SAUGUS — The district’s schools have received a $38,000 grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to help implement “high-quality instructional materials.”
The School Committee voted unanimously to accept the grant at its meeting Thursday evening. Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Susan Terban explained that funds from the grant, which the district had applied for, will go towards the adoption of English Language Arts curriculum.
Terban said that the grant covers curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade, with a particular focus on professional development. The funds will be available until Aug. 31, 2023, according to a letter sent to the district by DESE Assistant Director of Instructional Policy Woody Pierre-Louis.
In addition to the funds DESE will partner the district with an implementation consultant, who will work with administrators and teachers to put the curriculum into place. The consultant will also conduct a landscape analysis of the district, which Terban said will look at “where we currently are [and] where we need to go.” They will support the district in applying for the grant for Fiscal Year 2024 as well.
“We are excited to support Saugus as your team and consultant collaborate to implement activities to accelerate student learning by amplifying the power of high-quality instructional materials,” Pierre-Louis said in the letter.
Since Superintendent Erin McMahon took over the district’s leadership in 2021, Saugus has been aggressively pursuing state and federal grants. This in part of an effort to overhaul a school district that ranks among the lowest in the state in MCAS scores.
McMahon, who remains on paid administrative leave pending the results of an investigation into allegations of potential, unspecified misconduct, previously explained that the grants help the school district fund programs and positions that aren’t accounted for in the annual budget.
“We are not driven by grants, but grants support the work we’re driving towards,” she told The Item in December.
At an October meeting of the School Finance Subcommittee, the total amount the district had received in grants stood at more than $4 million.
