Good evening, and welcome to the October 6th meeting of the Westfield Public School Committee. Hi, Jack. Uh, it is seven o'clock. Mrs. Sullivan, can you call the roll Jeffrey? Here. Kathleen Hillman. Here. O Sullivan. Here. Heather Sullivan. Here. Mike Terrell. Here. Tim O'Connor Here. And Chairman McKay Here. Um, before we enter into the, uh, pledge of Allegiance, do any of our little ones know the Pledge of Allegiance? What is that? One of our little ones know the Pledge of Allegiance.
Oh, we all know the Pledge of Allegiance. Well, then you guys should lead. Let's go. Okay. Let And under God in liberty and justice for all. That was awesome. Before we go into, um, public participation, before we go into, uh, public participation, I'm gonna ask for a moment of silence. Um, over the last couple of days, we lost a, a member of the school department family who gave nearly four decades to school system educating our children.
I know I needed to take a breath. Um, Tom Daley, uh, was, uh, has truly changed the trajectory of my life, and I'm sure many, many, many other people who had him, either as a teacher, a coach, or a principal. So, can I have a moment of silence please? Thank you very much. At this time, I'd like to open up the meeting to the public participation portion of the meeting. If anybody would like to address the school committee on the topic that they're choosing, you certainly may do. So. You'll have up to three minutes a person and anybody would like to address this?
Sure. None. Okay. Super. You know what, it's time for now, don't you? It is time. It is time for none other than the Westfield River Elementary School presentation. These are always never the right height. Good evening, everyone. I'm Jill Phelan, principal of Westfield River Elementary School. I'm joined tonight by my exceptional assistant principal, Chris Man Freddy, who's hiding over in the corner, and one of our dedicated third grade teachers, Mrs. Jennifer Thilan, um, and many of our wonderful
and inquisitive students. We are here tonight to introduce to you the Young Historians Club, which is a brand new initiative at our school. Mrs. Thilan, who also serves on the Westfield Historical Commission, has a very deep passion for history, especially local history, and she's designed this club to share her enthusiasm and expertise with our third and fourth grade students. And it is now my pleasure to turn the presentation over to Mrs. Thilan and our young historians. Mrs. Steel, can you gimme one second. If parents wanna videotape or wanna be able to take a picture of their kids
during this presentation, you could fill in right behind us. You're more than welcome to come on in so you can see your kids faces and you're not behind them, right? I won't bite you, Mr. Sullivan. Might, but I won't. Some of you right here. Come on. Drew can have my chair. You wanna go? Just be nice. No back of the head shots. Thank is yours. Mr. I wanna make sure the parents are ready. Are we ready? Okay. Um, first of all, thank you for having us. As Mrs Phelan said, this is a new project at Westfield River Elementary. So I just want to, um, acknowledge how this became a reality.
Um, I wanna give thanks to Sue Dargee, our director, director of curriculum for her vision and support the civics grant for funding our materials and expenses and experiences. Jill Phelan and Chris Man Freddy for always champion championing student engagement and authentic learning. We're so grateful for their commitment to help our students connect with history and community. So, the who and why this, this is not even half of us. Um, we are the third and fourth graders under my advisement at Westfield River. We meet twice a month to have an exciting lineup
of guest speakers, live demonstrations, walking field trips or plans throughout the year. These hands-on experiences are designed to help students explore history beyond the textbook and see how it shapes our lives today. So our goals for the group, we're going to make history, personal and meaningful for students. We're gonna strengthen connections between homeschool and community history. We're going to develop student skills and storytelling, presentation and historical thinking. We're gonna celebrate Westfield's role in the 250th
anniversary of the American Revolution, the semi quincentennial. And yes, they can say that. Good job, Quincentennial. So how it benefits the benefits for students and the community. It builds pride and ownership in our learning. It encourages family engagement in education, and it highlights Westfield's role in the upcoming American Revolution 250th anniversary. So, what they're gonna show you, this is our first project. We're all a part of history to help students see themselves as a part of history.
Our first club activity invites them to explore their personal or family. Past students will present their item or story to the group today. It's you tomorrow. It's the rest of the club. By sharing, they actively participate in oral history just as communities have done for generations. These presentations will lead to group discussions, connecting personal history to broader historical themes. This activity builds connections between personal history, community, and national history, helping students recognize that their stories matter, and that history is not just about famous
figures, it's about all of us. So, with no further ado, each of our students does have something from their family or their past to share. So we will start right here. I'm just gonna, I don't know how I'm gonna, I'm just gonna do it. When you wanna go first. Let me get the mic. Gonna say it comes out. Yeah. You wanna hold it up? She's in charge. Hi, go ahead. Hi, my name is Luna and I'm a student at Westfield River Elementary School. The family history I want to share today is about my family's restaurant. Santiago's. Santiago's is a popular restaurant in Westfield
that my family owns. My great-grandparents, Carmen and East Mile Santiago started the restaurant and some of my family members worked there too. Santiago serves Puerto Rican food because my great-grandparents are from Puerto Rico. Some examples of the Puerto Rican food that the restaurant serves are rice and beans and empanadas. My favorite food from Santiago's is rice and beans. The restaurant has been open for 25 years. My great-grandparents came to the United Puerto Rico when they were 17 years old when they started Santiago's in 2000. My great-grandfather and his children performed traditional
music from the island. My great grandparents have mus have kept our Puerto Rican history and culture alive by passing down recipes, traditions, and music to four generations. Do you want me to hold it so you can hold the book? Book? Okay. Hello, my name is Joan. I'm going to be presenting historian stuff from my family's past. The stuff that I will be talking about is my Crockett family cookbook. Davy Crockett is also a distant relative to my family. In the cookbook, there are recipes from my great grandma
Crockett, great-Grandpa Crockett, and other family members. Whenever we use the cookbook, it reminds me of my family. My favorite recipe from the cookbook are German pancakes. Thank you for learning about my family history. Yes. We want me to, okay. Alright, go ahead. Now, help you with tricky words. My grandfather was in the Navy from 1980 to He was in the u us s water canal. He worked on the flight deck.
Good. And what did you bring at the so on your wrist, and that's your grandpa's. Wonderful. You want me to hold it? Okay. You want me to pass for now? Okay. Do you want, do you want her to hold your book? Come close. This is my grandfather John. He was in the, in the Air Force for many years. So this is your grandfather, John. Ooh. Okay.
Good. Hello, my name is Patrick. Hello, my name is Patrick. These are photos of my great-grandparents, Jack and Ellie wig, but to me they are Nana and b Bup was in the army and served overseas during the Korean War. They had to move their wedding back two years because Bup served his country. Nana B are Holyoke natives, but they have deep connections to Westfield. Nana was a home economics teacher at Westfield High School.
One of her students was Tom Gannon, the former band director B was a pharmacist at Karate Drugstore that used to be on Elm Street. Bub passed away a few years ago, but I am happy that Nana was, is able to share their history with me at 93 years old. Wow. Mr. Gannon was my band director. Did you know that Long time ago. My name is Christopher and I'm a student from Westfield River Elementary School. Here's a story about my bop.
She, my great grandmama, who we call Bop. She lived through very hard times in the, in Poland during the Nazi takeover. Because of the war, she never had the chance to get an education, but she always believed in the importance of warning. And she wanted her children and grandchildren to, to have the opportunity she couldn't have. After the war, she applied for the watery to come to America. She waited 10 years for her number to be chosen.
She kept the piece of paper safely in a box, even after bugs had started to eat it away. When her number ha was chosen, she brought the paper to the embassy and was given a ticket to America in 1955. She came here alone, leaving her husband and four children behind until she had money to bring them to. She worked hard, and she even designed and built a house that still lives here today.
Because of her courage and sacrifice, I get to stand here, go to school, and take advantage of the education she dream for us. Her story inspires me to work hard and never take my opportunities for granted. Good Afternoon. My name. You can put almost like right on your chin, period. Good afternoon. My name is Genesis. I represent Westfield River Elementary School. My story's about when I came here from Ecuador.
Ecuador, We came because there wasn't a lot of work and because there was a lot of rubbery going on. So we decided to come here. It took us about like one month to get here, but with, we lived for seven, no, four for four days. We lived under a bridge. We had to sleep on rocks, but we, we only got water and tacos to eat and some cookies, and it was cold at night.
But we were still, but we were still brave to live under that bridge. Mm-hmm. Good afternoon. My name is Nikki and I'm per Oh. Presenting my, um, school Brad tags from Fort Meadow. We were given them when we did good things. I went to school there right after I turned three in January, 2020 and graduated in 2022. This was our mascot cubby for Fort Meadow was very important to me.
I learned the alphabet counting and writing. It's where I learned that I love school. All These are brag tags? Yes. Oh my goodness. Look at all those brag tags. Awesome. Okay. All right. Mason, come on up. My name is Ma Carina. I'm in third grade. You're doing just fine Mason. You're amongst friends. It's okay. Go ahead. I Westdale River Elementary School. This even evening. I would like to tell you a bit about my, my family died from my mom's grandma, grandpa's DNA.
Origins is made up mostly of German, Scotland, iron France, Eastern Europe, and Russia, and the Bogland. Nice. Wow. I wanted to show you a picture of my great-grandma Nani, when, hold on. When my mom was very young with her two sisters. Another piece of my great-grandpa Poppy. When my, when my mom, sisters sister and, and my cousins when they were also very young.
Now everyone has all grown up. Here's a picture of my mom's aunt and uncle and one of my big cousins. She was very close to her grandparents and her Dominican do Dominican Republic. Here is a picture of my great-grandfather and Dio on my father's side. Growing up for both of my parents was diff difficult. My mom worked hard and is now a daycare provider.
My favorite family traditions we do together are going camping, baking, baking pumpkins, and carve them out for Halloween, celebrate holidays and play days and birthdays and play baseball just like all my older cousins did. I hope you enjoyed my info informational speech about my family history. Nice. Is she ready? Okay. Oh, Annabel's gonna wait. Let's say you got a, yeah, okay.
