WESTFIELD – On Monday morning, Joseph F. Langone, the newly hired principal of Westfield Technical Academy was spending his second day visiting the school. Although Langone doesn’t officially start until July 11, he is meeting teachers, administrators and students before the summer break, which began Monday at 11 a.m.
Joseph F. Langone, the newly hired principal of Westfield Technical Academy, while visiting the school on Monday. He officially begins as principal on July 11. (Photo by Amy Porter)
For the past two years, Langone has been principal of Baird Middle School in Ludlow. He was assistant principal at Roger L. Putnam Vocational-Technical Academy in Springfield for the previous four years, after teaching English there for six years.
Although he is happy to be coming home to a vocational school, Langone believes that his two years as principal of the middle school will be helpful to his new position.
“One of the very interesting things of having been a middle school principal, is being able to get a window into the particular needs and struggles that ninth graders bring into a school,” he said, adding that Ludlow was a wonderful community in terms of support of the schools, and wonderful students.
Most of Langone’s experience has been in vocational education. Originally from Springfield, he was raised in Agawam, graduating from Cathedral High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Assumption College, a master’s degree from Western New England College, and a certificate of advanced graduate studies and school administration from American International College.
Following his studies, he taught adult education for the Massachusetts Career Development Institute, which he said was vocational in nature, and also worked on curriculum development while there.
After eleven years at MCDI, Langone left to pursue a religious vocation, but returned to education in 2004 at Putnam where it was “off to the races,” he said. Soon afterwards he met his wife, and started a family in the Springfield area.
He is excited about coming to the Westfield Technical Academy. He didn’t initially apply when the position was first posted, because he was in the middle of the transition to the PARCC exams in Ludlow, and his plate was full. When he saw the job reposted, he said he “couldn’t say no to throwing my hat in and taking a chance. It’s very much of a dream come true.”
Langone is impressed with what outgoing principal Stefan Czaporowski has achieved at the school. He said that many of the strategies that were implemented in recent years were also familiar to him. One example he gave was the Saturday School Program.
“At Putnam, as a teacher, I taught the Saturday School from the start,” Langone said. Then as assistant principal, he oversaw the robust program which focused on MCAS, and had an enrollment of 150-200 students.
He said he is also familiar with Read 180, Systems 44 and ALEKS, all intervention programs that have been implemented in Westfield.
“I got very excited to see that,” Langone said, noting that the interventions are an acknowledgement of the reality of needs in the classroom. “This is someplace I’d really like to be because they get it the way I knew it. I’m honored to support it and in time augment it,” he added.
He said technical vocational schools are no longer what people thought they were 30 years ago when he was in school. He said they are now high performers, a nexus between college and the career readiness piece. Rather than being a place for students who might struggle in high school, he said, “by today’s standards, the shoe is very much on the other foot.”
One proof of this, he said, is the waiting list of 60 students for the Westfield Technical Academy. Another is the 100% graduation rate this year from the school.
“It’s a testament to all the hard work Stefan and his team have been doing,” Langone said. He said it’s also evidence of the value of all of the additional classroom supports.
Langone said when he was assistant principal of Putnam, the graduation rate moved from 60.7% to 80% in that school, which had 1600 students at the time. By comparison this year, there were 100 students in the graduating class at Westfield, with an incoming class of 170 students, not counting the 60 on the waiting list.
He said that the incoming freshman will be a special group to him as they will be starting at the same time.
Langone said he has been overwhelmed by the welcoming spirit at the school, which he calls “very open and friendly.” He said it is also a “great blessing” to have a new superintendent in the outgoing principal who understands the needs of the Technical Academy, “somebody who really gets what’s going on here.”
Although he is new to Westfield, Langone has a connection of sorts in his brother Anthony Langone, a mechanical contractor who has lived here for 20 years. He said his three nieces are in the school system, two at Westfield High School, and one at Southampton Road.
Langone said he is “excited to get here on the 11th and hit the ground running, and get to work. Before I know it, it will be the first day of school. It comes very quickly,” he said.
He also said being a religious type, he doesn’t believe in chance, but rather in providence. “I am very secure in the conviction that I am supposed to be here. I am grateful for the opportunity, and can’t wait to get started.”
