recording. Thank you. We have our 11th regular meeting on the Memphis School Committee, June 18th, 2025 at 6 p.m. This is remote only. And this meeting is being recorded. The meeting can be viewed live on the
Medford Public Schools YouTube channel through Medford Community Media on your local cable channel, Comcast channel 98 or 22 and Verizon channel 43,45 or 47. Participants can log or call in by using the following link and the meeting ID is
95148527687. Member Rouso, will you please call the role? Bradley here. Remember Graham? I think she said here. Yes. Can you are you able to unmute
Jenny? Um anyways um I am. Can you hear me? No we can. Yes I can. Perfect. Sorry. Member inappa here. Member Olady here. Member Rinfeld present. Member Rouso present. Mayor Langok present.
Seven present. Zero absent. Do we have any student representatives on the call? Don't believe so. Um if all may rise to salute the flag, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Thank you. We have our consent agenda. That's approval of bills and payrolls, approval of capital purchases, approval
of grants and donations, um recommendation to approve a $500 donation to Best Buddies program by First Baptist Church of Medford. And um we also have a recommendation to approve annual an annual $1,500 Crystal
Campbell Medford Strong Scholarship award to the graduating senior at Medford High School. approval of field trips and approval approval of meeting minutes from our regular meeting of June 9th, 2025 and our family engagement and communication subcommittee on June 11th,
2025. Is there a motion on the floor for approval? So moved. Moved by member, seconded by second. Member Branley. Roll call,
please. Member Brley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member Intapa, yes. Member Olady, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member so yes. Mayor Lang Goern, yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Consent agenda is
approved. We have no reports of subcommittees and we have a number of reports from our superintendent. So we'll start off with number one, introduction of new administrative staff. Dr. Kimberly Talbot, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, and Miss
Chelsea McNiff, director of English learners. I'm going to turn over to you, interim superintendent, Dr. Suzanne Galooi. Thank you so much. Good evening. Um, mayor and members of the school committee, I'm very excited um for this
first report of the night. So, and just as you were announcing, the cameras like m just miraculously came on. But um so with us tonight we have um Dr. Kimberly Talbot and we have Miss Chelsea McNiff. First I'm just going to say a few words
about um Dr. Talbot before I turn it over to her and then I'll say a few words about um Miss Mcniff and then turn it over to her. So uh Dr. Talbett is going to be the next assistant superintendent for academics and instruction for Medford Public
Schools. Um she was confirmed by this body on June 3rd. Um she brings 30 years of educational experience to Medford and most currently is serving as the executive director for academics and instruction for Salem public schools. Um
she has a wonderful background. Um she also has earned her educational doctorate degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Um and through every phase of the interview process, she unanim unanimously impressed all the
stakeholders uh from the initial search committee round to interviews with school leaders and directors through the completion of a performance task. She comes with a deep professional knowledge uh closely aligned core values and a welcoming demeanor really made her uh an
ideal addition for Medford public schools. We're so confident in her leadership that it will greatly enhance our academic programs and our instructional practices and we really look forward to the positive impact that she's going to have for us across the district. So, I'd like to just have her
introduce herself and um we really look forward to partnering with her next year. Thank you, Dr. Galooi. Mayor, school committee, thank you for having me tonight. I am so honored to join this team of dedicated educators to
serve the students of Medford Public Schools. I look forward to seeing your students and teachers in action this fall and elevating best practices so that we can improve student outcomes. Thank you. Thank you for entrusting me with this work and I cannot wait to get
started. Thank you. Should I move on to to Miss Mcniff? I didn't know if I'm pausing for Okay, I'll move on. Okay, so uh Miss Chelsea Mcniff is going to be the next
director of English learners department for Medford Public Schools. Her appointment was also confirmed by this body um on June 3rd. She comes to us after serving as an EL department lead for Everett High School. Um, in addition
to that, she has great experience as an ELEL teacher, um, working with level one newcomer students and an extensive background leading professional development, um, for the districts that she's worked in. She's also fluent in
Spanish and French. Um, she holds a master's degree um in ESL and a bachelor's degree for French and literature and applied linguistics from Boston University. She also has a certificate in trauma and learning. Um,
she impressed through her rounds, she impressed the search committee with her skill set, her experience, and her optimism for the role. Uh her values also align very closely to that of Medford Public Schools and we are eager to benefit from her instructional leadership and her strategic thinking.
We're really excited to bring her forward and see the positive impact that she's going to have on our students, our staff, and our uh broad Medford community. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Chelsea. Thank you so much. I'm sorry I have my
my daughter right next to me if you see this little foot in the camera. Um, sorry about that. Um, thank you for that introduction and for inviting me tonight. I'm so excited to join this team. Um, as um, Dr. Talbet said, I've been so impressed with everyone that
I've met so far. Um, and just everyone's care and intention throughout this whole process and I'm really excited to get to work. Thank you. Thank you, Chelsea. Thank you, Kimberly. We look forward to working with you um,
moving forward. Very exciting. and thank you for joining us here tonight. Yes. Um, if there's no further questions, I'll just go on to number two. It's our CCSR annual report. I'm going to turn it over to Rich Troda and our student
representatives. But may I just make one comment before that happens? So, I do want to just say um this is a a long agenda for this evening. So, I do want to just say for uh Dr. Talbot and Miss Mcniff, um
it's up to you, but don't feel don't feel you need to remain on the call. I know that you have things that you're finishing up in your districts before you transition to us here in the summer. Um and Mr. Trotto is on the line and he will be giving an overview this evening.
And I do want to say moving forward, um, there has been a lot, as we all know, as we're trying to finish up ending this school year, um, and a lot has gone into the meetings for for the last few school committee meetings. Uh, it is our
intention that the CCSR report has student representatives with them. Little difficult to do that virtually and on the last day of school. Um, Mr. TRA will talk through the overview of the work that's happened this year as
well as a video um of students. Uh next year we'll make sure that these reports have um our student representatives in person. So with that, Mr. Troda, is he able to
um is he able to unmute? M Okay, good. Um, well, first of all, thank you for allowing me to u present the work of the students. Um, this is basically about students. The program does more than that, but the focus
primarily is about uh what students have done uh with their adviserss to make the world a better place. Um, so I have passed on uh through uh Dr. Kooi the u reports. They're pretty comprehensive.
So, I'm not going to go through those. I'm just going to do some highlights and then we can watch a couple of presentations. Uh, first of all, I want to thank Dr. Galooi and the central office staff for their support. Um, it's um it's nice to have that kind of support when you're running a district-wide program. I want to thank
the building principles um for their help. School committee members, thank you for supporting us, faculty and staff, um the adviserss that we have. Um in particular I want to thank uh Janelle Goen McKenzie for doing such a great work and coordinating some of the
projects and supporting all the other advisors. Um um so the students um one of the things that we'll see in the pamphlet or the um report that I gave you is u some
testimonials particularly by Jonah Seagull who's the president of the um the CCR at Meford High School. Um we want to thank the b major benefactors the coming foundation which is over the period of since 2014
has provided us with $46,000 in grant money. Um right now we're on a 10-year grant uh which will carry us through 2030. Um the grant was worth um is worth $350,000.
Uh the Crystal Campbell Ben Project has donated over the years approximately $150,000 and the Blueburn Philanth Philanthropies uh donated 50,000. So those are the major benefactors. There's others in the booklet and report that you can look at.
Um next page. So since 2013, approximately 3,000 students uh have participated in in CCSR with over 700 projects over a 12- year period. U this
year some of the highlights are the summer art studio that Susan Fee Susan Fee ran last summer and is going to be running it this summer. So that's funded through Cummings Foundation, a special grant of $10,000. Uh we had a poetry contest and two
students uh won the contest uh Kalia Diligent and Haley Celesteon. So those two high school students um were the winners and got a small award for that. Uh we've developed a professional library for faculty and staff that's located at the high school. Um, we also
had a donation for Crystal Cam donation a dedication to Crystal Campbell uh memorial gardens that was spearheaded um by Marta Cabral the principal and along with Rebecca McKenzie who does all the maintenance and care for the the center.
Um so that's a very brief uh highlight uh in in addition to the reports that you have. Um now I just want to go right to the project portfolio which is really perhaps the most important thing. Uh in
fact it is the most important thing and to give you a quick overview um we've provided a short video and that'll be followed by another short video of student testimonials together. The two of them run approximately eight minutes or so. Uh and then we'll take some
questions. Oh, if there's background music, maybe we need to press the um the allow volume. That's maybe the problem. Yeah, I'm not sure there is.
Say that again. They just Well, I think they're supposed to be audio, but otherwise we can just look at the pictures. That's fine, too. Just saw Dr. Galooi put in the chat that there's supposed to be audio music. But either way, well, I don't want people to think that there was narrative. We just want
to make sure we have the audio for the next video, which is from the students. This I didn't want people to think they were missing audio. Hey. audio. You probably need to reshare it to get
the audio. And there's a box to check when you share. Say that again, Erica. Sorry. You probably need to reshare. And then in the share window, there's usually a box to check.
Oh, no. Not sorry, not sharing from Google. sharing on Zoom. Okay. [Music] Nicely done. Hi, I'm Jonah Seagull. My name is Julia Henry. My name is Magdala Telei. I'm
Katherine Began. Hi, my name is Nathan Quinn and I'm a member of the CCSR club. My role within the CCSR is the president, which means that I organize meetings and I help facilitate projects and I run the social media and the
website and I mentor other students. My role in the club is vice president and that means I help Jonah who's the president with um like setting up the meetings and organizing everyone's project. I'm treasurer of the CCSR. I help like the
flow of like meetings and like basically I help like organize or like help other students like with their projects. The CCSR is the center for citizenship and social responsibility. It's across all schools in this district, but for Meford High, it's an afterchool program that
encourages students to lead their own projects for uh community betterment. Basically, just a club that helps like beautify the community through acts of like community service. A club where you get to do projects with your friends and help make a difference in your community. CCSR, it's just a place where
people come together to help people. We make amazing projects that either focus on um feeding the homeless, clothing the homeless, or spending time with elders. It's a really great community and club. The club's mission is to make the community a better place. The CCSR's
mission is to make a positive difference on the community around us and to teach students that they can make a positive difference, too. Regardless of their age or their interests or anything else, if they have something that they think they can change to the world, they can do it. The club's mission is just all about
community service. I've led the Medford Mystic River and Parks Cleanup, uh, where we organize volunteers to clean up trash around the, uh, Mystic River and our city's parks, um, to prevent pollution and keep the city safe for us
and the animals in it. Um, I kind of co-led a project with Kira Tramble and, uh, Jonah, Kathleen, and Magdaloit. We went to a um nursing home and we basically did like arts and crafts with the um the elderly there.
I've been in two projects this year. I've been in a hygiene drive with Nathan Quinn and Julia San Antonio. Another project I've been involved in is the clo winter clothing drive. We collected clothes like hats, mittens, and we also
collected some toiletries there as well. We collected health supplies and toiletries for families in need. I really like it's a great community. Everyone's so nice and fun and it's always a good time every meeting and Jonah really makes it a fun time especially like with the Instagram.
There's a lot of fun Instagram reels. So, I like that it's like a very like welcoming group of people. Like I always feel like very comfortable with the people in the club and it's just like something I can go to and like I just like want to talk with my friends and
like you can do good and also like have fun. I just love how everyone comes together to help people. I really think that's a beautiful mission and it really just shows how everyone cares about everyone. Like that in CCSR I get to hang out with friends but also make a
change in the community. I love that the CCSR really promotes the mindset that we can be the change we wish to see in the world. I would definitely say join the club. Like obviously I'm like kind of late in the game because I'm just joining my junior year, but I really wish that I had joined earlier because
it's like a really fun place where like you can just hang out with your friends and like do things to help the community. Everyone should join the CCSR and also join the National Art Honor Society cuz it's so much fun. You can make murals around the school, too. I would definitely say join the club. It's made me a ton of friends and it was a
great way to get involved with high school and also just be so much more um appreciative of what I have. You should join the club because it's satisfying to make a difference in the community around you and you all need community service hours to graduate. I've been doing CCSR since elementary school and I
really enjoy it. You should join the club. Join the club. Join the club. Join the club. Oh, join the CCSR. Yay. Yay. Join. Okay. I um I just want to thank um Janelle Golan McKenzie for putting together the slide video and then the
vocational film and video class. The vocational film and video class put together that short video. And so um I want to thank you again for allowing me to present the work of the students and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you Mr. Troder. appreciate the presentation and the slideshow. Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member Gra Graham, I see your hand up. Sorry, I'm just not finding the raise hand feature. Sorry, I'll like relocate myself before the meeting's over here. Um I know we had talked, it may have
been like a year or two ago now about the declining enrollment in CCSR and I wondered if you could um talk to us about um the number of students participating this year versus years past. Uh basically it's it's pretty much the
same. The place where we lost the biggest population was the high school. Um the K through8 program was typical a typical year. Um one school had I think the McGlin Middle
had something like 80 or 90 students. So the the population is is steady and stable. Um what happened was we had a big drop off at the high school after um an adviser left a few years ago, Michael Corker, because he uh was a super
adviser and drove in a lot of students up to 100 students. And so that was the biggest difference. And so what's the plan to not just say it's because we lost an advisor, but to replenish the numbers of the students
participating? No, it's not to say that. Uh it's very disappointing. Um the key is we have to get an advisor and I've worked with the principal um Martha and uh we haven't had haven't fallen yet. Last year we had an adviser but um she
was new and actually Joe and his did the bulk of the work. um we want to make it uh more popular and have more students but um it's a voluntary thing so we try to make it attractive and we hope to get an advisor.
