Salem reports 11 summer programs served just over 600 students; paid internships highlighted

Salem Public Schools reported on Sept. 8 that its summer offerings included 11 programs serving just over 600 students, with transportation and nutrition services provided and a mix of community partners supporting activities.

Taylor McDonald, director of extended academics and enrichment, said the district provided approximately 1,125 summer program hours across offerings and that the transportation department transported about 400 students to and from programs (separate from field-trip transportation). Food services provided breakfast and lunch. McDonald credited community partners, facilities and food-service staff for the large-scale effort.

Program highlights presented to the school committee included: - Summer Academy (elementary): Partnered with the Salem YMCA; full-day programming with standards-based project work. McDonald said the Summer Academy served an average of about 184 students and included afternoon YMCA camp programming. - ELSA (multilingual learners): Served about 35 students; theme focused on plants and animals, with afternoon Campfire partner activities. - Middle school programs: An Expanding Horizons partnership with LEAP for Education served 84 students and included project-based learning and a PEM (Peabody Essex Museum) partnership to display student work. A two-week pilot work-based learning program with the YMCA introduced job-readiness tracks in childcare and fitness. - High school internships and Summer Connects: McDonald said 14 high-school interns supported summer programs and participated in job-readiness workshops; the district also piloted a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) internship to support incoming freshmen orientation. A committee member later referenced 17 students in the internship pipeline; McDonald’s presentation cited 14 participants. - Special education extended-year program: About 102 students served, consistent with individualized education program placements. - Not Yet Academy (credit recovery): Approximately 90 students attended.

When asked, McDonald confirmed interns were paid hourly if they submitted time sheets; she said most interns worked a large portion of program hours: elementary intern assignments were roughly 200 hours over the summer and middle-school intern assignments roughly 120 hours.

The committee had no substantive objections and several members thanked staff and partners. Member Cruz suggested connecting summer interns to in-district career pathways such as early-college educator programming at Salem High School.

McDonald said grant-writing covered most program costs and that some operating-budget support existed; exact dollar totals were not provided at the meeting.