I don't, I'd like to call the school committee meeting to order for March 3rd, 2025. It's seven o'clock my son's birthday, Madam. It's, it's Mrs. Sullivan's son's birthday. 3/3/93. Uh, Jeffrey Gunther. Here. Kathleen? Gentleman Here. Sullivan? Here. Heather Sullivan. Here. Mike Here. Here. And Chair McCabe here. All rise for the Under Liberty Justice. I'd like to open up the count, the, uh, committee
to anybody who'd like to address the council on the item of, uh, their choosing, um, during public participation period. You can speak for up to three minutes and we'll keep it open for about 15 minutes. If nobody wishes to address the, uh, committee, then we'll close it and we'll move on to the next item of business. Would anybody'd like to speak to the committee? We're gonna go ahead. Sure. I just need your name and address. Hi, uh, I'm Catherine Brenner. I am a parent of two daughters at Munger Hill, um, and I live at Ridgecrest Drive. Am I good to go? Good. Awesome. Thank you.
Uh, first of all, thank you all, uh, for your great questions. Last month when the school board presented their transition plan, um, I am a parent of young daughters, so I always watch the meetings after, um, but I actually left the meeting feeling a little frustrated. Um, I think there are a tremendous amount of questions and concerns from the staff at Munger Hill. I don't wanna conjecture about Highland, but I would imagine the same thing. Um, and I understand the importance of expanding access to early childhood ed.
I think go Westfield, that's fantastic. Um, but the lack of communication and clarity is really, really concerning, um, around the logistics. And that's having an impact on our teachers, which we know impacts our students. And that's why we're all here. Um, when we have teachers who are not sure whether they're moving classrooms, whether they're gonna have to share classrooms, whether they're students, whether they're gonna lose their jobs, they're not as present for our children as we need them to be. Um, I think there's also concerns from family members, but I'm more concerned about our teachers right now.
Uh, teachers in Westfield aren't paid as well as a lot of other locations around the state. And I feel like we are going to lose great teachers. And that is the opposite of what I think this committee wants and what I think this the district wants. Um, so I'm hoping that to get some more clarity around how it's going to, uh, affect roster and classroom sizes, um, when there is a lack of communication, rumors fester. We all know that we've worked in places where there is not top-down communication. And I believe that's what's happening right now.
Um, when we don't have clear understanding of timelines. I know there was that lovely little pacing chart, but there were so many gaps I think in that chart that felt really alarming to me. When are we letting parents know? When are we telling teachers? Um, I understand that budgets are, uh, a huge deal, but if we're increasing the percentage of kids that we're serving by 25%, which is what I think Ms. Hillman asked last week or last month, I don't understand why there's a question of losing staff. Um, and then the questions that Ms. Sullivan was asking about related service
providers, I think were incredibly important. Um, it didn't feel like there were answers. It felt like we'll wait and see. We'll wait and see how many kids enroll. We'll wait and see how many kids need services. I was a special ed coordinator for two years. I know that game wait and see means that kids are not going to get the services that they are legally provide, uh, required to have. I also think, wait and see means that staff are going to leave. Um, I know that the answer was like, oh, we have tons of staff for our preschoolers. I'm concerned about the kids that are also already at Munger Hill
where they're not getting the services that they need. Um, the classroom sizes. My daughter's in a si I believe there's 24 students in her kindergarten class. So this rumor, who knows if this is true, but there hasn't been communication. The idea of losing a teacher in the first grade and combining classes would mean she would have 36 kids in her class next year. That's unacceptable. Um, I know Westfield can do better, um, for our students and for our teachers and for our families. Uh, I totally Went off. Hold on just a second. Yes, Ms. Brown. Motion shall second, second motion been made,
seconded to extend. Oh, great. Thank you. All in favor? You have two minutes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, mayor McKay. Uh, so I think communication is key. Uh, without it rumors proliferate, trust dissipates, and anxiety mounts. And that's exactly the opposite of what we want to be happening right now. The lack of transparency is creating confusion and frustration. Um, we ask our principal who's fantastic, she can only answer so many things. Um, and she sometimes, I don't know whether she doesn't know or whether she's being told not to tell us or maybe the district doesn't know, which is what my biggest fear is.
Um, because I believe this plan was introduced over a year ago. So we've had a year, I know one of you was like 10 meetings. That's a lot of meetings. There should be way more meetings until we have clear answers about what's happening for our students. Um, so I'm hoping the district can come out with a clear outline of how the preschool classrooms will affect existing staff and classrooms, including related service providers and administration. One thing that, um, districts sometimes forget when you add more classrooms and you don't add more administrators, that still takes away from the other classes.
At my previous school, we got a special ed program. We got one teacher and one para and one social worker. And then our admin spent literally all day down there and couldn't attend to the rest of the school. And so I think that's a really big deal. Um, I would also love a really specific timeline about when families and staff will receive updates. I was worried that maybe last meet at the last meeting you guys came out with updates. Kate, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stop you. Um, I think you can address the rest of those questions directly to the superintendent's office. Awesome. Because I think you're gonna find out that most of that has started to find its way through.
Thank you very much. Okay. Yep. We're Looking forward to hearing department. Thank you. Is there anybody else? Same. None. Um, Westfield Technical Academy student representative. Uh, hello. My name's Nathaniel. Yep. And I'll be representing Westfield Technical Academy. Nathaniel, did you just wanna lift up the bike for yourself? No, no, no. I'm just saying Yes, he was. He said it. I heard him say it on his back. Short. No, I'm just kidding. Speak into the mic though, because they're gonna try to pick you up outside this fall. Alright. You're fine. You're fine. You going? You're good.
Alright. On February 10th, we kicked off National Career Technical Education Week and Celebration WTA hosted and participated in the following events. February 10th, 11th and 27th, every eighth grade student from Westfield Middle School was invited to tour Our facilities tours were given by our skilled CSA student leaders allowing a chance to see all 11 chops in action. On Tuesday, February 11th, we held our National Technical Honor Society Induction Ceremony. 16 new members were initiated into this prestigious organization.
Congratulations to all NTHS members. And special thanks to their advisor, Mrs. Markowski, for her example and leadership. On Thursday, February 13th, we held our career technical program Induction Ceremony. Students in grades 10 gathered in auditorium to acknowledge their hard work and dedication to debutante and their CCTE shop. A group photograph and certificate were distributed on February 12th.
Students and teachers from 11 CTE programs visited WIS and showed off their shops to the sixth grade students. Thank you to Mr. Miller and all teachers from WIS for allowing us to visit and display the great things we have to offer at WTA. Also, on February or Friday, February 14th, our Allied Health students were awarded their certified Nursing assistant certificate during our annual inning ceremony. The ceremony was held in our auditorium
and all seniors were recognized for their efforts. Special thanks to Senator Les Mayor McCabe, representative Pease and School Superintendent Zaki for attending. On March 11th, 62 students will be participating in the skills USA district competition. All students that are in gold or silver medals at this level will move on to the statewide competition. In April last year, two WTA students won Gold State Medals and went on to compete in the national competition over the summer in Atlanta, Georgia.
Good luck to All. On Thursday, March 13th, our annual student versus staff basketball game will be held all fac, all faculty and staff attending this fun pep rally and watch as the students destroy the teachers. This event is also a fundraiser and played in honor of Mr. Rob O who loved to participate in this game. All donations are made to Rob o Scholarship, which is given to a deserving senior at graduation.
The freshman class has completed the exploratory process and are enrolled in their permanent shops. 99% of the ninth graders were able to get either their first, second, or third choice option of shop placement. The General Advisory Committee dinner will be held on Thursday, March 20th at 6:00 PM and the WTA cafeteria Tiger's Pride Restaurant is open for business and continues to impress our patrons. This Wednesday, they're hosting their monthly Veterans Lunch. On this monthly Lunch on is being sponsored
by the Sons of Aaron. Mr. Pat Kennedy directed the very first WTA concert band performance on February 12th. This was the first time the band was completely made up from WTA students. The band played a wonderful selection of popular tunes, including ending the show with arousing rendition of Hit The Road. Jack. Mr. Kennedy has already started planning for a second concert in June. The Massachusetts Music Educators Association has recently named Mr. Kennedy as the rep, recipient, recipient
of the Procedures Distinguished Service award. Congratulations to Mr. Kennedy for a job well done. WTA staff and students are in final preparation for the first steps in our decennial accreditation process. A team from NE A the New England Association of Schools and Colleges will be visiting WTA on March 31st and April 1st to participate in a collaborative conference. The team will be made up of administrators and educators from all over the region.
This team will read the sound reflection report that the entire staff at WTA has been completing during this school year. The NAC team will also tour the school and talk to teachers, students, parents, and administrators. This team will produce a report that will give WTA some guidelines on things that we can do as a school to be ready for the decennial visit in April, 2027. A huge shout out to Mr. Zaki Elm Electric and especially Holly l Lergio
for coordinating the effort to renovate the teacher break room. At WTA numerous local businesses helped, uh, contribute items and slash or labors in creating the new recharge room. Staff has a brand new facility to take breaks and eat a quiet lunch before returning to their classrooms. The room was open for use on Thursday, February 27th, and is already getting quite a bit of use. Mr. Sperry and leading horticulture, the leading horticulture teacher recently led a student trip to Costa Rica over the winter break.
