By Amanda McGregor
STAFF WRITER
—
SALEM — The inaugural eighth-grade class filed out of Saltonstall School for the last time yesterday as the younger grades lined up to bid them farewell — marking a milestone for the students and for the Salem Public Schools.
Dayna Ramsey, 14, started preschool there and has received a decade of education at Saltonstall, which offers an extended-day and extended-year program and multi-age classrooms that pair two grades in each class.
"I'm definitely going to miss it, being with the group of people and growing up with them," she said.
With the completion of Saltonstall's growth to a K-8 school this year, the district now offers three schools that serve the middle school grades, plus the charter school in Salem.
By comparison, the neighboring cities of Beverly and Peabody each have one public middle school.
"Public education in Salem has a strong and long-standing commitment to offering parents choices in the public schools," Superintendent William Cameron said. "... Collins, Nathaniel Bowditch and Saltonstall exemplify this commitment."
In addition to Collins Middle School, which serves 680 students, there are two K-8 schools: Bowditch, which serves 154 students in the middle school grades, and now Saltonstall, which serves 120 students in the middle school grades. Salem Academy Charter School, also a public school, serves 175 students in its middle school grades.
Julie Carter, one of the teachers for the inaugural grade seven/eight class at Saltonstall, said there have been challenges and growing pains as the school adapted to K-8, as well as many benefits.
"In K-8, I honestly think the kids face those developmental challenges a little slower than the challenges they might face in a middle school alone," said Carter, who is the new principal of Saltonstall.
"They are sort of kept young at a K-8, and there is also a sense of responsibility and community that the older kids have for the younger kids."
Salem's two K-8 schools are a popular option for local families, as evidenced by the kindergarten waiting lists at both schools: 37 students at Saltonstall and 52 students at Bowditch, which offers both a dual language program and a classic program. The only other school with a kindergarten waiting list among the city's seven elementary schools is Witchcraft Heights, which has five students on the waiting list, according to Sayonara Reyes at the Parent Information Center.
"K through eight schools are gaining popularity throughout the country," Carter said, "and extended year."
How Saltonstall works
Students at Saltonstall School attend school 190 days a year, versus 180 for the other public schools, and nearly an hour longer each day.
Aside from kindergarten, each classroom pairs two grades: grades one/two, three/four, five/six and seven/eight, and students have a teacher for two years.
The school calendar operates on a system of six sessions that are each six to seven weeks long, separated by school breaks, called "intersession," for one to two weeks. The school takes the month of August off.
"Over the summer, there is a lot less loss of learning," Carter said. "Students really retain more and need less review in the fall."
She said the multi-age classrooms help students retain information, too.
"It actually helps with the transition because half the class knows the teacher so they don't have to adjust to the new routine," Carter said. "You just keep going, and the group that comes in follows the group that knows."
Saltonstall teachers are paid 16 percent more for the extended schedule, according to the superintendent, who estimates the Saltonstall program costs an additional $251,000 a year for faculty salaries. Saltonstall is a teaching school for Salem State, which pays half the principal's salary.
In 2007, the School Committee voted to expand Saltonstall to grades six, seven and eight. At the time, officials said families were seeking alternatives and the district would retain more children who might otherwise attend the charter school. Parents also said they liked the idea of a small school. (The Nathaniel Bowditch opened as a K-8 school in 2001.)
Cameron said Collins Middle School — a member of the nationwide Coalition of Essential Schools — has a larger building and student body, but children are divided into to smaller schools, called "wharves," to ensure a more intimate setting with personal attention from staff.
Staying in session during the summer at Saltonstall can be challenging, particularly for the older grades, according to Carter, who said there are plans to include more community-based activities and service learning in the summer.
"This year has been particularly hard because of the weather," Carter said. "The younger kids don't know and feel any different, and actually they're happy to be here. The older kids much more want to be playing sports, going to camp and doing athletic activities. The weather made it very, very challenging."
Staff writer Amanda McGregor can be reached at amcgregor@salemnews.com.
