Um, and we're going to go over the important documents that we need to have in hand. Some immigration case, finances, emergency planning, and also funeral planning. I know nobody wants to talk about that, but it's so important to have that information in hand. Um and I like to go over the small steps that lead to great achievements which we had to identify, analyze, um see the alternatives, plan and implement because we see nowadays in our community there's a lot of fear, right? And people are just afraid but they are not taking the steps to make sure that their family safe, the documents. Uh so it's very important for you to sit with your family and have those things uh in a folder in a that other people can find as well if you um can locate it. So those documents, travel authorization, birth certificates, and all of that.
And sometimes I'm sure people in the room felt that way as well too. We're just like, "Oh my god, this is taking forever." Um, and that's the downside of it. Uh, but uh, in my opinion, you have to be open to those types of situations because it also generates these creative ideas and this other stuff that goes along. But I'm I'm not going to lie to you, it definitely is something that can be super frustrating. So, you got to be patient. You got to give people a little grace um, both in how you say things and how you react to things. I think those are really important stuff. But I've always valued meet and confer just for that reason because I've always felt that not only not only you listening to my voice but my voice matters because I have the power to stop and or push things forward.
So anyway, question one, what are your opinions of our final recommendations? Well, you know, we never got to that, but we did do some um six members answered this question. We are on the right track. Making recommendations in the best interest of all employees is most effective for retention. We still have a lot of work to do. as a team. However, we need to move forward as a team and the divisive accusatory comments need to stop. Um, still need to make final recommendations. Looking forward to finishing and we did not reach a list of final recommendations and I agree with them. Okay, question two. Do you have any suggestions for improving our IBN negotiations? Seven members answered this question. Um the first one was the disrespectful behavior in the room has to stop. Passive aggressive comments, eye rolls, etc. are unhelpful to the process and against every value of the district.
[Music] Good evening everyone. How are you? Look at that. You guys did well. Well, you did great, Chad. Um, so we have a obviously a lot of people here tonight and it's important we are going to recognize a lot of things that probably happened in the winter uh sports area, but some other things as well. Um, so we're going to kick it off. Is coach Candace Gonzalez in the house? Where are you? There you are. How are you, Candace? I'm good. Thank you. It's not your first rodeo up here, is it? No, I've been here a couple times. You've been here a couple times. Um, how many wins did you have total for your career so far? 600 and something. [Applause] She uh something. Sorry. It's all right. We're going to give you 600 just because you said it. I'm okay with that. But I I see it in the future.
And then, well, I I shouldn't be sad because the Red Sox actually did win the World Series. um we ended up having to change the name of our musical uh to the curse of the bambino is over. But I've always been those of us who those of you who've seen my talks before, you know how much I love history and the story of the Red Sox and how they came to Boston and how they won our hearts and frustrated our souls for all those decades is a fascinating one. And that's what we're going to talk about tonight. As far back as 1871, Boston had a baseball team. When the Cincinnati Reds stockings, which was professional baseball's first team, re went to amateur status. Teams did that a lot back then. They were pro, then they went amateur, then they went back to being pro. But several members of this Cincinnati team moved to Boston and joined the National Association, a group of professional teams.
By the way, your computer's not frising out. I've turned off the video so we can all focus on these slides because I think the story of this highway was which is inexraably tied to the building of all the other highways in and around Boston is a fascinating one. And I'm going to talk about where the ideas for Route 128 came from, why is it where it is, and what's in store for the future. Now, to talk about the future, I think we first need to go back to the past. All roads lead to Rome, or as we can see in this map from the early 1900s, Boston. The region's transportation system has traditionally been configured to move goods and services in and out of the capital city. That's called a a radial system. You notice how like spokes of a wheel, they radiate out of Boston.
Um we're going to go over each one of them, too. Um the healthcare policy is a document that's free. You go online, you can download the form. You don't need it to be notoriized. Um you can put your information if if by any chance anything happens to you and you're not able to give any like let's say you're in a car accident and you can't voice your opinion and you can't talk that healthcare proxy gives the authority of someone else to make those uh decisions for you. The caregiver authorization form or power of attorney. Um so we're going to go with this first. This form is just a form for you to leave um filled out for another family member, friend, someone that you trust to care for your child. Um they will be able to make decisions about your school and um medical. This is not giving legal guardianship whatsoever and passport.
