Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's seven o'clock school committee meeting to come to work. Hello, everybody. Microphone. One, two, one, two. There you go. Hello, everybody. Welcome again. Mr. O'Connor, can you take a pen for us, please? Mr. Sullivan? Here. Mr. Terrell. Here. Ms. Hillman? Here. Dr. Gunther? Here. Mr. O'Connor? Here. Chairman McCabe Here. All rise pledge. I pledge allegiance
to the flag in the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation under God. Justice Mr. Sullivan would be absent today. Um, now starts the portion of the school committee meeting that is open for public participation. Should Anybody like to speak to the school committee on the topic of their choosing? You have up to three minutes and we'll leave the public participation open for at least 15 minutes or until time. Everybody says no. 15 minutes. There we go. Anybody for public participation?
Could you do us a favor, sir? And state your name I address? My name is Ralph Figgy with 53 Brooklyn Avenue here in Westfield. I'm here tonight to give you an update on the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Day drive. We have reached our maximum number of turkeys at the butcher block, so that is well done. If anybody would like to continue to contribute, we do collect gift cards to be distributed to all the schools that they use throughout the year. Denominations between 10 and $20. If you could do it at Walmart, uh, that would be excellent because we don't have po availability there.
And sometimes families need more than just food. They need pills, blankets, clothes. So we can do that with a Walmart gift card. Uh, I want to thank all the community sponsors that have been more than generous this year. We do look like we're gonna have a record number of families in need, and we will be, uh, taking care of that. Uh, starting. Well, it's been going on, so I wanna thank everybody and have a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you Mr. Piggy. Does anybody else Just want to thank, uh, Mr. Figg and, um, he's got a big supporting cast, I'm sure helping him, uh, each year,
but I think a lot of, a lot of families that are within the Westfield Public School system are benefiting from all the work that you and others do behind the scenes, so it doesn't go unnoticed. So thank you for doing all you do. Thank you everybody that makes to the Success. Mr. Sullivan? I just wanna make sure soup piggy gets credit too, because I know she does most of the work, Right? She definitely is a driving force behind it. She's the arms moister, let's put it that way. Yeah. Anybody else for public participation? Say none will close public participation. And we will move on to principal Michael Adams
of the Paper Mill Elementary School. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Uh, I'm Mike Atkins, a proud principal of Paper Mill. Um, and just wanna share some of the things that we're working on this year. Um, some of our upcoming events and some of our, uh, focus points with you. Um, along with the district's goals around attendance and improving attendance. Um, we are, we're right there with them and, um, really focusing on decreasing our chronic absenteeism rate. And, you know, the obvious things about attendance is if a student's not in school, then it's, they're going to miss instruction
and services and things like that. But what we don't realize sometimes are the social connections that they're missing and the breakfast and the lunch that's provided for them and the routines and all the benefits that, um, good attendance contributes to, and the all the different parts that go into it. And, um, I appreciate that the mayor came to our admin retreat this summer and shared a story about how one person made a difference. And so that's the who, the who is everybody. It's all of us. Um, it's the community, it's the parents, it's the staff.
Uh, it, it's everybody, um, that contributes to a student's, um, attendance, whether is positive or, or not. Um, and it, and it really could be just that one person that makes the huge difference, um, the, the reasons or, you know, the importance behind it and, um, the, our climate and our culture and what you feel when you walk into the building. And, um, Mrs. Hillman was able to come to the building for a STEM lesson, um, recently and talked about the feeling when you walked into the building. And that's really what we hope for is that when a student
or a family member or a community member walks into the building, that you feel that positivity, um, and you feel the welcomeness when you come in because that makes you want to come. Um, the, the wear is starts with the bus, um, and starts with arrival. One of my favorite parts of the day is greeting every single student when they get off their bus or get dropped off at school and be able to welcome them and see them, um, and also get to know if something seems a little bit off or a change in something so that we can try and address it. And the students are greeted
as they enter the building throughout the building by their teacher outside their classroom, um, as they enter. So by the time a student is even in their classroom, they've been greeted by 10 smiling faces to welcome them, um, to, to show how how happy we are to see them, and also check in. Um, and, and the why, um, is, is because of the impact that attendance has across the board that I mentioned. Our current attendance rate is at 95%, um,
which we are thrilled about. And really what we're hoping to stay, um, stay with as best we can. And one of the things that we're doing to, uh, recognize students is at the end of each month, um, we, Ms. Jennings, the assistant principal and I are, she's actually in the inflatable star costume here. Uh, we visit every single classroom and every student that has gotten 95 or better percent attendance for that month gets recognized with a star with their name on it. Um, and then we do a group picture like this that we post in the lobby, along with their name, um, up as well.
What's significant about the picture on the right is in September and last year, our, um, lowest attendance rate was within our kindergarten, um, which can be a challenge, um, for kindergarten attendance. Um, and this class for October, every single student in the class, um, was here for 95% or better. So when we're looking for evidence of is what we're doing working, um, this was a great sign, and you can see how happy and excited they are to get something as simple as a star and to get recognized. And we also send a message, um, home to the families
to thank them for their commitment to getting their children to, to school. Another way that what drives everything that we do is our PBIS, our positive behavior interventions and supports. Our four pillars are, are up here. Our personal best are acting with kindness, working, playing safely, and showing respect. And this drives everything that we do. Um, and so when something doesn't seem to be going right, we can reference this. And when it is going right, we can reference and reward this as well. And the way that we reward this, students can earn blue paws
for, um, doing what, what's expected or something special. Um, so they get recognized for all different things along with those four pillars. And then classes can earn a gold paw, which they have incentives as the class. When they get to 10, they can decide what sort of, um, thing they would like a pajama day or, um, bring a stuffy to school day, or they, they can come up with kind of what they're, what they would like. So it gets both the students, um, engaged and also to work together as, as a class to, um, get the gold paw as well.
Students can also use the blue paws to enter raffles that we have weekly. And our raffles, we try to, um, make as, um, experiences and not materialistic thing. So it might be lunch with a teacher, it might be time with a teacher doing a craft. It might be the principal's chair for the day. Just different things that the kids would be interested in, um, participating in so that they can use that blue currency, for lack of a better, um, word. We have spirit days each month. Uh, Thursday is our fall flannel day.
