Dr. David Hopson
The school committee was updated on a number of topics through a series of presentations at their March 27, 2013 meeting. These included updates on technology use in the district, with an emphasis on the upper grade levels (lower levels were reviewed at an earlier meeting); on the report from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with district responses; on where the district is in terms of exploring solar applications for energy; and an update on district goals and objectives. Presentations provided an overview of these areas and are posted to the district’s website (www.grsd.org>School Committee>Presentations) where we’ve also posted some more in-depth information on these and related subjects.
In summary, I would say that while the district is facing a number of challenges, district staff are working collaboratively to move a number of items forward in a deliberate, steady, and coherent manner. As with so many other things in today’s society, change in education—whether initiated locally, at the state level, or as a response to a new national initiative—is an ever and ongoing process that waits for no one. I’m sure that many readers often feel overwhelmed by the changes they experience almost daily in their own lives, whether at home or at work. Imagine those changes multiplied by the number of students in a classroom, by the number of staff in a school, and by the number of well-intentioned laws, regulations, and directives issued by the state and federal governments. Once you begin adding all of these changes together you can begin to see that the job of educating our children is much more involved than simply teaching one class at a time.
I would also say that another common thread throughout these presentations is the consistency of forward progress by the district and the concern and support evidenced by the school committee’s attention and questions. The fact that we had sophomore Casey Pease provide an overview of how he uses his iPad and selected applications to complete work, take notes, share information and assignments with teachers and other students, complete research and do a multitude of other tasks is a testament to a number of positives at Gateway. As we found in the district survey of student goals, skills such as collaboration, communication, problem solving, experiential learning and related items were highly desired. Casey’s presentation, using his iPad, the Internet, and a SmartBoard, was a great example of the end result of years of work incorporating technology into learning and practicing these skills. Are these skills measured on the MCAS tests? Are they reflected in standardized test scores? Were they listed as essential skills in prior state standards? The answer of course to these questions is no; however, it is a rare workplace where these skills are not essential to success. Casey’s use of technology also supports what our survey of graduates has shown – Gateway is preparing our students to use technology as a tool to leverage their own abilities and the use of such technology skills is essential to many activities that our graduates are involved in.
My last point today is that these presentations, especially the solar presentation, show that government can have a positive impact on our ability to move forward in a positive direction. The fact that the Hampshire Council of Governments did so much of the preparatory work surrounding solar electrical applications for municipalities and towns—developing the specifications, identifying potential sites, screening companies, gaining expertise, arranging presentations and a 101 other tasks—has done much to make the process streamlined and efficient to the point where one understands just how much work was done before even considering the options. Whether we think government does too much, or too little, there are valid cases where it’s much more efficient to have a larger entity do much of the preparation work and help shepherd things through to completion rather than leaving it completely to a small and local entity. Whether the school committee elects to move forward with a solar project, my hat is off to Eric Weiss and the Hampshire Council of Governments for the work they’ve done on this issue.
