RON RIX
WESTFIELD – Ronald Rix, Westfield public schools chief financial officer, presented a new enrollment study that was undertaken by JCJ Architects as part of a facility review of the district. JCJ Architects did the original enrollment projection in 2010. The new enrollment study which projects out to 2026 was done by Milone and MacBroom planners.
“I was thoroughly impressed,” Rix said about the study. He said they looked at demographics, birth trends and housing sales. Some of the findings were that the population of Westfield has grown and will continue to grow slightly, but the school age population has declined and is levelling off. Rix said that last year was the first time there were more seniors than school age.
Some trends during the next ten years include a dropping off of the population at Westfield High School, but a slightly higher population of 7-8 grade students. The study did not include enrollment at Westfield Technical Academy. It also did not include students that might choice in to the district.
One of the questions asked of JCJ Architects was whether Westfield still needs a 600 student elementary school. He said the study found that five elementary schools each with 400 student populations would be sufficient, largely due to pulling fifth grade out of the elementary schools.
Rix said the enrollment study will be available on the district website at www.schoolsofwestfield.org.
“This is a great study, a great report. We are above (in student enrollment) what they predicted in the last study,” Cynthia Sullivan said.
“This is showing us enrollment. This group made a huge vote to take fifth grade out. It’s not just all about Russell Elementary school,” Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said. Rix said moving the fifth grade moved 250 students from the elementary schools.
Czaporowski said even when the original enrollment study projected lower numbers, they still recommended building a new school, due to the age of Abner Gibbs.
“We do have aging buildings that need to be replaced. We started that conversation last June. We needed a new elementary school, now we can build a smaller one on the Cross St. site,” Cynthia Sullivan said.
“These are good numbers to make sound decisions going forward,” Rix said.
School Committee member Ramon Diaz, Jr. asked Mayor Sullivan what changing the school building project would mean to the city’s Massachusetts School Building Association (MSBA) project approval.
“We’re unique in their world. As we spent ten years, things have changed, but the need hasn’t. We’re unique in that we’re approved. MSBA is working with us,” the mayor said.
