we since the implementation the one uh coverage issue that we still have is that the mlin school has uh two full-time nurses and a part-time nurse uh for three days a week that position we feel really should be five days uh and they they uh that the nursing office suffers you know during the two days that that part-time person is not there so um we could add a part-time nurse we feel like um and we could ask the part-time nurse to go full-time uh but this is a a person who's been in the district for a long time has had this htime position for a long time so we feel like um the best way to go would to be bring on a nurse floater that could fill in for those two days there's certainly in need particularly over the winter when there's so much U coals and flu and everything and that's that doesn't just affect our students it affects the nurses who are seeing those students so um this would provide us some extra cover coverage and get a nurse on board kind of train train her up uh in um the med Medford health services and then when it comes time for the part-time nurse to uh retire or resign um we can evaluate the need for that that part-time position at that point in time um we did um cut uh one Administrative Assistant from the mlin and um while the kind of the the the paperwork seems to be um um being managed correctly there is it creates an issue if if that one administrative assistant is out or if there's um other needs in the school uh so we are um proposing that we add back that administrative position at the mcguan at this time um and we're also proposing uh an exist assistant director for buildings and grounds so it's one thing that um we're also looking at in the FY 26 budget is to kind of look at the management structure that we have in that uh Department um it does need uh some more oversight uh not only for the state staff but for the um maintenance projects uh the construction projects that are underway you know we're anticipating putting more money into address maintenance problems uh in the district so um we have to build up our management capacity in that uh office to to handle that um the the salaries for the new positions that we identified have been pro-rated and anticipating you know if um the budget if and when the budget uh the supplemental appropriation is passed um they'll be hired in in um February or March um in this budget proposal uh the value of the pro-rated salaries is a little over $400,000 and annualized those salaries would be $750,000 so it would mean uh an automatic incre increase in FY 26 of $350,000 uh for those positions uh in terms of expenses um that we'd like to provide uh in the supplemental we talked about the best buddies program um that um th that would be a stien for a gened teacher and a special ed teacher to coordinate that program um the stiens on a prated basis are 2500 through the end of the year but would be about 10,000 in FY 26 um we're also proposing uh a project that um has been developed to implement um a electronic key access controls and video intercoms at all schools in the buildings um as a safety measure uh refinishing the gym floor at the mcglen um conducting uh facility conditions assessments at five of our schools this this is a a project that will provide a lot of uh very good information about um uh our um our maintenance needs in each of the schools and help us to prioritize um when those need when those maintenance needs should be addressed um that facility's conditions assessments uh is projected to be about $225,000 and the balance of that appropriation would just go into uh ongoing um uh facilities maintenance needs we're also proposing uh an r-ray project to replace all the wireless network access points in our Network so these are beyond their useful life and um have um limited um bandwidth capacity uh so we um we'll have uh it's it's project it's a project that I think is is going to come in around um6 or 700,000 an hour the Medford Public Schools share of that that would be $140,000 balance coming out of eate funds uh we're also proposing a a uh camera system for the Curtis tffs to provide hallway coverage and this exists in all of the schools except for Curtis tffs U we're proposing uh uh to U fund new and replacement musical instruments $122,000 uh districtwide um I believe that the budget for that is is about 2,000 right now and um that could be uh that would give us a budget of 14,000 and it could be a little more um when we come around to the FY 26 proposal and a new uh van for the vocational program they do have a couple of older vans that are badly in needs of service and there's no no way to take those Vans off the road so we can address the maintenance needs properly so um the thought is to buy an additional van and get those other Vans up to Snuff these Vans take the students to different programs and work sites uh that are part of their program so the next slide is just a summary um of how we allocated um the question 7 funds uh 1.7 uh reserved by the city to fund those um that Supple that appropriation that additional appropriation to the FY 25 budget and then another one point 250,000 u 1,250,000 in other expenses as identified maybe I'll stop here if people have any questions on on the question seven part member branley I think it was slide four question seven slide four let's see can you just say again what you said about the nurse floater you said there's two full-time and one part-time right now at the mlin at the mlin and then it would be beneficial if we had another part-timer as a two-day floater correct that what you just said I make sure I made my notes correctly yeah no I said I said one option would be to hire a part-time nurse to fill