Dr. David Hopson
While last Friday signified the end of the school year, that doesn’t mean that it’s the start of two months off for everyone. Most of our staff who work the academic year (our teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, and counselors) are certainly done working directly with students but summer is the time for them to continue their own educations, participate in working committees on educational matters, plan for the upcoming year, and reflect on what worked over the past year. Still others are here to work with students in various enrichment and tutoring programs. Somewhere in all of this activity, I’m hoping that they are able to fit in some down time to enjoy the summer, relax, and recharge.
On the other hand, our administrators (in addition to professional development, course work, serving in professional organizations and planning for the upcoming year) are also dealing with preliminary student data analysis, completing end-of-year state reports, closing one budget, working with our auditor, and setting up accounts for the new fiscal year that started July 1. In addition, as we were one town short of getting a budget approved for FY’15, our fiscal team is working with the state on a 1/12th budget, preparing a new budget for school committee ratification and town approvals, and sending out multiple assessment letters. Last week, we presented a new expenditure budget to the school committee that addressed some of the issues that arose since the first budget was adopted by the school committee, in terms of the identified need for an additional preschool classroom, additional staffing at the middle and junior high schools, and changes in anticipated utility costs. Kudos to our fiscal team for adding these items to the budget without increasing the bottom line. Hopefully, we’ll have state aid information soon so that the committee will be able to review and adopt a budget with realistic state aid numbers. For those wanting to see the details of the changes in the budget, please visit either the school committee page or the budget page on the district’s website.
My guess would be that the busiest staff this summer will be those charged with maintaining and improving the buildings and grounds. As the students left so late, and are returning so early, there is not much time available for all of the work that needs to be done in these areas. As a general overview, this includes emptying all of the rooms, refinishing floors, cleaning counters, windows, walls, and painting anything that requires a new coat of paint or touch up. All of the hallways and other common areas also have to be completely cleaned. Some heavy maintenance is also completed during this time when our staff can take the time, and take equipment out of service, to complete the required preventative maintenance as well as make necessary repairs. Of course, all of us know that summer is a busy time for maintaining grounds, between mowing grass, maintaining beds, weeding, trimming shrubs and all of the work required to keep our grounds looking good. I’m confident that our custodial, maintenance, and cafeteria staff will complete the thorough cleaning, maintenance, and repairs in the allocated time to keep our facilities in great shape while allowing school to start on time later this summer.
My appreciation to all of our staff and their pride, dedication, and hard work to ensure that we meet the needs of our students, provide a safe, clean, and well maintained set of facilities for both district and community use, and for their outstanding efforts to make Gateway a pleasant and welcoming place for each other and our students. I wish them, our students, and all of our community members a great summer.
