Cindy, do I have my attendance sheets? Yes, sir. They're in the green? This is just for me to sign. I don't have... Oh, it's another baptism. Oh, no. It's okay. It's just- Is that everything? Jeff, you want to do 14? Mm-hmm. MOA? Yeah. That'd be great. Sure. Kathy, you got- I've got- ... 11, 12, so 13. You really don't have plenty of them. Then I've got mine, so yeah, but I'll send you my whole group. So then you got 22
times three for the girls. Mm-hmm. I did turn in this. Yeah. Yeah. Some of them are updates. You ready, Doug? Yeah. Are you good? We're good. All good? Yeah. Thank you. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the May 4th Westfield Public School Committee. Call the roll. Jeff Goslin. Here. Jeff Gunther. Here. Kathleen Hellman. Here. Bo Sullivan, here. Chick Sullivan. Here. Mike Torale. Here. Chairman McCain. Here. I'll ask you to pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. I'd like to open our public participation portion of the meeting. Anybody who would like to address the school committee on a topic of your choice, you're more than welcome to do so. We would ask that you limit your comments to no longer than three minutes, and we'll have up to 30 minutes of public participation. Is there anybody who would like to participate publicly? Come on up. So I know you're new to it, so when you come on up, just introduce yourself and give us your name and address.
Hi, I'm Addison Bear, and I live at 8 State Street. Can I pass out some papers? Sure. Okay. It's a thick stack. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I'm Addison, like I said. I'm a current eighth grade student at Westfield Middle School, and I'm here to ask you guys to consider adding a girls' wrestling team to Westfield High. Wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports across the country, actually, and more and more schools across Massachusetts are adding teams every year. Right now, girls who are interested don't
really have a clear opportunity to participate, right? There's co-ed teams in Westfield for the high school, but there's not a girls' team. So I did a survey with my school, so the seventh and eighth grade, and I have received lots of great things. It's on page three, four, and... Three and four have some of the results. I had a little comments box at the end, and girls said that they were more likely to try out for our wrestling team if there was a girls-only team, other than just
the co-ed team. Starting a girls' team would give female athletes a space to challenge themselves, build confidence, and be a part of something bigger than just themFairness in athletics under Title IX by ex-- oh, this would also ensure fairness for female athletes under Title IX by expanding opportunities. Like, you know, champions aren't born, they're slammed into greatness. Westfield already has the space, the equipment, and the wrestling program already in place. So they really wouldn't be starting from scratch,
right? With some planning, a coach, and student interest, which we already have from the graphs and the signatures on the last three pages, there are signatures from a bunch of students and parents and teachers that are all in support. This could become a very successful program very quickly. I have learned through my survey, conducted obviously in the middle school, that there are many girls in both seventh and eighth grade, so that makes it sustainable, right? Because it's not just eighth grade that's interested. The results from seventh grade were honestly better. And there are many students like me who are excited to join, which again is shown in the graphs on the pages.
This is a chance for Westfield to be a leader in supporting girls' sports and to be a part of something that's growing across the state. Thank you for not only your time but also your consideration in making this opportunity available for girls just like me. And I think that girls' teams are so important because I don't really know who I'd be without all the girls I've become friends with through jujitsu. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Wow. I'm impressed. Okay. Well done. Thank you. We can't ask questions. Oh, I should explain that. Just so that you know, we're not allowed to ask you questions back and forth during the public
participation, but I am absolutely sure that somebody will get back to you. Anybody else for public participation? Seeing none, moving on to item four. West High. Come on up, Mr. White. Hello, my name is Colin White. I am the e-board president for student council. I am here to talk about a lot to get through today. I'm going to try to go pretty quick, talking about some old business first, but we have a lot in May to get to. Starting off on April 10th, we had WH students in the Applied Learning Showcase at MesTech, showing off some scientific projects from an improved microwave over to a weed-killing robot.
After that, over the span of two weeks on Saturday mornings, there was an SAT boot camp held by WHS that prepared students for the SAT that WHS held April 17th. April 17th was also a very exciting day. We had a spirit week leading up to our first ever teacher versus student spirit rally, where the teachers won by an extremely close margin. Over April break, we had a Spain trip. WH students spent the week there experiencing Spanish culture and learning about the country itself while having a lot of fun. I know. I've heard.
Can I ask you a question? I got to ask. Yeah. Right? I got to ask. Can we interrupt in between? I am interrupting. You can always-- Yeah, I'm open to questions. He's going pretty quickly. I am. And I want to explore this spirit thing. What did that entail? So, like pep rally in the fall, we had a spirit week leading up. However, teachers were involved. So instead of classes collecting points, it was students collecting points and teachers collecting points, though teachers were weighed with a ratio. And then we had games like a pep rally, but it was teacher versus student. So we had-- I know our favorite was four V four basketball. And who kept score of this? This was the students, but, I mean- ... you got to say, who won?
Looking who won, it was the teachers. I'm a very unbiased judge. All right. Thank you very much. Of course. This past weekend, Thursday to Saturday, WHS held their annual musical, which was "Curtains," a murder mystery playwright show. April 30th, we had four WHS students who participated in the Hamden District Attorney's Annual Youth Advisory Board Conference, all from our criminal justice program. And then to round out May, we had our college decision day with seniors lining up to take pictures that I know have been posted around the school. Now, getting into May, again, we have a lot.
First off, on Friday as well, we also had our Principal Appreciation Day to give thanks to our wonderful Mr. Jandrisek, who's always been such a help. And this week, we have been celebrating all our teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. We'd like to thank them so much for everything they do to ensure that students at WHS have a high-quality education. I know today marked the start of AP exams, and I could never do as good as I did on AP bio without Ms. Aldridge's help. Aw. Coming up, choir is representing us on their
trip this Thursday. They'll be traveling to Williamsburg, Virginia, to hopefully bring home some trophies. May 12th will be the band spring concert. And then for a busy week that time, band trip. The band trip will be on May 14th to 17th to Pennsylvania. Next up, May 20th will be the NHS banquet. And then May 22nd, I know every senior's excited, is going to be prom held at Great Horse. Tickets are currently being sold for this week at $7 if dues are paid and $135 if not. May 25th, our band will be marching for the Memorial Day parade.
May 26th, we have a few things going on. Students will be participating in a civic showcase at the MassMutual Center, and seniors have the opportunity to go on a class trip to the Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park.Then finally, May 28th, we will hold our senior awards in school instead of at night. May 29th, we will have our senior ceremony. It'll be the last day of school for us seniors, as well as the senior sunset and luau. On June 2nd, the senior banquet will be held at Toccoa.
