By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD — Senior privilege or limited open campus is coming to Wakefield Memorial High. The School Committee approved senior privilege for late arrivals and early dismissal for students who have an Academic Support Class akin to a study hall during the first and last block of the day, at their meeting Tuesday, February 11.
“We’re excited to offer this to give students the opportunity and give them more free time,” Superintendent Doug Lyons said. “We feel they’ll use it wisely.”
It is, however, just a pilot program applicable for the rest of the school year and students with more than one ASC in one day at the beginning or end of their schedule can only use the privilege for one period. “We’d like to see how it works before we commit to it being a forever program,” Lyons said. “We’ll do it for the remainder of the year, get updates and revisit this.”
One hundred twenty three students applied since students Michael Barry and Anthony LaVita, both juniors and not eligible this year, brought up the idea at the School Committee meeting January 13. Their research revealed Reading, Winchester and Woburn, among other area high schools, have some form of open campus. It was common in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, especially during the years when baby boom era student populations were too large to meet the capacity codes of buildings.
High school principal Amy McLeod was also at the January 13 meeting supporting the idea.
One hundred one students met the criteria of having good grades and attendance and not having disciplinary problems. To continue having senior privilege students will have to “continue to be in line with the expectations necessary to be eligible,” in Lyons words.
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Earlier in the meeting, Lyons briefed the members of the SEEM Collaborative, of which Wakefield is a member along with Lynnfield, Melrose, North Andover, North Reading, Reading, Saugus, Stoneham, Wilmington, Winchester and Woburn. There are about 350 students in all. (Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wilmington and Woburn are also in the Middlesex League with Wakefield, while North Andover and Wilmington are in Wakefield’s state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Comprehensive System Assessment test District and Analysis Tool cohort.)
“It was created in 1969 (as Special Education of Education Mutual) to foster development of low incident programs if it’s difficult for a district to provide services,” he said. “The challenges are complex cases. We’re seeing needs changing dramatically with a complexity of needs in individual cases. We pay $5,500 to be a member. As a member district, we get an advantage on our tuition rates being a lower number than non-member districts. Other districts can send students to SEEM, but their tuition is higher.”
The fiscal 2025 tuition for Wakefield students in the SEEM Collaborative in Stoneham is approximately $177,440, for four students.
Among SEEM’s offerings are a Deaf and Hard of Hearing student program and an Alternative High School. Member districts pay $51,840 in tuition each to participate while non-member districts pay $$71,640. The comparable cost for a program outside SEEM would be $96,852 for the Alternative High School and $91,520 for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program.
SEEM also provides home tutoring, professional development and assessment services and can be used as a sounding board. “If you need to get an assessment done quickly or have questions about a particular student or difficult case, they’ve been helpful and supportive where students can be tested in an alternative setting to bring down the temperature to get the best results to get services,” Lyons said. “They will also provide services and consult on behavior. We often check in with them and talk about how we’re trying to meet the needs of students, create something or change a program. They’re a great group for us to be partners with and we appreciate what they have to offer.”
Along with the Superintendents of the other member communities, Lyons is on SEEM’s Board of Directors. Local Director of Special Education Rosie Galvin is on SEEM’s Special Education Planning and Advisory Committee.