A crowd gathered in City Hall Monday evening for the Westfield School Committee Finance sub-committee’s discussion about school redistricting. (photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Alerted by a robo-call from the district, parents packed City Council Chambers on Monday for a third Finance sub-committee meeting to discuss redistricting options.
Mayor Brian P. Sullivan summarized that the district is down to three options for next year (FY18), following decisions at previous meetings. The first is to keep Russell Elementary School open, with no changes in the schools until the following year.
The second option is close Russell, move the fifth grades up, and have two 5-8 middle schools. The third option is to close Russell, and have one 5/6 intermediate school, and one 7/8 middle school.
Westfield Public Schools superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said that the second option could cost an additional $500,000 in busing, if starts times are not changed. The third option would add an additional $125,000 for busing if start times are not changed.
Czaporowski said the district has been negotiating with the town of Russell to reduce the cost of leasing the school for next year. He said he couldn’t give final numbers, but that it looked promising.
He said the priority of the team working on redistricting is to keep class sizes the same. Current goals are 20 maximum students in elementary school, and 25 in secondary school, although he said not all classes have those numbers of students.
The superintendent also said that the district is expecting to save $250,000 in attrition of staff who are retiring and will be replaced by new, lower cost employees.
Another factor on this year’s budget is that Governor Charles Baker just put in an extra $532,000 in Chapter 70 funds for Westfield in his budget, which still has to be approved by the House and Senate.
School Committee member Ramon Diaz, Jr. asked if Czaporowski had an approximate total of cuts for next year, given the $2.9 million the district was short for a level-services budget. Czaporowski said it is too soon to give an exact figure, but said he thinks that they will be able to make enough cuts to bring down that deficit by two-thirds.
Mayor Sullivan said the Governor’s budget adds an additional $400,000 over last year to the budget, which helps. He said attrition is difficult, because the district loses senior teachers, but new teachers also mean savings.
“Thank you for looking at every avenue to keep class sizes where they’re at,” said Diaz, adding that as a parent with students in the schools, it matters to him.
Czaporowski said that while on the school end, the district knows the cost of keeping Russell open will cause more cuts at some levels; he said trying to close Russell now might not be worth the savings.
“There will be more buy-in from all stakeholders if we can take a year. That’s important, when we’re looking at what’s best for our students,”
KEVIN J. SULLIVAN
Czaporowski said. He also said the School Committee could make that final decision at the next meeting. He said the district has to notify Russell of its decision by April 1.
Kevin Sullivan, chair of the Finance sub-committee said the matter is in the committee because it is first and foremost a budget issue.
Mayor Sullivan said negotiations take two sides, and Russell is also part of the process. They’re in the third year of a contract that they’re willing to discuss, which he said he appreciated.
Diaz asked what more information the committee needed to make a decision. The mayor said he would like more solid numbers from Boston. School Committee vice-chair Cindy Sullivan also added that if they voted now, they would be closing the door on possible negotiations with Russell. Czaporowski said that Russell also has its budget to worry about.
The sub-committee meeting was then opened to public participation. Tricia Wysocki, a teacher at Highland Elementary, commented that with the opening of a new charter school in 2018, it would behoove the district to have this all smoothed out and parents comfortable, in order not to lose students.
Another parent asked if it would be possible to ask St. Mary’s school to change their times being one school, rather than having to change the times of all of the Westfield public schools to lessen the impact on busing. Czaporowski said that is being discussed.
Michele Douglas, a parent leader of SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Committee), asked what the district means when they talk about special education efficiency in the redistricting process. Czaporowski said she could tell the parents that there won’t be any reduction in services. “We’re just in the process of developing the budget,” he said.
Kevin Sullivan said the final decision will be made on March 21, at a 6:15 Finance sub-committee prior to the School Committee meeting. An appeal was made to the parents to contact Sen. Don Humason and Rep. John Velis, and ask them to approve the Governor’s $532,000 increase in Chapter 70 funds for Westfield. Mayor Sullivan said if each person in the room made those two calls, or sent emails, it would make a difference.
“It is really important that people get involved,” Cynthia Sullivan said.
