WESTFIELD – Finalists for the job of Superintendent of Westfield Public Schools had one hour each to address the nearly 40 members of the public that came to the City Council chambers to hear from them and ask questions.
Each candidate gave a brief background of themselves and answered the big question: “Why Westfield?” Tonight, beginning at 5:30 p.m., the School Committee will interview each candidate. The interviews will be broadcast live on Channel 15, and aired again tomorrow at noon.
Stefan Czaporowski, of Florence, is principal of Westfield Technical Academy, and spoke about his proudest accomplishments there, one of which was jumping from a Level 3 to a Level 1 school during his tenure. He has added an adult mentoring program for students, a computer programming program, adult evening classes in manufacturing, and the aviation maintenance program.
“The aviation program isn’t a Westfield Technical thing,” he said. “It is a Westfield thing.”
He said he has also brought in $1.6 million in grants, outside of the school budget. In addition, he has added honors courses, art and music, and co-opted with St. Mary’s for sports.
“Community outreach is something I really believe in,” Czaporowski said.
WTA has adopted Russell Elementary School for a year-long program, and will be helping them build raised beds this spring. He also spoke about the gazebo project, which started when he was assistant principal in 2011.
He said WTA students are part of the Drug Abuse Task Force, and business technology students will be giving free classes.
He is also starting a Westfield Academy Alumni Association, and increasing business involvement. He said when he started, 50 people were on the general advisory board, which has grown to 185 people.
“I envision a district business advisory board,” he said.
This fall, Czaporowski was invited to join an advisory committee to help solve Holyoke Technical High School problems.
Czaporowski said he believes in community forums for big issues, and a shared decision-making model.
“If you can’t tell, I’m very passionate about this town,” he said.
He has worked in the district since November, 2008, except for a year in Hatfield as a principal. He said he has the ability to forge a vision, assemble experts and develop a plan.
“I’m fortunate to do what I love to do for the past two decades,” he said. “My goal has been to provide students with what they need to be successful.”
Czaporowski said he was very gratified that the students were recognized with the Level 1 status designation last fall.
“I would like to attend SEPAC meetings,” He said when asked how he would relate to the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC) as the district hires a new Special Education Director. I’ll do anything we can to make it better.”
Another parent asked what he would do for high achieving students.
He said when he was in Hatfield, they had an X block in seventh and eighth grades which was extracurricular for some, and extra help for others.
“If these students are excelling, maybe they don’t need to take all those classes,” he said, adding he would take them on a field trip to the airport.
“I would like to see them get stronger,” when asked about librarians, often on the chopping block when budgets need to be cut. “I would like to see a librarian in every school.”
As for what he would do his first 100 days, Czaporowski spoke about the state of computers in the schools.
“Our computers are ancient. I could walk away for five minutes in the morning, and it still would not be turned on.”
He said he would like to develop a tech plan that includes everyone, including parents and students, who he said were not involved in the last plan.
“When I arrived at WTA, I created a school climate committee with teachers,” he said and said 60 students joined. He surveyed every student and teacher, with 75 percent participation. He also lent the survey out to principals in other schools.
He said parents need to feel welcomed at the school. He has an open door policy for anyone who wants to come and speak with him.
He was asked how he would continue to implement the changes he made as principal if he became superintendent.
“Input is the key. If it’s good for kids, I want to do it,” he said. “If it benefits our students, why not?”
“As a tech principal, I try to make it relevant,” he said. “seventy percent of college grads don’t have the skills they need.”
He said he would work on professional development, and relevant instruction for teachers.
“At WTA, we took academics and integrated it into the shops,” he said. “My big dream is to build one big new high school combining both schools, so we could offer that experience to everyone,” Czaporowski said, noting that both high schools are slated for building programs. He also said he would like to add two new courses at Westfield High School, in early childhood education and criminal justice, both of which are college tracks.
When asked how he would push back against the state’s overabundance of initiatives and testing, he said he would go to superintendent meetings, and hold the politicians accountable.
“I’m going to do what’s best for our kids. That’s my priority,” he said. “That’s why I became a teacher. That’s why I’m standing before you today.”
Jennifer Willard, director of human resources for Westfield Public Schools, was introduced as having been a principal, assistant principal, math coach and teacher in Massachusetts schools.
When asked “Why Westfield?”, the Westfield High School graduate and Westfield resident said, “I am Westfield. I can’t think of any other place I’d rather work.”
Willard said she had always wanted to be an educator. After college, she taught in Springfield. When the opportunity came to be the assistant principal at the Southampton Road Elementary School, she jumped at it, saying it was where she learned everything she needed to know before becoming principal of the school.
Willard said she helped to build the program with SMART boards in the school, which had already started, helping to make it the first SMART school in Westfield.
When she was recruited as director of human resources, a new field for her, she was told she already had the skill set, she just needed to apply it in a different way.
“Although I really love my job, I am an educator,” Willard said. “I need to be with teachers.”
“We have four schools at Level 3, because we haven’t cut the achievement gap,” she said when asked about the challenges with special education.
She said the district needs to create a vision for special education, and SEPAC has a huge role to play in the next couple of years.
“I see you at every School Committee meeting,” Willard said. “We need to work together.”
She said the school can use its resources to put a call out to families about SEPAC programs, and also use Channel 15 to tape meetings.
When asked about the district’s hiring process, Willard talked about the position for special education director.
“We have put out a month and a half posting for qualified applicants,” she said. “We need to get the community involved. They will bring forward a name. They are a group of stakeholders who look at this job from a different perspective.”
