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The Westfield News
“To enjoy life
one should give up the lure of life.”
Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
— MOHANDAS K. GANDHI
www.thewestfieldnews.com
75 cents
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 017
Voc-Tech to host School Committee Monday By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – In what has become an annual event, the Westfield School Committee will be holding their next meeting in Westfield Vocational-Technical High School’s Tiger’s Pride Restaurant on Monday. The School Committee will then be split into three groups that will tour the school’s shops and receive updates and feedback from the WVTHS Advisory Committee. “At 6 (p.m.), I’m going to talk about our improved MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems) scores and some of the initiatives we’ve been talking about, like school climate,” said WVTHS Principal Stefan Czaporowski. “We’re doing interventions for science and dual-enrollment coursework with Westfield State University.” Czaporowski said that WSU has just received an early college-high school grant and that his school is working toward becoming an “early college high school.” “We’ve established a whole bunch of new articulations with local colleges and universities so that kids will have college credit,” Czaporowski said, adding that a 12-credit agreement has just been reached with Springfield Technical Community College for WVTHS students graduating from the school’s manufacturing program. A six-credit articulation has also been reached with Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI for WVTHS culinary students. “We’re going to be giving a handout listing all of them that night,” said Czaporowski of the articulation agreements. He added that he is excited to give the committee updates on the school’s dropout rate, as well, which he said has decreased dramatically, though he couldn’t divulge further details yet. Czaporowski said he’s excited to divide the committee up so they can see four different components of the WVTHS experience. See Meeting, Page 3
Coordinators selected for Voc-Tech program A ReStore branch planned by Habitat for Humanity officials for a vacant East Main Street storefront will include a fenced yard for storage or display of larger items. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Council approves Habitat license By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council voted unanimously last week to approve a junk dealer’s license petitioned by the Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity to operate a retail store at 301 East Main St. A junk license is required by city ordinance to resell any used materials. Habitat is planning to open a retail facility called Restore which will sell used home-construction materials and furniture. The Restore store is a brand name owned by Habitat for Humanity. The council’s License Committee Thursday night gave the junk dealer request a 3-0 positive recommendation after meeting Wednesday with representatives of the organization. Much of the committee’s discussion focused on concerns of City Council members about litter and trash at the Restore donation drop-off area. License Chairman Christopher Crean said Habitat officials presented their plans to address that concern and maintain an orderly site. The City Council held a public hearing at its Jan. 5 special meeting on the Habitat for
Humanity junk dealers permit. Proceeds from the sale of used construction materials and furniture will be used for Habitat housing projects. Habitat for Humanity, represented by Jason Tsitso, a board member and chairman of the Restore Planning Committee, spoke at the public hearing. “We’ll be selling donated goods, construction items, furniture,” Tsitso said. “We will have a donation site in the fenced area on the side of the building,” Tsitso said. “The store will be accessed through the side because there will be a retail area in the front of the building.” Several council members asked about items being dropped off during the hours when the store is not staffed. Council President Brian Sullivan asked how the staff “will monitor the drop-off area so it doesn’t become a dumping area.” “We’ll have a dumpster on site to dispose of trash items,” Tsitso said. “We want to be good neighbors and hope it will not get out of hand.” City Advancement Office Joseph See Habitat, Page 3
Empty bus collides with empty van By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Although none of the three crashes involving parked vehicles reported Friday were reported immediately, only two drivers left the accident scenes without reporting the crashes. There was a good reason why no third operator fled the scene – or failed to report the third crash. There was no third operator. An East Bartlett Street resident complained that her car had been struck while parked in her driveway and a fast food worker reported that her car was struck in
her restaurant’s parking lot but in both of those cases there is evidence pointing to an operator. However, nobody was operating the school bus which struck a parked van in the yard of a Southampton Road day care facility. A caller from the company reported the collision Friday morning and said that, although the transmission was left in park, apparently the parking brake was not set when the bus was parked and it later rolled into the parked van. No injuries were reported and the bus was not seriously damaged.
