TURNERS FALLS — Franklin County Technical School English teacher Jay Butynski describes himself as “a goofball by nature,” a quality he doesn’t hide from students who have come to find his classroom a safe and engaging place.

“For me, a big, big component of my room is respecting each other, and I think that’s led to kids feeling safe in here,” Butynski said. “A lot of kids hate English class and so [I’m] trying to find things that keep kids engaged, and sometimes that’s just being, you know, goofy.”

This classroom environment built on mutual respect and levity has helped the high schoolers form a relationship with Butynski that he feels is the reason why he was nominated by Franklin Tech’s administrative team to receive a 2025 Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award, also known as a Grinspoon Award.

Since 2003, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, in partnership with the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, has been recognizing teachers across Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties with the awards.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” Butynski said about winning an award, “but I think it also alleviates some of the self-doubt from when you make a career change.”

The career change Butynski was referring to was his transition from sports reporter and editor at the Greenfield Recorder to teaching later in life. Butynski graduated from Greenfield High School and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He said it was gamble whether school administrators would “take a chance” on him when he had no teaching experience or a teaching degree at that point in his life.

Through the encouragement of his wife, Heather, who is also a teacher, this chance came at Greenfield’s Newton School in 2019 as a physical education teacher. Once he passed his Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) exam for English and history, he got the job as an English and history teacher at Franklin Tech. He currently just teaches English.

Butynski said his work at the Recorder helped prepare him for teaching high school English, having worked with high schoolers in that role. He also learned valuable reading and writing skills as a journalist.

“Working with high school kids I found to be very rewarding,” Butynski said, explaining that as he transitioned out of newspaper work, “I decided that high school English would be something that I really wanted to do.”

At 43 years old, with five years of teaching at Franklin Tech under his belt, Butynski said his receipt of a Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award represents both an academic recognition, given that his students have scored well on their Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams, and a recognition for the positive impact he’s had on students.

“Mr. Butynski has an incredible way of making connections with students. Those connections enable him to get the very best out of his students,” Principal Brian Spadafino wrote in an email. “His passion for teaching, connections with students, and his positive attitude makes him an ideal choice as the Harold Grinspoon Excellence in Teaching Award winner.”

Butynski remains humble, though, and says he’s learning as much about teaching as his students are learning from him.

“As somebody who didn’t have a formal education in English, you sit down and you teach a class, and the first time I teach it, it’s like a deer in headlights,” Butynski recalled. “We sit together and we have these discussions, and all of a sudden you’re going, ‘Wow!’ So I think I’ve learned to teach English better through my students.”

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.