Medford School Committee approves consent agenda with donations; moves to executive session on labor talks

The Medford School Committee voted unanimously March 24 to approve a consent agenda that included multiple donations to district programs and to enter an executive session to discuss ongoing labor negotiations and a personnel contract.

The consent agenda approved by the seven-member committee included donations, field-trip approvals and meeting minutes. Listed donations included: a $1,000 gift to the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility from Tufts University; approximately $180,000 in new and used equipment from Vecna Robotics of Waltham, Mass., for the engineering and metal-fabrication program at Medford Vocational Technical High School; $2,250 from Arthur C. Mabbit for the 2025 Medford High School Science and Technology Engineering Exposition; $4,000 from the JS Lim Foundation for a science and mathematics program; an Italian government-affiliated donation to support an Italy trip (amount not specified in the record); and an initial donation of 102 books (valued at $1,620) from the Friends of the Medford Public Library for the English learners department at Medford Public Schools. The consent agenda also included approval of bills and payrolls, capital purchases, grants, field trips and minutes from recent meetings, including the Feb. 26 regular meeting and several March budget-related sessions.

Member Olapade moved to approve the consent agenda; Member Entapa seconded. The roll-call vote was 7–0 in favor (Member Bradley, Member Graham, Member Entapa, Member Olapade, Member Rinefeld, Member Oso and Mayor Lungo Kern recorded as voting yes).

After the consent agenda, the committee moved to an executive session. Member Rinefeld moved to enter executive session pursuant to Chapter 30A, Section 21(a) and Chapter 30A, Section 21(2) to conduct strategy sessions whose open discussion would be detrimental to the committee’s bargaining position. The session was described in the public record as covering ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 25 (custodians), the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Medford Paraprofessional Association, and Teamsters Local 25 (administrators), and a strategy session with respect to contract negotiations with the director of food services. Member Olapade seconded the motion. The committee voted 7–0 to enter executive session and not to reconvene in public session.

Committee leaders noted the regularly scheduled next meeting is April 7, 2025, at the Alden Memorial Chambers at Medford City Hall and via Zoom. The committee also referenced that a public budget hearing had taken place earlier in the evening and that related materials and slides should be available on community media and the district website.

No substantive public debate or policy votes on issues other than the two formal actions above were recorded in the publicly available portion of the transcript.