Submitted by Dr. David Hopson
On June 22, the school committee considered the appointment of Mr. Kurt Garivaltis as the new Director of Pupil Services. The committee will vote on this at its July 13 meeting, so that the public may have the opportunity to review his experience and background. To that end, Mr. Garivaltis has agreed to have his cover letter and resume posted on the district’s website (www.grsd.org under the school committee presentations tab). Mr. Garivaltis has also kindly agreed to a “meet and greet” session with the public, and we’ll have specifics out in the near future. You’ll see by Mr. Garivaltis’ materials that he has a very strong and diverse background in special education, including both public and private settings. We are very fortunate to have him interested in joining our Gateway staff.
If you do a Google search for Mr. Kurt Garivaltis, you’ll find out about his past difficulties with addiction to pain medication that resulted in him losing his position in the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District. That was a concern of the selection committee (a diverse group of special education staff, administrators and a school committee member) but Mr. Garivaltis was very open and forthright about the issues he faced during his recovery. In fact, Mr. Garivaltis shared with me, and allowed me to share with specific people, the confidential report (June 2015) from clinical psychologist Dr. Donald Scherling to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education regarding his fitness to regain his professional license status in Massachusetts. This report was quite thorough and showed that Mr. Garivaltis has made a remarkable recovery. His ability to be licensed was summed up best by the following statements from Dr. Scherling’s report:
“I am pleased to report, in my professional work, I have rarely been more confident in the positive and stable recovery of a person, than I am with Mr. Garivaltis. Based on his recovery efforts, consistent progress in his healthy lifestyle, and clearly lived values and goals for himself and his family, his prognosis in recovery and ability to function as an ethical, competent and moral licensed educator is excellent.”
In addition, I was able to speak to Kristen Gordon, superintendent of ACRSD, both now and at the time of Mr. Garivaltis’ dismissal, regarding his work ethic, the situation at the time, and his recovery and was pleased to see that she supported his other references regarding his ability and skills to successfully fulfill the responsibilities of a Pupil Services Director. I would add that the DESE and EEC tasked Mr. Garivaltis with the closing of the Eagleton School, which points to a level of trust and commitment in his ability to complete the process and his separation from the reasons the DESE closed the school. At that time Mr. Garivaltis was employed by Eagleton as a recruiter and spent much of his time traveling throughout the country seeking students who matched the services that the school provided and was not part of the direct administrative or student services staff.
Mr. Garivaltis’ skills, experience and knowledge with smaller regional school districts is a great fit for Gateway. He has been candid with us regarding his past difficulties, has made a stellar recovery from his addiction, has been cleared by DESE regarding legal issues and has had his professional credentials restored. His background in creating programs to meet student needs make him a strong addition to our team at Gateway. We are pleased to recommend that Mr. Garivaltis be given the opportunity to move forward in his professional life at Gateway.