To hear all about the trip, please tune in to Tiger Talk. The number one show on WSKB 89.5 FM this Thursday, March 6th from eight through 9:00 AM Mr. Sperry other chaperones and students on the trip will be guests on the show on this week's show to talk about all of their adventures is almost time for March Madness at WTA. This means that the second annual annual staff rock paper,
scissor tournament will take place staff face off in a single elimination contest to determine the rock paper scissor champion for 2025. The final four will take place in front of the entire student body in April during the talent show. This is what, this is what is new at the, at Westfield Technical Academy, the place to be. Nice job. Nathan, before you go, Nathan, hold on. You were going pretty quickly. I just wanna get some,
uh, uh, clarity. March 13th basketball game. Yes, sir. Faculty versus students. What time is it? Oh, one o'clock. One o'clock. Okay. So I was paying attention. I was just putting it in my calendar. 'cause this, I gotta see. It's not pretty. I've heard, I've heard. And by the way, just a little quick thing on the panel, he'll never say it himself. Um, he did this on like a one hour notice. Um, and after he graduates from Auto Tech this spring, he is headed to, he assigned on
to Paris Island for boot camp. Oh wow. Good. Thank you. Well done. You look awesome. Perfect. Only the pool guys with That's fine. But he's, he stepped up his feet. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next up Science fair. Lauren, you wanna you Wanna preface it and then, uh, make sure we have all the right pronunciations of the names? No, because my least favorite day of the year is when I have to get on the intercom and announce the winners of science Fair. It's a nightmare for a dyslexic person. Um, this is Lauren Kagan, by the way. Yeah. Hi
Guys. Lauren Kagan, supervisor of Science Technology and Engineering. Um, and I am so excited to be here with you today. And not a slight to WTA at all. We're really excited. One thing they did forget to mention in their update is they have two groups of kiddos going to the regional science fair on Friday. And one of them has already been pushed forward to advance to the state competition at Gillette. Now we also Yes. Excellent. It's so cool. And, um, we have here with us tonight two of the, um, winning teams from the Westfield Public Schools
Science and Engineering Fair. Um, in first place we have Caitlyn Goulette, and in second place we have Brandon Gaia and Justin Romanelli. And I think I did that. Okay. You guys can, Um, and they both are here to present their projects. They have been told they have about five minutes each, but this is a really good practice for them. They are going to the regional fair at Western New England College University, um, on Friday where they will compete against, um, Western Mass actually has, or it's called Region one. It has a really stiff competition
because it is against, um, Deerfield Academy. Northfield Mount Herman, um, people that partner with labs at Harvard. I mean, the competition has always been pretty, uh, significant when we get there. And our students have always done really exceptionally to the point where I think both you guys won awards last year at Regional Fair. Um, so, you know, there's always really fun prizes, cash up for grabs, um, and trophies. I think you got a really cool trophy last year.
Um, and so we're just so proud of them and they're gonna present their projects. So if you didn't get make it to Science Fair next year, it is January 29th. Save the date. Um, but it, you know, I'm giving enough notice. Um, I'm gonna let them talk. Um, Brandon, you guys wanna go first? So in case you wanna know whose idea this was to bring you guys here, it was mine, so you can blame me. Sure. Was sure was We got his email the day. Okay. So before I, before we start, where should we place the poster board? Right on top of the, uh, can you do it right on top? Can you just leave it on top? I wonder if I, yeah, there you go. There you go. Perfect.
There you go. I dunno, I don't think I'm doing this. You need the parents come. Is that okay? Yeah, that fine. See him presented? Yeah. You know what we could do actually take the mic off. Yep. Right. But, uh, the, that on top of the di or the roster. And if parents want to see their folks do this presentation, come on in behind me and you can just kind of fill it in. I, I know you're here for a reason. It is to see your little monster, so, but up It's okay. And that way everybody, you, you're good. There we go.
Can you do it? I'm doing great. This is the backup Board, so if I ruin it, I'm distract. Yeah. The board's a little warped, So it's okay. I I sure it's Okay. It's a little weird like that. I gotta be honest with you. Is it gonna balance? Alright. Thanks for helping me all struggling. So, my name is Brandon Gat. My name is Justin Roman, And this is our science fair project. It involves designing a, uh, automatic window opener to allow those with muscular disabilities and especially senior citizens who cannot open their own windows to use our remotes to essentially open a window. I first, uh, came up with this idea in April
of 2023 when I was over at my grandparents' house. And April is about the time, uh, where you start to open the windows because it gets warmer out. And, uh, they wanted to open the windows to equalize the temperature in their apartment. And having windows open is good for a couple of reasons. As aforementioned, it can help regulate the temperatures and it can also improve ventilation, which reduces the risk of airborne illness being spread, which is especially relevant in a post covid world. So in terms of the apparatus, uh, the, uh, design that we built, uh, we wish we could have brought it here,
but logistically it was a bit difficult. Uh, so instead I'll describe it. So we have a small window, and on top of the window, on the frame, we have two motors, a motor on the right and a motor on the left. And on these motors is a shaft that's threaded like a screw. And on top of the window sash, which is the part of the window that moves up and down, uh, we bolted two, uh, nuts on the side. And the, uh, shaft of the motors, uh, threads through those nuts. And as the motor, uh, turns the lead screw, which is
that shaft it push, it brings the window up or pushes it down. And we also have a, um, we, we have mechanical switches on the top of the window and on the bottom of the window in order for the, uh, system to detect whether it's fully open or fully closed. So that way it'll stop when it needs to stop and it won't run into itself. And, uh, essentially self-destruct. Um, and in terms of the brain of this thing, we use a mini computer called a Raspberry Pi. And that has all of our code. Everything that we coded is coding.
It coded in a program link programming language called Python. Um, and we use an IR receiver to interface, uh, with the remote that's open and closes the window. Now with this design, we recognize the need for a safety system. And Justin, would you like to talk about That? Yes, absolutely. What on? Okay. The safety system, we realized pretty early on has to be very consistent. It has to be very solid to make sure that nothing was crushed when the window was closed. So the way we that we ended up doing this was we decided to put three distance sensors, which are sensors that send out a signal, um, a signal of sound
that's inaudible to humans, and it'll bounce back. And we're using a little bit of math. We can calculate how far it that range is, how long it, based on how long it took for that sound to go back and forth. And if it's below a certain threshold, we know that there's some kind of object in the window. Um, the three objects we used to test this system, the safety system here would be the, uh, a brick that we used to represent some kind of flower pot, because sometimes you have flower pots in the window. We also used a little soft animal to represent some kind of animal that would jump into the window, for example, some kind of cat. We also had a, um, a little plastic hand,
or depending on if we did last year, we had a little sharpie as well, depending on a finger or a human hand, that would be someone such as a taller sticking their hand into the window. And we made sure that all those would be safe and that the window would not close when that happened. Should that continue? Alright, so this, uh, project is a continuation project from last year. Last year we had the same window, but the mechanism to lift the window was different. We essentially just used a piston, which it might be a little difficult to see, but it's this picture right here. We have a piston that's used
that's secure using actually double-sided tape to the, uh, window sash. So this year's method of lift of lifting the window using those motors on the, and, and the, uh, screws going through the nuts is a much more low profile and reliable way of opening the window. Um, and that's one improvement that we made over last year. Another improvement that we made this year is that, uh, we put two more distance sensors in the window because previously there was only that one distance sensor, uh, last year, and it was near the bottom of the window. So if you had like a child's hand
or if their head was peeking through the window, um, it wouldn't catch it until it got down low. So we just wanted to add those extra distance sensors for that added safety assurance. And there is, uh, one new method of controlling the window that we did add this year, which is new. And I'll let Justin explain that. Alright, The next method of, I guess, new method of, um, operating the window is with a touchscreen. It's a small little screen that you can, um, touch to control different buttons and like with the rest of the code, this was written with Python and it made a little, um, application
that would make it so when you press a button, it will open or close the window. We also made it so that in the middle column, since there were, well, I should probably explain it a little bit, there was a left column that had the operation button so we can open or close the window. We also had two buttons in the middle that would change the speed from our speed one or speed two to make it go a little bit faster. But it also a little bit louder. We're making it go a little bit slower, but also a little bit quieter. We also had two buttons on the right, which for the high school fair were not functioning because we had as future implementation, but it would pause or resume the windows motion from being halfway open. The next thing that we wanted to discuss a little bit was
the overall results of the project. We thought that in general we did very well with the, or the results were very well, we had very high levels for consistency, although not quite what we were hoping for with our goals. And in general, the time that would take to open the window is, um, very quick and much faster than what we expected. And that was a good thing to see. The only thing that was a little bit, um, worse than what we were hoping for was the noises system, which is a bit louder. Great. Would you like to continue? Alright. So just to clarify on the noise, our goal was, it was for it to have, uh, to be lower than 60 decibels, which is average conversation level
because we don't want the, uh, app apparatus to be a sort of nuisance when it's like going up and going down. So it'll, so you'll still hear that noise, but it won't be like too loud or anything. So all in all, our vision for this project, if it were hypothetically turned into a product, is something that any maintenance worker at any apartment or any, uh, DIY uh, man in their home, uh, can go and install this on an aftermarket window to help either themselves or their loved ones open or,
and close their windows. And that concludes this project. Michelle, Who's your r and d people? You two? Yep. So you're doing all your research and design yourself? Yes. Yes. Where did you get the idea from? Oh, that's right. The, the, yeah. The parent, right. Do you know of any other idea that's like this out on the market? Because I got, I, I've totally dumbfounded. Never heard it before. It, it is really cool, and I'm thinking to myself, wow, I wish I had gotten it. So in our research we did stumble across a sort of similar idea, but it was executed differently. It used a, uh, compressed air system to open
and close the window, and it had a, uh, large piston right in the center of the window. So the glass pane was, uh, obscured. Um, our design, I think is a little bit better because, um, it's actually, it's obscured by the window frame because the lead screws are on the side of the window, so you don't see the window. If you're looking straight at the window, you don't actually see the screws turning, which moves the window up and down. So it's a lot, uh, the, the profile's much lower with our design and it looks a lot,
uh, smoother and more elegant. Anything else? Just, Yeah, you lost me early on, but that's all right. That's just, that's, that's me. Not you. That is not you. But you say what the power source was. The power source is a, it's a, uh, power brick and it's, uh, 12 volts at, uh, five amps. Got it. And it, It's something that Hold everything together, you know? And it's something that either a man, woman could install, right? Yes. Right. So a person. Yep. Gotcha. Anybody else? Thank You. Really good job. That's Awesome.
Tape. One more. So you guys have basically created with the app, with the touch screen, you've basically created like a rudimentary home automation system, right? Of your own. Yes. Is there a thought or maybe for a future iteration to, uh, create like Alexa skill or something where you could tie it into something that everybody, you know, a a system that, that people have in their house already, um, to be able to control light, you know, people control lighting and door locks and Alexa
Open the window. Yeah, That's actually one of our improvements. Uh, over here on the board, a voice command system written in Python could be implemented to allow easier, uh, operation of the machine. So you could literally just say, Alexa, open the window. Yep. And it wouldn't be that hard to program because the, uh, raspberry pie, which is the mini computer that, uh, this whole thing is controlled by, is wifi capable. So all we need to do, all we need to do is just program in the, uh, uh, APIs and all of the stuff that's needed to get it to, uh, interact with the Alexa system.
