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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 84 NO. 233
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2015
Superintendent Scallion visits ‘The Press Room’ By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – Patrick Berry’s guest on Thursday morning’s WSKB Community Radio show, The Press Room, was Dr. Suzanne Scallion, Superintendent of Westfield Public Schools. Scallion was upbeat about her hopes and dreams for the district, and offered some practical money-saving ideas for the next several years. She also expressed her appreciation for the coverage of the schools by The Westfield News. Scallion started off by answering questions about the budget process, with Berry asking if it ever ended. Scallion said her budget was done in February, but wasn’t finalized until June 30 when the state budget was signed, and $400,000 in additional cuts were made. Scallion said most of the cuts were on the technology side, because the district is looking for a tech bond. “We have to push this agenda,” Scallion said about upgrading the technology in the Westfield schools. “Our kids are behind.” Scallion spoke about some of the successful tech projects in the schools. “The PTO in Southampton Road School put a Smart Board in every classroom,” she said. She said they are using the Envision Math program which brings math to life on the boards. “The teacher taps the board to see the math computation come to life in the real world.” She added that Southampton Road scores in math are superior to those of everyone else in the city. Scallion said she wants to see technology like this in every school in the district, adding that there are much cheaper interactive boards out there. “We’ve got to become a Tier I school district,” she said. When asked about pre-school, Scallion said, “I’m all in.” She said pre-school costs roughly $10,000 a year for families. Some of her ideas include an earlier kindergarten start, and a two-year kindergarten. Westfield now has an August 1 cutoff for kindergarten, which is the earliest in the state. Currently, Fort Meadow School is the only pre-school in the district, with a mix of 200 special needs and tuition
— LOUIS PASTEUR
75 cents
Council approves hangar funding Westfield High School Principal Dennis Duquette and his therapy dog Jake. (Photo by Amy Porter)
‘Jake’ gets, gives, lots of love at WHS By AMY PORTER Correspondent WWESTFIELD – When Principal Dennis Duquette moved over from South Middle School to Westfield High School this year, he brought with him his dog Jake, much to the delight of students and faculty alike. Every morning, Duquette and Jake go out to greet the buses. Duquette says he waves and says hello to all the students, and what do they say – “Hi, Jake.” Sometimes he’ll say, “I’m here too, will you say good morning to me?” He said Jake is a great companion, and a great way to make connections with the kids. Jake, who is half border collie and half springer spaniel according to his veterinarian, is 4 ½ years old. His birthday is February 25. Duquette rescued him from a shelter in Auburn, Maine, when the dog was 11 months old. He has taken basic obedience, good canine citizenship, and service dog training as a therapy dog, which allows the school to have liability insurance on him. These days, Jake has on a different bandana every day, because kids bring him a new one every day. At a recent event, he received a bag of bandanas from a parent. Jake goes everywhere in the build-
ing except the cafeteria. He’ll follow Duquette into classrooms. Sometimes, he’ll peel off into a class by himself. Different teachers have water in their classrooms for him. On Friday, he was scheduled to go on an ecology hike on the trails around the school with the environmental science class, who had requested him on Thursday. Almost every period, a student comes in to take Jake for a walk around the school grounds. Duquette said Jake has a way of making students and adults feel better. Sometimes teachers request Jake for certain classes as a reward, or as part of a discussion. In the office, he has his own signup sheet. Jake has a slight limp these days from a torn tendon in his rear haunch. Duquette said he will be taking a three-week leave this fall to get it sewn up. During his recovery, he’ll be on a leash, and his activities will be curtailed a bit. Duquette said he’ll still bring him to school, though. During the two years that Duquette was principal of South Middle School, the school gave out an annual Jake Award at the end of the year. Four eighth grade students – two boys and two girls – were honored for showing See Jake, Page 8
See Scallion, Page 8
Southwick library receives one-time funds By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Public Library received a $5,800 boost this week. State Sen. Donald F. Humason (R-Westfield) and State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) presented a ceremonial check to Library Director Diane Caruso Friday morning and said they wished it was more. The legislators said when the economy took a major downturn in 2008, local aid took a hit and they are both working to earmark funds for libraries. “Representative Boldyga and I spoke about what we would try to do for libraries,” said Humason. “We said we would try to direct funds to the five smallest libraries in the district, including Southwick.” Boldyga said he has been a longtime library user. “I grew up for a few years in Lee and lived near the library,” he said. “I spent many hours at the library.”
“Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism.”
State Sen. Donald F. Humason (R-Westfield) and State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) present a check to Library Director Diane Caruso Friday morning. Boldyga is passing on that love to his own children, who often attend programs at the Southwick Library. He said he and Humason would continue to advocate for increased library funding. The one-time funds are unencumbered and available for any need at the library.
“It’s a one-time check, so use it wisely,” Humason said. Caruso said the funds would be well used in the areas of technology, programming and building improvements. “Thank you,” Caruso said. “You have See Southwick Library, Page 8
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve two motions allocating $300,000 of Community Preservation Act for the restoration of Hangar #2 at Barnes Regional Airport. Airport manager Brian Barnes said the Community Preservation Committee had allocated $500,000 for the project but that more money was needed after a more in depth inspection of the building. “The CPC was asked to approve $500,000 to do the outside of the building of Hangar #2, that was the initial estimate by Reinhardt Associates, but the revised number to restore the exterior of the building is now more than $1 million,” Barnes said. “The school (Westfield Technical Academy) has a $250,000 grant.” Barnes said that the city received two bids to perform the exterior envelope restoration and that both bids to replace the roof, doors, and windows and to rehabilitate the masonry work came in at “around $900,000.” The city’s plans to use the hangar to house a new program at the Westfield Technical Academy and a new curriculum is being developed for an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Program for aviation technology, which would allow students to join the aviation See Hanger Funding, Page 8
Westfield Technical Academy accelerates learning with race car By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD – Westfield Technical Academy students are learning “real world situations” as part of a unique project involving a stock car, now docked in one of the bays in the automotive technology shop. “It is a long-term project that encompasses the whole school and now it will be an ongoing project since there is so much to do,” said David Tefft, automotive instructor. “The car, based off a General Motors G body car, is project based which will allow us to utilize a lot of programs within the school along with academics.” Tefft noted that students across the spectrum of academic programs can get involved – from manufacturing technology, auto collision and automotive technology to business technology and graphics. “The project will add real world situations and relevance to what they are learning,” said Tefft. “There are a lot of geometry related tasks so we are working on integrating math and other academics in this program. In the future I want to design a lesson and take the car to the middle school level to add relevance to their learning also.” During the past few months, students including Conner Fleury, Dante Bongiovanni, and Ethan Pighetti were involved in all aspects of preparing the car for racing in the Limited Late Model division at the Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Conn. “We placed 12th and 13th in the last two weeks of August at Stafford,” said Tefft. “Week one was getting through tech, qualifying the car and then the feature. I was going to be pleased to get through tech, which we did. I was ecstatic to be able to run the feature event. Getting through tech was a huge success for us.” Tefft said the experience at Stafford was also important to his race team – Westfield Technical Motorsports. “While reviewing safety issues in the paddock/pit area with students, I had some great assistance from fellow teacher Bill Strozuk,” said Tefft. “Also, my fellow teammates from Industrial Handling Systems were on hand to make sure students were safe.” For three manufacturing technology students, the experience to date of building a car from the frame up has been surreal. See Race Car, Page 8