Malden Superintendent holds well-attended informational session on path ahead for district schools

Dr. Sippel has visited over 400 classrooms and has interacted with several thousand Malden Public Schools students and staff since assuming post 

By Steve Freker

Sometimes it is a sprint, but it is truly a marathon, realistically. That describes the task of forging a strong path forward for the Malden Public Schools.

Malden’s first-year Superintendent of Schools Dr. Timothy Sippel made another stop along that path Tuesday evening when he hosted a well-attended, informative Feedback Session with caregivers from around the district.

Fittingly, that session was held at one of the most inclusive spots in the Malden Public Schools district, The Gallery at Malden High School, where every country of origin from all students attending MHS — and most, if not all, in the district in general— are represented by that nation’s flag.

Supt. Sippel, who certainly “hit the ground running” when he assumed his post in July 2024, told the audience he has visited over 400 classrooms in every one of the seven schools in the district since he took the reins. well on his way to his stated goal of hitting all of them in the Malden Public Schools.

“It has been exciting, memorable and inspiring to see all of our educators and students in their classrooms,” Supt. Sippel told those in attendance Tuesday night. “That is where all of the good work happens, every day.”

The first-year Superintendent, who detailed a regimen of many listening and data collection visits all across the city, with all levels of stakeholders, when he first came aboard, on Tuesday night shared some of the findings with the audience and once again, solicited their input via a state-of-the-art, interactive format. Audience members could easily access the system through their personal cellphones and were able to instantly access the system.

Superintendent Sippel said he was pleased with both the attendance and the degree of engagement from the audience, comprised nearly exclusively of caregivers from across the district, representing nearly all of the city’s seven schools.

“It was one of our best sessions, if not the best,” Dr. Sippel said. “The combination of the interactive comments with the questions the audience asked aloud covered a lot of topics and a lot of areas of interest. There was a lot of engagement and just what we are looking for from the caregivers in the district.”

To that end, Dr. Sippel spent time in the session on a number of areas, explaining the sources of the finding he described throughout the course of the presentation, which was made to between 30–40 attendees for just over 90 minutes.

— Listening to stakeholders: The Superintendent hosted 9 town halls with caregivers and others across the district since August 2024; Multiple sessions held with educators and staff at all schools; Focus groups held directly with students; Several online surveys of parents and caregivers; Educator and staff surveys; More than 50 meetings with individual community members

— Reviewing Data: The Superintendent and his staff have been immersed in the review of Malden Public Schools date on the following areas: Student achievement; Graduation and dropout rates; Enrollment in college after graduation; English Learning programs; School enrollment; School culture and climate

— Observing Schools in Action: 38 school visits in 22 weeks (September to February); 402 Classroom observations (and counting); 36 school events (August to February)

— Building Shared Understanding: Projects with educators and district and school-based administrators; Discussions with the School Committee and subcommittees; Collaborative meetings with labor unions (Malden Education Associations- Teachers and some administrators, paraprofessionals and SEIU)

Some of them of the many topics discussed Tuesday included inclusivity and targeted educational improvements and enhancements with special education students; the Malden High School class schedule; provisions and plans for educating advanced learning students; transportation needs; and a movement to address equity in extracurricular offerings at all of the five K-8 schools.

Superintendent Sippel, in pointing to one of his core values established now in the Malden Public Schools, said, “It is not up to us to determine how far a student is going to go in their educational and life journey when they are 7 years old, 11 years old or 17.

“We have an obligation to provide opportunities for them to achieve their goals, whatever they may be, whether it involves college or a university, or not, whatever they need to thrive,” Dr. Sippel said. “Our obligation is to ensure we help make sure their expectations are obliged with their talents.”

To that end, Supt. Sippel outlined the “Six Areas for Collective Action” which were identified through the months of data collection.

— Affirming high expectations for all students

— Adapting instruction to meet diverse needs

— Ensuring fair access to opportunities

—Partnering with families effectively

—Nurturing a strong workforce within the district

—Building district strength and stability

Supt. Sippel said these core findings would guide him and his team moving forward as they continue to build collaborative relationships with everyone in the district, including educators, administrators, staff and caregivers.

He urged all to continue to use the Malden Public Schools website: www.maldenps.org, which has full language translation abilities, to stay updated.

A virtual, ZOOM feedback session similar to the one presented live Tuesday is coming at a time and date to be announced, he said.