This was my grand, my great-grandfather's badge. He was a cop in Springfield for 40, for 40 years. Okay. Yeah. Show them all his badge. Wow. Woo hoo. All right. I am super impressed that, that they were able to come up here and be brave and read big words and talk about hard things. So, do you have any questions for this crew? No. Okay. Well then we are good. And so we all wanna say thank you to you. So you can you say thank you for them having us here.
Thank you for that was awesome. So what is my favorite thing about Puerto Rican flag raising day? Any idea? Where's Miss Santiago's? Where is she? She's in the back. You know what my favorite thing about flag raising day Go? Me best boys. It is nice to meet all of you. Um, can I get Sure, yeah. Motion recess. Second. Motions been made And second. And all those in favor. So if you guys don't wanna stick around for the rest
of the show, I get it. So we're gonna give you a little time to exit the stage. Thank you very much. Busfield River Elementary. We just Heard you say extra reset. I did. It's in the Thank you very much. Thank you. That's good stuff, Chris. As soon as Mr. Roski returns to the building, we will bring us back into session. Thank you. At, uh, 7 23. It is now Time for the Westville High School student representatives. Hi Colin. Hello there. Um, first time doing this for this year. So introductions of course. Um, I am our e-board president this year,
Colin White, and I'm a senior. Good evening. Um, I am, uh, Sharon Gurung and I am also part of the e-board. Uh, I am a junior. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you meet. It's wonderful to be up here. Have a good amount to go through. Dealing with September, October. Start off with some old business. We've had a great start to our school year. Our open house was September 11th and went very well. We had some table set up for clubs and we had plenty of people come over. Um, on a bit more of a minor note, we had our senior sibling pictures. Always a wonderful thing. I know I went through it. Um, I do not know quite the day it happened. Um, oh, and we also had our superintendent, uh,
superintendent spotlight recently where Mr. Raik, our Superintendent Raki and Mr. Rogers and Ms. Healy had seven WHS students. Um, they were on the radio. They talked about internships at some places, including the Westfield Fire Department, um, Baystate Noble Hospital, um, in the ER and surgery. Westwood Public Schools, WH S's Web Design Program. And at Arm Brook Village. Um, our course this year, uh, once again have, uh, performed in the big e at the pavilion at, uh,
Duro Town on Westfield. And pardon me for my voice. I have very sore throat. I mean, not sore throat, horse, throat, Um, But, um, our chorus has also been able to, um, presented the opportunity to sing along with a Grammy nominated band, uh, foreigner on the main stage as well in the biggie. So that was a very nice thing. They got to do this this year. Going through sports. We've had two senior nights happen. Field hockey, gymnastics. I know field hockey had a clean sweep, 10 to zero. And we have a lot coming up in order of appearance.
We have girls soccer and girls volleyball on the same day. October 14th. There is boys soccer on the 16th. Oh, we have golf on October 7th. Football the 17th. But we also have our band Senior night. And then both the girls and boys cross country on the 19th, as well as Unified basketball on the 28th. Uh, our Dunking Donuts, uh, sponsored, uh, midday for refresher day at Westfield, uh, went very well. Um, we got like, first time, my first time ever trying anything like that. Not too bad. I gotta say I didn't, I don't know why people like to drink it, but I guess it's alright. But, um, yeah, uh, we all got to get $5 gift cards
and it was really popular among all the students and all grades. We also had a WHS counseling department. They held a college application night workshop sponsored by WNEU. And I know we have a few more college application and college related things in the month of October, which is a perfect segue into upcoming business. Gotta organize it. We have our, the pre-sets are being held on October 15th at WHS. And again, once again, this year. Um, uh, the Key Club has, um, is going to be walking for the raise of hope, uh, marathon of the, the,
the charity walk. The charity walk for, uh, for, uh, support for breast cancer. And our band, again, will also be playing for the event for, uh, everyone participating. And, um, uh, our band will also be playing at the Plunk Fest this year. Once again, Closing notes that are most important for seniors. We have, our senior masquerade had to be held on the 24th. However, for everyone here especially, we have a class of 2026 golf tournament being held on the
25th, the day after. And registration's Still open. Well done. Do we have any questions? Perfect. That concludes our presentation. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good job. Thank you very much. Bill, like to make a motion to approve the September 15th, 2025 school committee meeting. Minutes. Second Motion I made. And second. Is there any further discussion? Say none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item second. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of homeschool applications.
Number 1 23 to number 1 51 for the 2025. 2026 school Year. Second. Motion been made. And second. Any further discussion? Say none. All those in favor. Motion passes. Report of School Building. Okay. Um, I'm up. Um, I was assigned two different schools, uh, one newer one and one older. One Westfield Intermediate School in South Hampton Road School. I will start off with the intermediate school. I met, uh, in August with principal Greg Miller, who escorted me throughout the building.
The grounds and fields are in really good shape, along with the driveway, but sidewalks could really use some repair. This building is 25 years old, but looks almost new inside because of the head custodian, Bob Gray and his staff. Everything was shiny and ready for the students. Mr. Miller escorted me to the classrooms, auditorium, cafeteria, bathrooms, and gym. Unfortunately, there is a leak in the roof by room 1 0 4, and the gym sometimes leaks when it rains and needs attention.
I was plead with pleased with the condition of the walls. The tiling and floors we're in immaculate condition. I must give a big CODOs to our food service director Rachel ca Canon, who maintains our food services for our students. The building is in great shape and services our students. Well, I would like to thank Greg Miller for caring for the Westfield Intermediate School building. The second one is not so good. Um, for my observation, um,
the second school I visited was South Hampton Road School with Kate Richie, principal. The school was built in 19 55, 1 of our oldest buildings. The first thing I noticed was the condition of the entrance where the roof has some exposed wood and needs some fixing and paint. And the brick needs to be pointed. The sidewalk leading to the main entrance also needs to be repaired. The grounds around the school needs some work. Also, I know that the PTO has worked, worked on that, but it still needs more tender loving care.
Some trees were taken down, but some new ones could be planted. A new blinking light was installed for Children's Crossing by the school on the inside. Most of the floors work and walls are in good shape. The auditorium gym really needs some updating. The rest of the building was in, in pretty good shape for an older building. The walls and the tile and the floors are in wonderful shape for the age of the building. There are some parts of the building that have been updated, like the teacher's work area. I question the condition of the play equipment at the school.
The school needs to be in compliance with the new playground equipment. Mrs. Rich, Mrs. Richie is working on a solution. There also needs to be a swipe and install card in the back of the building from the playground. Although there was much to be updated, all in all, the building was ready for the school year. I wanna thank Mrs. Richie for the tour and trying to update this building for our students. Thank you. Ms. Hillman. Can, before you go on, I know that some of those things were just Friday, Thursday or Friday. Okay. Uh, one of the, uh, sidewalks was repaired.
Um, tree work was done, um, as necessary. So they're trying to get those things and you Need to remember that I did this in August. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been a couple months, so I don't Know about, I'm just trying to give you the updates. No, No. Okay. Thank you very much. But it's all good. I just wanna report some of the things that needed some care, Work in progress. Yep. Tim, I had the pleasure of visiting Munger Hill Elementary School and was graciously escorted in around the building by principal Stacy Burgess. Um, I've had the opportunity to visit Munger Hill, uh,
last year and in the prior years. And I will say, I think it is in good shape as I've ever seen it for the opening this year. So let's shout out to the custodians, to Principal Burgess, her, her staff, uh, all the administrators there, shiny floors, clean hallways, lockers looking new. And, um, many of the classrooms are ready to go. It's always nice also to see teachers, uh, in and about that time of year, kind of toward the end of August, getting their classrooms ready. So a lot of activity there. Munger Hill, 315, about 315 students. They have five preschool classrooms this year.
Three kindergarten, three first grade, two second grade, two third grade, and three fourth grade classes. So I think there's gonna be a lot of eyes on the early, early education grade levels, uh, this year at Munger. Um, just a couple of wishlist items that Stacy had. Uh, she was Anita, some paraprofessional, so I don't know where we landed with that, if we landed anywhere with that. Um, and the, um, the administrative team was trying to develop design for drop off, uh, looking to make that blacktop space where the, I guess the basketball areas now, the hoops out there, kind
of a turnaround for parents, but it, it seemed like that was gonna take some time to develop. So, um, I think they're gonna be kind of, kind of re re-looking at, try to get a good traffic flow and keep everyone safe. Um, overall, Munger Hill is looking very good. Thank you, Dr. Gunther. So I had the opportunity in late August to see the middle school, um, toward that with Principal McMillan and also, um, graciously gave an early tour to my third grade daughter. Um, the building was looking great at the time. Um, a huge shout out to the custodians who were putting finishing touches before, um,
before the doors opened for the year. Um, we got to get a preview of the bright space that I know some of us were able to see again, uh, last week. And, um, fresh Paint was going up in the new student lounge. And so just huge shout out to, um, that building staff and making lots of spaces for students to feel at home, um, and make sure that there's somewhere for every kid in that building to be outside of their, outside of the day-to-day of their classrooms. Um, we heard about the focus area on meaningful community engagement this year.
Um, going up above and beyond static newsletters is a key building focus area. Um, and then in terms of priorities, the continued funding for Bright came up a lot. Um, the need to make sure that we have sustainable funding for that program. And we also spent some time talking about the auditorium. Um, given that the middle school is such a central, uh, central building for us and is used so much by the community, um, and Principal McMillan shared a couple ideas about phasing in work there to keep that up to date and functioning for the community. Thank you, Dr. Gunther. Mr. Sullivan.
So I, as usual have not been to mine. I started a new job, so I will not be seeing paper mill till probably next week. Um, and I will reach out and have that conversation and I can report out that granted it's not before we start the school year, but I think sometimes starting a little bit after gets another little different viewpoint. So I'm okay with that. Thank you Mr. Sal. Thank You for your patience, Mr. Terrell. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I had the, uh, distinct pleasure of touring Westville Technical Academy and Highland Elementary School this year. Uh, start with Westfield Technical Academy. Um, Mr.