in for those two days okay um but we think a better option would be to use these funds to hire a full-time person person I think you get a better quality of candidate that person could fill in for the other two days so the mlin would be fully staffed and then the question is what do you do with these person's other three days so we would say use that position instead of hiring um day nurses for coverage this person would be a floer so they could go to um different two days and then three days right we're needed right the director will assign that person where um he or she's best needed is the nurse at the mlin shed between both mclin elementary and middle school I don't believe so L she shared so okay I did I thought you meant the Andrews and the mlen did I say mlen and mlen or did I say Andrews I could have very well said the wrong thing yeah I mean right okay so mlin all shared y the whole complex I think that was it thank you member ol thank you so a quick question I know that you said and I think it's on slide nine about the um best buddy stien that's the 2500 per um like advisor that's pro rated so that would go up for 26 yes okay sure and you said it was 10 grand across the yes yeah the the position will request is 5,000 for each student for the whole year all right thank you um and then and this might be um talked about a little bit in question I know there's been some discussion about bus monitors I know some people in the community have been wondering about what that may look like I don't know if you have any um if that's going to be further in the um in the brief or if you have any um suggestions so we um we'll talk about that when we get to question 8 we we are attempting to address it thank you member reinfeld uh clarifying question on the restoring of the administrative assistant at mlin will that end up being two administrative assistants for two schools or will it be one per school is it designated I think for the funding it will be one per school so one will be funded in all and I know people fill in for their person in next to them I know that work some of that school runs as kind of one whole facility too so I don't know if there'll be I'm sure there's there's backup and sharing yeah but in terms of funding it'll be one for the middle one for the elementary great um member brandley covered my other clarifying question and then one last one you mentioned that the administrative floater had been supporting Food Services we're not leaving Food Services in the Lurch by transferring that that was um and and really that we you know we we shouldn't have been using um that position the way were um but one of the we we talked about um some work that was left over that had to be distributed amongst the existing administrative assistance so one of one of those pieces is for food service thank you I just wanted to make sure we were in yep and from the chair if I may I believe you had mentioned you'll be working on some sort of draft even if it's just for for staff the outlines which sections of this were pro-rated and which sections were one-time funding so that we can make sure we're budgeting accordingly and don't land ourself in the same spot down the few years down the road so just reminding you of that hopefully I'd love to be able to check it out yeah when when we our FY 26 proposal will be full funding for all all the positions that uh we're requesting yeah it seems when I reviewed it a few days ago it seems that the pro-rated um is even dealt by the onetime funding spent um within the next six months I just want to make sure we're going to need onetime funding for different things down the line so I just want to make sure we're not overspending yep yeah our budget will be balanced when it's presented thank you thank you um that that was that the end oh question continue thank you so um question 8 um provided for $4 million in funding um and it can be used um for compensation it can be used for expanding um educational opportunities and for the uh costs associated with developing and implementing a new schedule uh for the high school and and potentially other schools as well um so in this instance um uh we're also providing for $170,000 in uh for a curriculum Ela curriculum uh that was purchased in FY 24 uh it was um the cost of that curriculum uh for for ELA uh was $170,000 per year for three years um before I came to Medford um the the uh the business office had attempted to fund the full contract using Esser funds um which was a good idea because you know we had to spend down oura funds by the end of FY 24 uh however uh because of the way the pro proposal was developed um the city's purchasing department would not allow all three um years to be funded in a single year so the first year was was funded by Essa um but uh we were surprised when we got an invoice um last fall for $170,000 as this was not covered in the budget uh so we're going to ask for money uh now to cover the fy2 portion and of course this will be part of our FY 26 proposal uh to get the final year of that uh uh curriculum purchase um finally funded uh as part of our FY 206 uh discussions the uh vocational program director was seeking to have three um teachers uh added uh one metal fabrication one in automotive and a culinary teacher um it turns out that these um metal fabrication and the automotive teachers have um mandated lower class sizes for safety reasons so um we can only have if we only have one teacher we can only have 15 students in a class at the time adding these positions now will be able to offer these programs to more students during the course of the year the culinary program is very popular and um the uh the the the cover we have