So the advisors are all unpaid. Is that what you're saying? Trying to understand they get a stipen. That's what the grant pays for. Yeah. Each advisor gets um over $2,000 for being an adviser for the year. Um so we've over the years
increased it to 2500 um for working with the students for one year. Um so it's about high as we could go with the you know we have a limited budget so I can't offer too much more but uh that's the best we can do and and
like I said case way we have pretty much set for the next year as well. So uh we're really hoping to get somebody from the high school. So we don't have an adviser for the high school yet next year. Is that right? Not yet. No. The schools the people mostly
come back now. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Member in Tapa. Yeah. Thank you, mayor. I think I just wanted to I think the um the voluntary aspect to clear up for anyone who might have heard that is at least from my perspective of advising students and
seeing you know at least the college level students is at least for the last two years students have been faced with the the split decision of do I go to sports or do I work and so for them to
do volunteer work you know it can become a little tricky especially if you know they're helping work with their family. But um I just wanted to give, you know, commendation to Mr. Troda and the whole team for doing this work. I mean, project-based learning is huge. You know, we've seen such amazing things for
the district, uh come out of this. So, um I'm just happy to see that the great work is continuing and um yeah, just wanted to give my my thanks to TRA and the team. Thank you. Thank you, member and Tupper.
And no other questions. I'll just if I may speak from the chair. I too really hope that we get an adviser if we have to shift around funding in any way to be able to pay a a teacher that may be interested. Um I think it's vitally important. I know that we had over 200
students in CCSR um only a couple years ago and I think the program is just so amazing and our high school students in a way need it the most. So I just advocate for really trying to get that position filled um
providing a a support system for the officers that we just saw on the video or those to come um next year that may be replacing those officers. Thank you. Okay, one more point. Uh we have 371 students this year. Um
the max we had was maybe a hundred maybe less at at the highest amount in was 12 years. So it's not dramatically down. Uh like as I said before we get need some from the high school and I would appreciate anyone's help in doing it. Uh I've been trying to get you know get
somebody but um it can it somebody has to volunteer for it and there is a stipen that goes with it. Remember Graham Um just I was just like digging through um the recently done teachers contract
and this is one of the stipens that I believe sits outside of the teachers contract because it is paid um via a grant. Is that correct Dr. Glooy? That is correct. Um so I guess um maybe a programming note for CCSR is that we
have dramatically shifted um I think for the better the stipens that we are offering both for athletics and for um extracurriculars and um perhaps um the CCSR team may want to look at what we did as a model for what
we believe is needed for the kind of support and dedication that um we expect of advice. advisors because it is a lot of work particularly for this program. Um and one of the things we did in the contract um which is available on our website is we um introduced a tier
structure to the academic um and extracurricular stipens that sort of talk about like the intensiveness of the activities so that there's some like tier I'll say tiering for lack of a better word of the kinds of clubs and
activities and what they require. Um, so that may be a good place to look to say where does this fit and is the current set of stipens enough or is there somewhere else in the CCSR budget that we could pull from to um make those positions more appealing especially as
we have shifted the rest. So that number may I think used to probably be well in excess of what we were offering for many of our extracurriculars and it just may no longer be that. So, we may need to take a look at that and figure out grant-wise, like where um funding can
come from to do that. Okay. Just on that point, um you know, we have a budget um and the money that we get every year pretty much covers everything. Um and the vast majority of most of it, like 90% of it, 80% of it goes to stipens. So, we're pretty much
maxed out there. But if we if someone could add more money, I'd be happy to use it. Um but we do have a we do have um you know a budget that we have to keep to Yeah, I appreciate that and I would welcome um a funding proposal or a
recommendation or a request um that would that we feel like would address this. So maybe we can take that up in the fall. But I think this is where as the person who is the main stipen holder um and knows the most about the grant
and the funding available like we would be we would welcome your recommendation about what is needed um and perhaps there are other people in the community who might be willing to to fund something like that. So but I think a recommendation from you would be very empower very impactful. Oh
that's great. I would be happy to do that. Great. Thank you, Mr. Troder. We appreciate the presentation and the slideshow. Okay. Thank you again. Thank you. Yeah. Bye-bye. We're going to go to number three. Yellow bus transportation and
electrification timeline recommendation to approve 5-year contract comprised of three years and two one year. I'm going to turn it over to Noel Vez, director of finance, and Brenda Pike, planning, development, and sustainability um
planner in from the city. Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today. Um yeah, so here we have today is um the RFP that we sent out back in March um regarding our school bus and our transportation.
When we sent it out, we had sent out a very detailed report regarding what the needs of the school district was currently and what we felt the needs might be in the next upcoming years. And um we got back one bid currently.
Eastern Bus. Um they offered um some prices to us regarding both um late pickup um daily charter buses for sports athletics and including also including our day-to-day operations of morning
pickup and after school drop off. Also here we have um Brenda Pike from the city side to talk a little bit about um electrical buses and a place we'd like to go to in the future and kind of how we as a school district and the city can
can work together to to really manifest this um vision and idea. [Music] Yeah. So just a quick update. Um, we were awarded a grant for free technical assistance from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center uh to create a school bus
electrification plan. Um, we've been working with VEIC and Energetics for a few months now and they've assessed our current conditions and needs. The full analysis will be available this fall, but they have some initial recommendations. They're recommending a phased approach
with four electric buses, replacing diesel buses in the next 5 years to be housed at Eastern Bus's Malden location and then replacing the rest of the school fleet in two more phases over the next 10 years and housing them at the high school, incorporating chargers for
them into the new high school design. Um, and there are multiple possible ownership models for this, including third party owning and operating the buses. um Medford owning the buses and a third party operating them or Medford owning and operating our own buses.
Um initial financial analysis shows that the electric buses cost almost twice as much as comparable diesel buses, but with existing grants and incentives available to the city, the 10-year capital operations and maintenance costs can be less than diesel buses. Um, but
we just wanted to let you know today that this report is being developed and we'll have more information for you this fall. Thank you, Brenda. Um, member Rouso. Thank you, Brenda. Um, I have a quick question. So, I realize we're it's c before the horse a bit in some of my
questions, but um the um I mean could we own buses that are housed at Eastern Bus? Is that an actual option? It's a it's a possibility. I don't think it's something that's been um included in this current RFP. It would have to be
an amendment if that was something that we that if we got a grant and and decided to do that in the future. Okay. Cuz you know, even going adding four um you know, we we have had a lot of um conversations I think for at least six
years now about adding some electrification um at our schools. We were going to do a um carport with solar. We can't do that. Um we bought all kinds of uh when we upgraded all of
our equipment for our kitchens. Um we bought all this electric stuff because the school committee has decided we don't want to buy carbon based equipment. Well, we had to ship it all back because we the utilities don't the building doesn't support that much power
use and neither did the utilities at the street. And while we could certainly probably afford the utilities inside the building, us having to pay for national grid to upgrade their grid, frankly, um is a wildly expensive endeavor if I
remember correctly. So, um, will your plans include the fact that National Grid isn't ready wherever we want to put it? I mean, we we wanted to put more electric chargers. We wanted to put them in different places in the schools. Um, and I think we have one or two in We
have one in most schools. Um, but there are other areas we just couldn't put one because there's not the electrical systems that are not meant for public schools. electric systems are not ready for the amount of power required. So, um
I I mean I use I have two EVs myself. My electric bill is startling. Um and I'm all for that because I also don't have any carbon out. But, um the costs to run them and to install the
equipment is one thing, but a National Grid doesn't seem ready. So, will your reports or analysis include if they're we're going to have to pay for it. They're not going to pay for it. Um, which I think is ridiculous, but we're we're already in talks with National Grid about the capacity at the high
school location. Um, and they've indicated that they don't see any capacity issues, at least in this initial assessment that they did, and they can do a more in-depth one as we move forward. Okay. Yeah. I certainly when we build a new high school, I expect there would be lots of utilities
work to support a new building. Um, and at that point, sure. Um, but anything before there's a new high school, I think, is where I'm concerned about. Um, yep. Where are we going to charge these? All of those costs are being factored into that financial analysis that we'll
see this fall. Great. Thank you. Thank you, member. So, member Graham, thank you. I finally found the raise hand feature. Um, so I do recall um at a school committee conference at one point in time that there were electrification programs out
there that did require school districts to take ownership of the buses and then there was like a a lease out of the buses. So it wasn't necessarily like a contract issue necess particularly, but it was like we would own the buses and like essentially lease them, you know,
out to whoever is driving the buses. So I think there's like any number of ways that the electrification piece of this could happen and obviously there's a lot of costs associated with the electrification of buses. So I'm sort of inclined to ask us to send this to
subcommittee now so that when you're ready for that media discussion like there's a place for that discussion to happen um that can be dedicated to this because obviously there's a lot of planning involved. Um, so I'm sort of thinking about that and I'm happy to make a motion to do that if my
colleagues don't have other questions. But I also um in reading this report um am just want to make sure I'm understanding the the bid. So the bid we would be entering into a three-year contract and there would be options to
ex extend that contract for one-year terms for a total of five years possible, but those are at our option at a later date. Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. Okay. And um we also only got one bid. Is that correct?
Yes, that is correct as well. Okay. And I just think not I'm not really expecting that we have a big huge audience here tonight on the last day of school, but um I think that's important to say out loud um as much as we can. um particularly on the heels of a year
where we had to ask Eastern Bus to come visit us at school committee because they did not have enough drivers. So um our options are extraordinarily limited. Um and it's not just a problem here in Medford, it's a problem across the state that um the school mass association of
school committees has asked the legislature to take up um in terms of increasing competition. Um, so there's just there's a lot going on in that space that does sort of limit um our choices. Um, but I am happy to see that we were really thoughtful in how we put
this bid out so that there we have options including things like late buses, including things like add alternates for um electrification etc. So I think we have a lot of options to leverage this contract in the bid um
that will serve us well for the you know the coming years. So, um I'm also happy um and I will make a motion now to accept the recommendation to approve the contract um as described.
Motion to approve the contract as described by member Graham. Is there a second? I think that you might have moved your lips, member Russo, but you're muted. I did bow my lips. Thank you for
noticing. Um to I did second that. Yes. Okay. Motion to approve by member Graham. Seconded by member Rouso. A roll call, please. Member Brley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member Antapa.
Yes. Member Thank you. Uh member Olai. Yes. Member Reinfeld. Yes. Member Russo. Yes. Mayor Langokarn. Yes. Seven the affirmative zero in the negative paper passes.
Um are are there other questions or should I make my motion about moving the electrification piece? I don't see any further questions. So I think you can move your motion. Member Graham. Okay. Um, I'd like to make a
motion to refer the electrification of school buses and the report being prepared for the fall to the strategic and capital planning subcommittee. Second. Motion by member Graham, seconded by member Rinfeld. Roll call, please.
Member Branley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member Papa. Yes. Member Olady. Yes. Member Rinfelt. Yes. member. So yes, Marilyn go. Yes. Seven the affirmative zero in the
negative mo paper has been moved to subcommittee. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Galooi interim superintendent um to go over the rate card early pickup track for after school programming. Thank you.
So, and I do know that we have um director Megan Fidlerary on the call and she I'll just give a brief overview and then if we have questions um I know she's here as well. So, uh we've come before the body before we you approved
um the rate card for the tuition for the afterchool program. One of the things that we did discuss when we came to talk about the enhancement of the afterchool program in the in our work to increase capacity.
One of the ways in which uh we're hoping that that can be done is with this early pickup time. So as we presented to this body before um on the April 14th meeting uh we are here to talk about what the
rate would be for that early pickup time. So through survey results from families, um it was the the survey data showed that people would be more open to the early pickup time of 400 p.m. So that
would be about 75 minutes after the new dismissal time for elementary schools. So there'd be a 400 p.m. pickup time and then a 600 p.m. pickup time. you have, excuse me, approved the rates for the 6PM.
So, it's the yearly rate of 500 um 5,000. No, yes, $533 for a monthly rate. Daily rate of $2964. And so, just the pro rate prorrated uh
option for that 4pm pickup time would be $25.20 for a monthly rate. and that's $11.40 for a daily rate. So, um, they just took the
6pm time and prrated it to the 4pm time and we're looking for approval for that, but if you have any questions prior to approval, um, please let us know. Member Reinfeld and member Russo. Member Russo was first.
