HUNTINGTON – Superintendent David B. Hopson informed the Gateway Regional School Committee that he received word from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) last week that the town of Worthington will be allowed to withdraw from the Gateway Regional School District, as long as they receive positive votes from Union 66 and the Hampshire Regional School Committee to enter into an agreement for central office coverage and tuitioning students. Officials Jay Sullivan and Christine Lynch held a scheduled conference call with the superintendent and Stephanie Fisk, Gateway’s Business Manager.
Under their plan, the Town of Worthington will reopen the R. H. Conwell Elementary School as a public school, PreK-6 and will tuition their 7-12 students to Hampshire Regional. The town would also contract with Hampshire Regional to provide central office coverage for state reporting, special education, and other administrative functions.
DESE will hold a needs conference at Gateway to hear the impact of the withdrawal on the district’s students, busing, facilities and finances. It is expected that the conference will be held either the week of November 17 or the week of December 1, and will be open to the public.
DESE made it clear, Hopson said, that they have no money to lessen the financial impact on Gateway and its remaining six towns. It would be up to the legislature to appropriate funding for that purpose.
DESE officials also announced that Gateway’s Regional Agreement will need to be amended, but failure to approve amendments by the remaining six towns will not impede Worthington’s withdrawal on July 1. The amendments—to address the town representation on the school committee (“one person/one vote”), a new allocation of assessments among the remaining six towns, and an amendment on the withdrawal of Worthington—all need to be done in time for the spring annual Town Meeting votes.
In other business, the School Committee heard a presentation on student performance, which included 2014 MCAS results. Principals Megan Coburn and Jason Finnie presented their results, discussed the District-Determined Measures (DDM’s) they are using to inform instruction (and as part of the new teacher evaluation system in Massachusetts), and described the interventions that are being used to improve student performance. Teachers Heather Cabral and Elizabeth Hamaoui, who attended a summer data institute with other Gateway teachers and administrators, described student strengths and weaknesses they had looked at during the institute.
In other business, the Committee heard an update on recent grant awards and submissions, approved the Model United Nations field trip to UCONN; discussed modifying the MASC self-evaluation tool; and discussed reimbursement/payments for school committee travel.
Two items (Boys’ and Girls’ State and School Committee/Superintendent Goals) were deferred to the next meeting.
The Committee went into executive session at 9:30 p.m. for purposes of contract negotiations, and did not return to public session. The Gateway Regional School Committee’s next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 22 in the at Chester Elementary School.
