Saugus Public Schools

Another month has passed since the last newsletter and there has been a lot happening in the School Public Schools. We have adopted a 5-year Strategic Plan, a District Improvement Plan, a Mission Statement, and a Vision Statement, all aligned with the focus of providing a safe and productive learning environment and supporting our staff, allowing them to provide aligned instruction to support academic achievement. We have strived to provide social and emotional support to all students and staff, as we deal with outside factors that create educational obstacles. We have made progress in student achievement, as well as school and community culture. One Town - One Team is a truly meaningful motto for our schools and community. As a lifelong Saugus resident, as well as a career long Saugus employee, I am dedicated to providing our students with skills to be successful, be it college or career. Our Town is a diverse community, our children are a priority for everyone. As we work collaboratively moving forward, I am confident we will find success.

Well that's enough of me talking philosophy. This newsletter will provide you will the details of our plan, but more importantly it will focus on our students and their efforts and accomplishments over the past month. Enjoy.

On Thursday, October 19th, the district's MCAS data was presented to the School Committee. While there is still much room for growth, our district and schools are no longer viewed by DESE as in need of assistance. Each building was also determined to be making moderate progress towards targets. There were several major highlights from the presentations.

Maureen Lueke and Tayler DiPesa presented the data from the Belmonte STEAM Academy highlighting the successes and challenges. First, our Third Grade students have met or surpassed the state averages in all categories in ELA & Math. In science, our students at Belmonte exceeded the state average in both Life Science and Technology/Engineering.

Myra Monto and Brendon Sullivan presented the successes and challenges for the Middle/High School. Our 8th Grade Math students had an average student growth percentage of 71% which is 31% higher than the state average. In Grade 10, our ELA students improved by 8% in two years and raised their scaled scores by an average of 3 points making us higher than the state average.

Our ELL and former ELL students had a SGP of 62% in Grade 8 math, and students in the 504/IEP subgroup in both 10th grade Math and ELA more than doubled in proficiency, and 3% of students moved into the “Exceeding” category in ELA. There were also three students in the 10th grade that achieved perfect scores on the MCAS.

Thanks to all of the teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff in helping to move our district forward. Special thank for their leadership in this initiative and for their presenations last night to: Susan Terban, Dawn Trainor, Jessica Manual, Andrea Wheeler, Kristin Barclay, Tracey Ragucci, Gosia Janik-Knupp, Brendon Sullivan, Myra Monto, Maureen Lueke, and Tayler DiPesa.

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." - Michael Jordan

On Thursday, October 12th, the School Committee was presented with the District Improvement Plan. The plan was aligned with the District's new Five-Year Strategic Plan, as well as the Mission and Vision Statement for the Saugus Public Schools. The plan was created targeting three focus areas from the Strategic Plan. Buttons for the Strategic Plan, Mission Statement, and the Vision Statement are included following this section.

Saugus Public Schools - District Improvement Plan - (2023-2024) - “One Town - One Team”

The District Improvement Plan (DIP) has been created from selecting three primary focus areas/standards from our Saugus Strategic Plan 2023-2028, as well as our Mission and Vision Statement.

District Mission Statement

The Saugus Public Schools offers a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment where:

• Our educators are supported and valued

• The community is engaged and welcome

• Our students are inspired and thrive

District Vision Statement

The Saugus Public Schools will put students first by committing to:

• Grow: Build and support a thriving, committed, well trained team of educators, leaders and staff, dedicated to serving the students of Saugus.

• Belong: Establish a culture of belonging and ensure every student feels welcome, seen, heard and connected.

• Learn: Create the conditions necessary for all students to learn, thrive, and academically succeed.

Specific Areas of Focus for 2023-2024

• Support teachers through coaching and professional development to create the learning environments needed to effectively support all students.

• Strengthen communication and engagement efforts so that students, staff, parents and caregivers are seen, heard, and feel connected to the Saugus Public Schools.

• Provide all students with standards-aligned, consistently outstanding instruction in supportive learning environments.

