Consideration of CETUSA Foreign Exchange program’s Application to accept Italian Students for the 2019-2020 School Year (10 minutes) vote required

Transcript (~21 min @ 1:55:12)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 1:55:15 Speaker 4: passes unanimously thank you everyone last but not least consideration of CET BUSA foreign exchange programs application to accept Italian students for the 2019-2020 school year. This also was tabled last meeting, so I would entertain a motion to reconsider.

▶ 1:55:34 Speaker 3: To remove from the table. That is my motion, to remove from the table. Excellent.

▶ 1:55:39 Speaker 4: Second. So motion made by Ms. Driscoll, second by Mr. O'Connell. original motion on the floor was since you have the minutes open right there to approve I believe yes excellent thus discussion at this time would you

▶ 1:55:57 Speaker 3: actually there was no there was no motion to approve it was just a motion

▶ 1:56:02 Speaker 4: to table so at this time do you want to introduce the topic or did you want to

▶ 1:56:07 Speaker 3: know I'd like to introduce it we need a vote since we voted to table so vote

▶ 1:56:14 Speaker 4: Vote to remove from the table, all in favor?

▶ 1:56:22 Speaker 4: Motion passes unanimously.

▶ 1:56:25 Speaker 3: Madam Superintendent.

▶ 1:56:30 Speaker 3: Okay, so the last time we considered this, these people were new to us and I was not really, I don't want to be involved with another organization who are bringing in and exchange students because we have enough of our own students plus rotary and other families however saying that some information came to light after the fact that i would like mr merrill to share with you so that you can have a better understanding of how this firm came to reach

▶ 1:57:05 Speaker 5: out to us good evening good evening hi evening thank you so um we have an exchange program with our Italian students with a school in Florence that has been going back and forth so recently our students have been there last year students from Florence came and stayed with us with one of their two of their teachers rather one being Simona Della Valle she inquired back in September through dr. Talbot who is not someone in charge of any of our foreign exchange students or past but someone who's in charge of exchange trips trips through global language miss Della Valley explored with her the potential of her child and two other students from Florence coming back to share in some of the experiences she did for the first semester of this coming school year starting in in late August

▶ 1:58:09 Speaker 5: and she started to inquire with families that she had already built relationships with about hosting at that time she had asked dr. Talbot if we had any affiliation how do we go about this our answer at the time was education who we were still in a relationship with dating back a few years ago when we went through this process with the SEVIS certification and started a relationship with educatious which is a company that forms exchanges since we just haven't done business with them they don't we haven't provided them enough business some high schools have upwards of 40 students through educatious in this school we had had a couple here and there and they just moved on from us so

▶ 1:59:05 Speaker 5: at that time the teacher in Italy started looking into other companies who could help with what would be the visa process which is formulating an i-20 that helps with the student visa to get a student here to echo miss Tamar's sentiment around we're not looking to create another relationship with with CET USA or education or any company like that that being said having gone through the SEVA certification I think as a district we value some of these opportunities with having our students be in in different countries in also hosting students from different countries whether it's truly through student exchanges through global language but also on a smaller scale with having exchange students visiting and staying in our community for a semester or a possible year I don't think we ever want to get to the point where we're in a relationship that we're bringing in 20 kids at a time but surely it's a great opportunity for our student body and our community to be exposed to this so this isn't a case just to be clear of this company randomly reaching

▶ 2:00:31 Speaker 5: out to us and I would caution that that could occur later now that they know Melrose Mass but we're not looking to form some kind of relationship with them and have students come this would be three these three students are students that we already have a relationship with the parent who's a teacher at the sister school who inquired about bringing her child here and two other friends of that child and had already reached out to some host families so this wasn't a case of this company finding host families that's how it would work with educatious or a company like that you sign up to them and they start calling communities to try to find people to stay with a lot of that work was already done just through the relationships that Miss Della Valley created so I hope that

▶ 2:01:30 Speaker 5: clarifies a little bit and I'm not sure what you were thinking any decision but

▶ 2:01:39 Speaker 5: I do want you to have all the information before making the decision

▶ 2:01:45 Speaker 4: for purposes of discussion I would entertain a motion at this time I would

▶ 2:01:53 Speaker 4: make a motion approve motion made by mr. O'Connell second second by miss Razzie Thomas discussion mr. Brunsky any girl hockey players in that they bring in

▶ 2:02:14 Speaker 1: Chromebooks yeah my only issue with it is like so these kids would have obviously they have equal access to tryouts and stuff right that's my really that was my big concern like so if we do open this up and at some point they do they do bring 10 or 15 kids, how does that play out in terms of kids who've spent their life here in terms of trials?

