NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The state's top education leader got a lot of schooling on Thursday morning. 

 

He listened to musical compositions, got beat at tic-tac-toe, had some lessons in physics and astronomy, learned how to create a volcano and found out more than he ever expected on the topic of manure.

 

"I am so energized by everything that I saw today," Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler said. "I saw incredible engagement. I saw thoughtfulness and intentionality around meeting student's social-emotional needs. I saw students able to dig into things that they're passionate about and I happen to know, speaking to the superintendent, that there are state standards behind things the kids are learning but you wouldn't necessarily know that. The kids are so engaged, they're having fun but they're also learning at the same time.

 

"I will float home today thanks to my experience today."

 

Tutwiler spent the morning at the 21st Century Community Learning Center at Brayton Elementary School before ending his visit at Cobble Hill Farm Education & Rescue Center in Williamstown. He was accompanied by school officials and Mayor Jennifer Macksey, state Rep. John Barrett III and Casey Pease, representing state Sen. Paul Mark. 

 

Superintendent Barbara Malkas had invited Tutwiler to visit the North Adams Public Schools long before he was appointed to lead the Executive Office of Education by Gov. Maura Healey last December. 

 

The two had become friends when Tutwiler was superintendent of the Lynn Public Schools. He'd also been headmaster in Boston and more recently was a program officer with the grant-making Barr Foundation. 

 

"He's a real standup guy," said Malkas.

 

Tutwiler, a former history teacher, visited with a half-dozen different science and art classes taking place at Brayton and listened intently as the children gave presentations on everything from original music compositions, to making moon craters and types of constellations to coding without computers and, in a kindergarten class, demonstrating Newton's laws of motion. 

 

He easily chatted with the children, who were eager to share their activities and thoughts with him. One asked if he was the mayor, another wished him to "have great weekend!" as he left. 

 

The 21st Century summer and after-school elementary programs have been part of the school district for 25 years. In addition to STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — it includes a social-emotional learning component and internships for high school students. 

 

"The story we have to tell about the 21st Century after-school as well as the summer program is that we always want to keep it extraordinary," said Noella Carlow, district coordinator. "When we start the year off, we say to ourselves, 'what's going to be good for the kids?' 'What can we continue to add to the programs?'"

 

The programs are funded largely through grants, including state 21st Century and special education grants. It also relies on community partners such as Kids4Harmony and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, which loaned its portable planetarium. 

 

Through its Welcome Center, the district also partners with a number of community organizations, such as Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, Berkshire Community Action Council and the Al Nelson Friendship Center Food Pantry to help families in addressing health, food insecurity and housing. 

 

Jane Swift's newly established Cobble Hill Farm center is the latest addition to the consortium. 

 

Grades 5 and 6 were at the farm this week, Grades 7 and 8 will be there next. Thursday was a bit of an open house as parents and guardians were invited to see some of the research the students had done. There were demonstrations on candle making, discussions on duck relationships, a table dedicated to food art, and lectures on poultry, bee keeping and, yes, manure.

 

"It's nice to see with this program that agriculture and hands-on learning is really molding these children, with the social-emotional learning we work in the classroom with," said School Committee member David Sookey. "It changes their outlook on life ... It's great."

 

Tutwiler said his priorities as secretary include not just addressing the educational gap caused by the pandemic but thinking about future educational needs. 

 

"We have two particular areas we are pushing hard and that's reimagining high school and early literacy," he said. He sees career technical education as "really being the model that we're trying to get the other traditional high schools to mimic and replicate. ...

 

"What you see there is incredible engagement, incredible class relevancy — students see the connection between what they're learning in the day and a career they're interested in. You see work-based learning experiences. All that's already happening in the career tech ed space and we'd like to see that happening more meaningfully in traditional high schools as well."

 

Two programs that focus on connections are early college and innovation career pathways, both of which he noted that the North Adams school district is using. 

 

Swift, former governor and longtime education executive and consultant, said North Adams should be a gateways city because it has all of the characteristics but just not enough population. She also promoted the concept that anyone can help in educating within the community, noting how her mother for years had read to children at the YMCA.

 

"I think the secretary is doing a great job," she said. "We have a number of challenges in school districts around the country, and in particularly in school districts like the one in North Adams. ... 

 

"I work at a policy level around the country with the brightest of minds but everybody can make a difference."

 

One of the things that Malkas hoped the secretary took away from his trip is that the state exists beyond the Route 495 corridor and that there's good educational work happening everywhere.

 

"And that North Adams, being the smallest municipality, let us be the prototype for innovation," she said. "We are small, we're flexible, we're adaptive. We work well together. ... all of those skills let us innovate, create new programs, create new possibilities.

 

"Let us become the learning lab for larger districts that also need to innovate and bring these kinds of programs to their students."

 

Tutwiler, his arms full of fresh lavender and potpourri and cups of ice cream and custard from Swift, essentially agreed with Malkas' assessment. 

 

"I think the unique piece here is just the level of engagement and the level of creativity that absolutely could and should be replicated elsewhere," he said.