By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Principals and administrators gave an overview of the school improvement plan initiatives that have been undertaken this academic year during the School Committee’s May 6 meeting.
Lynnfield Middle School
Lynnfield Middle School English Language Arts/Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Robin McInerney said the first goal included on the LMS improvement plan seeks to review and assess “instructional and assessment practices to improve teaching and learning, specifically in mathematics and English language arts.”
“One way that we did work and review on this is through collaboration during department meetings, where teachers shared out the best practices and the best forms of assessments that they have found to be most effective to help students,” said McInerney.
STEM Director Katie Ambroise said teachers have also observed their colleagues in the classroom in order to evaluate instructional and assessment practices in ELA and math.
“We also did work with the interventionists,” added Ambroise. “We have shared best practices with them and talked about assessment practices with them as well.”
McInerney also said LMS has been piloting the Beanstack reading assessment program in grade 8 in order to encourage students to read more outside of school.
According to the company’s website, “Beanstack uses competition, recognition and proven gamification principles to grow community reading culture.”
“It has been really helpful,” said McInerney. “We ask students to read at least 25 minutes a day. We are trying to bring this into the entire middle school. We did receive a grant from LET (Lynnfield Educational Trust) to purchase gift cards for the students who met their reading goals.”
Principal Stephen Ralston said the middle school’s second goal pertains to improving “school culture through best practices that make citizenship central for student development.”
“Citizenship is one of our three core values along with kindness and effort,” said Ralston.
Ralston said the middle school has revamped the
“Star of the Week” student recognition program into a “Core Contributors” program that entails having each LMS team “nominate three students from their team” for three different awards.
“One will be the recipient of the ‘Kindness Award’ for the month, one will be the recipient of the ‘Effort Award’ and one will be recipient for the ‘Citizenship Award,’” said Ralston. “This is something we have started to roll out the last few months and it has been really well received.”
LMS Assistant Principal Dana Courtney said the middle school formed a committee to examine the Advisory Program this year in order to revamp it next year.
“All of our staff agree that when our students feel connected to trusted adults in the building, they perform better, have more confidence and are more invested in the school community,” said Courtney.
Courtney noted that the Advisory Program is currently held for 30 minutes on Thursdays.
“There is a lot of flexibility right now with what teachers and teams do during that time,” said Courtney. “We are looking to make it more cohesive as a building next year by using each trimester by dedicating them to the three core values. Trimester one would be about kindness, trimester two would be about effort and trimester three would be about citizenship. We are also going to meet for longer blocks on half days that way we can do more in-depth projects that are more meaningful.”
Elementary schools
Similar to LMS, the elementary schools’ improvement plans include goals seeking to review and assess instructional and assessment practices in English and math. The elementary improvement plans have also been prioritizing citizenship.
Math/Science Curriculum Director Christina Perry said the Math Curriculum Review Team has selected McGraw Hill’s “Reveal Math” curriculum to be implemented as a new curriculum. She said “Illustrative Math” was also piloted.
“We agreed at the end that ‘Reveal Math’ was the best as far as rigor, teachability and everything it had to offer for differentiation,” said Perry.
Perry informed the Villager in an email that school officials will not know when the roll out for the new “Reveal Math” curriculum “will look like until the ($4.65 million) override vote on June 4 and the Lynnfield Teachers Association contract negotiations have been finalized.”
“I look forward to planning the ‘Reveal’ implementation with the Math Curriculum Review Team once funding becomes available,” Perry stated.
Both elementary schools have also implemented homework guidelines this year.
English/Social Studies Curriculum Director Maureen Fennessy said students have been encouraged to be “engaging with text” by reading independently or having families read aloud to their children after-school. She also said families can use shared reading opportunities such as reading novels or newspaper articles together. Fennessy also said families and students can listen to an audio book individually or together.
Regardless of which method is used, Fennessy said students are encouraged to be “interacting with text” for 20 minutes a day.
“It’s about creating opportunities,” said Fennessy. “It doesn’t have to be that traditional ‘go to your room and read’ because we know that wasn’t happening.”
