March 10, 2021 COW Meeting Notes - Columbus School ...

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March 10, 2021 COW Meeting Notes - Columbus School Renaming Advisory Committee

5:45: Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn Read introduction

Roll: Jenny Graham, Kathy Kreatz, Melanie McLaughlin, Mea Mustone, Paul Ruseau, Paulette Van der Kloot, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn; 7 present, none absent 195 participants on the zoom call

Outline: Creation of an advisory committee to rename the Columbus School. Two minutes per person. Timekeeper: Lisa Evangelista, unmuted will give 15 second warning. Speakers can only speak once per issue. No personal insults. Members of the public should use the raise hand function. Speakers will be taken in order according to when you raise your hand.

Key Issues - discussion of proposals by Paulette Van der Kloot and Paul Ruseau. Application form details Name suggestion form details How we select members How many names will committee present to the SC Timeline of dates

Mea Mustone: Please know that I have not spoken to any committee members about my statement. I will read from Historical Sketches of Medford, Barrett History: Original name: Mystic. Petition to rename the school: Columbus School. 65% of members were of Italian descent. Name was used as a political football. The builder was asked what the cost was. New name adopted by SC dedicated in 1929. Sons of Italy presented a bust of Columbus to the Columbus School.

We started on the Mystic. According to the Mystic Watershed Association it was home to indigenous peoples for many years. We have received many emails suggesting names and I realized that the Mystic River is a Medford treasure.

Motion to revert to the original name: the Mystic School.

Paul Ruseau: Thank you member Mustone. I feel a little bit blindsided by the motion and I don’t feel like I have a moment to think about it. The history of the Mystic is certainly one I had considered. I was hoping that the Mystic would be one that was considered.

Agenda Item VI.2 4.12.2021 School Committee Meeting

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Mea: I had an epiphany when I was reading the book. Melanie McLaughlin: Thank you Member Mustone. I would add there is a beautiful song Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. Can we go through public comment before going through the parts of the resolutions? Paulette Van der Kloot: To address Member Mustone, I love the historical research and love it as a contender for the name. If we approved it tonight, it would go against our naming policies. There will be part of our population that will disagree with the change, no matter what we do. I do think your suggestion hits a target. More than 100 letters in the sc account. If I read all 100, we will be here for hours. I want to mention right now, 96 people asked to support the name change. Our Revolution presented a petition with 391 signing. Medford United presented a petition with over 600 names against the name change. There were three letters sent to the SC account against the change. We got a letter from Mr. Petrella who had his hand raised, who wrote a letter. All emails to the SC will be put into the record. Kathy Kreatz: Thank Ms. Mustone for sharing the history with us. I am not ready to make a decision and believe this process should be a public process. Since June 2020, we have been waiting for this meeting but I do believe that name is a good suggestion once we establish a plan for choosing the name. I have a motion, should I read it now? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: I believe that it should be section by section. Kathy Kreatz: My motion is regarding the entire timeline. IMO, the deadlines are too tight. Original resolution on June 15 specified dates but we are behind schedule. Due to Riley’s statement, our priorities should be getting kids back in school and working with the budget. I recommend a different timeline. The original timeline specifies a 6 month working process for the Adv. Comm. We are meeting now for the first time. April 30 would be a better time to form the committee. The adv. Committee working for 6 months in Sept if they meet over the summer or November if they don’t meet over the summer. This is the motion I am making to extend the timeline. Paulette Van der Kloot: I asked Peter Cushing to put up these talking points. I don’t believe it is a choice between Paul’s and mine? 6 key talking points cover the most important things:


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My concerns about the timeline, not in the first part, but in how long does the Adv. Committee have to work? It comes down to what we are asking them to do? How are they chosen? (only difference is availability and time) Makeup? What is the next step once names are suggested? What are we asking them to do? How was the chair chosen? Does the committee bring one or three to the SC for vote? Public Participation Ann Marie Cugno: There are two motions on the table, one from Kathy Kreatz and one from Mea Mustone. With Riley coming out and giving us the schedule as to when kids need to go back to school. You need to look at budget, custodians, etc. I know there are cities who have reached out to the commissioner. Some are going back earlier, like Burlington. This is precedence. We need to get kids in school and time is of the essence. How many more meetings will there be? You have a very contentious budget that needs to be worked on. June is right around the corner when SC needs to present the budget. Dave McKillop: I want to go back and revisit the thought process as to why it is so sentimental to the Italian community. Printed in 1891, Why the name Columbus is important. 11 Italians were acquitted in New Orleans for murder. They were lynched and that is why Columbus day was named. Iphone X could not unmute: Miguel A: I am in opposition to the Columbus school being changed. How many were against it? How much is the name change going to cost. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: 396 in favor, 650 in opposition to the change. Nadine Moretti: It is a personal attack on everyone saying that their opinions mean nothing. Do right by Medford residents. Paul Ruseau: “I would not bat an eyelash....” It is not an offensive name. It doesn’t matter that a committee would be formed. We are still in a pandemic. We are tasked with getting K-5 back in school. You have voted him to be the voice of the parents. Part of the “cancel culture” driven by Our Revolution. Bill DeLeo: Paul, you are in your second term. This falls in the narrative of Our Revolution. Sketchy, disingenuous. This is obviously a go. When can we get the cost breakdown this will


