Medford school programs, projects on target for this year

Medford is on the move. That was the message from school administrators earlier this week as they updated the School Committee about the multitude of projects, both academic and structural, currently underway.

Both Dr. Kim Talbot, assistant superintendent of academics and instruction, and Ken Lord, chief operations officer, were on hand March 2 to talk about the progress of such programs as Mustang University and ongoing repairs to the district’s buildings.

Talbot kicked off the evening with an announcement of the rebranding of professional development in Medford schools as Mustang University. The program will focus on providing more professional development for staff, including more full-day sessions, in accordance with contract negotiations with the teachers union.

Talbot said the School Department is partnering with the Medford Teachers Association to put together a committee that will use data to provide future programs for teachers. She said the hope is to foster a sense of belonging for faculty and to bring additional professional development programs in-house.  

Talbot also talked about the Learning Acceleration Network (LAN), a partnership between the district and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to support ELA teachers in grades 3-8 at both McGlynn schools.

“We’re supporting teachers in the intellectual preparation required to leverage grade-level content and tasks,” Talbot said. “This applies across all disciplines, which is why we picked this. It’s widely transferable.”

The idea, Talbot added, is that once this program gets going, it can be expanded throughout the entire district and help all teachers with intellectual preparation.

Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Galusi said the partnership with DESE will give help with a deeper dive into the curriculum for grades 6-8 so they can have high-quality materials as well.

Answering a question about the timeline for the LAN from School Committee member Erika Reinfeld, Talbot said this is the first year.

“But I’ve used this before in other districts and it’s been very successful,” Talbot said, adding that right now the program is in its observational stage.

The program will also involve both building principals, ELA and EL directors, and literacy coaches, among others.  

Building updates

Medford has been working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority through its Accelerated Repair Program on several projects throughout the district.

Lord said the Brooks, Missituk and Roberts have all been accepted for heat pump conversions and roof replacements/renovations. Each school will have a feasibility study examining ground source, air source and hybrid heat pump systems.

The Roberts has just started its study while the Missituk is expected to start in June and the Brooks in the fall.

Pending the completion of the studies and funding, Lord said, Medford could see construction on the projects in 2027/28, but definitely no later than 2029.

Lord said the McGlynn/Andrews HVAC project is expected to reach completion by the end of this coming summer. The project involves many moving parts, including the restoration of the McGlynn roof, which Lord said had to be re-bid.

“The proposals came in high so we had to re-bid it,” Lord said, adding the new bid brings that portion of the project under budget.

He said once the roof project and HVAC work are finished, the solar panel installations will begin at both schools.

Lord said the goal is to make sure all the interior work associated with HVAC is done.

“We want to make sure all those vents and thermostats and everything else is working right before we move on,” he said.

Lord said Medford had also received “big news” in that National Grid had issued utility rebates of $687,000 for the Andrews and $1.09 million for the McGlynn. Those credits will be used towards the project.

Lord said the contractor and project manager will be submitting additional rebates.

“It’s great news that we received that,” he said. “This is going to do great, great work for reducing our CO2 production.”

The project is expected to reduce natural gas emissions and CO2 emissions by 47% at the Andrews and 51% at the McGlynn.

IT and security

Lord told the School Committee the district is working with Extreme Networks to update the current network infrastructure. Phase 1 of the project, he said, began in the summer and is ongoing.

Lastly, he said 95% of the installation of security cameras, keyless entry and vape detectors is finished.

Lord said there will be training done at the schools, but that has not started yet. He said the idea is to see how the older system integrates with the new system before training begins.

MHS building update

School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Graham updated members on the status of the MHS building project. She said the Preliminary Design report, which is 2,000 pages, was submitted to the MSBA at the end of February.

Graham said it could take anywhere from three to four weeks for the MSBA to review the report. The agency is then expected to come back to Medford with any feedback.

“This is a huge feat,” Graham said of the project manager and architect, LeftField and SMMA.

Graham reminded the board and audience that the project remains fluid and it will continue to be refined and revised until the final designs are submitted.

She said the school building committee continues its outreach to residents, including with a robocall on March 2 to let residents know how to get involved and possibly with a citywide mailer.

Graham said the committee will continue meeting and is looking to evaluate the criteria for the current 29 design options. She said that on April 5, the body is looking to downsize from 29 alternatives to between three to five.

She said the goal is to have one option to submit to the MSBA by June.

Odds and ends

The School Committee also briefly touched on the following:

• Director of Student Services Joan Bowen is expected to retire in September 2026 after 33 years in the school system.

Galusi praised Bowen for all her years of service in Medford.

• The school calendar has been updated, with the last day of school to now be June 24 due to the four snow days so far this year.

Galusi said the Roberts will go to June 25 due to the two days the school was closed because of a norovirus outbreak. School officials are working to fit in two half-day make-up sessions in order to make the new June date work.

Galusi said the calendar shift means parents will also see progress reports and report cards shift around a bit, with elementary report cards coming out March 19; the middle school progress reports on March 17 and report cards on April 27; and the high school will not change report card dates, but progress reports are due March 11.

• March 30 will mark the annual Day on the Hill for students across the Commonwealth. Medford is expected to send students to Beacon Hill to meet with legislators as well.