Understandably, busing students, distributing technology, updating student information, feeding everyone, and moving students between grades and schools can be fraught with problems. As we finish our first week of school, I’m pleased to report a calm start to the school year and that most of the small issues we saw are already resolved. We were also pleased to welcome a number of new students on opening day who were not known about ahead of time; we will work to provide more information next summer about registering students before school starts to make the start of school easier for our new families and students. My thanks to all of our staff members who helped make this transition from summer to the school year so smooth; we should all be grateful to the wide range of supportive staff that we are fortunate to have at Gateway.
I find that our staff is a topic that often comes up during interviews with candidates for jobs at Gateway. The length of service by our employees is an indicator of the climate of a school, of the support staff receive, and of the professionalism of our staff overall. With a senior staff and other personnel willing to take on new responsibilities and commit to making a difference, and with retired staff coming back to help the district, I believe that Gateway proves that it is a great place to work. And with staff members who live out-of-district electing to choice in their children from much larger school systems, with Gateway graduates succeeding in their life endeavors, and with growing support for the Gateway Education Foundation from our communities, it’s clear that Gateway offers a great education and works hard to grow opportunities for our students.
Despite these positives, it’s regrettable that we’re still working to adopt a budget for the current year. While there are sustainability issues to be addressed for both Gateway and its towns—including working on economic development—the fact is that the average percentage of town costs spent on education is still lower than the twenty- year average, even after Worthington left the district.
Furthermore, the discussion in some towns about following Worthington out of the district to save money fails to consider the additional—and significant—costs Worthington has incurred to form their own district. Elementary schools were consolidated to refocus funding on classrooms and students instead of on costs required for the utilities, maintenance, and extra positions (secretarial, nurse, counselor, custodians) needed to run small schools. These discussions by local town officials have certainly impacted staff morale and even our ability to attract and retain employees. Coupled with the ongoing attacks on education by many politicians, and the idea that you can use a standardized test to measure a school’s success, this is a challenging time for public education overall.
As I prepare to celebrate this ‘Labor Day’ weekend volunteering at the Blandford Fair, it’s disheartening to see the negative comments about labor organizations, the concerted efforts in some states to break labor unions, and the short-term pursuit of increasing the immediate bottom line for stockholders rather than a reflective process of determining what’s in the best long term interests of both companies, our work force, and the nation as a whole. The vision of labor unions as a ‘tide that raises all ships’ (e.g. if union workers wages and benefits rise, then other sector wages and benefits follow to stay competitive) seems to be disappearing. Whatever happened to the ‘common good’ that we hear so much about, but seem to have trouble living up to?
