Wanted in Saugus: return of curriculum review committees

SAUGUS – Lori Gallivan, executive director of curriculum for Saugus Public Schools, urged the School Committee to consider reinstating curriculum review committees to guard against “hasty decisions in a time of crisis.””I can’t find anything that says there was a cycle or a review,” said Gallivan, who has been in the district since 2011. “I have no idea.”After meeting with high school wellness teacher Veronica Flynn, Gallivan said the health and wellness teachers would like to have a review committee for the subject.”They’re all very passionate about it,” said Gallivan at the Oct. 23 School Committee meeting. “I would love to see more of these great things go on for the teachers.”Gallivan also suggested sending notices home for parents to sign as a means to keep them informed about health and wellness classes. “There has to be a connection to adults,” she said.Committee member Arthur Grabowski said curriculum is a local issue and that “the bigger discussion is Common Core. Common Core is losing favor throughout the country very quickly.”He added that two districts have requested the state to renew the Wraparound Zone Initiative, designed to alleviate the challenges that students face outside the classroom. Gallivan pointed out that the state is offering a three-year grant of up to $325,000 for a substance abuse counselor.”It would be a great jump start,” to help counteract the town’s opiate problem, said Gallivan, who added that on Oct. 22 she was notified that there were not any grant writers available for Saugus, and the application deadline is Nov. 13.”It’s a very short window on this,” she said.Regarding the first draft of the District Improvement Plan, Superintendent Michael Tempesta said he intends to address issues of building capacity, improving operations and enhancing teaching and learning.”We are trying to streamline the traditional strategic plan,” he said, referring to the preliminary outline distributed to the committee.Grabowski said he was unimpressed.”I expected more than a double-sided one piece of paper,” he said, adding that the plan should be moved to 2015.However, Chairman Wendy Reed explained that this was only an overview and not the plan itself.”I have another draft, and I’ll share that with you,” Tempesta said to Grabowski. “I didn’t have that much time being new to the district.”