THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, March 6, 2020 Page 15 Local robotics teams compete for world championships Saugus residents on two teams competing for robotics world championships Team Steam Punks: eighth grade students McLaren Cook of Wenham, Matias W. Gebriel of Saugus, Sebastian DiModica of Saugus and seventh-grader Matthew Chatterton of Lynn. Team Bros: elementary school students Ralph Gerber of Peabody, Brendon Sharwood of Saugus, Nicholas Saia of Saugus and Gabriel Barbosa of Lynn. (Courtesy photos to The Saugus Advocate) (Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Christine Saia of Saugus, the Director of Admissions and Community Engagement at North Shore Christian School) North Shore Chr i s tian School (NSCS) won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island VEX IQ Robotics State Championship held at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester last Saturday, February 29. Team Steam Punks – consisting of eighth grade students McLaren Cook of Wenham, Matias W. Gebriel of Saugus, Sebastian DiModica of Saugus and seventhgrader Matthew Chatterton of Lynn – won the premier event at the tournament, The Teamwork Challenge Alliance Competition. This win qualifies the Steam Punks for the Middle School Robotics World Championships in Kentucky on April 26-28. Team Bros – consisting of elDISTRICT’S “BIBLE” | from page 14 school spending. Net school spending by SauKenneth DePatto said he thought the report was a useful document that should be accessible to anyone who was interested in improving Saugus Public Schools. DeRuosi, who received the report last August, said he might consider posting the full report on the School Department website. That’s a recommendation The Saugus Advocate made soon after it began publishing weekly stories about the report last year. Anyone who is interested in viewing the report can go to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website and look for District Review Report. During this week’s Finance Committee meeting, DePatto referred to page 73 of the report which focused on net gus Public Schools has consistently exceeded the required level over the past decade by margins ranging from 17.3 percent to 49.3 percent. Yet, questions have been raised whether the school district’s resources are being allocated adequately and effectively. “Many principals, teachers, and students expressed concern and frustration with the history of allocation of financial resources, which they stated has led to an inadequate deployment of staff, both at the leadership level and in key school-based roles, and insufficient provision of learning materials, textbooks, and supplies,” the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education notes in 90-page document titled the “District Review Report of Saugus Public Schools. ementary students Ralph Gerber (Peabody), Brendon Sharwood (Saugus), Nicholas Saia (Saugus) & Gabriel Barbosa (Lynn) – placed highest of all elementary teams in the tournament to qualify for the elementary division of the Robotics World Championships. “In addition to all the handson learning that goes into designing and building the robots, these tournaments provide a microcosm of real-life experiences for our kids,” said with leadership,” he said. Finance Committee Chair “Whether accurate or not, the widespread perception that the allocation of resources is inadequate and ineffective may be creating the impression that the district is not fully supporting the needs of staff and students,” the report suggests. “The current allocation of resources may not be sufficient to improve students’ performance, opportunities, and outcomes.” Those are the observations of a team of educational consultants that visited the school district for a four-day period back in March as part of its research for the report. The District Review -- a process that every school district undergoes periodically (Saugus Public Schools had its last one in 2010) is used to assess a school district’s strengths and weaknesses and offer recommendations that can be used to make significant improvements in a school system. Coach David Cook They have to make complex decisions quickly, under pressure, and in front of large crowds. These kids not only discover what they are capable of technically, they also learn how to work in teams, how to win well and how to lose well, what it means to encourage and to be encouraged. The program is as much about building character as it is about building robots.” NSCS began the robotics program because they believe the best way to instill a lifelong interest in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) is to provide fun, engaging, and hands-on opportunities to explore and experience these for themselves. By its nature, robotics inherently incorporates all four pillars of STEM. This clean sweep of both the middle school and elementary school divisions of the invitation-only State Championships put NSCS firmly on the map as a high-quality STEM school on the North Shore and in Massachusetts. This week on Saugus TV Monday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 9 -- Special Town Meeting ***LIVE*** Tuesday, March 9 at 7 p.m. on Channel 8 – Cliftondale Church Service from March 1 Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m. on Channel 9 – School Committee Meeting from March 5 Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. on Channel 9 – School Committee Meeting ***LIVE*** Friday, March 12 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Planning Board Meeting from March 5 Saugus TV can be seen on Comcast Channels 8, 9, & 22. For complete schedules, please visit www.saugustv. org. ***programming may change without notice***
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