Salem Public Schools
SPS families,
In the City of Salem, we are committed to celebrating all that makes us a diverse community. This June, as in past years, I am excited to join the Mayor and City Council in recognizing Pride Month. The city's resolution gives both history and current inspiration for the ongoing need to express our support for the LGBTQIA+ members of our community, and their families.
What does this particularly mean for the Salem Public Schools?
Openly expressing our support for our LGBTQIA+ students and families by raising flags and painting crosswalks is about ensuring we are building and offering a safe and welcoming environment for all kinds of students, families, and educators. It is a show of our commitment to the safety and care of ALL students, educators and families. The fact is, each one of us, and our community as a whole, is enriched by the diversity of Salem Public Schools' scholars, teachers, staff and caregivers. Diversity in community breeds empathy and compassion and that is so important for our students as they develop and grow as confident, engaged and connected people prepared to thrive in our ever-changing society.
On behalf of the Salem Public Schools, I am proud that together we are building an environment where all children feel safe, welcome, and where we hold true to our value of belonging, where we respect the dignity of all people. I encourage all of our families to celebrate Pride month with us all in Salem this June and send a powerful message of support to our beautifully diverse LGBTQIA+ community. The city's flag raising for Pride month is Sunday, June 2nd at 12pm at the flag poles at Riley Plaza. We hope to see you there.
Also, we invite you all to celebrate the talents of our students at the second annual SEE ME Festival and Student Voice Summit at the Peabody Essex Museum over the next few days. The See Me Festival, on display through Monday, June 3 in the Group Hub Gallery of the Museum, showcases all forms of expression – art, music, poetry, video and photography – from our students at all schools and grade levels.
On Saturday June 1 from 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. at the East India Marine Hall is the Student Voice Summit. Teams of students from each of the Salem Public Schools will present their projects offering important recommendations for improvement and change across our system. Students have examined problems of practice and will offer thoughtful solutions to addressing these inequities. Come check it out! The insights, ideas and solutions of our students never disappoint.
Have a great weekend,
Steve
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, the Rockstar Award goes to special education staff - Maura Pitman, Joseph Rossetti, Madison Giaquinto, Nichole Perez, Michelle Flewelling, Katharine Visci, Elisabeth Campbell and all the educators who made it possible for our students with disabilities to attend the annual Collins and Saltonstall grade 8 trip to New York. Their commitment to inclusivity and access for all students is commendable and aligned to our system's core values of equity and belonging. Because of these rockstars, our students had the experience of a lifetime that they will not soon forget!
- Alex Done Captures 100 Meter Dash to Lead SHS Unified Track & Field Team at State Championship | May 31, 2024
- The Salem News: Mass. gets $42M for school e-buses (SPS receives $2.6 million, 13 e-buses) | May 30, 2024
- VIEW GALLERY: Salem Early Childhood Center Unified Sports Day | May 29, 2024
- VIEW GALLERY: SHS Seniors Complete ‘The Principles of Real Estate Practice in Massachusetts’ | May 28, 2024
Salem families and residents are invited to the third and final community forum about the future design of schools in Salem Wednesday, June 5 (6:30-8 p.m.) at the Saltonstall School. Specifically, we are interested in your perspective regarding our elementary, middle and high school configuration as well as Salem’s intra-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.
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 this event. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for reading along with us all year. We're thrilled to announce the release of the final issue of our Nursing News for this school year. Please make special note of the information on immunization requirements for the new school year as students in kindergarten, grade 7, and grade 10 all need updated vaccines for school entry.
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:
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.