STEFAN CZAPOROWSKI,
Westfield Public Schools Superintendent
WESTFIELD – Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski announced this week the hiring of several key administrators in the district.
Thomas Osborn of Amherst will be the new principal of the new Westfield K-8 Virtual School, Mary Cieplik of Longmeadow has been hired as the new principal of Southampton Road Elementary School, and Jonathan Scagel of Hatfield will be the new principal for the Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center. All three are new to the district.
Czaporowski also announced that Abner Gibbs Elementary School Principal Stacy Burgess has been appointed as the new principal of Paper Mill Elementary School. Southampton Road Principal Kathleen O’Donnell, who will be retiring on Oct. 12, will serve as the interim principal at Abner Gibbs while a search committee for that position is formed.
“My five years at Abner Gibbs have been wonderful. I am grateful for the time I spent there. I am very excited to be joining the Paper Mill community. I look forward to building relationships with students, staff, and families,” Burgess said.
Rena Piper has also been selected as a new elementary assistant principal for the district. She will be serving four days a week at Southampton Road and one day at Abner Gibbs. Piper has taught in Westfield Public Schools since 1993, most recently as district math coach for three years.
“I am happy that we filled these positions. I think we have some quality candidates. There are a lot of openings all across the state, and we have been fortunate to find high quality candidates,” Czaporowski said.
The superintendent said the district is still needs to hire for several key positions, including a health and safety coordinator, and a supervisor of counseling and social emotional learning. Both positions, as well as staffing and supplies for the Virtual K-8 School and eight new school adjustment counselors will be paid for out of the three-year Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funding, of which Westfield has $4,808,471 over the next three years.
Czaporowski said funding for new counseling positions is available through ESSER grants to districts across the state. “Counselors are in high demand; they can work for any district they want,” he said.
Other positions that the district is having difficulty filling include paraprofessionals for all the schools, and a Spanish language and two biology and life science teachers at Westfield High School. Available jobs are listed on the Westfield, MA Public Schools Facebook page and at schoolsofwestfield.org.