Objectives - Actions Steps

• Growth: Support teachers through coaching and professional development to create the learning environments needed to effectively support all students.

• Professional development days/time with be directly aligned to our district areas of focus

• Providing planning time for staff to prepare and/or collaborate with grade/content area teachers.

• Provide teachers with structured common planning time to analyze student data, internalize lessons and review student work to ensure that students are learning and progressing.

• Provide coaching support in the areas of literacy (ELA) and numeracy (Math) at both elementary and secondary levels.

• Provide professional development opportunities throughout the year related to our aligned curriculum and resources.

• Prepare and support teachers to use research based instructional strategies and high quality instructional materials.

• Prepare and support teachers to create learning environments that support all students’ social emotional needs.

• Belonging: Strengthen communication and engagement efforts so that students, staff, parents and caregivers are seen, heard, and feel connected to the Saugus Public Schools.

• Develop and implement a district-wide plan for communication and engagement within the district and community.

• Publish regularly scheduled staff update emails to establish continued communication.

• Publish regularly scheduled Community Newsletter to promote accomplishments, events, activities, and other student and teacher successes.

• Maintain an accurate website for District news, information, and calendar events.

• Set up a quarterly community forum at the district level for stakeholder input. Set topic agenda.

• Launch multiple outreach tools for regular and reliable two-way communication between students, staff, parents and caregivers.

• Host a community/school sports open house to promote opportunities for our students.

• Present information to the Saugus School Committee, as needed and/or planned.

• Maintain an open line of communication answering emails, phone calls, and other questions in a timely fashion, providing stakeholders with accurate information.

• Learning: Provide all students with standards-aligned, consistently outstanding instruction in supportive learning environments.

• Adopt and prepare teachers to consistently use high quality instructional materials in all core subjects.

• Continue/expand implementation of Wit and Wisdom (year 2) for literacy grades K to 8

• Transition to 2024 version and implementation of Envision Mathematics 2 to 5.

• Continue/expand implementation (year 3) of Heggerty for phonemic awareness for PreK to 1.

• Continue with World of Wonders ELA for preK

• Continue with Fundations for Phonics for grades K to 2

• Continue/expand implementation of Carnegie Mathematics (year 3) grades 6 through Algebra 2

• Continue/expand implementation of OpenSciEd (year 2) grades 6 to 8

• Continue/expand implementation of HS Civics

• Implementation of Investigating History for grades 6 to 7

• Support the implementation and expansion of grade level enrichment and innovation programs.

• Continue and expand implementation of Project Lead the Way (PLTW)

• Continue and expand implementation of Early College at the SMHS Complex.

Hello Saugus Public Schools Community,

I, like all of you, am saddened by last Wednesday’s tragedy in Lewiston, Maine. Any tragedy of this nature is incredibly disturbing and upsetting, but for it to happen in a neighboring state is both shocking and heartbreaking.

I just want to take a moment to reaffirm the commitment of the Saugus Public Schools and the Town of Saugus to the safety of our students and staff, and the security of our school buildings. Last week, the school department, working collaboratively with Saugus Police, conducted our first lockdown drills of the school year. After each drill, we conducted a debrief with the police, building administration, and the central office leadership. As a school system, our goal is to constantly grow and improve in all areas. We approach school safety with that same mindset.

To that end, I am assembling a Safety and Security team for the District in conjunction with the emergency services for the Town. While we already have strong relationships with town emergency services, this team will strengthen the communication and coordination between departments. This would allow us to better manage any future situations. We will be meeting next week to continue to assess our readiness and work to tighten up our procedures wherever necessary.

While planning for crisis situations is not something a superintendent enjoys, it is the necessary reality of the world we live in. As an educator, I know that all of our students need a safe and secure learning environment in order to thrive. Safety is always our number one priority.

Our hearts go out to the victims in Maine and we will work to make sure that we are as prepared as possible as a school district and community to keep everyone safe and secure.

