Meeting Recap: 4/6/26

Apologies for the delay in posting; this week (month?) has been packed full with no signs of slowing down. As always, observations and opinions are my own and do not speak for anyone else on the committee. Not much analysis here due to the time crunch and I’m afraid I’ll be skipping the recap of last night’s joint budget meeting with the City Council. (Tl;dr, there are gaps that need filling and budget season is officially underway to do exactly that.)

Agenda | Recording | Transcript

1. Consent agenda - field trips, bills, budget transfers, and 3/16 meeting minutes, approved without issue

2. Mustang Moment x3 - Presentations by 4th and 5th graders on the Missituk Student Council (and their advisor Ms. Frank!) about how they are building community within the school; Celebration of Andrews student Nora S and her award-winning “Rainbow of Love” poster for the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth’s annual contest; Videos and testimonials about the Unified Physical Education program at Medford High School

3. Introduction of Ina Williams, MPS’s new districtwide transportation director - an enthusiastic welcome and appreciation for the magnitude of this job

4. FY27 Preliminary Budget Report - Noel Velez and Gerry McCue walked us through the district’s preliminary proposal for the upcoming school year, after which the committee provided some initial feedback, the Mayor expressed concerns about the increase ($8m, a little less than 10%) over last year’s budget, and there was some back and forth around the budget development process and how it plays out in the public sphere.The bulk of the increase were due to the salary/step/stipend increases laid out in the collective bargaining agreement and what the administration termed “unavoidable cost increases” which Member Mastrobuoni and I pushed back a little bit on but include programs/staff supported by funding that is no longer available and increased costs during FY26 to re-calibrate things like student services, operational activities, transportation, equipment needs, and utilities for the year ahead. New school- and department-based requests totaled just under $1 million to include staffing, supplies, instructional materials, technology, and professional development, plus just over half a million for facilities and operations needs including contracted maintenance services and cybersecurity upgrades. The team also presented some identified savings, including no-cost proposals to reallocate academic coaching resources and pilot both full-day preschool and back-of-house composting. As always, the recording or transcript is your best bet for details. 

5. Gone Green Billing FY25 - We authorized the school to pay a number of overdue invoices from a vendor for work done in 2024 and lightly grilled the administration (most of whom were not in their current roles at the time) about how that happened, concluding with assurances that new processes are being enacted to prevent it from happening again. 

6. Presentations of the Student Advisory Council - Student reps Jayden and Alachie shared the results of surveys sent out to MHS students about lunch periods (crowding and time to eat) and transportation (high school bus services). They offered up some data and some potential approaches for addressing the challenges that emerged. The session concluded with action items for improving data and alleviating crowding at the bus stops. 

7. MSBA high school project update - Since the last update, MSBA pushed the building committee to move from 29 design concepts to 6 sooner than planned, which will allow for a more thoughtful analysis of these 6 approaches. In June, the selection will go from 6 to 1 so in the meantime, the project team has created, with the help of MHS film & tv CTE students, a video tour of the six, which will be released soon. Also coming soon is the MSBA’s feedback on the preliminary design program (submitted last month). The April 27 building committee meeting will revisit the space study (if changes are made, these will be permanent and go back to the cost estimators) while the May 4 school committee meeting will include updates on this and on MSBA’s recommended edits to the educational plan for the project. Other opportunities to engage include community forums, strategic attendance at community events (including a session at the senior center), and a citywide informational mailer. 

On the funding front, there is lots of legwork afoot to find and apply for grants to support aspects of the project that MSBA will not reimburse (Medford Family Network, pool, welcome center, others tbd). To this end, the project team has met with Medford’s state delegation (including conversation about pushing MSBA to up their reimbursement for vocational spaces), Medford Recreation (in addition to grants, they’re making plans to proactively relocate sports practices if/when there is disruption to the fields during constructions), and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (re: site access challenges). I think I captured the highlights but the recording/transcript will have whatever I missed!

8. Condolences and adjournment. (Next meeting is next week, on April 13.)