WESTFIELD – Westfield Vocational Technical High School, which began as the Westfield Trade School, may soon go by the name Westfield Technical Academy to highlight a changing curricula of programs.
WVTHS Principal Stefan Czaporowski said that the name change is merely a proposal at this time.
“We had a SWOT analysis done by a local company,” he said, referencing the acronym for ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.’ “One of the recommendations that came out of it was that a name change may benefit the perception of the school.”
Czaporowski explained that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts used to refer to schools like WVTHS as “career, vocational and technical education”, but has discontinued using the term “vocational” and is now referring to these institutions as “career technical education.’
“The word ‘vocational’ is becoming a bit antiquated, kind of like ‘trade school’ was back in the day,” he said. “Everything we do is more technically oriented.”
The name Westfield Technical Academy was the brainchild of Ed Watson, CEO of Mobius Works in Westfield and WVTHS’ general advisory chairman, who presented it to a receptive general advisory board.
“Starting in January, we’re going to be continuing our manufacturing night school program and to expand our adult education programs in the evening to electrical and carpentry,” Czaporowski said. “We now have our duel enrollment program after school with Westfield State – which we’ll be offering every semester – and we’re working on a grant that will allow Westfield Voc-Tech/ Westfield Academy students to graduate with their high school diploma and technical competancies.”
“We figured maybe we’re not a high school anymore, maybe we’re more than that now,” he said.
Czaporowski said that the student response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
“I have a pile of letters from kids who want to change the name,” he said. “Most of the staff… One of the groups we want to be sensitive to are our alumni because this place started as Westfield Trade School, then Westfield Vocational High School – a lot of people still refer to us as just that – and in ’94, when we expanded, we became Westfield Vocational-Technical High School.”
Czaporowski said that most of the vocational-technical high schools in the state have gotten rid of the “vocational” part of their name and that a change may be just the natural succession.
“You want your name to accurately reflect what you’re doing,” he said, adding that the school even has a new, fiercer looking Tiger logo, a far cry from the old one which Czaporowski affectionately referred to as “the kitten.”
Westfield School Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion said that Czaporowski had floated the idea of changing the nameto her about a year ago.
“The emphasis now is on career readiness, so in the same way that Westfield State College became Westfield State University, we need to change with the times,” said Scallion, reiterating that nothing is set in stone yet.
“I know the advisories brought it forward, that there are members of the business community who think it’s a good idea, to more accurately portray what is happening at the school.” she said. “I’m going to let that process unfold. There will be plenty of opportunities to weigh in.”
“This is a beloved school and change is always a challenge, so we want to roll it out in an appropriately timed way and that we gather input from all of the constituencies,” she said. “We’ve just opened that door.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik. “Ed Watson did a nice summation of how ‘vocational’ has kind of worked out of the English language in this region and that the word ‘technical’ more accurately describes the education being received by the kids today.”
Knapik said that the days of students attending trade schools because of their inability to cut the mustard in a more academic setting are over.
“More and more the kids are heading off toward college and we want (the name) to reflect that, when you make a choice to go here, you’re going to leave here with a high school diploma, certified in a profession and an avenue to go to college,” he said.
“Branding is important for the community at-large to embrace where the school is going.”