Okay, you were first on my screen, so I was just trying to go in order, but member Russo, then member Rinfeld. Maybe Zim will get this right someday. Um, my question is, what if everybody opts for financially what happens to the program if the vast majority of people choose
the 4pm slot? Um, well, I don't want to just have a careless answer to say that I don't think that that will be happening. Um but the way that director um Fiddler Kerry went about this was she surveyed the current
enrolled families. She surveyed the families that are on the waiting list. Um and so she's going to take that tiered approach to rolling this out with families as well. So the first option will be families that are currently enrolled. Um, and that will she'll give
a a window of time for that and then she'll move to families that are on the wait list um before we kind of open it up broadly to newer families. So, I don't Yeah, I don't know if that's that answers my question. Definitely. Thank
you. Um, and my other question was, um, $9 an hour, um, is I still think kind of, um, outrageously low. Um, and, um, I mean, you can't get
anything for $9 an hour unless you I mean, you'd have to travel thousands of miles to find anything for $9 an hour. Thousands of miles. So, I don't I don't know what I think about this. I know that we have done comparisons to
other places. Um, but I don't know. I'm just really stuck on $9 an hour. That's just I can't get past it and I'll let other people speak. Sorry. Member Rinfeld and member Grant. Thank you. I just wanted to ask how this maps
to our staffing. I know part of the motivation for this model was that we w we thought that we could have um more flexible staffing opportunities and so I just wanted to make sure that was proportional here and that the people who are on the the clipped
shift the the till 4 p.m. working they're still being paid at the same rate as the people in 6 p.m. Yes. And so this proportionally maps to what we need to pay our staff to run this program presumably with more pro more people in
the early shift and fewer people overlapping in the later shift. Yes. Thank you. Member Graham. Thank you. um the survey that you did, how did it what were what were the results like how many people
said what percentage of respondents said I would do this this version if it was available versus people who said I would not do this version if it was available. What were the results? I'm going to defer to um Director Fidler
Kerry. Hi, thank you school committee. Um, so we we gave it out and we gave a couple of different times and the for the the earlier pickup time about 30 people responded that they would be interested in the earlier pickup time from the
respondents. Um, what what was interesting though um was how many people followed up afterwards with an email. After filling out the survey, they emailed saying all of the different options that they would be willing to consider, which I thought was very interesting. Um,
and just really liking the idea of of the earlier time because a lot of them, you know, especially a couple of our teachers are saying like they just need that little extra bit of time. So, they they did explain that directly, but it was about 30% of the respondents.
30%. Yep. Okay, got it. Um, that's helpful. And I do know that lots of people had feedback about that survey in terms of like the the nature of the questions. And I'm hopeful that the after school task force can help us like just get a little bit more precise on
some of those communications before they go out in the future. So, um that we're not like causing agida like we were intending to ask a very simple question and people got pretty wrapped up around like if I answer this the wrong way am I
going to lose my spot which was not our intention at all. I know that for sure. Um so I think that's important. Um, I do think, um, I agree with member Russo about the very, very low price. Um, and I think one of the things we have to
consider is that when we're offering like this shorter version, there is stuff that is still just as much, right? Like there's just as much uh management, there's just as much payroll. Now we have people who will be
late, right? like there it is not necessarily like easy so easy to say it's onethird of the work um because there is still like there's like sort of the the fixed aspect of like what this is going to look like to be able to
support this program which is like adding a layer of complication. Um I still think it's like a really good idea. I just would like to see the price um go up to be like instead of just an even third like I would I would personally like to see it be about half
of what the full option is um because I think there is there's a tremendous amount of work that is going to have to be done um to manage this like separate strand like it's not going to like be completely seamless and I think we just
need to like account for that in terms of like what our infrastructure is going to require. to do that. Graham, anybody want to respond or I'm going to go to Yeah. No, I I'm sorry. I didn't know if you were going I I think that that is fair. Um and I think that's a
pretty accurate summary of what's probably what we what we have been having internal conversations about as well. So, what I'm hearing is to raise it to $15. I would be I would be very comfortable with that, but I'll let my colleagues
chime in. And when we say $15, Dr. Lucy, you mean $15? For a daily rate? No, for a daily rate. A daily rate of $15. Got it. Okay. Um, see if Okay. So, member Ryan Fell, member in top, and then member Russo.
Yeah, I was I was going to agree and note that the financial aid is still available for families who need that, which seems reasonable as a reminder that that's happening as well.
You member member. Thank you, Mayor. Um while I understand why we want to part of me if if if part of me feels that the administration says they can do it with
11 or whatever I'm sorry the numbers right here 1140 I don't know how I mean I understand it's I don't want to say just 15 but um I'm curious to see how that works and if the administration says 1140 and we could support off 1140
I don't see I I mean I understand why we want to raise it to 15, but I I would be more in support of the 1140 number as opposed to the 15 just because I know that this is a huge pain point for our our our families and um this may help
bring some new folks in and I understand there's financial assistance, but I don't know. That's sort of my two cents on it. Thank you. Member Rouso then member Graham, just unmute yourself. Member Russo,
thank you. I'm new to this Zoom thing. Um I have a question about um you know I know we have teen leads and I I forget if that's the title that um that director Fitler Kerry has for um her staff but um we will have I mean
inherently there will be more staff that is part of this equation. There will be more physical bodies that are employed by Memphis public schools and you know there will be people who will say I can work that 2:45 to 4 but I can't work till 6:00 and that's great. We're going
to have those people. We're going to increase capacity. Um but are you going to also have to have more team leads or whatever it is that you call them. Um they get paid more than those folks who are not team leads. Um, and so is the
intention to I mean I I know we're it's it's early days so I know some of this is a bit hard to nail down right now but is the intention to put more on the existing set of team leads or is it to add additional team leads where needed and
um you know how much how has that cost been considered? Megan do you want Yeah. Yeah. I'll take this. So for the way that we are envisioning this for the space is that this early shift will be it will be more of a kind
of concentrated big program where the students assemble, they get their healthy snack, they get some homework done um and then they go play. But it's not as much movement. It's not the sort of um the the enrichment model that we have for the rest of after school that's
the full three hours and 15 minutes. This is more the 1 hour and 15 minutes condensed version. So they'll be all be really in one place. So we'll only have one lead. We call them group leaders. So we'll have one group leader for that whole early shift. Um and then supports
for as many students. Again, we like to keep that 1:10 ratio. Um so as many as we end up being able to fit with the space provided and the need. and then that group leader would stay on and go support the the later shift um group afterwards.
Thank you. And I just want to ask my second question rather than going all the way around again. Um what is the uh threshold for financial assistance? So we I mean we offer financial assistance based on the determinations of the city that they use for their um
community development block grant to determine low income. And so families can get uh 30 or 50 or 70% off. Um and we do get funding from the community development block grant. We're getting nearly $10,000 this year. Um that once
it's finalized, we'll present to you. Uh we have also applied for some funding for Mckin Vento families and that would allow some students to come at no cost to them obviously. Um but then otherwise it's just a sort of a dent and we gave
uh about $45,000 in financial assistance this year. Excellent. Thank you. Member Graham. Um, how many more students do we anticipate being able to admit under with this um, additional
strand? Well, we're I mean, we're starting them all out to have it be one kind of group. And remember, we keep our groups to the the 26 mark, which is what um the EEC uses the 1:13 ratio, 1:10 ratio. So, if we had two adults with that, so we're
starting with that. But if we find that there's a flood at the Brooks and Roberts, which I imagine we will get, those those are our two biggest programs, um, then we'll look at the space and see if we can double that and get that to if there's a need, if
there's a an ask for 50 kids for the 4:00 pickup, I think we can make that work with the space. We've already started conversations with the principles to let them know that this was an idea that we're thinking about and to for them to think about how that will work in their afternoons. um and certainly our site coordinators for them
to think about how that'll work in the afternoons and um I think you know if we have the cafeterias we can do that. So are you saying it's like an extra like 26 kids per building? Is that what
you're saying? Yes. And I mean I'm not sure how much bigger than the 26 we'd get until we have staff fully confirmed. Um, I think you know then we could sort of we always we'll keep positions posted and if we can get another staff then we can let in the more kids that go with
the staff member. I think the difference but like this program will allow us to like make a pretty big jump of like 25ish kids. Yes, we're hoping so because I know that
some kids um some families they they've said that they just need that extra little push and we've had staff that have said, you know, staff that work during the school day that have said like I I can't stay all the way till 6, but I could give an extra hour at the
end of the day. And um I think my other question is this is a five-day option. Like we're not we're not splitting that hair further to say there's two-day options and three-day options and four-day options. We're this is just a five-day option. Is that correct? We thought we would again
um looking looking to um best practices in other districts where we learned about this option. They do offer a two-day and a three-day option, but it's fixed. It's not like we do in the after school where you can pick like a Tuesday, Wednesday and then that means we have to find somebody who wants to do
the Monday, Thursday, Friday. We said we could do a three-day option that's Monday, Wednesday, Friday or a two-day option that's Tuesday, Thursday. Um just trying to think about what's best for more families. Um so that's how we're envisioning it. If you you know, we're
also very mindful that we want to kind of take this thoughtfully. We don't want to jump right in and and take bite off more than we can chew. So, if we wanted to say like, let's just start with the five-day option, that would certainly logistically be easier. But, I think that if we had fixed days, a fixed
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and a fixed Tuesday, Thursday schedule in addition to the fiveday, I think that that would be manageable and it would open up a couple more seats because we could, you know, call again if we're going by seats instead of by students, that would be more sense.
Um I I'm comfortable with that as long as it's not like the complete wild west times two, right? Like I think that's something that we don't we're not ready for. Um so I think that is that feels perfectly fine to me. I think that s
just circling back to the cost. If you all remember, the other thing we have really committed to is rapidly expanding our program after years of like not making much progress. So I think what we will need administratively
to make that happen is very unknown and and we're going to layer on top of that like this new strand. So I think we should be conservative in terms of like what it takes to make sure we do this well rather than come up short where we
then have like criticism that the program would have could have should have done something different. And if we find that like all of that comes together very seamlessly, like I think then we have the option next year to say we're not going to increase that rate.
But I think if we if we come in too low, like we will own this and all of the criticism that comes with like shortch changing the operational need potentially. So, um I'm going to make a motion that the daily rate be $15 um for
this um till 4 p.m. option. And um yeah, thank thank you, Member Graham. U members, I will swear to God I'm Um, I was doing some calculations. AMI
is $118,000 in Medford this year for a family of four. Um, and that would be what you'd have to make to receive no financial assistance. Um, and so I'm very comfortable with that $15 a day. Um
because I mean I'm not going to comment on people's finances, but um if your household brings in $118,000 a year and $15 a day is going to break you um then that's that's a different
conversation really. It's not for me to comment on that. But um you know we are going to provide we provide assistance 70% uh what was it 50 and 30% um of that $15. So um that's why I'm
quite comfortable with these rates. I think that I would like to know next year when we're having this conversation what would it look like if these rates were significantly higher? And I don't mean 6%. I mean, the 29.64 a day was $45
a day. The $15 a day was $25 a day. Um, like what would that do to the program? What would that do to our ability to offer more assistance to families that were in need? Uh, because again, these are the rates for people who do not meet
any financial assistance requirements. These are not the rates for folks that have uh those those uh income levels. So what happens if we go there? Do we end up with a much greater retention of
staff? Do we have the ability to offer retention bonuses? Would that actually change how many staff we retain from year to year? Um, one of the biggest challenges I am concerned about with this is that more staff means more time
spent recruiting because that's more turnover. There's no way around it, right? I mean, Megan, I don't know if she's doing it all herself still, but like spends an enormous amount of time finding staff. And if there's more staff that are employed to fill up the program
and that retention is the same as it has been, then there's going to be more hiring required. That's more of her time or somebody else's time. Um, and I'm just thinking like a substantial change to this cost. What would it look like
next year to um our ability to retain people? And you know, aside from the training costs, retaining people has um you know, a lot of value in program consistency and all the other stuff that
I don't need to go through. Um, so, um, I'm going to second this motion to go to $15 a day for the clipped shift option, but I am going to ask that by next year we have a substantially that we have an analysis of what we can
do as a program if we went to $45 and $25 for those two options. Um, keeping in mind that financial assistance, none of that changes. So, that's uh I'll second that. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor
by member Graham, seconded by member Russo and um I just want to thank everybody for the your work on this. It's very creative and the survey helped us get there as well. So great job. Great job. Something we've been asking for and hoping for for a few years now
especially. Um so member Russo, if you could please call the role. I unmuted still. Good. Um member Branley. Yes, member Graham. Yes, member Antapa. Just unmute member. Yes. It's Sorry,
it's member Olati. Yes. Do you hear me? Yes. Member Rouso. Yes. Mayor Lgo. Member Reinfeld also says yes. Oh my god. I'm sorry. Yes. And you. And you, member Russo, right? Oh, and I said yes, too. Boy, I got
Okay. the affirmative, zero on the negative. The paper passes. Um, and then we are going to go to number five, water filling stations. Um, Rea Smith, our director of food services. I'll turn it over to you. I'm not seeing her. I know she was on
earlier. Yes, she was. She hopped on a couple times, so I'm not sure if she's having connection issues. So, this is Jen Selva. Rea is actually on a plane, so I think she's been trying to get on and off as she has Wi-Fi. Um, but I thought
she said she had sent a video. Did she I don't know who she sent it to. Uh, yes, she does. Would you like me to play it? Yes. I think that's probably she was going for if she couldn't talk. Uh, yes. Uh, Director Smith and Dr. Cushing prepared a video. So, let's hope
I can get the audio to work again this time. Click the button. Good evening, Madame Mayor and members of the school committee. Um, thank you for taking the opportunity this evening to review this quick video presentation. As both Rea Smith, director of food
services, and myself are unable to attend this final meeting of the Medford School Committee this year due to family commitments. Uh, we're here tonight in spirit to present to you Flowwater and request a 5-year lease approval. Uh,
this is part of, I would say, a pilot, but not really because a five-year lease is not a pilot. But this would give the food service department the opportunity to continue using the two flow water devices that have been installed while further understanding the costs and
implications of leasing versus purchasing for other locations in the district. The plan is to deploy these to all of the cafeterias. Um hopefully we have to do some further work looking at the spaces, but we wanted to bring this
to you this evening to get a 5-year lease approved by this body this evening. And then Director Smith will attend the city council for final approval in the coming months. Uh and with that, I'd like to turn it over to
Director Smith at this time. Good evening. My apologies for not being able to be present tonight. Um, flow water is I I think a a better system for us. Um, so under USDA regulations, the
cafeterias are obligated to provide drinking water to the students, which we are happy to do. Uh previously we'd been using at the high school 5gallon refillable dispensers that we had filled with uh water in the kitchen and then transport out into the cafeteria space
for the students. Um I wanted to do something that was better for the students in terms of meeting their needs for drinking water. Um they had expressed that it didn't taste very good. So, uh, came across
Flow Water, and Flow Water definitely has a more premium feel to it than the LK water bottle filling stations that we have. Uh, it has a 7step filtration process. The water is very cold when it comes out. There's a fivegallon
reservoir that holds the water and so it's it's very cold when it comes through the tap and the students have commented on that and appreciate it a lot. Um, so we have two units in the high school currently that we are piloting. Um, and the student feedback
that we've received, staff feedback that we've received has been really, really positive. Um, I have an unit that is installed outside of my office and when I'm there, students and staff members come
throughout the day to fill their water bottle station or water bottles. So that's been really really nice to see. Um this is some documentation provided from Flow Water. So their systems were used on water from Flint, Michigan,
which as I'm sure everyone knows had extremely high levels of lead in the drinking water. um and using flow water they were able to get that lead level down to undetectable levels which is
pretty amazing and uh the pictures you can see on the right the difference um with and without using flow water so it's visibly different as well the the cost difference in leasing
versus purchasing the flow water system over five years. Um it's actually cheaper uh to lease the machine than it is to purchase it over 5 years. Um the additional benefits are that the units
are under warranty for the entire duration of the lease. If you purchase the machine, it's only under warranty for one year. Considering that the high school is a very busy place and many
outside uh renters are in the building on the weekends, I feel more comfortable with going with a lease option knowing that the I know Retta too well to think she ended it in the middle of a sentence.