And finally, graduation will be June 5th. Thank you. Thank you. I know this is my last time most likely, so thank you for everything for this whole year. Thank you. Thank you, Colin. Moving on. Item five. Do I hear an item five? I'll make a motion for approval of school committee meeting minutes, dated April 6th, the special meeting minutes. Second. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'll make a motion for the approval of the school committee meeting minutes dated
April 2nd, 2026 for the regular meeting minutes. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? April 6th. April 6th. Did you say second or sixth? April 6th. Okay. He's fine. I read the sixth, but I was... My apologies. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'll make a motion for the approval of the school committee meeting minutes dated April 13th, 2026 for the special meeting minutes. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion on the April 13th minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor?
Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Do you want me to do it, at this time I'd like to make a motion, or...? Mr. Chairman, if we could suspend the rules and take item 19C at this point in the meeting. I'd like to make a motion to take item 19C. A motion has been made to take item 19C out of order. Is there a second? Second. Second. There is a second. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. 19C it is. I'd like to make a motion for the acceptance of the Replicating Applied Learning Instruction Everywhere, or RALI grant. Second.
Motion has been made and seconded to accept the RALI grant. Is there anybody here to discuss the RALI grant? No. So I'm going to overview real quick. So these funds are going to be used for stipends and materials that are used to replicate the high-impact instructional practices through a cohorted experience for school leadership teams. And I have with me Kate Perez and Lauren Cadigan, who are going to do a brief explanation, and they have a video to share. More handouts. Oh, thank you. More handouts. More handouts. This one's only a page. There are some graphs though. It's a one-pager. It's double-sided.
So people can't read it. Because it's tiny. Tiny. Oh my gosh. I need my little glasses. So Lauren and I just wanted to share with you all some of the work that we've done with the One8 Foundation. So this is work we've done at Westfield High School and with the leadership there. We started this actually probably three or four years ago now with the Applied Learning Leadership Institute that we were a part of. And so essentially what we did is we came up with this pilot idea about discourse mapping and using that for teachers to work with one another.
And it went so well at Westfield High School that the One8 Foundation decided to what they call replicate it. And so what's really exciting now is that there are eight schools across Massachusetts. So, schools in Nantucket, Fall River, Danvers, Plymouth, Randolph, Dracut, and Milford that are all implementing this idea that we started at Westfield High School. So it's work that we're very proud of. Part of this came with a really awesome video that they made with us, and so we wanted to take this opportunity to share it with you all today.
Is there anything you want to add? No, just that the work we were able to do... Sorry, I'll go up to the mic. Just that the work we were able to do, we have been continuing to grow it at Westfield High School. So it started with Kate, myself, and Chuck, and we were able to go to schools and see them in Washington DC and Philadelphia and get these ideas and grow them. But what was really exciting is this year, Westfield High School, I believe we're at 96% of our staff members have gone into other staff members' classrooms and discourse mapped for themselves too. So we have created this
culture at Westfield High School where people are going into other people's classrooms and discourse mapping, and giving feedback to their peers, but also takeaways from other people. Yeah. And they're using this protocol at the intermediate school this year as well as part of their instructional leadership team, their goal for the year. And I think the video does a nice job of sort of explaining the whole initiative. Westfield High School is a high school here in Western Mass. We have approximately 1,100 students. We really want to get our students to be more actively involved in their learning, and we really want our students to be engaged in the learning and involved in a lot
more dialogue and a lot more discourse in the area we have that. The initial problem that had us look at student discourse was our students were not engaged. We had kids in the hallway. We had kids with their heads down. And so what we were looking at was really like how do we get kids talking to each other, building on each other's ideas, and so that it's not just a classroom where the conversation's going in one way, from teacher to student. Before teachers at Westfield High School started focusing on discourse,
classes felt very independent. There wasn't much participating. We just listened to the teacher talk and would write. There wasn't too much engaging going on between classmates. And so we were like, "How do we get kids talking to each other and building on each other's ideas? And how do we measure that?" We needed a way to both have a way to measure and show teachers what was happening in their classroom when student
discourse was going on or not going on. So this came out of an OSSE community day where we did a session on discourse mapping, equity mapping, and we were like, "Huh, we can apply that and use that as a way to launch teachers giving each other feedback about their observations." A discourse map is essentially a schematic of a person's classroom, and then someone fills it out by drawing arrows showing who the students are talking to, who the teacher is talking to, all of the
discussion that's going on in the classroom, so that someone can look at that discourse map and be informed about what communication is looking like at that particular time. So first, we met with our instructional team, and they described how discourse mapping was going to be helpful to us. Then we watched a video telling us how to do it. Next, we observed each other's classroom and did some discourse mapping in those classes. We then debriefed as a team in how we did the discourse mapping. During the debriefing, we critiqued each other's discourse mapping, and we also talked about suggestions that
could be made to increase discourse among students. The main objective of this initiative was really to get more students to collaborate with each other, and to do that, it really imposed the teachers to collaborate together as well. They were really quiet at first, but they actually really picked it up and they did a good job kind of spreading it equally between times. Sometimes these two talk all- Yeah ... together, which is great. Yeah. Some of the main indicators that sort of helped us realize that this initiative was working was seeing teachers in other
teachers' classrooms, seeing them work together, sharing what they saw and what they learned from each other, and then just hearing from students. Hearing a student say, "Wow, you're talking a lot in class," and that just felt really good to hear them say that. Since teachers have started focusing on discourse, I feel more confident because we have learned a lot of working and engagement skills, which greatly improved my studies, because I can get others' opinions about my methods, and then I can see if there are any problems. The kids have been so much more into it than I ever thought they would be.
I think giving them certain resources to make discourse more accessible has been really helpful. I used to be the type of person who wouldn't share their thoughts or opinions in class whenever a teacher asks a question. But now I feel more comfortable and confident to share my opinions and thoughts about different answers, and that way we can all learn from each other.
So that was filmed last year. But the district has done a really good job of making discourse a priority, and so every school across the district has done training on discourse mapping with the help of our leadership team and spreading it to everyone. But it was too exciting not to share that video. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You did a good job. I think we need to roll, right? Yeah. I'm going three things here. Yep. Ms. Sullivan. Roll call. Yep. That was a rally grant, right? Right. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bob Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan.
Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Western Mass Literacy Collaborative Summer Learn and Earn Grant in the amount of $16,525. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion, Ms. Lemay? So this grant is actually a pass-through grant. I just want to make sure, the WMLC, the Western Mass Literacy Collaborative, received the funds from the Davis Foundation, and they are going to be partnering with us over the summer.