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require? Is it funded by donations? Should Our Revolution be allowed to donate? We don’t want this coming out of taxpayer money. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: I will get a breakdown of costs. Bill DeLeo: If this is slated for July, why don’t we know the costs? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: SC has the ability to change the name of the school. Paulette Van der Kloot: we do have challenges ahead of us. We have heard from members of the community. We are a dedicated bunch all across the group and will get things done. As the longest serving SC member, I spoke to it when it first came up. I wasn’t happy with the process. At the first meeting, I felt there was a reason to change it after a spring of great reckoning in our world. There is a context to this but 20 years ago when we built the new schools, there was a discussion in the Building the Future Committee about naming the school. At that time there were numerous people who didn’t want it named for the Columbus school. It has been a recurring issue. I have heard it over and over again. I have had discussions with parents at the Columbus School. It has been part of the discussion particularly for parents of the Columbus School. I do believe we would be better served with the addition of an addition of more weeks for the committee to work. The reality is that when people say they haven’t been heard, they have been heard. We just don’t agree with them. I was moved by one person who told me what Columbus day meant to his family. We are still teaching about Columbus. Is this name the one we want to represent this facility in our community? This is not an easy job. I am being true to myself and have worked hours and hours which don’t conflict with hours required of other educational issues that need to be done. I listened to Mr. McKillop when he said, should we start over? At this point we have had lots of opportunities to talk about it, people know about it. Marie Levey Pabst: I am grateful that we are talking about changing the name. I want to push for it to happen as soon as possible. I had high hopes of my 5th grader leaving with a new name. I hope that we don’t put this off too long. It is causing fractures. I am grateful for all of you standing up for this. It is time to finish the job. Let's get the kids involved in the project. Seth Hill: parent of a daughter at the school. Columbus was stripped of his titles. Those who honored him at the time decided he was no longer deserving of that honor. It is not erasing history. It was named for our Italian community because of the prejudices they faced, the same ones faced today by other marginalized groups. Brenna; Is there a resolution to rename the park as well? I wrote a letter to the previous meeting.


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Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: That is not on the table tonight, only the school. Paul Ruseau: My understanding is that it is a city side only issue. I don’t believe we have the authority to make that change. Mr. Carbone: I support changing the name of the school because I don’t agree with his values. I find it disingenuous that we decided this in light of George Floyd’s killing. I don’t care how tough the school committee’s job is. We need to put it together asap. Give priority to Columbus parents/students. Before we name it after the Mystic, we need to get their input. Let’s get people on the committee and change the name. Katie: While renaming something as large as a school is a large task, schools are the foundation of a community. While we are not changing history, we are bringing the overlooked history into a new light. We shouldn’t honor such a despicable figure with the name of the school. Amelia Earhart had a house in Medford. Important not to delay. Carol Delaney: I don’t live in Medford but I have written a book about Medford. He is not the person he is accused of being. Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem. I would be opposed to the name change. He is not the person people accuse him to be. Ms. Leticia Rocha: I give my whole hearted support to forming the committee to renaming. Every day it exists, it honors white supremacy and genocide. There are other examples of Italian Americans Medford can honor. THe decision to honor Medford figures is an important one. Medford has its own racist history to reckon with. The creation of this committee is long overdue. Anthony D’Antonio: I am really upset with hearing people talk about Columbus. Were those people there? The name Columbus should stay because it is discrimination against the Italians. We have been put down for many years and it stops now. Galaxy S10+: Deborah Daly: Resident for 43 years. What you have inherited Madame Mayor, I don’t envy. I am against the change. We don’t even know what the cost is going to be. Let’s see how many people actually want to change it. Jean Nuzzo: In June of 2020, we had an initial response of 180 names. I think that it is important that people consider the impact of the change. It is painful on both sides both for people of color impacted as well as the Italian Americans. I find it really troubling. It goes beyond this being an election cycle. Change is a process. Historically we haven’t done a good job of it in Medford.


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This is getting pushed through. We need to be careful about forming committees. Implore people to consider all perspectives to move forward. Section One of the Policy: Regards to the application form for the Advisory Committee: 6:48PM Back 6:59 Jenny Graham: I am willing to shift the date from Friday to Monday, not a shift on all dates. Marice Edouard-Vincent: Yes remaining dates remain. Jenny Graham: Which one am I working from? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Let’s start from Member Van der Kloot’s version 7:01: Ann Marie: I know it was brought up 20 years ago. It has been 20 years so people don’t remember. The night of the meeting in June, people were cut off because they were not able to say what they wanted to say. It wasn’t open to everyone. As you are talking about a timeline. You will have this out by Monday. How long will people have to fill it out? It is a domino effect on the dates. The fact remains, who is selecting the participants? City Solicitor/Diversity Director. Why is sexual orientation important? Nadeen Moretti: What I didn’t finish saying before, it was mentioned that the SC has full authority to change the name. It is not about the six of you, it is the whole city. The name Columbus represents all people in Medford. I am half Italian and am half Puerto Rican. Columbus has no effect on me. We live in this “cancel culture” right now. It is being rushed. Vocational students have suffered because they have not been in school enough. David McKillop: To finish my point, this letter I was reading brought up racism. In 1891 the systemic racism against Italians was horrific. Harrison created that holiday to end that racism and bring people into the fold. The Italian Consulate sent over a statue of Columbus. It is a symbol of a way to include the Italian American Community. It is a symbol of inclusiveness more than a person. People’s perceptions are that reality. Do not drive that stake further. Jury is out on the history of Columbus. I applaud Paulette Van der Kloot for even thinking about it after Monday’s conversation.


