HUNTINGTON – As we move ever closer to a new year there are a number of items that could be labeled as ‘works in progress.’ Each of these has the potential to impact district operations and improve student outcomes and opportunities.
Among these are three reports: our Coordinated Program Review (CPR), the District’s “Report Card”, and the DESE-mandated report from the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools (MARS). The CPR looks at district operations related to special education, funding allocations, and education for students whose first language is not English. I’m pleased to report that this recent report was generally very positive with only a small number of items to improve on, including hiring a second teacher to serve students whose first language isn’t English (and yes, this isn’t funded by the state or federal government). Kudos to both Alice Taverna for leaving the special education department in a good state upon her retirement and to Kurt Garivaltis for providing quick responses to the DESE (to the point that many of the recommended improvements have already been completed). Our official “Report Card” is again posted to the website and gives specifics regarding our ‘highly qualified’ teachers and the status of our schools based upon last spring’s MCAS/PARCC tests. The report card shows that Gateway has improved from a level 3 district to a level 2 district, with Littleville moving from a level 3 to a level 1 school (and recognized as a merit school by the DESE), joining every school except the middle school in level 1 status. We’ve completed the site visits by MARS and have provided much data to the review team. We hope to have a draft report sometime in December and hope to be able to provide a final report to the school committee and the towns in January. You’ll remember that this report was to review overall district operations to see if there are ways to become more efficient and sustainable.
We also delayed the next phase of the “Gateway 2025” process until the MARS report is available in order to build upon both these findings and the earlier results from last year’s 2025 meetings and survey. We expect to have three more 2025 meetings this school year to review data and help formulate plans so the district can better meet student and town needs over the next decade. These meetings have three target audiences – staff, parents/students, and community members. We anticipate that the first of these meetings will occur in January and all three will be completed before May. We’ll also be looking for parent and community ‘volunteers’ to help the high school complete its self assessment over the next year in preparation for our decennial accreditation process by NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges). The official visit by the NEASC visiting team is planned for fall of 2018 and will look at all aspects of the high school.
Not to be left behind, the school committee has also nearly completed a set of goals for themselves and the district after working with the MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees). These goals build upon the work the district and school committee have been engaged in regarding increasing student opportunities, student success, and focusing on both the whole child and 21st Century Skills encompassing ideas of how to support these core ideas moving into the future.
While these are challenging times, we believe that the work that’s being done in reviewing the district to prepare for the future will demonstrate that the district is on the correct path and hopefully translate into positive steps to make Gateway even better. As with the work being done in our member towns regarding economic progress, we hope people will become involved in creating a positive picture for the future.