Last month we held the first ELPAC meeting (English Learners Parent Advisory Council). 24 parents from all Saugus schools participated in the meeting with the help of a Spanish and Portuguese interpreter. Parents took a 30 min training course from DESE and expressed enthusiasm in becoming more involved in their children's education by joining the ELPAC.

The SMHS Complex has announced their students and athletes of the month for September. They include:

Student of the Month for September

Lianny Torres - Grade 6 Hawthorne

Maryam Hadraoui - Grade 6 Alcott

Elijah Secka-Miguel - Grade 7 Bradstreet

Arthur Freitas - Grade 7 Barton

Elma Alic - Grade 8 Kennedy

Davi Ferreira - Grade 8 Adams

Victor Bastista Porto - Grade 9

Ava Rawson - Grade 10

Rose Matthias - Grade 11

Gianna Dicenso - Grade 12

Athletes of the Month for September

Madison Botta - Soccer

Tommy DeSimone - Football

Please use the button link below to access pictures and writeups for the students and athletes for the month of September at the Saugus Middle High School Complex.

Yesterday we had an annual Fall gathering with Everett and Revere High School's life skills and post grad programs. The photo is from a "mummy contest" where teams have to work together to wrap with the best result!

On Tuesday, October 31st, several SHS staff members participated in celebrating Halloween. They wore shirts representing various Halloween candies. Thanks to all that participated.

In collaboration with the Saugus Public Schools, Embrace Pathways is proud to

announce a series of support groups tailored specifically for female students. These

groups will be led by one of our dedicated Embrace School-Based Clinicians, Marcella

Iacovone, and are founded on therapeutic principles. We aim to address a range of

critical topics, including self-esteem, self-confidence, identity exploration, building

healthy friendships, managing anxiety and depression, coping with peer pressure, and

addressing bullying concerns.

All of these invaluable groups will be held directly within the school premises from 2:30

PM to 3:30 PM, commencing in January 2024. It is important to note that the cost of

these groups will be billed through insurance and each group will span a period of nine

weeks. The first group will run from January through February, while the second will run

from March through April.

If your child is interested in participating, we kindly ask you to click on the following link

to submit a referral form. https://embracepathways.com/intake-forms/groups/

Upon receipt of your referral, Marcella will promptly reach out to complete an intake

assessment and secure your child's place within the chosen group.

For those curious to learn more about Marcella, we encourage you to visit the following

link to access her biography and discover her wealth of experience in the field.

https://embracepathways.com/profile/marcella-iacovone/

We will be honoring our Veterans on November 9th at Belmonte STEAM Academy. The ceremony will begin at 8:15am. with a flag raising ceremony and an assembly for students and staff to honor our Veterans. Veterans will also be participating in classroom visits.

8:15 am Flag Raising

8:30 am Light Refreshments, BSA Library

9:00 am Ceremony, BSA Auditorium

9:45 am Classroom Visits

Honoring Saugus’ Brave Veterans;

On this day and every day

BSA Coaches of Running The Girls On The Run are:

• Marissa Huntington

• Lindsey Mazza

• Amelia Kracik

Girls on the Run inspires participants of all abilities to recognize their individual strengths while building a sense of connection in a team setting. Coaches facilitate lessons that blend physical activity with life skill development to enable participants to adapt to whatever comes their way. At the end of the season, the team completes a 5K together, which provides a tangible sense of accomplishment and sets a confident mindset into motion. Special thanks to Dr. Maureen Lueke and her team for making this program possible.

On October 12th, the School Committee recognized the work of Dr. Lueke, her faculty coaches, and the girls involved in the Girls on the Run program.

On Friday, October 27th was the Belmonte STEAM Academy Literacy Dress Up Day. Each grade had a parade around the school. Students joined in on the fun by dressing up as a character from any book of their choice. Students were encouraged to bring a copy of the book that their character was from, or even a picture of the book cover. Families were welcomed to watch their student parade around the school.