Can you see that X there in the middle of the screen? Yes. I don't know if you have to click that. I don't know what that is. Yeah, it was working when I was testing it earlier. I apologize.
always works when you test it. One second. I'd refresh the page if it's a web page. is a very busy place and many outside uh renters are in the building on the weekends. I feel more comfortable with
going with a lease option knowing that the units would be covered under warranty for the duration uh of of that time period. After the 5-year lease, it is extended on a month-to-month basis.
If the machine is not really functioning as well as we want it to at that point, we could also um trade it in essentially to get a new unit and extend a lease or if we were happy with it over the 5 years, then we could opt to purchase
units at that time. So, um at this time, uh that's the end of the presentation. Uh some questions you might have uh relate to the overall water quality in our schools that was of topic in September and October this past year. Uh the district has submitted our
request for swig and will be receiving uh financial uh compensation uh this summer to replace um many of the water fountains that tested negatively. Those will be in the neighborhood of $3,000 a piece. So, um, more than likely those
will be the LK replacements. Now, while this is definitely, as Director Smith said, a premium option, um, this would probably be best suited in our cafeteria spaces, uh, the machines are very sleek,
very inviting, um, and offer the opportunity for, as you can see in this picture here, both staff and students the opportunity to fill up. I encourage and if this were an in-person meeting, Director Smith had actually planned to have um chilled water there from the
stations for you, but we invite you to come to the schools at any point um to really taste it for yourself. The reality is though is that to deploy these across the district um in all spaces would be cost prohibitive
um in comparison to um the LKS that will be supported by SWIG. So uh while I had initially hoped to do that after crunching the numbers and doing the math um it it just doesn't really work out. But in order to provide this as an
opportunity for students and staff to fill their own vessels or perhaps the district would like to provide a branded um flask for our stu students and staff at some point that might be a great alternative as well. Um I would like to
just close out by saying I really appreciate uh Rea's uh enthusiasm in pursuing this and really working hard. You'll notice that uh in this picture in the two cafeterias, we've actually utilized uh long dormant old uh water
fountains that were covered over. You can see it there in the white contrast versus the paneling behind. and um our maintenance staff and the flow water staff were able to uh clear out the drains, clear out the piping, and really
put in a far superior option for our students. Once again, the long-term plan or short-term plan over the next year is to deploy these to the elementary and middle school cafeterias. Those pose a little bit of a deployment challenge in plumbing for some. Um, but Director
Smith is working on those issues. Uh, RER, is there anything you'd like to add before we close out our video presentation this evening? I will be on a plane when this meeting is happening, but I will try to be on Zoom and could
answer questions via chat um, as long as Wi-Fi participates. and I unfortunately will be entirely unavailable, but this is why we hire great people to lead departments and Director Smith can answer all the
questions you may have. Um, in closing, I request recommendation to approve a 5-year lease with Flowwater and forward on to the Medford City Council for approval under Mass General laws. Thank you and all my best.
And you Oh, you could leave the screen up maybe because it just showed the the total cost of 10,000 500. I think I just saw total 5-year in investment. So maybe Noel for me if you could just
um outline that and then I'll go to anybody that has questions. You're talking about outlining the lease towards the purchase just the the total cost for the five years. Is that correct? It's 10,500. Yes. I believe that's the per per unit.
Sorry, we all said it at the same time. That's per unit, right? Per station. Yes. And I believe that that is the purchase price their request is for the lease. Am I also saying that? Yeah, they
are requesting they prefer the lease option just because of um the um the maintenance applied to it. And as um when you outright purchase it, the warranty is only for one year. So, anything after one year, you're held responsible to either bring in your own
plumbers and or um bring in your own custodial facilities to work on the machines um replace the filters and keep up anything any and clean any lines that um that might get dirty from usage over time.
Thank you. I I'll turn it over to member Graham. Thank you. Um, I really like the um the lease option particularly because it also includes maintenance and we know that we haven't always done such a great
job when we when it comes to maintenance. And I think those fillable water stations are a really good example of us not doing maintenance. Like they the filters are clogged. Kid my kids come home all the time and say those don't work anymore. There's a sign over
them that says don't use. like that's all of that goes away with this model which I think is super intriguing. Um Noel I did have one other question which was is this being funded out of the food service budget or is this being funded
out of the operating budget? Yes, as long as they're kept in the cafeteria and they're being used regarding cafeteria usage i.e. breakfast, breakfast after the bell, lunchtime, and or if we're serving any snacks during summer programs, these are
100% eligible to be spent um through the lunch program. If um if any other principles wanted to get these outside of that, they would have to do it through their own budget and maintenance or we the district could review this in our budgets later. But regarding they
have to stay in the cafeteria and be used specifically during cafeteria hours to to qualify. Yes. And that's the plan for these these pieces. Correct. And so in the budget can handle this expense is my understanding. Is that right? Yes.
Our our current food service um funding Yes. can cover this. Great. Um, I will make a motion to approve the five-year lease um and defer my colleagues. Look for motions for approval. I see a member have you have your hand up? Thank
you. It's just a quick question so I understand. So if we were to do the leasing option I understand that the maintenance would be I'm assuming covered by flow water. If we did the purchase would that be a different expectation about what they annual maintenance costes? Would we cover that
as individuals? would they teach um or kind of instruct our staff on what the maintenance looks like or would they would we still be able to contract out to them for that kind of upkeep? You may not know that off the top of your head, but I just thought I'd ask really quick. I I don't know that. I could definitely reach out to Reetta um when she comes back. I have a meeting with her on the
26th and we can definitely reach out to you regarding um I just what I do know is from the pamphlet I read and from the meetings I had I know that for the first year everything is covered um whether they would train us on how to keep keep maintaining them. I'm sure that's
something we can definitely ask um the representative. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Member Rinfeld. Thank you. Uh, so I wanted to say I know Director Smith is not on the call, but I appreciate both that this is proactive
but also really responsive to something that students requested. So I really appreciate that. And I just wanted to ask um, Director BZ if is this at risk? I know the revolving budget at the moment, the revolving fund
can handle it. Does this come under risk if things happen with our federal grant and the support and support for free lunches, free the free breakfast and lunches? Thank you for that question. Um what I can tell you is while we were in
MASBO, a lot of the director of finances had very similar questions. Um we met with um with Patrick Tutweiler, we met with a few other people from the state and what they had informed us was that for whatever reason the federal lunch program was to dissolve based on
whatever decisions the current administration wanted to make, um the governor and the state and a lot of state representatives had decided they would they would use um first emergency slush funds and they would work it into the budget um as they have done with u
with meeting a lot of school districts needs that they would then cover the rest of whatever the federal government was not covering from re from from meal reimbursement. That was my understanding as of May of um 2025 when we last spoke with u with with certain district
leaders with certain state leaders. Terrific. Thank you. In that case, I'm happy to second the motion to approve the lease. Motion for approval by member Graham, second by member Reinfeld. All those in favor? Um, roll call, please. Sorry, we're on Zoom.
Member Branley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member, yes. Member Lead, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member Russell, yes. Mayor Langokern, yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. The paper passes.
Thank you. Thank you, Rea and Peter. Oh, wait. You're not on. We should send him a video. A thank you video. Oh golly. Okay, let me just switch back to the jet agenda. We do actually have
one on the YouTube. We should send it to him. We do not have any public presentations, but we do have um one item under continued business from June 3rd, 2025 special meeting. the following recommendations to approve contract for
teamsters local 25 administrators contract for MPS budget analyst increases for non-unit personnel. Um mayor I can give a brief summary of the administrator's contract if that's helpful. That'd be great. Thank you. on
that. Um we met in executive session and um did take a vote to um ratify the contract. Um but uh in just going through the notes, we didn't report that out. So we do need to take a vote here on the floor according to our attorney.
Um and just by way of like what that um what that contract is, it's a it's a three-year contract. Um, in FY25, the increase is 3%. In FY26, it's 2.5% plus
a 75% wage adjustment. Um, and the same in FY27, 2.5% plus a 75 um% wage adjustment. Um and that is because with the sort of big and big changes to the um teacher salaries,
we were at risk of um our administrative positions no longer being very attractive. Um so we had to make some adjustments there. Um this contract also um made some changes um did not make any changes to their longevity but did make
some changes um to uh the wage schedules around um their advanced degrees which they have in their contract really in lie of steps um and um although longevity did change by $100 per
contract year which was very modest. Um and the big um there were a couple of big things that came out of this. Um one of which was that um their work year will be increased by 2 days um in the in
FY25. Um so part of their increase is because they will be working more. Um and um our stipens um we had some short-term stipens um to support some of the schedule work as well as um some
continuing stipens that um will continue to be part of the contract. And then um the the final piece was that the um director of English language uh learners um what would no longer be
part of the unit given the changing nature of that role and the alignment of that role more to our director pupil services than to the work that's being done in that unit. Um, so that's like a quick recap and um, Attorney Greenspan suggested that we um,
take a vote in public to um, acknowledge um, that and u, be able to execute the full conflict. Second. Can I just ask a question? the the two extra days, is that being compensated
through the colas and the um adjustments or is that is that there also a per day increase to each um position? Just like we did in the teachers contract, there is a per day adjustment um which is in addition to
the colis the No offense to any administrators. I just this is far more rich than we've been working through on the city side. So, I'm not just not going to be able to support it because I know the budget
would not be able to um sustain these type of increases across the board, which I think is somewhat of a fair way to do it. So, I'll ask you to call the role. Member Russo. Member Bradley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes.
Member Intapa. Yes. Member, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member cell, yes. Marilyn Gokern, no. Six in the affirmative, one in the negative. Motion passes.
Next up, we have new business first reading of the allergy policy offered by member Rouso. Mayor, can I just um clarify? Did we that vote was just about the administrator's contract or it was about all three? Just the administrators? I'm seeing that might have been just the administrators. So
the others, let me go back up. Okay. Um, so contract for MPS budget analyst is next. Sorry. And I believe that's um our that is Jerry's contract. So if anybody wants to just give us an overview and
then uh we can take a vote. Yes, that is for um Mr. McHugh who has been working with us for the past two years helping um in the finance department. I think it's been well documented on many of these meetings the exorbitant amount of
work that we have had to do in the finance office to get um out from underneath loads and loads of water um and working on systems and structures so that we are compliant and
that we are operating in a way in which we should be as a public school district. So, um, he has definitely taken charge on a lot of the the budget build with Noel's partnership and assistance. Next year, we have him
working on a lot of other projects, doing some auditing of our revolving accounts, um, and again working with Noel, who will be taking lead in the budget build for the next school year. uh in the subcommittee meeting that or the other school committee meeting we
had um we discussed his daily rate of $75 an hour um or a day, excuse me, for doing this work with us. And that is the approval for this evening. If there's um additional pieces that school committee
members in attendance would like to or director would like to add on, please feel free. And I'm I'm assuming you mean $75 an hour. Yes. Can you just tell me that's similar to the the rate he that
was given through this past budget for fiscal year 26. Is that correct? I believe so. 60. Noel can confirm that. Yes, it's it's the same rate. It's the same rate he's had um for two years now.
