Public Comment

Transcript (~15 min @ 20:05)

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▶ 19:34 Leila Migliorelli: and oversight committee and I am chairwoman Leila. Migliorelli joining me tonight are Vice chair Jamal Dean counselor. Cinella Eccles remotely garapay. Karamchatie McMaster o bremski Stewart and Williams and president Grigoraitis ex-officio this serves as a notice of a quorum for the record. Please note that because we have a member participating remotely all motions will require a roll call vote and in accordance with open meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on mmtv. I will entertain a motion to open the floor for public comment, so move. Motion made to open public comment by counselor. Cinella second and by president Grigoraitis Mr. Clerkley. Please call the roll.

▶ 20:21 Speaker 2: Vice Church of Aldine councilor McMaster

▶ 20:26 Speaker 3: here

▶ 20:28 Speaker 2: counselor sonella

▶ 20:32 Speaker 2: Yeah councilor Eccles. Yes. Counselor gerepe yes counselor Stewart. Yes counselor. Karmchetti. Yes counselor bremski. Yes counselor Williams. Yes, president Grigoraitis. Yes and chairmanelli. Yes, unanimous told yes public comment

▶ 20:51 Leila Migliorelli: is now opening. meeting where any one on our agenda tonight. I believe there's a sign up sheet on the table there. And when you start speaking, if you could please state your name and address. before making your comment

▶ 21:10 Speaker 4: Anyone here to speak?

▶ 21:14 Speaker 4: just

▶ 21:15 Speaker 5: walk it up.

▶ 21:23 Speaker 1: Thank you very much. My name is Sandy Dixon. I'm at 22 Martin Street. I sent you all an email, but I thought it would be helpful if I read that email to tonight. I'm coming as a Melrose Community member and a parent of a high school sophomore. My son is actively engaged in the Melrose School community and is thriving as a saxophone player in the concert and Jazz Band. And Athlete on the soccer team and a budding chemist with his favorite teacher Doctor Who Hurley who is an outstanding educator. Recently, he told us that he and his friends sometimes attend chess club meetings after school, and he's learning to love this game. I am thrilled about all of this. so when I hear what he talks about his Day to my wife and I is money. all this comes from a public school system that provides these activities and opportunities because of the funding it receives of the budget priorities it makes This funding is in need of your support tonight and specifically that you fully found the 2.5 million dollar free cash request from the school committee located here to cover its shortfall for this fiscal year as the school committee has told us in no uncertain terms. If this funding is not made in full there will be cuts and I want to personally state if you have any children in the district, you will feel the impact of your Vault tonight in a month. Like this is not next year's budget like this is tomorrow. When I know you know that when we imagine these Financial Cuts we know they will come first from music Sports and after school activities. What I think it's important for us all to recognize these programs are excellent and they run on a shoe string budget. Melrose has been lauded for its outstanding music programs. There's currently a Facebook post going around a fundraisers needed to be able to pay for drums that are three years past their due date. The Melrose sports teams require exorbitant fees and booster clubs to paper some of the essentials like assistant coaches assistant coaches. I do not believe are part of the sports budget any Cuts means today these programs just stop existing. If those measures Aren't Enough Personnel will be impacted and this means multiple teachers will be let go we just showed our support for them as a community and made a commitment to race our salaries. And now now we would be letting some of them go. That will send a message that Melrose does not support at schools their teachers or students. Please do not send this message. Education costs are rising. This is clear. It is clear every time we hear from the school committee, and they're concerns will address it and continuing Rising costs of special education and transportation. I believe I believe the estimated cost for transportation and a town that does not have a bus system is two million dollars next year. Two million dollars. These issues are not concerns. These issues are not unique to Melrose. They are not going away and they're only going to continue to increase Melrose must need these meet these needs and continue to anticipate them by fully funding the real cost of education for our community. I ask you to vote tonight to fully fund the 2.5 million dollar requests for our schools, and I thank you for all you do from Melrose. Thank you.

