Highland teacher Patricia Wysocki addresses the School Committee on Tuesday.
WESTFIELD – The final review of the Westfield Public Schools redistricting plan was held on Tuesday during a joint meeting of the Education and Technology, and Curriculum and Instruction subcommittees, before a possible vote to proceed at Monday’s School Committee meeting.
Timothy O’Connor, who chairs Curriculum and Instruction, presided over the meeting, which began with a recap of the plans for the elementary, intermediate and middle schools which are available on the district website at www.schoolsofwestfield.org.
While the overall plan did not receive any challenges from either the committees or during public participation, several areas of concern were raised. These were chiefly regarding the programs for English language learners, and the decision to split the report cards in the intermediate school to having fifth graders receive the standards-based report cards presently given in the elementary schools, and the sixth graders receive the numerical-based grading system.
School Committee member Heather Sullivan said she was nervous to have everything in place for ELL programs in Munger Hill elementary and in North Middle School, which will house the fifth and sixth graders. The plan calls for replicating the ELL program at Highland elementary at Munger Hill, and splitting the population of new English language learners between the two schools.
Denise Ruszala, director of assessment and accountability said there are a large number of teachers in the system with ELL endorsement, as well as mandated learning time requirements for the students per day. “It took a long time to put together the program at Highland,” Ruszala said, adding that it won’t happen overnight at Munger Hill.
Katherine Bourque, principal of North Middle School, also said there are more ELL classes being offered in that school now.
Sullivan also asked if there is a catch for students in grades five and six who may be struggling in inclusive classes. Martha von Mering, the district’s new administrator of special services said they are looking at all of the programming from pre-K through 12, and there are lower than 6 percent of students who require substantially separate development programs. She said these programs may be housed in one of the middle schools.
Von Mering said the district will be replicating ELL programs and also RISE programs in the schools. “While we’re moving toward inclusion, we can’t throw out all the Individualized Education Plans (IEP) that we have now,” she said. Ruszala said the plans call for special education teachers to work with core teachers.
Highland teacher Patricia Wysocki also said she was concerned about the preparation of the teachers at Munger Hill for the ELL students. “At Highland, we know people because of their stories,” she said. She asked the School Committee to put real thought into the ELL move to Munger Hill, and to include Highland teachers in the process.
Parents Heather Talbot and Jackie Rudzik asked for a different report card for fifth graders.
Parents also spoke up regarding the 5/6 grade school plans. Heather Talbot said she was happy with the plans, and will have three children in three different schools, Abner Gibbs, the intermediate and the middle school. Her one area of disagreement was with report cards. “I am concerned about the division of reports cards in that (5/6 grade) school,” Talbot said. She said she wasn’t a fan of the standards-based report cards that were implemented in the elementary schools a few years ago and asked when the students go into fifth grade, that they be given the numerical grading system along with the sixth graders.
WPS Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the grading system is one of the items that will be discussed at a meeting on March 1 to work out more details of the plan, including elementary school dismissal times.
Parent Jackie Rudzik also said she was there for the same reason, to request the numerical grading system for fifth graders. “I never understood the new report card whatsoever,” Rudzik said.
Parent Matt Talbot also spoke up. He said with the two grades in one school, whether it wouldn’t be more difficult to generate two report cards. “I would love to see real grades,” he said.
After the meeting, Susan Dargie, director of curriculum and instruction said she has heard the feedback. “We are going to be putting a committee together to examine the standards-based report card,” she said, adding, “We need to do more to refine these as tools for communicating with parents.”
At the close of the meeting, Czaporowski said he hopes to vote on the plan at the March 5 School Committee meeting in order to begin the budget process, which is already one month behind last year. A final sub-committee meeting will be held immediately prior to the School Committee meeting on March 5 to recommend the vote.