So if you wanted to say anything. So um Joel for really adding this extra day because it allowed for more conversations and I think in IBN for sure the conver the conversations are what's most important. So um I want to thank all of you again another year. Um, wonderful work. Um, and I'm sure your staff is going to be proud of you. So, thank you and enjoy. Summer's coming up. The school year is almost over and enjoy it. But thank you.
I don't think people who consistently display that behavior should be invited back next year. Second comment, I believe more oversight needs to be provided regarding the decorum of individual members of the team. I watched three to four members of the team continuously attempting to multitask as evidenced by excessive time on their phones and laptops um clearly distracted and not listening to the speakers and important discussions. These same people often slowed down the process because they were lost or confused. Um, we need an ongoing list of options in a Google doc so they can be viewed, edited as we move through the process and work on wording. Um, process is super sloppy and also restrictive. I'm okay with a rougher process with more flexibility or a tighter process with less flexibility. uh let's create only one document for all options preferably a spreadsheet that we can add rows or columns notes dollar amounts etc whether we table them or approved them let's get them on the same file for easy tracking if you look in your folder I didn't do um a spreadsheet but I did list all of the options that we have so far the tabled ones the ones that we did put on recommendations and the options that um we have for today or or have all parties need to assume positive intent and yes there is a lot of name calling and assuming negative intent of groups of employees.
Candace, you're here tonight. And is are any of your is any of your squad here or is it just you? No, just me and my husband. Just Where's your husband at? He's back there in the corner. Where? Ra Oh, he's filming so I won't make him come up. People here, so I How are you, Mr. Gonzalez? Good. Well, Candace is here because she won an award. Um, she won the 2025 Spirit of Cotton Award. This is through the Phoenix Suns Charities Foundation. Is that correct? Uh, the award is an annual recognition that honors legendary former Suns head coach Cotton Fitz Simmons by highlighting an outstanding Arizona high school basketball coach for their leadership, dedication, and service to the community and helping guide and mentor student athletes. Now, Candace didn't have any clue she was getting this award. We brought a bunch of students and a bunch of other people into the gymnasium there at Mosqu High and we had Cotton Fitz Simmons wife and she leads up this foundation.
Now, in 1876, that association disbanded and was replaced by the National League. And Boston's team, which you see here, became one of the team's hottest franchises. They won 12 pennants over 25 years. Now, if you were a fan of those Boston uh those B that Boston uh baseball team, you probably went here. This was the third base at 940 Columbus Avenue in the south end of Boston. It was nicknamed the third base. Why? Because as the owner Nuff said McGrevy used to proclaim it was the last place she went before going home. Now among the many fans who hung out there were John Honey Fitz Fitzgerald and Sport Sullivan a fellow who would someday arrange the fixing of the 1919 series. Now, it was an interesting time because many owners owned pieces of other teams. And this may sound familiar. There was a great collusion case in 1899.
There was no circumferential or belt road or rail in place because very few people were trying to get from Waltham to Reading or Weimoth to Lexington and whatever circumferential travel they needed, they could use these network of small roads, trolley or rail lines and that more than kept up with demand. And then some darn fool had to go and invent the automobile. And of course, everybody had to have one. Now there's a problem. The roads were now being inundated with cars, trucks, taxis, buses. And remember, there's no central artery, no Sumar or Callahan tunnel here in Boston, just those small streets that up until then handled trolleys or horsedrawn carts and buggies. So back in 1909 here in Boston, there was a proposal to build a 100 ft wide elevated road between North and South Stations, but that never got past the talking stage. And by the 1920s, the city was in perpetual gridlock.
If you are from another country and your child is born here or um even if your child was born in your country, it's very important that you have those up to date. Um a lot of people they have I'm going to use that example from Brazil. So we have kids here but then they don't have the appropriate documentations from our country, right? So, it's important for you to apply for the birth certificate, get the social security number from your country and have that in order because if anything happens to you, no one is going to have authority to do anything and get your child to you. The travel authorization is a very simple document that you can have in the child's passport. If you don't have anyone here in the US that can travel your with your child, you can make a travel authorization to airline.
It's unkind and disruptive to our work. So what I say to those comments is negotiations can be difficult. um conversations might not be what we want to hear, but I think we do need to hear them, but again, I think it's how respectful we are when we're expressing our voice. Um, I know Dr. Lauren worked really hard to select members to represent as many different groups from your district and you're not only representing your house your yourself here, you're representing your group. So, um you need to be really focused so that you can do the best job for the group that you are representing. Um as you know, I have called out people throughout this um time. There's only so many times I feel comfortable doing that. Um I would have to say as an administrator I was um and as a facilitator now it's difficult for me.
