Although the calendar says that it is still early August and that we’re only half way through the summer, visible indicators are all telling us that Fall is just around the corner. There are the societal indicators – back to school sales, the tax-free holiday, the beginning of the fair season with Littleville this past weekend, Middlefield this weekend, and the Blandford Fair on Labor Day weekend)—and of course, the notices of school starting in the district. Then there are the more nature-oriented indicators: ripening peaches, apples, plums and pears, second cut hay, leaves just beginning to show color changes, the cooler evenings and of course, the ever-shortening daylight hours.
Hopefully everyone has been able to enjoy the summer and has plans to make the most of the next few weeks that are designated by the calendar as ‘summer’ although I suppose the definition varies as many New Englanders think of summer as the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, while many students in the south are already back in school (which also means they get out of school in May!). We’ve certainly seen changes in how we approach the idea of summer, from pushing the start of schools earlier to changes in vacation planning and the much smaller number of people who have mandatory shut-downs as part of manufacturing operations.
We’ve also seen significant changes in how people view school and the overall importance of education. Throughout the country, and certainly including Massachusetts, we’ve seen many variations of the extended school day and school year. Much less frequently, we’ve seen other variations in the school year from year-round schooling, to fewer, but longer days. Just last week, national media reported on the findings of the most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control, again promoting later school start times for teens. I find it interesting that in Massachusetts we have regulations around both the number of hours and number of days required to be an official school year wherein many other states, they provide schools with more options by just mandating hours of instruction.
This stringent requirement in Massachusetts caused Gateway to give up on the idea of switching to longer, but fewer, school days to help make up the loss of $2 million in state aid in 2003-2005. As we face another fiscally challenging time with the withdrawal of Worthington, we are beginning to see interest from parents in exploring this option again and I suspect that as part of the Gateway ‘2025’ visioning process, as well as GTAC’s sustainability process, we’ll be hearing more about options that don’t require reducing staff or offerings to reduce costs. (Please recall that the portion of town budgets in our six towns spent on all educational costs has actually decreased over the past five years, in some cases exceeding a 10 percent shift in funding from education to town operations).
The changes that we take for granted in moving from summer to fall are simply indicators that change is a constant and, as we’ve seen in societal values, laws, and almost every other facet of life, change is difficult to avoid and almost impossible to control. Despite the difficulty, and potential disruption, that change brings, I’m hopeful that everyone will participate in at least helping to provide a direction for change in the Gateway Regional School District. ###
