On Monday, Apr. 5, 2016, the school committee met for their monthly meeting. After saying the Pledge of Allegiance and having a moment of silence for the veterans, Vice Chairman Lenny Iovino asked the people present to stand in silence to honor the three former Malden teachers that have passed away recently: Nancy Finkelstein, Carol Mastromauro, and Sue Buckley.
During last month’s meeting, the decision to raise school lunch prices gradually over the next two school years was voted on. By the 2017 to 2018 school year, high school students will pay a minimum of $3.05 for a standard lunch, and up to $3.90 for a specialty item, such as a trip to the salad or snack bar.
The subcommittee brought the bill back with language changes and policy updates to be voted on again by the committee. The changes made addressed the policy for negative account balances. Superintendent David DeRuosi claimed that debt can amount to at least five thousand dollars in each school, so clearing up debt is important to do by the end of this school year.
The new policy states that anytime a student reaches a negative balance of ten dollars, the parents or guardians will be notified through both a phone call and physical mail with instructions on how to pay off debt and apply for free or reduced lunch if eligible. If the same student’s negative balance drops to twenty dollars, a second notice will be sent out, and the student will receive an alternative lunch until the balance issue is resolved.
There are solutions to this problem for families who struggle to make ends meet, such as paying off the balance in stages, for example, ten dollars a week. The committee hopes to have these changes implemented before the end of the school year.
Jodie Zalk, a representative from Malden Reads, was one of the first to address the committee at Monday night’s meeting. She was present on behalf of her work, proposing the idea of bringing librarians back to the kindergarten through eighth grade schools. Malden Reads “is committed to celebrating reading”, and along with Malden Public Library and Malden Access Television, are able to host events every year featuring that year’s book, and promoting reading. The 2016 Malden Reads book is Andy Weir’s The Martian. So far, there have been multiple movie screenings, book talks, and even a night at Boda Borg.
Zalk pointed out that children from “low socioeconomic” homes have a lower vocabulary range, and “get less enjoyment from reading.” Studies have shown that there is a “30 million word gap by the age of three” for children “growing up in a low income family versus a more affluent home.” One way Malden Reads hopes to help these children is to bring librarians back into the schools. Even though “[they] know and understand how difficult the budget situation is”, they also “know how important it is to have professional school librarians.”
In Malden, there is a large population of English language learners as well as low income students. According to Zalk’s research, “almost 20% of students in Malden are English language learners” and “40% are socioeconomically challenged”, opposed to the state’s 9% and 20%.
There are many solutions to the proposition of reopening libraries in the elementary and middle schools. For example, one professional librarian along with interns from local colleges could rotate between all five schools, making it work. The school committee will have a few weeks to take Zalk’s proposal into consideration before further discussion at the next meeting.
Bonnie Page, the president of the Malden Education Association, was also present to address whether or not the resolution against lifting the cap on Charter Schools in Massachusetts will be signed by Mayor Christensen and Superintendent David DeRuosi.
According to Page, Malden alone is losing 8.4 million dollars to Commonwealth charter schools every year. Unlike the Malden Public Schools system, charter schools fail to assist special needs students, low income students, and English language learners. They even have high suspension rates to drive out students these students that they have no desire to serve.
Page noted that “[they] have to work together to defeat this legislation, and stop it from being on the ballot in November.” The bill’s fate will be discussed during next month’s meeting.
Erin O’Brien-Mazza, the band director at Malden High School, proposed two ideas: a “day at the high school” experience for middle school students, and “performing abroad” for high school students.
A “day at the high school” would consists of middle school students coming to MHS for a day to work with high school students in the band, and eventually perform a concert piece in the high school’s spring concert. “Performing abroad”, an international school trip starting next year, would allow students to be “exposed to different cultures and different countries” where the style of music is very different.
Mazza added that there are “various musical cultures” and a “huge range of instruments” her students have never been exposed to before, or yet never heard of. Not only would students get this exposure from traveling, but they would have the opportunity to work with orphanages, and children who are burn victims in Costa Rica.
This trip will “[inspire] students to take ownership of their own education.” Christensen commented that this is an “impressive” task for Mazza to take on during her second year as director. The committee was unable to vote Monday night, but will be deciding in a few weeks if the trip will be happening next year.
Dana Brown was also present at the meeting to seek approval of the 2016 to 2017 Program of Studies for MHS. There are no new programs, but some “little tweaks” to improve classes for students. When asked if MHS is up to par with neighboring towns, Brown replied: “No, we’re ahead of them. I don’t say that lightly because I think it’s important as you begin the budget process that we are ahead of our sister cities and towns”
The Program of Studies was approved for MHS, and next week students will begin to discuss their upcoming classes with their teachers and guidance counselors.
Finally, Iovino touched on Chapter 71, which would ask state to begin to properly fund the city. Over the last few years, the amount of funding Malden received was not enough, and because of that, the burden has fallen on the taxpayers. If approved it will be effective immediately. The school committee will be in the works and voting soon.
The next school committee meeting will be held on Monday, May 2, 2016. The committee will be voting on most of what was presented to them in this meeting, from the band’s international trip to the Chapter 71 budget bill.