Correct. As well as the Phoenix Suns gorilla and um who's the Mercury mascot? Do you remember that name? I didn't mean to put you on the spot. It's all right. The gorilla was there for sure. But um I got to tell you, she was surprised. And you got a check. I did. I got $10,000 to go towards my program. $10,000 for the program. Um, Candace has been a a uh a legendary coach at Mosquite High School for how many years now? I just finished up my 27th. 27th years. How long has Mosqu High been around? 27 years. 27 years. Uh rarely do you see a high school coach stay in a position that long and Candace has done that by not just producing a lot of wins but producing a lot of student athletes that contribute long after they leave Mosquet High. And for her to receive an award like this, it it means a lot not just to her or her husband or her family or Mosqu High, but it means a lot to just education in general because she has dedicated her life to students and student athletes and this award just exemplifies that.
Brooklyn bought some of the better Baltimore players and Boston would drop to second place. So between the collusion and the reputation that the sport had gained and not unwarranted for gambling, drinking, cheating, and fighting at the games and the fact that half of the 12 teams of the league were off and out of the race by midsummer, the uh attendance began to drop. To the rescue of the National League came Ban Johnson, a former reporter who became president of the Western League, which was a minor Midwestern League way back in 1894. Ban was a visionary, but he was also an autocrat. He standardized umpiring, outlawed fighting, and attendance and profits soared, and his Western League was saved. In 1900, Ban Johnson decided to take his league professional and he renamed it the American League and he moved teams to Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. But he first stayed away from Boston out of respect for the National League because they were the powerhouse of the time.
But despite the horrific gems in Boston, people north of the city who wanted to go to the Cape or people south of the city who wanted to go to New Hampshire or Maine, they chose to drive through the city since there was no circumferential alternative. Now, in an effort to combat the problem, and I'm laughing because I always love the solution that they came up with in 1925. the old DPW, Department of Public Works, instead of spending millions of dollars on asphalt and and and street signs and lights and paving. Instead, they spent a few hundred bucks on some signs and painted the numbers 1 28 on them, and they simply hammered them into the sides of roads that they decided would represent a circumferential route around Boston about 15 miles outside the city. Now, one question my collaborator on the book, Yanni Cippus, and I never found out is where did the numbers 128 come from?
So there are options and it's important to have that set up as well. Um immigration documents. So this is a topic that I see our community struggling quite a bit. Um a lot of times we pay people that are not even sure who they are, if they're attorneys. Um, a lot of people are hiring just someone that has a nice um, social media page and they think they know what they're doing. Um, and then when you apply for your immigration case, you either are going to get a receipt notice or a notice of action. And there is going to have your receipt number, your A number, and you can track your cases yourself. So whenever you apply for anything with anybody, make sure that they are giving you a copy of those documents. Okay, this if you have an NTA, which is a notice to appear, your A number, which is the file number, is going to be up top.
I need to get better at it. But then again I'm a professional. You're a professional and I think we need to act like professionals. Um and professionals stay focused. To be on this committee is an honor. Um, yes, you've probably volunt you probably you were asked and you volunteered, but it's still an honor. And if you didn't want to be on this committee to do the work that it requires, then maybe you should have said no. I mean, we only this is only our sixth meeting, you know, eight hours a day. It's a lot of time, I know, but you agreed. And when you made that agreement to be on this committee, you made that agreement to be totally focused. So we have our norms as you know. We spend a great deal of time developing those norms. We need to follow them. So please remember that today.
So, please give Candace a hat and congratulate her. Well done. Would you stand in the middle? My son's jersey. You got your jersey on it. Love it. Thank you. Well done. Next up, can Okay, cheer and palm. You guys ready? I can't hear you. You ready? Yeah. Okay. You did win an award or two, so we need to hear from you. Let's start off with Highland High. Ashley Parcell, Palm Coach, are you here? Come on up. Bring your [Applause] team. And uh cheer coach, is it? Oh, James, say your last name. Geelhoffer. Now you know why I had him say it. Bring your squad up. How are you [Music] [Applause] guys? Wow. Oh, you don't want to stand behind me. That could be No, I'm just kidding. You're all right. So, for Palm, help me out here. Okay. Um, you guys were the UDA. What does UDA stand for?