NEW SALEM — The commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) was at Swift River School on Friday to discuss the challenges faced by learning institutions in rural areas when he got an unexpected lesson firsthand.
Pedro Martinez was having a roundtable discussion with teachers and school administrators when the lights suddenly turned off at 11:21 a.m., likely the result of heavy rain and wind in the area.
“Now you really understand rural education,” Shannon White-Cleveland, superintendent of School Union 28, said over a roar of laughter. She and at least one other person in the room used cellphone flashlights to continue the discussion until Robyn Vitello, executive assistant to the superintendent, brought in larger ones.
Sixth grade teacher Angela Worden-Corey said the power outage likely wouldn’t faze students, as the building loses electricity due to downed trees and wires two to three times a year. Martinez, who grew up in Chicago and once worked in San Antonio, told the Greenfield Recorder that seeing how the rural school pivoted during a minor hiccup gave him an authentic view.
“They’re used to it,” he said. “They move on and they problem-solve. And we know that these challenges are not only in the school, but also in the town itself. So … whatever the town is feeling, so [are] the schools.”
Martinez’s visit was part of an effort to see the more rural areas of a state that many people associate solely with cities like Boston and Worcester. It was noted that he has visited 60 schools in six months. He visited Ralph C. Mahar Regional School in Orange with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and Patrick Tutwiler, the state’s education secretary, in August.
Martinez, who became the DESE commissioner on July 1, started his visit by being greeted and escorted to the conference room by two sixth graders before sitting down to talk with White-Cleveland and others. Principal Kelley Sullivan praised the school’s climate and culture, saying the building is the hub of the community.
“There’s an aura,” she said of the school. “There really is — there’s an aura about it.”
Martinez got a tour of the building, which started with a visit to Paige Smith’s third grade classroom, where students were learning about magnets. The commissioner was then taken to the music room, where teacher Michael Cortina was using Splits, a monkey puppet, to ask students what should be brought on a trip to the moon. Answers from the preschoolers included blankets, Popsicles and friends.
Martinez stopped by Worden-Corey’s classroom, where students were discussing the Christopher Paul Curtis book “Bud, Not Buddy,” before returning to the conference room for more discussion. Martinez was told about how field trips to Boston expand the horizons of students who have never left their small town, and how even younger students have already expressed interest in studying at schools like Franklin County Technical School and Springfield Technical Community College.
Martinez mentioned a state report released last month that showed graduates of Massachusetts public colleges or universities make $20,000 to $30,000 more per year than their peers who did not pursue higher education. It also revealed that those who pursue fields of study like sciences and the trades saw the biggest earnings boost five years after graduation.
“One of the things that I’ve been sharing with everyone is that we are not seeing any data by now, in Massachusetts, that tells us that a high school diploma is enough to have socio-economic development,” he said.
Martinez told the Recorder he marveled at how engaged Swift River School’s students are, and he admires the area’s natural beauty.
“What I love is the sense of community here, and as I walked to every classroom, the level of engagement is high,” he said. “It’s easy to come in here and think that this is easy to do, but this is actually a culture that’s been built over many years.”