AMHERST — Running track for the High School of Commerce in Springfield, Marc Gomes finished fifth in the 100-meter dash at the Western Massachusetts Track and Field Championships in 2004.
Amherst Regional High School’s Mike Wiley won the event.
Despite this disappointment, as his high school career continued, Gomes began winning regional meets, in part thanks to tips and advice he got from Elizabeth Haygood, Amherst Regional’s track and field coach.
While Gomes played on Commerce’s basketball and football teams, his brother came to Amherst to play for the high school’s football team.
Those connections gave Gomes, Amherst Regional’s new principal, what he describes as a love-hate relationship with Amherst, and they also prompted him to apply for the job.
“I don’t think they know here what Amherst means to us in western Mass,” Gomes said. “Amherst is prestige, it’s history, it’s kindness, it’s support. And it’s been love and support for me.”
Now settling into the job as the school year begins, Gomes said so far he has been welcomed with kindness by students, families, colleagues and administrators, though he observes that as principal he will be making difficult decisions.
“As a school principal you will always get a bad rap,” Gomes said. “If you’re not ready to get criticized, you’re not ready to be a leader.”
But he sees an opportunity for the school to become a “blue-ribbon school,” which can start with basics, like cleaning up the hallways, ensuring vaping isn’t happening, stopping loitering outside classrooms, and preventing students from leaving campus without permission.
“Then you can focus on what teachers are doing for students, their academic achievement,” Gomes said.
Already there are many successes at the school where ninth through 12th graders from Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury are educated, with the average SAT score at 1,300 and 90% of students going to college, and where social justice, best practices and high achievement are expected.
This is not always the case for all students, though, especially students with disabilities and multi-language learners who aren’t meeting academic levels, and figuring out the necessary interventions is ongoing. There is also a continued achievement gap for students of color.
To address this, Gomes wants to begin a Saturday morning attendance buyback and credit recovery program that would help students who are missing classes or not doing well with their coursework stay on track.
Gomes is getting a printout of students’ grades and working with Ben Coblyn and Lamicko Magee, the high school deans, to address any problems. Gomes was once the graduation coach at Springfield Central High School, and suggests there are strategies to talk to entire classes before meeting with students individually to figure out what is happening.
The buyback program would address five unexcused absences, requiring students to get 990 hours in learning, despite rumors that some students had been missing 30 to 40 days and still graduating.
“We’re trying to do it the right way,” Gomes said. “Let’s figure out if you haven’t hit the benchmarks, how do you buy these back?”
From the beginning of the school day, which for students is 9 a.m., the principal they know as Dr. Gomes is present. On one recent morning he and Coblyn stood in front of the school welcoming arriving students, some whom had driven themselves to the school and others who were walking.
“Good morning,” Gomes says to one student. “What’s up, y’all? Morning, y’all,” he shouts out to a larger group.
“What’s going on?” he says to another, offering well wishes for a pleasant day, and for one student he puts his arm around the student’s shoulder to offer more direct support.
Moments later, he states, “you’re good” when he notices an approaching bus. Then, acting as a crossing guard, he periodically halts those on foot to let the bus and van drop off take place, keeping the rainbow crosswalk clear.
Gomes is also aware of the highs and lows for students, expressing disappointment to a volleyball player after the team lost the previous night to Longmeadow. “You win some, you lose some, but you put up a good fight,” he tells her.
Gomes shows excitement toward another student-athlete, knowing she was part of the team that won its soccer match, beating Southwick 4-2.
Once back in the main office, Gomes is not quite done; he hands out pink tardy passes, for excused tardiness, to alert teachers that these students were on a bus that arrived late, and ensures they can grab breakfast.
In his office — a place where he rarely stays due to challenges he has in sitting still — there are banners and hats for the two football teams he follows with passion: the Alabama Crimson Tide and the San Francisco 49ers. He reflects briefly on his own high school days, when his stepfather died and the family spent years in homeless shelters.
While Gomes moves quickly, which he attributes to attention deficit disorder, he still claims he needs his coffee to have 12 sugars.
“Something’s got to keep me going,” Gomes said, chuckling at a student who brought him a coffee that wasn’t nearly sweet enough.
Once sure that the classes are beginning, Gomes is among the adults who regularly are present in the hallways doing what he calls sweeps “to make sure there’s learning going on,” Gomes said.
He looks into a classroom or two briefly, waving hello and cracking a joke, but he also wants to make sure students understand they must abide by certain rules.
“I’m a rule follower,” Gomes said.
That was the case when only students who have parking passes are allowed in the lot. And so far there has been just one vaping incident uncovered.
The sweeps also mean taking a peek into the bathrooms, noting that if there are five stalls, there should only be five people using that space.
Gomes wants to know from students about concerns in the building. He was quick to purchase feminine hygiene products when they were running low, and wants to hear if they need to be refilled, or if a bathroom is not accessible.
While at Westfield State University, Gomes was part of the urban education program and then pursued a doctorate at American International College. Gomes said he takes his philosophy from a mixture of education and familiarity with the film “Lean on Me,” in which Morgan Freeman plays the fictionalized version of a real-life unconventional principal hired to turn around a troubled school, and the Richard Belding character on the TV show “Saved by the Bell,” who is stern but caring for the students.
Among those he credits are Robert Francesca, the principal at Van Sickle Academy, where he previously was assistant principal; Joan Fuller, supervisor of Westfield State’s urban education program; and Carlton Pickron, an Amherst resident and retired vice president for student affairs at Westfield State.
After previously serving as assistant principal at schools in Washington, D.C., Maryland and New York City, Gomes understands the process. “Cleaning up the hallways was the easy part, to let students know what is safe,” he said.
He has prepared a stack of greeting cards that will offer thanks to staff members for their work.
At the encouragement of students, the school color, maroon, was painted in the cafeteria and the class years, with stencils and the names of all students embedded in them, are going in hallways. He also had staff wearing maroon T-shirts reading “One school, one storm, one hurricane,” and a Spirit Week was brought back.
“Students have said they wanted to feel more like a school and have pep rallies for sports teams and for theater arts,” Gomes said.
Gomes plans to have banners with the school name to give more pride on campus in being a Hurricane. This was shown at the recent ribbon-cutting for the new track and field, where the students who spoke all concluded their remarks by shouting “Go ‘Canes.”
Even though he is the principal, Gomes is an educator, such as when the Model United Nations needed an adviser for that club.
Gomes encourages families to come in and have a conversation with him, observing that his priority is students.
“I ain’t perfect, but I’m here for the students,” Gomes said.
