Salem Public Schools Update

February 4, 2022

SPS families,

It has been a crazy weather week and I appreciate everyone's flexibility as we navigate the joys of the New England seasons. The groundhog predicted more winter and was not wrong! Do not forget to enter our ice day challenge over the next few days. We are asking that our community send a photo of a staff member or student honoring Black History Month - reading a book, listening to music and/or looking at art. Whatever you are doing to honor this month, we want to see it! Please send photos to publicrelations@salemk12.org by 5:00pm on Sunday, February 6th to win a sweet treat from Melt Ice Cream in Salem!

As shared, February is Black History month and we are actively celebrating by honoring the accomplishments of Black Americans. Our curriculum and instruction team has provided our teachers with a series of resources to utilize during the month. While the spotlight is on Black history this month, in SPS we adhere to the approach of the Center for Racial Justice in Education which states, “We believe that the histories, stories, and voices of Black people should be centered, honored, and uplifted in school curricula every day. We also acknowledge the importance, relevance and origins of Black History Month.” Black history warrants year-long attention in addition to the traditional celebration in February each year. All K-12 students in Salem deserve to learn about Black history and related contemporary issues throughout the year.

It is also important for our students to understand that Black history is Salem's history. In the last year, I have learned that the City of Salem was home to many prominent black leaders who advocated for, and developed, the first Black voting system in this country. Salem Public Schools was also one of the first school districts to desegregate its schools after Black students and families demanded a more equitable educational experience. There will be an upcoming exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum, detailing the origins of equal school rights in Salem. We promise to ensure that our young people have a deep appreciation for the rich, comprehensive, complicated and multi-faceted history of our city, state and nation.

See you next week!

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 construction cone that displays the words: “Awesome,” “Well Done,” or “Great Job.”

This week's Cone of Excellence goes to our district HVAC technician, Rick Bobola. Mr. Bobola joined us at the beginning of the pandemic and has worked tirelessly to make sure that all of our classrooms have operable and functional HVAC units. He arrives early each morning to review and check out our systems. We always appreciate his solution-oriented approach and can do attitude, even with the challenges of the last few years.

Next week, Feb. 7–11, 2022, we honor our school counselors and school adjustment counselors in celebrating National School Counseling Week 2022. Sponsored by the American School Counselor Association, this year’s theme is “Better Together”. The week highlights the unique contributions and tremendous impact our counselors have in helping Salem Public Schools' students achieve school and career success. Our college and career counselors are integral in engaging students in examining their strengths, interests and talents, and work with school teams to ensure positive ways to enhance students’ academic, career and social emotional development. Our school adjustment counselors are trained mental health professionals who assist with mental health concerns, positive behavioral support, academic and classroom support, consultation with teachers, parents, and administrators, as well as provide individual and group counseling. We want to take this opportunity to recognize and thank our counselors for their commitment to ensuring every student thrives in our schools and community.

Masks Available for Middle School/High School Students: We have up to five KN95 masks available for each middle school/high school student. Please ask at the school office. After our original order was canceled, we are working to source masks to fit younger students and will let you know as soon as they are available.

At-home test kits:

We are excited to be launching the additional layer of testing through the new at-home test kit distribution for students and staff.

• We distributed over 500 test kits to staff and over 2,000 test kits to students to launch this new layer of mitigation over the past 9 days.
• Student test kits went home Thursday. All students that participate in our weekly testing program will receive a kit as well as an additional ~50 families that have requested at-home test kits by opting-in to participate.
• Please note, at Salem High School, students do need to go pick up the test by the nurses' office. We will have one additional day of pickup on Monday for students that forgot.
  
• At home tests are to be used by students and staff on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings before returning to school.
• Here is a link to the full instructions in English & Spanish: https://bit.ly/SPS-AHTKI
• Here is a link to a Google form (in six languages) to report positive test results https://bit.ly/SPS-PResults
• Please note, as a result of this program, pool testing will now take place on Tuesdays (Bates, Carlton, ECC, Saltonstall, & Witchcraft) or Wednesday (Bentley, Collins, Horace Mann, & Salem High). This helps us balance the week so that rapid testing takes place Sunday evening and pool testing is completed in time to get results before the end of the week.
• Finally, if students have been positive with COVID-19 since winter break began, we are not sending home a test with your student. The program does not allow those who were recently positive to participate as the risk of reinfection is very low.

COVID Protocol Reminders:

• We continue to emphasize the importance of identifying positive cases to ensure students stay at home, as well as using our robust testing protocols to identify students that are asymptomatic.
• With the new at-home tests, we will continue our current practice of only contact tracing and using Test to Stay at the discretion of our school nurses, if there are multiple cases within one room. As a result, we will not identify in school close contacts.
• However, if an individual is a close contact outside of school and they are not vaccinated, they must still quarantine for five days. If they remain symptom free for those five days, they may return on day six. If they are symptomatic, they must test to return to school. If individuals are close contacts outside of school and are vaccinated, they are exempt from quarantine but must monitor closely for symptoms.

C3 Monthly Coffee Talk with Parents/Guardians of Students in grades 9-12, February 16th @ 7:45-8:45am - Families are invited to join us for a cup of coffee and meet with members of the College, Career and Counseling Team. We can discuss your student, upcoming Salem High opportunities and partner with you to support your student’s high school experience and to plan for life after graduation.

Join us virtually at…

https://zoom.us/j/5576769229?pwd=aFVpY3QrOHN2eG9JdTU0anc3eGJXUT09

Don't miss your chance to shape the future of our facilities. Register here to participate in an upcoming forum. After the virtual 2/14 forum, all others will be conducted in person. See details below.

Kindergarten registration is now open. The School Committee recently approved an extension on the Batch 1 registration deadline. See below. Registration packets and recordings of the Early Childhood Expo can be found on our district's website at salemk12.org or you can have one mailed by calling our Parent Information Center at 978-740-1225.

As winter approaches, we want to remind staff and families to be sure we have current contact information to reach you in the event that we have a cancellation or delay. Notifications will go out through ParentSquare via automated phone call, text, and email. We do not have the option of remote instruction in the event of a closure.

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.

2022 Salem Little League Registration

Winter Kickball League

Dr. Zrike would love the opportunity to meet with any SPS staff or SPS family who would like to do so. It could be in a park, a coffee shop, your home, or anywhere else.

If you would like to schedule some time with Dr. Zrike, please email Mindy Marino to set up a time and place.

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 how the schools will communicate with families districtwide going forward. Please be sure you are receiving messages from ParentSquare. If you are having trouble, contact your school's front office. You can visit www.parentsquare.com for more information.

Email: publicrelations@salemk12.org
Website: https://www.salemk12.org
Location: 29 Highland Avenue, Salem, MA, USA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SalemPublicSchools
Twitter: @SalemSchoolsk12