Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and School Committee vice chair Kevin Sullivan.
WESTFIELD – At the School Committee meeting on Monday, Mayor Brian P. Sullivan read the evaluation report of Westfield Public School Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski, compiled from the responses of the School Committee members by Diane Mayhew. The Mayor serves as chair of the School Committee.
Czaporowski was evaluated on four key areas of focus in accordance with current performance evaluations: Instructional Leadership, Management and Operations, Family and Community Engagement, and Professional Culture. He was also rated on three areas of personal performance goals: Student Learning Program Implementation, Redistricting and Grade Redistribution, and the New Superintendent Induction Program. Overall, his performance was rated as exemplary.
“The Westfield School Committee believes that (the) Superintendent has shown a practice that significantly exceeds proficient and could serve as a model of practice statewide. We feel he performs his duties better than more seasoned Superintendents,” read Mayor Sullivan from the summation of the report. Czaporowski has just completed his second year as Superintendent.
As a group, the committee unanimously rated the superintendent as exemplary in the area of Family and Community, which includes engagement, sharing responsibility, communication and family concerns. The committee called this area one of his greatest strengths.
“He does an outstanding job of bringing the community, including all area businesses into the school system to aid our students and staff. His parent and student surveys, his willingness to include parents on every principal board for key hiring’s, and being a member of the Baystate Noble Hospital Community Benefits Advisory Council, are just a few examples of his continued engagements. We also believe that under his leadership, his promotion of an open-door policy is again setting a very high standard for engaging and communicating with families.”
The only area with a majority proficient rating was in Instructional Leadership, including curriculum, instruction (which had a majority exemplary rating), assessment, evaluation and data-informed decision making. The committee agreed in summation that the Superintendent is doing a very good job of creating goals, setting standards for staff, and keeping track of progress all while communicating progress to the School Committee. They also said his vision and focus set a priority for the leaders at the schools and classroom levels, and that he continues to foster collaboration across the district.
Under his personal performance goals, they found that Czaporowski had met all three goals. Following the reading, School Committee vice chair Kevin Sullivan said he had filled out in the evaluation that Czaporowski had met the goal for redistricting, but afterwards said he would have changed that to having exceeded the goal, for his “herculean” effort.
Heather Sullivan, who came on the School Committee in January, said she hadn’t filled out the form, because she felt she hadn’t been on long enough, but that she agreed with Kevin Sullivan regarding redistricting. “A job well done,” she said.
“I do look forward to the beginning of next year,” said Ramon Diaz, Jr., adding, “All plans are great, (but) I know we’ll run into some hiccups.” Diaz said his comment was no reflection on Czaporowski’s planning and transparency during the process, including surveys and public meetings. “Kudos to that,” Diaz said.
Diaz also said Czaporowski has done “a great job” with communication. “Kudos to your staff, too, they also make you look good,” he added.
The summation ended by referring to the Superintendent’s motto; “If we are doing it for the kids, who can argue?” saying that is the reason he is successful in this district.
It also stated that the School Committee is aware that improvement in the narrowing of the learning gap needs to happen, but sees “great strides” occurring in this area.
“With approximately 5,400 students, challenges are not simple and it is very evident to this Committee that our Superintendent has devoted so much of his time and energy elevating our students and staff,” wrote the School Committee, adding, “Areas of improvement do exist within our schools, and we attribute these to his continued long-term vision and planning. The School Committee looks forward to Mr. Czaporowski’s continued leadership in the coming year.”