Okay. Thank you. Member Reinfeld. Yep. I just wanted to say I think this is well worth investing in for the revolving accounts. I think that was one of the things that we saw when we got these budget presentations that there was some unevenness and um some questions around what was coming in and what was going
out and how it was being distributed. So I think this is well worth the cost and a bargain honestly for financial budget consulting. So I'll motion to approve. Motion for approval by member Reinfeld, seconded by
second. Member. Roll call, please. Member Brley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member Antapa, yes. Member Laat, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member Russell, yes. Marilyn Gokern, yes. Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Paper
passes. And last but not least in the agenda item, increases for non-unit personnel. Uh this was the other piece that was discussed at the uh previous meeting. The attached document there lists um the
non-unit positions that we discussed having an increase um in a range of like 2% to 3%. Um there are two there are two non-unit positions that have a note um
in terms of a salary adjustment due to an assignment of new duties. One of those positions is our communications director uh Mr. Pipeelli and the other one is new duties for the current registration
specialist position. Uh the the the one full-time position that is in the parent information center. um moving that to a senior registration specialist position and uh Miss Gabby Dosta taking on more
management um responsibilities for the overall functioning of the registration office um and some additional responsibilities with reporting through the department of education around registration related um activities and
compliance. Happy to answer any questions. Motion to approve. Motion for approval by member Graham. Um before the roles called, can you just tell us what the actual increases were
to those two positions? Yes, please. Um hold on one second. Uh, if you could give me a moment, I'm really sorry. I'm going to have to pull that up because I don't have it at the ready. Um, pull it up for you right now, superintendent. Thank you.
So, the two employees we're talking about are William and Gabby. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. For for William and while while Mr. VeZ is looking for that, I did talk about the increased responsibilities for M. Dosta.
Um in this meeting I did not talk about the increased responsibilities for Mr. um Pipelli. So I think it's important to note with as you see tonight um with Mr. Cushing, Dr. Cushing leaving there are a lot of responsibilities around the
uh MPS pieces for this meeting around um Zoom increased responsibilities around our Google suite. Um, there are confidentially,
um, I'm sorry, I'm stumbling on my words, but there are pieces of management districtwide for our Google suite of applications for our Zoom applications, and those are going to be transferred from Dr. Cushing to Mr.
Pipeelli. Um, as well as some other responsibilities in increasing his day-to-day tasks. Thank you, Dr. Director. I have those numbers though. So for William, the pay increase regarding the
adjustment to his work and new assignments as the superintendent has spoken about would be a pay increase of $7,998. [Music] That is for William And regarding Gabby Dcasta, um the pay
increase regarding her new assignment from her old job would be $19,750. Second, I'm sorry, $18,000. I apologize before the rolls called. So, with a
almost $20,000 increase, um, was that position reposted posted and then filled? So, or or was that's just a $19,000 increase to So, Gabby, so just a
few things with with the functioning of that um office. So, the second position is a part-time position. That is a position where so Gabby has been Miss Dosta has been the central person of that department within her stay there
she has created uh a manual so I don't know if we talk about the functioning of that department prior to missa coming in um there were significant errors made in the registration and the on onboarding of our students um there wasn't a lot of
communication necessarily between the schools tools and so she has come in and she has put in systems and structures for that. She has streamlined that created manuals. She also is fluent in four languages. Um she is very welcoming
to our families that we are bringing into the our system. Um, but we also see that she has through her work been able to take on more. And with our
our data analyst position also switching over, Gabby has worked in partnership with that new person and has taken on some new responsibilities um for the department of education and the way that we are doing our assignments of our SASIDs, the way we're
doing some data reporting. And we also have found with that part-time position that has turned over now twice um that position has required just some oversight in compliance in the way that
we are working within that office. So though she will not be necessarily managing that person, she will be the one responsible and the central liaison for the principles um and the overall functioning of that department.
Okay, I'm going to uh ask member Russo to call the role. I just want to make one point. I I'm going to trust that you're putting the team in place that you you need with the job duties that are needed under each person. I just
want to suggest that in the future when you're talking raises like this out of out of fairness and transparency that they be posted. I know even if it's somebody that um you know has special skills, it's just always good and we we
do it on the city side. It's just I think it's the best practice to to pose for positions even if you know that somebody is is very strong a strong candidate just so it's as transparent as possible. I never never have been a fan
of just these large raises um without jobs especially being posted. So that's just wanted to give my um take take on it and I hope that maybe that can be thought through in the future for next budget cycle when we're thinking about raises for people or large increases. So
I'm going to ask that the role be called. I just want to No, no, no. I appreciate the feedback and and I'm always happy to take feedback. I the only other thing I would say is that um
she was also making very little and so the the pay was also to bring her she's still much lower if you if you look at other districts um even with a significant raise um she is also making
lower than what our neighboring districts are currently paying people um in her position. So, but I do hear the fe the feedback and um take it. Thank you.
Member Graham, before the rolls called, my house is not on fire. I heard that there is a pie that might have been on fire, but it's all set and we're all good here. But um I did want to say that I think um threading
the needle between valuing the employees that you have um and rewarding people for doing hard work and stepping up and um what looks like transparency um by posting positions is a needle to be threaded. I don't think there's one
answer to it. Um, I think when you get in the habit of posting positions, when you know who's right for the job, um, it diminishes the work and it leads to what we see in Medford public schools where everyone is just convinced that the job is posted as a cover to give somebody's
family member um, a job. So, I think it's not to me it's a very gray area in terms of hiring and leading. And I just want to offer that every time I talk to somebody about how positions are posted, they're like what
I the feedback that I hear is, well, that's just done so that there's cover to give somebody a job that they don't deserve. And I think we've worked really hard to change that perspective. Um, and I appreciate that it's not perfect all the time. So, thank you.
Roll call. Can I just ask a quick question? member. Thank you. Um I I haven't looked in a number of years, but I do remember probably four or five years ago looking and seeing that the the parent information center in Malden, for instance, had I think six staff
members and we had one. Um so I I also feel really uncomfortable with the fact I mean I don't know that they need six or whatever they have. Maybe they don't need that many, but it's hard to imagine that one or two is the right number for
a district that's not we're not like a tenth of their size or a sixth of their size. So, uh I do think that just like with the finance department, staffing up requires an investment. Um and this of course is
different than an investment. It's but I think that if we're are even with this raise we're paying her less than she can make next door um we might have to have a conversation around that the next budget about what do we need in a parent information center and what's the right
size for that budget sort of like the city I know some counselors want to have a a needs analysis um you know and I think that the needs analysis never returns you with a result that says things are good.
The only result of a needs analysis is you need a gazillion dollars. That's the only output outcome. But it would be nice to know this department is almost the right size and this department is operating on one the number of employees or one the budget that it should have.
Um and there's too many uh irons in the in the I forget that saying irons in the oven this fire this year. Um, but I think it would be nice if we could get to that in the maybe next year when we're doing this budget cuz I I do
agree, mayor, that like, you know, I mean, maybe there's phenomenal candidates that would have um jumped into for this job, but I mean, knowing that the the look at the other districts to say even with this race, this is an underpaid position, I think
that that seems unlikely. Um I know with our union personnel you know administrators um like we post we have to post it's in their contract um there and same for teachers and all these other things. So I think for non-unit
personnel we might want to also consider is there some kind of a process to land on that we could reuse but not create that that same sense of foregone conclusion that member Graham brings up
and when I was a hiring manager and when I applied for jobs the first question was is there already somebody who's going to take get this job because as a candidate like you We got lives, we got things to do. Applying for jobs for which we already
know who the candidate is is incredibly disrespectful in my job, my mind. Um, and sometimes we're mandated like the law does require in some cases that you post doesn't matter. Um, but if we already know who we're going to give the
job to, I think it's it's not respectful of the other candidates to to make them go through all that rigomearole. I'll I'll stop so we can get a roll done. I see Amber and Tapa's hand up. Member in Tapa. Yeah, I was
kind of elaborating on that. Member Russo. I I think you know I don't I do think um you know I concur with the mayor's point. I think that I know speaking so this might be a point of personal privilege. I know being hired through the state system um I was hired
to sub in on a contract basis and it had to be posted and I like you bring up the point of contract like I don't know if the APA was the reason why we had to post it or for mass state law. So I do think we should go I think we should look back into what the law mandates in terms of job postings because we had to
do that for that reason. We knew the candidate and that was me um but it had to be posted for it for that exact reason. So we have to figure out why that is. moving forward obviously but again defer to not keep this held up.
Thank you. Member Tapa. Roll call. Member Bradley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member Otapa. Yes. Member Alabati. Yes. Member Ryville. Yes. Member yes. Marilyn. Yes.
Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Paper passes. Now on to first reading of the allergy policy offered by member Rouso. Motion to wave the reading. Motion to wave the reading by member Graham.
Seconded by second member Olide. Roll call, please. Member Brley. Yes. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can Can I ask a question first? Um, I just Oh, sorry. To wave the reading. Yes. Go ahead. Yeah, just wave the reading. Like, wait. That's not what
I meant. You made the motion. Uh, member Graham. Yes. Member and Papa. Yes. Member Rin. Oh, Ola Patty. Yes. Member Rinfeld. Yes. Member say yes. Mayor Lgo,
yes. All those in uh motion passes. So, member Russo, would you like me to summarize or do you want to give a summary? Neither. I'd like to just move on to the members who want to speak on it. Okay. Does anybody want to speak on it?
specifically member inappa. Okay, I'll defer then member Graham because member Graham had the question pop up while we were voting on the first reading. So I'll defer to member Graham first if that's okay. Okay, member Graham then member um I was just hoping somebody could give
us some background on this policy like did it exist before? Is it changing in some way? Like what is the like backstory of it? So I think on the call we have uh the director of nursing Jennifer Silva and I
do know that um we have Shenim Peloquin I see on the call and she was also instrumental in this policy. So um at this time I think it would be great to hear from director Silva to just provide a little bit of an overview. Is that okay for information?
Point of information. Point of information member. Yes. Um, this is in fact a new policy. Just wanted to get that answer done. Thank you. Thank everyone. I've been alone for two hours and now all my kids are back. So, I'm just want know if it gets loud.
They're all here. Um, so this we had some protocols in place previously, but they were very basic and didn't really address everything that we felt needed to be addressed um in a life-threatening allergy policy. Um really looking at this and again I apologize that this is such a long policy but I'll explain a
little bit about how it got to this place. Um so when we were looking at this we really wanted to emphasize that there's this shared responsibility among all stakeholders to really keep students safe. And so, you know, we can't guarantee an allergy-free environment, but really we can make it our goal for
everyone to minimize exposure for students to really educate everyone from, you know, all members of the school community, students, families, all of our staff about food allergies and all allergies. Um, you know, how do we respond effectively to to these issues and how do we provide equitable
access to all students and really mitigate the social emotional impact of students who are managing um life-threatening allergies. So what the policy does is it it looks very repetitive because it basically breaks down each person's role within the
school community. So that way when there's like oh I am a parro what do I what am I responsible for? We can just hand you the page that talks about par's responsibilities. When the PTO is coming and asking a question about what they can provide we can just hand them the page that talks about PTO and what the
policy is for PTO's. So, it's a 24-page policy because it goes through each and every person who is involved in that shared responsibility. Um, thank you for that clarification. Um,
I think my other um my other question, so I another question which is who all was uh who provided input to this policy um as it's currently drafted? Y um so it began with Avery Hines before she left.
Um myself, Rea Smith, uh Shenine Peloquin, uh Karen Roberto, um Shenine, am I forgetting anybody? Um we did ask the at the um first support group if there was
anything in particular that families wanted to have and it also as input from families that I've spoken to but is mostly modeled on the food allergy research and education which is the national model on their best practices um that they have gathered from all of
the other leading allergy organizations um for policies in schools and and that was actually what the CDC it's consistent with the CDC recommendations and the state of Massachusetts and um so it's it's a pretty robust program and well researched.
