English
Spanish
Portuguese
Arabic
Haitian Creole
Chinese (Traditional)
Saugus High will partner with Middle School in courses
By Tara Vocino
Saugus Middle High School Associate Principal Carla Scuzzarella is excited about the new academic year starting in a few weeks. They are adding some new staff, including but not limited to: current high school football coach/7th grade math teacher Steven Cummings, 7th grade math teacher Lars Ruecker, physics teacher Christopher Blankingship, music/band teacher Chance Krause, and Assistant Principal Victoria Colaianni. Some new programs and curricula are added, including Advanced Placement Physics and Advanced Placement Chemistry.
“These advanced courses have not been offered at Saugus High School for a number of years, and we are happy to be able to add them back into our Science program,” Scuzzarella said. “Our 9th graders will be taking Environmental Science as their introductory high school science course, with Biology moving to Sophomore year now.”
They have added Financial Algebra as a choice for seniors. For this year, the district is focused on making this building one school, not two schools occupying the same space. They have opened up high school Spanish 1 and Latin 1 classes to eighth graders and quite a few will be in those foreign language classes. Eighth graders will be in their high school chorus and band classes as well.
“We are piloting seventh grade students in our Honors Auto Cad class,” Scuzzarella said. “Throughout this school year, we will be focused on rigor for all students, 6-12, and implementing our high quality curriculum with fidelity at each grade.”
For challenges, like the Commonwealth, the district is working to address chronic absenteeism of some students.
“We are also working to support our 6-12 students’ mental health, because it has a serious impact on student well-being and academic performance,” Scuzzarella said. “We have a new model on our middle side of the building.” Each grade now has its own Adjustment Counselor, which should develop a more comprehensive mental health framework for students.