Four of their students, their literacy intervention teachers, will be working in our summer academy at the elementary level. And the funds will be used to pay them for their time, provide training, and then any supplies we need for the program. Any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Sullivan? Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bob Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to accept the band earmark in the amount of $10,000. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. How about the band earmark? So these funds are going to be used for the band program throughout the
district. We're going to be using the funds for stipends, for purchasing or repairing equipment, and then purchasing curriculum as well. Any questions? Mr. Sullivan? Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Definitely, yes. Mike Torello? Yes. Chairman McKig? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Back to six. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Westfield Public Schools fiscal 2026-2027 budget figure of $78,185,821
for the Westfield Public Schools. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Ms. Patty, how are you? Good evening. So up on the slides right now, I have the original two scenarios that I presented at the last two meetings. So the first scenario was the $78,883,443. And then we looked at a second scenario where we reduced further to the $78,027,093. As Mr. Sullivan just read, we have a new number for scenario number three, the
$78,185,821. So some things have changed in the past two weeks. So I had applied for circuit breaker extraordinary relief. And on April 23rd, I found out that the district received $576,000. That money is intended to be used by this June 30th. But creatively, I tried to think of ways we could use this to help offset next year's budget. So, working with our grants manager, what we have done is we will move
$279,191 worth of expenses that were being charged to the FY26 240 grant, and I will move those to circuit breaker extraordinary relief because they're this year's expenses. 240 grant money can be carried over for a second year, so that'll allow us to carry over that FY26 money into FY27. So we will use that to help offset special education costs in FY27. You might be asking why I'm not doing the whole $576,000 worth
of extraordinary relief, and that is because it's a complicated formula, but we have to meet IDEA maintenance of effort, and grant spending does not count towards that. Only spending through the general fund and through city funds given to the school department count towards that. So we have to be really careful that we're continuing to spend enough money on special education year over year. So the other idea that came to mind after looking at this more and going back and looking at transportation is I looked at what we are actually using for
transportation in terms of buses for in-district transportation this year. So this year, of our 29 contracted buses, we're using 27. Of our minibuses, we have contracted 22, we're only using 18. And of our midday runs, we have six contracted, and we are using four. So to free up some funding for next year, we worked with the transportation manager. He's fully aware of this is the means he'll have to work within for next year. But we're reducing the two minibuses, so we'll continue to have 27. We're giving two extra minibuses, so just reducing by two to 20 for next year.
That will allow, we're thinking the 390 Southampton Road program will result in more minibuses being needed. So that will give some flexibility with two additional buses from what we have this year. And then we'll stick with the four midday routes for next year. So all that reduction in transportation is another savings of $418,431. So it's a total savings that we can apply to next year's budget of $697,622. And then just to walk through kind of where we are in terms of additions and cuts. So what we've looked at additions through all the scenarios and
through the whole budget process has not changed. So just to walk through what those additions actually are. The custodial position will be added to 390 Southampton Road. We will need someone there to take care of that facility. The three Unit A positions are a health teacher at the middle school. The numbers in specials at the middle school for next year are too high, and the health classes would be far too high, so we needed to add another specialist there. We are adding an occupational therapist to help meet services on special education grids and to not have to pay
for it through contracted services. And a 504 ATL coordinator for grades 7 through 12. We have one for the younger grades. This will put one in place for the older grades. The two Unit B positions are a Title I supervisor. As you know, that was added into the budget after it was approved last year, so that will continue for next year. A SPED supervisor will be added. And then the PSA position into the assistant director of curriculum. When we look at the reductions, the 8.5 Unit A positions, that's one STEM coach, a business tech teacher at WTA, an
ELE teacher at the high school, a math teacher at the high school, a social studies teacher that's shared between the high school and WTA, one and a half EL teachers. So we were actually able to recently just increase this. In the former scenarios, it was only half of an EL teacher. We were able to recently just receive access scores in the past week, and our director of curriculum and assessment, Christine Shea, looked at the numbers with our EL supervisor, and they were able to determine based on student need and numbers for next year, we can actually reduce one more position. We are cutting a nurse at the high school. Oh, so I'm sorry.
I missed under additions, the two Unit D. The two Unit D are actually LPN positions. So reducing a nurse at the high school. We're going to have a nurse and an LPN at the high school, and then the Southampton Road program will also have an LPN at their facility.And then finally, there's a psychologist position at the middle school that we are reducing. That was a position that is not filled. So we have a position that is also open at the intermediate school. So we're hoping we can fill that one, and then that will be shared between the intermediate school and the middle school. And that is all I have.
Questions? Dr. Gonder, I know you have your hand up. I know it's not necessarily as germane to the budget number that we're voting on tonight, but can you remind me, in this plan, what the school choice offset is? The school choice offset is 1.6 million currently. And we're expecting 1.2, 1.3. 1.2 to 1.3, correct. And then do you have what our approximate ending- Yes. So as of right now, we should be around 2.3 million at the end of this year in school choice and the
school choice claiming is due this Friday. So I'll actually know more at our next meeting. Got it. I have thoughts, but I'll wait for others who have questions. Questions? Okay. And I will just start with, I want to name a lot of appreciation for the effort that went into this, both on the admin side to find the expense savings. I appreciate, I know, Mayor, how much you're working to make everything balance and know that this number's higher than the initial target. It is still 100 to 200K below what it would take for us to keep
flat as a percent of net school spending. And I ultimately think that that's driven by the problem that the mayor's brought us into very effectively, is the levy gap that we're going to continue to have at the city level. And I know that you cannot raise taxes 6% twice a year, two times in a row, and it's going to take some time for us to close that gap. But I'm going to continue to advocate that we need to. And what that makes me wonder is whether we should be considering a budget plan that increases the amount of school
choice to close up that by 100 to 200K that we weren't able to meet with our top-line budget to stay flat as a percent of net school spending. That would put our net draw of school choice at around 450, 500K, with an ending balance of 2.3 million. That's not sustainable forever, but that's sustainable over three to four years. Four years, yeah. And so I don't know exactly how we handle that when the motion on the table is the vote of the top-line number, that that wouldn't change.
But I know I certainly would feel a lot more comfortable if when we're finding that we don't need as many EL teachers as we need to support our kids, that we're not also cutting a STEM coach, or that when we find busing savings, we're not needing to just cut that without adding capital projects and things like that back into the plan. So I know I personally would feel a lot better if we don't think that there's a higher number that we can get approved here through City Council, that if we made a plan to have a budget proposal that relied on another 150 to
200K of school choice to offset some of those cuts. So I have some thoughts on that, but I'll hold off on those. Anybody else? Mr. Sullivan. I guess I would like to flesh that out a little bit more, and you can probably answer this too. If we took-- Actually, let me ask this first. What are we in the school choice for, for this coming budget, for the FY27 budget? So the planned offset is 1.6 million. We used 1.9 million in FY26. And so we're using 1.2 next year? 1.6? Okay. So you want to make that 1.8? I would feel more comfortable making that more like 1.6.