▶ 24:42 Speaker 1: Good evening to the counselors. Thank you for having me for the public comment session. Not only am I a parent of a Melrose Public School student. I have a third grader at Winthrop Elementary, but I also work in Municipal Finance for another Metro Boston Community managing Grant funds there. My family moved here in 2019 because we heard like many others how wonderful Melrose is kids walk to school in the Main Street events are packed with families. We previously lived in an urban setting and we had zero kids on our street. So moving here was a real treat for our daughter. We moved in the Summer. She started kindergarten and loved Until March when everything shut down due to the pandemic. So as I mentioned she's in third grade now, but it's really her first full year of school. Fully in person, no masks their everyday no shift a shift B at school every day. So just think about that for a second third grade, but first full year of school. Well, I know the pandemic was challenging for districts to respond to and I was on the school reopening committee for the municipality. I work in there's so much ground to make up. Our kids especially the younger grades need our full support now so they can build a strong Foundation as students that they weren't able to develop during the first and second grade for my daughter's cohort. At least not fully funding the rebuild budget would make things worse. Approving mayor broders request to allocate 2.5 million in free cash for the school budget partially would be detrimental to their learning and erode their comfort and Trust in the school setting. Please approve this request in full. It's too close to the end of fy23 to return for a second request. And the remainder of the remainder of the fiscal year should be spent working with CLA addressing the short the shortfalls and procedural gaps that allowed the shortfall to happen in the first place. Consistent use of free cash to plug major holes like this will inevitably lead to yet another fiscal cliff. So, please do planning now work with the school committee to do their planning and prioritize our kids. Thank you. Would you mind just stating your name and address for the record? Sure. Yes, Kate Harkey and I'm in word for thank you so much and I live on Mooreland Road.

▶ 26:58 Speaker 4: Thank you.

▶ 27:08 Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Sarah. Matarano. I'm on Pilgrim Road. And I'm in three one word three one. Thank you for having me. This is actually the first time I come here little embarrassed to say that but I'm glad to be here first. I want to just thank you all for what you do, but I do want to come here as a parent as a taxpayer as an educator myself and ask that you do pass this. Support for the school system. I just feel like the funding needs to be passed to in full as a lot of other people have just said I feel like that is just something that's super important to do right now and not to just do half and then have to have them come back again feel like that just adds a lot more stress on to the school system and I feel like coming out of a pandemic with all the other stressors our staff and Educators and administrators have going on still that's the last thing that they need to really deal with. However with that being said, I also do hope that as we move forward that the city council and the school committee members can work a little bit better together in order for us to be able to move forward and have a better more consistent estimated budget for the year 2024. I feel like it's very unacceptable for us to be in this position at this moment and that we really need to do we really need to change the you know Budget for 24 that's more an accurate funding that needs to really meet the needs of every building. Not just the needs overall. One thing that I was a little Upset about is that it also feels like we're always in this Viewpoint of this seven million dollars of free cash is sort of, you know a victory for our city when I feel like that seems not really like a victory. It's more of a reflection of how we continue to fail to build our budgets, you know, there's really no need to be having seven million dollars setting in free cash, and I'd really love to see more of some of that estimating of our budgets and the free cash to not be such looked at is such a positive thing and lets use some of that money towards our school systems to better to better our systems and put more programs in place. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 29:46 Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Lisa Covino. I'm on 70 Park Street Ward 7 and I am here on behalf of 32 other Melrose residents. I have their signature their address reward that I will go ahead and email to you after this, but I am here in behalf of them to say first of all, thank you, mayor Broder for bringing this up and filing it to cover the shortfall second to urge the council to go ahead and vote in full for that money to cover the shortfall as a whole all at once. Our schools are crucial for the future of our community and we cannot afford to compromise our children's education. So thanks in advance. And also, please consider always funding our schools to the amount that they need to be successful. Thanks so much.

▶ 30:32 Speaker 4: Thank you.

