Educational Achievements – Gardner MA
The City of Gardner Massachusetts has accomplished successes in Educational achievements, including, but not limited to:
Maintaining School Buildings
Building New School Buildings
Curriculum Upgrades
MCAS Test Results Improved Despite Pandemic
Funding Schools much more than required
Use of Technology to improve education
Innovative Pathways program
Manufacturing program
Preschool Cost Waivers
“Here Comes the Bus” Cell phone application
Addition of busing where needed including for Middle School students living a little too far from school
Establishment of a unique fund to benefit the schools through the sale of a famous painting which had been donated to the School District.
Increased funding for Elementary School Band to feed later Middle School and High School band programs
GardnerMagazine.com spoke with Gardner MA Mayor Michael Nicholson about the City’s accomplishments in education. Here is what he had to say:
Mayor Nicholson: One of the biggest things that I can say about our educational achievements in Gardner is back, I mean, 2 years ago, for a decade before that, Gardner was considered a level 3 district by the Massachusetts Department of elementary and Secondary Education. Now there are 4 levels in which the state’s department of education grades a school district at, with 4 being the worst. And that if you reach level 4, the state takes over your district in receivership when level one being the best. For years, Gardner was stuck at a level 3 district. Our test scores just weren’t there. This year were up to level one. We’ve completely skipped level 2 altogether and gone up to a level one district. We’re no longer being monitored. There’s ways that we’ve improved. Our test scores are back up. And its because we’ve been willing to invest in our students and give them new ways to learn their education, be it through the innovative pathway programs that we’ve done. And I call those trades for nontrade schools. We do those in manufacturing, in nursing, in woodworking. We’ve begun programs in fire science now as well in our computer and it those are all ways that our students can get industry credentials in the regular curriculum, and then really updating that curriculum to make sure it meets a modern 21st century learning environment and modern 2023 education that’s there. And by doing that, we’ve set our students up for success in whatever field they choose to go to in the future
Mayor Nicholson has some advice to share with other cities on how to accomplish this.
Mayor Nicholson: I think the biggest advice is that your schools are your biggest asset. If you cant invest in your future, then why bother going out to find new businesses. Why bother going out to help the housing production in your locations. Why bother fixing the roads. Because if you don’t have the investment made in your younger generations and give them a reason to want to stay. Then your population is just going to continue to go out and you’re not going to be as sustainable or nearly as successful in the future because you’ve just lost all of your future planning