Hastings, Bruce Hastings was good enough to show me around. Um, always a pleasure to walk around the school. Uh, a little nostalgic upstairs, uh, given, uh, that was, uh, that was fifth and sixth grade when, uh, when I was in the system. Um, hasn't changed much. It has not changed much, unfortunately. So I'll start with that part of it since we've segued, uh, so, so nicely to that. Uh, generally speaking, the inside of the building while well kept very well is old. And, and it is showing is its its age. And this is a conversation that we've had here, um,
on many occasions, bathrooms in particular, of course, no surprise to anybody. Uh, one on the lower campus in particular, and a couple on the upper campus are in tough shape. And actually, I know there's been conversations about, um, getting additional quotes to get those bathrooms taken care of. They, they certainly, they certainly need that. Um, enrollment at Westfield Technical Academy. Did you have an update on that? I saw your, well, I, so, uh, Actually the facilities meeting on October 20th, we will have an update on that. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Um, enrollment at Westfield Technical Academy,
and again, these are, these are old numbers. Uh, this, this tour was, uh, was in August, but enrollment at Westfield Technical Academy stands or stood at five, around 550, uh, up from 535 last year. Uh, we walked through construction engineer. We walked through many of the different shops. Construction engineering in particular. Got to see the new equipment that is in place for the Cabinet making program, uh, which is, which allows us to add four to six students per class, uh, to the construction program. Graphic Arts has recently added TV and radio to its area, um, along with, uh,
Westfield's Westfield, uh, Westfield's New FM Station 1 0 7 0.5 WSFD on the dial. If anybody, you could do a commercial for us, if anybody is. Yes. I'm, I'm accepting, uh, accepting offers on that. Um, the auto body area is working on a new, uh, funding for a new spray booth. Um, and Aviation remains the most popular program. We currently have 14 students per year in aviation. Um, potentially we could expand that, um, if we could fund another instructor, uh, up to,
I think it was 20 was the number that we had discussed. Um, all in all, great, great visit. Um, and always a pleasure to walk through the tech academy. Um, Highland Elementary School, Mrs. Ms. Masi, uh, Erica Maselli was good enough to give me a, uh, a walk around at Highland. And, uh, school was in great shape. And this was, I think the week or two leading up to, leading up to school. Everything looked, uh, fantastic. Uh, uh, some highlights, uh, some new plantings, uh, in front of the building courtesy of the Westfield Technical Academy Horticulture Program.
Uh, and as we know, as we've, it's been pretty well talked about here over the past, uh, few months, uh, that, uh, we moved, uh, portion of the Fort Meadow program to, uh, to Highland. Um, so from Fort Meadow, uh, they have, uh, brought over four classroom teachers, eight paras. Um, and then from a services standpoint to autism specialists as well as BCBA and speech therapists that are shared between schools. Um, this year, Highland will have five pre-K classrooms up from one last year.
Uh, well, I should say, not that they will have, at the time I wrote this, they will, but they wouldn't, they will have. But they do have, uh, three, 4-year-old full day classrooms, two, 3-year-old half day classes with a MPM classes. Whereas previously they had one mixed full day, uh, uh, pre-K classroom as a result of the move from Fort Meadow. Uh, all but four of the existing classrooms, uh, that were in the building had to move. Um, all specials retained their own rooms, although some have moved except for health, which we'll use the art room or, which does use, pardon me to change the tents on this.
I should have, uh, I should have revisited this, but, uh, will, it does use the art room on Thursdays when there are no art classes. Uh, just from a logistics standpoint, changing station was added. Uh, there was a big concern for those who, I know Jeff was on the committee, um, when we were investigating the move from Fort Meadow into both Highland and Munger Hill. And, uh, one of the concerns was some of the, some of the logistical things that we needed around the food and the changing station was added at the end of the pre-K hallway. Um, so, so no problems, uh, no problems there.
Uh, some new playground equipment at the time of the visit was going in. I'm hoping that that is complete. Yep. And, um, uh, uh, just sort of overall, in addition to the, to the, the, um, the condition of the building, which was great. Uh, just wanted to point out some of the creativity in both using the existing space and also logistically moving that many classrooms around. During the summer, if you went into the gymnasium, there were, there was tape all over the, all over the floor
with markings as to what, what classroom number this was. And all of the, the contents from those classrooms were staged in those individual areas and then moved into the new areas. So, uh, nice, nice, very, very creative in terms of, of how that was put together. Um, and then in terms of just using the existing space, there is really not any open space in that building any longer. It was, it was, I mean, every closet's been used, every, um, every room's been used in a lot of thought put into just sort of the convenience and,
and where, where we could fit those things in. So, um, yeah. Two great visits. Uh, I really appreciate, thank you to the principles for the, for the, uh, for the tour. Thank you Mr. Terrell and Mrs. Masselli. Thank you for the help last week. I appreciate it. Mr. Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had the two remaining schools, Westfield High School and Westfield River Elementary School. I will start with Westfield River. Uh, I met Mrs. Felan at the door along with Mr. Man, Freddie, and they both said, this school is way outta date. Can we please get a new one? I
said, if you could get it before the tech academy, good luck. Um, no, obviously there's not a whole lot I could say about the condition of the school. Um, the outside, I don't know that, again, this was August. Like everybody else, I don't know if the grass is good and everybody, the reset they are using is recess now. 'cause when I was there, they were worried they were just on the blacktop. So now, Um, the new play structure areas open, the field is still Closed. The field is still closed. Grass is Coming in, but we have plenty of space outside. Alright, well that field is gonna be great when it's usable. 'cause it's huge. Yeah.
So, uh, um, so obviously everything, uh, is, I, I could go on and on about the school, but I really don't need to 'cause it's, it's a new school and they are using, uh, it's great going up and seeing the pods and the classes and, and each of, each of the grades at their different spot in the school. So, um, it really is a, a wonderful job that was done. Uh, the construction on the whole thing, but the way it's being run, um, is exactly the way everybody envisioned it. So congratulations on that. Westfield High, uh, is interesting, uh, because there's so much going on up there.
Um, I met Chuck, uh, inside and we started down some of the hallways inside the school. Uh, the career center seems to be one of the more popular spots, uh, which is, which is good to see. Uh, I think that's very important. We also went through the library, which is interesting because they're making some changes inside the library, moving some things. They moved some of the bookshelves and, and I know Mr. Mayor, you would be very interested in this because they found the original carpet from 1973 underneath the bookshelves, and I know you were on that carpet. So I just wanted to, uh, uh, make sure
that everybody knew that it's still there. Um, so it's, it's nice. Uh, but again, forward thinking spaces are available. Uh, I would love to have kids still read books, but we know where that's going with everything else that they can read on computers and phones. So, um, I think what they are doing up there is certainly the right way to go outside, is what everybody I'm sure is interested in. Um, and it is going, uh, extremely well from what I can tell. Again, not the expert on building stadiums, uh, and softball fields and practice fields. Um, and I know Mr. Terrell will have updates throughout this
whole process on the, on the building committee, uh, and the subcommittee. But just looking out a third floor window and looking out over the, the parking lot and into the field, it's amazing. Um, and it is going to be spectacular that Westfield will finally have the playing fields that they are going to get and deserve. Um, it, they really are. I, I agree. Um, I know the company, the, the, the people that who, who are building it are there and working their tails off. And I still can't believe you're gonna get it for next year, for next fall.
But that's the timeline. So, uh, that will be fantastic. But it's just fun watching it go and watching it build and watching all the work done on it. The softball field is gonna be great. Uh, 'cause they deserve it too. The practice field Outback will be done later. You've already got the tennis courts. So the whole area up there at Westfield High is great. And I know that's just after school athletics, but everybody's going to use it. There's gonna be more people in town that use that field. It's not just gonna be for Westfield High students. It certainly will be for the tech academy people, uh,
the park and Rec kids coming up. So, uh, watching it go and, and, and seeing the progress is, is great. But overall, uh, both schools, uh, are very, very good. Thank you. Mr. Sullivan. Incidentally, Mr. Sullivan, we have a student out of the career center. You better have More than one Who wants to go into that building as a career. So Mountain View has accepted a student as an intern to go and work on them with that project. Oh, nice. So I just thought it brought two things you were talking about very nicely Too. That's great. That's good to hear. I'm gonna tie it into your attendance policy later.
Anyway, next up. Approval trips. That's Me. Uh, I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a field trip for Westfield High School to Simsbury High School, Simsbury, Connecticut, December 8th, 2025. Second most, my main second is right further discussion. Preschool, hockey game. Super Pre-season hockey game. Sorry. Preschool. Preschool. Great. Get those guys out there Any further? All those in favor? A opposed Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a trip for Westfield Technical Academy to Old Rhinebeck, aome
and Rhinebeck, New York. October 9th, 2025. Second Motion may made. Second. Any further discussion? Say none. All those in favor? Motion. Carrie, I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a trip for Westfield Technical Academy to Collins Aerospace, Windsor, LS, Connecticut, October 22nd, 2025. Second Motion may made in second. Any further discussion saying none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. You guys. Next up. So, good evening, uh, Mr. Superintendent, how are you? Stefan Zeki, superintendent Schools?
