Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/22/2021
HUNTINGTON – When Gateway Regional Superintendent David B. Hopson retires in Augus, 2021 after 18 years on the job, it will mean the end of a 40-year career in education which began in Connecticut, where he taught agriculture for 22 years.
Hopson grew up in Westfield, and has lived in Blandford since the late 1970s, commuting to Winsted during his teaching career at Northwest Regional. He became involved with Gateway Regional 27 years ago, first as a member of the School Council in Blandford and then serving on the School Committee, before being hired as superintendent in 2003.
He and his wife Cheryl Hopson own Laurel Hill Farm in Blandford, where they board horses and sell hay and winter lambs. They start all their flowers and vegetables from seed in their greenhouse, and sell “a few dozen eggs here and there,” he said.
Hopson said he has no plans of taking on any other jobs in education or anywhere else once he retires. “I have a long list of things that I’ve never quite gotten finished or started,” he said. “Things you always think you should do. It’ll be nice to chip away at things everyday instead of just on the weekends.”
When asked what have been the biggest changes he’s seen in education over the last 40 years, Hopson said both in agricultural education and in public education in general, “it’s changed a lot.”
He said the biggest changes have been around standardized testing, and all the requirements around it. “I’ve never particularly liked standardized tests. They are more a measure of zip code than ability,” he said, which he called “a huge problem with an inherent bias that is difficult to overcome.”
Hopson said the tests emphasize only two subject areas, English and math, maybe three counting science, but they don’t truly test a student’s knowledge. “To be a good citizen, you have to have a wide breadth of knowledge. Things you don’t test for – athletics, the arts – how do you measure those? Do we really want to base a school’s performance just on a test taken once a year? It doesn’t measure their knowledge, or kids who have difficulty taking tests,” Hopson said.
Hopson said Gateway has been working for a number of years on looking at the whole child and 21st century skills, music, art, communication, and collaboration. He said they have a strong foundation that has been laid over the last couple of decades.
He believes Gateway has a real advantage over some districts in having a fairly stable teaching and administrative staff – teams that work well together and will make the transition to a new superintendent much easier. He said they have strengths to build on and areas that need improvement, including middle school scores. They have hired a new curriculum director to work on consistency with new curriculum and how to use it appropriately.
Gateway also made having 1:1 technology, one device for every student, a priority earlier than many other districts did. They also have a method in place to replace Chromebooks on a rolling basis, a consistent number every year, to avoid big swings in the budget, Hopson said.
This gave them an advantage in 2020. When schools were shot down in March due to COVID-19, students went home with their Chromebooks. Hopson said their transition to hybrid learning, to remote learning and back to hybrid has also been smoother because teachers are used to working with all of their students every day.
Gateway also has a beautiful campus in Huntington. “We were very lucky to have the building project approved by the towns, and are very fortunate to have a great maintenance and janitorial staff that take great pride in the buildings and the grounds – very fortunate,” Hopson said.
One of the bigger challenges facing Gateway is the dwindling and aging populations in the six towns of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell, which has led to dramatic decreases in student enrollment. Gateway saw its enrollment cut in half from 1,600 to approximately 800 students enrolled in pre-K through grade 12 over the last 20 plus years. Further losses occurred when Worthington left the district in 2014.
The loss of population also leads to a decrease in revenue for the towns, some of which are approaching their levy limits. These problems are shared throughout regional districts in Western Massachusetts.
“Thankfully, the Legislature has been giving rural aid the last couple of years,” Hopson said, which compensates somewhat for a loss of student population in rural areas. He said the district is still waiting for the amount for this year, which the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) still hasn’t calculated. Last year, the district received $150,000.
Gateway is considered level one for rural aid, due to a significant loss of students and a relatively low population. “That’s a challenge that rolls into all of the other challenges that we have. Fortunately, the overall assessment has been relatively low. Towns have really gotten involved in the budget process, and have supported the process going forward,” Hopson said.
That wasn’t always the case, and Hopson said during his first years as superintendent, the town and school connection wasn’t as strong as it could have been. “The biggest achievement of the last 10 years was doing the MARS (Massachusetts Association Of Regional Schools) study, and having towns coming together to look at the regional agreement and level out assessments,” he said.
Hopson said they haven’t yet come to an agreement with all six towns for the alternate assessment, which would ensure an equal percentage change in assessments to all of the towns, instead of basing it on the ebb and flow of students in each town. He said they are in ongoing discussions about the new assessment method and the new regional agreement.
Hopson said as a district they are committed to providing as much transparency as possible, and put information out to the towns on a regular basis.
When asked what he would like to see happen for Gateway, Hopson said he’d like to see the six towns pick up population. “That would increase the population in Gateway [which] would expand course offerings for students. It would be great – wider sports and activities. We have done a great job with online course offerings, but to really be equivalent to larger school districts, we need more kids in town,” he said.
Hopson said the work on broadband access in all of the towns will help to draw more families. “We’ve already seen across the country a move away from the big cities to more rural settings. If we have more broadband, it might make a difference to bring more people into the hilltowns,” he said.
“Gateway’s future is tied to the towns, absolutely. Without a good school system, it’s really hard to attract younger families to a community. I personally think that’s really important. I’m not planning to leave the hilltowns. In the future, my property values and my ability to move to a smaller place is tied to our towns’ need to be successful, and to our schools,” Hopson said, adding that for the community at large, “Most of our money is tied into our real estate and our houses.”
As for the pandemic and its impact on Gateway, Hopson said there are changes over time, and changes that are temporary like they are now. He said while the vaccines should help, he has some problems with the process.
“I don’t think Massachusetts has been doing a fantastic job of doling out vaccines or setting up appropriate sites in Western Massachusetts. I just wish the governor hadn’t put teachers underneath 65 years old.” he said. “At least we’re still in the second round. A couple of weeks delay – hopefully, we’ll finish up in March.”
Hopson said he does think there will be a long-term impact on students from the shutdown. “You’re going to see across the state and across the country regression in low and average students’ performance and ability to move ahead,” he said, adding that Gateway is going to look at stimulus money to expand after school and summer programming for any student who has a need or desire to do additional work.
Hopson said his career as superintendent at Gateway was bookended by two crises. “In my first year as superintendent, in 2003-2004, we lost $1.8 million in state aid, and laid off or reduced 38 staff members. We never recouped those losses,” he said, adding, “In my last year as superintendent, we had COVID.”
“The only good thing about COVID is it has brought a much broader awareness of how difficult a job a teacher has,” Hopson said.
Hopson will finish his career at the end of August. He said the School Committee has elected to hire a new superintendent by the beginning of August, so there is a month overlap.
“I’m counting down in terms of what I need to get accomplished, rather than days or weeks left,” Hopson said.