For the past five years, serving as a representative to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District School Committee, I’ve witnessed both past decline but also the sustained effort of district educational leadership and increasingly outstanding outcomes.

The recent MARS Sustainability Study reveals a long, slow erosion of enrollment over the past decades pre-COVID, that coincides with the advent of “school choice,” as well as a significant population decline both in the U.S. overall, and in this 250-plus-square-mile district that we call home: the largest in the state.

Rural schools across the state have shown similar declines for these reasons. But our district has also suffered from escalating costs and 20 years of gross underfunding of regional agreements in both Chapter 70 and transportation costs. We received no Student Opportunity Act money, unlike other areas of the state where there is high poverty, as there is here. Our towns have been financially overburdened in coping with all of this.

However, our enrollment is now showing modest gains.

During my two terms, the district has engaged in a prolonged, insightful implementation of programming, practices, curriculum, and educator training that are cost effective, well considered, and innovative. Most of this work has been subsidized by grants.

All of our elementary schools have adopted social/emotional learning, trauma-informed teaching, and now culturally responsive classroom practices. These are interrelated considerations.

Until recently, these have been missing elements in public education that are vital in human functioning in all aspects and stages of life. Students can face a wide range of personal, private challenges, and the district is refining its commitment and attunement to the individual child’s unique circumstances, strengths and educational needs.

Social/emotional learning, for example, fosters assertive communication skills, self-reflection, time management, goal setting, interpersonal effectiveness, and accountability, being cultivated from preschool onward, infused in classroom engagement across the curriculum and in increasing sophistication in the upper grades through to graduation.

Following COVID, our school district is now able to track progress in reading and mathematics through information systems that monitor individual student progress in real time with measurable data. Teachers are working diligently to assist students in educational recovery from COVID disruptions, and students are making steady, measurable progress.

Further, the work of two specialists, working districtwide, is providing training and oversight of cutting-edge classroom skills in engaging students in these subject areas, inciting student’s critical thinking and joy in learning. Neighboring schools are now sending their teachers to observe our classroom approaches in work with students.

In the middle school and high school, years of development (in work with parents, students, and the overall community, with guidance from The Barr Foundation’s Mass IDEAS program), have created The Trailblazer Model. Subject matter is combined to enrich learning in both, as in art combined with English, or English combined with U.S. history. Senior year culminates in an extensive capstone project that involves scholarly research, much written work, and a public presentation to students, parents and educators.

Just some course offerings now include robotics and coding; sign language is now determined to fulfill language requirements; and civics and community participation are emphasized and move beyond the classroom.

Advanced courses available at Mohawk Trail Regional Schools are: AP English Language and Composition; AP English Literature and Composition; Calculus and Precalculus; AP Calculus AB and BC; Probability and Statistics; AP Computer Science Principles; AP Biology; AP Chemistry; AP Environmental Science; Organic Chemistry; AP Physics; and AP U.S. History.

Seventy-seven percent of students at Mohawk Trail Regional Schools complete advanced coursework. Seventy-six percent of students earned a qualifying score on advanced placement exams.

Additionally, there are dual enrollment opportunities with Greenfield Community College.

Internships provide work-based learning. Students receive mentoring and instruction in a variety of work settings. These include Trailside Veterinary; Suzor IT; Musical Crew; MassHire Virtual Internships; MTRSD Facilities: MVP/Education: Communications; Audio/Visual Falls Cable: Vacation Camps: Athletic Department: Berkshire East; and Foxtown Diner.

Lastly, Athletic Director Greg Lilly stepped down from the School Committee, inspired to use his lifelong knowledge of the district and outstanding leadership abilities to expand athletic opportunities for students and community engagement.

These past years have given me a deep appreciation for the dedicated excellence of educators throughout Mohawk Trail Regional Schools. Some are skilled researchers and grant writers, too, ensuring that our towns’ substantial annual price tag goes much further in securing excellent education for our students in the face of chronic, highly inequitable funding for our largest and most rural district.

Jennifer Markens of Ashfield serves on the Mohawk Trail Regional School District School Committee.

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