By Lorna Garey
The Malden School Committee gathered on Monday night in the Herbert L. Jackson Council Chamber. Members heard community concerns over student screen time, voted to explore a new student residency audit, approved a comprehensive bullying prevention plan and celebrated a historic $100,000 legacy donation.
The meeting opened with public comments focused heavily on classroom technology, with parents pointing to what they describe as a growing developmental crisis. Dr. Liz Tonogbanua, representing a new Malden chapter of the Schools Beyond Screens coalition, presented a petition with 221 signatures calling on the district to adopt a comprehensive screen-time policy.
“As parents, we’ve seen firsthand how screens affect our children’s ability to focus, connect with their peers and engage in meaningful learning,” Tonogbanua said. “We encourage leaders to take bold action on the growing crisis of excessive screen time use in our schools.”
The petition outlines eight demands, including eliminating devices for the youngest students, setting screen limits tailored by grade-level and reducing one-to-one device programs in elementary schools.
Catherine Tarka, a mother of three Beebe students and a member of the Superintendent’s AI Working Group, praised the administration for taking initial steps, such as disabling access to Gemini AI on student Chromebooks and terminating experimental programs like Course Mojo. However, she stressed that not all issues are about AI and urged a broader focus on screen-time limits.
Another Beebe parent, Erin Strangfellow, advocated for a districtwide policy discouraging screens during indoor recess, recounting an experience from her child’s third-grade class.
“Last year, my son told us about a time that the Wi-Fi was briefly out at school, and they played Lego,” Strangfellow said. “He said they all had a blast and actually groaned when the Wi-Fi came back on.”
Strangfellow also criticized the district’s newly distributed technology acceptable use agreement, arguing that it unfairly bundles device care, learning tools and data sharing into an “all-or-nothing” agreement where parental nonresponse is treated as consent. She asked for a more granular policy.
Also during public comment, parent Lynn Walters Rekhi raised an issue around the Little Dragons afterschool program run by the Chinese Culture Connection, which was suspended after Malden signed an exclusive afterschool contract with care provider AlphaBest.
Walters Rekhi criticized “absolutely abysmal” communication from the district, which left families involved in the Little Dragons program in limbo, saying contractual conflict has left families without care for the first two weeks of the school year.
“We appreciate this diverse women-led program that’s functioned very well and stably, and provided a very culturally rich program in Malden,” Walters Rekhi said of Little Dragons. “The silence has been deafening.”
She also cited billing issues for families using AlphaBest.
Mayor Gary Christenson, who chairs the School Committee, apologized for the lack of communication and said that city and school officials had scheduled a meeting with the Chinese Culture Connection to find a resolution.
“We’re going to do our very best to try to find a way forward, and we’ll keep you updated on that,” Christenson said.
Superintendent reports on tech restructuring and ‘science of attention’
In his update, Superintendent Dr. Timothy Sippel directly addressed technology concerns, noting that the district is actively working to curb distractions. Malden has blocked YouTube on all student devices and email accounts and has rolled out the monitoring platform GoGuardian across grades K-12.
Teachers can use GoGuardian to grant temporary access to specific educational videos or sites for a set period. The system also shows teachers icons of exactly what’s on each student’s screen at all times and allows them to lock down a device in real time to limit distractions. Teachers can even pre-set permitted sites.
“We don’t want our students exposed to ads, and we don’t want our students’ data being tracked for any purpose, said Sippel, while acknowledging that students are working to find ways around these constraints.
He also reported on a successful districtwide professional development day held on August 24 that focused on the science of learning. Teacher evaluations of the session were overwhelmingly positive, he said, with 85% of educators agreeing it was a good use of their time.
Additionally, Sippel welcomed more than 60 new educators to the district and introduced new administrative leaders, including Malden High School Principal Mike Sabin and Conor O’Keefe, who will manage specialized instruction programs.
Residency audit sparks concerns
Member Jennifer Spadafora made a motion to direct the superintendent to conduct a comprehensive residency audit of all currently enrolled students. Spadafora argued that out-of-district students attending Malden schools without authorization place an unfair financial burden on city taxpayers, in that the per-student Chapter 70 payment from the state, which is based on headcount and set at a minimum of $160 per pupil for this school year, doesn’t cover the cost of educating a child.
If a student’s family lives in, for example, Medford but fraudulently enrolls in Malden, possibly by using an expired lease or relative’s address, Malden absorbs the cost of educating that student while Medford collects property taxes based on the family’s actual residency.
“Massachusetts General Law states every person shall have a right to attend the public schools of their town where they reside, but no school committee is required to enroll a person who does not actually reside in the town,” said Spadafora, noting that Malden declined to participate in the state’s school choice program. “What we have discovered over the years is that many of these moves have occurred months and even years prior to us finding out.”
To illustrate that this is a widespread issue rather than isolated incidents, she shared personal experience.
“It’s not one-offs,” she said. “I know numerous [times I] picked up my children from friends’ houses outside of the city.”
While members agreed that maintaining accurate residency records is important, several expressed reservations, citing the potential for intimidation in the current climate.
