One year into his tenure as superintendent, Jason Calichman says the job has been “wonderful.”

Calichman became the Swampscott School District’s superintendent July 1 last year, following Pamela Angelakis’ retirement. Angelakis nominated Calichman as her successor, and the School Committee unanimously approved the appointment. 

“It’s been wonderful. I’ve loved the job. I’ve loved the challenge,” Calichman said. “It’s a rewarding job.”

Calichman, who grew up in Swampscott, taught for two years in Jersey City, New Jersey and eight in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Before becoming superintendent, Calichman served as assistant principal of Swampscott Middle School before spending nearly a decade as principal.

“I had 13 years of experience in middle school, and I love what we accomplished there, and I knew my challenge (as superintendent) was to sort of have an impact on every single school,” Calichman said. “That’s been the best part. Having an impact on the kids and the faculty and the families at every school has been great.”

Calichman said he makes a point of visiting every school each week. While that may not mean in every single classroom, he said that the presence was still a major part of what it means to be superintendent.

“I think visibility is incredibly important,” Calichman said. “The kids should know who their superintendent is – and the families. I want the teachers to know that I support them. It’s a massive team effort.”

Calichman said the district has spent the past year refocusing on both academic achievement and students’ social-emotional well-being.

“We want the kids to want to come to school every day,” Calichman said. “We’re a school. We’re here for the learning, and while all the standardized test scores – which I will fully admit are flawed otherwise – you see the growth that we’ve had this year.”

Swampscott Public Schools Director of Teaching and Learning Sarah Kent updated the School Committee last month on the progress the students have made. Data collected in the fall showed that 46 middle school students were performing two or more grade levels below expectations in English language arts. By the end of the school year, that number had been cut in half.

Over the course of the school year, the number of students two or more grade levels behind in elementary school math has also decreased from 69 to 22 students

Kent said about 41% of Massachusetts students in grades 3-8 perform at or above grade level in math. In Swampscott, roughly two-thirds of elementary and middle school students meet or exceed grade-level expectations.

Calichman pointed to the targeted instruction for students throughout the elementary school and now expanded through sixth grade. The intervention model allows students who need extra support in specific skills to receive targeted instruction.

“This is the first time we’ve done it, and it’s been a massive challenge to get it up and running schedule-wise, grouping the kids, but it’s really helped a lot,” Calichman said. “I want our students to have the ‘Swampscott advantage’ when they graduate from Swampscott High School and they’ve gone through this experience, whether they decide to go to college or to the workforce or to the military or whatever their path is. I want them to get there and realise ‘I’m prepared,’ whether it’s critical thinking or decision making…I think the ‘Swampscott advantage’ is important to me, and I want them to realize that if you go to school here and graduate from Swampscott High School that you are getting a unique experience, that you have adults and faculty and staff that care about you deeply, about your academic success but they also care about you as a person, and that you have opportunities that not everybody has.”

Calichman said the art shows, musicals, sports games and clubs are all part of what makes Swampscott unique. 

He said his favorite event in the past year was the Battle of the Bands. The Swampscott music program raised $2,200 for its trip to Universal Studies, as five bands took the stage, with teachers making appearances throughout the night. 

“With Ms. Zotto on stage and the talent on stage, the fact that one of the students was using a guitar that was made in advanced manufacturing, it kind of summed it all up in that event,” Calichman said. “I’m sure there’s others but that was a really cool experience. I love that I’m blown away consistently when I walk around here…Our kids are incredibly talented. They work really hard.”

To keep it all up and running, Calichman did note that the “intricacies of the budget” was a challenging part of the year. 

“I live here too. I want to work with the town to make sure that obviously the school’s getting what they need but also that the town is fair for everybody,” Calichman said. “I know the town has financial constraints. I’m mindful of that but I also want to grow the district to the best district that it can possibly be. It’s the balance of everybody getting what they need and maybe not what they want.”

Calichman said he believes the end result of the budget was “incredibly fair and reasonable.”

Going into the next year, Calichman is eyeing projects like renovating the track as well as the middle school. He also wants the teachers, students and families to feel a “great pride” in the district.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished this year, and I’m looking forward to what we can do next,” Calichman said.