Medford city officials find innovative ways to improve schools

With Medford schools in dire financial straits, city officials are seeking help inside and outside the city.

Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson said that the public school system experienced a $300,000 shortfall this year due to lack of state aid.

There is also "no guarantee that revenue will increase in the future," he said.

The schools have been particularly hard-hit in terms of paying for special education programs and energy costs, with rises in fuel and electricity prices in the past year.

As a result, the School Committee voted last month to follow towns like Braintree and Beverly and allow sponsors to advertise on school buses.

Several restrictions will be imposed on these advertisements, however. For example, the School Committee and the superintendent will select only ads they deem appropriate, and preferably only those with an educational message. Also, no student is allowed to appear on the ads.

Medford mayor Michael McGlynn said that Medford also recently consolidated its students into its newest schools, saving the city $1.5 million.

Medford officials agree that Tufts has been helpful in working with Medford schools to offset the effects of the city's cuts.

Belson said that Tufts worked with Medford's early childhood programs as well as their healthcare planning. EPIIC's Inquiry program also works within Medford schools.

Jean Barry-Sutherland, principal of the Columbus School, said that Tufts has been "wonderful" with the children in her school.

Tufts Literacy Corps, a program that helps children who have difficulty reading, worked with the Columbus School. Students from the School of Engineering have also run programs to help students with math and science.

While McGlynn is grateful for the academic support, he said that Tufts could contribute more monetary aid. Debate between the city and the town has centered on payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs.

McGlynn hopes to develop "some reasonable program" for payments from Tufts to the city.

The mayor said he has had ongoing discussions with President Bacow on the subject. "We think [Tufts] has the resources to help the city make education better," he said.

Belson, however, doubts that PILOTs will have any significant impact on the city's schools' financial status. It is better, he said, to be working together than to be debating over this issue.

Barry-Sutherland agreed. "I could always use more help," she said, "but having responsible adults sharing resources with my students is worth a tremendous amount to me."

Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel said that the University has a "special obligation to really be a partner and to develop mutually beneficial programs with the city."

But because Tufts is an educational institution, "the place where it would make most sense for us to have these linkages is in education."

Rubel said that examples of this cooperation include Medford High School's use of the Gantcher Center for their graduation and Foreign Language Department graduate students teaching in local schools.

She also said that Tufts has made small financial contributions for some specific programs.

The University College (UC) does not currently have a program in Medford, because their work has mainly focused on Somerville schools, UC Programs Director Shirley Mark said.

The University College is meant to encourage active citizenship by students in their local community.

She also says that it is difficult to design ways for students to volunteer in schools, since schools do not normally have instituted guidelines for outside participation.

The UC does, however, plan to begin a program in Medford next year.