Unofficial Recap - Medford School Committee, 5/18/26
Hi folks! I've included a bonus update from last week's budget hearing along with the regular meeting recap. If you want to skip right to the MSBA update, you can do so here.
Consent agenda - Budget transfers, two field trips, and meeting minutes all approved. As a side note, one set of minutes was from the public budget hearing last week.
At that meeting, the committee voted 6-0 with one abstention to send the $90,683,398 budget request (down from $94,032,696 at our preliminary budget meeting), a transfer request of $750,000 from the stabilization account, and a free cash allocation of $530,500 for FY2027 capital and technology needs to the Mayor and City Council. We also voted to prioritize the reinstatement of the Inclusion Specialist position (currently unfilled) in the budget if funding allows. But back to last night’s meeting…
Mustang Moment - Career and Technical Education (CTE) achievement featuring four senior students and one teacher from electrical, biotech, and health assisting.
Approval of Medford as a No School Choice District - This allows the district to not accept out-of-district enrollments and focus its programmatic resources (CTE, special education, etc.) on Medford residents.
Approval of the 2026-27 school committee calendar - I had questions about the budget hearing and potential summer meetings, and Member Graham added a third “just in case” meeting in June.
MPS Handbooks - This was the first year that the school committee received a summary of changes, which included updates to the attendance policies, school values language for the Andrews, information about academic honesty panels for the secondary schools, and info about CORI forms (Roberts) and AI Meta glasses (high school). This was tabled until June to give the administration time to clarify the composition of the panels and address concerns raised by the committee about recess, challenge classes, and consistency across schools and handbooks. We also discussed the parent sign-off requirement, agreeing that neither the current system (vouching that the whole handbook has been read) or a minimalist approach (confirming receipt only) achieves the purported goal of said sign off.
Bullying & Restraint policy updates - Director of Student Services Joan Bowen proposed language to bring policies into more explicit compliance with state guidance on supports for vulnerable individuals and regulations around student restraint and seclusion. These were approved, with acknowledgement that the “how” of certain actions are still being developed with relevant staff.
MSBA Update - This mostly fell into two categories: MSBA feedback and the relatively recently discovered 999-year deed restriction on the City-owned land on which the high school and its fields are built. As noted above, you can watch that update starting here.
- Feedback - MSBA (finally) provided feedback in response to the building committee’s submission of the PDP (preliminary design program, which includes the district’s educational plan, short list of design approaches, and space summary for the project) - Dr. Galusi ran through the nature of the feedback (clarification around the use of certain spaces and the high school schedule, questions about the spaces not being developed specifically for high school learning, and questions about changes to the space summary since the initial submission), her team’s recommendations for space reduction that were approved at the last building committee meeting (mostly offices, and some shared resources across vocational programs, with a particular review of shared), and the approach being taken to cost out non-high-school spaces (e.g., MFN, municipal day care, welcome center), the auditorium (looking at several different capacities between 500 and 1,000), and bathrooms (shared vs. embedded in individual program-specific classrooms). She also spoke about how they are making decisions with long term educational flexibility in mind. The project team confirmed that the feedback received was in line with feedback received on other projects, and that although the educational plan will likely return to the school committee for another vote, there were no changes requested by the MSBA, just clarification on where we are now and where we're going. Several committee members requested a copy of the feedback.
- Deed restriction - As folks may have heard, the Department of Conservation and Recreation approached the project team with a disclosure of a 999-year deed restriction on the Edgerly Field portion of the land on which the high school is built, a document that never made it to the design team before they began their conceptual design team. Member Graham shared that there is an ongoing review to figure out how and why that did not happen, and also shared more about how the team leaders are adapting and moving forward to ensure that this restriction will not limit the design options. (Two addition renovations and one new build were deemed to be in conflict with the deed given their use of the field as part of the building footprint.) One approach, which is already underway, is to redesign two of the three flagged models (the add/reno designs, aka the C options for those who have been following along) so that they do not encroach on the Edgerly Field property. These redesigns (which preserve the community/building committee’s request to not have modular classrooms as part of the construction process) will be shared with the building committee on Wednesday. The second is to work with Medford’s state legislators and a land use attorney to lift the deed restriction through the Article 97 process (e.g., land swap). The school committee had some questions about both of these—who would manage the latter, how it aligns with the plan to bring on a construction manager this summer, and what the implications are for cost analysis and schedule—but ultimately, the decision about which path(s) to take will fall to the building committee. There is a resolution about the new designs on tomorrow’s agenda (https://www.mps02155.org/about/mps-news/mps-news-post/~board/school-committee-news/post/meeting-of-the-medford-comprehensive-high-school-building-committee-may-20-2026), so tune in or attend if that’s of interest.
The final item on the school committee's agenda was a resolution for the district to provide a report on Project Transition by the end of the year. Project Transition is a program at the high school that supports students ages 18-22 with disabilities in developing career-readiness skills and matching them to job opportunities. A parent spoke about caregivers’ dissatisfaction with the program and recent hiring decisions by the City of Medford, and the resolution sponsors (Members Graham and Olapade) explained how the resolution (and subsequent report) will help address those concerns. Dr. Galusi spoke about the timing of the request, namely that it aligns with the program review already slated for fall.
No condolences, yes adjournment. That’s it for us in May, but tune in tomorrow (Wednesday, May 20) for the next high school building committee meeting, and another one on May 27.