▶ 30:45 Speaker 4: Good evening, Madam chair counselors. My name is Eric Wildman 105 Laurel Street. I have three students in the Melrose Public Schools. And I'm a former member of the Melrose school committee. I'm here tonight to speak on the urgent need to pass the free cash order for the Melrose Public Schools, but I would be mere Miss in one of my roles in this community. If I did not mention the appropriate order number 23 - 16 for the election Department. I noticed the city clerk and my former colleagues in the board of retross here tonight. Someone that spent about 10 years working in the elections. I can tell you the 35,000 is a steel to improve the election processing that we have. for elections in the city of Morrow, so I figure I wouldn't get out of here live if I didn't mention that so but back to the free cash order because that's really that's that's an a critical thing. I implore you to pass this order tonight, pass it in full. So the city council can approve this order next Monday night. The Melrose Public Schools need Clarity on their finances so they can move forward with the creation of a 2024 FY budget instead of spending the next several weeks destroying the Melrose Public Schools. And that's where we would be with this order fail. I understand there might be some reservations in the part of some of the counselors about this order and that's fair the whole reason we're here tonight. The whole reason we have this issue is distasteful. This has been discussed numerous meetings here school committee. and the like I have questions and concerns about the spending budgeting practices of the city of moros and I would like answers and all those too. However tonight's not the night for that discussion as we get towards the fy24 budget as you deliberate that in the coming months, they'll be ample time for that discussion, and I hope you have it. So now we have two choices before us. Approved the free cash order in its entirety or decimate the Morrow's Public Schools the February 14th meeting memo was presented. I think it's in the packet as well the amount of yep, that's right in the back of page 19 for those following at home. 16 teachers 75 Paris would be eliminated to close this Gap apps in this one. We just went through a very long. challenging Issue with the teachers contract so good results took too long, but good result in the end. I can't imagine backtracking on that in telling our Educators. No. Scratch that all that work you put in all the work the school committee put in community put in to backtrack in decimate the schools. For the last several months of this fiscal year. Time is of the essence. At the school committee meeting on Valentine's Day, February 14th. Ken Kelly was asked a question. When would be the best time for this money? His response was yesterday? That yesterday was four weeks ago. The administration the staff and most important the students have needlessly waited too long for this matter to resolved respectfully ask that you not make them light weight any longer. I ask you to prove the full amount tonight and give final approval in this order next Monday. Thank you.

▶ 34:09 Speaker 4: anyone online there are no attendees online at this time. Okay, I'll entertain a motion to close public comment second.

▶ 34:17 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to close public comment made by counselor. Snella second to buy president Grigoraitis Mr. Clerk. Will you please call the

▶ 34:24 Speaker 2: role Vice chair Jamal Dean?

▶ 34:27 Speaker 3: Yeah.

▶ 34:28 Speaker 2: Counselor McMaster. Yes counselor. Sonella. Yes counselor Eccles Yes. Counsel, gerepe. Yes counselor Stewart. Yes Council Carm Jenny. Yes counselor bremski. Yes. counselor Williams Yes president Grigoraitis. Yes. And chair Migliorelli. Yes, that's 11. Yes. Unanimous. Okay

▶ 34:49 Leila Migliorelli: public comment is now closed since we have a members of the administr. Ation night to speak on the items before us I'll entertain a motion to suspend the rules before we proceed so moved.

▶ 35:00 Speaker 3: second

▶ 35:01 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to suspend the rules made by counselor. Sonella secondary by counselor. Jamaladin Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

▶ 35:07 Speaker 2: counselor Jamal Vice chair Jamal Dean

▶ 35:10 Speaker 3: Yes.

▶ 35:11 Speaker 2: Counselor McMaster. Yes counselor. Sonella. Yes counselor Eccles Yes Council gerepe. Yes. Counselor Stewart. Yes councilor. Karmchetti. Yes counselor bremski. Yes counselor Williams. Yes, president Grigoraitis. Yes and cheer. Megliarelli. Yes