I'm doing well, mayor. Mr. Mayor, how are you? This I'm terrific. Despite the, despite the carpet, red carpet. It was a good one. It was a good one. Well, thank you. No, It's what, it's right As a complete surprise attached to the budget, the state, uh, passed. Um, there's supposed to be some more discussion and some more and, and there's still another bill to delay this. However, we have to, uh, submit both of the topics you're about to hear to Desi by November 1st. So we wanted to present them tonight in case there are any, any adjustments we have to make to get it approved. However, the first item is informational,
does not require school committee approval. And that is Principal McMillan's, uh, middle school, uh, exposure plan. And Mr. Hastings, we all kind of worked on that. And then, um, the one that does require school committee approval is the admissions policy for WTA. So we'll start with Jesse, 'cause I thought it made sense to go in order of chronology. Good evening. Jesse McMillan, principal of Westfield Middle School here to talk about, uh, how we are planning to expose students to their vocational options once they complete eighth grade. Um, you should have received a copy of this tentative
document that we had post to our school website. Uh, first and foremost, Westfield Technical Academy. Um, we expose a couple other schools in this document, and the families are interested in that. They can view the document on the website, uh, two other schools listed in our area as far as career exploration. One of the things that the middle school will start implementing next year is something called My cap, my Career and Academic Plan. Right now we're in the planning phase and working with Joanne Lin and applying for grant funding. And my lead counselor will work with me on this
to create a plan for implementation for 26 27. Um, so it's not a requirement yet, but it will be a requirement in the very near future. As far as collaboration with the vocational school. We already have a very strong program in place with WTA. They come into our school on a very regular basis to our lunches. We have, um, speakers in the auditorium, opportunities to go and visit the school. So that part of the document was pretty easy to complete because we already have that in place. Uh, we do often receive requests from other schools
to be able to come into Westfield Middle School at this time. Uh, we don't offer that. We just offer it for Westfield Technical Academy. If they would like to provide information, we can post that in our guidance suite, which is a part of the, um, document here. And this will apply for on-campus assemblies as well. So I did specifically note that, um, for non-district vocational schools, that it will not be provided for other on-campus events. Um, we have the lunch visits, the school tours for eighth grade. One of the thing that we're, one of the things we're hoping to implement this school year is
to get our seventh graders over there in the early fall, because oftentimes we're talking about Westfield Technical Academy, but our eighth graders don't visit until March or April. Um, and by that time, it, it's a little too late. So we want them to have that opportunity to see it once they enter the middle school. So we'll be doing a walking tour over to WTA, um, I think at the end of this month or beginning of November. So they'll have that opportunity to see it and then go again in eighth grade promotion of events. Um, so this was a very specific mandate by Desi.
By October 15th, we will share all of the information about the vocational schools, which will be available on our website, um, as well as in our guidance suite. Application interviews will continue to provide that during the school day for WTA, again, other students or other schools will not be able to come into Westfield Middle School to specifically interview students, but they will be able to host students in their building to and receive an excused absence. And the last piece is maintenance of records. Uh, district states that part of the,
the requirement will be for us as a middle school and my guidance department to keep track of all of this information, all of the tours, the visits, and any other information, um, that Desi could potentially audit us with. Any questions about the middle school explanation? Great Job. Thank. Yeah, Thank you. Just, yeah. Uh, thanks Jesse. It looks like a lot of work really went into this. It's very detailed. So it's, it's greatly appreciated. School tours. Um, each year, all eighth grade students will have the opportunity to tour Westfield Tech Academy. Um, it's at a participation rate thing.
It's at it's, is that every student or, or what does that look like? Yes, it's every student. Um, so we walk over there and it's gonna, I need to add to the seventh grade as well. Yeah. So seventh grade, the tours are going to look a little bit different. We just want to provide very general exposure to our seventh grade students. We're eighth grade, they're really getting into the specific shots, but yes, 100% of the students that Do a hundred percent great. Yeah. Well, they have a lot of opportunity to learn and learn what they like. A lot of awareness, creative beer. Good. And the kids really enjoy the opportunity for WTA
to come over to us specifically during our lunches. That's a very popular table. They'll come over. Different shops will be featured. So that's another great opportunity that we'll continue this year. Nice. Great. Thank you. Anything else? So next up is Principal Hastings. Jesse's really tall, uh, is, um, principal Hastings. So this part does require a school committee vote. And both of these again, have to be submitted by me to Desi by November 1st. So, uh, what the department has done is, uh, uh,
against the recommendation of every single vocational, uh, principal, superintendent everywhere in the state. Uh, they have put in a lottery, but there are some stipulations. So Mr. Hastings will go into those. There you go. Have that Screen. Do you have that? No, but they have it in there. Oh, okay. Alright, perfect. Hi, I'm Bruce Hastings. I'm the principal at, uh, the place to be Westfield Tech. Um, Mike, just to add a little, we now actually have 560 students. We, um, but it's brought in the largest freshman class in history. Graduated the largest class in history,
and we'll probably do it again in June as well. Um, so the, the whole merit versus lottery has been determined to be a lottery now. Um, the, the connection we have with the middle school has been excellent. All through our time as, as a merit school. I've talked to other principals and superintendents of regional schools, which we are not one. Um, I believe it was the principal at Minuteman Tech, uh, literally said none of the middle schools allowed him to go in and actually talk to students. So we really value that
because there was never a rule about that. Um, because of money, you know, they take kids out, they don't go to the high school that they go to. So we've always had a great connection. Um, with the middle school, we go over numerous times to lunches. We go numerous times to the auditorium. Uh, the eighth graders do a tour. They usually do it during our, um, uh, CTE week in February. We're probably gonna readjust that now because of the application timeline that the state has given us. Um, so we're very fortunate. I think we're the only, I think we're the only vocational school in the state that is a public district
that takes in out of town students. I don't know if Deon does. It's the only one I can't find out. But, um, so this system is very different than what the regional schools are dealing with. Their lotteries are gonna be much different than we are. So basically what we have to do now is, um, basically choose students via a lottery. There are certain rules that we have to follow. The, uh, application, our application for admission has to be up on our website or available in a paper copy by November 1st. Um, which we are already have, uh, edited that, and that should be ready to go.
Students have to apply. We cannot have the deadline for applications earlier than January 1st, and they can't be later than March 1st. So we have a window that we are allowed to pick the date of when we want our application due each year. We can change it every year if we want to, that we have that laterality. Uh, and so what we do is we just take all the applications and we, uh, create a lottery system. The difference this year for us is going to be, um, Westfield residents take precedence.
They have to be admitted ahead of out of town as long as there are seats available. Um, so basically what we will do is we will, uh, create a lottery for all the Westfield. If there are, I'll use last year as an example, we had 177 applicants from the town of Westfield or the city of Westfield. Uh, we usually offer around 160 seats. So they would've been picked in a lottery one through 177. The top 160 would've been offered a position. The other 17 would've been the top of the waiting list.
We then would've taken every application we got from out of district, put them in a separate lottery, 1 78 to whatever, how many we got, which was almost 80 this year. Um, and they would be below the Westfield students because very often, even though we add, even though we offer positions, sometimes the families or the child students decide, nah, I don't want to go there. And they go to the high school or go somewhere else. So that's when we start taking people off the waiting list. Um, this year I think we only would've added about 10 out of district students when we usually average 20 ish.
So it would've been a, it's, it'll be a different, so it'll be interesting to see what the numbers are this year when we go through this. Um, late applicants, we can still take applications after March 1st, but they actually would have another separate lottery and they would be further down the list just added to the bottom. And that's basically how it works. The state has allowed schools to, um, do a different, two different types of lotteries, basically you can choose from. One is just a straight lottery student applies, their name goes in one, one name. There's also a weighted lottery system that they've created
that allows the schools to determine different weights and how many names a person can get in. Uh, there are four ca you know, obviously the name is one. And then there are three different categories, uh, based on attendance, discipline, and in shown interest in CTE schools. Do not have to use all four. You actually can use two, three or four. You can use whichever ones you choose. And you can also change 'em every year if you want to. Um, so on our policy, we've listed them all because they are all options every year for us on
how we're going to, if we do choose a weighted lottery as a, as a building, um, which one we're going to use. Um, right now we're kind of leaning towards having some kind of weighted lottery, but mainly only using attendance. Um, the reason that the deadline we chose on your form is Jan, I think it's January 23rd. Is that what it's Sure. January 23rd. 23rd. That's the halfway point. The attendance that we can use as a wait is 270 school days previous to the application. That takes them pretty much back to the first day
of seventh grade because you can't go back into sixth grade by, by, um, Desi's decree there. So that's kind of what we're looking at. If we, if we do that, um, that's kind of our way we're looking right now. Um, the interest shown, we could give everybody one, because we take the whole eighth grade, we take the whole seventh grade. And if people don't know this, we actually, uh, we have a traveling road show where every shop sets up a little display. We're actually doing that at WIS now for fifth and sixth graders. They come through the gym and see 'em. So we're starting them early.
Um, who knows, maybe we'll start going to elementary schools. Uh, I'd like to recruit some of those kids. Um, we're here earlier. Um, so that's how the, the lottery, um, itself has to be done in public. But it can be done virtually. Like you don't have to have a in the auditorium start, you know, throwing ping pong balls all over the place. Um, it can be done virtually. It can also be done, um, uh, via a, a computer, you know, a a system that you put, like kids are gonna get a number so we're not peeling up names on the screens. Um, and if their number shows up,
they will know their number when they hand in their application. Um, we will just do the lottery. The system will spit out the numbers and we will just broadcast it. And students who are picked will receive the letter in the mail that we usually send with a deadline for them to choose. You know, are you coming or are you going to turn down, uh, the offer of a seat. Um, so do you want talk a little bit about that, the lottery thing that you've looked at with other Dan's been Dan's our kind of our technical guy. He is very good at this. He, um, if you don't know Dan ett, assistant principal at the place to be at Westville Tech. Um, and he has been, uh, talking with other schools.