two teachers there now but those teachers are unable to take their uh prep periods because um they're 100% in in teaching mode so this additional teacher will allow us to U make sure the teachers get uh the benefits they're entitled to in the contract uh and and be able to kind kind U adly cover that program um we kind of stayed away from adding teach new teachers in the supplemental because we don't feel that we're going to get a quality candidates right now and and we might be able to get them uh a few months down the line but sometimes the uh uh for the vocational positions there's other kind of non-traditional sources that we can attract teachers you know based on the programming that's offered as a matter of fact I think uh we do have a good candidate for the metal fabrication teacher um right now so we're requesting to um create those positions now rather than wait till next July um the balance of the fund are really um lumped into uh reserve for negotiations uh with the teachers and the par professionals uh and those negotiations have begun and uh the the These funds will will have to be spent by June 30th uh but they'll be part of a u multi-year um agreement uh hopefully that gets res um before the end of the year and including in those negotiations would be uh the new schedule uh a potential longer day um we uh added the idea of the bus monitors in this um category so in discussing this with the leadership team uh there's a couple of different ways to provide monitors on buses we could make it a condition of the contract and have the the contractor hire the bus monitors um we could kind of open it up to other staff part-time the maybe food service or uh other staff at school might be interested in those extra hours but the um we think if the if it if we could work it out with the pair professionals that PA professionals might provide us with a quality bus monitor they know the kids they know the school um the the complication is that um depending on how many hours are added to the day we could be bumping up into kind of overtime requirements um and it would have to be negotiated so we kind of throwing it into the mix here as part of negotiations and then we'll see what works out um and then we'll just have we'll we'll make sure that there's funding provided in the FY 26 budget um if it doesn't work out within the negotiation context we can uh have funds to possibly hire people in a different way and it's it's kind of an open question as to whether we need bus monitors on every route every day or Are there specific um bus routs that are problematic so um kind of all that will be looked at as part of the negotiations process uh and then you know should the new schedule be adopted there's going to have to be um Human Resources developed because uh student schedules will have to be input into uh our school brain system uh IEPs will have have to be Rewritten parent uh IEP meetings will have to be held with with parents uh and caregivers uh and um so there'll be funding cared out for that as well is there any uh questions on on question eight hearing and seeing n I'll see if it m Graham thank you um I actually had a question I think it is back on question seven so my apologies um the um f facility conditioning assessments um that number looks different than the numbers that we had in our in our Capital plan so can you just give us a rundown of what that what number it is uh sorry on page nine so it says 146,000 for the facility condition assessments and and other I think other maintenance needs so okay so it's it's not just the assessments yeah so that um you know to kind of balance things out we just the there's we're we're saying $125,000 for the facilities assessment and that's uh based on um $125,000 for five schools okay uh 25,000 per School uh roughly uh and then we expect to get we've been in in talks with one of the house doctor contractors and um they're providing us with some preliminary pricing so um you know the the passage of the supplemental kind of dovetail nicely with that process um but that's the difference there okay and then my other related question which again I think is question seven um is there were three there were three specific um uh capital projects that we identified in our Capital plan as things we wanted to see accomplished in fy2 which includes um fixing the issue that causes flooding in the kindergarten classroom at the mlin um the drainage at the Brooks school and then the freight elevator motor and I didn't see those in this presentation is that because they're somewhere else or are they not able to be accounted for the um so we're we're move as part of our regular budget we're moving on the the um the Brooks um flooding issue um Mini Splits which will will start this year and finish in FY 26 um the flashing issue I think because it involves the roof was part of the um the HVAC project work at the mlin uh and the fre fre elevator we're moving forward on as part of our regular budget okay great thank you so much um and then mayor I think there might be some people um in the audience who want to speak when the committee's done member reinfeld then member Russo yeah I was just hoping you could speak a little more about the logistics of how funds reserved for bargaining for a future contract gets spent in the bargaining fiscal year you alluded to it for a couple of these items but just explaining how that works yeah um well I don't want to get too deep into kind of strategy or or you know topics but um you know um once there was an agreement um we would to utilize These funds some of that agreement would call for uh payments to take place before June 30th as part of a a three-year uh contract so