Uh, but each month we have something spirit, something fun, um, and the staff get into it just as much as the kids do, which is great. Um, and then we also have trimester events, uh, coming up next week. Uh, we try and partner these things on days to encourage attendance. So Tuesday before Thanksgiving, um, in the afternoon we'll be doing a whole school bingo, um, which will be a ton of fun. And, um, then we also have Tie Dye Day, which was a huge hit last year, and they wanted that to come back and touch a truck, which is always fun. I won't go into each of these, but these are community
events for families that we already have lined up. We already have people chairing them. We already have, um, the plans in place for all of these events, um, that we're looking forward to, to having this year. And then, um, for you folks, there is a link at the, at the bottom of the year at a glance that we'll show you month by month, kind of when those activities are. And if we don't have a date nailed down yet, um, we will, so that, you know, when all those different events, um, are taking place. And one that we already had was our fall festival, which was extremely well attended with hundreds of people.
Um, and when I, my first slide mentioned paper mill community because it, we are a community and, um, it was really great at our fall festival, we had the sheriff's department, we had Westfield Fire Department, Westfield Police Department, Westfield Gas and Electric. We had all different groups, um, come. We also had a, um, a group come and bring some animals. So some students got to hold a nine foot Python, um, which was pretty interesting. Um, but you could see our library was packed during one of the shows, um, showing all different animals. But there was activities all throughout the school,
and it was just great to have the school filled with, um, with our community. And this picture shows a little incentive that we had a little fun. Um, we had a, a fundraiser going and to, um, get some extra participation. We said if we raised a certain amount of money, that Ms. Jennings and I would go up on stage and get pie. And not only did they, not only did they reach that, um, Ms. Knape upped the ante and said, if you raise another thousand dollars, I'll go up there too. And they smashed that by a lot more
and then smashed us in the face with some pie. So, great fun. Um, just things to, um, make the kids, um, interested in wanting to come to school, having some fun with staff, um, and not taking things too seriously when, when we can. Are there any questions for Yeah. First of all, thank you for being here tonight and, and it sounds like things are moving in a great direction. Um, I, I think we know that parental involvement is one of the kind of the strongest levers for improving student achievement. Um, and um, you know, I think when you look at that series
of community events, it's helpful and, and having the parents involved consistent predictor of success, do you see, you see probably a set of, of parents that are always involved and then some that are sometimes involved and maybe some that are not involved that much. How do you, how do you address the, the, that gap and some of the things that strategies to get the ones that might not be involved all the time to kind of help figure it out a little bit better? Yeah, certainly a challenge. I will say that having talking points, um, added to our tool toolbox, um, has really helped with communication
because we, we do know that if families are not getting their kids to school, it could be because of past experience, um, that they had a negative experience in school. It could be a comfort level, it could be a cultural thing. There's a lot of different reasons for it. And trying to get to that reason can be a challenge. Um, talking points allows us to basically text back and forth with a family. And we know that although families or people may not be apt to take a phone call or able to take a phone call, um, they are more apt to text. And so checking in with somebody and something like that is not as threatening as coming in
for a conference or a meeting or something like that. It's can be something that can be a quicker check in. Um, and the other part is getting the kids excited for school. If they want to come to school, they're not at home. I don't wanna go to school or I don't feel good. You know, you're trying to eliminate some of those things and no, I want to go to school. I want to go to school. We're doing this, this is happening today. We got our 10th gold paw, or we're gonna get it today. You know, the incentives and the things that make them want to come to school right. I Think helps too. Thanks. 95%. Terrific. Mr.
Joe, what was the final pie count? I lost Count, however, I can tell you it took a couple days before the smell was, yeah, that's Mrs. Terrell got to, um, start us off and show us how it's done. So That was, she, she may have mentioned it. Anybody else? How's the two 50 plan coming? I got to stand with your two 50 crowd from, uh, paper meltdown at the flag ceremony. Mm-hmm. They're a great group and they, um, they welcomed us the day, um, before Veteran's Day. They were out with their flags and banners and, Um, good group. That's A great group. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Next up Westfield Technical Academy student representative. Look at that jacket. Good jacket. I got the best jacket. They got the best. They're okay with their smiling. It's all good. Go ahead. Um, my name's Ki Lee Jacker. I'm a junior and I am part of the Aviation Technical Maintenance Program. Pardon me. Um, so this school year at WTA has gotten off to a fast start. Our new freshman class has already completed three weeks of the one week rotational exploratory visits to prospective shops.
They will be selecting their top three choices for their permanent shops before the holiday break. We currently have 55 students out on the co-op program gaining real world experience on a job site. More seniors and juniors are setting up sites in filling out the application to become part of this program. The Westfield Promise program has grown in numbers at WTA. Currently there are 34 juniors and 25 seniors taking college classes. Through Westfield Promise and Westfield State University, our students continue to want to come to school at the place to be.
The overall attendance rate has continued to be over 96%. WTA chronic absence rate has dropped to 8% thanks to the efforts of our family outreach mentor, Tracy plu. Tracy knows WTA well as they served as our SRO for 20 years. Wow. This is a very busy time of year for Tiger's Pride, not only here at school, but also out in the community. On November 5th, they hosted their monthly veterans luncheon, which was sponsored by the Marine Corp League Detachment. 1 41. Other highlights include Tigris Pride,
providing 200 Turkey dinners and desserts for the Westfield's Family Resource Center's. Friendsgiving providing 50 Turkey dinners and desserts for the Bethany Lutheran Church in East Heartland, Connecticut, making 50 apple pies for Zales real estate in Westfield. And the annual holiday pie sale is going strong as well. And you are all invited to attend the Thanksgiving buffet this Friday, November 21st at Tiger's Pride. But you might want to make a reservation for this one. Tiger Talk is better than ever Wjs own radio show
for the students and run by the students. Tune in every Thursday morning from eight to 9:00 AM at our new location, 1 0 7 0.5 FM WSFD on the radio dial customer Mr. Daley, Mrs. Groom, and Mr. Hastings as they chat with staff and students about what is happening at WT. A tune in to the number one rated show on 1 0 7 0.5 fm. The fall sports season have wrapped up with plenty of success for all programs, both golf and girls soccer. Qualified for postseason play The girls soccer program ended
the year strong and played in the division for Massachusetts State Tournament Golf. Qualified with a sectional champion where senior Dan O'Connor finished second and went on to play in the state championship. He was also chosen to play in the New England High School Championship the first time. A golfer from WTA has achieved that. Girls Cross Country Junior Jenna Lama qualified and recently ran in the MIAA Division three me of Champions at Fort Devons Winter Sports will be starting up on December 1st, thanks
to cooperative agreements with Westfield High School. Allowed by the M-I-A-A-W-T-A students can participate in ice hockey, wrestling, swimming, skiing, and indoor trek. These go along with both girls and boys basketball teams. Here at WTA, the construction shop is busy at work with the start of the house they're building on St. James Avenue. Students have been able to get going on the frame and also putting up some walls. Many shops will also be part of this build as time goes on.