Um thank you for that. I I agree that it is um very thoughtful in terms of laying out best practice. Um but I think there are some policy questions that need to be answered that we're not going to answer tonight. Um and some of the
things on my mind are that we are imposing um requirements on people that are not really required to follow our policy like PTO's um and I think everyone in good spirit wants to obviously work collaboratively together
but to write a policy where we can't really in govern enforcement um is challenging. Um, I would also be very interested to hear from some of our athletic coaches because they have um they have a very unique perspective on
this. Um, and the other thing that is on my mind is when we talk about the responsibilities of various um people in this process like there are we have labor bargaining agreements and job descriptions for all of these roles. And so I do think we need to take some time
to say whether what we have outlined here sort of is in conflict in some way because there may be some bargaining issues that come out of this um that we need to um to do. And I I appreciate the like best practice guide, but I am I
felt like the policy part of it got a little bit lost in the sauce because this is so long. So I am wondering if there um is sort of a a different way to put this forward. Um so those are I'll
defer to my colleagues, but I as somebody with a life-threatening allergy, I appreciate like the thoughtfulness here. Um, but I would personally like to see the the policy guidance be maybe more precise and
potentially um more targeted at different educational levels because I think what happens what happens and what we would expect in an elementary school and what happens and what we would expect in a high school um could be different and I just would want to have that
conversation. So, I I do have some questions about how can we make this more clear and concise from a policy perspective and how do we let that work in tandem with like the best practices that are here and not run a follow of our union contracts and all of those
other things. John, you're up. Awesome. Thank you. Um, thank you for putting this together. It was a very nice read. It was also nice to read that from my experience and from talking with um some of our um uh lunchroom workers
for lunchroom appreciation day um that a lot of these protocols are already being followed and a lot of these are already kind of being done. I know that um and correct me if I'm wrong, director Silvo, when it comes to coaching staff and allergies are majority is already being
implemented especially with epinephrine in training like aren't they supposed to be going through all this training already? Yes, absolutely. They they do the allergy training and they get um training on how to give the epinephrine. Awesome. And then um so if I may because
you know member Graham brings up the question of policy. How much of this is already practice that is being done and how much of it is newer in terms of what we'd like to see the district move forward with? I mean I don't know if
that's a loaded question is a that's a larger answer than what we can do tonight, but I'm just I'm just curious. Um so I'd probably say at least 75% of this is already being done. I think what we're looking at is involving more staff in being trained. So what um you know,
school health at the end of every year does a survey on who gives epinephrine during the school day when there's an allergic reaction. And it is 98% of the time given by a school nurse. And what we really want to look at is we want more people to be trained and that that is one of the biggest recurring pieces
through this is that it needs to be a more shared responsibility and the more people that are trained and that can give it might prevent um you know death really when it comes to it because we know that anaphilaxis can result in death very quickly. Um and so we want to make sure that people feel comfortable being able to give that rescue
medication. Yeah, absolutely. I think some of the things that came up for me um that seem newer I'm assuming the PTO guidelines are of that other 25% right and so you know I think for me in terms of bake sales um right as someone who
can never eat that um I think that some of those policies in place and I you know for the sake of this I mean I lost it already because Acrobat went all the way to the top um you know in terms of what happens within the buildings with allergen awareness I think we have that jurisdiction to say look like you need
to put this postage, you need to put this signage because that is something that um may be overlooked in terms of like we can't guarantee anything. And sometimes that feels like uh as anyone who has an allergy feels like a scapegoat like they're just doing this to cover their butt and that you
know it's probably fine, but now you've put this fear into me that it's not. But we really do for liability sake we need to say this. Um, but also because, you know, gluten is airborne, which some people may not know is that a gluten-free kitchen, it's airborne. So, you can clean all your pots all you
want, but it's airborne. It's airborne. Um, I think that was it in terms of questions for now. I think the only thing I also had was an amendment to the policy statement where it says, it's
literally the first sentence for some of our students. I would also include staff because staff are going to be caught in the crossfire with some of this stuff. So, in declaring that we acknowledge that allergies are a problem for our students, also acknowledging that it is a problem for our faculty and staff. Um because you know if a student improperly
washes their hands or a student improperly does something and then they interact with the educator who has an allergy, you know, I don't know how many cases we've had of of that happen within the district, the one that I've heard of, but um I would like to see that be seen just in the that's the only amendment I really have currently is to
just add and staff to the first sentence. But thank you for doing the work. And now I'm I think the mayor's back, but I'll say defer to Eric. Member Rinfeld. Yes, member Rinfeld. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I'm not going to repeat what
colleagues have said. I had when I saw this just a couple days ago, I knew it's been I know it's been in the works. Um I had I really appreciate the background on where it came from and I had some similar concerns uh around what here is policy and what
is protocol and what is education. I know we have a robust um health services page that has information about various um medical conditions. I think everything in here is incredibly important, incredibly
valuable. Uh but I would like to make a motion to move this to the um rules the rules and policies subcommittee to kind of sort out what is education, what are the protocols and I think these protocol sheets should be absolutely distributed
and I don't think moving this to subcommittee would prevent it from going from being implement those protocols to be implemented in the upcoming school year because I imagine we really do want to have this in place for that. Um, but
I think it would be really helpful because if I want this information, I'm pro probably not going to the school committee policy page to find it. I'm going to a handbook to resources um with other resources within the district. So
my motion is to send this to the policy subcommittee and that I think would also open it up to get some of the input that other people have mentioned um from staff, from levels and from um athletics and potentially the the
PTO's as well. Um which I think is really important particularly having an event where we had someone come in and basically didn't follow this policy. Shenine knows what I'm talking about. she was at that event as well. So that's my motion.
Thank you, member Rinfeld. I'm going to pass it off to member and topper and then member Russo. Believe it was member Russo first if that's all right. I just uh your hands in front of member Russo's on the participant list. So I'm trying. We don't know. No, it's not your fault.
It's it's obviously the platform. Go ahead, John. Oh, I was just going to say um I did notice in the policy one thing I forgot to mention. I sort of mentioned this of like some of the new things we saw during lunch day. I really do appreciate by the way the section that is um sort of tidbits of what
children may say if they're experiencing an allergic reaction for the first time in terms of what how they feel because they may not be able to articulate that. and the fact that that is, if I'm not mistaken, posted on the like refrigerators and ovens at the at the
elementary schools. So that way it is of ease of access for our lunch servers to sort of and prep workers and chefs to see that. Um, so I did want to make that note as someone who was behind that wall for the first time ever. Um, that seeing
all that information readily available which is being put into this as well is super cool. So just a small note of appreciation. Thank you. All right. Uh, next up is me, I take it. And, um, what was my question? Oh, yes. So, this
is a new policy. So, um, just sort of some background, if the school committee has no policy, the superintendent is the policy maker until we have made a policy. So, there's nothing that prevents this from, frankly, being the
policy until we approve a policy. Um, so I think that there's no urgency for us to have this done tonight. It can be if the superintendent agrees that this is what it should be um until we have said
otherwise or approved this one then then there is no policy of the school committee. So I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about sending this to subcommittee. Um I just don't want anybody to think we're going to be without a policy until then. Um, so I'll
second that motion to send the uh management of life-threatening allergies policy to the rules and policy subcommittee. Okay. Motion's on the floor by member Rinfeld, seconded by member Rouso. Roll call, please. Or if I may, roll. Have a public comment. Does that or Oh,
I'm sorry. Um, Shenine, name and address for the record, please. Uh, Shenine Pelquin, 108 Bell A. Um I think one of the intents in this um was one to make sure that we address the
issues that we know that we have and I will let um director Silva address any of those that she would like to share. Um because as a district there have been incidents that are really unsafe. Uh and so clarifying everyone's roles is really
important there. But also, one of the things that I hear a lot is that staff have mixed levels of comfort in giving an EpiPen, which means that depending on who my kid is in a room with, his epinephrine could be delayed, which could result in him dying because
somebody didn't feel like they had permission or sufficient training or it's a custodian instead of a teacher or it's a parah or whatever. And the more minutes epinephrine is delayed, the more bad outcomes. So even at the state
level, we're having conversations about bills that would enable police officers to carry epinephrine and stores to have it and to train people. So the movement is towards broad training and um comfort in giving an EpiPen because there's not
a bad outcome if you give it and it wasn't needed, but there is if you delay it. Um, and so I really want to make sure that we think about how we're going to empower everyone in the district to feel more comfortable and have that
training um, as part of this. As well as as a parent, we just are I'm watching my kid get excluded over and over and over again because people don't think about it. And so there's the psychosocial
impact of this as well. And just as a a note and I think that it would be great to clarify with the legal team as well, but from an ADA perspective like um allerg food allergies are a disability under the ADA and without its
relationship with the school district, none of the PTOs would exist. They receive substantial support. So for the same reason that we added that inclusion statement a few years ago um this is inclusion for kids with food allergies and the PTO is subject to the ADA due to
its relationship of substant substantial support from the school system. So I I don't think we can say oh we don't get any say over the PTO's because we have some and I would love that clarified. Thank you. Member on top of the member Russell. I
was just going to say for a note for the motion there was also a motion made by myself that to amend sentence one to add and staff next to students. Um if I may member Russell. Thank you. Um, I I do
have some concerns about the ant staff. Uh, expecting 5-year-olds to take care of the adults is what we're talking about here. Um, and I'm not I'm not really I've never really thought
much about how our students have to um, you know, we have we have adults in the school who work there who have life-threatening allergies and um, but whether 5-year-olds are properly washing their hands or not and whether that
staff member's life is at risk I assume that they're at risk, frankly. Um, and I assume that as an adult, they are doing what they need to do to limit that risk. I don't think having kindergarteners bear any responsibility
or have any policy that suggests that they have any responsibility to keeping their their teachers safe. I just I don't know developmentally how that works. And so this a policy must be enforceable. That is the basic tenant of
policy. Um and in my mind and I do think we need to talk about the PTO thing because what does enforcement look like if a PTO refuses to comply? Um, are we going to say one school will have no PTO
or that certain members of the PTO cannot be be a part of the PTO cuz membership and PTO's is not something we have ever had anything to say about? I think the definition of a PTO is all parents are members period. So I think
implement I I'm just really think it's important that whatever we end up with for policy language it is implementable and enforcable. Um and so the the inclusion of and staff as well as that and when I was um
reviewing this with uh director Silva the the PTO was the one of the first things I had to comment on was well how do we enforce this? Like these people don't work for us. we can't take their keys away. We can't, you know, uh we can't write them up. Um we can't make
them come to training. So, I'm not saying we don't put systems in place to try and have a less of a possible negative outcome, but what that looks like should be spelled out because um policy should be
enforcable um or it's just us trying to feel good. It's my opinion. Thank you. Miss Silva or do member Antaba, do you have did you want to speak again? Yeah, I mean the intent is not to infer that 5-year-olds are going to be responsible
for a 43y old staff member to go into anaphylactic shock. What it is saying is that staff will take care of staff, but also the the way I interpret the reading. It's not saying in it's it's just a background is what it seems like. So, it's merely stating that we're
keeping everyone safe is is that's the gist of it. And that's why I included and staff. It's not I don't I don't in intend to think that a kindergartener will be kindergartener will be held liable because their teacher goes into anaphylactic shock because yes, they pose that risk. They know it's the same thing as getting sick with cold season.
There is that thing. But this is a policy statement. This is part of the policy that it's just a mere statement saying that we're trying to keep people safe, which is why I asked for that. But if the committee is not comfortable because it'll be somehow legally binding to include and staff, well, that's fine.
But it's not a feel-good. It's not a I don't want to try to sue first graders. It's just that's the mere fact is it's a statement that we're trying to keep everyone safe. And it's not just students to staff or staff to students. It's also staff to staff and students to students. So that's that's that's it.
That's all it is really. Thank you. It's over. So yeah, I just wanted to echo that as well. So I think that when we're making this statement as a workplace, we also have a responsibility to keep staff safe. So I I I feel like that's the intention there of including staff as well. So I I thank you for that. Um Mr.
Dapa. Um, I also just wanted to just say two things that and I think then we need to move on from here because it's getting late. Um, but I think that um I just want to include that there is a new medication that is intraasal epinephrine. Um, and so I'm hoping that that will make a lot of our staff
members more comfortable when they're being trained um to give it versus an injection. Um, and then the concern about PTO's is I think really around things they're doing during school hours when par other parents are not present. Um, so they sometimes will do pizza
parties for kids or they will do um different celebrations or offer like candy rewards for certain things that are happening during the school day. And so I think in that regard we can govern what they do within our building during the school day. Um, and so I think a lot of this is sort of looking at that sort
of activity, not necessarily what PTO's are doing after hours when parents are present or there's sort of other things going on. Thank you, Miss Silva. Um, yeah. And I think when we talk about this in subcommittee, I I would want to
make sure that we're inviting people in because I I watched this happen in real time where Avery threw down the hammer about allergies and the reaction from the PTO was like,
"What? we're just trying to do a good thing here and now you're you have like at the very last minute you have ruined this plan and we have no alternative and there's no help for us. So I just don't want this policy to become a reason for
PTO's to feel like they should disengage because I don't think we want that at all and I don't think that's the spirit or the intent. Um, so I do want the rules and policy committee to invite coaches and PTO's in particular to talk
through like how like what are the things that like what are the rules of engagement because if we're talking about just the school day then a bake sale is probably not a problem but the polic this this as written talks about how baked sales should happen and that generally is outside of the school day.
