Salem Public Schools' Weekly Update

SPS families,

Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by the recent tragedy in Lewiston, Maine. Events such as this bring to mind the importance we place on mental health, particularly that of our students. Our counselors are available throughout the school day and we offer several mental health resources and tools that families might find helpful. We encourage our parents to routinely ‘check in’ with their children, to ask what might be concerning them, and partner with our school staff to ensure that our children are receiving the requisite support.

Over the last two weeks, mid-term progress reports have been sent to middle and high school students. Our educators work hard to provide families with a snapshot of their child’s school performance. It is important to us that families receive timely information about their child’s progress so that there are never surprises and so that you can work with your child’s school to address any concerns that may arise. Since the release of the progress reports, I have received some constructive input about what might be improved so that families might better understand how to support their child. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with your thoughts and ideas for refining the reports so that they are as useful as possible for families.

Finally, we would like to wish all of our families who celebrate, a happy Halloween! As a reminder, schools are closed on October 30th and October 31st (offices EXCEPT our Parent Information Center will remain open). This decision was made in order to keep students safe (especially as they travel to and from school) given the expected crowds, traffic and road closures.

We hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and returns November 1 ready to learn!

Best,

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.

The rockstar award this week goes to Ms. Sam Sousa, HMLS inclusion specialist. Ms. Sousa is such a flexible and supportive team member. She is always willing to meet with teachers to help them plan and do what is best for ALL students, not just those on her caseload. She is a mentor, practicum supervisor, and an all around amazing leader… and does it all with a smile!

Salem Public Schools will conduct a test of our parent notification system on Tuesday, Nov. 7 (Election Day), at a time to be determined. Nov. 7 is a professional development day for our educators. All schools EXCEPT Carlton are closed.

Forty-one Salem High School seniors earned acceptance to Salem State University Thursday, Oct. 19 at the first-ever SSU Applies to You admissions decision ceremony at SHS’s Instructional Multimedia Center. Many of the 41 students accepted at the ceremony are members of the Early College Program at SHS, with which SSU is partnered. Among them, several have already committed to attending SSU in the fall of 2024. Continue reading

Over the last few weeks, our seven summer reading raffle winners arrived to school courtesy of the Salem Fire Department. Kudos to Rex (Bates), Angely (Bentley), Edison (Carlton), Violet (Early Childhood), Michael (Horace Mann), Julia (Saltonstall) and Graham (Witchcraft Heights).

Tilda Rieder, a senior at Salem High School, was named the recipient of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS) Award for Academic Excellence, Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike announced Monday. Ms. Rieder was presented a citation Monday, Oct. 16 at the Salem School Committee meeting by Dr. Zrike and Mayor Dominick Pangallo. The honor is presented to the outstanding senior who exemplifies academic excellence, models character and leadership qualities and consistent pursuit of excellence. Continue reading

The Parent Information Center will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, October 30th and 31st for staff professional development training. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Our school nurses have put some great ideas together to help our students enjoy a safe, happy, spooky, and fun Halloween break. Click on the link below for their newsletter.

English / Spanish / Portuguese

The Salem Teachers Union 1258 Student Scholarship Fund Raffle is live!!

• Raffle starts at $500 and escalates with each ticket sold, CURRENTLY $1,000.00!!
• Tickets: $5 each, or FIVE for $20
• Use Venmo: @STUevents

On Monday, Oct. 23 the Salem League of Women Voters and the Salem Education Foundation co-sponsored a forum to hear from the candidates for School Committee. In case you missed it, you can watch the recordings, thanks to SATV. A great discussion of issues the School Committee will need to consider was facilitated by skilled moderator, Dr. Kenann McKenzie DeFranza. We hope you'll "tune in".

WATCH IN ENGLISH | WATCH IN SPANISH

Welcome to the Virtual Backpack. This is a space where we will place items that in the past may have been a flyer in your student's backpack from friends and partners to SPS.

Jr. Celtics Academy Basketball League / Jr. Celtics Academy Liga de baloncesto (LVO YMCA)

North Shore Toy Drive / North Shore Colección de Juguetes / Coleta de Brinquedos em North Shore

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.