Make this, making this an all school project. Last week our SRO Officer Turon invited his Westfield Police Department colleague, officer coach to visit WTA officer coach brought along the WPD comfort dog for a visit. Jules hung out at lunch and many students came to say, hi, Jules is now welcome. Anytime. Applications are already starting to arrive from students who are hoping to become part of the class of 2030 at WTA with a new lottery system in place for admissions.
Our staff has been spending some time at the middle school to introduce our programs to all the students. There we are once again expecting a record number of applicants once again showing that WTA is indeed the place to be. Nice job. That is all Nicely done Mr. J. We're gonna have to get you a hashtag, right? I mean, they're killing you with this. Look at it. He's he's, he's still laughing. Miss Jackie, was there another jacket here that came before you just recently? There was another jacket that came before me. Yes. Tell me settle up. I will. Thank you. Thank you.
Oh, one second. No, she's, she's all right. I just, I just wanted to stress two points and actually it's for Mr. Hastings too. One, thank you. Because all the stuff that she just talked about with the culinary, uh, Wednesday, I know you're peeling a few potatoes and feeding 400 people. All those Things are for this week, by the Way. Correct. Well, mine's this week too. Wednesday night you do another potatoes for me at the Boys and Girls Club with their, our family Thanksgiving. So we certainly appreciate that. But also, one thing that I wanted to stress, and we had a vote as a committee, and Mr. Hastings and the superintendent had a presentation about the new state requirements for admissions.
She just said, attendance at WTA is at 96%. This was one of our biggest issues with the new new policy, was that they didn't take no account. Your interviews with students that wanted to go to WTA and one of your, uh, requirements was attendance policy, 96% attendance policy. I hope it stays there or I, it's not to you obviously, but if the state's gonna change some of the requirements, they've gotta see what they did to the attendance policy. If the numbers go down, Our kids, they like coming on on any other school.
We often obviously are different animal, but, um, it's every day, every student is our philosophy. Just like it's justice. I'm sure Chuck does the same thing. Um, but for, for a high school, be 96 percent's pretty good. And that's, that's our staff. That's what We have. That was why, why fix it when it's not broken? It's Not just the right, it's not just the shop. Teachers are phenomenal people. Kids wanna be here. So yeah. So I can tell you that the mm MA is trying to, um, carve out exceptions.
Good. Deserves a couple of exceptions out there. Seven, seven schools in the same situation you are. Uh, I don't even think it's that many. I think we're the only public or district school that takes outside towns, And that's where we Have the discrepancy, The numbers. You're not a regional. Okay. Yeah. I think what was scary about it was the freshman class is gonna be the class of 2 20 30. 2030. Yeah. That's, That was a crazy number to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, let's move on. Um, let's go to the approval of the November 3rd, 2025 committee. Many meeting minutes. I'd like to make an motion for the approval
of November 3rd, 2025 school committee meeting. Minutes second. Motion been made. And second, is there any questions? Are there any questions? Say none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Westfield High School and Westfield Technical Graduation requirements presentation. I bet you that's Ms. Susan Dargen. Oh, it's a tandem. We got tandem Because Right after the next item is there policy? Can we switch The settlement? Agree first, and then the presentation goes right before The policy motion to take item seven before item six.
So moved. Second. Motion been made. And second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item seven, To make a motion to approve the settlement agreement with the Westville Custodial Association for the years 2025. 2028. Second Oman made. And second, is there any further discussion Dr. Morris? Good to have you update. Thank You. Um, I don't have really any questions on the, uh, contract. I was, uh, happy to see it come through. I appreciate all the work that's been done, truly on both sides of the aisle with regard to, uh, the packets that's been proffered for signature. And, uh, that's all I have to say about it. Anybody else?
Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you. Okay. Mr. O. Okay. Mr. Sullivan? Yes. Mr. Terrell? Yes. Dr. Gunther? Yes. Ms. Tillman? Yes. Mr. O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Thank you very much. Thank You. I'll sign that now. Thank you. Sha number Eight. Dr. Sha. Ms. Dar, do you have enough time? Do you need more time? Back to, uh, number six? Yes. Thank you. I say your name. Good evening. Good evening. Okay. We're gonna get started. Okay. Alright.
So we had A subcommittee meeting this evening that you'll be hearing about, um, a little bit later. And we are going to review, oh, sorry. I'm Susan dgi, director of Curriculum and Instruction. We're going to review the recommended changes to the graduation requirements for the committee tonight. And then the intention, I believe, is to have another time to talk about them as well, because there's a lot to discuss.
So, beginning with our Mass core require the mass core requirements from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Those were originally, um, released in 2006, and they were 2006 seven school year. They were adopted in 2007. And then there were amendments made in 2018. And Mass Core is the recommended program of study for high school students. That is to, um, prepare them
for college and career. Currently, our Westfield High School graduation requirements are mostly aligned with the Mass Corps requirements, with the exception of math. We currently require three credits of math for math, and the recommendation is to go to four credits. Many of our students are taking four years of math. Any student that is going to be applying to a four year
university will take four credits of math, and some other students are choosing to do that as well. But this would make it a requirement for all students. That would the only Change to meet Mass Corps requirements recommended at this time. Whoops. Westfield Technical Academy Graduation requirements, we currently require two and a half social studies credits and two
and a half science credits. We already have the four math at WTA, um, as well as the four English. So the recommendation would be to increase both science and history and social science is the way it, it's written on mass core, but to increase science and social studies by a half credit each. Uh, in doing that, we would also be looking at reducing so that we, the related elect
and electives, which we'll talk about in the, in the next slide. So, Westfield High School, the proposed graduation requirements, um, were brought to our curriculum instruction and assessment subcommittee originally in December of 2024. And then we had to shift, kind of put that on pause and shift into looking at the requirements changing
because of the legislation around MCAS. So we came back this fall once we had made the other required changes by the, the deadline for, um, dsi. With that, we came back to curriculum instruction and Assessment subcommittee to talk about what are the recommendations going forward. Our original recommendations were a phased approach in three phases.