So I I just want their heads at the table so that we can collaborate on something that doesn't feel like we're imposing something that is insurmountable on them because I don't think this is insurmountable. Um but I think if you were handed a 20some page
policy like it it would be real easy to to sort of feel overwhelmed by that and I just don't want that to be the case. So I think we can have some thoughtful discussion in subcommittee to make sure that this policy doesn't become a scapegoat on its own because that's
nobody's intention and I think they will they will have real problems of practice to bring to the table and a lot of I think good can come of that conversation. Thank you member Graham. So, I think the motion on the floor stands. Um, and it
was seconded to move this into subcommittee. Mayor, may I read the motion? Yes. May I read? Thank you. The motion is to move the management of life-threatening allergies policy to the rules and policy subcommittee as amended to include staff in the policy statement. Invitations
will be sent to coaches, PTOs, and other stakeholders. Member Brley. Yes. Member Graham, yes. Member, yes. Member, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member say
yes. Marilyn Gokern, yes. So, the affirmative zero in the negative paper passes. And thank you for all that contributed. And just to be clear, this still means that these these guidelines can go out to the relevant parties as the current
practice because I I love the the one pagers. I think that's a great approach, but I would just ask that we make sure we're not running a foul of our union contracts and changes in working condition um and particularly um tread
lightly with our PTO's so that we don't create a problem for the subcommittee to have to unwind. Thank you. Um so PA paper passes with those um thoughts in mind and we're going to go
to page 25 of our agenda for our next item which is the first reading of the field trip policy JJH offered by member Russo. Is there a motion to wave the reading? Would you like me to read it? Motion to wave the reading. By member
Graham second by member Brley. Nobody wants to hear my voice. You won't have one by the time you finish that. That's true. Thank you. I meant thank you. Okay. Roll call, please, to wave the reading. And who
first and seconded? Um, member Graham and member Branley jumped right on that. Thank you. Member Branley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member Intapa, yes. Member Laat, yes. Member Ryfeld, yes. Mayor
Member Rouso, yes. Mayor Lgo. Yes. Seven the affirmative zero in the negative. Um motion to wave the reading has been approved. Um member Russo I know this is your motion. Do you want to start or you want same thing you want people to ask questions or let's let's do that cuz
it's long and I it's a field trip policy. Member Antappa. Thank you, Mayor. Member Rous. So, is this just the policy that is this the policy you were talking about a few weeks ago where it's like we had one and then we've been going by it but it
wasn't in the policy bank and now this is the re-upload of it. Or is that is that what this one is with the field trips or is that a different one? Honestly, there are so many for which that scenario describes that I don't recall. Um, it might be. Um, I know
there was a nursing approval of field trips form policy thing as well, which I don't think isn't clear. No, I think that's the one because I remember something about field trips and I I saw director Silvin nod her head and I see the superintendent has her hand raised, so I'll be quick. Um, okay, that was
just a clarifying question because I remember you said one of them were coming down the pipeline and I wasn't sure if it was this one or not. Um, I don't think I have any questions and I'll defer to the super just Dr. Blucy, do you still have a
comment? Is that okay, Mayor? Yes, please. Okay. Um, actually, yes. Director Silva probably knows more about this. To my knowledge, this is an update from our um existing field trip policy, and I know that Dr. Cushing worked extensively with
Director Silva and Director Smith um on this field trip policy. Were there other people involved, Jen? Okay. I just wanted to make that a point of clarification. Thank you. Um, member
member um I do I do want to point out that the policy that's in the manual is from who knows when. It is not what people have been doing. So this is one of those scenarios where folks have been operating under a policy we approved but
never made it into the manual. So the difference looks massive if you look at our current policy manual but it is not operationally a huge change. Okay. Thank you member Russo. Member
Graham. Thank you. Um I did have I had a couple of questions. um I don't think we can really answer them tonight, but there were a number of things listed in here around costs and fundraising associated with field trips. And um I know that we have
uh a pending item in the rules and policy subcommittee that is related around district reimbursement of uh let's call it like next level events
like championship events or like finals kinds of things like I made the playoffs kinds of activities. Um, and we I know the rules and policy subcommittee meeting um had to postpone that meeting in part because of my schedule. So, my
apologies, but I feel like it would be wise for us to review this and the fundraising aspects of this policy like at the same time as we're talking about funding and fundraising for field trips essentially is what they boil down to,
right? Um, and I just the couple of things that flagged again were around PTO's and um, like for example, it says, "Under no circumstances should private cash transfer applications be utilized." Well, our PTO's have like legitimate
setups in like Venmo and other places. So, if we're saying they can't do that, then that's a like a consideration. I think we just need to play out a little bit. Um, so I do think there are some like fundraising um, components of this policy that I want to spend a little bit
more time on. So I would like to make a motion that this also go to the rules and policy subcommittee for um, review before it comes back. There's a motion on the floor to send this to the rules and policy subcommittee. Is there a second? I can
second that. Member Reinfeld. Roll call. Member Branley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member Tapa. You switched the wrong way. John, that's a yes. Okay. Member I don't know
why this is so sensitive. Member Oli. Yes. Member Rinfeld. Yes. Member Yes. Marilyn Gokart. Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero and the negative paper goes into the rules and policy subcommittee.
We're going to go to the next item on page 35 which is policy IKFC-mass offered by member inappa. Motion to wave. Motion to wave the reading by member Graham. Seconded by
second. Member Ryfeld. Roll call, please. Member Branley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member, yes. Member, yes. Member Rfeld, yes.
Member Rousel, yes. Marilyn Coart, yes. Seven in the affirmative, Sarah in the negative. Uh, motion to wave the reading has been approved. Member Intaba, did you have any comments or you want to just start discussion? Yeah, we can start discussion. So,
basically what this is is as I was looking through our policy bank for another policy in terms of um just informing the community on what's been kind of going on. I found this policy um in our wrong tab in our policy bank
which basically still says that MCCAST is still a requirement. It's a policy around the MCCAST as a whole. It's a very outdated policy. Um so the idea was bring it to the committee so we can either strike it down here or refer it to subcommittee because there are other elements in this policy. It is not just
um MCCAST. It seems like it seems like there's some like attendance and AP exams and credit for award of certificate of mastery and stuff like that. Um so this isn't to for anyone reading this, it's not to implement this policy. it is that this policy is in our policy bank and we don't want it to
conflict with our IKF graduation requirements so as to strike it or amend it so that way it no longer says this. So mayor sir member Russo then so is thank you is the motion to send this to
the policy and rules subcommittee to modify this policy or is there specific language to strike? We definitely need to strike the language around MCCAST, but I guess I wasn't sure what the best what the committee feels is the best procedure
for this is to either just strike down the policy as a whole and rebuild it or if it's to refer to subcommittee to then edit and then bring back do it anyway. Mayor,
yes, I think we have member Graham, member Rinfeld, and then I also see Dr. Gooi has her hands up. So, um, know who you want to go to go first. Member Ryinfeld's actually shown up on participants. I suspect what I was going to say was related to what Dr. Galooi might say
about my I was going to motion strike this policy and integrate the relevant language into IKF, everyone's favorite policy for the spring. Member Graham, then Dr. policy. I mean,
as I read this, I don't think any of this applies or is relevant anymore and I think the whole thing could be rescended in total. Like, so I would just make a motion to resend this policy and be done with it. We've done so much
work to IKF. I don't there's nothing here that um needs to be integrated in any way that I can see because I think we've more than covered it and frankly we haven't been using this policy in probably forever anyway. Well, my only my only reason for
the integration and then I promise I'll let Dr. Lucy speak was that when we talked about the impacts of ballot question two and removing MCCAST as a graduation requirement. Um she was very clear in her presentation that there are reasons with the MCCAST being offered
and the benefits to students in terms of scholarships. Um, and that was a point that seemed important to the district and therefore I thought there could be a little section at the end over of of IKF
for the describing that MCCAST is administered and here are some of the things that the impact of that but I will let Dr. Galooi actually say what she was going to say.
Thank you. I was actually going to say that I do feel that a lot of this is outdated. I think and I don't feel we do need this policy. I would say though to your point um member Reinfeld, I mean even the language in this is a little
outdated to some of those awards that students can and scholarships that students can receive um through MCCAST. I'm happy to maybe update that policy again with more explanation.
I mean, five times charm, but I do think that a lot of this um language is is not what's happening. I it it's ve very outdated and um I think it might just be more confusing.
Okay, then I second the motion to resend. Okay. Member on top. Are you good with that? Um motion motion to to Yeah. Okay. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. Um roll call, please. Member Bradley. Member Bradley for now. I'm getting a
meatball. I'm sorry. I'm starving. How dare you? I'll be honest. Uh that's why I go off camera. Anyways, remember Graham? Yes. Member Adafa. Yes. Thank you. Member Olady. Yes.
Member Reinfeld. Yes. Member Russell. Yes. Mayor Langokarn. Yes. Seven. The affirmative zero in the negative. Motion. The papers. The policies rescended. Next up, we have required quarterly update of the shore collaborative educational collaborative um offered by
member Russo. Hello everyone. So, um there has been been a longstanding standing requirement which Medford has probably never once like most districts actually complied with that um collaboratives for which we
are a member must um the school committee representative for which I am that person must uh provide a quarterly update on the goings on at the collaborative. Um, this is a
um, is this monthly or quarterly? I don't actually remember how often the newsletter I think it's a an a monthly newsletter, but anyways. So, this newsletter is uh, serving that purpose. And I have nothing other than the requirement that it shows up in our
minutes. Um, that's the regulatory requirement is that it's in our minutes. So if there is a motion to I will make the motion to acknowledge receipt of the sore collaborative
orderly update. Yes. Motion by member Russo that we've received it. Seconded by member Rinfeld. Roll call, please. Member Bradley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes.
Member Taba. Yes. Sorry, John. Member Olady. Yes. Member Reinfeld. Yes. Member Russo. Yes. Mayor Lindo Kern. Yes. 70. The affirmative. Zero in the
negative. Motion passes. Building accessibility needs and concerns offered by member and topper. Be it resolved that the Memphis school public schools will assess and evaluate building entry points over the summer specifically for accessibility concerns. The administration will report back with
found issues and proposed solutions by the beginning of the start of the next academic school year first day of classes. Member Tupper, do you want to move approval? Do you want to comment? And I do know that from from the chair we um
director Waj from our DEI office did submit an application for to do a transition report um which will I think do just this but I'll turn it over to you. Awesome. Thank you. Um yeah so this sort of came up uh at actually speaking
of director Noaj at the disabil the disability fair um at the McGlin complex. It was brought up by several members uh in attendance um to uh the the those of us that were there um about the accessibility need specifically
because we were in that building of the McGlin complex and how the front door wasn't ADA accessible because of the lip um and that um Shelene Peloquin who was there actually had a ramp in the back of her vehicle and laid it out so that way
those who were in wheelchairs or other mobility accessibility you know, devices were able to get into the building as opposed to going around the back and, you know, to wherever that more accessible entrance is, which is a huge pain point for members of the community who have to access that. Um,
it's important to note that it was also brought to attention that it isn't just for those who need mobility aids. It was also for, you know, if EMS comes in and brings in a stretcher, it's easier to get them over with a lip, but then when they leave, if there's someone on the stretcher, it's not so easy. Um, but it also just needs to be looked at anyways
because I myself will say from a personal point of privilege, I nearly fell out of the door uh leaving the NJHS ceremony because my foot got caught on it. Um, like was almost fully horizontal to the pavement. Um, so I don't have um
a physical disability and I nearly fell. Um, so I can't even imagine what the members of our community that have to use that entryway um go through. Um, so this is sort of to look at uh not just the McGlinton complex, but also to look at other of the other entry
points of our buildings to assess if there are ways that we can address these. I'm sure some of them may be addressed. I understand um as we do work to the buildings that may get triggered by NDA uh NDA, my gosh, the ADA. Um and
so these things might already be set into motion for the McGlin complex and the Andrews. Um but the thought was to take a look at so that is fully acknowledged that this may be happening. Um but that you know missuck and Brooks like looking at to see whether or not something as simple as lowering a door
uh lip or things like that can be addressed. So I understand that this is right at the heels of the school year and that the ask is to be right at the beginning. Um so please if the if the timeline needs to be adjusted please feel free to make any suggestions administration but um the goal is to
just sort of look at what the needs are um across the district in terms of this. So thank you. Thank you member Ter member Ryanfeld then member Russo. Thank you. I was going to ask if this was for all buildings which is great. Um I would
like to roll into this the continuation of resolution 202425. Um we had which was from obviously 2024. Um the from the building and grounds subcommittee to meet with the universal
safety committee to review a set of recommendations that we were sent in February of 2024. I think this dovtales nicely. I don't think that subcommittee ever met, but if they did, maybe this report could be part of that. I know we haven't approved that, but it was
looking kind of more broadly at accessibility. And I would like to see those things happen, particularly since there was a list of known issues and proposed solutions potentially for grant funding. Thank you, member Rinfeld. I think the
grant we applied for will assess all of our buildings and then once we get the transition plan in place which was also part of the grant application then we can start applying for additional um I believe it's mod grants to do some of
this work. So, absolutely. But I know there was an assessment that was supposed that we were that was going to happen and I think it got eclipsed by our our budget season in 2024, but those concerns are still there and I would love to see those move forward. Well,
solutions move forward and an assessment is of course the first step for that. Yep. Great. Um I think sounds like we're doing it. So, member Russo then member Graham. Yes. Um I think some of this stuff is in fact already and the wheels are rolling on this already. I do think
there's also something really important to note that is sounds like an excuse but you know the ramp at the high school um we looked at that I think three or four years ago um it's not safe for any human being that drop off without a
railing um adding a railing it turns out that when you do some work for ADA you kind of open the um floodgates where you can't just we can't add a railing there we cannot not we must fully remediate the ADA issues
and that goes from being I don't know $10,000 for a railing to many millions of dollars. So I think I don't want anybody to think we don't care but also spending millions of dollars to remediate the high school when we're going to fingers crossed knock it down
would be both bizarre and also we don't have that money. Um, so the you know the these look if I had a mobility uh disability or issue I might not be quite as
comfortable with. Well, we'll just have to wait. Um but um you know I just wish I could say we had could find that money. I mean it's not a million dollars. My understanding is the high
school would be many millions of dollars if we decide to open that. And um that report we did already get am I I feel like was I in a different was it subcommittee or something or did I just read the report? I think we just got it a couple meetings ago. But, you know,
the width of doors, the um height of um bathroom fixtures, um they're not the same as they were in 2000 when those buildings were built. Um, but to spend, frankly, a huge amount
of money to lower sinks an inch, to make doors an inch wider. Um, this seems like something you do when you build a building. It's not something you do unless you have limit unlimited
resources to um make all of those doors an inch wider. I mean, it it's concrete block. I mean, I don't you can't even fathom what it would cost. Um, and cost of course can't be the only consideration, but um I think we can't
we can't talk about living wages for some staff and then talk about spending countless millions to add an inch to the width of a door or an inch to lower existing fixtures in bathrooms. Um
it's it's I'm I'm very comfortable with these things need to be in place. Um but there's opportunity costs for everything we do and I just think this one unfortunately it's just such a huge opportunity cost. I'd rather give all of our kids actual free public education
before I would rather add an inch to the width of doors. Um I can say that quite comfortably. Um so I I don't know. I mean, this all kind of sucks. Excuse my pardon my French because
it's I mean, we we built the buildings at the time complying with ADA and then it changed. Um, it didn't come with a check from the federal government when they decided that wasn't the current acceptable standards. They just
another unfunded mandate. Um, and supposed to just somehow find the money. It's insane. Anyways, I'll stop talking. Member Graham and then I think Dr. Gluci also and then member Antapa. Thank you. Um a a couple things. I think
one of the things that member Rousa was talking about is uh we got an update on the HVAC projects at the McGlin and the Andrews. And related to those two projects, ADA upgrades have to be made. Um, and so the settling of the plaza in
the front are ADA um, upgrades that will be made in tandem with those projects. Um, and they're slated, I believe, for this summer. So, we should be able to take care of that like immediate issue that you were citing. Um, but the other thing that came up in the in the course of that conversation was that there was
a much bigger list of ADA issues outlined and there were certain things like moving sinks an inch that the the team that is working on the HVAC project was going to apply for variances for. So certainly I think we could ask to get a
copy of what that recommendation was or what those variances were so that we understand what's happening in those two buildings. I think the report mayor that you're talking about, was that the one that was like wildly complicated to
submit? Yes. Okay, good. I'm glad we got it in this time. Yes, we got it in. Okay, great. Um, but that certainly will help and sort of open the door for um for work um in some of our other buildings. Um the other thing that we
talked about when we were talking about the list of like variances for McGlin and Andrews um is like when we decide what those variances are like we need to catalog those things in our um t our ticketing system so that if for some
reason we have to like replace a sync that we replace it in the like new compliant way versus the like way we've always done it. Um and so there is a there is like a maintenance buildings and grounds like ongoing tail that can
hopefully and in a much lower cost way remediate those things as we are doing like other maintenance related items to those wherever those variances might sit like if you have to put in a new door can you make it an inch wider um kind of question that I think we need our teams
to be asking themselves when they're handling things that seem routine given the state of like how things have changed with the ADA. Um, so I think that's an important question and an ask for our for our buildings and grounds and our facilities team. Um, and then
the last thing I'll say is that we have been doing some facilities assessment. I think that's the other thing that we have been talking about. Um, and I believe um, those reports are coming back and there probably are any number of things already cataloged in that
assessment that would outline this, but we can check on that as well. So, we may not have to do something new to get those answers. Um, what we may need to do is like prioritize those things into our capital plan. Um, but we can check I can check. Jerry was just mentioning it
to me today about what um about that those reports were starting to come back. So, we may just want to think about that as another place where some of the data may already exist. Thank you, member. I'm sorry, Dr. Valooi, then member Taba, then member
Rinfelds, if I have it correctly. I I don't have much to say. I think a lot of what I was going to say, um, member Russo and member Graham covered because there has been ongoing work. So, my only two cents was going to be that we can provide what we currently know and and a
timeline. Um, but that the first day of class would probably be a little bit too tight of a timeline. um because a lot of this is already ongoing work, but I can get you the update of what's been going on so far.
