District Data for your review
I am going to try to share some data with you each week that may be of interest to you.
This week's data is the highly anticipated Rural School Aid allocation. A little background--there have been multiple studies from our state auditor and a commission for Rural Schools that have analyzed the impact and cost of educating youth in rural areas versus suburban and urban areas. The end result is that the cost is notably higher in rural areas. Recommendations for more state aid to be allocated to rural schools are clear, and because of that, the state does provide some additional financial benefits to rural schools. It is worthy to note though, that the allocation is coming almost six months into the fiscal year with no prior information about how much each district will receive--therefore, it is very difficult to meaningfully plan for these funds. Thankfully, we have a very skills leader at the money helm in Steph Fisk, so she is able to support this late allocation to the district's benefit.
From DESE:
The Department posted the FY2025 Rural School Aid distribution. Consistent with the line-item language, we identified districts eligible for Rural School Aid based on their student density (not more than 35 students per square mile) and their per capita income (less than $61,935 per capita according to 2021 data from the Department of Revenue). Based on these criteria, there are 65 school districts that are eligible to receive Rural School Aid in FY2025.
Gateway's Rural School Allocation for FY25: $1,041,541.
The amount all districts receive can be found at the link above in the spreadsheet attachment if you're curious.
Teacher of Excellence Grinspoon Award Nomination
It is a pleasure to work in a district that has amazing educators at every level.
The Harold Grinspoon Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award is an opportunity to honor one Gateway Regional staff member for making a difference to our students. The award winner gets a number of fantastic prizes, but most importantly the public honor of being recognize for the hard work they do. Criteria is determined by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation.
Nominee must:
- Be certified by the state of Massachusetts as a teacher
- Be currently employed as a full time teacher in a PreK-12 school
- Spend the majority of their school day in direction instruction of students
- Rating at least Proficient in most recent evaluation (don't worry about checking this)
Nominees Additional Criteria:
- Utilize excellent teaching practices
- Be effective and creative
- Have a profound impact on students
- Support and positively impact other teachers' practices
- Participate in professional development
- Have evidence of going above and beyond in the classroom and school community
Please nominate a teacher who you believe meets this criteria. Nomination forms should be submitted no later than December 20, 2024. Winners will be announced in late January/early February of 2025.
Please complete this nomination form.
Past winners are not eligible to win again (even though they are amazing), and they are:
2005 Cathy Servaes, Dawne Piers-Gamble
2006 Cyndi Jensen, Sue Luppino, Bill McVeigh
2007 Ashley Brogan, Mary Jo Bender, Linda Stephens
2008 Melissa McCaul, Joyce Hanousek, Joe Hough
2009 Lane Meskevich, Heather Cabral, Diane Uliana
2010 Tim Tichacek, Elaine Zimmerman, Paul Sawyer
2011 Jen DalyLynn Gebo, Cheryl Wright
2012- Terriann Emerson, Eileen Kos, Marilyn Durken
2013 Susan Rhoads, Avery (Lavigueur) Wing, Gail Gingras
2014 Jess Rida, Sheila Green, Kristin Baker
2015Asher Rotenberg, Emily MacDonald, Steven Andrews
2016 Rodney Kleber
2017Daniel Shea
2018Denae Dostal
2019Taylor Simpson
2020Kristina Schultz
2021Rachel Millin
2022-off year
2023-Jenna Kakimoto
2024-off year
2025-TBD!
LAST CALL! Instructional Vision Challenge! (Yes, there are prizes!)
Starting in November, the district will be inviting staff to share how YOU are implementing a part of our instructional vision.
This month's focus are the first two bullets in the instructional vision are:
- Gateway students will engage in their school community.
- Gateway staff will know and reach every student.
Staff are invited to fill out a brief (2-3 sentences!) summary of how you are implementing this part of our vision. It can be specific or general, and it should clearly describe how your actions are moving this part of our instructional vision forward.
Here is the link to share!
https://padlet.com/ksmidy1/november-instructional-vision-fgh330en8pjf38o4
To add to the board, click the plus sign in the bottom right corner and write in your submission. Finally, hit Publish and voila! You're done!
Staff who share how they are implementing or supporting implementation of November's focus area of the instructional vision by November 30 will be entered to win a $50 gift card to one of the following locations: Carms, Common Table, Moltenbreys, Amazon, Big Y, Dunkin or at a place of your choice that I can get a gift card with relative ease 😂