What has changed between December, 2024 and December, 2025 is with m the changes with MCAS, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is going to be publicly posting all graduation requirements. So with that, we combined a couple of the phases, um, since they were already planned to move forward, the requirements,
any changes that are voted on will begin with the graduating class of 2030. So next year's freshman class will be required or would be to complete these requirements by So it would by 20. Yeah. So it would include, um, the fourth credit of math. And then this represents what we had put together before the subcommittee meeting,
and there was some discussion there that will result in some changes of the way things are going to be presented so that they're clear and make the most sense to everyone. So, um, financial literacy right now, it's already a requirement. Um, and we tucked it up under social studies because that is the standard, the economic standards that are related to that course that are taught in
that course, um, those are probably going to come back out and be separate so that it, it's a little more clear. So the change to increase the math to four and then the change to increase electives to seven electives is currently at five. And while it looks like a two credit jump in the electives, we're really just also taking that arts credit, which is required and saying that is one of the electives. It it is an art credit. So that would go to seven,
which would bring the total required credits from the current 22 to 24. So students have a seven period day and, um, could have the potential of earning 28 credits over the four years. So we believe that the 24 credits is absolutely attainable by all students and still allows the flexibility with things that are noted for students to participate in early college
in internships for which they receive credit. Our innovation career pathways, all of that will still be able to be achieved by students with meeting the 24 credit requirement. We are adding to the electives, not currently a requirement. Computer science, there is legislation right now that is in pro in process to make computer science a requirement
for Massachusetts high schools. We believe that in, in 2030, whether or not that requirement comes through legislation, we believe that we're sending our students prepared for college and career if they have a credit of computer science. And this, these changes over these next years, four years would require three additional staff, a math teacher,
a PE health teacher, and a computer science teacher. And I will go back to the PE health. That is not a change based on Mass Core. That was a change that was brought to the curriculum instruction and assessment subcommittee that had to do with the sport exemption that currently exists, which means a number of students are not actually meeting the state requirement
of having PE every year. And our newly it was also influenced by our newly revised comprehensive health and PE standards, which students will all be able to have access to. And we are moving towards wellness and looking at the way health and PE standards integrate their one set of standards. Physical fitness is a strand of those standards. And then the other standards in that comprehensive health
and physical education framework can be embedded more than separate standalone class. For now, we are keeping a a half credit separate health. So there's really not a change to physical education and health right now in terms of the classes, the number of credits. We've just combined the two as Tech Academy has on their, um, requirements, bringing a little more into alignment the two schools.
Um, but it's really about that sport exemption, which is the elimination of which is supported by our athletic director, principal Jen Dreek and the pe Bless you teachers at Westfield High School as that was something they came to us with and we came to the committee subcommittee. Does anyone have, do you want me to go to the proposed changes at Tech Academy
or pause for questions on Westfield High School, Mr. Trump, uh, the additional staff, uh, obviously that doesn't start tomorrow. Right? Right. As the, as these students will re, this requirement will start with the students beginning next year. Uh, at what point do we need to start adding staff? Is it in year two? Is it when they're sophomores? Because in theory in the first year, there's certain requirements those students are gonna have to have taken anyway. Right. Right. So I'm guessing there's either minimal
or no addition of staff in for 2026, but for the years subsequent, do those sort of, uh, happen all at once or, or do we sort of, uh, ease into the, the additional staff requirements? So some of those conversations have begun with Principal Jen Dreek and assistant principal Andrew Joseph, who does a lot of the scheduling mapping. And he's already looking at what these changes would mean for scheduling.
I think that the, the one that we would need to think about the earliest would probably be the computer science. We currently only have one computer science teacher at Westfield High School, but we do have teachers who would potentially be able to teach some of those introductory courses in other content areas. So we haven't gotten as far as, which will be needed in and in what order,
but it is likely. And Chuck, if you want to you please feel free to jump in. Um, I think because this is beginning with our freshman class, it won't need to be part of next year's budget to add these positions. Sure, That makes sense. Um, basically we're phasing it in and everybody else is being grandfathered and like, things like the PE exemption. Freshmen don't qualify for PE exemption right now anyways. It's typically our seniors that get,
so it would take a couple years before that would become a factor for that position. Mm-hmm. I agree with computer science probably Be, be the first that's needed to get all the students to be able to have the one co course before they graduate. So I just wanna make sure I'm tracking the, where the recommendations are coming from. So we're looking at increasing math from three to four to better align with and adding the computer science to better align with math core, right? Yes. We are not yet recommending any changes
to language requirements, which would also be necessary to fully align with Mass Core, but not making that change, the elimination of the sports exemption requiring additional PE and health is not related to Mass Core, but is related to, that's something we should be doing just to be compliant with state law, period, correct? Right. Well, mass Corps does require physical education compliant with state law. So it is in there, but the change itself Is not just to be compliant with state law, which the current practice isn't. Right. And
because our students need that information that, that they aren't getting in the health class in the PE class. And that has sort of, that has changed somewhat over the years with the exemption maybe broadening or just not, um, being as limited as it once was. So, can I ask a question? 'cause I now I'm, I thought I Had it and Now I'm a little confused. There is no longer starting with the class of 2030
an exemption to play sports from PE is that That's the proposal And that's what we must do. Right? So like our, my understanding of the state law is law physical education must be taught in all grades, period. It's an interesting proposal. Oh, I say that as I'm looking at Ralph, excuse me, counselor Figgy, who has a cross country team mm-hmm. And a track team, and maybe one of us has a swim team. Then, to be honest with you, some
of those teams are comprised of folks that take advantage of the PE exemption. And when I look at PE in my own experience in PE as it were, I learned to square dance all kinds of fun stuff. Mm-hmm. Um, I think swimming and probably cross country track and and track itself are probably much, much, much more rigorous in terms of physical activity and probably even are more beneficial in terms of mental acuity because you learn team sports and you need to learn how to get along and there's a wellness factor.
Mm-hmm. And so I'm surprised, well, I'm not really surprised. Lemme let me take that back. Sorry. As I editorialize a little bit, I'm just surprised that that's a recommendation from the state in order to be compliant. I, I understand that. It's not Ms. Suji test, it's, I get it. Right. Um, and Tech Academy does not have a sport exemption. So Coach Figes students, are they at tech? Yeah, they are. They wouldn't, but the sport exemption was originally intended for students who had a full caseload
and could not fit PE into their schedule. And they were, uh, an a, a varsity athlete. Um, so do, I'm not trying to play back and forth, that still doesn't exist. That rationale is gone For month. Uh, no, we just have other ways to accommodate for those students. What has happened is many students have the PE exemption but don't have a full schedule. They have room for it. So if a student with a full schedule, um,
was to request an exemption, the principals always have, and it's stated in, in the policies, okay. That they can exempt students from certain requirements on a case by case basis. And there are other ways to satisfy that PE requirement for those students. Okay. Technical Academy proposed requirements also begin with the freshman class 2030. And we would be increasing
social studies and science from 2.5 to three. We would keep physical education and health as a combined one credit. And the shift there to meet the Mass Corps and state requirement is to have students take PE or health every year. The tech academy schedule is complicated and they are wizards there that are able to
get kids everything that they need. Right now, most or many students are taking their requirements freshmen and sophomore year, and it's a, they're earning a quarter credit for PE and a quarter credit for health freshman year because they're taking it for a semester, but a single block. So that equals a quarter credit at Tech Academy. So they're still going, they're meeting the requirement. If they're having this every year,
and many students are taking physical education junior and senior year, it depends on what their program is. Many shops have requirements for hours that position our kids in a way that that is what we need to protect. And so there could be exemptions to this as well as needed. And that would be Principle Hastings that would authorize those electives decrease to one
because of the increase to social studies and science. Financial literacy is not a new course, it's a course, it's called Personal Finance at Tech Academy. Um, it has been taught for years as a full year course, single block. So that's the half credit. Um, so that is already part of social studies, um, to, to make that three credits. And again, same with the science and Social Studies.