By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The pieces of the new Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Program slated for arrival at Westfield Vocational-Technical High School this fall are starting to take form, as the program’s advisory board has selected two members to form curriculum. Tracy Gillespie and James Czerwecki were recently selected to begin to shape the A&P program’s course instruction and both are up for – and looking forward to – the challenge. “I’ve got 30 some-odd years in the aviation industry, both flying and turning wrenches and the last 15 I’ve spent educating post-grad students,” said Czerwecki, who graduated from East Coast Aerotech and flew with and worked for such airlines as Pilgrim and Delta, along with what he calls ‘mom and pop’ aviation companies. “I’ve discovered that post-grad students are not coming out of high school with the required knowledge they need to get into the aviation program.” Czerwecki stated that he has been looking for a high school aviation program where he could offer his wealth of expertise and when the opportunity arose in Westfield, he was ecstatic at the chance to do so in an almost custom-made environment. He said that, as the first teacher in the program, he’ll be in charge of handling the equipment needs of the program – which already has three aircraft for students to hone their skills – and hopes to impart his vast knowlege on to students by stressing the importance of the industry they are entering. “It’s all about professionalism. This isn’t a game or an automobile that you can pull to the side of the road if it breaks down,” he said. “This is students understanding the seriousness of their job and the responsibilities that they hold.” Gillespie, a former avionics technician with the United States Air Force, holds associates degrees in Propulsion and Aircraft Maintenance and graduated with honors from Baypath College. She hopes that the A&P program will serve the community for many years to come and provide a gateway for Westfield students into a growing field. “From a professional viewpoint, the ability to grow a program such as this one from the ground up is the ultimate experience,” said Gillespie. “With any program launch, the goal is to be able to bring together and interweave all the necessary skill sets and create a balance that will result in the strongest possible solution.” Gillespie used the building of a chair as an apt metaphor for building an educational progrm. “You need four legs. If any of those legs don’t measure up, your chair will tip over. In our case, the legs are curriculum, facilities, training aircraft and learning aides, and last, but certainly not least, support services,” she said. “Each are equally important and each can have a huge impact on the final outcome.” “For me, being able to speak the language of each of these very different requirements and translate the needs from one to another is what I have worked toward my entire career.” For Gillespie, the opportunity to be a crucial See Program, Page 3
Compressor station documentary video to be shown By RICHIE DAVIS Greenfield – Recorder Staff ERVING – A Plainfield videographer’s documentary about compressor stations, like the one planned along the proposed route for the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Northfield, will be screened as part of an informational meeting planned by North Quabbin Pipeline Action at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Erving SeniorCommunity Center on Route 63. The group, which opposes the Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct project, aims to bring together people from surrounding towns to discuss the status of the proposed project, including the 80,000-horsepower compressor station planned somewhere on a 10-acre site in a four-mile stretch near the Warwick and New Hampshire borders. According to the company’s filing last month with the
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 20 acres would be needed for construction. Stephen Wicks will present his short documentary, “You Don’t Hear Much About THIS,” describing the realities of living near compressor stations — which are used to repressurize the natural gas to keep it flowing through a pipeline. In the film, described as “a story about what it means when a compressor station becomes your neighbor,” Wicks drives by a 20,000-horsepower compressor station in Nassau, New York, and reviews the issues of noise, fumes and potential hazards associated with the 24-hour-a-day stations. A similar showing of the video Saturday in Cummington, close to where a compressor station is planned for the Berkshire County town of Windsor, drew 150 people — so many that there had to be a second showing because of space
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limitations. North Quabbin Pipeline Action will also provide updates on the status of action to stop the pipeline and on lobbying to uphold Article 97 of the state constitution to protect state land. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners’ Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct project would extend through Plainfield in Hampshire County and Conway, Ashfield, Shelburne, Deerfield, Montague, Erving, Warwick and Northfield in Franklin County on its way from Pennsylvania and Wright, New York, to Dracut. Local governments apparently have no control over the envisioned $3 billion to $4 billion, 36-inch diameter pipeline, and while the state Legislature may have some regulatory power over its 300-mile route, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses such interstate energy projects.
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