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Nicole Rabideau: I want to ask one thing, does anyone care about the division this is causing right now? This goes way above Medford. Have you thought about it at all? I am an Italian American. I am the first one to come over here. It is not the person. It is part of the Italian American community. No one on the SC is actually Italian American. My son is in the 2nd grade who came home from school one day and said Italians are bad. My nine year old said that someone told him this at recess. Kristin Scalisi: OTR Italians are not united on this decision. I refused to apply for the KOC scholarship in the 90s. This is not a modern day phenomenon. It was written about in the 1500s. These acts are diabolically violent so why should kids go to a school named for him. Can they not think of other Italian Americans that are more deserving? Jean Nuzzo: it is not about Columbus it is about what he became to Italian Americans. Italians are still treated badly in certain circles, particularly in how they are portrayed on television. There is a great oppty to create healing which is done over time. Christopher Carbone: With regards to the application, I think there should be a section that says “ have you or any of your children attended the Columbus school “ address may leave some people out. There should be a factor of a tie breaker so that the Columbus voice is greater heard. There is no reason to ask sexual orientation? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: We do have that question. Martha: I am in favor of changing the name of the school. Columbus does not reflect Medford or the Italian American community well. In my job, race and sexual orientation is tracked in a separate document. Process should be a good one and delaying it is a diversion tactic. It is a long time coming. Felipe Barroso: I don’t have a horse in the game but my son will be going to the Columbus School in the next couple of years. I am concerned that we don’t have an estimate of how much it costs? Hearing that we are under budget, where does this come from? From materials for our students? I am trying to understand how those decisions are made. Paul Ruseau: Commenting on the Demographics question, in the superintendent survey, those areas were compiled separately. Getting a sense for who we are reaching and finding out who we are not reaching is important. Regarding the cost, I don’t have a clue. I believe there are many options. They are out of letterhead right now so ordering with a new name is not adding a cost. There is a member trying to get attention and I don’t know the name. I will keep my eye out for her.


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Kelly: My family has been in Medford for 30 years and is Italian American. I fully support the name change. Knowing that Columbus is a bad person does not take away from our heritage. If it is not about Columbus, why can’t we change the name and move on? We can discuss and learn about him, but his name doesn’t have to be on the school. Bri: I haven’t lived here for very long and appreciate all the work that you have all put into this. Consider how it looks to the children who attend the Columbus School. Growing up in immense racial tension, with information readily available, it is important to to do better when we know better. When we learn things, our children need to see that we adapt to new data. Why continue to ignore it? Considering monetary concerns, there is never a right time to bring about systemic change, the right thing is often the most challenging thing. I would gladly contribute to a fundraiser to change the name. Eunice Brown: The process would have gone better if it had been done well back in June. It is a community issue not a school issue. Affects a lot of people in the community. Notification had been done on the MPS site or not on Social Media. A far better effort should have been made. Transcript and in other ways. We have not been heard. That is why we are irate. Notification of this meeting no better. Wedge in the community is irreversible. Lisa Evangelista: It is up to Patch and Transcript as to when and if they print the information. Ilene Lerner: I just want to say that this is so sad that people see this as an attack on italian americans who have suffered oppression. I want to thank those who spoke in support of the name change. If we don’t look at Columbus as a person, the funding for the nina, pinta and santa maria came from stolen assets of jews and muslims. Even the voyage of Columbus was tainted by the spoils of suppression. Italians have been subjected to discrimination. Join with us and fight against oppression for everybody. Tony Puccio -(with Italian/American Flags): I could solve this problem by renaming every school in the district. We can be the most boring school in the universe. It is the responsibility of the city to get these items printed in the press. Think about all the paperwork that goes into this. This is very elaborate and requires a lot more thought. The city already voted on choosing that name 90 years ago. Amy and Mary Anna; When the name changed 90 years ago, it was in response to social change. Same today. If we are going to elevate heroes, I want to pick them carefully. New York City names theirs 1 to 200 and no one would say NYC has no culture. Dan: It is obvious where the city stands. You have woken us. We will vote you out.


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Melissa Dubuc: This has been passionate on both sides. My suggestion would be because it is taking a toll on the city, doing a disservice to the city as a whole. Why can’t the city vote on it? Then we can move on. This is an opportunity to show we care about what everyone has to say and not push it one way or the other. Jenny Graham: This is a five page resolution and we have addressed one paragraph. This started from Paulette Van der Kloot. We have covered the Advisory committee application. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: what are the changes we have addressed? Jenny Graham: App due to be prepared by the 15th. Translated. Adding availability to the form. Member of Columbus community Questions about the demographics will be taken out separately. That is a common best practice question put into surveys all the time now. Paul: these demographics were from the federal government lists. We did the same thing for the superintendent search. I would be opposed to removing any of them. Jenny G: They are all optional. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Any changes? Can we do this now? Kathy Kreatz: I can’t see some of the screen. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Form for suggested names. Paulette Van der Kloot: My form differs in two ways. Mine asks that each name be submitted on different forms. Also, what is the connection to the person and the name. Paul Ruseau: I also inserted paper versions as needed. Paulette Van der Kloot: I didn’t add that. Paul Ruseau: I feel there should be paper forms provided as well. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Any more questions or comments from the SC? Nadeen Moretti: I had a question about the process. Is there no possibility of this being tabled? Are we speeding up the process? Why is this being sped up? This is not going to help our students get back to school. Is Kathy’s resolution to change the timeline being considered?