And the 200,000 that we would add to it, what would you hire back? I don't want to dictate to admin what specific budget choices, like line by line. Yeah. I think that if I were in that position, I understand, but some of those unit A cuts are due to- Can I hold us up a second? Yeah, yeah. Because I think your sense is right. Yeah. That you really don't want to delve into the administration's purview on what comes in or what comes out, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful- Yeah. No ... to your question, Mr. Sullivan. So if I may, there were several different competing interests in this budget.
School being the primary recipient of the entire amount of the entire revenue side of the ledger. And what I mean by that is the school department's going to see an increase in this budget of $2.6 million. If you look at Proposition 2.5 raises $2.3 million. If you look at new growth, that's $200,000. So we're at 2.5, right? We're still not quite at the school department number. And then, local receipts gave us another between 900,000 and a million. So
this budget, as it's constituted right now, represents the entire amount, if you will, of the city revenue stream. So I'm trying to figure out how to balance it. The real killer to this budget, I'm going to just come right out and say this, wasn't really the school department, it wasn't really the city departments, it was a healthcare number that came in at 15% higher than last year. That actually translates into a $3 million number. So when I said or suggested somewhere along the line, if you will,
like 2%, keep whatever your Chapter 70-plus was and certainly keep whatever the emergency funding was, just add to your budget. That's how it came out to the 2.6 number. Had we not had the same healthcare problems that we're having, and we didn't have some trimming, we'll say that... will show up next year, maybe in terms of free cash. I see Ralph over here, right? That may come out as free cash expenditures next year. We wouldn't even have been able to get this far on this budget. So, for me, I hope that you vote yes for this budget, and I want to thank Stefan
and Shannon and your entire team for putting this thing together. I know you went through two or three or four different iterations, and it was changing. And oddly enough, I was with Senate President Spilka today speaking about UGA, and their Senate number is higher than the House number, which was lower than the governor's number. I realize that this is kind of a lot of balls in the air. She's looking at me like I'm nuts over there. A lot of balls in the air, but hopefully we get out of this. And by using some levy capacity differently,
what we will see this year and next year will then equalize the structural problem within our own budget. We should be able to get back on track, hopefully, in the FY29 budget, not the 28 budget. Yeah. I appreciate that. I know how much you're trying to balance all of this. I also know that the efforts continue to address the issue of chronic underfunding of Chapter 70, particularly in SPED, to have the state chip in, and seeing that there may be some light at the end
of the tunnel that you're talking about makes me more comfortable raising our school choice drawdown right now. Mm. Recognizing I don't think we should do so much that we're going to create a fiscal cliff in a year or two, but I'd be comfortable with a larger number that we know we can sustain for three or four years, as opposed to the number that's in the budget right now that's more sustainable over a six, seven-year timeframe. Mayor McCahey- Anybody else? ... can I just clarify something real quick? Sure. I was off $10,000. The school choice offset is $1,610,000, so just 10,000 more than I said. I know that. Mr. Solomont.
Yeah. I would just do a nuts and bolts question that we talked about the last time, a couple of weeks ago when we were here. One of the big things that was on the screen last time, and the two of you talked about, was class sizes. Mm-hmm. With those reductions, are we still comfortable with the class sizes you have in the elementary schools and then in the secondary schools? So we are actually able to restore the three elementary positions at the elementary level through this new scenario. So those are restored, so the class sizes will be smaller, and it actually is going to allow us to open more school choice slots. Those actually-
Which is what we're voting on next ... Right. But those actually were the ones that were close to where they were- They were ... supposed to be last time. The ones that were way above were the high schools. Well, so we had Wiss, and we had to the point at the last meeting, the 13th, you had specifically spoke about Wiss and Westford Intermediate School and Westford Middle School, and those reductions would've been made to get the number that the mayor had originally provided us. But with the savings that we found, we never had to make those cuts. Mm. So Wiss and the intermediate school and the middle school will not have classes of 26, as we
had thought would happen if we had to get to those numbers. Right. The one area where if I had a place to add, it would be the ELA teacher at the high school. Yeah. Because right now, those numbers will be better than we like, but not 26. Okay. Do you have that number? I think so. Mm-hmm. What number? What's that? I need... What did you- What did you say? Do you have that number? Do you have a number- Oh, do I have the number? ... a specific number- Oh ... item ... that would restore that specific line item? Oh. So we budget 65,000 for a teacher, so 65,000. 65,000. So was it your suggestion, I'm going to walk you through this, Doc. Yeah. Here we go. Ready? Yeah.
Was it your suggestion that you'd like to see $65,000 more used in school choice? My number was actually closer to 150 to 200. I have my own personal opinion about which specific reductions I would probably undo or whether I would change things in the expense budget. Again, I don't know that in this forum is the right time for me to give that sort of specific feedback. I think that 150 to 200,000 would allow us to create a
budget that was much more keeping up with inflation and student counts and student composition, and would be as if we were maintaining more flat on our net school spending. And so that would be my recommendation, and then I would push it to the administration on the specific ones. I actually do have a specific governance question on, I know we're voting on this number. I actually don't recall from prior years of when we give the specific guidance on the school choice draw level. Because I know that we're not approving specific lines here, and our motion is to approve a specific budget figure-
Correct ... that includes- That's before us. Right ... that's before us- Mm-hmm ... right now. If we were to make a plan to increase the school draw, that would not change the motion on the table before us, correct? It would. It would? It would. No. I believe. Yep. Because it'll be an offset. Because it's an offset. Yeah. It would. So if we went- We add it back in and then it comes off of school choice. Correct. So it's- And so- Yeah. It's- ... I am at a point where I am okay voting for this number. I, of course, wish it were higher, but I appreciate all that's gone into trying to make it higher. I could get okay voting for this number if I knew that our plan was to spend closer to 1.8 on school choice.
In subsequent year? In FY27But that starts to get at the specific lines and offsets that I know that we're not voting on right now. Right. So if I could speak just to what-- So the areas of the reductions that we have up there, and we don't want to make any, let's be clear, okay? But we know that we have to, so realistically, the three unit B positions are our curriculum supervisors 5 to 12. And this becomes an area of concern in terms of being able to support teaching and learning, and really instruction, great instruction, and we saw some examples of
that earlier in tonight's meeting, by the way. But realizing that's probably not likely, one of the other positions that's eliminated is our STEM coach at the elementary level. And we have retained in this budget proposal our literacy coach, because of all the work that we are doing in literacy and the amount of grants that we're getting. We know our students fell behind during COVID, and we're going to be playing catch up for at least a decade. So we're still in that phase. I also think that putting the STEM coach back, we've seen the terrific things that are happening with science, technology, and engineering, and math, really at our younger grades that are being brought up. We've all witnessed it. You've been to, whether it was the showcase or the other thing, we've all seen it
happening. And those would be the areas that I would do that. I'm also concerned about class size for ELA at West Hill High School. So if you were to push me to get directed, you don't have to tell me what to do on this one, I would argue the STEM coach and the ELA would be the two positions that I would advocate for, and I think that might be of an increase of about 155,000. So, but again, the problem is you're using school choice like free cash. Right. That's the problem. And not for discussion right here, either. Do you want to use 1.8, not know what your revenue's going to be to offset in future years? I don't know.