▶ 2:02:41 Speaker 3: So we're not going to open it up, Mr. Obrinsky. All we're doing is talking about these three kids, one of whom has already been here in the past. Right. Wants to come back, spend more time than the two weeks the kids typically spend, two to three weeks they typically spend. and we would make it clear, I would have Amy Lindquist make it clear in her response to this company that this is a one-time only relationship.

▶ 2:03:08 Speaker 5: This would be an exception to our policy.

▶ 2:03:11 Speaker 1: And you're saying it's a semester? Just how long, talk to me about the time frame of a semester.

▶ 2:03:16 Speaker 3: Fifteen weeks.

▶ 2:03:17 Speaker 1: Fifteen weeks.

▶ 2:03:19 Speaker 5: It would be until January. January. All right, September to January. Okay, thank you.

▶ 2:03:26 Speaker 4: Ms. Driscoll.

▶ 2:03:27 Speaker 3: So, if I remember correctly, at the last meeting you mentioned that if a student has a connection in the district, that the sending family can make their own arrangement, the student,

▶ 2:03:47 Speaker 3: by virtue of that, is entitled to attend school here.

▶ 2:03:54 Speaker 3: and this and the district nor the committee has any say in this that's right because if they live you know it's called pillow law and it's where you lay your head you can get to go to school and we've had those situations you know I think I explained we have families who grew up with hosting children from other

▶ 2:04:17 Speaker 3: countries they get to be adults they've maintained a fresh friendship and you say to your German sister gee I would love to have your son for a year why don't you send him to live with me for a year it'll be a great chance for all of us and that happens and there's very little we can do about it as long as the host family or the has the right to make educational medical decisions so my question is what does it give the district by us sanctioning this I'm not

▶ 2:04:49 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: even sure but what are we voting on I don't know what does it do so because if it doesn't do anything I don't if we don't input so our responsibilities our policy budget right your contract so I I don't understand what role we have in this number one I don't understand what giving them it would this would would providing some kind of affirmation be an indication to them that we seek more partnerships in the future because I don't want to provide any that's what I don't want I it's so I I'm struggling to find out what we're trying to do here and I'm inclined to say that doing nothing doesn't tie us to anything, doesn't imply anything, and doesn't affect the decisions of these students whatsoever. So I think taking no action might be the best course of action. That may be a good solution. I brought it to you because at that time we did not know the background, and it you have a policy in which you name certain organizations that we find

▶ 2:06:01 Speaker 3: acceptable and and even when we did education we brought it to you for your approval okay so I would not form this relationship with another company not knowing what they were about without your approval at the same time our attorney wanted to be able to say the policymaking board has said yay or nay

▶ 2:06:28 Speaker 4: but I understand the points you're making any further questions or

▶ 2:06:32 Speaker 1: comments I agree I just like to say I agree with mr. scorn I think the best course of action is no action anyone else I miss

▶ 2:06:42 Speaker 1: her if I may be sure I suspect what we're gonna find out is that organizations like this and I think this is reflected in the letters of recommendation and our reference that are in the packet provide services for these students that are necessary and appropriate to get them here and miss Merrill mentioned the visa process so yeah I guess the question is do we value

▶ 2:07:21 Speaker 1: having these types of exchange students and if we do the reality is the services provided by organizations like CET USA are of value to those students and so the question I think that's before us is based on the the recommendations and references in the packet are we comfortable with this particular organization providing those types of necessary and appropriate services to get the students here and to manage their their existence here and and

▶ 2:08:09 Speaker 1: further I think you know I would coming to the meeting having not heard from mr. Merrill about this before now I was prepared to vote against this because this just seemed to be out of left field and you know us supporting some some business model that had really nothing to do with us but clearly you know this is about supporting existing relationships that we have and facilitating and furthering those relationships so based on the packet documents I don't see anything here that would suggest that we should not do this and it sounds like the people with whom we have a relationship want us to do this so I understand what what mr. school is saying but I think given ultimately given the existing relationship giving you know my limited understanding of how all this works I I would still support approving this because I think it doesn't hurt us I think it helps these students and I don't have any other adverse information about CET USA so I think I ultimately I think these students need this service or these services and if we say no to this CET USA proposal we're effectively saying no to these students or at the very least making their life much more difficult in terms of their ability to