When asked if that process would be consistent with all hirings, Willard said right now there are interim principals who didn’t go through the hiring process. She said, for the most part, principals in each building hire teachers.
When asked about the teacher evaluation process, Willard said there is a new state law that every teacher needs to be evaluated every single year, as opposed to every four years previously.
Willard said that was her first big rollout as HR director. She called the union, and asked them how they were going to do it together. She said they got together and did it collaboratively, and slowly, as slowly as possible. Last year, only half were evaluated.
“I like to use the saying, we need to go slow to go fast,” Willard said.
“Right now, the teachers are overwhelmed. State mandates, changes, budgets – they’ve gone through a lot.”
Willard said teachers need to be invited back in.
“They need to have a voice,” she said.
One parent expressed concern about more transition in the leadership of the schools.
“I’m glad to see a lot of teachers here,” Willard said.
She said a lot of principals have retired the last few years.
“What we tried to do is put the best candidate in the schools,” Willard said. “Change is unavoidable.”
She said a lot of school districts face a high principal turnover.
Willard was asked if she were to be superintendent, how she would keep the trust, teamwork and momentum going.
“My whole leadership approach is my collaborative style,” Willard said. “We have to talk. I will be out in the schools.” She said as an HR director, people weren’t always happy to see her walking in the schools. She said she took over the Grinspoon awards to be able to honor teachers, as well.
When asked about libraries and librarians, Willard said they never choose to dissolve libraries.
“When it comes to cutting a teacher or a librarian or other specialist, we always cut from furthest away.”
Willard said they can’t cut a classroom teacher to keep a librarian and have classrooms of 35 or 40 students.
She said with a $55 million budget, “you have to prioritize.”
“If you don’t know where you’re going, then when you make a cut, you don’t know if it will help you or hurt you,” Willard said, adding that making budget cuts is a horrific job. She said they can’t cut special education, which will be a huge mission for the next superintendent.
Willard said she would also like to focus on professional development for teachers. As superintendent she would also have office hours convenient to parents and members of the community, and also establish a parent advisory board.
“On day one, I know what we need to focus on, but haven’t heard from all the stakeholders,” she said. “I need to meet with parents, teachers, administrators and students. If you really want to know what’s going on in a school, ask the students. This is who we’re working for.”
Willard said she would spend the first 100 days asking, and listening.
“My interest is to make Westfield a better school district,” she said.
Elizabeth Zielinski, superintendent of the King Philip School District in Norfolk, Mass. introduced herself as “Dr. Liz.”
Answering the question “Why Westfield?”, Zielinski said she is a western Mass. girl, born and raised in Agawam. She went to Our Lady of the Elms College, and began her teaching career in Springfield, then in parochial schools in Chicopee. She also taught science and math in the Piper Road School in West Springfield. Other position she held regionally were in Ware and Chicopee.
Zielinski said when she took the position at King Philip, which she has held for six years, she was the 22nd new administrator in five years. She said she has helped to bring stability to the district. Among her accomplishments there, she cited building an artificial turf field, and moving the school from a Level 3 to sitting between a Level 2 and 1 school.
She said the district, which covers grades 7-12, is the 19th top school in Massachusetts, and according to Newsweek, one of the top 500 schools in the U.S.
She said she likes Westfield, because it is a city that feels like a town.
“Our schools are what makes Westfield feel like home,” Zielinski said. She also noted the revitalization in town that she said she hasn’t seen in a long time.
She said the key to Westfield is that many of its residents return to settle there and raise a family.
“There’s something that draws them back. Housing is reasonable, schools are decent. I’d like to help bring your schools up to the next level,” she said.
“The most important thing is to help keep our kids in our district,” she said in response to a question about special education.
She said they need to look at the population to see what programs need to be created. She said her district has student support programming, where they offer one period of support a day to students needing help.
When asked about her experience with English Language Learners (ELL), Zielinski said she has experience from her time in Springfield.
“The ELL skill set is similar to the special education skill set,” she said. “We need to look at the ELL population, to make sure we understand them.”
When asked about families seeking school choice, Zielinski said at her district, they have specific programming for students with high achievement. They have an Honors Academy, for which students take a minimum of six AP courses, some taking eight or nine. These students graduate with that distinction.
For students just below that level, they have a pathway for graduating with a distinction in humanities or STEM, which is noted on their diplomas.
Zielinski said they had to take a hard look at the AP courses, and expand the program, not only with more courses, but with expanding access to students.
“We have to learn how to promote ourselves,” she said.
“There’s been a shift in library science in recent years. The ‘old school” librarian with silence in the room doesn’t exist anymore,” she said.
She said children have become so much more technologically savvy.
“We have to have a vision of where we want to go,” she said.
A comment was made about all the changes in the Westfield school district in recent years.
“The question is – are you going to stay or are you going to go?,” Zielinski said. “I want to come back home. I’ve been away for six years.”
Zielinski said her first Master’s was in curriculum instruction and computer technology.
“It is not the physical technology that drives it, it is the curriculum,” she said. “You have to have the infrastructure in place.”
She said that at King Philip they learned not to buy technology, but to lease it, after initially building the “backbone.” They also have Office 365, with access for all of the students.
“Budgetarily, after you build the backbone and lease equipment, our budget costs have gone down,” she said, adding that you have to build the culture of being technologically savvy.
“We feel if a student has the desire to go into one of the practical arts, they should have the opportunity to do that.” She said all of the eighth graders in her district go on a bus trip to the vocational technical school.
In her first 100 days, Zielinski said she would go on an “all hands in listening tour,” going into the schools, talking to teachers and staff, and meeting with the School Committee individually and together.