That becomes a math equation that we should pick up outside of this particular- Agreement ... conversation. Right. Mr. Touro? Again, I guess there's a lot of thoughts going through my head at the moment. But I'm comfortable with the 78,185,821 number that's on the table currently. I do feel like we could-- I agree with everything the mayor just said in terms of the way we used that. Going back 13 or 14 years ago, using $1.6 million worth of school choice was
unheard of. Right. It was treated so sacredly that every touch to school choice, every draw from school choice was extremely impactful, and it was extremely thoughtful. I feel like we've gotten away from that a little bit. Understanding all of that, I would be open to a conversation about if there were specific things that we thought we needed to go back to school choice for at some point to be able to allocate some of that, and then we thought that it was going to have that big of an impact. I would be fine having that conversation. But I'm not comfortable making that decision here tonight, not knowing,
understanding that we're not voting on line items. We're voting on an overall budget, and we know we have the fund there if we need it. Right. Mr. Sullivan's had good? So, well, I got one quest-- So the two positions that you would advocate for, we couldn't add into this budget because that would make the budget out of balance, correct? Correct. But if we knew we were having the conversation, as Dr. Gunther said, about adding more school choice money in July, August, getting ready for the school year knowing that these two positions would be filled. Is that feasible? It is. I mean, it's feasible- No ... but it's disingenuous to the process.
That's the part that I'm- But it's not feasible in terms of being able- Sure it is, but I would rather be disingenuous and hire the two people ... to keep those positions before June 15th. Right. So really, the caveat when you bring back positions through school choice is you can't count on that necessarily using the same number of school choice next year, so- Right. Correct ... it could be a one-year position. And the timeline that you're offering, July or August, the candidates we would receive at that point would be pretty tough, because most people will have a job by then. I have a couple process question. I don't know if I have a process answer for that. Sure. And you may not. But you are presenting to us
a general programmatic plan at 78,185,821 that assumes that you can draw 1.61 million out of school choice, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. We also are not agreeing to, through this vote, on that 1.61, right? And so I'm actually like- Yes, sir ... having a little bit of a question about at what point we as a committee are-- We aren't approving a specific line budget, right? Dr. Gunther, I think that if we're approving a budget, how we got to
that budget is what we're approving. And I'm not trying to talk circularly, right? So that would seem to me that we would be encompassing the 1.610 in the budget. And so it's just this conversation that we're having right now that is giving the appropriate guidance- Right ... on how to do that. Okay. If I could continue. In that case, I think I disagree a bit on the orientation towards school choice, because it is income that is coming in for students that we are serving in a given year, and therefore, we should be spending that money to serve those students that are in our broader population.
And so I think I do have a different orientation to school choice than the committee maybe has had in the past. I don't know if we want to have that broader conversation right now. I think I am not comfortable voting on this numberWithout having that conversation or giving the directive that we'd be okay to draw that higher amount. So it may be that we just need to have that conversation later, and I'm going to be a no tonight, and I may be a strong advocate for 1.8 later. But to me, it's hard to remove
the school choice impact on the programmatic impact of that school choice from the number that we're voting on right now, because I'm not super comfortable with where we are on a programmatic standpoint. Anything further? Can I add something? Sure. Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for all the work. You have put an insurmountable amount of time into this budget. I went through it the other night myself line by line, so I did look at every single area. We don't know what the State House is going to give us for that emergency supplemental funding yet.
So I think Mr. Gunther is stepping too far ahead here on it. We don't know what that money's going to be. So that money might cover the cost of the extra personnel that you wanted. I think we're just jumping too far ahead. I appreciate it. Thank you for the kind words. I'm comfortable with this amount. What's before us is the 78-1. Yes. That's what's before us. I think incumbent in the 78-1, just give me just a half a second. Yeah. Is the 1.6 in school choice spending. Yep. Every budget is a contract. That's the way it works. And we're supposed to, hopefully, stay within the guardrails of the
contract that we bind ourselves to when we take a vote. It does include the 1.6. It clearly includes it. There's no other way to get around it. Whether or not we want to look at how we spend school choice in the future is another discussion, I think, for another time. So can we have that broader conversation, then, about whether our school choice should be at 1.6 or 1? What I think I'm hearing is the time to have that conversation is right now about whether it should be 1.6 or 1.8. I actually think the time to have had that conversation was before. That's just my opinion.
Is there anything else on this particular matter? Mr. Sullivan, call the roll. We're at 78-1858-21? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? No. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. 6 to 1. 6 to one. How about item number seven? Thank you very much for everything that you've done, Shannon and Stefan and the code team to get this number before us. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of school choice openings for the 2026-2027 school year as presented.
Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Revisit the school trip. Westville High School to Peru. Who's got this one? I don't. I could do it if you want. I can do it. Yeah. This is just information, is it? Yes, it is just information. Anybody care if I just take this? Sure. I did look on the Department of State's website. They are still at a two ranking. While I'm not comfortable totally with it, I think that the members are, so we are exactly where we were a year ago, which
was the purpose of this revisit. So since nothing's changed, then I guess nothing's changed. Any questions? Yeah. Can I ask a question? Since this is April 2027- Yes ... I'm correct with that, right? Yeah. Can we just leave this as an open question and revisit this issue again as we get closer? I think there's a problem with booking, though, if I remember. And Mr. Jindrisic, don't let me get out over my skis here, but I think that they need a plan ahead of time, right? Yeah. Yes. Daniel Garden, high school teacher, the second chaperone for the trip planned. So the issue that's coming about is that some parents have already paid upwards of $2,000 for the trip, that they have a monthly payment program and such.