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Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: There is no motion on the floor to table the matter. Nadeen: can residents do that? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: no Ann Marie Cugno: There is still no answer as to whether the city solicitor or human rights director see it? Why is there such an urgency? The change is going to come. I don’t know if I will get any answers. We still have no answers as to how much time/money? Everyone will be looking at their screen as to what they are voting on? Ingrid: Who is eligible to apply to be on the committee? And for name suggestions? Columbus kids or any kids? Is the Columbus School going to have a different process? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Medford residents (all) can apply for the committee and also make suggestions. Down the line, we will discuss who will be eligible (parent/teacher/students at the Columbus School are eligible) Paulette Van der Kloot: On my form, I have a separate paragraph for members of the Columbus community. There is a piece dedicated to that? Jenny Graham: I will share my screen. Link to Final document edited by Jenny Graham during meeting. Paulette Van der Kloot: The difference between Paul and mine is the due date of applications. In his resolution, the applications were due Friday of vacation week 4/23. I pushed it a week earlier, Friday 4/16. I wanted to make sure our office staff had enough time to get them ready for us. In essence people have four weeks to apply for the committee or submit name changes. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn; if you are applying for the committee, apply by April 16. Couldn’t suggested names get a little bit longer even if it is through April vacation? Names then go to the advisory committee. Paulette Van der Kloot: Paul and I have a big difference between us on name submissions. I have all submissions go directly to the advisory committee. Paul has a process of whittling them down. SC would each pick four names. I found that process confusing. I feel this is a job for the Advisory Committee to work through the list of names. This is a very significant difference


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zy_hmYrfUn3nwDPciKgOxIxaF3Ow41hQtXITEYVq5aQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Paul Ruseau: I agree that we approached this differently. I see this as a three pronged issue. If we give all the suggestions to the committee. There will be hundreds of submissions and we and it could make it impossible for them to get their work done. The size of the committee is also important. These three pieces are directly related to each other. I do feel very much that we have an important decision to make. We can set ourselves up for failure on this. Paulette Van der Kloot: Or we can set ourselves up for failure to get 300 and have to get it down to 4 over a weekend. If you are having us do the initial work without establishing criteria, it undermines the whole process. Kathy Kreatz; I believe the adv. Committee should get all of the name suggestions. Seconded by Paul Ruseau Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: we are going to change that all name submissions are going to the advisory committee. We accept Member Van der Kloot’s wording in this part of the resolution: Mike Cugno: This should be in the Subcommittee not COW. We are breaking so many Robert's Rules. Why are we not in chambers? This is flawed. Should be put to a subcommittee and then brought back. Melanie McLaughlin: Point of privilege: part of the role of the adv committee is to address cost estimates. This is not the first time we are looking at this document. It is not the first time we have heard from people here. We have been listening for quite some time. Three people with hands up: Paul Ruseau: the policy for the Medford SC has mandated this process for 30 years. The fact is our policies and procedures have been ignored. We should follow them when they are in black and white. We as a committee have designed an Adv. Committee in graphic detail. I look forward to forming other advisory committees this way in the future: hunger, vision committee for the High School. I am not making this process up and nobody else is either. Sharon: this is a witch hunt, taking down confederate plaques. This goes beyond the Italians and Columbus. I had tears in my eyes visiting the Roman Coliseum. 8:25 Grace: Columbus didn't discover this land. There were already people here with culture and religion. Is there any plan to run the names by the racial equity task force?


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Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn; We can take that into account. Paul Hollien: Is it reserved for someone who was a resident? I hope it is. I would like to recommend that Krystle Campbell’s name be considered. Jennifer Kerwood: considering some of the comments I have heard, I feel that the Adv. Committee should have alternates or more people in case there are people chosen who just want to disrupt the process. I think it is likely that people will be disruptive. Melanie McLaughlin: I would like to make a motion that moves public comment until after we go through the document? Paulette Van der Kloot: I think that is problematic because so many people feel they haven’t had the chance to speak. As time consuming as this is, I think it might make a tough situation more difficult. Melanie McLaughlin: I am not interested in shutting down. Paulette Van der Kloot: I know you are always open to hearing others but I don’t want people to misconceive it. Jenny; Maybe we can hear from everybody then close it and then reopen it after we finish working through the document. Amended by Jenny Graham: Motion: take a round of public comment now then we close comment, work on document then reopen document so that we are not interrupted by public comment. 8:32 Jenny Graham: Yes Kathy Kreatz: No MM: Yes, Paul Ruseau: Yes, Paulette Van der Kloot: yes, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Yes: 6 affirmative one in the negative Carbone: I agree with Kathy Kreatz and Paulette Van der Kloot that the Adv. Committee will get all the names. I believe whether they submit 4 or 4000 names, they will be in the best position to read the names. I support expanding the committee to be slightly larger. Ann Marie: If I am understanding this the right way, you will take a round of questions, work on the document, then come back for more comments. Everyone can see everyone is hurt. If everyone was heard in June, is this not a mute conversation. It is frustrating. Amy and Mary Anna: History is more than what things are called. There is no Mussolini elementary or Hitler elementary. Naming a school is a privilege. Italians I know honor people who made contributions to humanity.


