Nearly all Medford parents with children entering sixth grade this year expressed a preference for the Andrews Middle School over the McGlynn, leading the Medford Public Schools administration to implement some changes to both schools to improve parents’ perceptions of the McGlynn.

But according to some parents, School Committee member Mea Quinn Mustone and City Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, the McGlynn has become less popular primarily because parents are frustrated with the leadership at the school.

Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson estimates that approximately 14 incoming sixth grade students whose families requested enrollment at the Andrews were instead sent to the McGlynn in an attempt to better balance the schools. But the Andrews' sixth grade class still has 37 more incoming sixth graders than the McGlynn.

The two schools have also become noticeably segregated by socioeconomic status; 44 percent of students at the McGlynn this year are eligible for free or reduced lunches, compared to only 20 percent of students at the Andrews.

At the Sept. 19 School Committee meeting, Belson called this year’s enrollment differences an “aberration,” adding that this is not the first time that many parents have preferred one middle school over the other.

“One year of a bubble in one place or the other doesn’t mean you panic,” Belson told the Transcript. “We’d like people to give us a little bit of room to make some adjustments.”

Over the summer, the district hired a new assistant principal, two additional special education teachers and other new staff members. The district also moved some teachers at the McGlynn to different grades and modified the school’s reading instruction program to be more similar to the one offered at the Andrews.

The MPS is planning more changes that will roll out during the school year, including adding certain after-school clubs to the McGlynn, combining the open house meetings for parents of fifth graders and creating a Gifted and Talented or STEM program at the McGlynn.

Belson noted that the socioeconomic difference between the schools is partially because the McGlynn hosts the English Language Learners program, which has grown significantly over the last several years.

As a result, the MPS is considering moving some of the ELL students to the Andrews in the future, though the details have not been worked out.

Parents raise concerns with discipline, communication at McGlynn

Though the administration is hoping these changes will help solve the enrollment differences, four parents who spoke to the Transcript said their major concerns with the McGlynn stem from its administration, including McGlynn Middle School principal Jake Edwards.

Lungo-Koehn and Mustone have also independently received many complaints from parents and teachers alike.

“It’s all hearsay, but it’s the fact that it’s multiple people that makes me concerned,” Lungo-Koehn said.

The main issues that parents and teachers have brought up, according to Lungo-Koehn, Mustone and parents themselves, are the school's approach to disciplining students, an alleged lack of communication with parents and teachers, and the limited availability of resources for teachers and students at the McGlynn compared to the Andrews.

Lungo-Koehn said that while the enrollment discrepancy has become most apparent this year, she has been receiving complaints from parents of students at the McGlynn for a year and a half.

“I think the issues have been ongoing, and they are just finally spiraling out of control,” Lungo-Koehn said.

She also disputed Belson’s assertion that comparable preferences for one school over the other took place in the past.

“It’s never been this bad; it’s so bad that my fourth grader talks to me about how she wants to go to the Andrews,” Lungo-Koehn sad. “I don’t know where she’s getting it, but it’s around the city.”

One Medford parent, Laura Alberino, said she was unhappy with the way the school handled the alleged bullying of her son, who has a nonverbal learning disability. He attended the McGlynn between September 2013 and June 2016.

“He’s an easy target to bully – he doesn’t have an easy time processing everything that’s happening quickly in a way a neurotypical kid would,” Alberino said. “But that was also used by the administration to say he didn’t respond appropriately.”

In particular, another student allegedly told her son to kill himself on several occasions, which she brought up with Edwards multiple times.

“There were multiple incidents, and I felt like they were never addressed appropriately, or they tried to find fault with my son at the same time, as a way of explaining what would happen [to him],” Alberino said. “They were always undermining everything.”

Eventually, she took her son out of school for three days, worrying that the bullying was seriously harming his mental well-being. At that point, Edwards agreed to meet with her and her son, and the problems got slightly better, she said.

The three other parents who spoke to the Transcript relayed other alleged bullying incidents that they felt were not handled swiftly enough or appropriately, as did Lungo-Koehn and Mustone from secondhand accounts.

The parents also expressed frustration with the administration's communication with them, alleging that Edwards in particular rarely responds to emails or calls from parents. Quinn and Lungo-Koehn said they have heard these complaints as well.

“There’s no parent communication – if parents email, have a concern with their grade or their child’s well-being, he doesn’t call or email back,” Mustone said.

Everyone who spoke to the Transcript stressed that the teachers at the McGlynn are largely very dedicated and responsive to parents' concerns. In fact, some teachers have complained to Mustone and Lungo-Koehn about similar disciplinary decisions made by the school administration.

Mustone recalled an email she received from one teacher, claiming that a student "sexted" another student. A photo from the sext was then allegedly sent to other students against the will of the first student, which the teacher thought was handled poorly by the administration.



"There was no consequence," Mustone sad. "[The teacher] thought the community resource officer – a policeman stationed at the Medford High School – should’ve been called in. But they didn’t do anything. They talked to the two kids separately, and that was it."

Edwards declined to speak to the Transcript, instead referring comments to Belson.

Administration remains confident in action plan

Belson also said he is aware that some parents have complaints about the principal at the McGlynn, and stressed that every staff member is evaluated annually.

"There are things we’ve talked to the principals about at both schools about things we want to do differently," he said. "We recognize that he has got be part of the solution, too."

The new assistant principal hired at the McGlynn, Jody Liu, was selected in part because her style of discipline is more traditional, which Belson believes will balance out Edwards’ disciplinary approach.

“That’s part of the action plan – we hear that noise, we say, 'What can we do about it?' And these are the kinds of things you do,” Belson said. “You make steps in the right direction.”

Though Mustone and Lungo-Koehn acknowledged that some of the issues that were brought up during budgeting discussions in June are now being addressed, they both wish that Belson had taken action sooner.

Mustone would like to consider eliminating the choice system between the two middle schools, instead assigning students automatically to one school – a decision the school committee could only make by getting an entirely new plan approved by the city, as Belson pointed out at the Sept. 19 meeting when Mustone raised the issue.

But Mustone believes this would drastically reduce the enrollment difference and help ensure that both schools are equally diverse and have equal resources.

“You can even see it at the PTO meetings: You have so many people at the Andrews PTOs. You have about five at the McGlynn PTOs,” she said.

Nonetheless, she hopes that given the changes that have already been put in place and additional ones planned for later in the year, the negative perceptions that some parents have about the McGlynn will improve.

"All the kids in Medford should have the same great experience," Mustone said.