Mm-hmm. And it would be able to work. Nice. How about clapper? Someday. Someday, I'm gonna say, Alexa, open my bedroom window and it's gonna go up and I'm gonna thank you guys. That happens. Thank you. You don't get this. Okay. Thank you. That's a hard act to follow. Um, hi, my name's Caitlin Goulette. Um, you might know me as the space and astronomy, gee Coone Westfield. Um, but my project, uh, kind of stems from several years of my experience as an amateur astronomer in light polluted skies.
I got my first telescope, uh, when I was five years old. It was given to me by my aunt. And every night since I received that telescope, I would go outside with my father who's standing right there, um, video recording me. Um, and we would sit in our driveway right next to our house and just look up at the stars. And they just fascinated me. Um, it was just truly amazing and that, that's been my passion ever since. Um, and one thing that we realized back then is that the local light pollution around Westfield
and everywhere else, literally in the entire world is awful. Um, thankfully back then we had sodium lightings, uh, for our streetlights. So we bought a simple $10 filter on Amazon that can block out the sodium lighting from the local streetlights. Um, and we are allowed to look up at the stars because sodium lights shine in a different, um, wavelength than the stars in our sky. But not even two months after we bought that filter, Westfield switched to LED lighting, it's,
it's more cost effective, don't get me wrong. But boy, as an astronomer, it hurt. Um, and ever since then, the issue of light pollution has been just more and more prominent. I think if you go to any major city out there, you're lucky enough. Sometimes you're lucky enough to see more than 10 stars in the sky, maybe 15 if you're lucky. Um, so this summer I worked as a planetarium educator for the Springfield Science Museum's planetarium. And one of my coworkers works for, uh, an association that works to fight light pollution.
And we were talking one day and he mentions how light pollution not only impacts the viewing of our skies, but it impacts our health. Um, LED lights, um, sometimes have the same amount of effect as smoking a pack of cigarettes. Um, and I know all types of light pollution. Um, they mess up our circadian rhythms when we sleep, and long-term effects of that can even lead to cancer. So for this experiment, I really wanted to study the physical impacts of light pollution. Now, of course, I can't take a bunch of humans, their kids, and lock them in cages and shine light on them.
So I chose the next best thing butterflies. Um, I bought 50 butterfly larvae online. Um, and they came in the mail and I chose to put them in four different cages. My cages were two feet by two feet and about four feet high. And of course I had to keep them in my bedroom. It was rough. Um, and these four cages, I had one as my control. So it was set up next to my window when it relied on natural lighting. And I had three others with artificial lighting. I focused on one LED. So LED lights were shining on them for 12 hours a day.
Another was fluorescent lighting, and the final one was incandescent lighting. So when I received these butterflies, I raised them from larvae, they formed their chrysalis. Um, and when they're in their chrysalis, I took them out of the little containers. They came in, hung them up in the cages. I got the cages already. I bought host plants, um, to mimic the natural environment, um, that they typically live in. Um, they were astor plants. I got them at Home Depot. Um, and when they emerged from the chrysalis, I had butterflies. Um, now to study the impacts of light pollution, I focused on their eating patterns
and I measured their consumption rates over the course of about a month. Um, so when they first emerged from their chrysalis, I took six bananas. I crushed them up, and I made little hockey puck discs of crushed up bananas. I weighed them on a scale to make sure they were all the same, and I froze them. And every two days I would take out the bananas that they ate, weigh the remaining bananas, um, and replace it with another hockey puck of bananas and repeat that same process every two days for about a month. Um, and then I grabbed my data on this graph right here. I have some, um, pictures of the butterflies hung up here,
and their chrysalis is emerging. My cage set up, um, my process of crushing up the bananas. It was pretty gross. Um, and here we have my results. And if you can't see here, the incandescent lighting, by far did the best. Um, and now to explain this, I really wanna focus on the wavelengths of the light, the spectra of the light I used. Um, if you look here, this compares natural sunlight, um, to the three artificial lighting types that I utilized. So the fluorescent lighting and the LED lighting groups did by far the worst.
And I think they did so because they are the most far from natural, they're very, very unnatural. If you look at the LED spectrum of light, they really focus in on the cooler toes. They're really heavy in the blue, which is very, very far from natural light. And farin, in my opinion, is even worse. They don't have a consistent spectra. And throughout it, they have sharp spikes, which the butterflies didn't like. And it's shown in the data here on the graph. Now, incandescent did the best in my opinion,
because in the spectra it's very, very small. Um, very, very light in the cooler wavelength of light. So the blues, the purples, some of the greens, and as it approaches the warmer tones, the red, it really gets heavy in there. And, and that mimics natural lighting. Now, you might ask yourself, I had a control group with natural lighting. Why didn't they do the best? Um, and I have an answer for that. And it's because they were the less control group, even though they were my control group. Um, I utilized the sun.
And this experiment was done in the fall, early winter. And as you know, the sun's really low in the sky, so they weren't getting direct, direct sunlight. Um, I also utilized a window. Um, so the sun would of course go beyond the window at certain points of the day. So the sun would only shine on them for four to six hours, um, which wasn't the best. So going forward, I do want to continue this project. Um, and I found lights on Amazon that completely mimic the spectra of natural sunlight, which I would love to try out.
It would get me a true control group, um, where I can truly study if incandescent can Lighting, lighting can rival the effects of natural lighting. Um, and I also wanna closer study infrared lighting. The butterflies enjoyed the inconsistent lighting the best. It was very heavy in the visible red spectrum of lighting it, but infrared is kind of taking it to the next step. Infrared lighting is what humans feel as heat from the sun. Um, and it goes past the visible red spectra of light into the invisible.
So it's taking it a step further and I'd like to see if the butterflies, um, would like that and how would, how they would respond. Um, so that's something that I would like to change going forward. Um, but all in all, this was a pretty fun experiment. It took me a few months to do. Um, I did do something similar last year with LED lighting. Um, I focused just on LEDs and I changed the, um, amount of exposure time that the butterflies had to LED lighting. I didn't get, um, a ton of results because I was more focusing on, um, a di a different variable.
I, I won't get into it tonight, but, um, I'd say this year was a success. I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Thank you. Alright, so I was okay with the pistons and the screws and the nuts. Wow. Right over my head. Any questions? Ca I just wanna say, you always Teach me something every Time I see you. You had you come up with bananas, is that a natural butterfly food? Well, I looked up what I like to eat, and orange oranges been and bananas were the top. And I did attempt to feed them oranges on day one.
And it got really messy really quick, and it's harder to keep it consistent. So I just crushed up bananas was the way To go. And do you think that there was anything with the UV light screening in your window that would help or that would prevent the sun natural sunlight from coming in of, of your actual home window? That's a good thought. I didn't even, I feel it's like next year, it's coming on next year. Right. It's a meta, so to speak. So, Two quick questions. Great job, by the way. Thank you. Um, very interesting. Um, first one, so incandescent light was your, was your best result?
Yes. Do you think based on the time of year that it had anything to do with the heat that incandescent lights emit as opposed to LEDs or, um, any of the others? Yeah, that was a thought I had too. Um, and if, if you look at my setup here, I had, when I presented to the science fair judges, I had an iPad display with videos of my entire setup. Um, I had the lights set up, so there were good six, seven feet above the cages. Okay. Um, the lights were pretty strong, but heat wouldn't have been a factor for the incandescent lighting. Got it. And my second question, so
with the LED lights now, it's, it's incredible, right? So you can get, we put new lights in our kitchen a few months ago and you can switch the frequency, right? Yes. So you can, you can more mimic like an incandescent light with a lower frequency. Um, any thought to maybe trying, uh, like a warmer frequency of, of LED light at a, at a future iteration? Yeah, That was a thought. And I did struggle at Home Depot picking out which light to use. Yeah. All Different frequencies. Yeah. And it kind of went all above my head at first.
But after a bit of research and asking the employees for help, um, I came to the conclusion I should have brought the lights here with me. But there was a specific variable that I kept the same with each of them. I think it was the wattage, um, maybe not the wattage, but the, I, I know I kept that the same. Um, so they were somewhat consistent and I tried to stick with the most common light bulb type that was sold. Um, so I know I went to Home Depot, I went to a few other stores that sold light bulbs and I picked, um, the most, the most common. The most.
Yeah. Nice. Well, great job. Thank you Very much. Thank you. Not saying, I know you can't be fellow students, but don't you have a whole bunch of sisters and you can just, no. Well, We got one right here, Your sister. Thank you. Kai Job. Good luck Friday. Nice job. Yeah. Good luck. Thank you. Now, um, We'd really like to hold everybody hostage for the rest of the meeting, but if you'd like to take a minute and andray, you're certainly more than welcome to do so. Thank you very much for the presentations. This was like education, going education for today. Well done. I can incorrect. Oh, it's not, they're
Self-motivating. I say she uses her sisters. I just, I have five Mr. Sullivan, We're just gonna move it. We're gonna skip item five and move it to another, uh, another night for the presentation. Sounds good. Six table. Yeah, we need to table it for Now. I don't think you need to table it. I think you just move it. It's just a brief. Yeah, we're not, we're not doing anything on it. So we can just bring it up in the next meeting. Six. I'd like To make a motion to approve the special school committee meeting, minutes of January 29th, 2025, Second Motion that made. And second, any discussion on those minutes? Saying none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye.
Opposed? Motion passes. Like to Make a motion to approve the regular school committee meeting. Minutes to February 3rd, 2025. Second. Motion been made. And second, is there any discussion on those? Say none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion passes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of field trip for the Westfield Middle School to New England Air Museum, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, March 26th, 2025. Second Has been made. And second. Any further discussion? Normally somebody comes in and says that this is a trip to the Air Museum and that is a wonderful educational experience for those students who attend. Since those persons aren't here. I've just done it.