He knows some people at Chicopee Comp. Um, and it's always good to hear what other schools are doing. Um, although I gave Stefan an interesting note yesterday. Tri-County Regional School Committee is refusing to, uh, vote on their policy because they think it's illegal. So, uh, before we get too much further, They think the policy that board of directors, board of Ed did as a Lead. Before we get, uh, too much further into the discussion portion, um, we need to offer a motion. Yep. So, Uh, so I'd like to make a motion, uh,
for the approval of the Westfield Technical Academy application and admissions for two, the, uh, 20 25, 20 26 as presented. Second Motion have made and seconded. So go ahead. Um, I have some my, some of my own views on this whole lottery thing, but my views come from the MMA. So whenever, Dan, did you have something you wanted offer software? What We're Sure. I mean, if you'd like to hear about it, um, it's just basically, uh, Come on out. We all buy, it is a place to be right here in City of I love the microphone. So let me tell you. Um, it's a,
a computer simulated program. Um, students will basically get a yes or or a no versus whether they meet one of the four criteria based on that. That happens in multiple times. From there, it randomly generates, um, random generation though. If you look up anything, uh, on AI or anything along that line there, there can always be some version of bias, uh, with any type of electronic system. So then that puts us to, you know, yeah, we can blow balloons, put numbers on it, throw darts at it. We could, um, you know, pull the ping pong balls out of the hat. Um, you know, we could see how far I could throw
and that could be what number I hit. Um, there, there's a lot of, many different ways of doing a random lottery, but, um, the computer, more than likely, that's the one that makes the most sense. Yes. Yeah, no comments. So I was under the impression and I, or maybe it was a hybrid or not, but didn't we already have a weighted system as far as taking them? And it wasn't just attendance, So this is different. So it was, so you had five criteria, but attendance, which is key to a shop program. 'cause if you miss a week a shop regularly, you're, you're, you can't catch up. Uh, discipline was also,
there was a guidance recommendation, which maybe hmm, right. Uh, but the vast majority of the stuff was, was pretty good. Now there's a weighted system where, so if you have, uh, you know this, if you have, if you meet a, a certain criteria, you, your name goes in the lottery twice as opposed to one time. So you have a better chance of getting pulled out. So that's how that changes. That's how it changes, Because in here, that's what I, so that's what that means. Yeah. So what, so what, so if you look at attendance, so any applicant gets their name in, right? So then if you look at the attendance and it says no more than 27 absences in the past 270 days.
So students underneath 27 would get their second name in Anybody over 27 just gets the one. Okay. So they have two names versus the one. Alright, perfect. So the other last year merit system, there were five categories. Each was worth 20 points. So if it had, you know, really good attendance, they get 20 in attendance. If they had no discipline, they'd get a 20 in that, you know, and they'd have a really good score. And we just, you know, the kid with the high scores all the way down to how many we had would be offered admission. Okay. So the discipline and the attendance, if it wasn't so good
for a student, would move them down. Okay. They only get one entry as opposed to No, I'm talking about the old No, the Old. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm, but Even if we use discipline, if the discipline is very specific now with the state, it's only literally, um, if you bring drugs to school or assault a staff member and you could have been charged with a felony either, like you could get a, in a, a scrap and you get a couple day suspension. The state no longer recognizes that as part of this, which makes me a little nervous because we're a building based on safety first, safety second, safety third,
and having students that are not safe is not good for us. Anyone else? Ms. Dr. Gunther? I said two, I think you answered the, the weights was one question that I had that, that's helpful. I understand that. Under the, are we going to publish which weights we're gonna use before we put the Mm Yeah. Public key. Yep. Okay. And then the other one is during the, in the, uh, sorry. In the acceptance enrollment mm-hmm. We talk about having successfully passed English language arts and mathematics been promoted? Yeah.
So once, once we get the list of kids who get spots offered, then we can actually ask for their grades to see if they're going to pass and be promoted to the next grade. If they're not, then we can actually deny their application and go to the next person on the list. We can't ask for grades during the application process anymore. We used to Be able to, just for the purposes of being really explicit, I might amend that to note that that's English language arts or mathematics in the prior school year. We can add that as opposed to just like, let's have that.
I think that that would make it more clear. Thank you. Jeff. Yes, Mr. O'Connor. Bruce, um, let's say that you go to a lottery and the lottery gets filled up and then there's a waiting list still after that. Mm-hmm. Um, if there, if the enrollment at the tech academy goes down for any reason and a person ended up, let's say, going to Westfield High School, is there a chance for them to transfer? Yes. There's different times in the year that we can take transfers, um, right away. When kids night, there's very oftentimes we'll come
for the first week or two and decide it's not for me. Yeah. And we can go right to the waiting list. They're there. Um, halfway through the year, very often. Sometimes kids, if we see there is openings, we'll go to the waiting list and make some calls and see if kids are interested. Now, in that case, when students have already filled up the shops, 'cause our exploratories would be over, we would offer a kid a spot. But these are the only shops that have openings. Understood. So it, it's a little bit of an end. Sophomores can come in, previous applicants can still come in. Um, if some, if our freshman, freshman class in June is low,
so going into their sophomore year, very often in the summer, we'll offer some kids who had applied previous fall and did not get in. We'll offer positions if they want to try. Got it. Again, based on whatever's available shop wise. Yeah. Um, Except aviation. 'cause they have to start aviation from day one. Yeah. Do people know where they stand at that point? That what I know I'm next on the waiting list or, Well, this is gonna be new for us, so it'll be, the waiting list will be, will be published with the names and numbers. So let 'em know where they are and they can always call and ask and we'll say, you know, we've had a few
and so people have moved up five, 10 spots or Whatever. Yeah. And I saw the, um, homeschooled students and the policy. Do you, do you have a number of those? Do you have any Well, no one can be homeschooled and we attend Westfield Tech. They actually have to come. Understood. But they, so they may, But if they're residents of Westfield and they're eighth, they're in the, they're in the Westfield. Right, right. Lottery. If they're residents of other towns, they're in the out of district. Understood. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I just didn't know if you had any homeschooled students would apply. We've, we had a few come in last, maybe had
Five come in last. Just, um, how is that documentation that you get from, from them? I mean, is that, is it any, any less than Whoever's, you know, in charge of it at home, sends us grades, work, whatever they've done. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Thanks Mr. Sullivan. I'm gonna get away a little bit from the nuts and bolts and ask basically a general question. Was the system so broken that it needed to be fixed? No. No. So why there was this, this is the part that I don't understand. So what, there's a couple things, right?
And so I know in Kathy's, uh, effort toward, I know I understand the out of district kids, um, you know, and so we are gonna have a lot less out of district kids is also going to negatively affect the school department's budget. It's going to reduce our budget by a significant hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's what this does. So what superintendents have been clamoring for are more seats in ct, not a lot. We wanted more seats so more students could be admitted because CTE schools across the state are overflowing.
And this is what we got. So it doesn't make more seats for kids, it just makes different kids getting in. And so someone who could be a potential, uh, aviation mechanic, maybe it was in their blood, it's in the family. That child may not get in now. Whereas before, they were almost guaranteed acceptance. And one of the things about WTA that I've learned from when I was a principal, and you can back me up on this, is a lot of our fam, a lot of our students go into their career fields because their families that are in that career field. And now if they can't get into that program because we have this lottery, my question
to the state is now, and let's say there's an opening at Smith Vocational mm-hmm. Am I required to pay from the district budget for that student to attend Auto Tech at, in Smith Vocational because they didn't get into our system for the lottery. And so it really could potentially, forgive me, screw some Westfield kids over double tip. Pretty, pretty badly. Right? It's frustrating. There is a bill now being considered to stop this and do a study before this gets implemented. But this is a pet project of governor and lieutenant and the lieutenant governor. And it is actually really,
CTE schools are up in arms over this. They are not happy that this passed. And I've shared my views with this with Mayor McCabe before. And while I understand, like, to me, a tendency and discipline ought to be huge factors. Because if you're out 50 days in eighth grade and you're, and that's your attendance pattern, there's no way you can succeed at Westfield Technical Academy or any career technical school that you go to if you have weapons things, right. We have shops that could, with the equipment that could seriously harm other people. And so, you know, I'm not saying, you know,
that it was the best system, but I would've liked more time to look at it instead of having to fall for the pet project of the elected officials. So what, what is the ultimate desired outcome of doing this? So I'm gonna answer that question for you. The ultimate desired outcome of doing this is to placate the folks in Fall River. It's that simple. There is no alternative outcome. So when I said I was gonna have some comments on this, it's because I spoke before the MMA on this very topic. It's absolutely a terrible policy for the city of Westfield. It's just terrible.
There's nothing, I mean, there's, There's no reward. So if you go back to, and I don't want to monopolize this, but I'm, I'm a little warm about it. If you go back to, um, what Mr. Hastings said, and you have an an enrollment of 160 people and you go into a lottery and you wind up with all 80 from outside of the city, get into that lottery, and they all just magically happened to be in that means 80 Westfield kids did not get in. It can't happen. It can't happen now because we have to take the Westfield students before the honor district. So now on the newly 'cause that's the way it was gonna, now under the new form
now that as the superintendent has pointed out, if folks don't get in, I believe that we have to pay the out of district, which, and no school, no school committee or no school superintendent can budget for the unknown as they're trying to prepare for their budgets. It's just, it's a terrible system. But the folks in Fall River had a greater voice than I, That's all. Well then let me have that follow up. What did Fall River do? Or what are they not doing that we're doing and why are we placating them?
I mean they, they were are they just looking for attendance numbers? They were disproportionate. Yeah. Which means what means their incoming class didn't, didn't look like the district percentage wise of groups of people. From what I understand, I think you're, you told me this, 24 out of 28 vocational schools in the state are proportionate. Right. And we, So the rest of us are, and We are, three of them knew they weren't three years ago and asked Dusti for help and they've been working on it and getting better. Yeah. The one school that didn't is the one that made most of the ruckus about this. And the most interesting thing is the state.
