Salem Academy Newsletter, Volume 11, Issue 21 Page 1

Volume 11, Issue 21 January 30, 2015

News and Notes 

Important Dates:

February 3 —Board of 

Elementary and Sec‐

ondary Educa on vote 

on Charter Amend‐

ment to increase en‐

rollment. 

February  4 — 11th 

Grade Service Learning 

Research trip to Salem 

State Library. 

February 4 — PTS 

(Parent, Teacher, Stu‐

dent) Conferences 

5:00—8:00 pm. 

February 6 — LEP 

(Limited English Profi‐

cient students take 

ACCESS Test. 

February 6— PTS Con‐

ferences 2:15‐ 4:00 pm 

February 10 —Admission Informa on 

Session 6:00 pm. 

February 11— SFC 

Mee ng. All parents 

invited and encour‐

aged to a end. 6:00 

pm. 

February 12— 

 Lower School Winter    

Trips. 

February 13 —Salem 

Academy Upper School 

Movie night, Double 

Feature, pizza, pop‐

corn, drinks. 

 

 

February  14‐22— 

     February Vaca on 

week.  Classes resume  

Monday, February 23 

Salem Academy Newsletter

The Last Admissions Information Session for prospective students will be held Tues-day, February 10th at 6:00pm at Salem Academy. Enrollment forms for the 2015-2016 school year are due by the end of February. Siblings of currently enrolled students are given the first spaces available but must submit lottery enrollment forms to be considered. The Enrollment Lottery will be held on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 at 6:00 pm and is open to the public. Please contact the school with questions: (978) 744-2105.

PTS (Parent, Teacher, Student) Conferences are planned for Wednesday, February 4 and Friday February 6. Lower school teachers will have 15 minute conferences from 5:30—8:00 pm Wednesday and 2:15—4:00 pm on Friday. Appointments may be made by returning the appointment form sent home in backpacks, by signing up on line at http://goo.gl/forms/7zphVULaeB, or by calling the school. Upper School teachers will have 10 minute conferences from 5:00—8:00 pm Wednesday and 2:15—4:00 pm Friday. Appointments may be made on-line at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4ba4a72babfc1-quarter2 , by calling the student’s teachers, or by calling the school. 

From Veracross to SchoolBrains by way of PowerSchool. Parents who have been with Salem Academy for several years are accustomed to Veracross as a our school wide data management system. With a grant from the Boston Foundation in 2004, Salem Academy and two other new charter schools teamed up with the Breuer Company to develop an internet based program that would serve our standards based approach to curriculum, in-struction, and assessment, and that would ensure 24/7 real time access for parents to all student data. The system worked well until a year ago when the state introduced new da-ta reports now required of all schools each year. These reports became far more compli-cated than Veracross could handle, and the Breuer company made the decision not to in-vest further in development of this system. Salem Academy investigated new data man-agement systems, and initiated a new system with PowerSchool, but then found the new system incapable of accommodating the details of our benchmark oriented standards based system. At the recommendation of the Department of Education, we moved to a new company, SchoolBrains, and have been working with their programmers all year to prepare for a smooth transition to this new system. It has taken longer than any of us had imagined, and so Salem Academy will stay with Veracross for the remainder of this year. The transition will take place this summer, and we will use the SchoolBrains system from the start of the new 2015-2016 year. 

National Geography Bee Winner Lour Drick Bantayan Valsote

7th Grade, Salem Resident

Birthplace: Kuwait

Native Language: Tagalog

  

Salem Academy Newsletter, Volume 11, Issue 21 Page 2

The Salem Academy Charter School Middle School Girls’ Basketball Team with Coaches Carolyn Koppel and Jennifer Pullen.

Neither Snow nor Cold nor Gloom of Night Shall Stay These Athletes From ... Despite school cancellations and the lingering effects of the blizzard Thursday afternoon , the Middle School Girls and Boys basketball teams returned to action after a nice 3 days off. The teams took on Marblehead Charter and both the girls and boys teams worked very hard and played well. The girls ultimately fell to Marblehead by a score of 20-13 but look forward to their rematch later in the season. Katelyn Clark led the girls in scoring with 7 while Jillian Sholds and Amanda Jimenez each contributed their first 2 points of the season. The girls return to action Tuesday against Prospect Hill.

The boys game turned out to be a very exciting one. The team pulled out a 39-36 victory over a previously unbeat-en Marblehead team. The team received some very strong play and clutch free throw shooting down the stretching from Michael Santana as he finished with 12 points on the afternoon to lead the team offensively. Joe Daoud chipped in with 11 to continue his strong play while Andrew Zipper had a season high 8 points. The boys also re-turn to action on Tuesday for their first look at Prospect Hill this winter.

Salem Academy Newsletter, Volume 11, Issue 21 Page 3

Winter Weather Alert Since our students use the Salem Public School buses, Salem Academy Charter School will follow the Salem

Public Schools regarding delayed openings or school closings due to bad weather.

We do not call the radio and TV stations. We do, however, place a “one-call” telephone call to all families confirming the information. Please be sure that we have the proper telephone number so that we can

reach you with a “one-call”. In addition, delays and closing are announced on our website and facebook page.

Last Opportunity to Turn in Sold Tickets 9:00 AM Monday, February 2 !!! For the month of January, Salem Academy students have an opportunity to sell February Calendar Raffle tickets at $10 each offering buyers 28 chances to win with every ticket.. Each day in February, a ticket is drawn from the drum. The winner gets the prize indicated for that day. All prizes are valued at $25 or more. The grand prize is an ipad mini. Wining tickets go back in the drum, so even one ticket can win multiple prizes. 100% of funds from tick-et sales go directly in the students’ personal school accounts and are available to pay for field trips, school clothing, social events, or fees for any other school sponsored programs.