Member Peter Piazza voiced concern over measures that he said have historically been used, in some cases disproportionately against students of color. Boston, for example, has an active tip line and employs a residency investigator.
“An anonymous tip line for students who live out of town, using the police to investigate student residencies, police showing up at houses to verify these sorts of things,” he said, adding that he wants Malden to steer clear of these “heavy-handed tactics.”
Member Elizabeth Hortie agreed, expressing discomfort with storing sensitive residency documents on the district’s student database, Aspen.
“I wouldn’t vote to approve anything until I had really specific details,” Hortie said.
Member Sharyn Rose-Zeiberg also cautioned that any audit must align with the district’s established, legally vetted residency verification policies.
In response to these concerns, Spadafora modified her motion to direct the Superintendent to return to the committee with a structured proposal and feasibility plan. The modified motion passed unanimously.
$100,000 donation honors Class of 1976 grad
The committee enthusiastically accepted a generous $100,000 donation from the Melvin Klayman Trust. Melvin Klayman, who grew up on Almont Street in Malden’s historic Suffolk Square and graduated from Malden High in 1976, passed away in June 2025. A passionate believer in public education, Klayman left instructions to split the $100,000 gift in two parts. Fifty thousand dollars will be donated directly to Malden Public Schools to be used at the Superintendent’s discretion. The remaining $50,000 will establish the Melvin Klayman Trust Scholarship, which will award approximately $2,000 annually to a graduating senior for the next 25 years.
Spadafora paid tribute to the family’s deep roots in the city, noting that Melvin’s late brother, Richard Klayman, was a history professor and author of “The First Jew: A Study of the First Eastern European Jews to Settle in Malden.”
Sippel said the unrestricted donation will be used for curriculum.
Updated bullying plan tackles deepfakes and AI
The committee voted unanimously to suspend docket rules and approve a revised biennial Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan.
A key goal is to address AI risks. In the new plan, the definition of cyberbullying now includes “the creation, adaptation, or distribution of digitally manipulated content such as ‘deepfakes’ that include images, audio, or video generated through artificial intelligence or other technologies.”
Acknowledging that the state-mandated document is a “heavy read,” Rose-Zeiberg, who serves as Policy Subcommittee chair, announced that the district’s communications coordinator is working on a family-friendly FAQ guide that will serve as an accessible resource for caregivers, explaining reporting procedures and district responses in plain language.
In a related move, the committee sent a separate urgent motion regarding Policy JA-G, Access to Education, Student Privacy, and Immigration Enforcement, to the Policy Subcommittee. The motion is in response to the state’s newly enacted Protect Act, which requires districts to quickly adopt policies to regulate interactions with ICE. Sippel confirmed that the district’s legal counsel has drafted a version of the policy to ensure compliance with the new law.
Enrollment and special education placements under scrutiny
In his report, Sippel presented a detailed look at the district’s enrollment figures, which stood at 5,780 students as of August 31. While down from last year’s August enrollment of 6,119, Sippel noted that last year the district saw an increase of roughly 52 students between the start of school and the state’s October 1 headcount census date. Currently, about 140 students are pending enrollment at the Welcome Center as families finalize residency documents and immunizations.
Sippel attributed some of the decline to families leaving the city due to high housing costs. In addition, according to the U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts for Massachusetts, children under 18 now make up just 18.6% of the Commonwealth’s population, compared with over 23% in 2000.
Spadafora flagged a significant increase in the district’s out-of-district special education placements, which rose to 91 students, up from 68 in May 2025.
“That number is concerning,” she said, asking for assurances that the district is “bending over backwards” before placing students outside of the district.
Assistant Superintendent Pamela MacDonald explained that the spike was partly due to new families moving into the city over the summer, including several foster children with pre-existing out-of-district placement contracts that Malden is legally required to honor. MacDonald also noted that several special education students are set to age out of the system later this school year.
Ward updates
Before entering executive session, committee members shared personal privileges and upcoming ward highlights:
Michael Drummey (Ward 1) highlighted open houses and PTO ice cream social events, reminding the Mayor that he is “expected to be cooking hot dogs” at the Fairway School’s Family Fun Night on September 24.
Spadafora (Ward 3) announced that “Friday Night Lights are back,” promoting Malden High’s home-opener football game against Lynn Tech on September 11. She also highlighted the first Malden CPAC meeting on September 14 to review the recent special education audit.
Hortie (Ward 5) reminded families that the Forestdale back-to-school open house is scheduled for September 22.
Piazza (Ward 6) shared Salemwood’s upcoming informational session on September 8 and open house on September 17.
Rose-Zeiberg (Ward 8) praised Linden School’s walking school bus program and thanked Linden music teacher Mr. Cole for a stellar opening day student chorus performance.
The School Committee voted unanimously to enter into Executive Session to discuss several pending matters, including contract negotiations with the Malden Education Association Units A, B, and C; the active litigation Malden v. Supervisor of Public Records; and two Open Meeting Law complaints, from Brian DeLacey and Bruce Friedman.
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This is a recap of the Aug. 31, 2026 School Committee meeting. The full meeting is on YouTube.
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