School Committee receives draft of Educational Plan for Medford High School project

School officials this week delivered a draft of an educational plan that will provide a vision for the future operation of Medford High School.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Suzanne Galusi called it “our North Star.”

“This is a document that is going to ensure our new high school is designed around our current and future pedagogy and instructional practices and vision for that in our schools and student experiences,” Galusi told the School Committee during its Jan. 26 meeting. “This is not a generic fill-in-the-blank template. It’s something targeted specifically for Medford Public Schools and the Medford community. It needs to be a bridge of vision and reality.”

The educational plan is a requirement of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Core Program’s Feasibility Study. Medford was welcomed into the program in December 2023 after a failed attempt in 2022.

The city has quickly moved through the eligibility period, working with the state on the “overarching goals of the project” and setting the school’s enrollment.

Initially, the MSBA assigned Medford a 1,200 student enrollment. That number has since changed to 1,395 for grades 9-12 and also includes “the centralization of Pre-K services,” Kids’ Corner, and the Medford Family Network.

LeftField Project Management was hired in June 2025 as OPM (owner's project manager), followed by SMMA in November 2025 as designer.

In October 2025, Medford entered what is referred to as the Feasibility Study stage, which runs through June 2026. This phase includes the preliminary design program, which must be submitted to the MSBA by Feb. 25, and the preferred schematic report, the deadline of which is June 25.

And that also includes the educational plan.

Galusi said over the past two months Medford High School has mobilized to work with both LeftField and SMMA to figure out just what a new building should consist of, both for educational purposes and in its physical layout.

The superintendent said students, educators, staff and members of the community have been invited to participate in various information-gathering opportunities, such as visioning sessions in December 2025, taking tours of other newly built school buildings, and holding a Shadow Day in November 2025 to see just how students interact with the facilities day-to-day.

Dr. Kim Talbot, assistant superintendent for academics and instruction, called the Shadow Day “one of the most rewarding experiences” because it allowed students to actually show how they interact with the high school.

“We also visited three new school constructions,” Talbot said. “That helped our teams to dream of what we could have. It allowed us to see things we liked, and there were other things that gave us pause.”

Talbot said those 48 hours of work have culminated in “a comprehensive, integrated high school where academics, CTE learning (Career and Technical Education), and accessibility flourish to support multiple pathways and identities within a unified school community.”

The report

The educational plan is a 60-page draft report now available on the MHS project website for the community to review.

Talbot said that woven through the report are six goals that will hopefully develop the high school that lasts for the next 30 years.

They include:

Goal 1: A school where every student, educator, and family feels seen, valued and belongs.

Goal 2: A welcoming and accessible community hub that supports learning, engagement, and connection during and beyond the school day.

Goal 3: Learning experiences that are purposeful, relevant, rigorous, joyful, and connected to the real world.

Goal 4: Flexible, purposeful, and human-centered spaces that support collaboration, movement, and multiple modes of teaching and learning.

Goal 5: A place that centers student voice, agency, and leadership.

Goal 6: A future-ready building that is adaptable, sustainable, and able to evolve with changing student needs and educational practices.

“There was no more rewarding moment in all those 48 hours of working together than when students stood up and spoke their truth,” Talbot said of the fifth goal. “The rooms were silent listening to what they had to say and taking to heart their thoughtful considerations for what they wanted [for] the students who come behind them to experience.”

Talbot added the report consists of key enhancements to instructional practices and operations, such as “flexible and intentional use of learning spaces for students and staff,” re-locating the Curtis-Tufts to the high school campus, expanding the Library Media Center, and centralizing the Early Childhood Center.

Both Talbot and Galusi said the educational plan has provided ideas for instructional changes that can be made now.

“Some changes, like moving classrooms, that will have to wait for a new building,” Talbot said. “But there are instructional changes we can start right away. We heard our students loud and clear. They want agency, they want choice, and they want to take on leadership roles, and we need to respond to that by designing instruction that fits their needs. So there’s some yes and some no items.”

What’s next?

The Medford community is invited to read through the report and send questions and comments ahead of the Feb. 2 School Committee meeting. That’s when the draft will be voted on by members in order to meet the Feb 25 deadline for this portion of the Feasibility Study.

School Committee members questioned how the community should read through the document, considering its sizable length.

“I would approach the document with the section you are most passionate about,” Talbot said. “Look for the places where you can be inspired by what the students and faculty want to see. I would suggest not getting caught up in the weeds.”

The Medford Comprehensive School Building Committee (MCSBC) will meet at the high school library at 6:30 p.m. on the follow dates: Feb. 11, Feb. 23, March 5, and March 23. The meetings will include a first look at early building designs, rough cost estimates, and finalizing the design submission.

The March 5 meeting will also be an opportunity for the community to give its input.

There is also a QR code provided by the project partners for residents to provide their thoughts on the project.