That's the one, the state senator, the state senator from that district is a West Pointer and he still wants lottery. 'cause I know he didn't get into West Point on a lottery. Right. So it's, it's one thing. And all of us have To, well, and then the other thing that will change, change is we've been, so here was how it would be before, alright. If Johnny wanted Auto Tech, I didn't have to go to the lottery to let 'em in. I, now I have to go to the lottery. And if it's not that particular student and they still want Westfield Tech, there's the potential
that we would have to pay for that student now to go out of district so they can get, even though we offer the program. Right. No, I get it. It's a mess. It's a mess. But It, it's a mess that was created politically. It is not a mess that couldn't have been fixed. So if the real issue, you have 177 students for 170 slots, then you figure out a way to get another 10 slots. It's, it really is that, it's that simple. It really is that easy. But that's not what the state chose to do. And this really was politically motivated. So, um, it's a situation
where I don't think we have any choice, but not, I, I don't want a filibuster. Right. But not vote for it. But it's, you know, it's one of those things you really have to hold your nose because it, it's not good policy in my, in my opinion. And the mayor, you and I haven't talked about this for two years, I think when it was coming up. So, and it got, it snuck in at graduation. I was told it was not going to pass. Yeah. And then the budget passed and it passed. It got, it was contingent upon the budget. It was made a condition of the budget. So, and you, this may be for you or either one of you. What happens if we vote now? Well, I have to submit something to Desi
for compliance purposes For sure. And they could in essence, uh, hold back chapter seven four funding. I mean that they could hold back funding. It's the Angel story. It's so exciting. He Chose No, I get it. I get it. But it, you're a hundred percent right. It's such bad policy. So how, how do you approve bad policy? Our local representatives do not support this Policy. I'm sure they don't. I could, I was gonna ask that. What I think Yeah, that's good. Yeah. But on the same token, at the same level,
and I don't mean any disrespect to them, um, Kelly and, and John's tenure is exactly with mine. We, we become friends, we become collaborators. Um, they just don't have the juice to effectuate any change. You know, our numbers aren't the same as Fall River. We have 40,000 people. We have 27,000 registered voters. They might have 27,000 registered voters in a district. And this is pragmatic issues. Let's be dumb here and play the political game. The next step. Where's Boston? On this Boston Swamps Ball River?
So Remember, remember what the issue, you guys don't really answer this question, but, But remember what the issue is. The issue is about trying to align demographics. So if the issue is trying to align demographics, then weird qualifications go away. The watering down of discipline goes away. The watering down of grades goes away. So what happens is you allow more people into the system that might not have gotten into the system. And that is by design. I get it. So I think you know where Mayor Wu is on this. Yeah. We're, we're not aligned. So sorry.
But a a vote from you would allow me to, to To move forward to, to Follow the rules. And I am a rule follower. I Am. So you, you would like us to pass this? Well, I mean, I don't want to jeopardize future chapter 74 funding for the district. I can't, I mean, you know, when they tie it to, to that what do we do? Do they really hold it? I would prefer not to be the test case. Well, you've already got a test case, would you say Tri-County? Yeah, Tri, yeah. Let's see what happens there. In the meantime, let's pass this and wait and see. I don't know what else to how else
To do it. So how about we do this? How about, you know, clearly you need it. I get it. But why don't we ask the law firm that you employ to track it? Because to be honest with you, I would be interested in seeing what the spin is of the legality of the issue that Tri-County raises. And we don't have that before us now. We do not. But I track it just as closely because this is an interest for our district. I mean, the, the thing is, is there's this policy, if anything would've, should apply better or more, uh, effectively to regional school districts.
Not city owned vocational schools. There are only a few of us at Putnam. Jacob Buon us to Connic to Connic and one other. Worcester Tech. Worcester Tech, we're city owned vocational schools. The others are regional school districts. So it's a, it's apples and oranges we're very different than they are. They're they're taking applications from like up to 15 towns. Yeah. So they, they There don't care. Their Lottery will be done by town and how many seats they allow that town To have. Sure. Um, schools, Kathleen, did you, I think Kathleen might have had a question, but I'm sure Oh, I was
Gonna say is I'm glad Westfield students come first. Um, because there were people that wanted to get into tech school and they had the ability, but they just weren't picked. Well, I mean, there was a, there was logic behind that in terms of the application process. So again, you know, and even last year when I put forward, we've talked about a new school or a combination or whatever that happens. My vision with that obviously is creating more seats for, for students. So, uh, the, the current WTA and I was actually asked this by a local business owner today. Um, it's at capacity.
The, we can't grow anymore within that building. And so that's why you've seen, I've added criminal, just we've added criminal justice at say Westfield High School. And if we were to do animal science, it might be, you know, across the street. So you might do a little bit something at Westfield High School. But, um, To Mr. Hastings point, not everybody who applies should get in. Well, I, that's why there are, you know, criteria. There could be that student who's like, No, I'm not, I'm not Kathleen, I'm not arguing with that. I'm just saying that if you have guidelines that say you meet this requirement, great. You meet this requirement, great.
You meet this requirement, great. You don't meet that one. Sorry. You're not getting it. That's which is why we originally started going system Kind of to get Them more excited about it, even At a West Point. Doesn't knowing West Point, west Point doesn't do it that way. I think we're starting to get to it. I I was trying to bring us back to the, I just wanna make sure I'm clear. Like what we think the impact of this is, is that we would have, we will likely have fewer out of district students in the tech. And that's a choice that we're making in the policy
On last Year's numbers at this year's, um, system. We would probably Yeah. Which is what, 250,000? No, I, sorry. I saw a lot of people shake their heads. The, like, it's a choice of, for us in the policy of whether we preference Westfield kids not. That's, that Is, we must preference Westfield over Okay. In District Kids, which in a bigger school we would do, by the way. Mm-hmm. Got it. Okay. That makes sense. And so we're making, so we are required to accept Westfield first and then the, the theory is that there are students who,
from Westfield, who will get into the tech that might not otherwise have been chosen by the committee approach that we had. Well, the other part with that is, is that they may not be successful either because if they have poor attendance and discipline, uh, rates, then they may. So like, uh, as Bruce said, we've taken a record number of, um, students that, uh, you know, for freshman year we had a record number of graduates last year that is likely to, to decrease. It reminds me when I first started at WTA back in 2009, uh, when, uh, we would have class classes of 150 kids
and only graduate about a hundred. And we now have a rate where the kids are going, being successful and graduating. We lose maybe five or 10. But you're not losing 50, which is what you, how it used to be. And we worked hard to get that. You know, when you put, when students are going through that program, you want them to be successful, obviously. Right. Um, and sometimes there are also factors outside of a student family control that they can't be successful in that environment. I get all of that too. But our numbers of successful students has increased so much over the last decade that it's something to be proud of, I think too. Just so Bruce, we need
to work together on the policy then for, It's not a policy, it's an admission. No, no, no. But we have it in Our Oh yeah. We have to update, Update that policy. Can you work with me with that? Okay. Thank you. And I, I would urge us to wait 'cause there is, uh, something happening in November where if it passes in the legislature, it will put a halt to this. Okay. But the Desi's deadline is November 1st. I have just one more. Go ahead. Okay, sure. Is there a way to implement some kind of programming for the students that maybe necessarily have too many absences
and shouldn't be brought in where we they have to take extra or required to take, you know, pre-reqs, if you will, to make up for, I mean, it just helps to, So what, what has to happen when they enter ninth grade is if they have a poor school attendance history, they have to attend. And I as, and I'm going to talk about some attendance numbers later, but you'll notice WTA is at the top of the list regularly. Um, and that is because students go there know they, they have to be there. Uh, but we are pushing that across the entire District. You think they want to be there
Too? That Yes, yes. It's a place to be. But I'm saying again, you like, the biggest, the biggest issue that has been with any shop, again from principal to superintendent, is that if you miss a week of a shop, you've missed 30 hours of instruction. And like, it's not the same as if you miss an English class. You can stay after school on a Thursday and make up the work. How do, how you make up 30 hours worth of work? It doesn't happen. And then they fall behind in the curriculum and then it gets complicated. Okay. Okay. Are we good? I think we're good. Mike Terrell, ho. Hold on. Um, so the motion,
No, no, no. I got, I I actually have one more question. Oh One. I know it's due November 1st, right? We have another meeting before November 1st. Why don't we just push this off two weeks? What's the difference, Bob? Because I would like to see what happens with other schools. I don't think there's gonna be any resolution between, No, I don't think there's gonna be a resolution, but I would like to see what other schools, either city owned schools, town owned schools or, or district schools, uh, what, how they handle this. Mm-hmm. I mean, maybe there's something that's out there. Tri counties get traction and other people follow along. So There's some of the other ones, like I was just in a mava meeting.
Uh, Pathfinder is just, is doing a weighted lottery, but they're giving everybody four names because that way no one can, there's no room for any appeals. They have no, they have no argument. Um, and, uh, Aaron Polanski, where is he now? Old colony. Old Colony is just saying everybody's name in one time and that's it. We're not gonna, that way they can't appeal. It's just you got one name just like everybody else. So that's kind of what the people in my position are, are at. Like, let's avoid the appeals and do the, just whatever. They're, they're frustrated. They don't, they don't.
Does it do as the administrators of you guys have to do the work here? Does it, do you any good to wait two weeks? No, that's Your prerogative. I mean, that's why we did it tonight. Just In case. In case you wanted to hear it again this morning. That's why we did it early and, but I can't go past the 20th. If I'm gonna follow the rules, which I, as I mentioned typically like to do, do You think anything's gonna change anybody's mind between now and the 20th? Realistically? Thank you Mr. Sullivan. Okay. Um, the motion is to accept or approve, um, the Westfield Technical Academy applications
and Administra admissions policy 20 25, 20 26. Um, a yay. Is an approve a nay. Is it disapproved? Mr. Seller? Call roll. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey got there. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. No, that's what I'm doing. Heather Sullivan? No. Tim O'Connor. No. Oh, You guys are killing me. McCabe Need Aary question. I don't have the answer. Suppose usually that night.
