Salem Public Schools Weekly Newsletter

January 27, 2023

SPS families,

Since the start of the school year, we have received important input from families about our transportation services. They have asked us to consider drafting guidelines for how we communicate, respond to concerns and provide timely information. As a result of these suggestions, we have established a series of expectations for how the Salem Public Schools and our transportation partner (currently NRT) will work with our families. Please find these expectations below:

Parent/Guardian Expectations for Salem Public Schools Transportation

1. The district will make every effort to provide families with a copy of their proposed route and schedule one (1) week in advance of their child’s scheduled first day of school;

2. If buses are delayed by more than 15 minutes, families should be informed via GPS app, text, phone call, or email;

3. If a bus is involved in any sort of crash or accident, parents should be notified by text or phone call as soon as the scene is secured by Salem Police and details are communicated to the SPS Director of Transportation;

4. Families should be notified of any permanent changes to routes via GPS app, text, phone call, or email;

5. If a parent/guardian calls the SPS transportation office due to a delayed bus or related issue, the transportation office should be able to locate buses in real time or provide an immediate call back (within 30 minutes) if warranted.

These commitments set a minimum foundation for what families should expect and hold the district and bussing partner to when it comes to transportation for their child. While challenges may persist due to staffing shortages, we can assure you that we will keep you informed. Please note that these expectations are posted on our website. Thank you for your continued partnership and support.

Have a wonderful weekend with your families,

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 award goes to the multilingual teaching team at Horace Mann – Diana Robinson, Judy Flynn and Geidy Peguero. They have been champions for their students all year long and, most recently, through the ACCESS language assessment process. On test days, the team created a banner of encouragement and also provided a healthy snack to keep students’ energy up during testing. Students came to school excited to do their very best each day! This team knows their students and their families incredibly well and challenges the entire HMLS community to welcome families in the most culturally responsive way. 

Thank you to the city leaders who took the time to learn more about our CTE programs today. We are always proud to show off the amazing things happening at Salem High School. Many thanks to Senator Lovely, Representative Cruz, and Acting Mayor Bob McCarthy for joining us.

You may remember the story about last year’s Horace Mann 5th grade students who made an impact in our district. These HMLS graduates have been asked to speak at the 1st ever Menstrual Equity Summit at Northeastern University in Boston. Alice Camilo Linares, Alexa Baez Baez and Dariely Moronta Espinal will be participating in a panel on “Mobilizing to End Period Poverty”

In 2022 these young students wrote their ELA opinion writing projects on why menstrual products should be free for all students. Their passion for this topic snowballed from presenting their arguments to the school nurse, into presenting to their peers for the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade puberty talks and ultimately led to getting approval from the Superintendent to add free menstrual product dispensers from Aunt Flow in a gender neutral bathroom in all Salem Public Schools.

Congratulations to them for continuing to be a voice of youth activism.

Superintendent Zrike will be hosting a monthly show on SATV beginning in February. We want to hear from you! What would like to hear from us? What guest speakers should we bring on? What other types of things should we do on this show? Let us know in this form so we can tailor the show just for you.

We will host two budget forums – February 15th (in person, SHS IMC) and February 28 (virtual), both from 6:30-8:00 pm for the SPS community to share their input/feedback on the district’s priorities for the 2023-2024 school year. More information about how to participate will be coming soon.

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. It will also be posted on our website as well as social media and local TV channels. 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.

K-Gr. 1 Unicorn Party (Girl Scouts)

Fiesta Mágica de Ponis

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.