RALPH FIGY
City Councilor Steve Dondley
WESTFIELD – Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy and At-Large Councilor Stephen Dondley made a motion to have the City Council endorse the Question 2 resolution that was passed unanimously by the School Committee at their Oct. 1 meeting.
“I’m very opposed to telling people how to vote. In Westfield, we have a track record of not voting (on issues like this). It is not our role to tell people how to vote,” Flaherty said.
“The consensus was the Council should vote on local matters. It should be up to the people to decide whether to lift the cap on charter schools,” Allie said.
“We all have different opinions. By the way, we don’t have any minutes saying the School Committee voted on it. We also don’t have anything in front of us to vote on,” said O’Connell.
“The School Committee did pass it October 1, 9-0, along with another 150 School Committees across the state at this point. We can’t tell anybody what to do, we’re telling our constituents what we think,” Dondley responded, adding that this is a very local issue. He said that according to Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski , the district is losing $160,000 per year out of the school budget. Dondley suggested sending the motion to the L&O committee for discussion.
“I don’t agree on even taking a vote on it. It’s not up to the City Council how to vote,” said Surprise.
“I don’t think it’s the City Council’s job. We’re not voting on the marijuana question, or on cages for animals,” agreed Onyski.
CINDY HARRIS
At-Large Councilor Cindy C. Harris made an alternative suggestion.
“Would Councilors consider removing this motion, and putting out a motion that we all support public school employees,” suggested Harris.
“Part of the reason for the motion was to bring out statistics. We lost $195,000 off the Cherry Sheet, and only got back $33,000. Reimbursement only follows a student for five years. Charter schools were supposed to improve education for all schools. Hasn’t happened,” said Figy.
Figy then made a motion to withdraw without prejudice, and introduced a motion to support Westfield Public Schools, which passed unanimously.