Both elementary schools have continued emphasizing social-emotional learning (SEL) this academic year.
Principal Karen Cronin said Summer Street School implemented the Paths SEL program this year after it was piloted last year.
“I think the students really enjoy it,” said Cronin. “The teachers appreciate the shared language and that we have something similar in all of the grades. As with any curriculum, it still needs to be modified to best suit the needs of the students sitting in front of the teachers.”
Principal Lauren King said Huckleberry Hill School has continued using the Second Step SEL curriculum, but she said the SEL Steering Committee is looking to switch to a new program.
Cronin said both elementary schools have “provided opportunities for student voice and leadership within the school community” by having students participate in assemblies, morning announcements, Student Councils and the Superintendent Student Advisory Council.
“Empowering student voice at an elementary school really does help with fostering confidence, leadership and a true sense of belonging at the school,” added King.
Lynnfield High School
Principal Patricia Puglisi said the Lynnfield High School improvement plan’s goals originated from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) accreditation of LHS in the fall of 2023.
In addition to continuing to work on the Vision of the Graduate initiative, Puglisi said a working group has reviewed a possible schedule change for the high school that, if implemented, would begin during the 2026-2027 school year.
“The majority of our faculty members would like to see a flex block implemented into our school day,” said Puglisi. “That is something we are working on in terms of the structure and what it would look like. We feel that not only will this provide academic benefits for our students, but will also provide some social-emotional benefits in terms of allowing some down time in the school day.”
Puglisi said the high school has developed a new Academic Integrity policy, which will be implemented next year.
“Academic integrity is perhaps the most important virtue with respect to a student’s academic work at Lynnfield High School,” the new policy states. “A student’s integrity and credibility are based on this honesty which is one of our core values of academic excellence. Lynnfield High School students are expected to understand that dishonesty on exams, papers and homework is a violation of our academic integrity policy and is a very serious matter. Students are expected to avoid all forms of cheating, including practices, which allow others to cheat from them. It is unfair to the students who earn their marks with hard work; it undermines the integrity of grades; it destroys the trust between teachers and students; it is unacceptable.”
Puglisi said the Kuloweic Group provided professional development to LHS staff members on “the appropriate use of artificial intelligence in the classroom.”
English Department Head Maryellen Iannibelli said she and English teacher Joey Puleo led a working group that was tasked with developing a Freshmen Academy to help students’ transition from middle school to high school.
“Students and faculty felt they struggled with planning of their time, planning out their schedule and balancing home, school, athletics and activities,” said Iannibelli.
SC commends work
The School Committee praised the work that principals, administrators and educators have undertaken this year.
“Our success as a district stems from the amount of intervention, assessment and personalized attention that we are able to give our students individually and collectively,” said School Committee member Jamie Hayman. “We will not have the resources next year if this override does not pass, and we will not to be able to continue to do what we are doing at this level. There is a lot of successes we are talking about here, and that is due to the resources that we have.”
School Committee Vice Chair Jim Dillon agreed.
“The positive momentum I have heard tonight is inspiring,” said Dillon. “It is tremendous. As we move forward in the next few weeks, it just points out what is at stake with this override and how important it is that we get out and support this and vote for it.”
If residents vote to reject the $4.65 million override, Dillon said the community will be “sabotaging” the school district.
“That would be a real shame and that would be so harmful for all of the kids who go to school here,” said Dillon.
School Committee member Kate DePrizio concurred with Dillon’s viewpoint.
“If you want to support this school district and this incredible work from our incredible educators, you have to get out there and vote to support us,” said DePrizio.
School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue echoed her colleagues’ sentiment.
“Hopefully we can pass this override, keep the resources in place and keep building and building to give the kids what they need,” said Baker Donahue.
Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said the School Committee is working to make sure administrators and teachers have the resources they need to support students in the classroom.
“We have had a lot of budget conversations, and I do appreciate that everyone is continuing to forge on and grow,” said Elworthy. “I think that is so important for our students. The kids only get one shot to at third grade, fifth grade and seventh grade. You don’t get to go back and do that again.”