Photo By PAULA MULLER
Swampscott Middle School Principal Robert Murphy during a meeting at Swampscott High School, where principals presented improvement plans for their schools.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT Middle School Principal Robert Murphy wants to align middle and high school schedules to “maximize offerings between the two schools.”
Murphy highlighted the importance of the English and Mathematics curriculum at the middle school and said the middle school also continues to roll out a social/emotional curriculum and supports the growth of student support groups.
Murphy’s goals and improvement objectives, outlined by four fellow principals, are under review by School Committee members who will take time to digest the information they were presented,before voting on improvement plans.
During last Thursday’s improvement plan presentations to the committee, High School Principal Frank Kowalski said one of his goals focuses on academics.
“We want to increase the academic rigor of our students,” Kowalski said.
Kowalski went on to say that he will also focus on increasing community engagement by involving the community in creating and reviewing policy at the high school. Along the same lines, he plans to work on increasing communication with high school families.
Murphy said another goal is working on the ALICE implementation, which stands for Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate, and is being taught to school districts as a way to deal with an active shooter situation.
Jennifer Hunt, Stacey Phelan, and Tom Daniels, principals of Clarke, Hadley and Stanley Elementary Schools, respectively, also presented their School Improvement Plans.
Hunt presented four goals centered around Clarke’s literacy and math curriculum, family and community engagement and student learning that is centered on student wellness and psychological safety.
“The Clarke Elementary School believes in fostering a love of reading and writing to create a community of engaged lifelong learners,” Hunt wrote in her presentation.
Kowalski said a positive school climate is key and highlighted the importance of school staff and administrators being in the hallways to “meet and greet” with the students. The students will also soon get a chance to increase their input, as he said student involvement in the running of the school is currently “lacking.” A school assembly will be held today to discuss those goals.
The high school principal said another goal is to work on the professional culture. Kowalski suggested increasing faculty meetings and spoke about SAT teams, which “will help us learn where students are struggling in schools and improve those scores.”
Hunt said Clarke supports using a balanced approach to literacy and has implemented a district wide professional development plan with the Teaching and Learning Alliance to train educators.
For math, Hunt said her school is committed to implementing the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics. She said Clarke also uses the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Guiding Principles for Mathematics by focusing on teaching, learning and technology.
Hunt also wants to maintain “effective, efficient and timely communications between house, school and community.” She is focused on improving communication with families of English Language Learners and Special Education students.
She also wants to ensure student well-being and psychological safety by creating a safe and secure building and providing support for students.
At Hadley, Phelan said the focus is on writing and mathematics. She outlined goals to improve writing and math scores on standardized tests by the end of the school year.
Phelan also spoke about student wellness and psychological safety, with the goal for staff being to provide students with opportunity to make healthy choices, participate in physical activities and have healthy peer relationships.
Phelan wants teachers to gather growth data on students across all content areas to “make sound instructional decisions.”
At Stanley, Daniels spoke about literacy and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).
For literacy, he said all classroom teachers will learn to administer the Fountas and Pinnell benchmark assessment system. Daniels also wants teachers to deepen their understanding of balanced literacy.
Daniels said the goal is for 90 percent of students to be at/above grade level for the math and literacy benchmark assessment system. His other goal is for staff and students to “continue to beautify and unify the school around our whale theme.”
“[It’s to] keep things light and fun as we tackle some of these serious challenges,” Daniels said.
Kowalski also wants to increase attendance at the high school and cut down on tardiness. Decreasing the school drop out rate was also discussed.
“Thank you for recognizing that there are students at risk,” School Committee member Ted Delano said. “Sometimes there is a fable that we don’t have that, but we do.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]