No further discussion. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip for Westfield High School to state line propane and oil Granby, Connecticut on March 21st, 2025. Second Motion have made. And second, is there any further discussion? Say none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item eight. Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait. I just was, We got time. Okay. Thank you. Um, The next one is, um, file number. These are policies that the, uh,
the policy subcommittee committee has met. And, um, the first one is BDE subcommittee of the school committee. I'd like to make a motion to, I like to make a motion for a first reading by title only of policy file. D-B-B-D-E, subcommittee of the school committee. Second Motion. That made sense. Any further discussion? This home? Yes. Um, we had a change we voted for to get rid of the MCAS
as a graduation requirement and thus, uh, for six, or pushing us forward to look at our, our, um, Oh no, this is Kathy. That's the second one. One second. Is That the second one? Second one. Yeah. Let's re let's redo This. Okay. Let me go back in and say this is what we did. Um, all they, all we did was change. Um, number one, we flipped, uh, instruction before curriculum for our subcommittees. So that's what we do. Any other discussion? All in favor opposed?
Motion carries. Okay, the next one is, um, IKF graduation requirement. I would like to make a motion, um, for a first reading by title only of policy file IKF graduation requirement. Second Motion that made and seconded by Mr. Sullivan. Further discussion. Okay. Um, so this one, um, the, we changed, we had a vote with the, the state voted to get rid of the graduation requirement for, um, to graduate.
Thus we, it for it made us look at our career, our graduation requirements. And so we have adapted the mass core requirements for the state. And that's what this changes. Any further discussion. It it takes the MCM CAS out. Yeah. Yeah. But makes it Makes it, you still need to, they have to take it. They have to take it. They don't need to pass it as part of the requirement. Understood. Anybody else? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd Like to make a motion for the approval of homeschool applications number 1 79 to number 180 5
for the 2024 2025 school year. Second Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Just let, uh, individuals know that we do have contact with parents regarding the curriculum and educational programs that will be taught to ensure the programs of studies meet the Westfield Public Schools curriculum Objective. Thanks. I don't know how to read this chart. I'm just gonna be honest with you. Um, one number 1 79 grade one new student. 180 grade three. New student one. Does that mean that there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 new students? Yes. Yes. Is that how to read the chart? Okay. Thanks.
Any further discussion? Say none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion to declare surplus Parkside Academy, formerly St. Kme Church at three 80, uh, excuse me, 38 Parkside Ave and Westfield Mass. Second. Motion been made in second. Is there any further discussion? This? Yeah. This, this takes the church, uh, property that's located on Parkside Avenue as surplus property and turns the property over to the city. Effective, uh, March 3rd, 2025. Describe Mr. Terrell. Uh, i, I know we've been working
for quite some time to clean out that building. Um, where do we stand? Is it completely, So we have, uh, we have shredding left, uh, and then we have to move the documents that we have to save. So, uh, we met with Mayor McCabe last week and we talked about, um, going to city council for free cash to accomplish that. I'm actually going to the subcommittee meeting Thursday night to explain what we're doing. Uh, and then if that financial piece happens, then we'll be able to move forward. We have somebody already to do the shredding and then we have to, of course, move our records.
And the city payroll records that are located at St. Cashmere's over to Abner Gibbs. Yeah. So let me, let me take a little bit more of that, Stefan, just so that the committee knows and anybody else knows. Um, currently housed are all the school records, but there's a, a large discovered number of city records there as well. And since the, um, labor and the, the good work has been provided mainly by the school department, um, we need the city stuff move over at the same time. So it only seems fitting to us that the, uh, city to pay for the, the move
and clean up out of city funds rather than school funds. And I anticipate it'll go through council fairly easily. Don't know, but We're talking, we're moving it out of the church. Where's it going? Advocate? Just wanted that up there. A any other questions? One more. What's the, um, What's the timeframe As soon as they get The money? Well, I guess my, my question is are, are we just a little far ahead of ourselves in if, if we still have no things in there, are we ahead of ourselves in declaring it a surplus?
'cause we technically we're still using it, right? No. Yeah. But the city, the city's not gonna evict us. Okay. You Know what I mean? Do I have that In writing? You got it on air, Justin. You got that? I'm not trying to be, but we, we Don't. Okay. We got it. Good Favor. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Uh, do you mind on pro vote? I don't care. Doesn't matter to me. I just think Everybody's in favor. School. Uh, I'd like to make a motion for, uh, the authority given to the superintendent for, to move ahead with the statement
of interest, uh, to, for a new Westwood Technical Academy in the Massachusetts School billing authority. Second Motion. May, may and second. Is there further discussion? So, um, if I could Sure. So the SOI has been written, I do want to, um, recognize, uh, Chris for helping me put that together and Tammy Teff for looking at over for us as well. Um, but we also learned last week, and I did share with the committee that because there was a, an MSBA project that was completed at WTA in June of 2013 with substantial completion.
Um, there would be a rec if, if WTA comes offline, the current building there would be a fee, um, of about $300,000 a year that the city would've to pay back to MSBA until June of 30 33. 23, 20 33. What did I just say? 30? Wow. Yeah, That changed. None of Us are gonna be Here. 33. Just putting that out there. Uh, 2033. Sorry. I got my 20 threes in there. Um, and so, uh, you know, that is certainly a factor.
I did want to share that. Uh, and just in my conversation with Tammy too, we, we kind of shared, uh, we actually called Mike, uh, and shared that from beginning to end of a school project, it takes about five years. So, so if, if you were to look at that five years, the time this project would have to begin in 2028 in order not to be completed in time to have to pay any money back, if that makes sense to MSBA. Uh, but the, the, uh, as I said, the writing, the SOI was, was, uh, fun I guess in some degree.
But, uh, and then, uh, just being able to take the pictures, I do think we have a strong application to go into MSBA if that's what we decide to do. Stephan, Can you do me a favor and recap the, uh, timeline one more time please? Sure. Five years from beginning to end of a pro a school project. So, so Beginning end means beginning with the application SOI or does the beginning mean shovel on the ground to the termination of the project? No, no. It's, uh, you have to do construction before the No, you have to do the eligibility period, the feasibility period. So starting from that to end is about five years.
So when we did this new elementary school, it was about a five year process. So if you think about it, it opened just this past January, but we were visioning during covid. So you have to do the visioning process, which is what you want the school to look like, which is how river got the way it is. Right? So, uh, and of course you have, you bring in all the stakeholders, but it is about a five year process from start to end, from the eligibility period, which is the first thing that you get into before it's completed, Is the first thing. So if my math is right, and I, and I'm just gonna put it out there 'cause people really do need to know, um,
it's about a $300,000 a year exposure in terms of pay back to, to MSBA from 20 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. Right. And, and that's that project. No, no, no. Oops, sorry. No, It would be, it would be if we were to go in now and we were to Be accepted, Be accepted, then five years from then, that's what I, so we're what I think we're talking about probably a building opening in 2030 or 2031. Right. That, that's what I'm trying, we're trying to get at on the clarification. Yes. So we're talking about 600
or six to $900,000 probably That we would've to pay back to MSBA, Have to pay back to SBA Over and above whatever the project cost was. Yep. Okay. I just want people to know, people to Say that. Just, just to add to that, um, my understanding is that the $300,000 per year mark is the, is the high watermark. So, so that number includes the, the, there were other things included in the, in the, the grant money that we got at the time that
that project was done at the, uh, tech WTA at the time, the, the vocational technical, uh, high school. So there were also, uh, boilers that were done at other schools. There, there, there are other projects that were built into that money. So that 300,000, correct me if I'm, if I'm misspeaking that 300,000 without really getting down into the, into the weeds, was the, the high water mark, the safe number mark of what the exposure would be per year. Yes. And again,
that project was new roof, wind, windows, and, uh, boilers at the tech Back in 2012. We know. Do we know how much they actually out of that project, how much they actually spent on the tech academy? I don't have that number of the top of my head, but I know it was millions, like 12 or 13 million Just on the tech account. I'd say 12, But I think it was 12. Okay. So has everybody had a chance to read, um, the SOI Yes. Everybody Knows its contents there Any further discussion on the matter, Mr. Terrell?
Um, so I, you know, I think it's been, I've been relatively vocal on my support for this project. And I will say that when the, uh, conversation came up, uh, about the potential for having to pay back, um, some of the, some of the funds that have been, that were applied back in 2012, um, and it, my thought process started to go toward maybe we need to wait two years if, if, if we're seven years out, maybe we need
to wait two years in order to get, um, to a point where we're, we're, we're, we're within that window, that five year window so that we, so that we limit that exposure. Um, the more, the more we looked at it, the, the more that number sort of has shrunk a little bit. Um, so for me, um, I, I've gone back and forth on whether or not I think it's a good idea to submit this this year. Um, I think the, I think the Difference in the cost of waiting two more years in terms of inflation and increased construction cost is going
to outweigh any exposure that we would have if, if any exposure that we would have. We all know these things don't always go to plan. Um, so I, I, I'm, I've, I've gone back and forth on this and I, I think, uh, I'm, I'm back in the, the mindset of, uh, let's move forward. Let's see what MSBA has to say. And, um, again, thank you very much to the superintendent, to Tammy and everybody that, that participated in this, but I, I, I think I'm, I'm, I'm back in the mindset
that we should continue to move forward and continue to, uh, to move through this process. Um, thank you. And again, thank you and Tammy and Chris Rogers, thank you for all the work you did on the, uh, on the SOII, the, the, the, um, when we got the email saying about the three, what could be $300,000, it really didn't change my mind at all. Um, I've been a guess from the get go, um, for all the reasons that Mr. Terrell just said, I think if we wait a year, he two years or even a year, I think the upfront money is gonna be, uh, more than the $600,000 that we would've
to pay back to the state. I don't know if the state has ever, for lack of a better term, granted a waiver if people built a new tech academy and we didn't use the current roof for the last two years of that 20 year period, I don't know if they've granted saying, okay, we know you're good because you're actually going into a new school. I don't know if that's something that could be looked at, but even if that's the case, um, I'm still a yes. Um, another reason why is there is a big push right now with this administration, um, on the state side
with the governor and the current MSBA, the way it's configured to have more seats of technical academies around the state. And I think the proven track record of the programs, the building, what they're doing, uh, in that building that's been around for 60 some odd years and then almost 90 or more than 90 years with the upper campus. Um, I think, I think that they would look favorably on this because it accomplishes a lot of the goals that the state wants and that is seats
and it opens up more for our kids that want to go into the trades, that want to go into a technical academy that want to learn something new. Um, I know it does talk about, um, is there room for consolidation if that comes to be great. I'm still a, a fan of combining, uh, but if not, and it's just the tech academy, I think, I think now is the time to hit it. Uh, because everything is only going to get more expensive. And I think that $600,000 is really not, um,
an anchor to the project. I think the full building, um, you know, you can do percentages if it's a $300 million building $600,000 is what? Percentage of 300 million? Quickly. I, not a lot. Um, so I'm a yes. Um, I think we should go forward. I think we should send it on to the council. 'cause the council's gotta vote, uh, vote this next to continue and send it on to the state. So, um, I, I think this is a great opportunity. I think we're ready for it. Um, I think the SOI says we're ready for it. Uh, and, and like I said, I'm gonna be a yes on this.
