Weekly Update
Monday, November 11-No School-Veteran's Day
Tuesday, November 12-Regular School Day
Wednesday, November 13-Regular School Day
District Barr teams Meeting 2:30pm on google meet
School Committee, 7pm
Thursday, November 14-Regular School Day
PD Committee 4:30pm on google meet
Friday, November 15-Wear jeans and your Gator Gear!
*Required Mandated Training-Please complete ASAP*
Every three years, we must comply with an audit from DESE for different programs in our district. These audits are called "Tiered Focus Monitoring" or TFMs. The TFM requires us to meet different criteria, and if we don't meet the criteria, we are given an improvement plan where we need to do reports on a regular basis to show we are making adjustments to comply with the criteria.
One area we did not complete fully is a special education training for the full staff at the start of the school year. This will be added to our mandated trainings.
To comply with the requirement for this year, please review the attached slide deck and complete this google form by November 18 to indicate that you understand the contents of the presentation. Kurt Garivaltis, Chris Tamburrino and Steph Conway are available to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you!
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!
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 😂
District Data for your review
Last week, I shared some data from the YouthTruth survey given last October with student, family, and staff sentiments included as a frame for our work with the Barr Foundation.
I am going to try to share some data with you each week that may be of interest to you.
This week, I am sharing the district's enrollment data as of October 31, 2024. Our numbers are pretty small across the board, and this is part of the equation when we think about how to allocate resources to support students in our district.
Barr Foundation Work: The Teams Explained
With lots of good work ahead of us, the Barr Foundation provides funding for school-based teams and one district team to support this work.
The purpose of the district team is to intentionally design structures for staff to implement the instructional vision. More specifically, we will create multiple structures to invite staff to participate and really own the vision like site visits, district challenges, professional development, and walkthroughs. The district team meets once a month for a longer 2.5 hours.
The purpose of the school team is to intentionally design structures for students to implement the instructional vision with a tie into the high school in some way. This includes using Barr funds to plan trips, outside of classroom learning experiences, etc., but it can also include other school structures and events that push forward the instructional vision.
Some important aspects of using Barr funding include:
- the structure/project you use Barr funds for needs to clearly and undeniably tie into the instructional vision or shows implementation of the instructional vision
- The structure/project you use Barr funds for needs to somehow tie to the high school
- The structure/project you use Barr funds for needs to lean in the direction of instruction (and less towards school culture)
*School teams are decision makers for their Barr funds. The district team is available and excited to support the school teams with technical work (need help planning that field trip?) and as connectors to the district and instructional vision. Any staff member can provide input for ideas for structures/projects using Barr funds, and Barr school teams are welcomed to approve those ideas as long as they meet the above listed criteria.
A Super Big Thank You!
The preschool classrooms want to thank Ed Quinn, Director of Maintenance, and Bruce Saunders, Assistant Director of Maintenance, for installing new climbing pods on the preschool playground (located in Gateway).
The new pods provide the children with an opportunity to work on their gross motor skills, balance, confidence, and their ability to take a slight risk.
They are loving them!
Looking to purchase some Gator Gear?
BSN has some discounted pricing now through November 20 on select Gator Gear!
Here is the link:)
https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/jNrjJC4bTG
Also, for the school's first Barr event, there will be black Gator shirts distributed to all, so FYI while you make shopping decisions!
Unclaimed Money (general PSA!)
The State Treasury has released the updated list of people with unclaimed funds. This is a legitimate site where you may look up your name and see if there are funds that are due to you (your family etc.) that the state has in their possession due to closed accounts, refunds from vendors, dividends, etc.
This is the link to the website https://findmassmoney.com/
Let your family and friends know as well.
Reminder: Calling Out Absent Clarification
There seems to be some confusion about calling out for an absence. If you will not be able to come to school--regardless if you need a sub--you must call, text, or email Kayla Turner, the district sub caller. More specific instructions are here, and also are updated in the faculty handbook.
Elementary Staff who are going to be absent from school should call, text, or email Kayla Turner at 413-977-2833 or at kturner@grsd.org before 7:35 AM. If calling out after 7:35 AM, staff are expected to also call the main office. If nobody is available in the main office after 7:35 AM, the staff member needs to call the building principal to alert them of the absence. If a staff member knows about an absence in advance, they should fill out an Advanced Request for Absence form for approval. Prior permission from administration must be obtained before leaving early during the school day.
Secondary Staff who are going to be absent from school should call, text, or email Kayla Turner at 413-977-2833 or at kturner@grsd.org before 6:15 AM. If calling out after 6:15 AM, staff are expected to also call the main office. If a staff member knows about an absence in advance, they should fill out an Advanced Request for Absence form for approval. Prior permission from administration must be obtained before leaving early during the school day.