▶ 2:09:59 Speaker 5: get here and be here so I would only add that we've said no to you can't imagine how many so yeah I mean other companies that they just get Melrose through being a certified SEVA school they'll reach out and we miss Taymor has the ability or myself at her discretion to just say no thank you and then we do that so we

▶ 2:10:25 Speaker 1: would not be tied into yeah I mean this this seems to be about an existing relationship with at least one of these students and or their families if not all three so again I would I would continue to support this thank you

▶ 2:10:41 Speaker 4: madam chair may I ask a point of clarification superintendent do we need a formal relationship with this company in order to allow those students with whom we already have a pre-existing relationship the ability to attend Melrose High School no they need they need a letter

▶ 2:10:58 Speaker 3: from my office saying that we agree that the students can come that's what they have been seeking for a couple of months and I think that has to do with the visa

▶ 2:11:14 Speaker 5: the visa process correct it's not a it's not a contract of certain amount of kids per year or anything like that it's just an okay and thank you for that question

▶ 2:11:24 Jennifer McAndrew: because just that was my question too just to further clarify so there's nothing mr. O'Connell's point to there's nothing stopping these students from using a company likes a non-profit corporation like CET USA to facilitate their travel to the United States whether or not we have a we approve

▶ 2:11:48 Speaker 5: this my guess is this is my guess is this has gone on before in the city of Melrose and neighboring communities without anyone's knowledge and they

▶ 2:11:57 Jennifer McAndrew: would still need a letter in order to get a visa they probably have to show some sort of educational plan or whatever they would need a letter for me but you I mean just my understanding is that you could grant that now for a

▶ 2:12:18 Speaker 3: student without school committee approval yes and we have when it's been a situation like I've explained I don't want I'm trying to avoid using names but no you know we have had a friend of all of ours had a foreign exchange student that you know she knew through family right with her but you know she

▶ 2:12:42 Jennifer McAndrew: approached us the same thing and would you approve it those students also use companies to help them get placed perhaps right so I I'm I I mentioned last time I don't there's a couple things about that I don't get maybe it's just failure of imagination I'm with mr. school I don't think we need to do this thing I don't think we need to vote because I don't think it's necessary to facilitate the travel I don't want to be unkind in some way or unwelcoming to students who we have a relationship with I just don't think we need this and I'm sort of again like I said last time I feel like this is all backwards if we decide that this is valuable as a program in some way to the Melrose public schools I would hope we would do that in a way that seeks the best partnerships for us with organizations to make that happen and not this I guess way so I don't think it's necessary for us to approve this a good idea just

▶ 2:13:47 Speaker 3: saying no or you're taking miss Driscoll's point of view that no action

▶ 2:13:53 Speaker 2: is the best cool I don't know what the vote is so I guess no action do you do

▶ 2:13:59 Gail Infurna: madam mayor thank you do you make motions of leave to withdraw or to place

▶ 2:14:05 Speaker 5: on file that's what the ultimate have done in the past we have generally not

▶ 2:14:15 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: done that we have generally either yeah generally the our practice has been that we generally individuals withdraw the motion and if they select not to which is fine um it goes to a vote generally so there is a motion on the table there's a motion on the

▶ 2:14:29 Gail Infurna: on the floor now correct so if that person could would withdraw that motion then we could make a

▶ 2:14:40 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: motion to place it on file no then there's no motion needed no action requires no motion so okay if that is the will because if no one else makes a different motion then it uh okay

▶ 2:14:51 Speaker 1: Mr. O'Connell. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess we're going a long way around and through this. I think the key here, perhaps ultimately, is that we don't reject this, which ironically enough for me is exactly what I was intending to do when I came to this meeting tonight. so because this company is it's not just getting in the hair you know reading between the lines and reading the lines that they're they're part of managing these students lives while they're here and maybe we don't care about that alternatively maybe we do care about that we don't want that I'm but I'm not

▶ 2:15:42 Speaker 1: hearing that so all that said it doesn't sound like we're we're inclined to reject this I will withdraw the motion to approve it motion to withdraw made a

▶ 2:15:55 Speaker 4: motion withdrawn I should say made by mr. O'Connor thank you second second by