The School Committee met in Tiger’s Pride on Monday.
WESTFIELD – The School Committee held its annual joint meeting with the Westfield Technical Academy Advisory Committee at Tiger’s Pride Monday. The meeting started with a presentation to a local company that helped the city out during a storm last month.
Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said the city had planned to pick up leaves curbside the day a snow storm hit, and the DPW crew were diverted to take care of the roads. He said they got a call offering help to pick up the leaves, and donate any money earned to the Tech Academy.
“We’re honoring someone who stepped up from the community where there was a problem, and offer financial help to the city and to the students in general.”
Horticulture instructor Nathan Sperry said that early in December, Advisory Board member David Prouty of Proudly Landscaping, noticing the bagged leaves in the city, offered to help pick them up for donations to the Horticulture department. Matthew Wilcox, a former student, offered to help him. Sperry said that by the end of the project, the Horticulture shop made $6,000 from their work. Ward 3 Councilor Ralph J. Figy also thanked Prouty on behalf of the City Council.
Westfield Technical Academy Principal Joseph Langone.
Westfield Tech principal Joseph Langone then gave a status report on the school. He said there are 541 students at the school this year of whom 202 are female, up from 193 last year. He said he hopes to fill 160 slots in the freshman class next year.
Among the highlights he noted is “Westfield Promise,” a new program with Westfield State in which a college-level English composition course is co-taught at the school by WSU and WTA faculty, offering students college credit for successful completion. More courses are expected to be offered next year. Langone said they are also working on new articulation agreements with Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College in medical terminology, and also in graphic design and digital photography at STCC.
Other programs the school is sponsoring are a summer Bridges program for freshman, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) boot camp, and a technical engineering boot camp which will be held prior to the MCAS test in science in June. The school is also offering OSHA 10 certification for all students.
Another new focus at the school are integrated projects between the shops and academic departments. Langone said the projects also lend themselves well to Blizzard Bag days.
Langone said co-ops (cooperative education placements) are underway, with more being planned. He said the partnership with the business community through WE2BA (Westfield Education to Business Alliance) has been “a phenomenal opportunity” for the school and the students. He said last year, Westfield Tech had 70 students in co-ops; this year, they hope to place 80.
“People outside of Westfield recognize what’s happening with the business community and the schools,” Mayor Sullivan agreed.
Ed Watson, the school’s General Advisory Board chair said they are focusing on adding co-ops this year. “This is what separates this type of education from general education,” he said. He also said the position of co-op coordinator is “really needed, and important to the success of the school.” Currently, the co-ops are handled by several administrators, including Career Technical Education director Peter Taloumis, and Student Services director Rob Ollari.
Langone thanked the School Committee and City Council for their support of Westfield Technical Academy, before the meeting was divided into groups to tour the technical shops.
