WESTFIELD – The Westfield Public School administrative team wasn’t just satisfied with the report on the comprehensive audit of the district this past November.
“We were elated,” said Susan Dargie, WPS director of curriculum & instruction. Dargie was present for the last audit in 2009, and remembers how badly she felt after the debriefing. That review found the district to be “a system of schools operating independently.”
“That statement became a statement that reminded us of our goals,” Dargie said about the years since. She said their overarching goal has been one of having consistent programming and education, and a common vision in all the schools.
“That was the first thing that Suzanne (Scallion, WPS superintendent of schools) led our leadership team to develop,” she said. This time, the finding was “vastly different,” Dargie said.
Scallion, who joined the district as superintendent shortly after the last audit, said they had very little notice for this one, only two months before a team comprised of superintendents, former special education directors, a human resource director and a vocational-technical expert arrived last November.
“These are educators who came in with a fine-toothed comb,” Dargie said.
The team visited 70 classrooms across the city, reviewed binders full of documents, and met with the School Committee, parents, teachers, and administrators in different focus groups. They reviewed six different areas: Leadership and governance, curriculum and instruction, assessment, student support, financial and asset management, and human resources and professional development.
“At the end of their three days of turning us inside out,” Scallion said, the review team debriefed with the leadership team of teachers and administrators about their findings.
“That’s what got written into this big report,” she added, saying they had to wait six months to get it. The entire district review report is now available on the home page at www.schoolsofwestfield.org.
Scallion said the report found that the school system has been transformed into a collaborative system with transparency and coherence to district procedures.
“Remarkable progress since 2010,” Scallion said. She said they were told at the debriefing that the district was “fully evolved, progressive and poised for success.”
“It was high praise. We know we’re doing the right thing,” said Dargie, who credits the hard work of the teachers, the principals and the tireless work of the students. She also gives a lot of credit to Scallion.
“All of the other areas rely on a strong leadership and governance,” she said.
For her part, Scallion said the best preparation for being a superintendent was her experience as a coach. Scallion, who during her teaching career in Cape Cod coached field hockey, lacrosse, track and swimming, was named Cape Cod coach of the year seven times, and Boston Globe coach of the year in 1987. She received the award from Arthur Ashe.
Scallion said one of the things she’s most proud of is the early release staff development (ERSD) program the district established for professional development. She said for new teachers, they offer “Westfield Public Schools 101” for them to learn “the Westfield Way.”
“We want teachers to know the culture and practices,” she said. Susan Dargie teaches that class. New teachers take literacy and math courses to learn how the district teaches those subjects.
Dargie said they have both ERSD elective courses and the district-assigned mandatory courses. Now most of the teachers are in the place of taking electives, such as projects-based learning, English language learners (ELL) instruction, and special education instruction. Teachers themselves design the courses and teach others.
“The professional development ERSD was a leap of faith for the School Committee,” Scallion said. It required students leaving at the half way point eight times during the year. Scallion believes the progress the district has made has been linked to taking that time.
“The amount of professional development we used to have was not enough,” Dargie said.
“In no other profession (does one) have to be so on and have so little time to evaluate,” Scallion said. “Let’s say I did a great unit in science. When do I have the time to share that with my colleagues? I would advocate for this on a daily basis – give teachers at least an hour a day colleague time,” she added.
“Clearly, our kids have lots of needs, including literacy. If you’re not reading fluently with ease at the end of third grade, you struggle the rest of the way. The same is true with math,” Scallion said about findings in the area of student support.
She said that coupled with English language learners, and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (ie, single parent working to meet needs), not all students have access to the same resources. You have to make sure there is a level playing field through intervention programs, after school and summer programs, she said.
Scallion praised Jen Alexander, the administrator of student intervention for her work in this area. Alexander started with Scallion, who said they had a “meeting of the minds.”
One of the recommendations for the district that was highlighted in the report was to refine the way the district educates students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.
“We have really got to take a look at the students included in general education for large parts of the day. We need to strengthen the collaboration between special education and general education. We have to make accommodations in science and social studies for kids with reading and math disabilities. What is the Westfield Way in terms of inclusion,” Scallion said.
She added that is an area of expertise for Dr. Adam Garand, the district’s newly appointed administrator of special services and student support services.
“We share a vision about the need to educate kids in our city. Even though we’re paying the price with the Level 3 label, we’re doing the right thing for kids,” Scallion said.
Another area of need that was not highlighted in the report is technology, according to Scallion.
“When I interviewed here, we had a $2 million technology bond coming. Five years later, it still didn’t come. Now $2 million wouldn’t cover the needs,” she lamented. “Our technical needs are approaching a level I would term desperate. I feel very sad for our kids in our city about the state of technology. We are behind.”
Both Dargie and Scallion said the audit shows the progress the administration team has made, and offers a road map ahead for the next administration, which will include a new superintendent, a new special education director, and a new HR director.
“For me, the reward is there are people in the system who have responded to ideas – Jen Alexander, Susan Dargie, the principals. There is so much talent in this system. It’s the strength of the team that has brought us to this place,” Scallion said.
