Information meeting Monday for Westfield High School/Curtis Blake Day School partnership. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School and Curtis Blake Day School (CBDS) partnership was explained in more detail at an informational meeting on Monday at the high school. Adam Garand, director of special services in Westfield spoke about the development of the pilot program for ninth graders with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD), and Linda M. Lafontaine, principal of CBDS, explained the strategy-based approach to teaching reading at the school, which goes until eighth grade.
Garand said the need became apparent when a graduating eighth grader at CBDS needed the same level of service and more options for high school, including high school sports. He said the idea of a morning session at Curtis Blake for reading and math, then lunch and an afternoon session at Westfield High School started to take shape.
Parent Karen Lewis and CBDS principal Linda Lafontaine speak after the presentation. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Lafontaine spoke about the specific strategies her school uses to teach students who may be dyslexic or have other impairments in decoding the written word. She went through the research-based building blocks that are used with each student every day through integrated instruction. She said language-based learning disabilities don’t go away, but students learn strategies to overcome them.
Lafontaine also went over the anticipated ninth grade schedule for students in the pilot program, who would be bused from WHS to the school in Springfield for morning classes beginning at 7:30 a.m., then bused back to the high school for lunch, afternoon core classes and after-school activities. At CBDS, students would focus on math, writing and individual reading instruction, as well as receive support for the core classes at the high school. A CBDS teacher would also accompany students to the high school, and co-teach core classes to the students.
“Everything Curtis Blake Day School brings to Westfield, we’re working on it anyway. This adds a layer. It’s a nice partnership – a start that we hope to expand on year to year,” Garand said.
Eliza Crescentini, executive director of The Children’s Study Home, which runs CBDS, said the program is an acknowledgement that opportunities are needed for students to be with their peers, “making a pilot like this is really important to us,” she said.
One parent at the meeting asked whether a child leaving in the morning and returning to Westfield High School in the afternoon would stand out. She was told by several WHS personnel at the meeting that students are coming and going all day long anyway.
(L-R) Chad Astore, admissions manager and Eliza Crescentini, executive director of The Children’s Study Home, Linda Lafontaine, principal of Curtis Blake Day School, Charles Jendrysik, principal, Westfield High School, and Rachel Bullock, SEPAC parent. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Lafontaine said most kids at CBDS want to return to public high school, which is determined on a case by case basis. She said that a student should get to a sixth grade reading level to feel comfortable at the high school. She said the support person from CDBG would be a co-teacher, who would also provide professional development for staff.
“If ever there was an opportunity for co-teaching in a meaningful way, this is it,” Garand said.
Rachel Bullock, a parent participant from the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) said she thought her child, who was not yet at ninth grade level, would benefit from the program. “I think it would be a great idea,” Bullock said.
Karen Lewis, a parent whose son has dyslexia and will be attending seventh grade out of district, said she was very interested. “If this would work out, my son would love to come here and play football,” she said. She said her older son is on the football team, and she had been hoping for that opportunity for her younger son.
The pilot program has more openings for students with LBLD who are going into ninth grade. For more information, contact Dr. Adam Garand, Administrator of Special Services at Westfield Public Schools at 413-572-6403 or by email at [email protected].