Yeah. Mr. Sullivan took a lot of my points. I think the, the inflation point's important. I also don't wanna lose the potential operating expense savings by, by operating one building over two if we do get the consolidation opportunity, which could be well above what we're we're talking about for those first couple of years. Um, and then of course, just want to reground in the, uh, in the educational, you know, value of this. I really appreciate everything you put in here. I think it's a really compelling thing. And I'm still on board with the vision that you've laid out. Um, and think with how long we've gone since getting a new
building until very recently, it's, we need to keep the, the pressure on and continue going for, um, working down some of these, some of these older buildings. Um, 'cause every year we wait is another 400 students that are gonna go through every one of these schools that we know. Um, many of them could use some help. So I'm ready to get us moving and see what city council says. See what MSBA says eventually, see what the voters say. Um, but I think this body should keep it moving. Anybody ask you to say, I'm gonna let him go First? Mary, I just wanna
say that this you are, okay. Go for it. That this actually has to be read verbatim. I was good to Okay. For the minutes. I gotcha. And then I have to submit the minutes to with the Understood. Understood. Okay. Just haven't gotten there yet. Just making sure. Back to, I just teasing. I have, we were just, we were convincing it across. So I'm gonna say this. I one appreciate how hard, how much hard work went into this and planning. And I appreciate it. I truly do. Um, I think we have seen the results of kicking the can, uh, down the walkway for buildings and seeing the type of decisions that we have
to make afterwards. Um, we've let buildings go and I think that school has risen to the occasion of doing everything we've asked them to do with programming, um, the type of students that are coming out of there. And when you go in there, you think you're in a building that is, you know, I don't even know how to describe how it doesn't work falling apart. You know, we have a former, um, city counselor who works in there. Maybe he can, you know, talk to how important it is to him to see his classroom, um, done up and, and portrayed as the kinda school it should be
for the kinda students we're pulling out of there. Um, the extra seats and the consolidation of, um, and cost savings for two schools. If we can get that. Um, I just, I really hope everybody's brave enough to, to, um, understand that, you know, just sitting in that building and, and seeing what they're, what they're learning in is embarrassing. And if anybody is unsure about that, by all means, make a phone call and go take a tour. It's embarrassing. So rather than being, you know,
we're doing this and we're doing that, think about what we need to do so that we're not closing down a school and putting and trying to configure things later. Let's do it while we can and while we can afford it, because I do think in two years we're gonna look at costs going up again. So I'm a hundred percent for this. And I appreciate how much hard work you put into it, and I think it's worth it. Um, I, I think this is a compelling application. Um, I've been a no pretty much from the beginning. Um, I'm going to stay a no on this. Uh, not because I, I think this needs to be stalled, not
because I think we need to kick the can down the road, not because the cost of inflation and, and other expenses going up. I just, there's still part of me that doesn't think we have all the answers. And maybe we don't, maybe we don't get 'em all. Maybe we don't have all the answers before we, we write the, the application we send it in. But they're big questions, right? Funding is a big question that we really haven't figured out. We just say, let's just apply. Then we get it. And let's not worry about the funding. We can always, we can always worry about that down the road, you know, that that's, that's fine.
Um, is it a consolidated high school or is it a standalone? And let's not worry about that. Now. We can worry about that down the road. Um, I don't want to delay this project any more than I think we've already delayed it as a school committee. Um, and looking at the high schools, I just still don't think we're ready. And that's, and I'm not gonna try to change anybody's vote tonight. Um, I appreciate all the work that's gone into this application. It bleeds the fact that we need new buildings. I mean, it just, it bleeds it. I think this personally, I think this body would be better if we had time to, to go through every piece of this
to make sure that what we're sending to the city council, uh, is a, um, you know, is a decision that's been well thought out, um, that's been discussed, um, and addressed. But, um, I, I still appreciate all the work that's gone into this. And fingers crossed we move forward and we get it. We're we're able to get all those things Answered, answered at, at a different time. Ms. Hub, Um, I would really like to see this go forward. I think our students deserve it. I think our programs are a wonderful asset to us. In fact, I asked the person who was doing Westfield,
um, river School, the person from M-S-B-B-A, I invited her to come and see the school with a card to her because I really feel like she needs to see what the programs are and what great opportunities we're providing for our students. I've always been in supportive of a consolidation of the school, so it's a yes for me. Everybody Else mind the last one, I guess? Sure. So I'm gonna take the last one. I think, unless somebody's gonna rebut what I say. Um, Oddly enough,
what both Mr. Terrell and Mr. Sullivan said are compelling. I have been kicking this around as everybody knows, for months. Uh, I was with, uh, Stefan at the formation of the idea. I mean, um, I think there are two more groups that need to weigh in on this. So if we didn't allow them to weigh in it by no voting it, then we would not hear the voices of the city council. And then if they green-lighted it, we wouldn't hear the voice of the community
because there's only one way that this is gonna get paid for. I think we all know that there's only one way it's gonna get paid for the Boston Globe. Yesterday had an article in the Globe that was talking about a half a billion dollar design for a school at Lexington, maybe Eastern Mass. They're all the same. Um, How much more? Uh, I think that was 409 and 78 million. So, uh, roughly half a billion. So, um, financially in the back of my mind, I'm like, no, no, no, don't do it.
But as a pragmatic, pragmatic person, I think that I'm a so, and the left Mrs. O'Connor. Oh, hold on just sec. I do wanna read this. You want me to read it? So the vote has to, um, do you want me to read it? You want read it? They have to make a motion. The motion's been Read it, But the motion's already been made. The Motion's been made. Right. Okay. Okay. So Paul, you made the motion. Yes, you made the motion. Why don't you read the vote? So the vote would be resolved. Having convened in an open meeting on March 3rd, 2025. Prior to the SOI submission closing date,
the Westfield School Committee of Westfield, Massachusetts in accord with its chapters, bylaws and ordinances has voted to authorize the superintendent to submit. Should We voted First? Yeah. Which should be a, Let's, let's, let's see what there's, It says, we already Voted. Yeah. Why don't We hold up on that Reading for a sec. Yeah, sure. Mme. Sullivan, can you call the role force, Please? So can I call the roll? Yes. And then you guys are gonna, okay. Yeah. And then we'll read it into the record, because I think where That's witness. Okay. All right. Um, uh, Heather Sullivan? Yes. Mike Rell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes.
Bo Sullivan. Yes. Tim O'Connor? No. And Chairman McCabe? Yes. So for the record, that needs to be read Right, be Resolved, having convened an open meeting on March 3rd, 2025, prior to the statement of Interest submission, closing date, the Westfield School Committee of Westfield, Massachusetts, in accordance with its charter bylaws and ordinance as voted to authorize the superintendent to submit the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the statement of interest formed dated March, 2025 for the Westfield Technical Academy,
located at 33 Smith Avenue, Westfield, mass, which describes and explains the following deficiencies and the priority categories for which an application may be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in the future. Item number three, prevention of the loss of accreditation N-E-A-S-C Spring 2025 will be cited for science labs. And item number seven, replacement of or addition to obsolete buildings in order to provide for a full range of programs consistent with state and local requirements.
And hereby further specifically acknowledges that by submitting this statement of interest form, the Massachusetts School Board Authority in no way guarantees the acceptance or approval of an application, the awarding of a grant, or any other funding commitment from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, or commits the Westfield School District to filing an application for funding with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Item 12. What's that? Who seconded the oh. Second Bo and Bo Motion, Dr. Gunther
and Mr. Gunther. Second. Just gotta get it right for the submission. Understood. I'd like to make a motion, uh, to approve the memorandum of understanding what the Westfield Education Association Unit A teachers second Motion been made. And second, is there any further discussion? Second, I'd Like to, yeah. Mr. Sullivan? Uh, this is a, an MOU between the Westfield School Committee and Westfield Education Associate Unit A, uh, with regards to Fort Meadow, closing in June, 2025, and the school population moving to either Munger Hill or Highland School for the 20 25 20 26 school year
as presented and authorize the mayor to sign on behalf of the committee. Is there any further discussion? I do. Um, has, uh, unit A agreed, Dr. Morris, your two evening? They have. Okay. Any other, anything else? Roll the roll please. Mike Turrell? Yes. Jeffrey, go there. Yes. Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan? Yes. Tim O'Connor? Yes. Uh, chairman McCabe? Yes. Thank you. Next item.
Um, just a report on the weekly reports. January 31st, 2000, 20 25, 22 batches, totaling $913,515 and 42 cents. February 7th, 2025 19, batches totaling $211,865 and 27 cents. February 14th, 2020 5, 22 batches totaling $411,362 71 cents. And finally on February 21st, 21 batches, totaling $268,463 and 76 cents.
Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, Bo, for helping out with that. Sure. Sure. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Westfield Public School's financial statements as presented. Second motion I made second. Is there any further discussion? Good evening, everyone. Shannon Barry, director of Finance. Um, I'm gonna start on the expense side tonight. So on page one, um, the professional development lines in the middle. So as you all know, that is the professional development funds for Unit A, um, B and D. So the funding is based on applications that are submitted
to those committees for approval. Um, so there's transfers on the agenda tonight to fix the lines that are in a negative. Um, they have plenty of money to cover all of the, the shifts that need to occur On page three. I just wanted to point out the workers' compensation and unemployment on the top. So, workers' compensation, we have received the bills here are reflected through September. Um, we just received the October through December bill, which was only $7,300. So I'm hoping that we will see a surplus in that line if, um, you know, that stays on track for the rest of the year.
