WESTFIELD — Members of the Westfield Board of Education donned festive holiday sweaters on December 17 for their final meeting of the calendar year. The meeting started with a performance by the Westfield High School Chorale, who sang a selection of Christmas and Hanukkah songs.
Moving on to its regular agenda, the board returned to an ongoing conversation about possible schedule changes for next year. Last month, Matthew Bolton, Ed.D., the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, told the board that starting classes a bit later at both the middle- and high-school levels could be a beneficial move.
Students at Westfield High School currently attend class from either 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 8:17 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The district is weighing new start- and end-time options to align with block scheduling: OptionA, from 7:55 a.m. to 2:49 p.m.; or Option B, from 7:45 a.m. to 2:39 p.m. Both plans extend the total school day to six hours and 59 minutes in order to accommodate a longer lunch period — something both students and teachers advocated for to Dr. Bolton.
At the district’s intermediate schools, students currently attend class from 8:07 a.m. to 2:47 p.m. The proposed Option A starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 2:50 p.m.; the proposed Option B starts at 8:25 a.m. and goes to 3 p.m.
While the district plans to partner with the Westfield Police Department to manage traffic regardless of which plans are selected, multiple members of the board voiced approval for Westfield High School to adopt Option A while the intermediate schools adopt Option B in order to lower congestion. According to Board Vice President Sonal Patel, “one of the things that we were looking to do with the schedule change was recognizing that kids need a later start time for more sleep.”
Board member Brendan Galligan added that he feels the change in school start times is a “once in a generation chance to fix traffic on Rahway Avenue.”
The board will vote on the changes during its Tuesday, January 21, 2025 meeting.
During the vote on policies, board member Julie Steinberg raised concern that topics discussed in the confidential policies subcommittee meeting need to be shared at the public board meeting. Ms. Steinberg asked, “is there anything that can be discussed outside of committee regarding the HIB [Harassment, Bullying, and Intimidation] Report?”
School Superintendent Raymond González, Ed.D., asserted that the committee’s discussion should remain confidential, “because in the committee report, we did cite the legal artifact that our attorney shared, which is protected under attorney-client privilege.”
Although the details of HIB reports are confidential, the board voted on the approval of 15 HIB reports during the meeting. HIB reports are managed by the Policy Committee, which includes Leila Morrelli, Mary Wickens and Ms. Patel.
Tuesday night’s agenda also included the approval of policies titled “Board Member Use of Social Media” and “Board Member Use of Electronic Mail/Internet,” as well as the repeal of a policy titled “Duties of the Board Attorney.”
During the vote, Ms. Steinberg voted no to accept the policies on social media and electronic mail, as well as the repeal of “Duties of the Board Attorney.” Ms. Steinberg also voted against approval of the HIB reports.
Board member Charles Gelinas stated that, “given the complexity of these issues and the confusion spawned tonight, I respectfully vote no on all” HIB reports. Mr. Gelinas also voted no on the approval of social media and internet policies.
The board also heard from Mr.
Galligan on the Finance and Facilities Committee’s year-end report. Following projects for the 2024-2025 school year, the district will have $7 million in capital reserve for the following year. This money is used for ongoing maintenance and other, smaller projects. Mr. Galligan also shared that the state commissioner of education will finalize the date for the April 2025 school-board election sometime in January 2025.
The Finance and Facilities Committee additionally is weighing options for a new computer-repair service for the district, such as an annual fee or an optional insurance to cover the costs of repairs. Families are currently required to cover the cost of repairs out of pocket on an as-needed basis.
The board also voted to approve the appointment of William Loughran, Jr. as acting principal of Westfield High School from January to March of 2025, and recognized the Girls Varsity Soccer team for its Group 4 State Championship, as well as the Sectional Champions from Girls Tennis, Girls Volleyball, Boys Cross Country, and Girls Cross Country.