it would be all you know if you look at it in terms of what is the total cost of three years some of that funding will come in FY 25 member Rell thank you um Mr MCU I'll open it up to the floor if you could just state name and address for the record um and have about three minutes so please come on up do you need more a little bit maybe although I have a new best friend Mr McHugh um I'm so happy to hear all the stuff that he just mentioned we're like all like little kids in there uh Patricia Cherry 20 Welsley Street Medford um I have to switch it up a little bit because I thought we were going to be coming to ask for these things to be put in the budget and now we're finding out that you guys after meeting with you already put them in the budget so this is a huge thing for us right now we are so like yes I know I know but I just need to let you know that we're all caught off God here um I had this whole thing written out on why these things are so important to our kids and to our families and why they need to be p and it's time that they get ped um it's time that our kids and our families have a seat at the table we need to be supported by the community we need to be part of the community and we're here to say we're not going to take anything less um the bus monitors is a huge thing I will will'll read a little bit on that because I think it's very important that people know um our children are are among the most vulnerable students in the district the bus ride is often one of the most concerning experiences in terms of sa safy for our children it's deeply unsettling to rely on a bus to take your child to school when they may not always have the ability to communicate if or when they are being harmed whether that harm is sexual emotional or physical it has come to light that one of our students endured such harm for an extended period of time and it is likely that many others have faced similar situations to us this is unacceptable and quite frankly appalling that the safety of our children with special needs R so low on the list of the budget priorities um that person didn't come tonight um I know that they may we're speaking on behalf of multiple families it was devastating to hear that that was being done to you know a child especially one in what we consider our community um so bus monitors are a must they they they it should be it it's something that for safe safety for just everything just overall we need the bus monitors for our kids um as far as the inclusion specialist that was another ask that we had um we need an inclusion specialist because right now the gap between typical and um atypical children is is too wide we need somebody to come into the schools and close that Gap we need somebody to come into the schools and startop programs for our kids where we're not coming in as oh the kids with disabilities we're coming in as equals where these programs are are the participants are all on an equal playing field where we can learn from where they can learn from one another because each each child has something to offer you know um that's what we need an inclusion specialist for we don't have any programs you know there are no real programs that our kids even after school programs are very difficult because there's always an extra ask if you want to join the after school program there's always oh well is there going to be an aid for my child oh is is is this after school program going to fit the needs of our child and a lot of the times it doesn't because there's no Staffing um they don't have the extra Paras they don't have somebody who can you know work with our kids so it brings it back to needing someone who has the ability and the education and the knowledge on how to tie that all in so that the schools can be a more inclusive place because we always hear about inclusive in Medford we just don't ever see it you hear so much about the most vulnerable you know oh we need the money for the most vulnerable the most vulnerable oh this you know everybody talks about the most vulnerable but the most vulnerable never get it you know and and that's got to stop that has to stop you know we have to put our kids as high a priority as everybody else's child we understand you know programs need money you need money for instruments you need money for drama clubs you need money for whatever other programs you have in the schools but all we're saying is before you give more money to those already funded programs fund some programs that are non-existent the ones that we want for our children that's why the two asks that we have were the inclusion Specialists and the bus monitors um I can only speak to my experience we also have a lot of a large group of children that aren't even in District because including mine um who also goes out of district for school and also out of district for all of her activities because there are none in the city but that will take up tomorrow with city council um but we lose that my daughter I have to make sure to keep this group of people so that our kid kids can remain to have the small group of friends that we have because there is no opportunity for that in this city I'm kind of all over the map because this I just shocked I'm so happy I need you to push this through you know we we need you we we are saying like enough we're we're here we are going to now be here we're not going anywhere this isn't a oneshot deal we're going to represent this group going forward um and it it's it's time it's time we have a seat at the table just like everybody else I'm gonna end it there I think that was a motion for approval so I asked for your approve oh an I appreciate I appreciate Aaron who worked with us and Jenny