Salem Public Schools
Happy Thanksgiving to all members of the Salem Public Schools family! We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with your children. Their talents, spirit and personality brighten our learning spaces every day. Thank you for sharing them with us! We hope to see many of you at the annual Thanksgiving football game in Beverly at 10 a.m. The presale for the 127th playing of The Game is available now!
Salem High School vs. Beverly High School | Thursday, Nov. 27
Students $5
Adults $7
Day of Game $10
Tickets can be purchased in the SHS main office or the Athletic office.
With the holiday season comes inclement weather. As winter approaches, we want to share important information about weather cancellations and delays. Please see below:
What is the Process for Determination of School Closure or Delay?
We consult with various parties, including the City of Salem’s Department of Public Services (DPS), the Mayor, our transportation department, and the SPS Buildings and Grounds department. If we have to make the call, we aim to give notice the evening before, but sometimes an early morning decision is needed. Early morning updates will be communicated by 6:00 a.m.
The call could be an announcement for:
no school (snow day)
2-hour delay
early dismissal
or cancellation of extracurricular activities.
Full school days missed due to school closures will be made up and added to the end of the school year. Please note that we try to avoid an early release once the school day has started because we’re aware of the hardship on families. There may be instances that some or all afterschool programs are cancelled due to weather.
How do we Communicate a School Closure or Delay?
If we decide on a school closure or a delayed start, this information will be communicated to parents and staff. Families and staff will be notified via ParentSquare with a phone call, text message, and email. A website banner, social media, and local TV channels will also broadcast the closing or delay.
In the event that school is canceled or there is an early release, all after-school and outdoor program activities will be canceled unless otherwise noted in the communication. Exceptions for school-sponsored activities may be made if weather and road conditions improve later in the day.
Additional information can be found on our website. Please be sure that our schools have your most updated contact information to reach you in the event that we have a cancellation or delay.
Finally, I want to remind you that we have two public forums next week about our school merger proposals:
In-person public forum in Spanish scheduled for Monday, November 24th at 6 p.m. at Saltonstall School (English and Portuguese interpretation will be provided) | WATCH LIVE
In-person public forum on Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Horace Mann (Spanish and Portuguese interpretation will be provided) | WATCH LIVE
I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your families.
With appreciation,
Steve
VIEW GALLERY | Salem High School 2025 Athletic Hall of Fame Induction
They are All-Americans, All-Eastern Massachusetts and Northeast Conference all-stars who once splattered the pages of The Salem News. They are charter members of their sports and multi-sport athletes, several who went on to standout at the Division I and III levels and earned places in their college halls of fame.
The Salem News | Salem High Athletic Hall of Fame welcomes in 14 new inductees
The smiles and the laughter came easily, good friends catching up and reliving athletic feats of yesteryear while wondering where their time as Witches had gone. The 21st annual Salem High School Athletic Hall of Fame banquet took place Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse, where 14 former greats were inducted and at least 10 times as many stories shared.
Salem Public Schools Announces Early Childhood Expo Dates, Details
The 2026 Salem Public Schools Early Childhood Expo, which showcases kindergarten, pre-kindergarten and preschool programming, will take place Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, and Wednesday, Jan. 28, in two capacities.
The ticket presale for the 127th playing of The Game is on.
Tickets for the Thanksgiving Day football clash between Salem High School and Beverly High School are available at the SHS main office or the Athletic Department office. Admission is as follows:
- $5 for students
- $7 for adults
Admission the day of the game is $10. For more information, contact the SHS Athletic Department at (978) 740-1123.
This week, the Collins Middle School 7th-grade science class embarked on an exhilarating farm-to-school adventure to explore the what’s-in-the-soil-connecting-garden lesson to the microbiome unit. They installed their own vibrant garden beds filled with rich soil and used microscopes to get an up-close look at the tiny world beneath their feet. The students then joyfully planted garlic in their beds, eager to see it grow.
Working in teams, they dove into more activities related to Collins’s thriving garden. They also had the incredible opportunity to break down sunflower plants and examine the seeds closely, making learning lively and hands-on. The garlic they planted sparked excitement, with students suggesting it could be part of the school lunch menu someday. Though everyone was sad to leave after such an exciting day in the garden, they left with smiles and new discoveries.
J.D. Scrimgeour, the city of Salem’s Poet Laureate, invites Salem Public Schools students and staff to submit a piece (or pieces) of poetry or prose about your experiences living in Salem for "Pieces of Salem," an anthology to commemorate the city’s quadricentennial. Submitted works can be either prose or poetry no more than 400 words (for example, authors can submit two poems of 200 words each).
Those whose work is accepted will receive one complimentary copy of the anthology. Additional copies may be purchased with an author’s discount.
- Who is eligible? Anyone who has lived or worked in Salem for at least one year. Submitters will be asked to briefly describe their connection to the city when they submit.
- What is the deadline to submit work? The deadline is December 1, 2025
- When will I know if my work has been accepted? All work will get a response no later than December 31, 2025.
Questions can be sent to J.D. Scrimgeour at poet@salem.com.
The Salem, Mass.-Ota, Japan Sister City Exchange, in its 35th year, has announced its 2026 trip to Ota, slated for Aug. 6-16. The mission of the Salem-Ota Cultural Exchange is to promote cross cultural understanding and friendship between the cities of Salem and Ota, a borough of Tokyo.
The cities of Salem and Ota have enjoyed a wonderful sister-city relationship for over twenty years. The relationship began in 1991 as an outgrowth of the century-old affiliation between Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum and the Ota Folk Museum. Thousand of Salem and Ota families have been involved over the years in this incredible program.
Approximate cost of the trip is $3,800 per person which includes airfare, accommodations, most meals, bus and rail transportation, and memorable welcome and farewell parties.
For more information on the exchange, download the brochure, visit the Salem-Ota Exchange website or contact Peter Dolan at otasalem@cs.com. or (978) 204-5755 by Dec. 31.
ParentSquare is the communication platform for Salem Public Schools. Families receive communication from the district, school, and their student's classroom all in one space. Families can communicate 1-to-1 with teachers, register for parent-teacher conferences, and more.
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.