The golden table is part of the Belmonte STEAM Academy's PBIS initiative in the cafeteria. Each month, students have the ability to earn golden raffle tickets for showing respect, responsibility, and safety in the cafeteria. On the last Thursday of each month, 6 raffle tickets are drawn per grade level. Students whose names are drawn are able to choose one friend to join them at the golden table on the last Friday of the month. Behavior in the cafeteria has improved as a result of this initiative as students look forward to earning a seat at the golden table.

Grade 2

Brynn Clifford

Sanullah Mirzai

Nicholas Tran

Peitong Liang

Shea Collins

Jack Cheslofska

Grade 3

Finley Whittridge

Ashley Lopes

Kemilly Alves Rodrigues

Joy Phelon

Jasper Melgar Celaya

Aiden Brown Arias

Grade 4

Trini Doan

Ryder Cutelis

Eliseo Tejada

Colton MacCuish-Stoddard

Sophia Vargas

Emmaly Phommasing

Grade 5

Mia Newbury

Lucas Dos Santos

Samantha Williams

Brayleigh Caruso

Mia Powers

Luca Cvijic

The Saugus Fire Department visited the Belmonte STEAM Academy this past month and met with our 3rd grade students. They discussed fire safety with our students.

The fifth grade students were buddies for the second grade students in Mrs. Short and Mrs Cancelliere class. Students did a science experiment with Pennie’s. The fifth graders were excellent role models in working with the second graders.

Dear Belmonte Bulldogs,

We have spent the last couple days evaluating the effectiveness of our drop off procedures with the safety of students in mind during construction. After consulting with all stakeholders we will be returning to the original morning drop off procedures. Students that are dropped off early for breakfast may line up at the main office door.

Afternoon dismissal will be fourth graders leaving out the main office door and fifth graders will leave out the central office side of the building. Second and third grade student dismissal will remain the same.

We are hoping this will alleviate traffic concerns.

Sincerely,

Dr. Maureen Lueke

Over the course of the month the VELC settled into strong instructional routines. Using our Fall Benchmarking data we fully implemented our strategic and focused W.I.N. block and students are getting “What they Need!”

October was aligned to our CORE value Kindness. Together we learned about what kindness looked like and sounded like in action. In addition to learning about kindness, we all worked toward a kindness challenge each day to support our CORE Value.

These folks earned extra recess for living our core value of the month: KINDNESS.

During October, the PTO hosted our annual Fall Festival and our first Boosterthon fundraiser where we raised $34,000 dollars and ended with a Fun Run! We also held our annual dental screening and fall pictures and the turn out for both was amazing. So many beautiful smiles!

Thanks with the help of our PTO our Fun Run concluded our Boosterthon fundraising. It was a great day. Thanks to all that came out and participated and all of those that donated.

This month we hosted a district level team who stopped by to check out all of the wonderful learning going on at the VELC and, of course, the feedback was amazing!! Smiling students, hard workers and great teachers!

Fire fighters visited the Veterans Early Learning Center addressing fire presentation and safety. Never too early to learn about safety.

At the VELC we held our first safety lockdown drill and for the youngest participants we did a great job following our safety protocols even if we were a little nervous!

Last Friday the Veterans Early Learning Center hosted their school meeting. There were several great acts that performed featuring some brave students. Eagle Wing recipients were also acknowledged at our ceremony.

During the closing of the month, we held our first Parent Coffee Hour and we were joined by 7 parents and Mrs. Terbin from Central Office! Lastly and most importantly, we ended the month with our annual Costume Parade and we met our newest Eagle Wing winners at our monthly School Meeting!

Once again we are participating in the First LEGO Robotics League. There are 5th Grade District wide teams at the Belmonte STEAM Academy.

“Belmonte Bullbots” and “Techno Titans”

Coaches- Mr. Palmerini & Mrs. Williamson

Fall Robotics After School program is off to a great start. The two teams (Belmonte Bullbots and Techno Titans) are working hard to complete building Lego Spike Prime Robots and program them to successfully complete missions. This year the First Lego Robotic theme is “Masterpiece” integrating the Arts and Sciences into the Challenge Competition. The missions are completed on the specially designed table incorporating many challenges to be completed within 2min and 30sec. The teams are looking forward to competing with other towns from Massachusetts in grades 4-8. This year the regional matches will be held at Melrose High School on Saturday, December 2 from 7:30am to 4:30pm.

