Salem Public Schools Weekly Update

May 19, 2023

SPS Families,

We hope that you can join us at the SEE ME student exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum this weekend. Students across SPS have worked incredibly hard to share their powerful and personal stories with the larger community. Come check out their talents! On Saturday, we have an exciting program where in the morning students will present their student voice change projects and in the afternoon there will be a panel entitled "Leveraging the Power of Student Identity and Voice to Transform School Culture".

I also wanted to invite the high school community to conversations occurring at Salem High School about some important curriculum and programmatic changes and what they mean for students and families. The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, May 23rd at 6 pm and Wednesday, May 31st at 6 pm. More specifically,

• Salem High School has piloted a new English curriculum this spring. The new units from Odell provide students with cognitively demanding and rigorous tasks which have served to enhance student engagement. The school wants to share more information about this new curricular resource.
• Salem High School is also looking to implement a Pre-Advanced Placement Curriculum in social studies, science, and mathematics for all grade 9 and 10 students next year with the goal of expanding to ELA in the following year. During the session, you will learn the differences in curriculum between College Prep and Honor Level courses for grade 9 and 10 students. They will also discuss implementation of how this Pre-AP curriculum will better prepare students for Early College and Advanced Placement offerings including specifics as to how it will be rolled out.
• Salem High School will be introducing some new student supports during the upcoming school year relative to homework, tutoring, attendance/tardies and cell phones. The school wants to work closely with families to guarantee the success of every student and ensure a culture of high achievement!

Finally, congratulations to all our students who were inducted in the SHS National Honor Society and Art Honor Society last night!

Enjoy the 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's rockstar is ECC Speech and Language Pathologist, Lynn Crispo. Ms. Crispo provides services to most of the students at the ECC and does so with careful planning, deliberate instruction and strong communication with families. Ms. Crispo has designed and delivered professional learning to all staff, always eager to share her expertise. Finally, she knows the names of the children at the Center and greets them each day with great enthusiasm and energy!

Congrats to Dr. Zrike for being chosen as part of the new cohort for The Learner-Centered Leadership Lab (LCLL), a program specifically designed for the most forward-thinking and visionary systems leaders who are committed to putting learners first. Throughout their journey, they will work collaboratively and support each other to create conditions that will enable learners to thrive in a world that is constantly evolving. As part of this program, these innovative leaders will have access to a national network of like-minded individuals who are just as passionate about transforming education as they are.

Join the community for a celebration of Salem students at the Peabody Essex Museum.

"SEE ME" is a multi-day pop-up exhibition featuring artwork from Salem students in grades K-12. This celebration of student works includes drawings, paintings, photography, poetry, video and more. Works will be displayed throughout the museum.

Join us for these special events on Saturday, May 20th:

10:30 am -12:00 pm - Morse Auditorium

Salem Student Voice Project Summit: “Raising the Volume of Student Voice”

Salem Public Schools has taken on the challenge of social inequity by forming a partnership with the nonprofit Equity Imperative. This partnership led to the creation of the Student Voice Project, an effort to amplify students’ concerns and help them take action to address them.

1:30-2:45pm - Morse Auditorium

"Leveraging the Power of Student Identity and Voice to Transform School Culture" Fireside Chat with Superintendent, Dr. Stephen Zrike Jr, SPS Artist-in-Residence & Hip-Hop Performer, Dee-1, Equity Imperative Co-Founder and Director of the Student Voice Project, Judith Diaz-Rodriguez. Opening remarks from Lt. Governor, Kim Driscoll.

Salem residents and SPS staff members will get in FREE! This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the incredible talent of Salem Public Schools students.

Hello from Food and Nutrition Services! Check out the menus for May 22nd - June 2nd - https://salemfoodservice.wixsite.com/spsk12menus We have some great meals planned for the upcoming weeks! Our locally famous chicken shawarma returns to our menus on 5/23, we are offering sweet and sour chicken with brown rice for luau day at Carlton on 5/26, and to close the month of May on 5/31, we have a meal featuring the May harvest of the month - seafood! We will be serving baked fish with Ritz cracker crust.

On May 9th at Salem High School, we featured a build-your-own stir-fry bowl for the first time! Components of this meal were taste-tested the week before to see how students felt about the new Asian fusion options. This taste test and meal were a collaboration with the John Stalker Institute. A training was held in March with our kitchen staff and the John Stalker Institute to practice cooking the Asian fusion cuisine that was incorporated into this meal. Students were given several different veggies and protein options to include in their bowl: crispy tofu, chicken teriyaki, vegetable fried rice, rainbow slaw, and stir fry vegetables. Sauce options included teriyaki sauce or sriracha sauce. We received great feedback from students on this meal and it will be returning to our menu soon!

Transportation applications for the 2023-2024 school year opened on Monday, May 1, 2023, in the Aspen family portal. The Transportation Department sent information to families with instructions on how to apply, so please check your email, text messages, and ParentSquare notifications.

All students who wish to ride the bus for the 2023-2024 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 Saturday, July 1, 2023. Applications received after July 1, 2023, will not be accepted except in extenuating circumstances to allow proper time for processing and routing.

(978) 740-1240.

We have received inquiries and questions about summer school programming in the Salem Public Schools and in collaboration with our community partners. We are pleased to share that we will have approximately the same number of summer programming seats that we did last summer when we offered a record number of seats for SPS students. Our school-based teams are currently working to register students that would benefit most from the summer offerings. Historically, this happens before we open up the programming more widely. That being said, if you are interested in learning more about our Salem Public Schools or community offerings, please reach out to the City Connects coordinators at each K-8 school and the guidance departments at our three high school campuses. We want as many of our students to be connected to citywide programs as possible!

We are excited to announce that Angela's Preschool and Daycare is now open at Salem High School! Our preschool and daycare facility is dedicated to providing a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for your child's growth and development. Enroll your child now by contacting 978-335-1413

We understand the importance of quality care and education for your child, which is why our experienced staff is committed to providing personalized attention to each child in our care. Our curriculum focuses on social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development to ensure your child a well-rounded and ready for their next educational journey.

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.

Register NOW for the 31st Annual Walk for HAWC! Sunday June 4th, 2023

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 our school and teachers communicate with families districtwide. Please be sure you are receiving messages from ParentSquare. If need support downloading the app or receiving messages, please contact your school's front office. You can visit www.parentsquare.com for more information.