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Nadeen Moretti: If it is ok to teach about Columbus, then why can’t we keep the name on the school? Paul Ruseau: At this point, I will address the questions. Girls were sold into slavery by Columbus. We don’t teach our first graders about the ovens but eventually they learn about the Holocaust. I have not led the women on this committee to slaughter. That is insulting to the women on the committee. They have all voted their own voice. I didn’t tell them how to vote. I was one of three people who put this forward. I am one member with zero authority by law. Even the Mayor as chair has no authority. The authority is when four of us vote. Point of Privilege: Melanie McLaughlin I am sure that everyone is riled up and has a lot of energy on this. I apologize for the BIPOC community on the call. This is hurtful and embarrassing. I feel that I am voting my values here. What I heard about Columbus was akin to pedophilia. Listening to people who go to this school who feel disenfranchised is why I agreed to put this motion forward. Tony: Thank you for Mr. R. for showing his true character. You don’t need to follow just your narrative. What I really want to get into Mea and Kathy started the meeting off with very important points. What happened to these? We don’t trust you anymore. You don’t understand. You are not hearing us. Eric: I applaud the school committee for the action they are taking. It has been building up for a while. As a parent of biracial kids, I am happy to see this moving forward. Diane Abramson: I am a former educator in Medford. What I am hearing from the SC here is education is a secondary issue. I am a proud Italian who grew up in Medford. I don’t know who the new people are on the School Committee. We are not a revisionist history community. I am talking to you Mr. Ruseau. I find your behavior reprehensible. I rest my case. Rachel Rockenmacher: I am a parent and former PTO member of the Columbus School. I applaud the SC for taking on this important issue. When my child was there, I knew of kids who had a problem with the name and would not wear t-shirts with the name on it. There are plenty of other Italian Americans we can honor. I am horrified by the vitriol aimed at our SC members and hope we can engage in civil discourse. Elisa Laudato: Is this about stopping the renaming of the school or about the committee? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: This is the policy to establish the Adv. Comm. to rename.


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Elisa L: I support this issue and am glad we are doing it. Nadia: Nurse/parent of 8 kids: I feel such a distrust for all the members except Ms. Kreatz. I am against the name change. Columbus does mean a lot to my family. I felt it was very sneaky. I feel the SC will just name whatever they want. I feel hurt. Doesn’t seem like the Medford I grew up in. Paulette Van der Kloot: Is there no one else that we could honor from the Italian community that might bring pride? Is there any way to move forward? Part of this meeting is to hear everyone speak. If you want a voice in this, apply to the advisory committee. My work on the resolution was done to make sure that no one person could slant the committee in a way to make the new name predetermined. I encourage you to apply for the committee. Nadia: It is not even mostly about the name, it was about how it was done? What will be next? The Brooks School. Now my kids are learning about White Privilege. My kids are half black. I have never seen race as an issue in Medford. We need to focus on education and kids’ mental health. We should not be wasting money on this right now. We need to connect to our kids. Joanna Quatieri-mejia: The people who oppose it should be involved in the process. I am sorry that Nadia is hurt. Thank you for changing the name. Hendrik Gideonse: I moved to Medford in 1990. It was really quite unfriendly. Many newcomers have felt that their opinions aren’t valued. The population is changing. The values are changing. When you hurt someone’s feelings, you learn from it and do something to make it right. This is about being polite, if you find out you hurt someone’s feelings you change what you are doing. If you find out it hurts people, you change it. Cities need to respond and act how morality dictates. Erica Hunt: Italian American and Mother of biracial children in MPS. People say they are not being listened to are repeating the same racial tropes. I am in agreement with the change. Ron Giovino: At the beginning of the meeting, people were supposed to give their address. The language that has been used by Paul Ruseau was not acceptable. The other members should have admonished him. Paul Ruseau: This is not a community where people are polite. I used the word crap a couple of times, I am not going to apologize for it. I have heard much worse in city council meetings. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Choose kindness. Please, let's get through this.


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Jessica Radicchio: I hadn’t planned to talk because there would be OR discourse. Put your felony records up so we know who you are. Paul Ruseau: That person should be ejected from the meeting. This is a COW. If we can’t maintain decorum, we should end participation. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: I am not in favor of ending participation. Paulette Van der Kloot: Many people have spoken several times. We have been more than generous with time. If there are people who haven’t spoken, then they can speak. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: We can always take a motion to hear more public participation. Paulette Van der Kloot: Some level of the issue surrounded Columbus participation here. Principal Kay is here. There are questions of representation on the adv council. Paragraph by staff and students: request that the principal solicit staff. Goal of staff and student input to submit ideas to the advisory committee. 918 Paulette Van der Kloot; Principal Kay can advise us on this. End of the school year is such a busy time. I am trying to lessen the obligation of staff. That is why I am concerned about the timeline and being able to achieve our goals. Principal Kathy Kay: First a question: if in fact as a school we are going to work together to come up with names does that negate the ability of students to submit name suggestions? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: No it wouldn’t Principal Kathy Kay: Having a smaller number of teachers on the advisory committee would be more palatable. I don’t want to get the school fired up about picking a name and then having the name not chosen. Paulette Van der Kloot: I want to make sure your school is represented. I understand a large school project might not make sense right now. Perhaps making forms available would be the best thing. Originally, there would be five members altogether. I am thinking you would have some staff wanting to participate. Principal Dr. Kathy Kay: I was thinking there would be representation from upper elementary and lower elementary, sped, support staff. We could help the students through the process and


