Stoneham School Committee Honors Five Retirees, Five Crystal Apple Recipients at Year-End Meeting

STONEHAM — June 5, 2025 — Stoneham School Committee closes the 2024-2025 school year with retiree honors, a special education parent survey, and a staffing controversy denial. The committee honored five Crystal Apple Award recipients — including volunteer David Boyce, French teacher Karen Gagne, STEM educator Ashley Poopolo, Boys and Girls Club director Adam Rogers, and PTO volunteer Ryan Tollefson — and recognized five retiring staff members at its June 5 meeting. The panel approved Warrant 2546 totaling $730,406.55 and voted unanimously to place the new high school's Hall of Fame plaque on an interior brick wall. CPAC Co-Chairs Jesse Killalea and Kyla Malady presented spring survey results showing 77 percent of respondents said their students received more than 80 percent of outlined IEP services, up from 61 percent in 2023, while scores on social-emotional needs fell to 62 percent from 74 percent last fall; CPAC renewed its call to hire staff to fully deliver IEP services. Outgoing Superintendent David Youngberg flatly denied media characterizations of a recent wave of middle school staff absences as a union work action, calling it "a perfect storm" and thanking the Boys and Girls Club for filling coverage gaps that, without help, would have forced the building to close.