Ariana Proehl: “What has the zero sum thinking done to our schools and the way our children learn and develop?”

Heather McGhee: “[The most diverse schools] are still fighting for equitable resources to this day. It is so important for us to lift up these schools as the schools that are able to best prepare all of our children for the America that we are already living in, the America with no racial majority, where we have to figure out how to get the best out of the super asset that is diversity.”

Gateway has long prioritized student mental health in recognition of the fact that students can’t be expected to thrive at school if their emotional needs aren’t being met. Never has this been more apparent than this year as students and staff alike grapple with the return to in-person learning. To that end, we’re especially glad to have Angelic Posadas, GHS’ new Director of Counseling, on our team. We sat down with her to discuss her approach to working with student mental health and how the first few months of school have been. READ MORE >

In many ways, the 2020-21 school year was the largest public education experiment we’re likely to see in our lives. And like any good experiment, it yielded plenty of food for thought and some signposts for what to try next. At Gateway High, this has led to the development of Flex Blocks and Flex Days, time set aside from the regular academic schedule where students are encouraged to call the shots about how they will spend it – and this small change is already yielding big benefits. READ MORE >

When Lisa Geronimo graduated from Gateway High and headed to Dominican University as a pre-med student in 2011, she couldn’t have imagined her professional path would take her right back where she started. But a decade later, Lisa is serving Gateway Public Schools as Health and Safety Coordinator, where her considerable expertise has been keeping students and staff safe through the transition back to in-person learning. READ MORE >

Gateway High’s robotics team is an established school fixture and one of Gateway’s longest running clubs, but they’re no longer the only roboticists on the scene. Thanks to an expanded partnership with the FIRST Robotics Program, Gateway Middle has its own robotics club for the very first time this year. Whereas the older students use shop materials and power tools to bring their robot creations to life, this new, younger cohort works in a different medium: the humble yet versatile LEGO brick. READ MORE >

Gateway’s annual Matters of the Mind event couldn’t be held on campus this year, but that didn’t stop us from having an incredible event and it certainly didn’t stop our community from stepping up in a big way for teachers and students, as our biggest fundraiser of the year exceeded its ambitious goal of raising $350,000 for Gateway! READ MORE >

We tend to think of the word “genius” as a rare title for an elite few, but what if genius is a quality that can be cultivated in all of us – even among middle schoolers? Gateway Middle School faculty are tackling exactly that challenge with an extensive professional development program based around the book Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by professor and teacher trainer Gholdy Muhammad. READ MORE >

Dismantling white supremacy in the public school setting is an all-hands-on-deck endeavor. Even the best-trained, most well-intentioned educators can falter or fall short in the face of norms and institutions that for hundreds of years have both overtly and covertly worked to perpetuate narratives and systems that shortchange students,