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that way if we had fewer people on the advisory committee we can go back to the students with what we work on. Jenny Graham: I was trying to reconcile all the pieces around their participation, I was thinking that Ms. Kay would have a process in the building and recommend 4 finalists. The larger committee would then add six more finalists. Ms. Kay and the Columbus School could submit some number of choices to be considered. There may be more flexibility for Ms. Kay to work with the school schedule instead of the advisory committee schedule. Marice Edouard-Vincent: To give Dr. Kay some flexibility with her staff as to who would like to make commitments to the process. I want to make sure they are actively involved in the process. Principal Kathy Kay: Listening to everything tonight, one concern I have, if in fact we as a school we submit names and then a child submits names separately. If we want to have it be transparent, I believe we should present all the names provided by the children. We are going to encourage students to be involved and teachers can support them in their classes. And then we have representation, it is more fair to the students. Paulette Van der Kloot How about principal plus 2 to 4 staff members? Marice Edouard-Vincent: Yes I am comfortable with that. Kathy Kreatz: The High School rep should not be limited to CCSR. Maybe there can be a back up student like we have on our committee. They can take turns. Paul Ruseau: We can just change the language up to four. I am opposed to a lottery of any kind. Paulette Van der Kloot: I am looking to bring people together. Jenny Graham: I do think we need to take active steps to make sure bad actors don’t torpedo this process because that will be the definition of not bringing people together. We need to make sure we put people in the community who want to do the work and want to move it forward. We need to select people to do that. We cannot leave that to chance. I think the SC should each select two. Paul Ruseau: If we could add language where there can be an out Not just when people are disagreeing. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: How about having the admin pick the committee?


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Paul Ruseau: Appointments to such a committee should be made by the committee. If any one has trouble with picking, they can throw them up in the air and grab one. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: I don’t want to put anything on the Administration but the Admin. Should pick the committee. How can it be diverse if we each pick two? Kathy Kreatz: In order to make it equitable, removing the SC from the process is the best way to make it the most diverse committee. There needs to be someone overseeing it. We had to disband the Vision Committee because it wasn’t diverse. There is room for human error, emotion. If it is not done via lottery, it should be up to the administration team to review the applications. Paul Ruseau: Being an elected official is supposed to be hard. I am not going to just pick anyone from the applications. I am not going to randomly pick somebody. If we do a lottery, we could end up with 14 white women. If we fail to reach out to a certain sub community efficiently we won't get representation. We will not know who the applicants are. It won’t achieve any level of equity. Our policy is very clear. We select them. I don’t believe we have an option to give it to anyone else. Principal Kathy Kay: Another option is we can do the applications blind (no names). I hear both sides here. The lottery won’t assure diversity but not having it won’t remove bias. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Or we could pick five to ten and the admin could finalize the committee. Melanie McLaughlin: Yes that could be a work around. Paulette Van der Kloot: I need you to say that again. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Say 50 applications come in, we each pick top ten. Admin will make sure they finalize a committee of diverse members. Paulette Van der Kloot: What if we don’t like the committee it comes up with? Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: They don’t live here. They don’t have biases. It might be a better way of restoring trust in the community. Kathy Kreatz: I think there is too much room for bias in the process. I want to have a diverse committee.


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Jenny Graham: I am very much against putting this on the ADMIN. This is our decision. They need to work on getting kids back in school. Pushing the dirty work onto the admin is not right. It has nothing to do with trust of the admin. Paul Ruseau; I do think that the word bias needs to be unpacked. If it is not random, it is biased. We need to own the dirty work. Melanie McLaughlin: I agree not to put this on admin. Unfair. They are focused on other things right now with the Commissioner’s requirements. Ingrid Moncada: I feel conflicted that the timing might not work out. The kids need to be part of the name change. Is there a diversity coordinator? Can you bring in an external advisor? Jessica; Addressing the issue of bias in the selection. I recall PR stating that he wouldn’t allow Italian Americans to serve on the committee. He said it on the tape in June. The majority of the committee has voted for the name change and they will select people who support this initiative. Paul Ruseau: I did not say that. I may have said that we should not limit the names to the Italian Community. Please send in the link and the time stamp and we can watch it together. Michael Bernstein: Columbus parent. The committee will come up with a short list of names. Let the kids vote from the final three choices. Maury Carroll: Nice to have the kids involved. Kids have graduated from this school since 1929. Bring it out to the community. Seth Hill: I echo what Ingrid has said. I would love for my daughter to be more involved in the process. At the same time, it plays into what PR has spoken about in that the integrity name change committee should be a safe space and be part of the process. Marie Mac: As a long time member of the community, I feel that the way this was first started is what caused divisiveness. Paul Ruseau posted on his own campaign page and posted his own name. I don’t know how you can listen to Jenny Graham and PR. They want to cherry pick people. They have called Medford residents bad characters. You are going to have them select who they want and who will do what they want. Ann Marie Cugno: You are not hearing people. You have to be involved in that planning. This is ridiculous. Slow down and do it correctly. Is there going to be a prom? Graduation? MCAS?


