Page 8 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 13, 2020 House unanimously passes legislation to improve municipal public health services Helps coordinate public health services, including disease control, emergency preparedness B OSTON – On February 26, State Representative Paul J. Donato (D-Medford, Malden) along with his colleagues in the House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation to strengthen local and regional public health services across Massachusetts. The legislation, An Act relative to strengthening the local and regional public health system, supports collaboration between local boards of health and neighboring municipal public health departments to deliver high-quality and efficient public health services, such as disease control, emergency preparedness, restaurant inspection, sanitary code enforcement Sen. Lewis leads hearing on education funding, municipal aid Paul J. Donato State Representative and suicide prevention and substance use disorder outreach. “With the threat of a global virus outbreak on our doorstep, I’m proud that DONATO | SEE PAGE 11 By Barbara Taormina M ore teachers, social emotional and physical health programs and professional development for teachers are on the list of priorities the school district plans to pursue with new state funding through the On March 6, State Senator Jason Lewis (center) chaired a hearing of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ways and Means on state education funding and municipal aid. Because these hearings are an important part of the process of developing the state budget for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2021, they are held around the state each spring, and Lewis hosted the March 6 hearing in Malden. The state budget will be fi nalized later this spring. (Courtesy Photo) Oteri presents priorities for increase in state aid Students Opportunity Act. Last fall, state lawmakers passed the legislation which overhauled the funding formula for educational aid to better serve students in need of more support. The Student Opportunity Act will channel roughly $1.4 billion in additional educational aid to school districts throughout the state over the next seven years, and Malden is anticipating and additional $2 million this year. The Department of EleRIGHT BY YOU RIGHT BY YOU BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT JOE BONO owner of THE BERRY TAVERN, AL DENTE, BENEVENTO’S, AND BENCOTTO OVER 20 YEARS OF BANKING WITH EVERETT BANK “I can be myself and they can be themselves. Regular people doing business the right way.” mentary and Secondary Education requires school districts to submit their priorities and plans for the additional funding by April 1.Malden’s School Committee met this week to review the district’s list of priorities and goals. The list was developed with input gathered in forums, a public meeting and an online survey which the committee has reopened to allow more school families and residents to weigh in on how the additional funding should be deployed. The survey will be available on the Malden Public Schools website through March 15. Superintendent John Oteri presented four categories that stakeholders identified as areas that the district should target for investment. Reducing class sizes byhiring additional teachers topped the list. “We want to recoup and VISIT US TO TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN DO RIGHT BY YOUR BUSINES S 419 BROADWAY, EVERETT MA 02149 | 61 7 . 38 7 . 1 1 10 7 7 1 SALEM ST, LYNNFIELD, MA 01940 | 78 1 . 7 7 6 . 4444 Member FDIC Member SIF EVERETTBANK . COM rebuild from previous years,” said Oteri adding that the new funding will add teachers to schools and classrooms hit hardest by large class sizes. Increasing services to support social emotional and physical health of students was also on the list. The administration plans to assess student needs and staffing for these services and develop a plan to bolster resources throughout the district. “Professional development is an ongoing concern,” said Oteri adding that the district has a relatively small budget for training for teachers and staff. Oteri said that dedicating new funds to expand professional development opportunities would keep Malden educators up to date on the best practices in their field and, at the same time, demonstrate the district’s commitment to its teachers. The district’s fourth priority is college and career readiness which would begin with a regular review of curriculum to ensure that Malden teachers and students have high-quality resources and materials aligned to state standards. The administration also plans to increase access to Naviance, an online program that helps students better understand their interests and strengths in order to plan for life after high school. The DESE also requires the administration to identify students in specific subgroups who wi l l benefit from the district’s plans for the new funding and to include targets and outcomes that will measure the district’s success.
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