So essentially, if the trip were to be canceled as of even right now or right before, we do have global protection policies, so we can recoup some of the money, but families will be out a certain amount of money. Dan, I think that the last time somebody spoke with us, Maile maybe? Yeah. Last time we spoke, the issue really was of concern of the specific area in Peru, one of those specific areas in Peru, and it was suggested that they come back to us at a point later, which is now, and that we were going to take a look at what the Department of State
had to say. But it was said to us at the first instance meeting when we took a vote that even if it was in Peru, it would simply get switched to another more amenable trip. So that is possible. So they wouldn't have lost that. So yes, that could be possible, depending on if parents agree completely. I'm not sure how that would go about if they just randomly pick a country and a parent says, "No, I don't want him to go there." So that problem could arise there. But I do want to say for the worries of Peru, the main focus is the northern border with Colombia, which we are
going nowhere near at any part of the trip. The cities that we're going to are heavily tourist areas.They're listed as generally safe. Your common petty theft, pickpocket, things like that. But the big issues that are going on are in the northern part of it, where we are staying away from. But yes, EF Tours, the company running the tour, we could have a switch of location if things progress to get worse. From what we've seen and what we've heard, as of right now, if the trip were next week, I think they'd approve going where we are right now. I think that the actual specific place was Cusco,
which is in the southern part of Peru, not the northern part of Peru. Yeah. And it hasn't seen an elevated threat. Yeah. Cusco, Lima, capital, always up and down like any capital of a country. Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, all those places are away from any of the heightened threat areas. Thank you. You want to do it? Yeah. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve the field trip request for Westfield High School to go to Peru in April of Second. Motion's been made and seconded. I think Don Gunther got this one. Any further discussion? Mr. Terrell?
So we approved this once already, right? We did. So is there a need to reapprove it or- Well, the only reason- Readvise everybody ... we're re-voting is because we said we were coming back to this specific topic. Okay. And I think we're just putting our stamp of approval that we're a year further down the line, and we're still okay. Got it. It's a new location for our travels, too. We've done Europe a few times, so understandably. Any further discussion? Mr. Sullivan? Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Thank you, Dan. Thanks, Dan. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip for the South Hampton
Road Elementary School to Sonny's Place in Somers, Connecticut on June 2nd, 2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion on the South Hampton Road Elementary School trip to Sonny's Place? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip for the Westfield Technical Academy to Johnson & Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island, May 27th, 2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip for the Westfield
Technical Academy to the New England Air Museum, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, May 23rd, 2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there further discussion? We should actually say what these are for, right? So Sonny's Place is for energy, bodies in motion, right? Yeah. Sounds like a TV show in the '90s. So stop it. Could be chimneys. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip of Westfield High School to American Precision Museum, Windsor, Vermont, May 21st, 2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion?
Seeing none, I'm reading. Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That's STEM program for engineering, if you wanted to know. I'd like to make a mo- Sorry. Go. I'd like to make a motion to declare the Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center, located at 35 White Street, Westfield, Mass, as surplus and to transfer the property to the City of Westfield, effective June 30th, Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Mr. Saperasca, do you want to do this? Do you want to handle it? Just that we have two weekends in May this month planned to finish the clean-out, and we expect to have it ready
to turn the keys over to you June 20- Hey, very excited about that. Yes, I... They're all yours. Thank you, Chris. Yeah. You're getting- So the lap is so that anybody in the room who doesn't really understand this thing, as soon as it goes back to the city, the city picks up the expense moving forward of all this stuff. Well, that's what the alarm system, the electricity, the heat, all of it. So that's why you guys are jumping. It's a good thing for you. I expect the vote to be yes. But it also allows us, once it moves back into the city surplus property, to be able to sell it as it is in the real estate market. Any further discussion, Mr. Sullivan?
Do you got any idea what you're going to use it for? I have no idea. One of the... I have no idea. Thanks. Ian Lancini. She no longer there. Yeah. I'm sorry. It's all right. No, she is not, though. Mr. Sullivan? Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Item 11. Okay. I am- There's no warranty. I just want to clarify. I am doing a marathon here. On April 21st, the Human Resource Policy Committee met, and the people that were present were Jeff Goslin, Mike Terrell, and
myself, and Cindy Manicuci. We had 21 policies that we looked at at the time. So this is only five that we are presenting tonight, so hang onto your hats for next time because the rest will be coming. So I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file 8A, negotiation goals. Second. Okay. For- Motion's been made and seconded. Can I have a point of order for a second, Kathleen?
Didn't we haveOr didn't we suggest that any time an item of policy comes before the committee, that we have- Yes ... red line changes in that policy so that the deliberations can be much easier for us? So, like in this- Yes ... particular one? The subcommittee policy did have them, and I'm going to highlight them right now. So the differences, so I'll tell you what was updated on that policy. Okay? Okay. Okay. So this one, the negotiation goals, this is an update. And we put in,
on the second line, "students of this community." That was the update. And on the second paragraph, the third line, "or its representatives." Very minor changes there. That's the only thing we did on that policy. Can I build- Go ... off of your point, which is I don't know whether we should be doing it for the first reading or the second reading, but I have trouble approving a policy when I can't actually see track changes- I know ... in the policy. And so- We can do that. We have the technology for it, right?
I know. Yes. And it's been done for us, so I was surprised to see it not being done for you. So what happens if we don't take them tonight? What happens if we just don't take them tonight- Let me just look at- ... and then we take them in a subsequent meeting with the track changes on it? The only one that I'd be concerned about is the administration of the meds for the students, because that was looked at by Fawn, and the other one was the immunizations of the students. Right, but is that for- Next year
... the 27 calendar? Yes, right? I think so. So how many more meetings do we have in... So it doesn't harm it if we hold it off, right? So is there a motion to table item 11 until a subsequent meeting where we can have the track changes? So moved. Motion has been made by Dr. Gunther. Is there a second? Second. There's a second by Mr. Terrell. Further discussion? No, I don't have a table- Mr. Sullivan? So I'm just writing this, you want to table item 11? We're going to table it,
so that we can bring it back in the subsequent meeting, take it off the table. But by then, we'll have the- Okay ... track changes within our own documentation so we can see what they are. Okay. Jeff moved, Mike- Is it with the exception of item D, meds to students? No, it's not with the exception. No. My motion is to table all of 11. And that's why I asked the qualifying question. This is all for FY, excuse me, School Year '27. So we have plenty of time that day. Okay. Thank you for the question. Good? Mr. Sullivan. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hellman. Yes.
Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. And don't think we're being critical. No. It's just hard to do it. I know. Are we in the same problem with 12 or no? I think we're good with that one, right? You think we're good with that one? These were all seconds. I know. Because we went through them already. Went through them at the last one. Yep. Jeff. I have the same problem with this one because the last meeting when we went through these, I said the same thing, which is it was hard. We voted them through on first, but now we're here at second reading, and we still haven't seen a red line. So why don't you offer the same motion?
I'm going to offer a motion to table item 12 till the next school committee meeting. Yeah, my apologies. I wasn't here at the last meeting- Yeah, yeah. No, I know ... so I'm trying to play catch up here. And I've got the- Okay, motion's been made to table item 12 until a future date. Is there a second? Second. There's been a second by Mr. Terrell. Is there any further discussion? I guess- Again, the purpose of tabling the motion is so that when it comes before us again, we can see the track changes. Yeah. And I think that the track changes, I think should be there for the first reading- Fair ... and then the second reading should just be clean. Right. And then you can always- But I'm just- ... compare it- Right ... to what the track-
Correct ... changes were and what we discussed before. So- Yeah ... the parliamentarian over here to my left is correct. Motion's been made and seconded to table. Call the roll. Kathleen Hellman. Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. This is going to be a long meeting next week. Well, we'll bring back those other 21 out of the 5 that we didn't. I guess- So we'll have to bring them all back on that day. I'll have like three sheets of them. I know.
