WESTFIELD – At the School Committee meeting on Monday, Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski announced
Westfield Technical Academy principal Jim Langone and career technical director Peter Taloumis on the steps of the State House on Monday, to receive the official announacement of the $500,000 Skills Capital grant award. (Submitted photo)
that Westfield Technical Academy has received a Skills Capital Grant Program award from the state in the amount of $500,000. Half of the award, or $250,000, is for Aviation Maintenance Technology to purchase power plant equipment, or engines. The other $250,000 will be granted to Manufacturing Technology to buy additional state-of-the-art machines to allow more students into the program.
The stated goal of this grant initiative is to support vocational education and training programs that directly increase the number of individuals that are prepared to enter high-demand jobs in their community.
“We’re extremely happy to receive this. It will move our aviation program forward, and add capacity to our manufacturing program,” Czaporowski said.
WTA principal Joseph Langone, and career technical education director Peter Taloumis drove to Boston on Monday for the grant announcement. Langone said of the seven grant recipients, Westfield Technical Academy was the only vocational technical high school, and the only one to receive the full grant of $500,000.
Langone said he was notified by grants coordinator Shannon Barry in the beginning of August that the school had applied for the grant last January, and did not receive it. He and Barry spent the next few weeks redoing the application and getting new pricing on equipment. They resubmitted the grant in late August, and were notified last week that their request had been approved.
“This was an opportunity that looked like it had been a lost opportunity, and became a great opportunity,” Langone said.
At the ceremony, Langone said that the State Secretary of Education Jim Peyser made the presentation, and called each award recipient up for a photograph. Langone called it “an opportunity to connect with people you wouldn’t normally connect with.”
The $250,000 that’s going to the Machine Tech shop will be for updating to state-of-the-art equipment, and also increasing the opportunities for evening classes to retrain displaced workers. Langone said they have a grant for the retraining in partnership with the Regional Employment Board, and this will help that program, also.
Langone said that the grant for the Aviation Maintenance Technology will help to fully outfit the program. He said the $250,000 is all for equipment, training models and mock-ups. He said as a brand-new program, they need all resources available. He said the shop in terms of equipment is at 75-80%, and this grant will go a long way toward making it fully operational.
“We are ready to put it to very good use once it arrives,” Langone said.
The one area still needed for the AMT shop is the construction at the hangar for classrooms. Langone said recent grants are all for equipment, including the $100,000 received from Gulfstream over the summer. The school is exploring options for the hangar, including modular classrooms.
“The funding is the issue. In terms of a long-range plan, we’re still doing some investigating at this point,” Langone said.
“The last eight weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least. I really hit the ground running,” Langone added. He said he’s been in education for twenty years, but said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun.”
Langone said he is surrounded by a phenomenal staff, and the students have been very welcoming. He also praised the new freshman class, which he said has fallen into the routine seamlessly. The freshman class has 156 students, one of the largest ever to enter the building, with a waiting list of 60 students.
“This is typical of the change in attitude about technical high schools, and it speaks to all the good that’s happening here,” Langone said.
