Dr. David Hopson
As the 2012-13 school year moves along I am reminded of the multiple changes in so many areas that we are dealing with on a daily basis. Some of these changes are very visible to the public but the majority are not, unless as a parent or community member you are closely following education in the Commonwealth. Many of these changes are mandated, either by the state or federal governments; some of these are changes to make the system better, and all of these changes are intended to support the education and well-being of our students.
A recent, and observable, change is the PreK-6 busing protocol for dropping-off and picking-up students at the main complex. This change took effect Monday, November 26 for several reasons, including student time on buses, alleviating traffic congestion, and ensuring access for water hydrants and emergency vehicles. While home bus stops are unchanged, school buses now load/unload all students in front of the Littleville Elementary School and parents drop-off and pick-up elementary and middle school students in front of the high school. As a reminder to all community members, this now means that there is no parking, short or long-term, in the traffic circle between Littleville and the 5-12 schools throughout the entire day as buses now enter and exit that circle.
The district also has teams of educators working on several different, yet related fronts. These include rewriting, updating, mapping, and developing unit plans for Gateway’s curricula to reflect the Common Core Standards (adopted by 45 states and 3 US territories, see more at http://www.corestandards.org/); developing, modeling, and pilot testing electronic textbooks and resources; piloting the state’s new evaluation system for all administrators; using a new data resource tool that is available to all teachers; implementing a district-wide student assessment tool to help determine and meet student needs throughout the year; and developing a new teacher supervision and evaluation system to meet the state’s new requirements. These changes are less evident to community members because, while they are the underpinnings of academic success for our students, they are not easily seen unless someone specifically looks for changes in curriculum, supervision, student assessment, or technology implementation. As the state and federal governments continue to move forward with tying student performance, staff performance, and school performance together while looking for gains against international achievement standards, we’ll see more and more requirements for local districts to meet.
As with many other changes in the district (think of safety planning, parent access to student grades online, tablet and laptop computers as just a few), these other changes will eventually become the norm for a short while, at least until the next cycle of changes is mandated by the government or by public sentiment regarding education. I complement Gateway’s staff for their perseverance, positive attitude, and their commitment to keeping students first, as these times of rapid change have proved to be very difficult to implement without harming students in many other places.
