Swampscott schools issue first newsletter

SWAMPSCOTT – For the first time in recent history, the school district has a new bi-monthly newsletter.Earlier this week Superintendent Matthew Malone put out the first issue of the “Swampscott Public Schools District Newsletter,” which is available on the district Web site at www.swampscott.k12.ma.us.Malone said he started the newsletter because the School Committee and school administration is emphasizing communication between home, school and the community.”Part of our emphasis is on communication,” he said. “It is important to have regular communication with all the stakeholders. We want to let everyone in the community know we have started the newsletter and made it available online.”School Committee Chairman David Whelan said he was pleased with the initial issue of the newsletter and he gave a lot of credit for the newsletter to School Committee member Glenn Paster, who worked with Malone on the newsletter.”I think it’s a great communication tool,” Whelan said. “It’s not just Dr. Malone’s perspective. It allows a lot of different voices to be heard from building principals to the technology director. We all wanted to see more communication and this is one way of doing that.”Malone said a few issues of the newsletter were printed out and placed in Town Hall and the public library, but he encouraged residents to access it online.Whelan said future issues would not be distributed in hard copy.”We will not be distributing hard copies so people have to get in the habit of going to the Web site,” he said.The first issue of the newsletter includes updates on activities at the Clarke, Hadley and Stanley schools, which were written by principals. Swampscott Middle School Principal Ralph Watson updated parents on the transition of fifth graders to the middle school and gave highlights of upcoming events. The first issue also includes high school news, technology updates and a brief explanation of the budgeting process from Business Manager Ed Cronin.