HUNTINGTON – At Wednesday’s Gateway Regional School Committee meeting, representatives from the Massachusetts Association of Retired Superintendents (MARS) gave their recommendations to the district after a six months long review. The consultants were hired as a requirement of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), after the district was unable to get their FY16 budget passed by the towns by the December deadline, prompting DESE to set the budget for the fiscal year. Last year’s (FY17) budget passed in May.
Stephen R. Hemman, assistant executive director of MARS, introduced two of his colleagues, retired Southwick/Tolland/Granville superintendent Jay Barry, and Mac Reid of Boxboro and Shirley, who were three of the seven consultants involved in the district review.
Retired superintendents Stephen Hemman, Jay Barry and Mac Reid gave the report on the MARS consulting group review of the Gateway district on Wednesday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Hemman, who retired from the Narragansett district in Massachusetts after 45 years in education, said his team had visited the district five or six times, and appreciated the cooperation from Gateway superintendent David B. Hopson and business manager Stephanie Fisk. He said he hoped the issues identified in the report would help the district move forward.
Reid said the MARS group was formed five years ago, and have worked on 18 different projects to date.
“We feel like we know your district,” Reid said, adding, “That doesn’t mean we think there are a lot of things that need to be fixed.” He said overall, “things are done very efficiently here.”
In the academic review, the group commended Gateway for its program given the size of the district and number of students. They said the return of the 5th grade to the elementary schools in FY17 was working very well.
They said there was great use of technology for students and staff, and that every student has access to technology. They noted the loss of the technology director a few years ago, the duties of which were taken over by the superintendent. They recommended restoring the position, half-time or sharing with another district, and forming a technology committee that includes parents, students and businesses, adding that as an alternative source of funding it’s easier for businesses to fund technology programs.
They also said the backup up disaster and recovery system is minimal, and needs to be addressed.
The group recommended slowing down the rapid pace of change, especially considering the high school accreditation review set to take place next year. “It might be better to focus on a few things,” said Reid.
Another recommendation was to expand the technical programs in the school, to retain more students in district. Gateway has one Chapter 74-accredited welding program at present. Hemman said that despite the prevalence of technical-vocational schools, Gateway could expand its course offerings in business and technology, for example.
The MARS group also noted that the staff and administration would like more emphasis placed on professional development, which is required for re-certification.
They praised the special education staff for being very enthusiastic and dedicated. They said the department was welcoming, cheerful and engaging, and were addressing the complex needs of the students. They recommended developing a departmental evaluation, and expanding partnerships with local businesses and colleges to increase opportunities for students ages 18-22 in the department. They also suggested more parent engagement.
They said Gateway has 170 students on individualized education plans (IEPs), out of 800+ students, which represents 50 to 70 meetings per year. They said having one person to focus on the IEPs would be helpful, and also establishing an advisory board of community members and parents.
The group found that the administration and central office staff, which they said were limited in number, produced good results and worked as a team; focusing on what they believed were in the best interests of students. They commended Gateway for collaborating with other districts, but said improvement could be made in their ability to work with the towns, adding that every district has a conflict between the towns’ needs to fund municipal projects and schools.
The MARS team expressed concern for the loss of a curriculum director at Gateway, following the retirement of Joanne Blocker last year. They said the position should be full-time, but at the very least part-time. They suggested having teachers as team leaders that could help with curriculum development. Barry asked whether the district could offer a stipend for teachers who work in the summer or during the year on the curriculum report. Hopson said after the presentation that the district is working on developing lead teachers.
In discussing transportation in the district, they described in awe the 173 square miles, including dirt roads and steep roads, which they toured with Hopson. “You have a big task there,” said Reid. They commended the district for reducing buses from 29 down to 16, but said that only one bid came in for busing this year out of eleven that went out. Hemman said a lack of competition in school busing is a problem statewide. He asked if Gateway would consider running its own system. He did say Gateway was competitive with other districts in the western part of the state for costs of transportation. “You’re doing the best you can,” Hemman said.
They had high praise for the buildings and grounds, commending the maintenance and support, and saying all the buildings were in very good shape.
“Your schools are in better shape than a lot of the places we’ve seen. You have some very good people taking care of your facilities,” Barry said, calling it a very positive picture. Barry did say that he had toured Chester, which has no public water supply, and relies on a huge tank of water on top of the building for fire suppression. “I had never seen that system before,” he said.
On regionalization recommendations, the MARS team said it would not be practical for Gateway to expand in that way, because all of the surrounding towns are regionalized. “You’d have to expand from 6 towns to 12 towns,” Hemman said. But he added that didn’t mean the district couldn’t reach out to other regions and buy or share services, such as the directors of curriculum or technology. He said there are also districts that share services with their towns, such as a common financial system.
Hemman said it would be helpful to have a facilitator to work with the schools and the towns, to build a budget and to work on communication, which he admitted is “not an easy thing.” He suggested working with the Gateway Technical Advisory Committee (GTAC), which is made up of financial and governing members of the towns, to focus on short and long term plans. He also suggested that Gateway and the towns share a financial planner to look down the road.
Hemman said overall the MARS team was very impressed with the programs, the resources and the students at Gateway. “It’s very important to your communities to maintain quality schools,” he said.