Early College News and Happenings.

Hello from the Saugus High School Early College program. My name is Rick Doucette and I am the new Director of Early College and Career Pathways here.

Massachusetts has created the Early College initiative to provide a structured program of study and supports that increases college success and career readiness while prioritizing students historically underserved in higher education. There are currently 55 designated high schools in the Commonwealth and Saugus is in the process to join them.

The Early college program here at Saugus High School is in its second year enrolling students in college classes. This is the first year where Saugus High School students are taking classes during the school day. Currently we have 35 students enrolled in four different courses; Speech, Art, Sociology, and Understanding College and Career pathways. All of these courses are taught by faculty from North Shore Community College inside Saugus High School. The courses are all free of charge for students and are available to transfer to all colleges and universities in the UMass system, and on a case by case basis with other universities.

This is an exciting opportunity for your children to get a jumpstart on their college education. We will start recruiting students for next year's program in February to ensure that there is room in their schedule. Please be on the lookout for more information. It is our hope to expand this program to involve more that 400+ students as we move forward.

The girls Volleyball team will enter the MIAA Division 3 post season tournament with an 11-9 record and ranked 37th of out of 40 competing teams. We will travel to the #28 seed Chicopee High School on Thursday November 2nd for a 6:30 pm match.

The girls Soccer team will enter the MIAA Division 3 post season tournament with a 14-3-1 record and ranked 16th out of 44 competing teams. We will play host to #17 seed North Reading on Saturday afternoon at 3 pm here in Christie Serino Jr Memorial Stadium.

Best of luck to our Sachem Nation tournament bound teams!

Our game Monday was against Danvers. We were tied 58-58 until Saugus made one more basket in the last minute of the game. We were happy with the win but even more proud of the sportsmanship we saw. We honored our Senior on the team Mikaela Munafo who started the Unified team with us last year. It was a great crowd - lots of staff and families, and Olivia Stanton joined us again in singing the National Anthem.

Our fall sports teams are at the end of their regular season of play and several are fortunate enough to have made the MIAA State Tournament. Others are wrapping up their team schedules and looking forward to end of the season banquets and the winter sports season.

Our Volleyball team qualified for the tournament for the first time in program history with a final season record of 11-9 and is seeded 37th in MIAA Division 3. The team qualified under the .500 season record rule and will travel west to Chicopee HS seeded #28 for a preliminary round state tournament game this Thursday Nov 2nd at 6:30pm. Let’s Go Sachems!

Our Girls Soccer team has once again had a successful season and look to improve their current 13-3-1 season record when they wrap up their regular season schedule tonight at Gloucester. The team is currently ranked 16th in MIAA Division 3 and pending the outcome of tonight's game vs the Fisherman, we could potentially host a 1st round state tournament game in the next week or so. State tourney pairings for soccer will be released this Wednesday November 1st at approximately 1pm.

The Boys Soccer team will wrap up its season today as they play host to the Gloucester Fisherman for their final game of the year. Pending the outcome of today’s contest, the boys will end their season ranked at approximately #45 in MIAA Division 3 with a 3-11-3 record.

Our Football team finished the regular season ranked #25 in MIAA Division 5 with a record of 4-4, with the only remaining NEC league match up at Peabody on Thanksgiving Day at 10am. The team will wrap up their season in the non-playoff bracket which will consist of 2 games, the first of which will be a road trip contest to face off with Pentucket this Friday night November 3rd at 6:30pm. The week two non-playoff opponent and game site will be determined at a districtwide meeting on Sunday morning.

Our Field Hockey team ended their season last week with a solid non-league game showing vs a good Waltham Hawks opponent to finish the season ranked at #47 in MIAA Division 3 at 2-14-1. We were a very young squad this year and while this presents its challenges in the highly competitive Northeastern Conference League it does provide our younger players with valuable varsity level experience that we hope to capitalize on in years to come.