Not every student in every shop, and depending on special needs and other courses they may need to take. Not every student will be able to do that. But this, but our, the goal is the Mass Corps requirements, so that these are the general requirements for all students. And the electives line previously was related slash electives. So the related classes have a science standards embedded.
They're classes taught by their shop instructors that are re related to their CTE. Um, Mr. Sullivan, the electives on, on Westfield High included computer science. Is that not here? No, it's not here because that is a whole shop. Right. And so students are selecting their shop. Right. And not getting all of the other courses
because they've chosen to target an area. Very few electives are able to fit into student schedules. At Tech, we have band and a, and then we have some social studies, um, electives that students can take. Science electives. So, so computer science won't be required if the, even if they're not in the science, computer science shop. Well, and that is a good, that's a good question because if a, um,
the legislation passes, there may be an exemption for CTE schools. We, we would have to look at it at that point. I guess My question would be computer, could computer science be part of your three credit science requirement? Uh, the mass core requirement is focused more on lab sciences, lab science. Okay. I Just think, but the mass requirements don't apply to the tech. Well, they do in terms exact same way of science and social studies, but not world language and, uh, arts.
Thank you. And this will require an additional science teacher. I spoke with, um, assistant principals, Kevin Daley and Dan Ette today. And that, that is their best estimate based on current enrollment and courses, um, offered now and getting more students into those. Any any further questions? So as a presentation, We, we have some notes in the, In the background.
Um, will you be coming back to us to, to finalize this, um, on one of the graphs? Um, the Westfield High School's graph is not congruent to the, the graph that's there. Mm-hmm. Um, so if you could just double check that. I love the presentation. I actually understood the whole thing, so, okay. That was good. Good. We'll follow Through with that. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Thank you very much. Just, Just to clarify, this has been presented to a few different subcommittees, uh, instruction and curriculum and human resources
and policy subcommittees. So, um, both the subcommittees had thought a presentation to the full committee, uh, was warranted. So we've got that in part tonight, and then we're gonna meet as a, as a whole to further discuss it. Thank you, Mr. O'Connor. Okay. Good evening. Good evening. Christine Shea, director of Assessment and Accountability. And, um, I'm gonna be talking about, oops, our competency determination, um, policy, proposed policy. And this has come up, uh, to the curriculum assessment
and assessment subcommittee. And tonight before this to the HR and Policy Committee. So tonight, we're hoping for like the first read, um, the reason that we're bringing this forward is with the change in the requirement of MCAS, the state said, well, you still have to meet the competency determination and had certain language. And you may remember in the spring, we kind of had to scramble and figure out how to get our last, our 2025 graduates, uh,
all set without having MCAS, which we did. So we updated the policy and now the state came out and said, we want you to build it out further and put out, um, guidelines. So, um, the MASC took those guidelines and came up with a recommended policy. So we basically took their policy and, and applied the Westfield courses and, um, requirements to that. And that's what we are presenting tonight. I dunno if there's anything else to add to that. So, um, for the competency determination, it, um, applies
to students who actually did not meet the MCA requirement between 2003 and 2024 by passing Mc CAS, they can reach out to us and we can do a transcript review to see if they've taken these courses and can now get a diploma instead of a certificate of attainment. And also students going forward, um, will have to meet this new policy. It does not require, uh, does not apply to any students that have already taken and passed MCAS. So we do still have some in the pipeline who have already done that.
So, um, it doesn't then, you know, it's not a duplicate for them. They're all set. So, um, any student enrolled in the Westfield Public School District needs to show mastery. And this is some of the language by satisfactorily completing coursework and earning full credit in accordance with the district's grading policy in the following content areas. So for ELA, which was an MCAS, um, still is an M-C-A-S-I should say. Um, students have to take the equivalent of two years of high school English Language Arts,
and that has to be in grades nine through 12. For math, they have to take the equivalent of one year of both Algebra one and geometry courses. And we left in there the equivalent of integrated math one and or two. We don't offer those here, but other districts do. So kids may come to us who have taken those and they would, um, apply. And in this case, if a student takes Algebra one in eighth grade, it will apply as well because we do have students that do that. And it meets the, the standards for science.
It's, they need to take the equivalent of one year of any of the following. Um, bio biology, physics, chemistry, or technology engineering. And that's in grade nine through 12. And for US history starting next year, 2027, um, students have to take the equivalent of one year of US history in grades nine through 12. So, um, we were asked to, to, um, set out the courses that we actually offer. So we did that. Here you can see, um, these are for the, the high school, the numbers of courses that kids can take
to meet the English, the ELA requirement, the math requirement science, and for US history. And here's for the Tech academy. Um, the qualifier is we're gonna have put a policy in place and then, you know, we may add courses, we may change a name, but as long as it meets the requirements of the frameworks, that it's okay to sort of interchange courses, um, so that we don't have to come back and change a policy every time we update a course name or add something. You go back. Yes, actually
I will, I just have to do, okay. Which one? What's Algebra eight? So that's in eighth grade. So sometimes kids will take algebra in Algebra one in eighth grade, and then geometry nine they take in ninth grade. That's a nomenclature Code she took to middle school. Okay. Good question. I got a non respond paying attention. I took it fifth grade. You just didn't take algebra in eighth grade. That's his problem. Um, there are some additional considerations which I think give, um, allow us to take into account, you know,
students with disabilities with on IEPs. Um, we're still referring to IEPs for any accommodations and modifications, and there may be alternative ways to demonstrate competency. And that is in the IEP. So that of course is still, um, in effect. Um, and students that are out of district and we are, the sending district will have to meet our, um, district requirements to meet the competency determination for English learners. Um, often they're meeting the requirements anyway,
but on a case by case basis, we may have to consider the courses so that they can both meet the requirements for language proficiency and for usually for ELA. So that's just one of the additional considerations. And lastly, we do have students that either come to the state late or come to the country late and don't have the, a transcript or don't have the courses that we require. So we're able to do a transcript review, maybe require some additional courses, take into account their MCA scores, um, if they take that,
if they meet, um, at least meeting expectations and, um, substitute equivalent coursework that satisfies the same academic standards. So it's giving a little bit leeway there for students who are coming to us late. And lastly, um, there is a required appeals process at the school level. It would first go to the principal to consider what the appeal might be, and then, um, they're able to go to the district level and have a final appeal to the superintendent. Um, and just to mention, I mentioned this at the beginning,
but students between 2000 who graduated 2003 to 2024, who received a certificate of attainment, which means they didn't get the diploma, um, they can come back and we have a, a Google form, um, on our district website that they can put in certain information and we'll reach out to them and, um, we'll look up their transcript and their coursework and, uh, do a review to see if they now, um, uh, do meet the requirements and we can furnish a diploma.
