I’d like to believe that the messages brought forward to Gateway’s graduates this past Friday will resonate with many, if not all, of our towns’ residents. From my message of thanking those who make our success possible, that it takes a collaborative effort from a group of people to truly make a difference, and that one needs to remember the lessons of the past when dealing with the immediacy of the moment and the potential for the future; and Mrs. Crane’s message of sharing the feelings of success, of being proud, of the rich history of the district and of hope for the future; to the messages of shared joys, difficulties overcome, lasting memories, and the vision of a brighter future delivered by our student speakers – the ideas are those that have stood the test of time.
I was particularly moved by the student speeches as each speaker was supportive of others taking action to make the world a better place. Each speech was excellent and the stage presence of these students was phenomenal, certainly a tribute to both the speakers and their educational experiences at Gateway.
As the Gateway District faces calls for action to ‘save’ the district, one wonders about the great differences in the messages being heard. From parents, students, and staff we hear of a great school district that, despite its size and financial limitations, has provided wonderful opportunities to students attending and a strong background of knowledge, skills, and attitudes allowing our graduates to be successful in higher education, in the military, in the workforce and, perhaps most importantly, in life. From others we hear of the need to move Gateway up in the standardized assessment measures that the state judges districts and students on despite the fact that these assessments only measure the most minute amount of what students take from their years with us (us being not only the school, but also our families and communities) and that we need to do this in a manner that makes education ‘affordable’ within the context of Proposition 2 ½.
I believe there is truth within each of these and other viewpoints. There is always room for improvement, and despite all of the financial savings the district has employed, one can never stop looking for ways to be more efficient. However, I also think that we must strive to expand what works well, modify what works satisfactorily, and eliminate or restructure what isn’t working. Of course this is never as easy as it sounds for our definitions of what works and what doesn’t work are not necessarily the same across all groups and individuals. This results in a need for a collaborative approach to looking at the district – what lessons can we learn from the past, what are our most immediate and pressing current problems, and how to we determine our goals for the future – from the perspective of as many diverse groups as we can use to gather data upon which to base decisions.
This is not an easy, quick, or inexpensive process if one hopes to do it well and come up with a plan that can be agreed upon, implemented, and is based upon both realities and the dreams of the future. However, as we look upon our recent graduates, at those graduates who came before them and have been successful in life, and think of the students yet to graduate, don’t we owe it to all of them to continue building a better ‘Gateway’ for our children and our communities?
