Salem Public Schools
At Salem Public Schools, we are recognizing one staff member a week who exemplifies our core values of celebrating differences, facilitating collaboration, fostering innovation, creating equity and access, growing all students, and upholding high standards for all. We are surprising a deserving SPS team member with a rock star trophy.
This week's rockstar is Saltonstall Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Michelle Grundy. Mrs. Grundy is a true asset to the Saltonstall School and the Salem Public Schools. Her dedication to her students is unparalleled, consistently going above and beyond what is expected of her. She is such a team player and is always willing to lend a hand to her colleagues, fostering a collaborative and supportive school. Her commitment to her students has allowed them to blossom exponentially not only academically but in all areas of their lives. She truly exemplifies the district's core values of equity, belonging and opportunity.
Join us for the See Me Festival and Student Voice Summit Saturday, June 1 at the Peabody Essex Museum beginning at 10 a.m. in the PEM's East India Marine Hall and the Group Hub Gallery.
Both events are free and open to the public.
The See Me Festival is an initiative that captures the Salem Public School district’s core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity through all forms of art -- performance, traditional, poetry, video and photography -- on display from Thursday, May 30 through Monday, June 3.
This public exhibition at the world-renowned PEM aims to share elements of how Salem students see their history, how their cultures have shaped them, how they see themselves walking through the world in the present and how they can influence the future.
The Student Voice Summit, to take place from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the East India Marine Hall, features Salem Public Schools students of all grades taking on the challenge of social inequity by forming a partnership with the nonprofit Equity Imperative. This partnership led to the creation of the Student Voice Project, an effort to amplify students’ concerns and help them take action to address them.
Salem families and residents are invited to a series of important community conversations about the future design of schools in Salem. Specifically, we are interested in your perspective regarding our elementary, middle and high school configuration as well as Salem’s intra-district school choice policy that allows families to select from five elementary schools and two middle schools when enrolling in the Salem Public Schools.
During the 2021-22 school year, we hosted a series of meetings to develop a School Facility Master Plan. As part of these dialogues, we discussed facility improvements, grade configuration and our enrollment policy. This information helped shape the final SFMP, which was an instrumental part of our successful application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a new facility at Salem High School.
Today, now two years later, it is critical that we revisit these topics to inform decision points more imminently on the horizon for the Salem Public Schools. We request your presence at one of three forums in the next month so that you can share your ideas, questions, and thoughts. Please see the schedule of sessions scheduled over the next few weeks.
Thursday, May 16, 2024: at Salem High School (Library), 6:30-8 pm
Tuesday, May 21, 2024: Zoom, 6-7:30 pm, Register Now.
Wednesday, June 5, 2024: at Saltonstall School, 6:30-8 pm
The input collected at these forums will be shared with the School Committee for their review, discussion and future decision-making. Please note that childcare and Spanish language interpretation will be provided at the in-person events. We look forward to hearing from you at these upcoming sessions.
The first-ever Salem Girls In Sports Day is scheduled for Saturday, June 29 at the Veterans Memorial Field House at Salem High School.
Girl-identifying Salem Public Schools students entering grades K-5 in Fall 2024 are invited to join Salem High School student-athletes for a station-styled sports clinic focused on inspiring the next generation of female athletes to build skills and have fun. Registration costs $5 per student. Each athlete will receive a free t-shirt upon arrival.
For more information, contact Salem High Director of Athletics Reilly Christie at rchristie@salemk12.org.
Please note that the hard deadline for summer school registration is Friday, June 7. If you have a child who needs summer options, please contact your City Connects coordinator prior to the deadline of June 7.
Transportation Applications for the 2024-25 school year are now OPEN in the Aspen Family Portal.
All students who wish to ride the bus for the 2024-25 school year must submit an application, even if the student currently rides the bus or is considered a mandatory rider.
A completed application must be submitted by Monday, July 1, 2024. Applications received after July 1, 2024, will not be accepted except in extenuating circumstances to allow proper time for processing and routing.
Note: If you have a student that attends Salem Academy Charter School, you will not be able to submit an application for your student in Aspen. Salem Academy will send a separate application form to families. Please click below for information about Salem Academy Bus Applications:
Need help getting into the Aspen Family Portal?
You can now set up password self recovery if a password is lost and you will be able to access your Aspen account using this procedure. We hope this will make it easier for you to access the Aspen portal for various tasks like accessing report cards, student grades and attendance, back-to-school forms and more. If you are unable to reset your password using this method, you can still use the tech ticket system by clicking here and someone from the IT Department will help get you access.
There is still time for college-bound students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and apply to colleges for the fall. This year's new FAFSA has been challenging for many people, but, with an historic amount of financial aid on the table, the form is worth the effort. Recently, the Department of Higher Education extended the priority deadline for MASSGrant applications until July 1 in recognition of this year’s challenges.
The Clothing Connection of Salem will be receiving donations and delivering short-sleeved tees and shorts in a range of sizes to each school as gathered until Friday, May 31 (followed by restocking June 7), with the exception of emergencies.
The Clothing Connection is hoping to identify parent volunteers (1-2 per school) who can take over closets in the fall so we can continue to operate.
For emergencies, donations and volunteers, contact The Clothing Connection:
Salem Public Schools is pleased to announce the availability of COVID test kits at all our schools' main offices and health offices. If you require a test kit, kindly contact your school nurse or main office to coordinate pickup. It is important to note that we do not have an in-school testing program. In the event of illness, students will be sent home, and families have the option to conduct COVID testing at home. Please refer to our sick-day guidelines on the district website or consult your school nurse before deciding whether to send your child to school. Your cooperation in maintaining a safe environment for all is greatly appreciated.
A reminder that ParentSquare is the district platform for communication. You will receive communication from the district, your school, and your student's classroom all in one space. You can communicate 1-to-1 with teachers, sign up for parent-teacher conferences, and more.
This is the primary communication platform for all Salem Public Schools. All messages and alerts come through ParentSquare and the app makes 1-to-1 communication with your student's teachers and signing up for guardian/student conferences a breeze. If you are not receiving messages from ParentSquare or if you are having trouble, contact your school's front office. You can visit www.parentsquare.com for more information.