WESTFIELD – At a special meeting on Wednesday evening, the three finalists for the position of superintendent of Westfield Public Schools were approved by the School Committee. The finalists are Stefan Czaporowski, Jennifer Willard, and Dr. Elizabeth Zielinski.
Stefan Czaporowski is the principal of Westfield Technical Academy, a school of approximately 510 students, a position he has held since July 2012. Previously he has served as principal, assistant principal, social studies supervisor and teacher, all in Massachusetts school districts. He has been involved in instituting a “School on Saturday” program, creating bullying prevention teams and an adult-student mentoring program which has resulted in reductions in student absenteeism, improved student social skills, and improved student achievement. He holds an M.Ed. and C.A.G.S. from Westfield State University.
Jennifer Willard is the director of human resources for the Westfield Public Schools, a school district of approximately 5,600 students. She has held this position since September 2012. Previously she served as principal, assistant principal, math instructional teacher (coach) and teacher, all in Massachusetts school districts. She has coordinated the training and implementation of the new teacher evaluation process, facilitated the development and implementation of the first SMART school in her district and has been a guest speaker to graduating education majors at a local university. She holds a BS from Westfield State University and M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Elizabeth Zielinski is employed as a superintendent of schools for the King Philip Regional school District which has approximately 2,300 students. She has held this position since July 2010. She has also served as assistant superintendent, school support specialist, principal, vice principal and teacher in Massachusetts. She has been involved in building and managing budgets, negotiating union contracts and working collaboratively with the school committee to improve student achievement. She holds an M.Ed. from Lesley College and an Ed.D from Boston College.
Ramon Diaz, who chairs the superintendent search committee, said he wanted to publicly thank all of the members who participated. He said that at the first meeting, committee members selected who they wanted to interview from a list based solely on credential, with no names listed.
The committee met with candidates last week, then voted on the finalists. Diaz said there were fifteen candidates in all, although not all were interviewed. The committee members wrote down who they thought should be the superintendent of schools, and the top three candidates were chosen.
“In viewing them all, I was very pleased with how the search was run,” said Kevin Sullivan. “I think this has been one of the best things we’ve run since I’ve been on the School Committee.”
“One of the instructions we had was to keep in mind the forums we held,” Diaz said. “I think we got a good list of candidates.”
He said that he made sure the process was organized, but did not try to sway the committee one way or another.
A site visit will be made by several members of the committee to Zielinski’s district in Norfolk on Monday morning.
A public forum will then be held beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in the City Council chambers at which each candidate will have an hour to make a public statement, answer questions, and greet those who are present.
On Tuesday the School Committee will interview each candidate for an hour in City Council chambers, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with 15-minute breaks in between. This meeting will be open to the public and televised live on Channel 15, and aired again beginning at noon on Wednesday.
On Wed. evening at 6:30 in City Council chambers, the School Committee will vote on a candidate.