Um, and also with unemployment, the year to date expended is through December again. So again, if we stay kind of where we're, where we've been, um, we'll see a surplus there that we can use for the deficit in transportation. Um, at the bottom page of page three, the natural gas, we just received new estimates from the G and e. Um, they are projecting just $20,000 over what we had budgeted. So, um, not bad at this point. And same thing on electricity. On the next page, on page four, um, they're actually pro project projecting $10,000
less than what we budgeted. So, um, we're closed there. Let's see, Um, page 31, when we get into the special education tuition. So we have, um, an outstanding tuition still that we need a contract for. We have an IEP issue going on with Holyoke. Um, so there's about $156,000 worth of out-of-state tuitions that aren't reflected there. Um, and then any new students that have come in, excuse me, recently, um, I've been working
with Joanne Leland, and we've been able to move money around on the two 40 grant. So the, the few new students that we've had coming in in the past month, she's been able to pick up the tuition for the rest of the year. Um, it may not be able to stay on the grant for next year, but for now, um, she's picked up the tuitions for this year. And then finally, transportation on the expense side, when we look at sped of out of district transportation, um, so this isn't new, but we're looking at about a $600,000 deficit in that line. And then on the following page, when we look at the regular transportation, that pupil transportation line, um,
that also includes McKinney-Vento and foster care transportation, which is the issue in this line. Um, and we're looking about a $200,000 deficit there. That's all I have on expenses. Do we want to do questions there? First? Just A question, Mr. Um, I Think it's on page four. I gotta get back to it. Shannon Four. Yes. It's not a big line item, but it's security. Mm-hmm. And what is that related to? Security of, of What? The buildings in general. And so that would be what Would be fire alarms, like all different kinds of alarm systems. Yeah. Fair enough. Okay. There's, so that extra there is just,
it's budgeted in case it's more like the maintenance part of it too. Um, so if something happened where we needed repairs, we had the money to do it. Yep. Thanks. Yep. Um, a couple things go Mr. Cho. Um, uh, just from a transportation standpoint mm-hmm. Obviously that's something we've known about transportation, um, at the end as, as a, uh, and that that's a large part of the, the overall deficit. Correct. Uh, has there been any movement in that number since the last time we We talked? No. So that, that $800,000 is, it's the same as the last time I had spoken about financials. I did meet with Bridget again today just to make sure that
that number was still accurate and she still feels like it is. Okay. Um, I am hoping that if we don't have further students going out of district, um, Joanne does have extra money still on the two 40 special education grant. And if the case happens that we don't have additional students go out, I would have her move that money to the, um, to a transportation line to try to help offset, um, the budget for transportation. Any idea what that might be? Probably around $300,000. Now if we don't have any other kids go out, she had 450,000 and I think we probably use about 150,000. So, okay. I mean, so fingers crossed we don't have any other
students go out and we can use that to help offset that deficit. Fair enough. And how, I know that you had talked if, if I remember correctly last time we talked about trying to mm-hmm. Get everybody, you know, set an earlier deadline for people getting their, their expenses in. Yes. Like how, um, what are you thinking? So right now it shows $800,000 unencumbered, um mm-hmm. Across the budget right now. Mm-hmm. Do you have a sense of how much of that is likely to be actual savings that will support, that will cover some of the deficit that you're seeing?
Honestly, I don't think a lot of savings is gonna be there. I think we're still gonna end up in a deficit. Um, I think the schools they have until next Friday, March 14th to spend their money. Okay. Um, I'm almost positive everyone will spend all their funding down. I mean, the lines I pointed out, the unemployment and the workers' compensation are the ones I really think there could be a surplus in. Um, there's not really on any other lines where I'm thinking we're gonna have a large amount of money. And what, just for my own knowledge, what is the, I'm sure you described this before, the the gasoline diesel line, why that shows is having 115,000 available
Oh, for transportation? Yeah. Gas and diesel. Yeah. So that is fuel adjustments that are a part of the contract. And, um, our transportation vendor has not submitted any invoices for, um, fuel adjustments. Bridget and I are gonna meet and kind of go over that because we're wondering if we are actually do a credit for fuel versus us going Them. And so that may help. That may be some office, office, some that, But we need to look into that and see where kind of think that's gonna land. Okay. Mr. Um, you said the schools you felt they would spend down what they're allotted by the 14th will the business office? Well, we, yes, Because it's only about a third spent.
Yes. There's money left there for our audit, which hasn't happened yet on our end of year report. Um, the postage will get used. We put money into the postage from receiving at Westwood, um, and postage at the bi at the post office. But yeah, that'll get SP down. Does everybody feel comfortable so far with both high schools athletic departments? I, I don't know if more transportation money is going to be spent. Is that, does everybody feel comfortable that what's in there is going, is what's gonna be there at the end of the year? Are You asking if I feel comfortable? 'cause I don't feel Comfortable? Well, you're, you're the finance, you're the finance director. So Yes. I'm
Asking you. I don't feel comfortable. So they're using their revolving funds, which concerns me how much revolving funds we've had to use this year. He has assured me he'll be able to cover his expenses, but I just, the fact that we're, you know, only in March and we've already had to be using the revolving funds for months now is, is a concern. Okay. And I actually just had to put, um, the high school account into a deficit of about $8,000 for a repair to the filters on the pool at the high school. So, oh my God. More pool work. Mm-hmm. Hey, I'm not saying it doesn't beat it, but swim season's over. Um, anybody else?
Do you anticipate anything on the horizon in the settlement area? So the legal settlement category of some, I'm kind of throwing a look over to the superintendent. I mean, I can answer it for him. We, we have a few outstanding cases that are still going on. Um, we just received word about one of the cases the other day that it's our motion to dismiss was not granted. Um, so it's really just how fast some of these moved through MCAD. So there, there's stuff that's, there's Stuff out there. Yes. Okay. Yep. So the $74,000 is still sitting and it kind of coincides with, I have a small balance on the legal services line. Mm-hmm. Um, I think it's about $24,000.
And that's because, you know, some of these cases we don't know if we're gonna need additional money because something happens. Well, and, and if I just chime, sometimes, like one of the cases is several years mm-hmm. Old. And so it depends on when MCID takes the case. I mean, one of them really is about four years old. It's been sitting in out there for that long. I'm good. How about personnel? Okay. So personnel. Um, page one, we'll see two lines and a deficit there. That guidance social work is for, um, the days that guidance counselors have during the summer to come in
and do scheduling and work around that, um, over the summer. So this was always budgeted before in the personnel lines with the actual guidance counselors. I pulled it out this year just to make it clear, um, what we were spending. And obviously we need a little more funding in that line. So that's a final number. I'm gonna have to transfer 6,000 there. Um, the prep timeline. So this year we have had, um, teachers that have been out on leave. And instead of hiring a long-term sub, we've been able to use, uh, science is a good example. So, you know, a science teacher teaches
during their prep period to cover, um, you know, a course for a teacher that's out, which makes sense 'cause they're appropriately licensed and everything. Um, but then we obviously have to pay them for the prep time they miss. So that is factoring into that line. And then also the MOA we did for the, um, not doing the 50 minute preps this year and still staying with a 40 minute preps is affecting that line. Um, on page two at the bottom, again, the professional development lines, um, those are the professional development funds for the unions. And there is a transfer on the agenda this evening. On page nine, um, still what's under the Franklin Ave line in
the middle, there's a deficit. Um, that line is for rbt. So for the RISE program, we were unable to find a paraprofessional to hire, so we ended up hiring an RBT instead. Um, so money can be moved from the paraprofessional line to that RBT line to cover that. On page 18, there's a paper mill speech line that is in a deficit. Um, that is because we hired a internal candidate for, we hired in on the personnel side versus on contract services, a speech therapist. However, we don't have the funds on the expense side
to transfer over, to cover that page 22 at Southampton Road in the middle. That paraprofessional line is in a deficit, um, which will be about another $33,000. So we had budgeted for one resource room paraprofessional, and we have had to hire, um, unplanned and unbudgeted for, um, one-to-one paraprofessionals for students at that school this year. Uh, page 34, there's a, oh, Why did that happen? So it could be for a variety of reasons, but the IEP meeting, the, the team would come together and determine that a one-to-one would
be needed for that child. Um, it could be a move-in, uh, that came with one that we had to attach. So there's not knowing the students specifically, but those are the types of reasons why that happens. Uh, and sometimes again, it's decided at an IEP meeting that a child would benefit from a one-to-one by the team. Thank you. Page 34. Um, the speech assistant at the high school, again, we hired a unit D, um, SLPA that wasn't budgeted and moved that from the expense side page,
page 38 at Fort Meadow at the top, another line in the deficit. Um, we hired on the personnel side, again to speech, um, to speech professionals that were in budget in Unit D, page 39. I've actually talked in at page 40. I talked about this one a couple times. Um, we used to separate out pathways accounts from the high school, but really they're all reported together. So those are paving and says that have been done, just haven't been processed by auditing yet. And that was all I had on the personnel side. Anybody else? Anybody have any questions?
Two on the, sorry, let me get back to the page and out of grade, there's a negative year to date. What page are you on, Jeff? I am trying to go back and find, sorry. I remember was in the top. Sorry, I should have had that ready. Um, Ah, sorry. Page four. Yep. Okay. Um, Oh, so, okay. So that 55,000 is actually not a balance. We had to carry over, um, funds to pay the retros for last year for the custodians. So it's a reversal that just needs to be done by auditing. That hasn't been done yet. So that's, that's not a balance and not a negative.
Got it. Um, and then my, my sort of summative question is what, like what are you forecasting overall on the, you've shared on the expense side? Yeah. What are you forecasting on the personnel side compared to budget? So Currently, um, when I went through everything today, there's about $16,000, um, excess, but that doesn't include longevity that we still need to pay out at the end of the year for Unit D. Um, and obviously, you know, personnel is super flexible with people leaving and people being hired, and we might need another one to one.
