Gateway Regional Assistant Superintendent Stephanie Fisk is retiring after 41 years at Gateway Regional.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
HUNTINGTON — Long-time Gateway Regional business administrator and assistant superintendent Stephanie Fisk is retiring this year after 41 years at Gateway — longer if you count her school years — she graduated from Gateway in the Class of 1982.
Fisk was born and raised in Huntington. Her parents are from Huntington, and her grandparents on one side are from Huntington, and on the other from Worthington. She said she is related to most of the Fisks in the hilltowns, who are numerous. At a 90th birthday party for her father last year, 200 people attended, the majority of them relatives.
Fisk began working at Gateway as a golf, basketball and softball coach — all three sports that she played in school. In 1988, she started in the central office as administrative assistant to the superintendent, Larry Holland at the time. Fisk has worked under six superintendents.
She began as business and finance officer in 2002, after serving as assistant business manager for two years; and as assistant superintendent for finance and operations in 2018.
She has a bachelor of arts in leadership and organizational studies from Bay Path University, from which she graduated summa cum laude, and continuing studies for a master’s in administration from Westfield State University. She holds Massachusetts certifications for superintendent and assistant superintendent; school business administrator; and certified public purchasing official.
She points to having served for seven years on board of the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials, the last year as president. The board honored her with the Donald J. Johnson Operational and Cost Efficiency Award in 2018, and the Friends of MASBO award in 2023. “It’s a lot of professional development and networking to come up with ideas for direct services to students and cost efficiencies,” she said about her work on the state level.
Over the years, Fisk has presented to MASBO, to the Massachusetts Inspector General’s Office Spotlight on Schools, and to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and Massachusetts Association of School Committees Joint Conference. In 2019, she was also appointed by Gov. Baker to a special commission on improving efficiencies in student transportation.
Speaking about her career highlights at Gateway Regional, Fisk said she is proud of having initiated the before and after school wraparound program at the elementary schools 20 years ago.
She has been deeply involved in renovations to the buildings and new building construction. She also served during economic downtowns, through the closing of schools and the loss of Worthington as a part of Gateway Regional. “It was difficult to lose one town as far as their contributions in assessments for the budget,” she said, adding that the state gave some mitigation funding the first year in fiscal year 2016.
“We still provided the needed student services through lack of funding, through the loss of one town and through the closing of schools,” Fisk said. “Services to our students didn’t decrease leaps and bounds.”
Throughout it all, she has offered stability to the district throughout her career and the ability to plan for future needs. She said right now they have started a capital account for a new needed roof for the main campus, which will also be eligible for Massachusetts School Building Authority funding for the roof when it becomes 26 years old in a couple of years. The plan is also to do a boiler and HVAC replacement along with the new roof. For years, she said they’ve also talked about installing a solar array on the grounds.
“The Gateway campus is 13 acres, with a swamp behind the school and the Westfield River in front. “It’s a pretty campus,” Fisk said.
Another issue facing Gateway is the loss of student enrollment, especially in the high school, with a lot of students in eighth and ninth grade heading to vocational schools. She said enrollment has been declining at the state level as well. “It’s not just here, it’s everywhere across the state.” She said rural school aid has helped, as have programs such as the vision program, which is self-funding.
Fisk said the district has been looking into new exploratory program offerings for students as well. “The exploratory piece and experiential learning is a very big part of education now.”
Fisk is also very organized. “You have to be to have this job.” she said. Financial statements from every year are neatly organized on her shelves for her replacement, Amy Mason, who Fisk calls an excellent choice, who is invested in the district. Fisk will also be assisting Mason over the summer as she comes on board the job.
Talking about the highlights of her career at Gateway Regional, Fisk said, “Working with the staff here. It’s a small community district. The staff outreach to students is phenomenal. Because I started as a coach, one of the neatest reflections is watching the students that I coached, who are now teachers or administrators. It’s fun to watch the whole cycle.”
Plans for her future include getting to projects she has put off.
“This job is really 24/7. There are a lot of projects to get to,” she said, naming gardening and traveling, although she has no plans as yet. “I’d like to hit Alaska for sure,” she said.
Golf is also in her future. Fisk said she still plays golf, but not as much as she’d like. She said her handicap was a 9 at one time. “I’m sure it’s much higher now. I used to play in Worthington when I was growing up. I used to play at the Whippernon before they built houses on it, and had a hole in one.”
Over the years, Fisk said other districts have tried to recruit her, but “once a Gator, always a Gator.”
“I graduated here and worked here. It’s always been where my heart has been, for our staff and students,” Fisk said.
