AMESBURY — With some districts having already welcomed students back for their first day, local superintendents shared their hopes for the year to come including building a stronger sense of community.
Over the coming weeks students across the area will be returning to their respective schools, with Amesbury students having had their first day yesterday (Wednesday).
Triton Regional School District students will return Sept. 2, while in Newburyport the first day of school is Sept. 4. Pentucket Regional students get back at it Sept. 2.
With her students already roaming the halls again, Amesbury Superintendent Elizabeth McAndrews said she would like to continue building on what she said was a positive year in 2024-25.
“Whether it is in the classrooms, on the fields, on the stage, all of those locations where we help kids become who they’re going to be, we want to build on those successes from last year,” McAndrews said.
In terms of challenges, she said they face the same financial struggles they have the last few years.
“Our local support for schools has been really, really strong, but we still need additional federal support,” McAndrews said.
The Amesbury City Council approved a 5% ($1,897,272) increase over the fiscal 2025 budget of $37,945,439. Meanwhile, the budget recommended by the School Committee was a 7.71% ($2,923,861) increase.
The gap in budgeting led to cuts including seven positions; a literacy coach that services both elementary schools, a district-wide dyslexia specialist, a math exploration staff member at Shay Elementary, the integrated arts specialist at Cashman Elementary, and two world language teachers from the middle school.
She said another challenge is community engagement.
“From the family side, finding ways to bring more families in and engage with what happens in school. Our population, our community, has changed, and we need to find what works with this group of people at this time in history,” McAndrews said.
A little under a week away from the first day in his own district, Triton Superintendent Brian Forget said that he is excited to be rolling out the district’s “Portrait of a Learner,” which serves a guiding template for students as soon as they enter the district.
“A couple years ago, we went to a workshop with administrators and decided to develop our portrait pre-K through 12. So, from the moment students enter our preschool classrooms up to them walking across the stage, we’re sharing that vision,” Forget said.
He shared what went into the process.
“We started by developing our definition of learning, shared that with the community, got feedback, and then continued developing the actual portrait; the infographic, the core competencies, the skill statements,” Forget said.
He also provided an update on the district’s timeline with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) as it looks into a new campus.
The MSBA board of directors voted in November to welcome Triton Regional Middle/High School into its eligibility period.
The vote signaled the start of a multiyear partnership with the MSBA that will provide a robust study of the existing campus needs, including a review of all possible solutions (renovation, addition, and rebuild), according to Forget and the Triton Regional School Committee.
He said that Wednesday marked the second stage of the MSBA process, selection of the design team.
“By the end of this school year, we’ll have a design team, an owner’s project manager, as well as architects and engineers lined up, and we’ll be on our way to study what we want to do with that campus,” Forget said.
As the superintendent of a school district made up of Salisbury, Rowley and Newbury, Forget said one of his biggest challenges and goals is to make sure no matter what community a student is from, they feel like they are a Triton Viking.
“Since regionalization, it’s always been an endeavor to have everyone, because we are the Vikings, see themselves as Vikings,” Forget said.
Newburyport Superintendent Sean Gallagher did not return a request for comment in time for this report.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.