Dear Michael Sabin,
Thank you for the time you took to answer our questions. We appreciate that you recognize the unsettled feelings of our community at Malden High School and how the sudden change in administration has affected the students. We felt comforted by your statement that you wanted to “hit the ground listening.” As editors of The Blue and Gold, we wanted to share our response to you with the community as our editorial to highlight what Malden High truly represents as we transition leadership roles for the 2026-27 school year.
Historically, Malden Public Schools has been a gateway for new immigrants, creates leaders in innovation, and prepares students to successfully pursue their passions. Malden is home to the historic Converse Sneaker company; we hold the second-longest public school football rivalry in the country against Medford; we were the first city to create our own Declaration of Independence in 1776 renouncing British rule, ratified even before this country’s Declaration, which shows that Malden citizens have a strong history of fighting for what they believe is right.
Malden High School is built on the moments that make students want to be involved. Events like Spirit Week and Pep Rally unify the school and provide students with a positive environment where they can challenge themselves and comfortably grow as individuals. We think you should take these strengths of our school into consideration and recognize their importance for the future to come.
As seniors, we believe you can learn from our school spirit and enthusiasm. We think Malden High School is great and that we need support from our principal, not someone who is looking to change who we are.
Many students of our generation have lacked the motivation and effort to be fully involved in school. Mr. Sabin, you should ensure there is a consistent flow of information to students and their families regarding their academic and social lives. You could create more events to engage both the student body and faculty, which could be done through a student board. You should work closely with all of the classes’ student councils to guarantee the events will be enjoyed by the students and faculty as well.
You should build stronger connections between teachers and families. The focus on caregiver conferences can be built on and improved.
Inclusivity is essential for our high school life. All students must feel valued and appreciated. The English Language Learner and Special Education population at Malden High is one of the most overlooked, and they are affected the most from the understaffing of our faculty. We need to hire more staff everywhere, but especially in these departments. We think the teachers are great, but we believe they should receive more support.
You have to work towards involving underrepresented communities in school events. We know you have hosted breakfasts at another school, and we want you to bring that here too, but for the many different communities that speak other languages.
One issue that the student body is repeatedly affected by is the lack of access to the school bathrooms. Currently, there are 22 functioning bathrooms in the building, but of the 22, only 8 bathrooms in the Boyle house are available. The bathrooms were closed to relieve the concerns around unmonitored and unsafe bathroom usage back in November of 2023, but since then, long lines and far distances have frustrated students and staff because of missing class time. Please find a way to staff and open every bathroom in the school.
Also, we think that there is a lack of transparency and consistency among teachers and administrators in terms of expectations: some faculty strictly enforce policies and some do not; some teachers allow for late work to be submitted and some do not; some teachers allow students to enter late without an escort but some do not; some teachers update their grades and some do not; some teachers are much harder than others in the same course—we don’t want to change teacher’s individuality or unique styles in the classroom, but we would like to see consistency and fairness in expectations before we walk through their doors.
We also noticed that teachers are often tasked with duties and meetings that are burdensome to their planning and grading. As principal, you can relieve them of unnecessary duties. Teachers seem to have less time for us than they did three years ago. As a result, students often feel turned away and disappointed after taking the initiative to better their education when seeking help. We believe that teachers would rather help us learn the material than doing duties and attending meetings that do not have a direct correlation to their classes.
Finally, as appreciative as we are for the teachers we already have at Malden High, there just are not enough of them to have a fully functioning building, despite there being some improvement in staffing over the last year. We believe that we are home to some of the best teachers in the country, but we also need to hire more of them. The new staff being brought in need to be trained by our most experienced and best teachers so that there is consistency between all of the educators. We’ve seen examples of great teachers mentoring and training other teachers, but we’ve also seen examples of teachers who needed help but did not seem to get it. We want to see all teachers receive the training they need.
You are walking into a new environment with many new responsibilities. We, the community of Malden High—the students, families, and faculty members—are all depending on your leadership to guide the years to come.
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