But don't be three sheets to the wind. Do I- And- I think I need to make a motion to table item 13 as well. I'm making an assumption that rescinding 13 is predicated on 12 being approved, or 11 and 12 being approved, or is that not right? It's not right. Okay, then- I think we can just get rid of all- Never mind ... those three. They were superseded by ones that we have already approved. We've already approved? Okay. Then never mind. All right. Let me override that for a second. Yeah, yeah. Yep.
Item 13Kathleen? Oh, we want to do it then? Yeah. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to resend policy file GBCC, drug and alcohol policy. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Now, Mr. Gunther, go ahead and- So, okay. So now my question is, do we need to delay the approval of these ones because we didn't take action on 11 or 12? Or are these rescissions duplicative of policies we've already fully approved? That's what I just said. I said it. I asked the question for the board. So... Oh, okay. Yes. I mean, they're
ones that we've already approved. Great. Thank you. Okay, Kathleen. Go ahead. Okay. All those in favor? If somebody- Aye. Don't you have to read them? Don't you have to go line by line? GBCC and IGAIA and EIEIO? I'm not being useful. So I should do those? Just- Well, yeah. We have to- I'd like to make a motion to resend policy file GBCC, drug and alcoholic policy. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. B, I'd like to make a motion to resend policy file
IGAI, parental notification law. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion to resend policy file ACAC, WSPS policy regarding sex discrimination and sexual harassment. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Ms. Hillman. I'd like to make a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement between Westfield
School Committee and Westfield Education Association Unit A, BCBA's teachers to integrate board-certified behavior analysts, BCBAs, into the Unit A bargaining unit effective at the beginning of the 2026/27 school year, and authorize the mayor to sign on behalf of the committee. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Sullivan, call the roll. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. Motion passes. Item 15. I'd like to make a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the Westfield School Committee and
United Food and Commercial Workers, IFCW, local 1459, July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028. Second. I'll second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Yeah, can I- Mr. Sullivan, sure. I was part of this bargaining unit, and I think the work done by all involved was commendable. I'm not going to lie to you, it was a long process, and it was a process, but I think both sides of the table were cordial, I guess you could say, to each other, and we
came to an agreement at the end rather quickly. So, I think both sides, Dr. Morris led our side on this, so I congratulate both sides on coming to this agreement, and I think it's a good agreement, by the way, for both sides. Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Sullivan, call the roll. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer in the amount of $198,043 from account
56523910-532001, tuition in-state, to account 50082710-580000, land and buildings capital projects. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Sign the agreement first, would you? So, due to the circuit breaker extraordinary relief, we have funding that we need to spend this current fiscal year. So, the plan would be to move this money to the land and buildings line so that we can do some paving that needs to be done at Westfield Intermediate School.
And also, some sidewalks that need to be created and repaved at both Southampton Road School and Highland Elementary. And just the sidewalks put us in ADA compliance, so that has to happen. And they are- Any further discussion? Mr. Sullivan. Is that $198,000 total? That's for WISP- That's all- ... and the sidewalks. Yep. Right. No, no, no. Is that the total that you need to spend? Mm-hmm. So, there's still- Oh. Left in circuit breaker extraordinary relief. Yes. No. I think there's a little bit left. So we'll get another transfer before- Yes. You will. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Mr. Sullivan. Oh, where am I? Kathleen Hillman. Definitely yes.
I can't put a D now. Yes. Well... Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick- If you saw them, you'd be happy, too. Kick Sullivan. Yes. Jeff Goslin. Yes. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. I'd just like to add something to this. When you have a budget of $75,355,478 and you're trying to manage it at the end of the season, it really is an extraordinary effort, and I want to tip my cap to you, Janet, and you, Stefan, and the rest of the team because I know what it's like trying to get these projects out the door, try to manage them, get them on time,
and move them on without it look like you're just trying to do it to deplete stuff. So, congratulations on getting this stuff done. Thank you. Yep I'd like to make a motion for the acceptance of the special revenue accounts as presented. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Ms. Barry, you have anything to offer? So obviously, we've talked about school choice again. It'll be at about 2.3 million at the end of the year. I did want to point out, as you know, I'm trying to clean up some of these lines that have had funds in them forever and haven't been used. So the- Hold on one second. I want you to give the City of Westfield the $1.16 in the Fort Meadow account.
I will be sure to do that. We might need some pencils for preschool, though, so I might need it. Yeah. So, the summer school line- Take it from the kids. Gas ... the summer school line, we no longer charge for summer school, so we are going to use that funding to help offset some of our summer school programs' transportation this summer so we can clear out that line. Okay. And that's the only two I had. Oh, one more thing. Vaccine reimbursement, you'll see we had a deposit there that was incorrect. The city's health department put money in our vaccine reimbursement account instead of theirs, so that will be going back out. Motion has been made and seconded. So can I go back to the discussion we had earlier about the
budget? Can you go through it one more time for me, because I need it one more time? Okay. Current money- Mm-hmm ... in school choice that you see at the end of this fiscal year- Yes. Okay, so- ... is how much? 2.3 million. Okay. And that's everything going into next year. If we- And that's having used the 1.9 million- You've already used it ... well, we're using it. It's offsetting salaries and everything, so things are still coming out of it as we go along. But our expectation is that our revenue will be around 1.3 million, but we don't know that for sure yet until the claiming is
done. So that amount is never final until we're talking June and the final payments- Correct ... into the school choice. Okay. So let's assume that 2.3 is the number. Yeah. And you would like And to receive 1.3 million in revenue next year- Correct ... is the expectation. Yes. Right. Okay. Yes. All right. I just- So we would net draw 500K out of that 2.3. Right. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted it clear one more time. Mr. Sullivan? Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe?
Yes. Thank you. Is that it? Batches. I guess that's it. Good luck, Catherine. Okay. I'd like to report the weekly signed warrants. On April 3rd, 2026, 15 batches totaling $324,288.77. On April 10th, 2026, 17 batches totaling $581,266.97. On April 17th, 2026, 25 batches totaling $705,847.17.
