"My name is Suzanne Galusi. I'm the interim superintendent. I thank you very much for joining us tonight so we can discuss the middle school lottery assignment and process," said Suzanne Galusi, interim superintendent of Medford Public Schools, at a virtual information session about the district's middle-school assignment process.

The district described a lottery system designed to balance enrollment between Andrews Middle School and McGlynn Middle School and to preserve seats for students who require particular programs. Under the policy explained at the meeting, roughly half of the fifth-grade students from each elementary school will be assigned to Andrews and half to McGlynn, with a set of exemptions and separate lotteries to protect students' program needs and to maintain equity.

Galusi said the district maintains four key exemptions from the general lottery: students who require English learner (EL) services; students with IEPs that require a specialized program (these students are assigned to the school that houses that program); students on IEPs not tied to a specialized program (who enter a separate IEP lottery to ensure even distribution); and sibling preference for eligible fifth-grade students with a current sibling in grade 6 or 7. "The entire English learner program is housed at the McGlynn Middle School," Galusi said, and students needing those services are assigned there rather than included in the general draw.

Galusi gave examples of specialized programming locations used for placement discussions, saying some language-based classes and "Connections" are housed at McGlynn while the therapeutic learning program is at Andrews; those placements will be decided in special education team meetings and not through the general lottery. She said transitional meetings will be scheduled for all students on IEPs before the end of the school year to review individual placements.

The district also said it will reserve a small buffer of seats (about 3% per school) at McGlynn to accommodate incoming English learner students who enroll after the lottery runs. For students on general IEPs that can be served at either school, the district will run a separate lottery just for those students so that they are evenly split between Andrews and McGlynn.

On sibling preference, Galusi said caregivers may opt a fifth-grade student into a sibling preference if the student has a current sibling in grade 6 or 7 (so the siblings would attend middle school together next year). She noted that specialized program placement supersedes sibling preference. The district said sibling preference does not include current eighth-grade students because they will not remain on campus the following year.

Dr. Peter Cushing, assistant superintendent, reiterated districtwide continuity in instruction: "Curriculum is unified across the district," he said, noting that both middle schools follow Massachusetts state frameworks adopted for grades 6–8.

Nick Tucci and Jennifer Skane, the two middle-school principals on the call, outlined transition and orientation activities. Tucci described student ambassadors and preview activities at the open houses, saying, "the students and the student ambassadors are really the stars of the show." Both principals said they coordinate summer orientation and early fall programs to help incoming sixth-graders adjust, and they described a structure in which each grade has two "sides" or teams that share core classes while students mix for unified arts and exploratory offerings.

Logistics and timeline details provided by the district include: sibling opt-in/out forms will be emailed to eligible caregivers; the deadline for those forms is Monday (as announced at the session); lottery numbers will be printed on letters sent home the Thursday before the draw; automated lottery results will be posted on the district website by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15; families will also receive an email link to results; and hard-copy letters will be mailed the week of April 28. Open houses are scheduled for Andrews Middle School on Wednesday, May 7, and for McGlynn Middle School on Thursday, May 8, both beginning at 6 p.m.

Staff answered parent questions about twins, transportation, extracurriculars and clubs. District staff said twins receive separate lottery numbers; if the draw places twins at different schools, families have been allowed in past years to choose a single school for both children pending enrollment capacity. The district described busing eligibility under district distance policy (generally over two miles) and noted that afternoon bus routes pick up at Andrews, with students from McGlynn walking across in the afternoon supervised by staff. The district also offers a late bus three days a week for after-school activities.

Principals said many extracurricular opportunities are student-driven and that both schools offer fairs and a mix of joint and school-specific clubs. Tucci and Skane described examples added this year after student interest — an outdoor soccer club and a civics/team competition — and noted that students may participate in activities at either campus as schedules permit.

The district asked families with missing lottery letters to contact the dedicated mailbox, mslottery@medford.k12.ma.us, to obtain their child's lottery number ahead of the draw and encouraged caregivers to attend the open houses and summer orientation events.

The session primarily provided information, answered questions, and clarified how program placement and sibling preference interact with the lottery; no formal policy vote or change was taken during the meeting.

The district said it will post the slide deck and the lottery process materials on the Medford Public Schools website and that staff will continue to answer follow-up questions via the mslottery email.