So I'm thinking about a hundred thousand dollars of a deficit on that side, is what I would estimate. Okay. Page 40. Mm-hmm. You just, you did the top line. What about the line right below at the district administration? Mm-hmm. So that's the principal on special assignment position, um, that we ended up that does Medicaid and circuit breaker that we ended up having to put into the budget after the budget was approved. Okay. In the virtual program. Now that you bring it up. Yes. That's actually my doing in some respects. Um, and if the finance
director and the superintendent want me to remediate that through City Council, I will do that. Um, this was fluid as you remember. So really what this is about is there were four different job sectors within one person's job title that retired. So when that person retired, we had to figure out how this was gonna parse it all out. And really the position, or a portion of the position is being funded by the school department and,
or all of it by the school department. Let me, let me take that back. About three quarters of its purpose is all city based. So that the work that's being done by that person, just specifically because it had always been done by that person within the school department, auspices, is really not something that necessarily should have been back with the school department. We probably should have picked up that tab. Um, but there was some, there was some communication things right at the very end
of the year that kind of caused this little switch around. So if, if you want to write me a letter asking to be, um, to take that, that's not now I'll, I can explain it to city council that, that I can do. Um, so thank you for asking the question. I forgot about it. I actually had the, my little pencil had already drawn it in that I was gonna bring some attention to that. However, that said, what is the plan for the deficit? So, I mean, obviously to try to offset as much as we can with the two 40 grant. Um, and then we talked about when we did the budget
and we removed outta grade and some other items, if we had to, we would go to school choice. So if you, Oh, boy. How much is in school choice? So if you go to School Choice, let's just say there's $3.2 million in school choice mm-hmm. Roughly. Mm-hmm. Right? Roughly. Roughly. Yeah. And you need $900,000 to balance the budget. 800,000 roughly on the expense side. A hundred thousand dollars on the personnel side. Mm-hmm. That drops the school choice money down to 2.3. I'm doing this on the fly. Mm-hmm. And you have a new budget coming up? New budget season, I
Hear? Yes. So also New School Choice Revenue. So we're, uh, projecting about $1.1 million in additional school choice revenue next school year. Right. But I guess what you're driving at is if we were to use as much School Choice money as we did this year in the FY 26 budget, which was almost $2 million, guess we'll be down to about $1.1 million. When you say $2 million, is that including the 900,000? So we offset the FY 25 budget with $2 million. So it'll actually be a total of 2.9 million out of School Choice Money to balance this budget total from,
From, correct. Yes. Correct. Correct. One of the things that, So moving forward, hold on just a second, just so that everybody here is clear. We're Gonna go into a budget process now. We'll have very little money in School Choice on top of there being very little money in the first place. Mm-hmm. Just know that that's what we got. I'm just throwing, I'm not trying to be mean or foreshadow, I'm just saying that's what we got. Okay. That's the plan. School choice is the plan to balance the budget. Okay. Plan B, the grants first plan, plan A. Right,
Right. But the, the grants are never gonna get us completely off the, We'll get you today, but, but that Of course, I would Use those. Could shrink is what I'm hoping. Yes, Of course. I would use Yeah. Grant money before I went to School Choice. Yep. We would use all resources before we went to School Choice. Right. I just To be clear, my understanding is the, the lever that we would not pull before School Choice likely, but that is still technically available to us, is, uh, the circuit breaker. Yeah. Yeah. It's just gonna impact next year's budget. Correct. Yes. It creates much the same problem that School Choice does. Yeah. But just So that was all part of that other piece mm-hmm.
Just that you're touching on Yeah. You know, that those four pieces of the puzzle, that was a quarter of that piece. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions for Mrs. Perry? Thank you very much. Next you Do make a roll. Yep. Roll Jeffrey down there? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Tim O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer of $26,000 from MCC account. 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 9 dash 504.
Professional development substitute to account 5 0 2 9 2 3 9 5. Professional development payroll. May a second. You've already recapped this one. I did. All of these are a Any further questions on that? Ms. Sullivan? Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan? Yes. Heather Sullivan? Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Tim O'Connor? Yes. Jeremy Mcca. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer in the amount of $38,000 from the count. 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 8 dash 5 3 1 0 0. Professional development contract services to account.
5 0 0 2 9 2 3 9 5. Professional development payroll Motion been made. And Ted, is there any further discussion? Seeing a none. Mr. Sullivan? Bo Sullivan? Yes. Heather Sullivan? Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Jim O'Connor? Yes. Jeremy McCade. Yes. I'd like To make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer in the amount of $3,000 from five from account 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 6 5 7. Professional development in state travel to account 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 9 5. Professional development payroll, second.
Motion. May 2nd. Is any further discussion? Ms. Mr. Sullivan? The Normally, or whatever we have written down as policy is $15,000 we need to approve for a transfer. Why is this a $3,000 one coming? Because You're going for personnel to Expenses in any time We transfer across. We Need to, or from expenses to personnel. Yes. Good. Silly rule. It's A silly, but It's all the Same money. Uh, Mrs. Sullivan. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Captain Hillman. Yes. O Sullivan. Yes. Tim O'Connor?
Yes. J Chairman McKay? Yes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer of $22,000 from account 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 8 dash 5 2 0 0 0. Professional development, purchase of services to account. 5 0 0 2 9 2 3 9 5 0 0. Professional development payroll. Second. Motion made. And second. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Sullivan. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Motions passed. Thank you. Thank you. Superintendent.
I, I'm gonna make a motion for the first three. We may need to talk about the fourth one Or Can we talk? Understood. Okay, understood. I'd like to make a motion, uh, to accept following gifts. Donations have been made to the Western public schools, require acceptance donated to Highland Elementary School from Grin and Bear Enterprises, Inc. In the amount of $500 to be used for the educational purposes. Gift account donated to Westfield Middle School from Bob's Discount Furniture, a gift card amount of a thousand dollars to be use to purchase furniture for the Westfield Middle School Library.
Donated Westfield High School from Patrick Pep, uh, DDS amount of a hundred dollars to be used for the Westfield High School girls basketball team. Second Motion been made and second is right. Further discussion on those three items. Thank you. Saying none other than Thank you. Right. Jeffrey, do the fourth item, or do you want to do, Uh, let's vote on these three and then we'll do fourth. Thank You. Okay. Go ahead. Mr. Sullivan. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. And thank you to those people. Item four of the
List. So it's just a question, I guess. Um, I think we're correcting this entry. Um, but, but the way that it would read, we're really not correcting it if it's still coming from Holly Neland at Maple Leaf. Right. I, it's, if I am reading this correctly, it is a donation from their fundraiser golf tournament that they do every year. And they donate it to sports, um, teams, affiliates in the city. And it's looks like they picked the Technical Academy golf team to do this year. We've already done it. We, we did, we, this, I think we already accepted this once.
Oh. And then, but it, it was separate. It put into a wrong account. So it's really not coming again from the make, it's coming from the other West account. Just, just needs Switch to accounts. Correct. Just needs to go to a different account. So we accepted it into one account, but we have to take it and move it to another. Agreed. But that's not what it says in the narrative. It says it's donate to the Westfield Technical Academy X account from the Westfield Technical Academy X account. That's what's happening. That's what's happening. But that's not what it says. Right. And it came off as an acceptance. So it's not another, a new gift. It's a re it's a gift.
We're moving to another place. I don't think you understand what, what, Right. So in the narrative, in this narrative that's on the agenda. Yeah. It's actually from Westfield technical account to a Westfield technical account. We've already accepted the money that gratefully from the nail and family of the Maple Leaf. But this is just a change of that. So it's not them doing it again. Right. Follow, follow that. Yes. So how do you wanna, Well, it's gonna have to read, donate to Whatever account We put it. Yep. The Westfield Tech Academy Golf Team
account or golf account. Right. But it's Into the athletic gift account. Yeah. So Yep. So the donations from the Westfield Golf account into the Westfield Athletic gift account. I gotcha. Yes. That's the way it's supposed to be. Everybody in favor of that? Yes. Is there a sole move? Second. Is there second? You The motion. Oh, is it favor? No, sorry. No, no, no. I got it that time. Mr. Sullivan. You understand what we're doing, right? The motion is from the gift from the golf account to the gift account. Yep. And thank you to all the generous dollars.
Yeah. Mrs. Sullivan. Yeah. I'm just, Yes, I'm with you. I'm, Uh, Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Um, yes. Kathleen Hillman Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. And Tim O'Connor. Yes. And Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Mass Cultural Council grant. The amount of $5,000 Second Motion has been made. Second and I think Waiting Page, we might get some discussion. Vote. Go ahead, judge. So this grant is, um, was awarded to Paper Mill through
as a part of the creative projects for schools. And they're in partnership with the Mass, um, Audubon Society. And it covers, um, classroom visits and a field trip to the Arcadia, um, wildlife Sanctuary in East End. Any questions? Sweet. Oh, can I go Discussion? Nothing, Ms. So, No, I didn't have a question. Well, we got accepted, so we You can't her I went like this. I'm like, I didn't put my hand up. I went like this. Tough enough time as it is. It's Just, okay. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes.
Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike au Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Chairman McKay. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to accept the Gulfstream grant in the amount of $22,480. Second. Motion has been made in second. Is there any further discussion? So it's not, It's, these funds are going to be used by the Westfield Technical Academy Aviation Program, um, to purchase supplies and materials and other equipment needed for the students. What, what a great funding system for Mr. Mr. Gulfstream. Really for Gulfstream in tech. Mr. Deborah, I just want to thank Gulfstream again.
Their generosity over the last decade of our aviation program has been tremendous, and they also employ a good number of our students. Yeah. So, thank you, Gulfstream. That's Good. Thank you. Thank you. Love a new building for it to be Good partners. Great. We have a question From, so it's a very general grant question. Mm-hmm. Um, as we're kind of moving through the, the letter half of the school year, um, how are grants looking generally in terms of the ones that we've applied
for in the past that have been, um, grants that we received year after year? Are we still seeing those? Is anything impacting grants generally and, and maybe some things on new administration that we might anticipate? Ms. Leland, hold on just a half a second. Ms. Sullivan, will you call the role for the acceptance of the Gulfstream grant? And then we can certainly have Mr. Entertain Mr. O'Connor's question. Bo Sullivan? Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Chairman McCabe?
Yes. Okay, go ahead. So, um, it's hard to gauge the grants right now. It, we have been receiving regularly, annually similar grants. Um, they haven't been cut substantially. Um, the title grants I'm a little concerned about, although we just did receive an allocation adjustment in March and they did not cut any of the title grants. We actually were increased for our Title two grant by $1,600. So that was a good sign. Yeah. Um, I haven't heard any specifics on anything. Um, there is one big grant, the CPPI grant that is,
uh, going competitive. We had it for three years, so we have to do a competitive bid for that one. Um, that's kind of a concern 'cause that is a $1 million grant, but we are doing, taking every step possible to be competitive for the, for the new year, new fiscal year. Yeah. Thank You. And thanks for all the work you do. And, um, yeah, keep us posted on how some of those things. I know. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Superintendents. I think, So a few updates, uh, over the break. Uh, we held a Mayor's coffee hour at Westfield River Elementary School.