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Tony: What if someone picks a very long name that is very expensive. We have no idea as citizens what this will cost. It has all been done so awkwardly. We have so many other issues. We haven’t figured out how to pay for the library yet. This does not need to be discussed now. Let's get them back in school. I am still mad I could not watch my daughter get her diploma last year. I am still mad about that. Listening is great. Acting is what we need here. Table this. Melissa Dubuc: It was said that the school is for the entire community, why didn’t we all get to vote? Melanie McLaughlin: You have asked for a community meeting. This is a community meeting so I don’t understand why people are saying this. Also in response to slow it down, we voted on this in June 2020. If not now, when and that was over a year ago. If not us, who? Budget will be part of the Advisory Committee. The vote was already approved. We have to note this was already approved a year ago. The administration has been working very hard to get our children back to school and our role is to decide policy, approve a budget and evaluate the superintendent. Amy and Anna: Nearly every social progressive movement has faced the same complaints. I ask those people complaining about this, when would have been the right time? You always would have been upset. Your complaints are stalls to progress. I also resent the attacks on the members, particularly member Ruseau. Nicole: Just when you say everyone was informed. It was announced on a Friday and the meeting was on a Monday. The way Paul sits there with a smirk. Paulette Van der Kloot: You have to strike that comment attacking a member. Nicole: Breanna I know you know this is not right. I am going to speak to the Boston Globe tomorrow. My son is afraid to go to school because there are no paper towels for him to wash his hands. Lee: I have been listening to all of these statements and trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Member Graham, you gave an example of why this should be tabled when you spoke of kids needing to get back in school. I think it was rushed through. How many people don’t have computers? Should have had a meeting at MHS. The Administration should have control over picking members bc there is absolutely bias with some SC members. Hendrik Gideonse: This came about as part of a movement to fight systemic racism. We knew about the meeting and hundreds of people showed up to that meeting. Stop complaining about what has been decided and move forward to get a good name.


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Bri: Hendrik hit the nail on the head. Elected officials need to do this work. This is how it is supposed to work. It stands to be called out when people say you are not listening to them, what they are saying is you are not agreeing with them. There is no way of making everyone happy here. This is the right decision. Using the Commissioner's directive as an excuse is just a stall tactic. 10:51pm Jenny Graham (screen sharing document again) Paul Ruseau: Motion to change it two per member. Jenny Graham: Second Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: How many members were you thinking? Paul Ruseau: 20+ Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: No more than 15 Paulette Van der Kloot: 15 Melanie McLaughlin: 11 or 13 Jenny Graham: We can have a small committee but if we are giving them immeasurable amounts of work, we have to respect their time. I would love to have a smaller committee but not if we are going to dump hundreds of names on the list. We have to be prepared for it. Paulette Van der Kloot: Up to three selected from Columbus staff, plus Kathy Kay, one MHS student, then we all pick two plus a chair, a member from historical commission is non-voting. Kathy Kreatz: I would like some clarification - I thought that we would do a lottery. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: I think we all agree there should be some element such as a lottery. Kathy Kreatz: The sc could choose one each. And then a lottery choosing six more? I think it will be closer to 20. We are giving them a large task of doing all the research. Mea Mustone: I can see that thirty names have been suggested over the last nine months. I would say 20. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Let’s go with 21.


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Paul Ruseau: Part of the problem with my resolution is that it didn’t give much background information. I feel strongly that we pick two members. I don’t want to pick just one name out of many qualified applicants. 23 plus an ex officio Paul Ruseau: All I care about with the Chair is someone familiar with OML and Roberts Rules of Order. I worry about someone taking the advisory committee to court. Could we add that question to the questionnaire about OML and interest in being the chair. Full committee of 23 plus alternate One of Mayor’s picks will be the chair. Paulette Van der Kloot: I am hoping Madam Mayor you can reach out to the historical society/commission/district commission so we have representation from them Paulette Van der Kloot: I think it is too big Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Yes three of us think it is too big but we have lost that fight. Paulette Van der Kloot: crucial point here: there are two different 11:20…………………….. Paul Ruseau suggested that the AC pick the name. I say that the advisory committee gives SC three names. We have to make a decision. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: What if we gave a community survey with the three names? It could bring people together. Paulette Van der Kloot: or a public hearing Paul Ruseau: we are vacillating between whose responsibility this is. Jenny Graham: I loved the suggestion of narrowing down to two and asking Columbus students to vote. It could be a powerful lesson for students. This is a chance for them to vote on something important. We could get three options then narrow to two and then have the kids vote. Melanie McLaughlin: I also like the idea and of student involvement. Thanks to the community member who suggested it.


