AGAWAM – The Agawam School Committee hosted their first meeting of the new year, which included electing a new vice chair and a secretary, a presentation about a new after school program and a program update from the high school principal.

The Jan. 14 meeting began with the election of Carmino Mineo as the vice chair and Shelley Reed as the school committee secretary. Prior to Mineo’s election as vice chair, committee member Wendy Rua served in the position with Mineo serving as the secretary.

Mayor William Sapelli, who serves as the school committee chairperson, thanked Rua for the work she’d done in her two years as vice chair.

“I would like to thank Mrs. Rua for her two years as vice chair. Thank you for all your hard work, I know you ran a few meetings, you did them very well, so thank you very much,” he said.

Following the election was an informational presentation about the Wright Flight Program being offered to Agawam Junior High students this year.

The presentation was given by STEM teacher Sandy Johnson and Agawam Junior High Principal Norm Robbins.

Robbins began the presentation by stating that offering the program was part of the district’s effort to continue growing and expanding the STEM offerings made available to students.

“We started the STEM program a few years ago, was technology/ed and we kind of blended that and expanded that a little bit more,” he explained. “And as we go through this, we’re adding more and more things that are going to be more appropriate for the students so they advance as our society changes, as our economic standards are changing.”

The purpose of the 12-week, fee-based program, Robbins noted, was not to turn the students into pilots, but instead to teach them about the career opportunities surrounding the aviation field.

“When they first presented they said, ‘We’re not trying to make pilots out of you, we want to expose you to all the things that add up to the aviation industry,’” he told the committee. “So they talked about the manufacturing, the aeronautics, the people that work behind the scenes- the mechanics, the people that work in flight control.”

Johnson explained that throughout the program, pilots from the Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport come and present a total of six different seminars to participating students. Program participants also go on two field trips, one to New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT., and another to a local manufacturing facility. Johnson noted that it had not yet been decided which local facility the program would be visiting.

Robbins said the program cost about $194 for each student to participate in the program. A large portion of the fee, he noted, covered the students’ flight time on the last day of the program. “One hundred and eighty dollards of that goes towards the actual flight they’re able to participate in at the end of it,” he explained.

He also mentioned that the program offered scholarships to students whose families may not be able to afford the fee, but still want to participate.

Johnson elaborated on the flight the students take on the last day of the program, explaining that students must take a final exam before “Flight Day” to participate.

“The kids will meet up at the Barnes Airport and they actually get to go in an airplane and fly with the pilot. They will spend 30 minutes flying the plane,” she explained. “And the nice thing is that they will be flying over Agawam Junior High School and then they will fly back. Then they fly back and switch positions, so one will be flying and one will be in the back. So they actually get an hour flying.”

Following the presentation, the committee approved several warrants and then received a 2020 program update from Agawam High School Principal Thomas Schnepp.

In addition to information about some amendments and language changes to the program, he informed them of several new course offerings for next year. Included in the new offerings are a writing center class through the English department, a Sports and Society class through the social studies department and an Essentials class through their Information Technology (IT) pathway.

Schnepp said a second part to the Essentials class would be offered and will be called Network Technology. Both classes will be taught by teacher Matthew Stintson, who taught the AP Computer Science Principles course last year and had all his students pass the AP exam.

In addition to new courses, Schnepp said the class Algebra I Honors will begin to require summer coursework beginning next year.  “It just seems often times they lose some of those skills over the summer, we spend a lot of time in the fall, reviewing some of those skills,” he explained.

Superintendent of Agawam Public Schools Steven Lemanski then closed out the meeting with a brief update regarding redistricting within the district. He noted  the steering committee, made up of teachers, administrators and some parents, took place on Jan. 13.

Lemanski described the meeting as “productive” and said many good suggestions were made. “We’ve got some good suggestions on the table and we’re going to try to get the word out as much as possible as to our progress and we look forward to it,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for Agawam Public Schools to bring our early childhood students into our elementary schools, and also for us to really get our schools balanced because they’re really not balanced at this present time.”