Published August 21, 2019

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The clock is ticking until summer vacation ends and a new school year begins.

Students in grades 1-12 will be returning to the classroom on Wednesday, Aug. 28 and the first day of school for preschool and kindergarten students is Thursday, Aug. 29. There will be no school on Friday, Aug. 30.

School officials, teachers and staff members having been spending this week making sure everything is ready to rock and roll for students’ return next week. Custodians have also been making a final push to make sure each of the town’s four schools is in pristine condition when students return.

“Back to school is the most wonderful time of year,” said Superintendent Jane Tremblay in an interview with the Villager. “The Administrative Leadership Team had a very successful three-day retreat last week to plan for the 2019-2020 school year. We have 18 new hires joining our team who are a combination of brand new teachers and veteran teachers. The DPW has worked tirelessly to make sure our buildings are ready for the first day of school.”

SEVENTEEN OUT OF EIGHTEEN new educators attended the School Department’s new teacher orientation program on Tuesday. (Dan Tomasello Photo)

School schedule

Hours for the school year are as follows:

Lynnfield Middle School: 7:40 a.m.-2 p.m.

Lynnfield High School: 7:50 a.m.-2:26 p.m.

Summer Street School: 8:20 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.

Huckleberry Hill School: 8:50 a.m.-3 p.m.

Preschool a.m. session: 8:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m.

Preschool p.m. session: 12:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m.

School initiatives

The School Department will be undertaking several initiatives this year and is also welcoming a new principal.

Huckleberry Hill School Interim Principal Melissa Wyland will be leading the elementary school she has worked at for the last 17 years. The longtime first grade teacher succeeds former Principal Brian Bemiss, who left the elementary school after a 10-year tenure in June in order to become the next principal of Fisher Elementary School in Walpole.

The School Department will continue prioritizing social-emotional learning (SEL) throughout the 2019-2020 school year. Students in grades 7-12 will be taking the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in October, which was previously administered two years ago. Lahey Health has agreed to fund the survey once again.

School officials and teachers will also be developing strategies to help students to deal with anxiety and depression. Social-emotional learning will continue to be integrated and expanded throughout all four schools’ curriculum.

Tremblay said security will continue to be a major focus area for the town’s schools. She said evacuation drills will be taking place in October, which will entail having students and teachers be transported on buses to reunification centers. She said parents will be notified before the drills take place.

“We will be meeting with the security team to plan the drills,” said Tremblay.

The school system will also be emphasizing curriculum development in all four schools this year including implementing the fourth year of the Understanding by Design (UbD) initiative. Additionally, the School Department will be continuing its tradition of hosting guest speakers.

“We will have three different parent presentations beginning in October,” said Tremblay.

In an interview with the Villager, Town Administrator Rob Dolan said a request for proposals (RFP) is being finalized for conducting a feasibility study for the two elementary schools in the wake of growing enrollment. He said a design review committee will be reviewing the RFPs after they are submitted.

“The goal is to do a feasibility study to see where we can build or expand the elementary schools if we need to,” said Dolan.

Elementary school initiatives

Social-emotional learning and curriculum development will once again stay on the front burner at both elementary schools this year.

The two elementary schools will continue implementing SEL strategies into the curriculum this year. Huckleberry Hill School and Summer Street School will be developing programs that celebrate cultural diversity throughout the school year.

The curriculum goal included on both elementary schools’ improvement plan entails implementing the fourth year of the UbD initiative.

LMS initiatives

Lynnfield Middle School will be implementing several changes this year.

The biggest change coming to LMS involves implementing an advisory program that will be similar to Lynnfield High School’s Compass program.

“The advisory program essentially pairs each staff member with approximately 12 students and will meet 30 minutes each week for lessons, discussions, activities, etc.,” said Middle School Principal Stephen Ralston in a recent interview with the Villager.

Ralston said the new advisory program’s objective is to “build relationships, instruct students on social-emotional learning strategies and address many of the challenges facing students.”

The middle school will also be implementing the Signs of Suicide (SOS) prevention program in grade 8. The program uses face-to-face interviews for screening purposes.

LMS will be launching new curriculum initiatives this year as well. One of the new initiatives entails implementing a trimester system for issuing report cards. Students’ grades will continue to be posted electronically.

In the wake of growing enrollment, the middle school will be implementing a new personalized learning exploratory course in grade 5. The personalized learning class will join existing exploratory classes art, media center, music, STEM and wellness.

“By adding personalized learning as an exploratory course in grade 5 that students would have for two of three trimesters, this yields 40 full class periods of personalized, independent study for each student,” said Ralston.

LHS initiatives

Similar to the elementary schools and the middle school, Lynnfield High School will be focusing on social-emotional learning and curriculum development this year.

High School Principal Bob Cleary recently said the high school’s support staff and lead teachers will be applying knowledge to “actual case studies to support anxious students.” High school officials will also be training support staff with the Signs of Suicide prevention program.

LHS will continue focusing on curriculum development this year including project-based learning. Cleary said the high school will be analyzing how project-based learning “is being integrated across classrooms.” The high school will join the other four schools with implementing the fourth year of the UbD initiative.