School Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and his central office team of administrators met with principals, assistant principals and department supervisors from all of the schools on Aug. 15 for a morning of professional development at East Mountain Country Club.
“I’m still here. I still love the job. I’m still passionate about our kids,” said Czaporowski, who is beginning his ninth year as superintendent.
Czaporowski said this year the focus will be on instruction and attendance.
“We are a lot better than our scores indicate. It’s time our scores show that,” he shared, referring to MCAS. He noted that there is currently a ballot question in Massachusetts to make passing MCAS no longer be a requirement for graduation. Last year’s MCAS scores will be published next month.
He said Westfield’s specific goal this year will be on student engagement.
“We need to teach bell-to-bell and maximize instruction.” Czaporowski said, adding that 10 minutes off of class time adds up over a year.
Director of Curriculum Susan Dargie spoke more about the instructional priority for the school year.
“We know where we want to go. We know what our students should be able to do. Looking at our district data, we know we need to improve,” Dargie said.
She said as a district, Westfield wants to make instruction the priority, with one targeted and specific focus. Dargie said she is confident that the curriculum is teaching state frameworks.
“Over the last eight years, we have updated all core instructional materials to address high-quality standards. Now we need to focus on how to teach,” she said, adding, “We know how students learn in terms of research. We need to put it into practice.”
She said the year’s primary instructional goal will be “collaboration and communication so all students, especially those with disabilities, have opportunities to engage in academic discourse with peers every day.”
Czaporowski outlined in a follow-up letter to administrators and teachers that the second goal for the year will be that attendance matters.
“Regular attendance is fundamental to student success. We will continue to utilize proactive measures to monitor attendance patterns and provide early interventions when needed,” he said.
Czaporowski said Westfield has had significant gains in attendance over the past year, but “we’re still not where we were before COVID. We need to find a way to get them into our buildings.” He said all school administrators will get a list of students who were chronically absent last year.
He said the goal is to create a school culture where students understand the importance of attendance and feel motivated to actively participate in their education.
Data-informed decision making is the third goal, to help make informed decisions that have a direct impact on student outcomes. “We will prioritize the collection and analysis of data to identify trends, measure progress, and adjust our strategies as needed,” he wrote.
Building on what he said at the start of the meeting, Czaporowski said parent and community engagement is also a goal — to build strong partnerships with parents and the broader community, which he said is essential to supporting our students’ educational journey.
Another district goal is parent and community engagement — to build strong partnerships with parents and the broader community, which he called “essential to supporting our students’ educational journey.”
Czaporowski said he has been speaking to families about various issues, and the communication has to continue.
“We will continue to actively seek opportunities to involve families in their children’s education and leverage community resources to enrich the learning experience.”
“I am excited. It is great to see all of you — this is one of my favorite days,” Czaporowski said to the administrators at the meeting.
Schools open for students in grades 1-4 at Abner Gibbs and Franklin Avenue elementary schools on Wednesday, Aug. 28, to discuss the move later in the year into the new Westfield River Elementary School. This is also an early release day for students, with dismissal at 12:15 p.m. Czaporowski said the move into the new school is on track to open on time during winter break. A tour day for students and for community members will be scheduled in the next month or so.
Schools open for all students in grades 1-12 on Thursday, Aug. 29. The first day of school for kindergarten and preschool is Wednesday, Sept. 4. The last day of school is scheduled for June 17, unless make-up days are needed because of snow or other cancelations.