Welcome back to all. We hope everyone had a joyous and safe holiday season and wish you all a very prosperous 2012.

On Monday, January 16th, Gateway School will be closed in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. A holiday assembly to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.and Black History Month will be held on Friday, January 27th.

On Friday, February 10th, Gateway students will participate in a Basketball tournament with students from our sister schools, Alpha and Harbor. Students will work on passing, shooting and team play skills. A Great Time will be had by all.

On Monday, February 13th, Gateway students will be participating in the Jump Rope for Heart program. Jump Rope for Heart is a national educational fundraising program that is sponsored by the American Heart Association. It engages students in jumping rope while raising funds to support lifesaving heart and stroke research. Students ask friends and family for donations and receive thank-you gifts based on the dollars they raise. This educational program teaches physical fitness and promotes the value of community service to students and their families.

Gateway School will be closed for Winter Recess from Monday, February 20th until Friday, February 24th. We will reopen on Monday, February 27th.

We again have several trips planned to Sandy Hook Beach during our extended school year program. Please refer to our calendar for specific dates and times. We have been bringing our students to Sandy Hook Beach each summer for over a decade and a great time is always had by all. Please be sure your children wear proper attire on beach days including swim trunks and sunscreen.

On Wednesday, August 10th, Gateway School will be sponsoring our Third Annual Alumni Day. Alumni and parents will gather to talk about what they have been doing since graduation and their experiences with adult service agencies. Alumni will also be given a chance to meet with former teachers and old friends to reminisce about old times. If you know anyone who is a graduate of Gateway School and may not have been contacted for Alumni Day, please have them call Pat Gutowski at Gateway School (732) 541-4400 so that we may add them to our mailing list.

Also on August 10th, Gateway School will be holding its annual Extended School Year Family Picnic. The picnic will take place from 11:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. at Carteret Park with immediate family members of our students invited to attend. We hope to see you all there.

Pat Gutowski is currently our SLE (Structured Learning Experience) and Transition Coordinator whose primary focus is preparing our adolescent and young adult students to make the adjustment from school programs to adult services. Ms. “G”, as she is affectionately known by her students, is entering her 25th year here at Gateway School, having first started teaching here in 1987.

Initially Ms. Gutowski was in the classroom as a Teacher of the Handicapped working with students of all ages. Later she began to concentrate on the high school classes, and in the early ‘90’s we started talking about making important new changes in the school curriculum, such as implementing more community-based instruction, developing work sites outside of school where the students could learn real work skills, and conducting situational vocational assessments. Enthusiastic about the new direction, Ms. Gutowski changed her role from Teacher to Transition Coordinator. She began to investigate what does actually happen to our students after they graduate from Gateway. She started to learn more about the adult service system and sought out active participation from DDD case managers and DVR counselors to develop comprehensive transition plans for our young adults and those ready to graduate. She began networking with professionals and quickly developed good working relationships with other Transition Coordinators throughout the county and eventually the state.

Ms. Gutowski started using vocational interest inventories to determine students’ own interests, and with the input of teachers and family members, developed positive student profiles to focus on students’ strengths, especially in terms of their work skills and job behaviors. She began purchasing age-appropriate materials to teach students these skills so critical to future success in adult environments. She began reaching out to employers in the area to find work sites where our students could perform job shadowing in real work environments. Soon she had developed a comprehensive program to teach our students the value of work, both in school and in community-based locations.

She began working closely with our high school teachers, coaching them on the importance of preparing our young adults and adolescents for transition and the world of work. At the beginning of each school year now, Ms. Gutowski in-services the teachers on how to develop transition plans that are meaningful, relevant and pragmatic. She develops in-school work jobs and on a daily basis goes out to the work sites with our employment specialists.

Outside of the school program Ms. Gutowski continued to network with other educational professionals throughout the state and the country. A few years ago she was elected to the national board of APSE (Association for Persons in Supported Employment), and currently, she continues to serve on the NJAPSE Board of Directors. She continues to represent our school and New Jersey every year at the APSE conferences, both at the state and national level. Just recently Ms. Gutowski was asked to participate on a new statewide committee – the New Jersey Employment First Initiative, which believes everyone, even those with disabling conditions, can become employed.

Ms. Gutowski embodies all of the best characteristics of a dedicated educator and human service professional, displaying compassion and a vision of transforming society to a better place in which people of differing abilities are treated with respect and dignity and allowed to reach for the stars. She is a tremendous asset to our program and we are fortunate to have her on our team!