Well Ask the question because I have feeling someone in the background note too. Don't know the, the answer to the question. How do you with your parliamentary procedures, councilor Figgy from Ward two, representative of the school committee? I'll try all. If there's a no vote, how soon can you retake a vote? Should things change? Depends on the rules. Rules Council are different than the rules of the school committee. I would say. I just wanted to be Say again. Say again. I Didn't want, I didn't, just didn't want it for me. I don't
Know the answer to my question and it would change my vote. I am gonna go with my gut and say No. There you go. I, I was against it from the start. I was against it at MMAI was against it when we were doing legislative governance advisory council, which by the way, just so that you guys know what a legislative advisory council is, those are direct conversations with the governor and lieutenant Governor. I'm the representative to that council. I was a no then, so it would be disingenuous probably for me to be a yes. Now. So I had her ear at the hangar and she totally blew me off the Lieutenant governor when I
was trying to explain to her why this really isn't a great idea. Um, So I don't think they're changing your mind. I don't know. I guess, uh, we gotta see where the chips fall. Okay. But, so we can bring it back to the next, at the next Meeting. So that's a matter for Mr. Duper. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate the Frank discourse, by the way, for all the members here. Um, it's an interesting question. Sometimes you got hard votes. I'm finding That our legislators are getting more and more, um, controlling of local matters
in their decisions and rules that they pass. Unfortunately, that's, uh, a trend that's, that's really becoming problematic. It's very problematic. Um, okay, so a rule, uh, it's something that affects Foul River, probably shouldn't affect the other 350 some odd towns in district, in the city. Uh, I need a motion, when you ready to move to the next 10 item. I'd like to make a motion to approve the, uh, to put forward, um, the west spring, the spring Westfield public school strategy for continuous,
continuous, continuous improvement of the 20 25, 28, uh, school year as presented. Sorry, second Motion been made and seconded. Alright. And so I know you have this in your packet, but I did put it on the screen for our viewers and for, um, so I can go over it. But the first one. There we go. Okay. Uh, and so what you'll notice about these is there are, there's our, our, our district vision, our our district theory of action, our three strategic objectives, and then our strategic initiatives. Right? So years ago, probably about, uh, 12
or 13 years ago, this document replaced what used to be the school improvement plan or district improvement plan, which was often 50 or 60 pages that nobody really read. So, uh, we wanted, uh, the state and, uh, Desi, department of elementary and secondary Ed and MASS. So my organization of, uh, superintendents wanted to come up with a document that people would actually utilize and, and read. And this is the document that they came up with. And so we have, uh, used this, this will be now my third, um, strategy for continuous improvement. And what you'll see is that it aligns pretty much
with the goals that we've been working on over the last few years. And so the first initiative, uh, objective that we can talk about, I'll do the first one and then we can take questions. Uh, educators provide applied learning experiences that are relevant and standards based that promote student growth and achievement. And so the initiatives to support that objective are learning experiences, support student growth and collaboration, communication, critical thinking, integrity and resilience. And if that sounds familiar, it should, because that is our portrait of a graduate right there. The second one is the use of high quality instructional materials aligned
with the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks. And the last one is that students engaging in academic discourse with peers every day, which we started last year and are continuing to expand upon this year. And I'll say that I was in a bunch of classrooms this week and I got to see lots of productive student discourse. And it was very positive just to hear them talking about things other than what they did on the weekend, uh, in class. So, um, so this is the first one. Again, educators provide applied learning experiences that are relevant in standards based that promote student growth and achievement. And those three other, uh, initiatives are
how we are getting there over the next three years. And again, that does align this, uh, with some of our goals from last year and this year too. Seeing none. Yeah. Alright. The second one, Students feel safe, supported and connected to adults and peers to fully engage in learning. That is the objective and the initiative. Two-way communication with students and families is used to identify barriers to attendance at school and provide interventions to identified students. And I think you can see we've already started this, this year. Again, our push for attendance has actually
provided some earlier very positive results. We've also, two-way communication is talking points, right? So we're not giving parents our cell phone numbers. They can talk back to us and everything. And, and the, uh, all research tells you another, about 50% of people actually even read their email. But 95% of people will read a text message. So Talking Points allows the teacher to send a message out to the whole class individual students, but also, uh, the parent can write back to you without having that. And it's all gets archived, of course, by, uh, so that if there's ever a public records request. So it's, it's following the rules.
Um, but we are clearly using other ways to communicate. But talking Points has been our addition this year. The next one is students, staff and families collaborate to improve the school climate and culture for all stakeholders. And so we have, um, we continue to do our climate surveys. And one of the things actually why the middle school has its student lounge, it came actually out of the student part of the climate survey. So every school is responding to the data that they have collected, uh, for, from parents and from students as well as staff, and are implementing those, uh, those,
those changes for the stakeholders. And then social emotional instruction and supports are provided to students to promote wellbeing, to improve student outcomes. And that really talks about, again, our use of adjustment counselors, our partnership with, uh, river Valley Counseling and other, uh, providers in order to make sure that our student wellbeing is, is, uh, at the, uh, forefront. And of course, we have our social and emotional curriculum that we teach both in the elementary and secondary level. So, So what I just want to find out is social and emotional, uh, component has been at the forefront
and high levels. Are we seeing any decrease in this? Are we seeing anything? Is it measurable enough to say that it's better than it was? Are we still on an upward trajectory where we're still struggling and we're looking and, uh, grabbing at straws? I would say that as the students get older, it is working. Where we're having a lot of challenges now is the younger grades. So before, before students get here, uh, and then, but the curriculum that we have have have, like choose love that is working. Uh, but we do see a lot of challenges to students have,
have not been exposed to this. And there you are gonna have your outliers too. So when you ask the question, is it better? It doesn't necessarily feel like it today. Okay. As you asked that question, um, mean coming Outta our younger, the pandemic, it was massive and I feel like It's better than the pandemic. Yes. Okay. So I'm just feeling like it never feels like relief. I feel like it still Feels massive. I think what we're seeing now is that the students that are now pre-K kindergarten are those that were, um, born during the pandemic times. And since the pandemic we have
certainly had a lot to overcome. Okay. Anybody else? And then the last one, the collection and analysis of data informs instruction to improve student learning. And, uh, and that is again, the objective and initiatives student data is disaggregated to identify trends in student groups to provide targeted instruction and support. We are on that right now, like absolutely. Um, like on it really a lot. I, nothing I was gonna say was gonna be good there. So, great analogy. Uh, so I, I just,
I mean, that is our goal, right? We are looking to identify the achievement gaps really between our ELs and special education students to regular education students. We are working on that, um, really almost daily. And the information that we're gathering is important in some of our, as we go to visit schools, we're looking at the effectiveness as our role indicated of, of, uh, you know, team teaching models, inclusion and stuff like that. So we are, we are all over that. And we are looking at data more than ever. Uh, instructional leadership teams meet regularly to analyze student data, to guide professional development
and improve instruction. And so not only do we have an instructional leadership team at every school, but we have also, uh, created a district instructional leadership team, which really its purpose is to instruct the, is to help the site ones, but also we can look at it from a, a whole district lens rather than a site, uh, lens. But the school-based instructional leadership teams obviously are looking at their data at their school and what they can do to improve, to make sure the student outcomes are getting better. And then the last one, classroom visits occur frequently to measure the impact of instruction on student learning. And that is happening both on the principal
and assistant principal level as well as the central office level. Um, we are, um, when I first started here, we did Friday field trips. We were doing those again. And it's not always on a Friday though, 'cause the schedule doesn't work out that well. But, uh, we go into classrooms and, um, you know, it's not an evaluative nature, but it is a fact gathering nature so that we can see what is happening in the classrooms. And so how we can improve that instruction. And so, uh, we, you know, we're going to put all that data together and we're gonna identify trends. And so, uh, we did our first round,
we're finishing those up, and then we'll do a next round, next month and, and so on. And I think by January we'll have enough data to look at to see if we can see any trends that are, that we see across the district that might be impacting student learning. Any further? Any questions? Ms. Hillman, when you go into the rooms, um, are the teachers aware that you're coming or is it just okay, Takes the fun out of it, Kathy? No, and actually, again, we're not in there to, I don't want our teachers to think if they're watching, we're not there evaluating you. We are just gathering facts. So please don't take it that way. Sometimes we interact with kids, which is my favorite part, by the way.
And also we're interacting with the teachers and it's, it's, it's just a good, it's a good moment, but you can see what's happening in the classroom and you can, uh, see the environment and such when you're in there. How many people are going in at a time. So I don't try to bring like the whole Coke team into one classroom. 'cause that's overwhelming. Good. Good. Uh, so we're at teams of two Two, okay. Any further questions? More macro question, which just like, I, you, you hit on this a little bit at the outset, but can you just one more time help me understand like how this tracks to the super? We have a lot of goals. We have our, we have our, our, uh,
student success goals, we have our superintendent goals. And just, I agree with everything that's written on this in terms of a priority. And just help us understand how to, um, to Ms. Sullivan's point, like how we are tracking progress against these and like, mapping initiatives to strategies. And is it primarily, is is your direction to us basically like sign off that you agree with these things and I will focus you through the superintendent evaluation? Well, Well that's pretty much, yeah. I mean, that's kind of what we're doing. And so, well the other, we do have a lot of goals,
but I also, I'm trying to hone in on a few things that we can do well rather than a bunch of things that we can do not so well. Yep. And I think when you talk about data, our students feeling safe and supported and applied learning for kids, that's really where we're going as a district. And my goal is I think we have reflected that and will reflect that moving forward because we know that's what's best for our kids. Yeah. Uh, and the data, for example, and I know that's, uh, I mean it's the Question ask. I think you can see it's been guiding us through decision making, but I think it's good to, to quantify or put on paper and say, this is, we're doing this, we have these leader,
uh, instructional leadership teams to improve instruction and we will know how to measure these. Well, how's our student attendance doing? Well, it needs to get better, our parents more engaged. These are all things that we can measure. Um, classroom visits, those are things that we can document, right? And the same thing just in terms of, you know, the portrait of a graduate that is still, and it's in development, but we can track, we can see if our students are collaborating. And so the student discourse kind of went along that, 'cause now you're seeing students collaborate, teach each other, learn from each other, um, communicate,
which is another one of that critically think, uh, I think you're joy and Yeah, no, no, I think all these things feel measurable, but like in terms of when we will come back to like, this is a three year continuous improvement plan. Do we have a plan to come back to this? Or is the primary way to come back to this to say, I'm gonna link superintendent goals to these strategic initiatives. And that's the primary way that we're gonna monitor Our progress towards them. So I, um, and so when I write the goals, right, uh, it's with this, you know, one of the things that I feel like goes under the, uh, the,
the educating part is just with ai, right? Right. So this is our big global document. Yeah. But we can use my goals and any other goals to kind of hone in on some of these. And I should be able to be able to tell you how we've used data through my goal, but also through this. So I think there are some that will be outside of that, but there are some that are also in inside of that, if that makes sense. Yeah. I guess my main issue is I wanna make sure we don't just approve a note, a three year continuous improvement plan and then shelve it. Well, the end of 2028 is when we would come back
and report out on that. And of course some of it might just be easier than others to report out on. 'cause we may have already done it as a result of the superintendent goals. Yep. Makes Sense. Thank you. So again, this is the global view of where we're going. Where I believe the superintendent schools are more specific direct and, uh, every year as opposed to three years. So some school, uh, strategies for continuing improvement are five years. I thought three was more, was more, was more fair. And, and these are things that we want to continue doing. So, uh, for the next few years because we know it's good practice. So would we see an update at the end of this year?
