SAUGUS — After athletic, finance and policy subcommittees met leading up to the beginning of the new school year, School Committee Chairman Vincent Serino and members John Hatch and Ryan Fisher provided updates as to the meetings.
Serino spoke first regarding the cell phone policy, which he said was unchanged, but that this school year, it will be “implemented.”
“Your cell phones, from bell-to-bell, cannot be out, cannot be used for texting,” Serino said.
Serino said that the staff and administration at the schools will be adamant about enforcing the policy, and that the policy is in place to minimize distractions within the learning environment. “We’re trying to keep the learning environment clean of any disruptions,” he said.
With regard to the attendance policy, Serino said that it is a policy that is on the books, but this year, like the phone policy, it will be implemented.
“It’s just like anything else, if you miss x amount of days, you’re not just going to be passed to the next grade — we have this policy for a reason. It goes back to learning,” Serino said.
Serino additionally added that the dresscode will be followed “to a T,” and said that he believed that parents had been sent information from the schools with regard to what it is going to look like.
Superintendent Michel Hashem interjected, saying that information had been sent out in the form of a diagram, which represented an “acceptability guideline.”
Fisher spoke regarding the finance subcommittee meeting, saying that there was “less spending than expected,” and “we balanced the books,” giving thanks to Pola Andrews, the school district’s executive director of finance and administration, and her staff. “That’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
Hatch spoke to the athletic subcommittee meeting, during which the new athletic director, Matthew Serino, shared his expectations for the upcoming fall sports season, as well as what he’s expecting to accomplish long-term.
“This is not going to be accomplished overnight. He’s coming into a situation where we’re building a new system,” Hatch said of changes Serino is looking to implement to the athletic department.
Serino is also already looking forward, working on winter and spring sports. Hatch said that he and Serino have been working on the Saugus High School Hall of Fame Committee, and expects to share more information on that as work progresses.
