Pencils Up! Swampscott Schools Start Fresh with New Faces, Big Goals

A school bus lets off students at the elementary school for the first day || Monica Sager

Wednesday marked the first day of the 2025–26 school year for pre-kindergarteners and students in grades one through twelve in the Swampscott School District.

Students arrived with bouncing backpacks and wide smiles. Parents lingered on the sidewalk, snapping final photos, offering goodbyes, and whispering words of encouragement. Teachers greeted children with hugs as the hallways filled with laughter and excitement.

“We are looking to take the Swampscott schools to the next level,” Superintendent Jason Calichman told the Swampscott Tides. “We’ve already been really good, and now we want to go to the excellent. That’s the word we’ve been using. The standard of excellence is really across the board, in and out of the classroom, on and off the athletic fields, the musicals. All across the board we’re looking for that sort of excellence.

Superintendent Jason Calichman stands with senior Will Bush on the first day of the 2025-26 school year || Monica Sager

This is Calichman’s first year as superintendent, following his time as middle school principal and the retirement of former Superintendent Pamela Angelakis. There are also new middle school and high school principals, Jessica Minter and Emily Zotto.

“It’s a fresh start,” Calichman told the Swampscott Tides. “It’s so exciting. I think everybody feels really reinvigorated and now the kids are in the building. This is why we do this.”

Minter welcomed middle school students with a message about collaboration, teamwork, and respect.

A student walks into the middle school || Monica Sager

At the high school, Zotto talked in front of the entire school about the year to come.

“I’ve never been so excited,” Zotto said. “You are going to be extraordinary. We are going to be a community of excellence.”

Principal Emily Zotto addresses the high school on the first day || Monica Sager

She said the 2026 “incredible, talented, dynamic class” of seniors will model the way for the ninth graders.

“You’re extending yourselves out there. You’re welcoming new people,” Zotto said. “In and out of the classroom, we are going to have rigor.”

Many seniors also decorated their cars for the first day.

Cars have painting on it to celebrate the seniors || Monica Sager

Over at the elementary school, Principal Lori Sanborn hugged her students as they walked in the door.

“It’s the best day ever,” Sanborn told the Swampscott Tides. “It’s incredible to have Superintendent Calichman here with us along with the chief of police and Officer Reen and Biran Wilson.”