Gator Bites- 9/8/23
Important Dates:
Monday, September 11 - Picture Day for MS/HS
Tuesday, September 19 - Half Day for Students, Professional Development for staff
Tuesday, September 26 - Picture Day for Littleville!
Tuesday, September 26 - Elementary Schools Open Houses
Friday, September 29 - Picture Day for Chester grades K-5
State Budget Update
You may have heard that the state budget for FY24 passed in August, which included some line item increases for public education. For perspective, in 2019 the Student Opportunity Act was approved by the state legislators to increase public education funding by $1.5 billion dollars over a seven year period of time. The Student Opportunity Act (SOA) was meant to provide the urgently needed funding to deliver a high quality education to students. Instead of receiving $1500-$2000 more in state aid per student like some, rural school districts like Gateway received the minimum of $30 more per student in the first year and $60 per in its second year. You can read more about it in this article.
Rural School Aid was added to the budget by legislators to support districts like Gateway that did not benefit from the new SOA calculation. Even though $15 million was approved this year for Rural School Aid, we still don’t know which districts will get funding (could be more than previous years), or how much each will get.
Where we are:
Although it is feels promising that Rural School Aid, Regional Transportation Reimbursement, and other lines increased, we are still unsure of how this will benefit Gateway. Further, the amount recommended by the state mandated Rural Schools Commission to truly provide all districts with the opportunity to deliver a high quality education without requiring local town budgets to pick up the bill (beyond a 2.5% increase) is for Rural School Aid to be funded at $60 million, not $15 million.
Not knowing how much funding Gateway will receive and when we will be provided with the funding has necessitated some very difficult decisions, some of which you may have heard about. We have made our best guess as to how much funding we will get in Rural Aid, but as costs continue to increase, this will still be a difficult budget year. The budget slide from the FY24 Budget presentation below shares how the district allocated funding.
What's Next?
The district and families need to continue to engage with legislators to advocate for increased funding to our rural communities. The next ask should be to have a comprehensive plan like the SOA to phase in the full amount of $60 million statewide for our students as soon as possible. Please reach out to any school committee member or member of administration for some sample form letters if you wish to participate.
From Our Nurse Leader
We are so excited to welcome you back! As a mom of 2 children myself, I asked my 6-year-old son for some insight and suggestions on how to welcome back families so I asked him what the school nurse could say to him to make him feel welcomed and happy at school. His response, “that I get to go home”. I hope that response made you chuckle as much as I did as I slowly closed my eyes and smiled at him. All of our nurses know that this time of the year brings on all of the emotions for your children. We are a nursing team dedicated to the success of your child in school and are here to support them on their good days and bad, well days and sick.
This year the health office is using new and refreshed health forms. We are happy to announce the addition of some over the counter items we can now offer children during the school day with your permission. Such offerings as; acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Motrin), cough drops for older kiddos and sunscreen in case it was forgotten in a pinch. Please fill out the lime green health form and sign up by selecting “yes” to the offerings on the back of the form. Don’t forget to fill out both sides of the form and sign the bottom.
The health offices will not be offering in-school COVID-19 testing but we can still offer test kits to families as our supply lasts. If you are in need of a COVID -19 test kit, just let your school nurse know and she can send one home for you. The guidelines for COVID -19 have not changed and will continue to be the same as the last school year.
- If you test positive for covid-19 you must isolate for 5 days from the onset of symptoms, or the positive test result. The first day of symptoms / or the first positive test date counts as day zero.
- You then count to 5 and your child can return to school on day 6 as long as:
- they have not had a fever for the last 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication
- they are starting to feel better and symptoms are resolving
- Your child must mask days 6-10 and are able to be mask free on day 11.
If there is a person in the home with COVID -19, your child can still come to school as long as they do not have any symptoms of illness. If your child develops symptoms of illness, it is recommended to test them before sending them to school in the morning. Call your doctor in these instances for guidance. More information on COVID -19 can be found on the CDC website here: Coronavirus Testing Information.
As a reminder, children who need to receive medication at school (not offered on our health form) need to have renewed medication orders for each new school year. The orders must be dated after July 1 and the medication must be provided to the school nurse in a pharmacy labeled container or bottle. Please check the expiration dates on the medication labels to be sure they are not expired and count out the number of tabs/capsules as we cannot except more than a 30-day supply at a time. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s school nurse:
Middle & High School: Mrs. Theresa Brownlee @ 413-685-1240
Littleville Elementary School: Mrs. Heather Fortier @ 413-685-1318
Chester Elementary School: Mrs. Amanda Dean @ 413-685-1364
Kelly Sudnick, Nurse Leader
Reminder: Important Information from our School Secretaries:
Attention Gateway Parents of Returning Students
Watch your inbox for an important email from Powerschool Registration Support!
Please follow the instructions so you can register your returning student online. This is the time to update important information for your student, including new phone numbers, email, emergency contacts, etc.
How do I get started?
Follow the link in the email that was sent to you. This includes a special snap code. (If you did not receive an email, please check your spam folder or call the building secretary to verify the email address we have on file).
If you do not have internet or you are having trouble completing the registration or to ask any general questions about the form or the Returning Student Registration process, please contact:
Kayla Turner for Littleville Elementary at (413) 685-1300
Donna Morrissey for Chester Elementary (413) 685-1361
Karen Malinowski for MS & HS (413) 685-1102
Bullying Prevention Plan
Last year, the bullying prevention plan for Gateway Regional was revised and approved by the school committee. You can review it here.