Thank you, member of the member Rinfeld. Yes, thank you Lucy. Yeah, I I put the first day of classes with the thought that it would be amended because picking a random date like October 3rd would just blow out. So that was just because that was a point where we could put it.
Um but yes. So yes um speaking on mentions this my colleagues have said yes the report that we got I do remember but that was only for McGlin Andrews if I'm not mistaken in terms of all the accessibility needs. So that's why this motion covers all of the buildings
because that report lives of McGlin and Andrews, but we don't know. I guess the point of the motion is more to see are there easy fixes like just switching out how thick that door lip is because again I'm not talking about how wide the doors
are. I'm talking about specifically that lip because that's the issue that people are having are getting over that. It's not fitting widthwise. It's it's the actual lip of getting through the door that is the issue specific to the McGlin complex. Um
and yes, I completely agree that when we start to replace fixtures like sinks, we should start doing it the new way and be proactive with that so that way we save it. You know, as you mentioned, Member Graham. Um and I think that's the only thing I wanted to mention other than the fact that completely acknowledge that we did
get that report. I have yet to read it. I know we received it because I acknowledge the receipt of it. But this is to go sort of get like a highle timeline of like all right what fixes are feasible what is it going to cost what are things that we acknowledge are issues because until that meeting or
until that event there hadn't seemed like there had been an acknowledgement that there was a major accessibility issue at the front door of the McGlenn from my perspective at least um so I take the amendment of I I don't think we have a set timeline in terms of when it
is due just that we requesting the report. Uh Dr. Glooy, if that is the amendment I'm assuming you'd like to be made to the motion. Yes, I think there are ongoing projects right right now around the facilities of
our buildings as well as like the space utilization um that's happening also this summer. So, I just think like giving us a little bit of time to see the ongoing like consultancy work that's
already happening and then being able to um synthesize all of that and provide you with a report um early fall is just a little bit I want to make sure that the assessments that are ongoing right
now, we have enough time to like read the reports, figure out what we're going to do about the recommendations and the findings and then be able to report. I don't think I would be able to do all of that by
the end of August, September. Completely understandable. Thank you for the input. Thank you. Member Rinfeld. Yeah. I just had a question for Dr. Galuci about the best way to involve our new COO and the facility staff that we're hiring because
this is directly relevant and I think framing it thinking about it in terms of when they're coming on board because I'm not sure these positions are hired yet and we would want them to be a part of this conversation from the beginning. Um, I think it might make sense to have
either a building and grounds committee or a strategic planning depending on the scale of these things with those new folks on board to get an update and have them be able to hear directly from the committees. Or maybe it's a maybe it's a committee of the whole since I've named
two different committees. But I I want this conversation to be part of the new staff because they need to be a part of this conversation and it will also be their responsibility to act on it. So I'm not sure what the motion is though.
Um if it is to schedule a meeting for the fall to address the questions around entry points in this as well as that 20 24 25 I know we're already going to be hearing about the space utilization report. So I guess my question is for
Dr. Galooi. What is the best way to do this efficiently so that everyone has had time to collect the data they need and not have a million in one conversations with individuals on this body but to really focus and present it
in context? What's most helpful? I appreciate that question. Thank you. Um, and it's not to minimize this work because it is very important. And just to highlight too, I mean, with my broken ankle, I was scooting on in this morning
and it was not easy through the potholes of Medford High School, um, and the ramp that member Russo spoke about, um, as well as the entry with the doorway. So, I relate to it and I it's I don't want
anyone listening to think it's it's a lack of prioritization or importance because it's not. It's just it's also bandwidth and to the point that member Rinfeld just mentioned bringing on new staff um to be a part of the work. So, we are actively in the middle of the
hiring process for the chief operation officer. Um, excuse me. Round one is just concluding and then, you know, finalists will will move on to a round two, but we're just actively in the middle of that. Best
case scenario, the that person would be starting, you know, probably in around 3 weeks. Um, but that's not knowing the specific situation. So having someone be able to come on board this summer um get
caught up to speed before you know um throwing some of this. I would probably say because we have the report the the two already ongoing. Um
I would probably realistically say end of October. Thank you Dr. Galissy. member in Tabar, will you um amend to have this proposed solutions by the end of the
fall? Yes. Okay. Motion for approval by member Tabar as amended, seconded by Member Branley. Roll call, please. Hello. Member Branley. Yes.
Member Graham. Yes. Member Inappa. Yes. Member Alip. Yes. Member. Yes. Member. Yes. Mayor Langokarn. Yes. Seven, the affirmative, zero in the negative. Motion passes as amended to read end of
fall as a due date. Next up, we have Oh, okay. And next up, we have um designer selection panel appointment offered by member Rouso, member, and member Rinfeld. The Memphis School
Committee appoints school committee vice chair Jenny Graham, chair of the Medford Comprehensive High School Building Committee to the designer selection panel for the Massachusetts School Building Committee's designer selection process. Motion for approval by member.
Yes. Seconded by Second. Member Lead. Roll call, please. member Bradley. Yes. Member Graham. Yes. Member Tapa. Yes.
Member Ol. Yes. Member Rinfeld. Yes. Member. So yes, Marilyn Garner. Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero in the negative. Um, thank you for your willingness to serve and all you do for that project. Member Graham. Motion's
approved. Next up, we have What' you say? That I'll do my best. Sounds like it's going to be a wild process. So, yes, it is. Um, next up is disciplinary practice of suspension offered by member Graham and member
Russo. Whereas the resolution on the disciplinary practice of suspension was unanimously adopted by the me school committee on October 14th, 2020. Whereas the language of the resolution on the disciplinary practices suspension provides that the following actions will
be taken by Metro public schools and the use of out of school suspensions effective the first day of the school year 21 except as provided by law. Provides for the continuation of learning environment for every inschool suspension.
It ensures that inschool suspensions will not occur in isolation without instruction or rehabilitative counseling. Selects alternative tools for use in discipline such as restorative justice whenever possible. Establishes an annual reporting process that includes but is not limited to
systemwide disciplinary measures, reporting to the school committee as well as establishing establishing staff feedback process. Be it resolved that the superintendent will provide a detailed report of disciplinary actions taken for the 2425 school year as well as data from two prior school years. The
report shall include counts a count of suspensions suspended days by reason of sus for suspension and count of other means of student discipline for those same same reasons. The report will show data disagregated by school by grade
level but and by school and grade level. Be it also resolved that the superintendent will make recommendations to the school committee based on the data presented. The report will be presented no later than October 31st, 2025. Um there
um just quickly, I'm totally flexible on the date. Like if you need more time than this, that's fine. I just um there's been a lot going on and I think we saw like several really lackluster versions of this report um a year or so
ago at this time. And it just struck me that like a the this um trying to get on a school year schedule of like reporting for the school year made a lot of sense. Um and my particular interest is when we are talking about things happening at
different levels that we are actually having conversation about things that are happening differently in different school buildings. Um and I think there's I've heard people say our suspensions are back to where they were when we started all of this. um which I
think you know I don't think anyone's like lying about that necessarily but I think that data um needs to be like proved out. So I would like for us to have a discussion on what those facts are um rather than like the anecdotal
like it seems like a lot of kids are getting suspended. So, I just wanted to um like lay this out and specifically point out that like the the big difference I see and what I'm looking for out of this um is that we are going to look at and compare by school and by
grade level what's happening because if there are like hot spots or flashes of something really discrepant happening, that is a that is a conversation that we should be having from a policy perspective. Um, so I'm hoping that
October 31st makes sense. Um, but if you need more time, I'm totally open to that, too. Second. And Dr. Lucy, is that a good time frame for you? It is. That I think that that's um fair. Okay. Motion for approval,
seconded by member Russo. Roll call, please. Member Bradley. I believe this member Brley said yes. Oh, there you are. Sorry, I didn't have your gallery. Member Graham,
yes. Member Tapa, yes. Member Olady, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes. Member Rouso, yes. May go. Yes. Seven the affirmative, zero in the negative. Paper passes. We do not have any reports requested and
we do have one condolence. The members of the Memphis School Committee express their sincerest condolences to the family of Sharon B. Brady Keith, former McGlin school librarian from 2001 to 2010. If we all may take a moment of silence, please.
Thank you. Our next meeting, regular meeting is September 8th, 2025 in the Alden Memorial Chambers, Medford City Hall. In addition to Zoom, I believe there's a Mass School Building Resource Authority meeting committee meeting on Mon Monday.
Remember Graham? Oh, I don't think so. I think it's July. Okay, maybe it was I saw it come through as a invite. So, I'm glad I brought that up. So, I'll knock that off my calendar for Monday. I'll double I'll double check. I'm not planning to be at a
meeting on Monday night, so um maybe. I just don't know. Okay. No. Okay, good. I'm glad I asked. I would have been at the high school. All right. Sounds good. Is there a motion to adjurnn by member Rinfeld, seconded by second?
All those um roll call, please. Member Brley, yes. Member Graham, yes. Member, yes. Member Olad, yes. Member Rinfeld, yes.
Member Rouso, yes. Marilyn Goker, yes. Seven affirmative, zero the negative. Everybody have a great um evening. The pie did not burn. Good. Just the over the overfilling burned, but I think the
pie was rescued. So, what kind of pie is it? Um strawberry rhubarb. Oh, sounds good. Sean, I love that. I'm going home to eat. Happy summer, everyone. Bye. I did.