and and and Suzanne and Joan we had meetings about this and Aaron showed up to our library event and I appreciate all of you guys for doing that and please yes do I say can you please approve this yes that's perfect yeah member reinfeld I'm sorry member branley m brandley so I just wanted to say you had made a comment you said our community but I want you to know you're part of our community that we are all one community and that includes you that includes every child in this district and every single parent um I work in special ed in Somerville I've never made that secret I love working for special ed because I say this all the time and I think that sometimes there's this you know differential I don't like it I don't like it it's not fair um and I feel like everybody in special ed every student every adult everybody that works in special ed every student in the district every student outside of special ed we're all a piece to a puzzle here in this room and everywhere else at the end of the day the pieces of that puzzle get put together and it's your child's name you know and that matters and um I take it really personal because I think that um you are part of this community so I just never want anybody to ever forget that so thank you for coming and advocating for your child I've stood there and advocated for my own child I know how difficult that is so thank you thank you all for being here and I will be at city council tomorrow to support you so thank you very much thank you for your words thank you yes member and tapa yes thank you um I really just want to Echo the comments of my colleague um in terms of you're part of our community you know like um my time in the school system I was one of the disabled students I I needed um some different services and other needs and while um and because of that I have talked with a lot of parents especially about the need for bringing a lot of our services in house and how we need to have programs for students that can equal the playing field to have an equitable experience in our schools because it's just not there um so I want to thank you personally for a lot of the advocacy work that you're doing um and for coming here and and giving your your point of view and and and thought process so thank you thank you I appreciate that but one more thing this is a whole group it's not I'm just the mouth because I have the big mouth there there are people that we've there are people that we've learned for that came before us like Tanya Sullivan Melanie Alex they've been doing this a lot longer than we have it's just we're a small group and because we don't have the resources that we have we we're very tight in it so there's a bunch of us I just have a big all right you know over the years that I've been involved in in in the conversation that um I'm just really happy to see where it's at right now and I'm excited to see where he's going forward yes yes so is there a motion for approval on the floor oh motion to approve and before we call the role um member of mlin um former member of mlin yeah thank you uh Melanie mlin Alon Street Medford Mass thank you all um I just wanted to say thank you this has been uh 10 years in the making uh and Trish uh you did fantastic tonight I felt like a proud mother I have to say myself and the community is um is really grateful and this has been a long time couple different special ed directors over the years and a couple of you know a lot of teachers and hundreds of children have passed through this district and um and it's time I know and I love that you know I can guarantee you Trish is not going anywhere so um and neither and neither are any of the other families so you know to the families that are watching tonight and to those out there who might hear about this later what have you and who who work every day as caregivers with their children who you know do extra homework who Advocate at IEP meetings who do all those things that we know how hard they are we just want to say that you're not alone and that this is really important that every child matters and that we know that this school committee feels that way and we want to thank the school committee for that and one of the things I wanted to mention is that you know uh it was actually the former special education director that used to say this to me um and would remind me and I thought it was really important and she said there are no special education students everyone is a general student in our in our district there are students who receive special education services um so we're all part of the community and um we know that and we appreciate that and we'll continue speaking up so thank you all and thank you guys all for what you're doing appreciate you thank you motion for approval I believe was by member Graham seconded by member Al party hi everybody okay motion to amend know representatives from our nursing Union were here earlier and they had sent an email asking for support um because you know looking at how the budget's been and the positions that have been reestablished just really isn't doing it for them and you know personally you know I have my full support for you know reestablishing you know the positions that we lost that was one of the big talking points that we had talked about um where that had been happening um so I I would actually motion um to pull from the undistributed um to either restore at least one floater position um most to amend the the supplemental appropriation of the 2024 just to give them at least I know that probably having all four positions back isn't something we could swing but I feel like having at least one other additional floater within within the unit might be um