##VIDEO ID:z9B9_JzAXRA## and broadcasting to YouTube good afternoon everyone um I'd like to welcome you to the January 29th 2025 um 3:30 pm. special meeting of the me school committee um excuse me um please be advised that on Wednesday January 29th 2025 at 3:30 PM there will be a special meeting of the school committee held for remote participation via Zoom this meeting is being recorded the meeting can be viewed live on me Comm me Public Schools YouTube Channel Through Me Community media on your local cable Comcast channel 9 8 or 22 and Verizon channel 43 45 and 47 Channel since the meeting will be held remotely participants can log or call in by using the following link or call-in number um the zoom link is a second if I canew the link oh htps hmps 02155 dg. zoom. USU a d d n a WM capital L lowercase G capital Y additionally comments or questions can be submitted during the meeting by emailing Medford s at medford.ma us those submitting must include the following information you first last name your me street address or if you're an employee of me Public Schools your question or comment the agenda is uh of a roll call uh and then we'll be discussing a conflict of interest disclosure with the interm superintendent of schools followed by adjournment I could take the role um once I find my suit there it is um M brenley present member gram here member and top present member olapa he's joining me but I'll put him as absent for now so uh member reinfeld here member Russell president mayor lokar pres the ab okay so um next up is the Comm manye Windows sorry is the discussion about the conflict of interest disclosure from the Su internal superintendent and I guess we could hand that over to our internal superintendent Dr gloy uh yes so I'm disclosed to um members of the school committee that um my spouse uh husband is a Medford High School physical education teacher and so I just disclosed the conflict of interest in terms of um being participating in the teacher negotiation process um and I do believe that I have some um I had to make this statement and have the school committee um discuss the resolution in order for me to participate in the process the negotiations I'll jump in and say that I certainly well thank you for this um I certainly think that we should vote to allow um the interim superintendent to participate in negotiations it would be a challenge as an understatement to not have your voice in the negotiations with our lar largest labor union um so that's all I have to say and I don't know if member gr can see the screen I certainly can so I'll just call on member and tapa thank you member R so my question so I know I had to do the disclosure because of my [Music] um my own like you know cousin-in-law long lost Union you know but to me this seems like direct conflict of interest law like the disclosure is only if you're not affected by conflict of interest and someone may think that you like that's just my interpretation so while while I do think it would be you know beneficial I I don't understand how us voting goes around the law and what it's set forth by I mean I'm sure I'm sure um Dr galy seek you know legal counsel on on this but I I I just don't understand how because if the mayor has to recuse herself member brandley might have to both because they have siblings like that that doesn't bring Financial that doesn't affect the finances of the household and this does um um right remember top if I may um so the conflict of interest law includes this whole section that allows for um you know for instance the very simple example is the city council is the only group that can give themselves a raise they're all in Conflict uh the conflict of interest law does in fact allow for when no other alternative exists so um if four members of the school committee for instance were to have conflicts during negotiations we would not have a quorum that could vote to approve a contract so in that case the conflict of interest law has sort of a a safety valve otherwise there would be just a an inability for government to function um and so in in this case that's how I interpret this situation is that the the superintendent if she recuses herself um leaves us with the most important and only valid voice uh because she's the only one who works for us uh we could not continue with negotiations um so that's my interpretation of how that works and I know member gaham um has her hand raised I would also just kind of say that um I'm not a voting person the contract this the negotiation process it is a contract between the teachers union and the school committee okay um so for me it's just the voice at the table in terms of uh to member Russo's part on behalf of the the schools and the functioning of the schools but I'm also not a voting member on the contract I'm just assisting and helping with the school committee facilitate the process I understand so thank you because that that I don't want it to seem like I that you didn't that I thought you didn't do your homework or anything I was just confused because I've undergone this training for like four years now and I just never knew of the safety net because it's been something that's been a concern of mine as a city and state employee but I'm glad to hear that because that makes sense there had to be there' have to be some form of safety net built in because again like if everyone had conflict on the committee and we didn't have Corum what would we do um so yeah I just had a question that that was that was the question is how what is the the statute J president set forth by this so that makes sense though so thank you member Grant um yes I was gonna say the same thing I think the the key differentiator between Dr luy and others who may have conflicts are are that she is not a contract holder right so she doesn't have the voting authority to approve a contract so she therefore is sort of in a different Lane of conflict of interest than the rest of us are um remember so I forwarded you an email from attorney greenst who was not able to be here today and there's a specific paragraph that I think would be useful to read out loud that is the official 268a disclosure whatever it's called before we call a vote and then the way attorney Greenspan explained it to both myself and Dr luy um they um they will she will also file paperwork with the clerk and and he also reminded that there have been other superintendents here in Medford in this exact same situation this is the process so um It's Not Unusual in the superintendent ranks to come come across thank you I will read that but first I'll let member brandley speak next haa so yes I was going to say the same ex I thing that Dr gloy said it's different when you're a voting member which is why I do have to step away from the table I did talk to com um uh ethics the other day again um and the factor is the voting member so um I will step away from the table just like um the mayor's doing um and then obviously when budget season comes I can vote but we just have to remove that section like we did last time um to Elementary and so um I just want to let you know my update and then say the same thing about having the um the difference being the voting member so that was my two SS thank you um I'm just going to read this language uh that we've received from our attorney um the motion which um if somebody can uh I'm not really the chair so I can just make this motion and then somebody can second it and I don't have to keep reading it because it's a little long the motion is whereas the superintendent of schools has made a full disclosure that her spouse is a member of the Meer Teachers Association and has a financial interest in the contract between the Meer School committee and the meford Teachers Association and whereas the school committee has determined that the superintendent's interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the Integrity of the services which the school committee may expect from the superintendent and whereas the school committee approves the superintendant participation in collective bargaining with mord Teachers Association resent to General Law chapter 268a section 19B that is the motion um and Mr TAA yeah sorry I just wanted to also um so thank you to my colleagues for explaining the voting piece because that wasn't explained when I spoke with the attorney other day so this makes complete sense so um I just yeah uh it was I I factored into every other conflict of interest thing where like we have to recuse oursel but that makes sense so with that being said I can second the motion is there any other conversation is there any members of the public that would Su to speak I don't think there are members public at our meeting um all right well and in light of the motion being made and seconded I'll do a roll call member branley yes member Graham yes member andapa yes member olap yes member reinfeld yes member Russo yes and mayor lungo Kern is absent um wonderful that was lovely I am really really glad that there was language redrafted um so I would entertain a motion to aurn motion at second who was the first remember Graham thank you um member brandley yes member Grant yes member Anapa yes member ol yes member ryel yes member Russo yes mayor L is absent thank you everyone this meeting is adjourned and have a lovely day thanks