Um, that was February 19th. Uh, and about 20 to 25 people after the coffee hour actually stayed with us and toured the building. So they were very impressed with the facilities. Um, I also wanna shout out, um, uh, Polish National Credit Union, who, who really helps us at multiple schools, but, uh, also went to Westfield River last week, and it's never too young to start teaching the students about financial literacy. And so that's what they do. And if you don't know Martha Rickson, if you do, she's a great person. And she was, you'll see her pictures on Facebook in front of the classes. Uh, but they, uh,
Polish National Credit Union really assists the district in a lot of ways. But they also, um, on top of donating for the Turkey Drive, but they do this financial literacy type thing. They, they do high school and any level of people that request it. So it kind of came out of our Westfield Education, the Business Alliance, and they're still doing it, uh, nine years later. So that's terrific. Um, I also want to shout out the Westfield Police Department who went to Westfield River over a break, uh, last week, I'm sorry. And even our own mayor, and I'm sure you can talk about that during his update. Um, we have our Bri school winners that we award winners that we announced on February 14th.
The veteran teachers are Gail Britton from Highland Elementary School, second grade teacher, Jordan Eker from Highland Elementary School, a fourth grade teacher, uh, Victoria Albert from Westfield Intermediate School, a school adjustment counselor, Laura Miller and Christina Smith, both from Westfield High School and both science teachers. And our new teacher Winter was Caitlin Nugent from Westfield Middle School. She is a math teacher, so I want to congratulate all of them. I got to do that obviously the first day. But, uh, so their, their event is May 7th, that'll be held at the log cabin, and they get a host of other prizes as well.
What's the date Stepan? I'm sorry. May 7th. Uh, this Friday, uh, we have the, uh, Westfield High School. Friday and Saturday we have the Westfield High School Pops concert, the 72nd Pops concert, by the way. Uh, and so that is actually, uh, Friday the seventh. And, uh, and Saturday the eighth at 7:00 PM Tickets for $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens. But we also have a special, uh, concert for our senior citizens, um, at 1130 on Friday. So it's pretty exciting.
Uh, this kind of went away after Covid, and so I was able to bring it back a couple years ago, uh, with getting MGM to sponsor. And this year they were not able to sponsor. So Westfield Gas and Electric is sponsoring the luncheon. So I really want to, uh, thank them. And, uh, their lunches are being provided by Westfield Technical Academy, the Tigers Pride Restaurant. And this year new, we are also, uh, doing a raffle. It's a free raffle, so everyone that locks in gets a ticket. And they are several prizes. One including a $450 overnight, uh, at, uh,
MGM Springfield, where they get a hotel stay and a free dinner at Chandler's. And then, um, we also have a three month membership from, for, for prizes from the M-Y-M-C-A. Thank you Andrea Allard. We have a week, uh, summer camp donated from the Boys and Girls Club. Thank you, Bo and Kelly. And then we have some, uh, prizes we're giving away from the Technical Academy, uh, including, uh, a free, um, detail card detailing and one of those wishing well wood things that you put in front of your house that was built by carpentry.
So some great prizes for our senior citizens. And let's face it, without them we wouldn't be here. So, uh, it's a very, uh, we love having them and I'm glad we're able to bring this back. So, and again, we work with Michael Swindoll from the Senior Center to get the 150 people. So it's a great community event. If you have a minute, maybe you can stop by. Um, alright. Uh, February 27th, I did, uh, they mentioned it at WTA, but I want to just really shout out Al Electric and Holly Lawyers because they also redid the teacher's rooms in previous last two years at Westfield Middle School
and Westfield High School. And Holly has done a terrific job getting other businesses to donate to this cause it's just terrific. So, um, thank you, Holly. I doubt you're watching, but if you are, I, I want to thank you for your efforts. Uh, the National Honor Society induction for Westfield High School is March 12th at 6:00 PM if you're writing things down. And, um, uh, my last reminder is that there is no school for students on Friday, March 14th. It is staff professional development, with the exception of Westfield River. I think they have a half day because they're making up the
half day from, uh, one of the January days. So, um, that is all for me. Here you go. Thanks. I'm still trying to catch up on the calendar. Um, sometimes it's like trying to drink from a fire hose. Yeah. Mr. Sullivan accusing me of being at the very first pop you were, you were 70, 72 years. I go, well, um, played the oboe. So the mayor's, I'll tell you, um, I am trying to work with Westfield State University specifically. Um, Kevin Hearn, who's vice president in charge of Don't Tell me are, uh, student enrollment, um,
and Dr. Linda Thompson to, uh, desperately figure out how to interface better with the Westfield State University student population and the Westfield School public school student population. So whether that looks like internships or shadow programs or pathways programs or transition programs or working towards ICE programs, um, I have not forgotten. I met again with him this morning. I'm going to meet again with him on, um, at the coffee hour on the sixth. And I met with Dr. Thompson, um, last week. So if you guys
or you guys think of anything that's amenable to any type of internship that you might be able to use Westfield State students for, um, they really are in our own backyard. So we really, I think, uh, um, uh, maybe try to figure out a way to work with that. And I just, now that you say that just made me think, um, we've had a, a very good relationship with the Westfield State Dining Commons in terms of our culinary programs at both schools. So very supportive of us and also hiring our students. So thank you for that.
Super. So that's kind of it for me. Uh, I know we're rolling into budget season, it's gonna get interesting. So, um, we'll see. We'll take it as it comes one day at a time School committee update. I don't know if it it goes here or not, but, um, I, if, if this committee didn't know, uh, our chair of the Westfield School Committee on April 5th of this year is being conducted into the Criminal Justice Hall of Fame at Westfield State, Because I was there when the school opened in 1838. It's you and Morris like this, but it's, uh, you know, thank you for all your years service
and all your contributions to the West Hill state and uh, thank you all your leadership. Thank. And then part two, this is really, really quick. Uh, when our science fair, uh, students were here, I think it was Caitlyn, um, she started talking about astronomy, right? About a gate and her love of astronomy and telescopes and, and stargazing and other things. True story. My senior year in college, I needed one elective. I had an undergraduate degree in finance, need an elective astronomy comes across, I go, this is gonna be a breeze cake. Yeah, it was the hardest college course I've ever taken.
I'm not kidding. Maybe statistics ahead of it slightly, but astronomy was hard. Fascinating. But, uh, it's so great to see young students, uh, learning. And So I'm gonna add to that at Western State final semester, I'm a senior ready to graduate. So I decided I'm gonna take Widen the horizons. I'm gonna take accounting one. Right. I'm gonna take whatever they were and astronomy. And it was the hardest course of my college career. And Caitlyn kind of just handles it like it's no big deal. I'm like, good on you, Caitlyn. God bless you.
She's been doing it since second grade though. Second grade she did a presentation. She had Springfield fan I was gonna mention, but I forgot, Um, what not be missed tomorrow, but that's okay. That's good. Anything else for subcommittee? Any old bid? So I'm, I'm, hold on. I, I want to understand how to do something. I'm troubled. I'm gonna tell you that I am troubled by a vote that we took. I'm not trying to undo the vote, I'm just saying that I'm troubled by a vote that we took. And it was to send people out of state to a, um,
to an event that we have absolutely no information on. So we've asked for a clarification of that event. And I'm not trying to undo the vote. I get it. The, the, the horse outta the barn, whatever the ship is, sail, whatever. But I think that is a part of a policy. In order to send people away on field trips, there should be some type of synopsis of the purpose of the trip and an agenda of the items that these folks are going to be attending. So I'm not gonna shine any light on it.
I just, I don't know how to get that into a committee. 'cause that's clearly a policy issue. Yeah. Don't you usually attach to the agenda, the sheet that they fill out and the principal signs the green sheet. I think if that was there every single time, 'cause there's a paragraph on that green sheet about what's going on. So I think that sheet needs to be In, in fairness, it was, it was attached and I believe it said TBD. Oh, okay. That one. I didn't, I I'm, I'm almost positive that's what it said. Okay. And um, you know, again, I'm not trying to catch dispersions. I just feel that if we're going to be sending our kids,
'cause I, uh, there were a couple times that have occurred in the media just recently that things went afoul and then it came back to the school committee. And the school committee was the one that sent them on these trips. And really, I think as part of our own policy, we should have what the purpose of the trip is and what the curriculum for, if there is a curriculum for that particular destination. That's just me saying my piece. But I don't know how to get it to the policy committee other than to just do what I just did. It's there. Okay. Very good. I'll do Subcommittee reports and recommendations.
That's you as well, Kathleen. If you have anything Minutes, You get the minutes. I just Need to make a motion. Any minutes from the human resources. Yep. I'd like to make a motion to accept the minutes of February 3rd for the Human Resources and Policy subcommittee. Second, Um, motion been made. The second. Is there any further discussion? Ms. Holman? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Do you know that the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Westfield Public School Committee is March the 17th,
Now, before we adjourn and move on, I have questions That would be the high holy day, so I'm just kidding. Okay. Um, does everybody, do we, will we have a quo that day or should we preemptively move the date? What date? I don't, 17th. That's Up to you. I will, I know that Mike is not, we'll be Away. Right? We'll be away. I don't have any problem meeting on that date, but there's all kinds of conflicts. In terms of other events that are going on throughout the local Pioneer Valley, we'll say, or is that the best date to have the meeting?
Right. It's up for discussion. Sounds Like I'm fine. I'm fine. Good, good. I'm indifferent. You Good? Tell me when everybody's gonna be here. Or hopefully everybody will be here as, as of this time, we, if we go further out or as we get closer, maybe we can readjust and I, I'm fine with the date. Okay. So is there another motion? Motion to adjourn. Second. Motion to adjourn has been made by Mr. Sullivan. Seconded by Mr. O'Connor. Mrs. Sullivan, can you call the roll? Do try it. I did this once before already today. I heard. This is all Unfair. All unfair.
Motion. Motion passes.