especially because as I Rel to question with extending the day we may need some additional staffing needs when it comes to that um through the chair Dr Edward vinon I think it's the that was one of the proposed um recommendations from Mr McHugh was that I'm sorry to have two to add back two one to add a 1.0 position instead of the halftime position um and that person would fill in the two days at the mlin right and be a floater for the remaining three days so that would add um a 1.0 FTE back to the nursing ranks right so I'm sorry hading me to interrupt you so then it would go from so we lost four we brought in one more so then three Miss lost three oh we lost three so then now we're we missing two so by adding in the one more we would have added the two positions back okay okay okay so so we'll take that motion to amend off motion for approval by member Graham seconded by member olap um roll call please rley member Graham yes member Anapa member olapa yes member reinfeld member so yes mayor Lok yes 70 affirmative zero negative um paper passes yep thank you for coming and being advocates for your kids and many others um and hopefully you stick around we're gonna it's we don't have a long meeting and we want you to enjoy some cake with us we do not have any presentations of the public or continued business or new business or reports um requested we do have one condolence the members of the meford school committee expressed their sincere condolences to the family of Ralph a Evangelista father of Lisa Evangelista former public information officer for the Medford Public Schools we all may rise for a moment of silence thank you and before we um let you know when the next regular meeting is or maybe after we let you know when the next regular meeting is which is January 27th 2025 here in the Aldo Memorial Chambers Metford City Hall in addition to zoom so before we adjourn um I'd like to ask everybody to um stay and have some cake with us to celebrate seven amazing years um put into the me Public School our district by our superintendent Dr Maurice Edward Vincent um thank you so much for all you've done for our students our faculty staff everything we went through um alongside you some of us some of us some of you brand new with the covid crisis um you are a worker and we appreciate everything you've done for us in the district yes come on out member rouso and then please you want to Yi I'll yield to the the most senior member in this room no no please so I'm here tonight and I've lost Melanie um so on behalf of Melanie mofin and also former school committee members uh shyon Hayes Mia Mone and Kathy CET we're all here tonight with you um superintendent to thank you and to say give you our profound thanks for the seven years that you've given to Medford and you know I was on the committee when you joined us and rather difficult time and uh it was so wonderful to have your enthusiasm and your joy and the sense of of pride in Medford and in our students and and just excitement former athletic coach and some of you will know who I'm talking about but it was quite a long time ago the late Bud Kelly used to say that he'd always be talking about Medford pride and he'd say he pulled up a shirt and he had uh drawn blue and white on his arm and said that Medford Pride runs in his veins and to you superintendent Medford Pride runs in your veins and so we are very thankful for the time that you have been with us we are so thankful for the role model you were to so many of our students for your again I come back to the word Joy but just um I think about the opening of school outside when you had all the teachers all all of us sort of lined up and the teachers came in and there was so much excitement uh and and your commitment to learning you took a suit a very here she is sorry you took us through a very difficult and dark time with covid when everybody was scared and anxious and you were our leader and that was just amazing so we are I'll speak here tonight to thank you it seems like it went so fast but we so appreciate your dedication the gifts you have brought to Medford the gifts that you were leaving with us and um that that we are better for you having been here um so thank you so very much Maurice I did oh I couldn't say more I mean I think that you've brought so much to the district the first female um in the district the first first black woman in the district after Decades of um you know the same leadership and having to take on an entirely new district and do all that you did in the short time that you were here has been remarkable and I really valued working with you and I know that I will uh I really look forward to see where you're going next and I will be watching you and uh and looking out for your next successes and I know that uh we'll be proud of you wherever you go so thank you we give yes member rouso then member Graham I oh that was loud I'll wait for so to limit myself I wrote it down because uh otherwise he'd be here all night so over the last seven years um I've had the privilege I'm sorry over seven years ago I've had I had the privilege to be part of the superintendent search process where we selected our first new superintendent in a generation and from the very first round of interviews it was evident to me who our next superintendent should be and I was pleased that the members of the search committee and finally the school committee agreed with me Dr edwad Vincent had was hands down the right choice from edford and I was thrilled when she accepted the job working with Dr Edward Vincent has been a pleas pleasure and I cannot thank her enough for all that I have learned these past seven years no one could have foreseen