SWAMPSCOTT — Principal Lori Sanborn detailed her goals for the 2024-2025 school year as the Hadley Elementary School is closing its doors to be replaced by a new school on Whitman Road.
Sanborn emphasized that the improvement plan, which features three goals, encompasses the upcoming year only because of the expected unpredictability of transitioning to a brand new facility.
“I want to do it right. I don’t want to just say ‘here’s our three-year plan,’” Sanborn said. “This is what our team really wants to commit to for this calendar year, and this is where we’re going to dive in and do a lot of work.”
The first goal is to achieve a 90% collective satisfaction rate among students, parents, and school staff by making them feel “valued, respected and supported.”
Sanborn named communication as a main strategy to attain this goal. The plan outlines monthly meetings with groups such as the school’s mental health staff, METCO students, and Parent-Teacher Organization representatives. On a daily basis, Sanborn hopes to see teachers address students by name, and have them lead events like the morning announcements. Other student-led activities that promote inclusivity such as sporting events, spirit days, and community service. To gather data on whether the goal is being met, the school plans on conducting at least two surveys during the school year with the parties involved.
The second goal pertained to a thorough implementation of the district’s new Elementary Literacy Program on both board and specific scales. The district hired Literacy Implementation Specialist Jessica Gelb to assist in executing the goal.
“Our staff is ready, they haven’t had a literacy curriculum in years and they’re ready for this, they’re excited for this,” Sanborn said.
The third and final goal was described as the creation and eventual implementation of systems to support attendance, social and emotional needs, and behavioral and academic expectations for both students and staff of the school. This goal includes a number of action items that take place before the school officially opens on Aug. 28, such as tours of the building during the summer. According to Sanborn, a list of students among the more than 700 that will be attending this fall are being identified as those that will require additional assistance and a higher level of familiarity with the facility before the year begins. A behavior management system will be created and distributed to all the staff by late August as well, with the potential to be further developed as the school year progresses. Sanborn expressed personal excitement to the launch of “movement management,” a process that involves using physical activity to get younger students to behave better.
“Visibility is huge. Our goal is continuously to be in these classrooms every single day and know these kids,” Sanborn said. “At the heart of all of this, connection over everything.”
