by AMBER PETTELL
Correspondent
WESTFIELD – The Westfield School Department may be facing significant cuts in order to reconcile a nearly $3 million budget gap for the 2016 fiscal year.
Staff reductions, an increase in high school athletic and parking fees, as well as creation of a $20 school bus fee, are some things school officials may be forced to consider to offset that gap.
One Westfield High School teacher who spoke to The Westfield News on condition of anonymity, said that he was vehemently against most of the proposed cuts and changes especially the possibility of cutting staff.
“Staff cuts would probably kill what’s left of real education at WHS,” he said. “Class sizes are already so large, and administrative requirements of teachers are so onerous, that education is happening less and less frequently.”
“I would never send my kids to this school” he said. “I’d home school them before sending them into this environment. I think the people of Westfield need to decide to fund education as it should be done, or settle for a lowest common denominator school system and let the rich send their kids to real schools.”
“Charging for bus service seems the most ludicrous idea I’ve heard,” he said. “The system should be trying to get all the kids to use the buses, since they are the greenest and cheapest transportation system available.”
This teacher was not opposed to the idea of raising parking fees as proposed.
“Charge more for parking,” he said. “Instead [of adding a bus fee], and stop parents from idling their cars on the drives and interfering with the buses and with staff getting to work.”
Kelly Mortimer, of Westfield, a parent of two school-age daughters said she had concerns about the proposed changes in the budget would impact the overall success of students.
“We expect our children to do all of these things and pass MCAS,” she said. “But how are they supposed to do that if they don’t have a good educational support system behind them? If we don’t make education a top priority and invest in education, then we are setting that up for future failure.”
Mortimer said that because of her family’s financial situation, she would be all right with paying extra fees in order to help offset some of the school department’s budget problems but said she is concerned about what potential effect these changes may have on families whose finances would not allow them to afford the extra fees.
“The bus fee is tricky,” Mortimer said. “I think that gets messy because what do we do if there ar 200 families that can’t afford to pay? Do we not allow their children to ride the bus?”
“I wouldn’t mind paying it if it helps, but that’s because I can afford it,” she said. “If I couldn’t afford it and they did that, my daughter would have to walk all the way from the south end of Westfield to the high school.”
According to Mortimer, she would be completely against cutting any staff. She said that she believes it would have a negative impact on students in all areas, not just academics.
She specifically cited the example of a program at South Middle School, which gives students an outlet to talk to their peers if they are feeling overwhelmed.
“My daughter’s just used the process herself,” she said. “It is extremely helpful to her that that support was there. There is a teacher that oversees the whole thing… and those would normally be the first teachers to go.”
Vanessa Diana, of Westfield, said that she is concerned about how the proposed changes would impact the appeal of Westfield as a community to potential new residents.
“We’re an aging city,” she said. “That’s the reality. The school population is declining and if we want to attract young families, and we have to make education a priority. Young families who are thinking about raising kids want them to go to top-notch well-funded schools. That’s what will attract them and make them want to live here and buy houses and shot at our local businesses.”
“If we don’t invest in education, then they will move to other neighboring towns and we will see those neighboring towns reap those economic benefits,” she said.
Diana said that she also worries about how potential cuts would impact the educational experience of students in list of schools.
“I hope it doesn’t lead to larger class sizes, “she said, “and I hope we don’t see the arts and electives getting cut.”
“In many other situations where cuts are made the arts and electives are the first things to go.” Diana said. “Especially with the arts. I think Westfield does such a great job with that on such a lean budget already and I wouldn’t want to see that go away because they’re doing great job with it.”
Glenn Brewster, of Westfield, said that his position as a professor at Westfield State University, gives him a different perspective on the challenges facing the Westfield school department.
“We understand that being in the public sector things there are no easy answers.” Brewster said. “It becomes ‘Well, let’s just cut all of those unimportant people.’But then I don’t see any unimportant people, so there really are no easy answers.”
Concrete budget numbers have not yet been released. However, at Monday night’s school committee meeting, member Kevin Sullivan described the budget process as, “not looking promising.” Sullivan also reaffirmed the idea that the School Department may be forced to make cuts, like it or not.