And if so, whether it's the tech academy or the high school, they will give that student a diploma in the year that they originally graduated. Wow. And we have had one student at the high school that has met the requirements and received a diploma. Wow. Good. Very good. Good. Just in case anyone's thinking of dessert. Um, so, um, our hope is because again, the same requirement that we have to submit this policy by December 31st, that, um,
I guess tonight is the first read and hopefully the next meeting have the second and then we can submit it to the state, um, by the end of December. All right. Thank you. I just wanna say thank you, Christine, for doing all this work because it's a new policy and there was a lot to look into and making sure we were covering all of our bases. So thank you very much. Well, thank you. And thanks for taking the time to look it over and have the subcommittee meetings. I appreciate it. Thank you Dr. Shay. Thank you Mr. Je. Okay, number eight. Uh, Let's go to item eight. Number one, Ms. Holmes. Okay. I'd like to make a motion for the first reading
by title only to AEP policy file. IKFE, competency determination. Second. Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? I Think we heard All those in favor. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item B. Okay, this one's gonna be a little bit more complicated. Um, our subcommittee meeting we met today, and we wanna make sure the tables and all of the information are correct when we finally compose this policy.
So hopefully we will be meeting next week sometime. If it all goes well, we will be up for our first reading. So I'd like to table, Do you want a motion table? I just Before, before I second the motion, this is what, this is what, um, Mr. O'Connor was talking about, where two committees have seen this and we're all gonna get together and ask the questions to go through the whole thing and then bring it, and then Mrs. Hillman will bring it back, um, for the first reading. Yeah. I think in the, the revised set of notes to Mrs. D's point, the revised set of notes, they're correct. Yeah.
Um, in the first set they were, so this is more of a housekeeping issue. And if necessary, if it really needs to be expedited by the time it comes to us again in the subsequent meeting to this meeting, we might be able to figure it out first and second. Right? Fair enough. Perfect. Second, Motion to table has been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. O'Connor, will you call rule Dr. Gunther? Yes. Ms. Hillman? Yes. Mr. Sullivan? Yes. Mr. Terrell? Yes. Mr. O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Item nine. Perfect.
Um, I'd like to make a motion, uh, to approve a second final reading by title only of policy file JF school admissions second Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion Ms. Hillman? Yes. There was a, a discussion about the word kindergarten in the previous, uh, first reading. And Mr. Gunther, uh, brought up that we should go in and change it to eliminate the word kindergarten so it would encompass all the, uh, three year olds
and four year olds coming into our school system. Hmm. We did that at the open, open session Though. And that edits reflected in the Yes, the version in our packet. We, The, the first reading, we, I'm just concerned that we don't have to start this over. No. The first reading we did as amended and that the amendment was his taking Kindergarten. Any further questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. And the last one is, I'd like to make a motion to approve this for a second. Final reading by title only of policy file JLCA
physical examination and screening of students second. Motion made. And second, is there any further discussion saying none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip from Westfield High School to Hartford High School, Hartford, Connecticut. December 7th, 2025. Second. Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Basketball, scrimmage. Gotcha. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. I'd Like to make a motion for the approval of field trip from Westfield High School to Simsbury High School, Simsbury, Connecticut, December 20th, 2025.
Second Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Wrestling tournament. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for a field trip from Westfield High School to Southington High School, Southington, Connecticut. January 31st, 2026. Second motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Wrestling tournament. All those in favor? A. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of field trip for Westfield High School to Peru, April 17th, 2027
to April 25th, 2027. Second Motion I made. And second, is there any further discussion? We had a discussion on this. I'm hoping this further discussion. Yes. Well, we had, we had a discussion on this at the last meeting and we all received an email. Thank you for that. Uh, updating the agenda and how things were gonna be handled, uh, by the instructors, the travel agency. I can't say students, but I would love to say students, um, of, of where everybody was on the list of if they should be there or not for safety reasons. Okay. Is there any further discussion?
I didn't see the email. Yeah, so that, that's not your fault. Yeah, it, it was a, it was a good email. I, I think it, it, um, it addressed a lot of the, the safety questions and concerns that we had, uh, in the area. US State Department rates Peru at a level two, um, in, in terms of, um, increased caution, but they say specifically in the tourist areas that where these students would be attending. Um, it's really a, a, a lower level concern for them. I would say. I, I'll, I will vote for this tonight, but
because we've got so much time between now and 2027, if that level of concern or caution or, or, um, I guess unrest is, is raised. I would, I would think that that'd be something to come back in front of the school 20 for. Can you come up for a sec? Thank you. And just introduce yourself again for everybody. Hi, I am Lene Sierra and I'm teacher at Westfield High School. I teach, uh, Spanish as a language that I proposed this trip to Peru. Um, So can I ask you a question and it will satisfy my curiosity?
Sure. When do you need to know why? When does this trip need to be approved by the school committee? Like drop Really as soon as possible. The trip is rather costly. So it is a $4,000 trip. And in order for us to get started with the fundraising and start to really lower the cost of the trip, the sooner we can get it approved, the better. Um, the longer we wait, then the higher the prices go. Our, our price already went up by $40 over the summer, um, just from the wait. Uh, so again, the longer we wait, the the more costly it's going to be.