On April 24th, 2026, 23 batches totaling $869,055.91. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Nick? I'd like to make a motion to accept the following gifts and donations: donated to the Credit for Life gift account from Westfield Bank in the amount of $500 to be used for Credit for Life Fair; donated to the Credit for Life gift account from East Hampton Savings Bank in the amount of $1,000 to be used for the Credit for Life Fair; and donated to the Westfield Middle School from Robin
Lawson in the amount of $200 to purchase various band supplies. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? As always, just want to thank all the donors. Mr. Sullivan? Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. 19. I'd like to make a motion for the acceptance of a new scholarship, the Marie T. Parent Scholarship, in the amount of $32,333. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion on that matter? I have a question. Mr.- I do, too.
Mr. Terrell. So reading through the narrative on this- Yes ... as a matter of process, don't we normally open the account first and then accept? It looks like we're doing this all in one. No, we usually accept it, and then treasurers will open a bank account to deposit the check into. Okay. And the reason for that process, just to let you know, is because an excerpt will be sent from the minutes to the auditor's office. The auditors then will give it the proper charge codes, and then it will get entered that way. Fair enough. Yep. Fair enough. And just to note for everyone, that it's
$32,333 that was donated by Marie Parent in her last will and testament. And it's to give a scholarship to any Westfield resident pursuing higher education, and it should be given to one student or more each year. So, it won't be able to be given this current year, because she specified in her will that you can only use the accumulated interest. So we'll have to wait until interest accumulates to be able to give the scholarship. Thank you. Mr. Sullivan? Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes.
Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes.Mr. Zaparosky Yes. So I have a couple items, but we heard earlier with the Westfield High School representative just about the band and chorus stuff, and I just want to shout out, on April 10th, I had the pleasure of attending the Westfield Senior Center, with Dr. Morris, and we saw the Westfield Middle School students perform for a breakfast there. And they were fantastic. And I know they sang here before. And then the following Friday, I got to go again with Mr. Rogers. Just want to thank Tina Gorman for that, for the invites.
But, as we saw, the Westfield High School jazz band there also to do a breakfast for the folks at the senior center, and it was pretty cool to see some of the senior citizens dancing in their chairs. If they had opened up the dance floor, I think we would've had it, particularly when they were starting to play Glenn Miller, I think. Why didn't you? Well, I wasn't running the show, but I think they would've started dancing, but it was just a really great time. And I think it's great that our youth connect with our senior citizens as much as we can. So just some stats that I thought are worth mentioning. So, the four-year graduation rates and dropout rates came out for
districts and schools, and just for our district, in '23, '24, our dropout rate was 2.1%. Sorry, ooh, 21%. 2.1%. That would be very scary. And, phew, that'd be tough. But for last year, we actually saw a reduction from 2.1 to 1.5%. And while that wasn't one of our goals specifically, it is always a goal, clearly, to keep our kids from dropping out of school and from graduating in four years. And so in '23, '24, Westfield Public Schools, we had a four-year graduation rate of 90.2%, and it went
up to 94% last year. So that is people graduating on time, and I think that is extraordinary. I think our staff, our administrators, the whole district deserves a lot of credit for that. I want to recognize specifically Westfield High School, too, whose four-year graduation rate went from 92.1 to 93.5%. And I have to mention Westfield Technical Academy, whose dropout rate went from 0.4% to 0% last year. Wow. And their four-year graduation rate- Very good ... went from 93.1 to 100%.
Wow. Now- Whoa, that's nice. That's awesome. So again, and understand, Westfield High School made those accomplishments while absorbing the virtual school with a dropout rate that was at about 20%. So understand. So our district rate improved significantly. Our graduation rate improved significantly. You'll see on our goals, we've made some great progress this year, so I hope you will all be pleased with those numbers, but I think it's really truly something to celebrate- Really ... as a district. That's all I have for tonight. Wow, that was good. Yeah. That's a little uplifting. Mayor, me. My two favorite days of the year, believe it or not, are
not my birthday and not my anniversary. They're the graduation dates of Tech and Westfield High School, which happen to be the 4th and the 5th of June. And I love them because I get to give out diplomas to our very happy graduating classes. This year, however, Mike Terrell might get a late phone call, because my daughter's expectant on the 4th. Oh. So family first. So Mike, if you could do the honors of stepping in for me at some point in time, maybe we got to get that figured out. Wow. So, it's a blast. It's fun. It's really uplifting because kids are
very happy to graduate. It's a super cool day. On another note, Tom Lewis, Coach Lewis, Tom Lewis, he was inducted yesterday into... Do you know him, Kick? A little bit. Huh? You know the guy? He was inducted to the Massachusetts Swim and Dive Hall of Fame. He's got 300 wins. He's been around forever. And it's a pleasure to coach along with him. I have also been traveling the state, as I think I've intimated on a couple of different discussions. What you might not know is I was an impromptu presenter at the Western Mass Rural Superintendents and Managers Conference, which was held at Delaney
House on Saturday. And the topic of discussion was how to get information to both representatives and senators to give them key data points. Having talking points handed to you is much easier than going out and trying to figure it out for yourself. And, today we were at the State House with President Spilka, and they made an announcement that their UGA money this year is at a historic high, at 4%. So the governor's number was two and a half, the House number was a half, and now
they've moved it back up to four, which represents another $53 million into local aid packaging. Now, the reason why it's important, if I may just take a little bit of time, is because Chapter 70, while it has grown, it has grown in focused areas. So you could clearly see how we were doing our budget this year, that one side of the house was growing and the other side of the house was contracting, which may or may not have caused the increase in class sizes, which through the good work of the financial director and the superintendent didn't happen because they were able to secure some other funds. So once again, I'm grateful to you and your team for
doing the work. And that is it for me. There you go. School committee update. Kathleen. Yes. I attended the drama presentation at the high school, "Curtains," and it was very well received and lots of parents were there. I also attended the National Honors ceremony at Tech School, and it was a pleasure to see the students at Tech being honored for their academic success.Tomorrow, I will be going to the Wis School to
present the awards for the litter poster contest that was sponsored by the Women's Club. There were over 75 litter posters brought to us so we could judge them, and we have a first prize, a second prize, a third prize, and two honorees. So tomorrow will be the day at 9:30 to present those awards. That's it. Thank you very much. Anything else? Yeah. Yes, Mr. Solan. While you're shouting out Coach Lewis, which is well-deserved, the middle school principal needs a shout-out too.
Business West 40 under 40, which is exceptional professionals under the age of 40, and Principal McMillan was selected this year as a recipient of that award. So I just wanted to make sure Jesse got his due congratulations from this committee. So congratulations. Well, job well done. Thank you very much. Anything else? Moving on. Item 22. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Human Resource and Policy Subcommittee for March 16th, 2026, and the minutes.
Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item 23, the next regular school committee meeting minute will be held on May 18th, 2026, right here in this chamber at 7:00 PM. Motion to adjourn. Wow, I didn't even get there. Mike Terrell has offered a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Ms. Hillman. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you very much.