Our Boys Golf team ended their match play season with a record of 2-13 in the NEC League that boasts some of the best golfers and teams in the state. Our Sachems sent 2 golfers to the NEC Open at Tedesco Country Club on Thursday October 26th where Ryan Jones and Dominic Chianca represented us proudly. The team held their wrap up banquet last week at Prince Pizza where they named Ryan Jones their MVP, Brayden Verone took home the Most Improved Golfer award and Artie O’Leary took home the Coaches Award for the season.

Our co-op team Cross Country runners Kason Imbrogna and Annabella Tum wrapped up their inaugural season with the team from Northeast Metro Tech in Wakefield with consistent race performance and steady improvement throughout the season.

The Sachem Nation Cheerleaders continue their unwavering support of our football team in their game day cheer team all the while preparing for their own invitational competition season in an attempt to gain a qualifying score to gain a bid in their divisional state competition. The team will compete in the NEC League Championship Competition this Thursday at Gloucester HS beginning at 6pm, please come out and support our team members if you are able to.

Our MS Cross Country Team competed in the NEC League Meet last week at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester to wrap up its season. This league meet brings together schools from across the league and encompasses over 600 runners from all schools.

Our MS Field Hockey wrapped up its season last week and finished competing in a very strong MS NEC League schedule.

We are exited to announced that our Girl Soccer team has captured the Northeastern Conference - Lynch Division championship for the 2023 season. Congratulations to all of the players and coaches that made this happen. Thanks also to the families, friends and students that came out to support the girls soccer team this season.

Hello SMHS Community,

We are reaching out to share more exciting news from Saugus Middle High School!

SMHS Student-Athlete Braden Faiella recently received the Moynihan Lumber North Shore Student-Athlete Award. Please Click Here to read more about it!

Congratulations Braden!

Two Saugus teams were recognized as Lynn Item Teams of the week.

For the week of October 9th: Girls Soccer

For the week of October 23rd: Volleyball

The Saugus High School Drama Club is excited to announce its fall production of Almost Maine, by John Cariani. In the town of, Almost, Maine, characters explore the life-changing power of the human heart. In this vignette-style play, we see relationships begin, relationships end, strangers become friends, and friends become lovers as we experience a true roller coaster of emotions and wit. The SHSDC production of Almost Maine, advised by Mr. Raponi, will be student-directed. Three student directors, Sebastian Delios ('24), Maximus Barboza ('24), and Madelynne Leonard ('26), will join forces to bring this script to life in the Saugus High School Black Box Theatre.

Performance dates are Thursday, November 16, Friday, November 17, and Saturday, November 18 at 7:00 pm. All performances will take place in the beautiful Black Box Theatre at Saugus Middle High School! Please note there is limited seating for these performances. Tickets can be purchased at the Door or reserved to be paid the night of your selected performance. ! $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors. Please reach out to Drama Club Advisor, Mr. Nicholas Raponi, with any inquiries or ticket reservations at nraponi@saugus.k12.ma.us. We hope to see you there!

Student performers include:

Rin Brown, Zahra Ghaouta, Sebastian Delios, Hannah Evers-Jenkins, Bryan Borrelli,

Kateri Byrd, Olivia Stanton, Kate Petipas, Sofia Davalos, Pedro Spalenza,

Maximus Barboza, Madelynne Leonard, and Bella Henriques.

The Middle School Drama Club has started! There will be auditions November 14th to the 16th and tech starts on November 21st. We are doing a STEAM themed show called Bots! A New Children's Musical.

The show goes up on Thursday, February 1, 2024 and runs through Saturday, February 3, 2024 and we will be having a performance during the school day on Monday, February 5, 2024 for our the 5th graders.

Saugus High Schools acapella group “Tonal Chaos” is performing at Wakefield’s Fall Fest this Saturday at 7pm at the Galvin Middle School. Fall Fest is a gathering of high school acapella groups from around Massachusetts. Tickets are only $10!