And the trip again is 27 April? Yes. It's in April of 2027. And how many students? Well, we don't, we don't have a number yet. This is just, we're gonna propose that trip to the students, but we do have really high interest students are talking about it. Students who are currently going to the Spain trip, um, in this April are already talking and saying, oh, we're definitely going to that trip. So, so there's definitely a lot of interest with students. Um, uh, they would like to go somewhere other than Europe,
which is normally where we tend to go. Um, and I think overall it's just gonna be, um, really a valuable experience for them. They're gonna get to see things that normally students don't, don't get to see. So, Oh, I understand the packet I got for some reason I've got, I'm looking right at it. The packet I got, I read through. Um, the reason why I'm asking you about a drop dead date is, let's say that you start today, do fundraising, you gotta get $4,300 per student. I get all that. Yeah. And then, um, six months from now, we'll say April. Yeah. Which is pretty close, right?
I think it's mm-hmm. Give or take, um, it elevates to three If that happens. That has actually happened to me in the past where I have proposed a trip. We have been halfway through, we were halfway through paying, starting to pay for the trip, and there was, you know, an increased threat alert, um, from the State Department. What we did is we got together as a group and I proposed other places that we could go in lieu of that trip that we, that we had proposed initially. Um, and ef um, is actually very, uh,
is really great when it comes to things like this because they can say, okay, so instead of going here, why don't instead you propose this trip to the students and we can then switch that trip. Um, if, if it's just like a, if it's a, like a situation that happens in a, in a particular area, then you know, they might not go to that area particularly, and they might go to another place, another location within the country that would also be, uh, something that would be advantageous for the students. Can I make a proposal? Sure.
To amend the, the motion to give approval contingent upon a revisit in April of 2020, uh, 2026 to just double check the status of the US State Department and then, you know, it'll pretty much show you'll be able to go ahead and do your fundraising, but since it's us that has to give you the approval, not you give us the, and I'm not being mean. Right. You're not giving us the approval. We're giving you the approval. Mm-hmm. It means that we can revisit it six months from now and say, okay, well we did our due diligence then. Uh, it's still at two and hopefully everything works out.
And if it doesn't work out after that and you can change ships in, in midstream, then we'll do it that way. But would that be amenable to the body? Could I have a motion to that effect? Yes. All you wanna try it? So moved. There you go. Second. Okay. Any further discussion Necessary? All those in favor? A. A opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Next, is that me? Special revenue is Special revenue. I dunno, is that me? Oh, that's me. Make a motion to accept special revenue. Account summary is presented. Second.
It motion's been made and seconded. Oh, look who's here? Good. Mr. Evening everyone. Shannon Barry, director of finance. Thank you. Night. Good night. Um, I just had a couple of things that I wanted to point out tonight. Um, they're both on the second page, the insurance reimbursement. That line is usually pretty non-existent. You'll see that there's $15,000 there and we just had another check come in for $22,700. Unfortunately, the 2024 transit van that we purchased for the science, um, program at the high school, uh,
was totaled in an accident. Oh no. Yeah. So this is the full amount everyone's, yeah. Okay. So this is the full amount we're receiving for the van. So not even close to what we paid for. I think we paid about 58,000 for it back in, um, 2024. So at some point we're gonna have to consider if we're going to use the money to purchase another van for that program, But that's what that is. Could we, could we explore a lease? Could we explore? We could explore a lease. Could you make anyway, go ahead. Sorry. Um, and then the next line I just wanted to point out
as school choice. So you can see we started the year at 2.9 million. Um, I went back and looked at where we were in June. Um, and when I presented in June, we had 2.7 million. Um, we were expecting that last deposit that comes in June, which is always the one that's in flux because it's based on the claiming. Um, and we had some more expenses to, um, to account for. So 2.9 million makes sense. Where we started this year, um, we've already received $343,000, which is equal to three months worth of revenue.
So if you take it just as what we're getting each month now, that'll be another $997,000 worth of revenue. Um, to date, we've spent $820,000 in expenditures. We have another 324,000 roughly, um, more to spend on the expense side and another 764,000 to spend on the payroll side. So all that said, we should have a balance of about $2.3 million, um, at the end of the year. Again, all depending on the school choice claiming process.
What'd you say last Year? At the end of the year was 2.7. 2.7 was where we were in June at the end of June, and that was before we received the final payment and the final expenses were done, so, yeah. Yeah. So it left us the starting balance of 2.9. So we're actually about a half million dollar less is what you're guessing at the end of this year compared to Last year. Right. Okay. And when we budgeted, we were anticipating using about how much? It was just over 1.9 million. Got it. So we are net 1.9.
What, what was the, was that 1.9 million net or is that 1.9 million? The total expense in personnel we were expecting offset by the revenue, correct? The Latter. Yes. And so we're, we're gonna end up closer, so we would've, we're gonna end up at about 1.1, 1.2 revenue. So rather than being net negative 800,000 outta school choice gonna be net negative 600,000 or so is the projection? Yes. Okay. Are these, I think it's about 1.4 million in revenue, 1.4 in Revenue?
Yeah, it's about one point. The 900 to 3.3 We had 3 15, 3 50 and three 50 and three 50. Yeah. You're about 1.4. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a little better than we Received much more Report there. We received about $200,000 more in revenue last June than anticipated when we were doing all the calculations throughout the year in forecasting. And again, that was just due to the claiming process. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. I won't talk about budgets. Just keep moving. Can I, I have one small question. Yeah. Just the, um, what's the intent
behind the Westfield High School STEM funds? So that was a newly created account. Are you on, is it Page? I'm on, I'm on, uh, towards the bottom of page one. I'm sure that's a gift that we've Over the gift account Recently approved, but Yes. Yes. So it was a gift given specifically to just to be used generally for stem. Okay. So the school can spend it in any way that is fitting with stem. Great. Thanks. Any further? I got One quick one. Sure. The arts way back at the top. Yes. Is that from that a hundred thousand dollars gift that you got?
That is, that's what's left. That $12,000 is left? Yes. Okay. And Susan, are you still still accepting applications for the arts funds? Yes. So they're still Yes. Still accepting applications to use that balance. Okay. Any further Project Astra mm-hmm. Um, for accounts like that, that haven't been touched since probably the nineties. Yes. I don't even want to think about even a conservative, if we could invest in that conservatively over the last 30 years, how much that would be worth now. But for, for accounts like that where we're not gonna use that money, right.
For, for the stated purpose. Can, can, can we sweep that and use it towards like a, I've the van trying, or the Transit? I've trying to figure out the best way to do that. Desi provides like zero guidance on what to do with accounts like that. I've reached out to a few fellow business managers, so I am working on it because there's a few of those in there that definitely need to be closed out and used for another purpose. I mean, it seems like Pro Project Astro could be turned into some kind of STEM account for the middle school. I'm just, I'm not sure of the logistics of doing, doing that Right now. Yeah. Just anything to be able to access it, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. That we'd be able to access. Yep.
