After a turbulent year for the Saugus Public Schools in 2023 that saw the firing of former Superintendent of Schools Erin McMahon and the departure of numerous other high-ranking administrators, School Committee Chairman Vincent Serino said the committee’s focus remains on boosting student achievement in the schools.
2024 marks Michael Hashem’s first full year in the superintendent role, after being appointed to act in McMahon’s stead when she was on leave in February and eventually offered the full-time post in November. Serino said the committee would continue to support the school’s administration, including Hashem, but made it clear that members wanted to see results in the form of better performance from its students.
Saugus was identified by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education last year as making “moderate progress” toward targets, and the district saw students’ MCAS scores decline in several areas. As a committee, Serino said members will serve as advocates for the district.
“School committee as a whole [is] really responsible for budget, policy, and procedure, and that’s where we can help,” Serino said. “Fight for a budget and fight for what our teachers and superintendent and administration think they need to make student achievement, to make students discipline, to make these things happen.”
The committee will convene on Jan. 11 for Hashem’s fiscal year 2025 budget presentation. Historically, the School Committee has sought a higher allocation from the town than initially suggested by Town Manager Scott Crabtree, who is responsible for compiling the budget ultimately voted on by Town Meeting.
Serino said he is “not in the predicting business,” and as a result, would not try to anticipate whether the town would have enough money to meet the full request of the school department. In fiscal year 2024, McMahon sought a $32.8 million allocation, which was stripped down to a $31.6 million level-service budget approved by Town Meeting. During the budget season, the committee suggested they would seek other funding sources to meet the requests made in the initial budget.
One of the top priorities Serino cited was the hiring of additional staff, something he mentioned last January during the initial budget hearing.
“We’re dealing with other schools and what other regions are dealing with,” he said. “We have a teacher shortage, and what we need to do is get more teachers, more specialists into the fold for the schools.”
But, he said, the committee was aware that there was only so much money to go around in town.
“We’re just a piece of the pie, and I’m hopeful the money’s there,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ll see what’s there, and whatever’s there, we will make that work. But Mr. Hashem has his priorities, and that’s what we’ll fight to make reality.”
Serino said the committee has proposals in place to access the more than $3 million set aside for the school department in the Student Support Reserve Fund enacted by Town Meeting in 2022. That fund was created by Town Manager Scott Crabtree and comprises Charter 70 state aid.
However, the funds can not be accessed without the approval of both the Finance Committee and the Town Meeting. Former Deputy Superintendent Margo Ferrick presented a suite of proposals to the FinCom last March, but they failed to make it onto the warrant for Town Meeting. Thus far, the School Committee has not accessed any of the funds.
Serino said the committee was seeking money to fund after-school enrichment programs, a school resource officer, and lift user fees for sports and other activities to provide greater access.
Serino said the SRO position will also likely be included in Hashem’s budget proposal.
Serino added he believed the committee could do more to entice potential candidates to Saugus.
“The overall commitment from the town, from the administration, from the teachers and support staff, once they really look at the commitments that we’re making, it will be an attractive place, and I think it really is an attractive place right now if you … spend a few days here,” he said. “The one thing that I think is helping is that the town supports us.”
He also reflected on the turbulence of 2023.
“This isn’t something that the School Committee started or wanted. It’s something that came to us, and we had to do what we had to do. We didn’t want it to happen, and we certainly did what we needed to do to correct it move forward,” he said, adding that the committee was forced to “compartmentalize” as the investigation into McMahon played out. “We really focused on worrying about the district and letting the second thing take care of itself until it was brought to us what the facts were.”
An arbitration case brought by McMahon on the grounds that the committee violated her contract remains ongoing. It is unclear if the case has yet to be heard by an arbitrator, though McMahon demanded arbitration in February.
