WESTFIELD – Monday’s School Committee meeting began with a report from Westfield High School seniors Lindsay Cousins and Erin McDermott and sophomore Aiden Chisholm on recent activities at the school, and preparations to say good bye to vice principal Jack Dougherty. Dougherty announced recently that he would be retiring on Jan. 1. The students said they have decided that Thursday would be “dress like Mr. Dougherty day,” and they would wear khakis and polo shirts in his honor. This follows Wednesday’s “ugly sweater day” which Chisolm said everybody enjoys “except our grandmothers who gave us the sweaters.”
WHS senior Lindsay Cousins, sophomore Aiden Chisholm and senior Erin McDermott reported on school activities to the School Committee Monday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
“He brightened your day if you saw him,” said McDermott about the long-time administrator.
“He would always say hi,” said Cousins. “A lot of the juniors and seniors are really sad to see him go.”
During the business portion of the meeting, Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski gave an update on the district strategic initiative. He said the school has shown progress in several focus areas, including the use of data to make informed decisions and ensure effective use of resources.
The school is also undergoing an inventory of all web-based programs licensed by the school, to see which are being used and to what extent. Towards the goal of integrating technology into the environment, business manager Ron Rix will be restarting a technology committee January through April to tweak the old plan submitted to the City Council at the end of 2015. The first goal of the committee will be to prepare to administer the MCAS tests online to all students in grades 4 and 8 this spring.
Another program scheduled to start in the second half of the year is the Universal Design for Learning, to ensure that classes are meeting the needs of all the students at all levels, led by the special education department.
Czaporowski also spoke about the success of the Westfield2Business Alliance, which has attracted the attention of the state secretary of workforce development Ronald Walker, who is being invited to the next meeting on January 10 at Tiger’s Pride.
Czaporowski said he is also looking to create a Parent Advisory Board, comprised of one parent and one staff member from each school, and eventually incorporating students as appropriate. He said his goal is to celebrate the successes of all the schools in the district. Towards this end, he is also working on the first district magazine, which will be published at the Technical Academy.
“We’re going to be successful only if we work together,” Czaporowski concluded.
Mayor Brian P. Sullivan, who chairs the School Committee, said having the secretary of workforce development coming to the WE2BA meeting is “a big deal.”
“The state is trying to wrap their head around having business and the educational community working together,” Sullivan said.
Rix reported that the December financials were right on target for staff. He said his only area of concern was about custodial overtime, which is nearly expended for the year. In response to a question from School Committee member Ramon Diaz, Jr. about unexpended funds in technology, he said the district will be trying to self-fund some technology upgrades in lieu of a tech bond, with the first priority being the online MCAS 2.0.
The School Committee also approved a School Choice expenditure of $3,500 for a prevention and needs assessment survey, to collect data in order for the district to apply for a Drug Free Communities grant. At an earlier meeting, Czaporowski said the survey would be anonymous, and given to all eighth, tenth and twelfth graders in the spring, in order to get a picture of the prevalence and types of problems in the district.
Also speaking on behalf of the survey were Westfield Drug Task Force coordinator Kathy Sitler and district substance abuse counselor Kristine Hupfer. Sitler said that the health curriculum in Massachusetts has not been updated since 1996, and they need to “get rolling” with risk assessments.
“I’m going to support this motion. Anything that we can do to help educate our children,” said School Committee member Cynthia Sullivan. She added that Westfield can’t change the health curriculum, but they can supplement it, which is the goal of obtaining grants. The request passed unanimously.
Czaporowski also announced the “good news” that for next year’s annual Thanksgiving football game, Westfield was approached by Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham to play in what may become an annual matchup.