what a wild seven years this would be Dr Edward Vincent's focus on curriculum instruction was what we needed in Medford and she delivered she started learning walks in the fall of 2019 and I am still sad that I did not get to partake in learning in a learning walk thanks to the pandemic I know that um former member uh vandri clot did and she spoke very highly of it um but that wasn't meant to be um the pandemic could easily have been the defining event of your tenure with Meer Public Schools but your focus on curriculum and instruction uh which began before the pandemic continued through the pandemic and after the pandemic is what I believe will be uh your lasting Legacy here and I am pleased we remember you for you this great work um obviously you didn't do all alone there were many other leaders and teachers who were a big part of that but you had to lead so the job of the superintendant is truly massive the day-to-day lives of thousands of students staff and families are in your hands Dr Edward Vincent gave her all and no one could ever have questioned whether she was doing what she thought was best for students the pandemic was a trying time for everyone many people lost their lives many more lost their ability to support their families focusing on providing food to students in need when access to our school meals program was suddenly shuttered with something I'm proud of and Dr Ed Vincent was all in on this critical issue there was no playb playbook for what to do next when the play uh when the pandemic began Dr Edward Vincent led the district through a very trying time and for that I am forever grateful it took a village but we limited the amount of learning loss as best we could expectations for students teachers staff and families about what public education meant were turned upside down Dr Edward Vincent has continued to lead us as we continue to work to mitigate learning losses caused by the pandemic and I'm grateful for the focus on mental the mental health of our students and staff education is truly a unique domain everything changes every day that is not hyperbole federal state and local laws regulations and rulings change how education is implemented with Breakneck speed and often little time for implementation research on best practices and education is released at a completely uncontrolled speed our student staff and families themselves change too the saying that only the only thing that is constant is change is true in education as well I would further add that each of us from one moment to the next is not the same nor entirely different Dr Edward Vincent has led thousands of people for seven years through never ending change and we are better for her efforts on a personal note I will miss the welcoming nature Dr Edward Vincent brings to every interaction she arrives with joy and spreads it liberally whether welcoming teachers and students back for the first day inperson Ed uh for the first day of inperson Education during the pandemic or a pep rally or riding school buses she is always proud to be a Mustang and in my mind will always be a Mustang thank you Maurice thank you member so member Graham thank you um I [Music] also can you hear me yeah okay um I also um had the chance to sit on the superintendent Sur committee I was not on the school committee at the time um but one of the things that was so striking during that process is is um every time we talked to you I thought to myself um Dr Edward Vincent has a coaching mindset and it was one of the like prevailing things I thought about you as we were um interviewing what felt like an endless number of candidates and they all were so different there was not two people that were the same and one of the things that um is so evident about the work that you've done here is that coaching mindset so you truly look for your entire team to deliver not it's not just about you it's not just about any one person and I've always appreciated that um I feel like that hasn't always been easy um and I think there have been times where you have um brought forward an idea like investing in professional development so that our evaluators could do a better job evaluating our staff uh in their service to children and I do remember you getting considerable push back about that so the other thing I think about when I think about your time here is that you weren't afraid to start the ball moving in a direction that it hadn't moved before and being the person that starts things is really hard it means um convincing people that it's going to be okay to do this new thing it means convincing people that um we can do this and the other things that we were doing and it also means saying no to the way things have always been done before and I have really appreciated your willingness to hold the line and to say no to the way things have always been done here in this District um it's incredibly important in a district like ours um it is the way change gets made and the people who are willing to start the ball rolling up the hill have the very hardest job so thank you for that um Lucas asked me the other day what you were going to do next and I said whatever she does I hope she has time to take a nap because it's been seven very long years so thank you we do have um a gift to present you I don't want to fully unwrap it because we want to get it home safe but we'll at least unwrap the top says Maurice Edward Vincent superintendent of schools presented with gratitude for seven years of dedication service to the staff and students of Metford pi there's more flowers there you p [Music] with that we'll cut a cake um motion to adjourn by member reinfeld seconded by member Graham all those in favor I