WESTFIELD — During Tuesday’s meeting of the board of education (BOE), Superintendent Raymond González, Ed.D., discussed the results of the district-wide “thought exchange” and provided updates regarding the large-scale facilities bond referendum that will be proposed next April.
The 60-member referendum advisory committee, which consists of Westfield residents, school administrators, board members, teachers, staff, taxpayers and parents from the Westfield community, met again on June 17, primarily to discuss what should be included in the referendum and at what cost.
According to Dr. González, the committee was mostly in agreement in terms of what should be included in the referendum, listing specific facilities upgrades as well as non-essentials such as playgrounds and fields as top priorities.
“There was no consensus, however, regarding an upper-limit dollar amount that the community might be willing to support, which speaks to the complexity of the proposal that we are engaging in,” Dr. González said. The committee agreed that this aspect of the proposal will be essential in getting taxpayer approval.
Respondents from the thought exchange — an interactive survey that was sent out to community members earlier this year — were primarily parents, but there also were responses from faculty, community members and students. The prompt for this forum was “What are some of the things you would most like to see in the facilities referendum in order to support the success of our students?”
The most prevalent thought seen in this exchange was the need for updated classrooms, bathrooms and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems. There also were many requests for full-day kindergarten.
“This community feedback is an essential part of the process as we prepare the final bond referendum proposal over the summer,” Dr. González said. “The community advisory committee will review the final proposal at its third and final meeting on September 9 and the board review is expected to occur soon thereafter.”
The Westfield district’s School Improvement Panel (ScIP) met June 17 to continue reviewing a series of new curriculum documents for the following subjects: K-12 mathematics, K-8 English and language arts, eighth-grade social studies, computer science and science and technology education.
“This new format addresses requests made by parents for more readable and understandable curriculum documents,” BOE President Robert Benacchio said.
These new documents are shorter in length and provide clearer descrip- tions of what is being taught and the timeline in which subjects are being taught. When each new curriculum is approved, the documents will be posted on the Westfield district website in their new proper format.
A new curriculum interface is expected to be up and running in January- February 2025, according to Mr. Benacchio. Students will be expected to follow these new curriculum standards in 2025.
The next Westfield BOE meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 27.