Well, I think a lot of it would be covered under my goals, but yes. Yes. It's in some way, shape or form. Yeah. Okay. Okay. We have a motion then made and seconded. No further discussion. That was the discussion. Yep. Yeah, I'm just kind of capping it. Ms. Sullivan, you wanna call him? Oh, I was doing, um, Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Jeremy McCabe. Well that was a much easier vote. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Item 12,
I'd like to make a motion to approve the enrichment clubs listed in the Westfield Education Association unit a employment contract as presented. Second Motion I made. And second, is there any further discussion? Where did Dr. Morris go? Dr. Morris, I'll step up. So just as a reminder, um, enrichment clubs were put into the contract 2023. Um, they're part of Appendix B, which are additional activities that benefit our students and our staff lead beyond the typical working hours, uh, and school hours for our students. And MTRS, the retirement board indicated
that there would be need, need to be more specifics if this was gonna be pensionable income. And so each year since then, we've had to come up with what the enrichment clubs are at each school, uh, for a school committee vote. So that while these funds are, when these funds are paid, they are pensionable for the employees who are doing this work that benefits our students. And you can see the clubs for this school year are listed, uh, in the handout that I gave you with the dollar amounts. And once this vote goes through, I can let Hero know so folks can get paid and they get their, uh, penal, part of their income included.
Uh, Dr. Morris, you wanna read through 'em just so we put 'em on the record so everybody else knows what we're talking about? Absolutely. So for Westfield High School, the three clubs are Jazz Ensemble Club, photography Club, and a games club, Westfield Technical Academy, our art club and Student Support Club, Westfield Middle School, our horticulture club, games club, and yearbook Club. At the Intermediate school, it's Games club, science robotics Club, and a chess club. Paper Mill Elementary, uh, revolution two 50 American History Club. And there's two at Highland Elementary Art Club and Student Council Club. Any question? How come there are new clubs
at Munger or South? Uh, it is by interest. So there's available, the contract allows for 12 clubs at the elementary level, but it's, it's, no one's forced to do it. This is an optional, um, additional job that, uh, our staff have access to. And we, you know, we're overfilled at the elementary level. So what happens if somebody wants to start longer? There is a part of the contract that says That allows for that. Yes. And if they really want to start, we can pro if it's later in the school year, I'll bring back that information for an additional vote of the committee.
Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? This involves, uh, quasi money. We'll say real money. Um, hold the roll please. Bo Sullivan? Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Tim O'Connor? Yes. Chairman McKay? Yes. And I'd like to thank Dr. Morris for his understanding and getting his choice. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Morris Sullivan. So I'm going to give you the weekly report of the, I mean the report of the weekly warrants,
but I want to thank Bill Sullivan for signing all of them. I think, um, new job having its effects. Um, September 12th, 2025. 20 batches totaling $385,332 and 2 cents. September 19th, 2025 19. Batches totaling $456,749 and 45 cents. September 26th, 2020 5, 22 batches totaling $1,139,196
and 6 cents. I'd like to make a motion to accept, uh, the following gifts and donations donated to Highland Elementary School from Stop and Shop Blooming for a good program amount of $39 using the educational purposes gift account. Second. Motion made very quickly and robustly seconded. Is there any further discussion? No. Thank you. Always thankful for Any, always We Scares me. So Heather Sullivan yet? Go ahead. Mr. Sullivan. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes.
Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Sullivan? Yes. Tim O'Connor? Yes. And Chairman McKay? Yes. And thank you to the donors. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to table, uh, the following grants, the Irene e and George A. Davis Foundation grant, the Connecting Activities Grant and the Hate Crime Prevention grant. Second Motion Been made. The second. And, um, I don't really think it needs any further discussion. Um, We'll just bring it back next week, next two weeks. Yeah. We just don't have anybody here to represent the grant. So, um,
Which is Understandable. Ms. Sullivan. Motion to table. Yep. Um, I have Tim, gimme a second. Um, Mike Terrell. Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Heather Sullivan. Yes. Tim O'Connor. Yes. Chairman McKay. Yes. Mr. Z Broski. Mr. Do quick, quick updates tonight, but I do want to talk about the month of September for attendance for our, our schools. And if you do follow our social media page,
I may have posted a few things on that, um, as well as a weekly attendance motivator. But, um, the, the top five schools for the last month, and I just, 'cause it's fantastic. You know, our goal is about 94% that's pre pandemic and we are about 95 as a, as a district. But I wanna shout out Munger Hill for having the best attendance for the month, month of September for nine with 96.48%. Second place in all of our schools are doing well, I'm just pointing that, but we're talking percentage point differences. So, uh, second place South Hampton Road, 96.38%.
And then you have Westco Technical Academy at 96.35%. We were really split. Yeah, it's like a, maybe one in that case. One, one, uh, highs elementary school and America was here earlier, 96.25%. And then five is just, uh, at West Intermediate School at 95.61. So our, our message about attendance is, is getting out to folks and, and kids there and families are, are taking it seriously. So we appreciate that, uh, what I, you know, every day missed in school is a missed opportunity
and we have to get that message out. Um, so congratulations. Keep up the great work. And just as a quick side note, canine for Kids is expanding into new schools, covering most of the elementary schools now in Westfield Middle School. And Westfield River School is new this year. Uh, it's been a wonderful way for our students and animals to make positive connections. It actually started with a school committee member we had on, uh, previously as you recall. Uh, but it is going, uh, very well and it really is, is a positive thing for our students. Again, they're not in schools every day. They come in every once in a while.
Um, but, uh, it's a very calming, uh, has a very calming effect on some of our kids. That's all I have for today. Well done. Um, I'm gonna highlight a couple things. We had the Spanish, um, American Puerto Rican rag, uh, flag raising, um, ceremony over the weekend. And I'd like to give a shout out to Becky Gonzalez and Olga Gonzalez, who are the, were the recipients of this year's wra um, folks of the year. There are local business at Energy Up. And to say that they do a lot of things
behind the scenes would be an understatement. Um, we see the project's, uh, progress that is going at the, uh, athletic fields. And part of the reason for the athletic fields, along with part of the reasons for the Enrichments Club is to dovetail with attendance. Um, sometimes the reason to be there is an after school event. So you sit through the whole day and you might vicariously learn so that you can go to your after school event. So it's just a true statement. It is. It, it is what it is.
Um, I have an a IC program and I'm not gonna say exactly what that is, but I think that if you're actually present, you have a better chance of learning. That's just me. Um, and I would like to formally request of, uh, Mr. Salki that he reach out tomorrow to Dure Law Firm and, um, apprise them of our vote that we took tonight. See where that stands, and to see if they can monitor Tri-County, uh, to see really what kind of position we're in. Um, it was a difficult vote, I want to say, but I don't think what was done to Westfield
as a result of statewide policy was in the best interest of our community. So I voted no. And then I'm gonna leave it at that school committee updates. Um, School committee update policy Committee is going to be working on competency determination and the graduation requirement for our next meeting. So we're gonna, I'm gonna be meeting with Christine and some of her people to determine what those two policies will be. Thank you. Anything else? Um, just let the attorney know that Stefan did want to follow the rules that we, we we made,
You made me not follow The rules. We did it for you. Thank You. His intentions were good. Dr. Gunther, I was just gonna give a quick shout out to, um, the Highland Huskies for winning the, uh, the Spirit Award at Run Stanley this weekend. Um, and just want to thank Stanley. Do you know anybody over there? Huh? Do you know anybody? Couple people. Um, it was, it was our first time attending that event and it was an awesome event at Run Stanley and just want to thank the sponsors. And I saw so many staff there cheering on students,
not just from Highland, but from all of the elementary schools. And, um, it was really great to see the school community there at that event cheering on the kids. That's Awesome. Just A quick note. Uh, due to a scheduling conflict, the facilities subcommittee meeting that was originally we talked about at the last meeting, going to be tonight, will now be held on October 20th. Thank you. Mike. What is it? October 20th. 20th, okay. What time prior to, so I've got a schedule. So I think you're at five to five 30.
We might be five 30 to six. And then executive session. Six to seven. I thought we were five 30. Five 30. Five 30. I think we can get that straight now. Yeah. Okay. Still in motion. Okay. Thank you. Um, items for referral Subcommittees. I think we kind of did that already. Um, old business subcommittee, reports, recommendations, reports. Minutes. None. Next regular school committee meeting is on October 20th, 2025. 7:00 PM Right here. Motion to adjourn has been made. Second.
All in favor. Motion passes. We are adjourned.