EASTHAMPTON — She calls the plumber if a student puts an object in a urinal. She supervises children at recess, running out to get a stray ball or keeping kids safe on the playground. And she greets students as they walk through the doors in the mornings — and knows all 218 of them by name.
For 21 years, Amy Aaron has spent her time as director of administration of the Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School — nearly since the Easthampton school’s start in 1995.
As one of the school’s co-leaders — Hilltown uses three administrators instead of a principal or superintendent — Aaron is set to retire June 30 and leave behind her workload that involves managing the charter’s financing, admissions and other duties.
But there’s little doubt who Aaron will miss given that one of the perks of her job over the last two decades has been “watching hundreds of students grow and develop into remarkable human beings.” The nine years that students are enrolled at Hilltown are during a critical time in their development, she said.
The Hilltown charter school started with a group of parents and artists sitting around a kitchen table envisioning a school based on students with a committment to the arts, Aaron said. The model was inspired by Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy, along with other forms of progressive education. In 1995, the idea came to fruition when it opened in Haydenville’s Brassworks building.
“No one knew what charter schools were,” said Aaron, who was selected to the administrative position a year after the charter’s founding. “They were these new creations.”
Aaron, who has a master’s degree in social welfare from State University of New York at Stonybrook, brought extensive administrative experience with her to the job. Prior to Hilltown, she worked at several nonprofit organizations, including as associate director for Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts in Northampton and director of the Greenfield Animal Shelter.
The school’s shared management structure has worked out well, Aaron said, noting that Hilltown isn’t the place for someone who wants to be in charge and make decisions independently, although she said that’s not a bad thing.
“We have a continuous flow of conversations,” she said. “Decisions have a full vetting.”
Dan Klatz, director of teaching and learning, has worked with Aaron for 16 years.
“Every single part of the school is meaningful to her,” he said.
During the early days, the school served 60 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Today, the charter is nearly four times as large and serves up to eighth grade.
At first, the school grouped students by ages rather than grades, only shifting to traditional grades when it started administering the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing.
But Hilltown does grade levels a little differently from district schools.
The school is set up into two-grade spreads — named after the colors on the colorwheel because of the school’s visual arts focus. Teachers have a class for two years instead of one. At first, they just had the primary colors: red, yellow and blue. As the school grew, the secondary colors were added.
When the school added seventh and eighth grade, Aaron said students picked the name this time, and it was the best one — Prisms. Aaron said it incorporates all the colors that they have gone through in their time at the school.
From the beginning, Aaron knew the Brassworks building would not be a suitable home for the school. It took about 19 years to find and settle on a new location. In 2015, the school relocated to a building on Industrial Parkway in Easthampton.
“Moving here nearly killed me,” Aaron joked. They had to pack up 19 years worth of things.
“Teachers are packrats by nature,” she said.
But while some of the school’s structure has changed, some things have stayed the same, such as the interdisplinary project-based learning, commitment to the arts and parents being major players.
“Parents are around here all the time,” Aaron said.
Klatz is set to replace Aaron, and his position as director of teaching and learning will be filled by Lara Ramsey, a Smith College Campus School teacher.
Klatz said he sees Aaron’s retirement as a celebration for her 40 years of public service working many years for nonprofits and for the school.
With her many years dedicated to Hilltown, Klatz said Aaron is the “most stable guiding force in the school.”
Aaron said she’s looking forward to traveling in retirement, especially when school is in session. And she intends to learn how to play the ukulele, among other activities.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.