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Kathy Kreatz: I do like the idea of a survey for the community with three final names. I feel it is important to involve the community in the process. I like the idea of the students but want to involve the whole community as well. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: We can do both. Paulette Van der Kloot: My concern when you get down to two names, it is polarizing off the bat. There is a time factor for all of those things. I suggest the kids go from three to two names. Could be polarizing between an italian name and a person of color. Melanie McLaughlin: Paul Ruseau your sound is not working. Difficult to hear you. Paul Ruseau: Concerned about younger grades voting. If a teacher has a clear preference, the kids will vote that way. Worried about the mechanics of getting it done. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: Why don’t we leave it up to the advisory committee? Jenny Graham: Add public hearing? Paulette Van der Kloot: If the advisory committee concludes they cannot complete this work by the time specified then they can come before the school committee with a suggested timeline. That would take care of the concern I have that it is too much work in too little time. Paul Ruseau: We need to put a restraint on it so that it won't stretch too long. There are a couple I have about withdrawal. Kathy Kreatz: I am not comfortable with the time frame. Mea Mustone: Could we give a temporary name: South Medford Elementary School. Kathy Kreatz: I am not comfortable with a temporary name. I went back to the original resolution. Keeping in mind this is a pandemic. Everything changed. Jenny Graham: I am not with temporary names. Mea; My heart is with the Mystic. A temporary name just buys us time. Paul Ruseau: I am fine with using the South Med ES if we remove the extension. We are not going back to the name Columbus. It changes on July 1.


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Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: It will not extend past July 31. Paul Ruseau: I am worried that this could be the temporary name for a school year. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: It is a no win situation, picking south will get people upset too. Paulette Van der Kloot: It is ludicrous that we cannot change the date on the original resolution. To hang your hat on changing on July 1. There is no reason it cannot change on August 1. Somewhere along the line, we have worked well together. Frankly, I would like to say December 1. There is a rush here that is very uncomfortable. I have to ask you to move off that July 1. Kathy Kreatz: I agree with Paulette Van der Kloot. All the other dates were missed due to the pandemic. The original resolution says the committee has six months. Melanie McLaughlin: We have to rip the bandaid off and have a solid deadline. I am flexible about July 1/31. Then it’s done. We keep stirring up this pain. I am voting to move this forward. I am asking people to apply to the committee to move our community forward. Jenny Graham: the value of identifying what happens in the interim is important if for nothing else to remove that hostile environment from the committee. I believe SC should give a temporary name on July 1 if needed. We should clearly state that the SC should make the decision. I don’t want to set us up. Paulette Van der Kloot: So I have no problem changing the date until July 31, 2021. If this committee doesn’t vote to extend the deadline for one month, then we need to give the name the South Elementary School. Called Columbus an extra month. Seems silly to have an interim name for just one month. Melanie McLaughlin: maintaining the name for July 31, but should the advisory committee not have the name by July 31, then SC will choose a temporary name. Jenny Graham - SC will make decision if Advisory Committee can’t meet deadline Paul Ruseau: If they do their work honestly, they still might not get the work done by July 13. What are we going to call this school? It has to have a name. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn: We cannot decide that tonight. Even if it is a temporary name. It is not fair. It is too late into this meeting to pick a name at this point. If we need to do so, we


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will do it May 24th. Jenny Graham: We leave it like this and we roll the dice. Kathy Kreatz - In the original resolution it said 6 months. It’s not fair. Strong no for May 24th. We missed all of the other dates! Paul Ruseau - I’ve been trying to get this scheduled and it is not because of the pandemic. If we hadn’t pressed it. The name would not be changed. Jenny Graham - We have spent this mtg talking about a decision that was made last June Melanie McLaughlin - If Advisory Committee needs an extension they will get it until July 31st If still no decision, SC will select a name by August 15th Mayor - I like Melanie’s idea Paulette Van der Kloot - Is anyone planning to take a vacation this summer? Melanie McLaughlin - that is the wonder & convenience of Zoom Jenny Graham - The how we will proceed has to be decided tonight Paul Ruseau - But that is exactly what the people don’t want us to do Mayor - Shall not exceed July 31st. We will know in May if they will require an extension Melanie McLaughlin - I’m concerned about everyone on this call, we need to move forward Mayor - a million what if’s could happen Paul Ruseau - Columbus School people may send in junk names. We just don’t know what we will call this damn school Mayor - We have to go back to something? Paulette Van der Kloot: We need to go back to the first page. I think it’s fine. Mine version is a little different than Paul’s, just shorter. The final names will be presented to the SC. There is 1 difference. I didn’t define that it had to be named after a person


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Paul Ruseau - All the other schools bear names of people connected to Medford Paulette Van der Kloot - I do mention a connection for Medford, but I’d like the Mystic to be an option to move forward Paul - May include Melanie McLaughlin - I thank my colleagues for all of their work and also everyone on this call participating in the process. I hope people can agree to disagree and move forward. Ingrid - Thank you Ann Marie Cugno: Are you still open to names of Italian descent? Please listen to the fact that Italians have more connection than just the name? Mayor - Yes, absolutely Nadeen: Why are you not honoring the original dates? Melanie McLaughlin - we have had several meetings, many hours, the timeline is important. We need to stick to a deadline Seth - Thank you to the admin and the school committee, both on this issue and how you have managed the pandemic Diane Sullivan - Thank you all and I do wish you give it to our students to decide Member Graham moves the motion, seconded by Member Ruseau Roll Call 7-0 Motion to adjourn by Member McLaughlin, seconded by Member Van der Kloot Roll Call - 7-0 Meeting is adjourned at 12:40 AM


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March 10, 2021 COW Meeting Notes - Columbus School ...

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