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Date: 7/30/2015
EAST?LONGMEADOW – Superintendent of Schools Gordon Smith recently finished his fifth year as head of the school district and is hopeful that the district will continue to see growth in the future.
“East Longmeadow both in the school department and throughout town is incredibly welcoming, supportive, and people are so collaborative – willing to get involved and work with you to achieve a common goal,” Smith said.
Smith, who formerly served as principal of Ludlow High School from 2004 to 2010, noted that when he had the benefit of working as an assistant principal at East Longmeadow High School from 2002 to 2004 prior to serving as leader of the district.
“I had some knowledge of the school system, certainly specifically, the high school, but knew East Longmeadow schools and the town,” he added. “It was a homecoming if you will.”
He added that during the past five years the district has put an emphasis on staff members collaborating with their colleagues.
The district has developed a common vocabulary across its schools for teachers to discuss instruction of subjects such as math, English language arts (ELA), or science, Smith said.
“Say you’re working at Mountain View [Elementary School] and I’m working at Mapleshade [Elementary], we have the same three grades,” he added. “However, if you’re discussing your instruction and your instructional block using different terminology, we’re not going to immediately going to connect on what exactly you’re doing in the classroom and what I’m doing in the classroom.”
Smith said the district has also focused on developing common assessments within grade levels or specific content areas.
“Two teachers at the same grade level would be giving [large cumulative] assessments that are developed together – therefore it becomes a common assessment for that grade level, say in math or ELA,” he added.
Smith said the district also hopes to gain entrance into the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) reimbursement program to construct a new high school.
Previously, the district, with approval by the Board of Selectmen in March, submitted a statement of interest (SOI) to the MSBA. The district also submitted an SOI for a new high school in 2014, but the MSBA denied its request.
The district should receive an answer regarding this year’s SOI sometime this fall or at the latest in early winter, Smith noted.
“It’s a pretty competitive process,” he added.
If the MSBA accepts the district’s SOI, the next step would include entrance into an eligibility period, Smith said.
“We then, as a town, would have to commit to certain things,” he added. “One – we would have to commit to doing a feasibility study. That would be eventually after we set up some informational meetings and start answering questions for folks. Eventually that’s something that has to be voted at during Town Meeting.”
If the town agrees to fund a feasibility study, then an identified reimbursement rate – typically at least 50 percent – would be locked in, Smith said.
He added that a new high school would benefit the community as a whole.
Smith said one of the major challenges for the high school is the electrical system, which is essentially maxed out – additional equipment cannot be supported by it – and overall the system is outdated.
“You’re running your transformer at a much higher rate and temperature than really it was built for,” he added.
East Longmeadow High School was constructed in 1960 and consists of approximately 74,000 square feet. Its student body during the 2014-2015 school year was 875.
Smith said he believes “there’s always challenges” for school districts.
“This is not a student or learning challenge per say, but one of the challenges for all educational leaders is how you keep a balance between some of the fast and furious state or federal new mandates or initiatives and balance that with how you allow educators to do their job, which is to instruct students and support students in their learning,” he added.
Smith has two more school years remaining on his contract with the district, but he’s hopeful it would be renewed and that he would serve as superintendent for years to come.
“I would love to be here as long as I feel that I can lead the public schools in a positive and productive way,” he said.