And just a other quick question. Did you say 58,000 was the cost of the transit van? Yeah, That's what we paid in 2024. In 2024. And we got 15,000. We, No, we got a total of, it's like 30 38. Oh, I missed that. That was the 22. That's not on the list. Got it. Got it. Okay. Oh, okay. Got it. Thank you. Yep. I know we've talked about those before in terms of how do we get 'em off, and I really do believe that you have to go back to the original place where they were voted in or accepted and just figure out what terms are,
and if the terms are no longer applicable, then you have to figure out how, how to move it. Shannon, it sounds like a law apartment question to me. Uh, it it is, it's actually a, uh, duper parade question to be honest with you. But be, I mean, that's a 30-year-old account, right? Yeah. Better to say sorry than please. Is that No, sometimes they have these nice little closet or related Yeah. You know, we like the OR related stuff. Sure. Because then you can just morph them into the related field, but sometimes they don't. Any further questions? Can I just ask Kathleen? Could, could you put in like a day where kids could do
that big planetary bubble there? 'cause that's kind of like that. There's, I still don't think it's the same purpose. I'd have to go back and look at the purpose of Pro Project Astra. Okay. And it, it was, it was for the stars and, but you can rent something like that so the whole class would be able to use it. I don't know if that would be Yeah, I'd have to see if it aligned with the funds. Okay. Okay. Do you want me to send your information on it? Let me look and see if I can figure out what the funds were originally intended for. Okay. First, I think that'll be easier. Okay. Agreed. Mr. O'Connor, Ms. Settle? Yes.
Mr. Sullivan? Yes. Mr. Terrell? Yes. Dr. Gunther? Yes. Mr. O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Sullivan. Can't wait for this. What is this yours? I don't know. Don't you have to read these to we sign warrants? No, the, oh, the warrants. Yeah. Sorry. Uh, warrants October 31st, 2020 5, 28 batches totaling 507 430 $9 31 cents. And November 7th, 2025. Seven batches. It was an easy afternoon, uh, totaling $969,324 and 9 cents. Thank you. Mr. Sullivan
Would like to make a motion to accept the following gifts, donations that have made to the Westfield Public Schools. Uh, donate to Westfield Intermediate School from Shutterfly in the amount of $2,823 and 21 cents. Using the educational purposes, uh, Westfield Intermediate School gift account and donate to Westfield High School for Mary Ky of Westfield. A donation of camera and equipment. Estimate value of $1,200 views in the educational purposes, visual arts classes. Second. Motion Been made. And second, Ajour. Any further discussion? Thank you to Shutterfly. Thank you to the Zelisky family for their donations.
Agreed. So superintendent's update? No. Don't we have vote on that? Yeah, that's fair. That's correct. That's a good, that's a solid Mr. Sullivan. I give you that. Yes. Mr. Rell? Yes. Dr. Gunther? Yes. Ms. Sullivan? Yes. Mr. O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'm sorry. I got distracted with the superintendent's updates. Um, obviously Superintendent Roski isn't here, but, um, he asked that I relay some information to the body on Friday. The superintendent met with John Cook, president of STCC. It was agreed that Westfield Public Schools
and STCC will apply for an early college designation with, with the state in March of 2020 26. The designation allows for us to apply and receive early college, early college grant funding. This will benefit students at WTA and WHS. Not only will this benefit students in various shops at WTA, but also the students in the criminal justice as well as students enrolled in our business, finance, engineering, and biomedical pathways at Westville High School. Why this program will take some time to build.
We are getting closer to the superintendent's vision of giving our students a way to graduate high school with an associate's degree. His next item, as I bet you didn't know this, but today is day 53 of 180 year, 180 day school calendar. As of Friday, a chronic absenteeism rate is 13.15, which may seem high. However, when compared to this time last year, our rate was 15.51%. Are You reading Dr. Seuss? Uh, this is what I got here. I'm kind an editor.
Editorializing as I go at the doGet knocked me off the bus here. At the end of the last school year, our ca rate was 20.8. The national average currently sits at 23. So thank you. Heartfelt thank you to our staff and our families and teachers that are working together to improve our student attendance rates across the district. Massachusetts Secretary of Education, Patrick Tutwiler will be visiting the district on Monday, December 1st from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM That's noon for you folks. You will begin by visiting classrooms at Westfield River
Elementary School before heading over to see the aviation program at Hangar two. John and Abigail Adams 2025 scholarship recipients for high school performance on the state MCAS exam. There were 74 HS students this year and 26 at the Westfield Technical Academy. Apparently the place to be, that's my honor, threw that in there. Each student received a signed congratulatory letter from the superintendent for this achievement. The John and Abigail Adam Scholarship is a merit based program that provides credit towards tuition, up
to eight semesters of undergraduate education in the Massachusetts State College of University for this scholarship. Merit is based on student scores in the 10th grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The MCAS test, that is a superintendent's update. Can you read A hundred names? I think they should All be. So, interestingly enough, I will also be signing 108 letters, uh, from the mayor's office, congratulating them on that achievement. Um, the mayor's update has no update. Uh, we're getting ready to, uh,
go into budget season, which is always fun. Um, we're trying to figure out how we're gonna get there and, um, there'll be more to say on that as we move on. School committee update? Yes. Yes, Sir. Yeah, I would just like to congratulate, uh, chairman McCabe, Mrs. Hillman, uh, Mr. Kick Sullivan and Mr. Jeffrey Goslin for, uh, uh, the election, uh, that took place, uh, recently, and, uh, for those newcomers, welcome to the school committee. 2026. Ditto. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Items to refer to subcommittees Old business and my favorite topic, subcommittee reports and recommendations reports from Human Resources. Do we have any? We met today. Excellent. Facilities and Capital Planning. Do you have a report, sir? Uh, facilities and Capital Planning subcommittee. Met today, November 17th, 2025 to discuss the Westville High School Pool, uh, as well as a couple of other items that we didn't have updates for. Um, and we'll be revisiting the capital plan coming up here
in the month of December. Are there any minutes we should talk about? I'd Like to make a motion for the approval of the minutes from the Curriculum Instruction Assessment Subcommittee meeting on November 3rd, 2025. Second, a motion has been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And this is hard to believe, but I would like to announce that the next regularly scheduled school committee meeting for the Westfield Public School System is December 1st, 2025, right here at 7:00 PM Is there another motion?
Motion adjourn. Second. Motion been made. And second. And all those in favor? Aye. Motion carries. We are adjourned at 8:24 PM.