THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MArCH 22, 2024 Page 13 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus! It was outstanding citizen participation by Ava Rogers at last week’s School Committee meeting. Hopefully, school officials were taking copious notes on some improvements that ought to be made as soon as possible in Saugus Public Schools. “We don’t have a class that teaches kids about finances,” the Saugus High School student told the committee. And Ava also talked about how foreign language course offerings are limited to Spanish and Latin. She remembers when students could take Italian, French and other foreign languages, which were discontinued after the teacher left. Not to mention a teacher shortage that’s so bad that 50 kids are stuck in a library instead of learning in a classroom. Stay tuned. Students don’t need their cell phones at school The recent incident involving a 13-year-old girl beating up another 13-year-girl in a Middle School gym class while a handful of other classmates ran around with their cell phones videotaping the despicable incident has revived some bad memories for me when I was a substitute teacher at Methuen High School for part of three years. It was bad enough that the students would go out of their way to make a substitute teacher’s life miserable just by being loud and obnoxious. They would use their cell phones – not only to talk to friends and parents from the classroom – but also as a weapon of mass disruption. I saw absolutely no redeeming value in a student from grade school to high school having a cell phone in school for any reason. Students in Methuen would use them to play music, generate loud noise effects and play video games. They served absolutely no educational purpose. They were not a necessity for students. If there were a family emergency, and a parent needed to talk to the student, all they had to do is call the main office at the school and a staff person there would promptly go to the classroom and notify the student, who could come down to the office and use a phone to make the call. A low point in my brief career as a substitute schoolteachCONTEST SKETCH OF THE WEEK Food Pantry notes The Saugus United Parish Food Pantry is open today (Friday, March 22) from 9:3011 a.m. Legion Breakfast today There’s a good breakfast deal for Saugus veterans and other folks who enjoy a hearty breakfast on Friday mornings. The American Legion Post 210 at 44 Taylor St. in Saugus offers Friday morning breakfasts for the 2023-24 season. Doors open at 7:30 a.m., with breakfast served from 8-9:00 a.m. for an $8 donation. Veterans who cannot afford the donation may be served free. Town Meeting forums at the library In recent weeks, Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian has been providing a wonderful opportunity for Saugus citizens who want to learn the basics about Town Meeting – the legislative body of Saugus town government. Manoogian has presided over several Town Meeting forums held at the Saugus Public Library. Manoogian is a veteran of about four decades in local town government at various levels, including many years as a Town Meeting member. Manoogian will be leading Can You Guess Who? If you know, call 978-683-7773 and your name will be entered into a drawing contest to win. The prize is a $10 gift certificate to a local coffee shop. er came the day that two vice principals called me to an administrative office to interrogate me about trying to grab an unruly student’s cell phone out of his hands. This punk in my class was listening to music and ignored my repeated requests to put the cell phone away. At Methuen High, there was a rule that a substitute teacher could not take away or confiscate anything from a student regardless of the circumstances. All I did was make a movement like I was going to grab the cell phone. But the vice principals wanted to make sure that I knew the rules. It was a funny thing, though, that when it came to the cell phone abuse that I witnessed, there were little or no consequences. My bad experiences involving students with cell phones certainly hastened my decision to give up subbing and stick to newspaper reporting. This week’s “Shout Outs” We received two nominations from our readers for multiple “Shout Outs” this week. Loyal advocate reader and former Town Meeting Member Joyce Rodenhiser offered the following: “Congratulations to all the folks who feed those who need food. This includes the Cliftondale Food Pantry, those who feed schoolchildren, and those who feed veterans. A ‘Shout Out’ to those who collect this food and to those who donate and distribute. It’s great work that you do and those who receive this food are grateful.” Vanessa Dellheim sent this one: “I want to send a ‘Shout Out’ to the Belmonte chairs of the Parents teacher organization, Lori Fauci and Jill Lauziere. Together they have provided fundraisers and events to students dating back to Lynnhurst through the Veterans school and now at the Belmonte Steam Academy. They organize and host such events as the 2nd annual talent show, Christmas stroll craft fair, lunch for field day and inflatables, the fun run and most recently helping coordinate the 5th graders March madness (student teachers basketball game), all of which help students feel included and excited for school. Much of the fundraising goes to supporting some items the school needs, field trips and additional experiences for the students to enjoy and engage in learning and the community. These two most definitely deserve a ‘Shout Out’ and recognition of all they do!” Want to “Shout Out” a fellow Saugonian? This is an opportunity for our paper’s readers to single out – in a brief mention – remarkable acts or achievements by Saugus residents or an act of kindness or a nice gesture. Just send an email (mvoge@ comcast.net) with a mention in the subject line of “An Extra Shout Out.” No more than a paragraph; anything longer might lend itself to a story and/ or a photo. two more sessions this year that are tailored for newly elected Town Meeting members or veterans who want to refresh themselves about Robert’s Rules of Order or how to put forward an article for consideration. The sessions for March 25 and April 22 will be held in the Community Room at the library from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Welcome to Cliftondale The Meg Foundation Board of Directors is inviting former students, family members, friends or anyone interested to attend an “Open House” event at The MEG Building – formerly known as the Cliftondale School – from May 4–5, 2024. Many of our visitors to the school, which is located at 5458 Essex St., have shared with us incredibly special memories of their childhood while attending the first, second, third and fourth grades. Oftentimes they bring their grandchildren as well to take a tour of the building and view firsthand what an elementary school looked like those many years ago. THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 14
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