WEST SPRINGFIELD – Mayor Will Reichelt began the West Springfield School Committee meeting on Nov. 12 with a moment of silence for Kyle Thibodeau, a 17-year-old West Springfield High School student who died in a car crash on Nov. 7. Student Representative Haley Riddles said students decorated Thibodeau’s parking space in remembrance and the football team dedicated a game to him.

Two candidates for the position of School Business Manager were interviewed by the school committee. The mayor and school committee members asked the same questions of each candidate.

Kim Hunter, a 16-year veteran of the school department and native of West Springfield, is a licensed administrator and has worked on several efficiency projects in district management.

Hunter said she was “committed to maintaining the excellent financial standing of our town.” When asked about her management style, she said, “I like to roll up my sleeves.”

When asked what challenges the school committee faces, Hunter said that she already has ideas about creating additional efficiencies, removing obstacles and streamlining processes. She said her goal is to help administrators do more.

The second candidate, Cammie Lamica was formerly an assistant business manager for West Springfield and said that she regretted leaving the district.

When asked how she would handle a disagreement between herself and the committee or the mayor, Lamica said her job would be to make the best recommendations and make them aware of the consequences of various plans of action.

Both candidates had a history of working with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and expressed a desire to work collaboratively with the rest of the central office team.

After their interviews, the school committee members deliberated. Nancy Farrell said that both candidates were qualified but recommended Hunter, partly because she has worked in different aspects of management.

Colleen Marcus said she had worked closely with both candidates and both were capable, however, she said, “Kim [Hunter] is West Springfield.”

Pat Garbacik echoed her colleagues’ opinion about the qualifications of the candidates but praised Hunter’s enthusiasm for West Springfield and that she had been mentored by outgoing School Business Manager Carey Sheehan.

Santaniello said she liked that Hunter already had plans for what she wanted to do in the position.

The committee voted unanimously for Hunter.

Superintendent Michael Richard and the curriculum subcommittee decided to hold off on applying to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE’s) Kaleidoscope program.

The program involves grant money to facilitate a “deeper learning initiative.” The pilot program begins in January of 2020. The Department of Education’s website describes the program as fostering “a coalition of participating teachers, schools, and districts who will have access to opportunities and incentives to try out new approaches to teaching and learning.”

Colleen Marcus said the curriculum subcommittee had discussed applying to the first round of districts with the Innovation Pathways or grades 5 and 8 science with a focus on project-based learning.

“We do know that DESE is looking for ideas that exemplify deeper learning opportunities,” Marcus said, but beyond that, there hadn’t been much guidance from the state. Because of that, Marcus said the district had decided to wait to apply until the second round in September 2021.

Richard said that at a meeting with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents/Massachusetts Associate of School Committees, many districts had concerns over a lack of clarity around Kaleidoscope.

“I appreciate the committee’s patience while we make sure we get this right rather than throwing something at DESE that may not be what they’re looking for,” Richard said, adding that he would rather West Springfield learn from the districts that participate in the first round.

Residents can learn more about Kalidescope at doe.mass.edu/deeperlearning.

West Springfield Middle School teachers Gia Torres and Hannah Miller gave a presentation on the Creative Literacy program, formerly known as English Language Arts 2. It is a unified arts program rooted in the Massachusetts English language arts standards, but Torres explained, “we get to dive a little deeper into ideas and classwork” than in a standard language arts course.

The class is structured so that the teachers have the same students in terms 1 and 3 or terms 2 and 4. During the off quarters, the students take other unified arts classes, such as cooking, computer coding or physical education.

Torres says a key component of the program is providing “a safe and diverse engaging environment for students – we really pride ourselves in allowing students to express themselves.” That expression is done through writing, art, music and community engagement.

One community outreach project has students speak with veterans from VFW Post 6714 for the annual Patriots Pen Pal Panel visit. After speaking to the vets and doing a small Q&A, the students write essays based on a prompt. This year’s theme was “What makes America great.” The veterans read the essays and vote on the winners.

In another unit, the teachers use the novel, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” to teach about the Holocaust. At the end of the unit, the students made a Memorial Garden for Holocaust victims.

Another creative technique is Miller’s use of a Jeopardy format to prepare students for MCAS testing.

As part of the social and emotional learning component, Torres has a “Check Yourself” board. Students write their name on the back of a Post-It note and place their post it in a row that identifies how they’re feeling. There are seven levels, from “I’m great” to “I’d like to be referred.” This lets the teacher know who needs to be checked in with or referred to a counselor at school.

Miller tackles social-emotional learning with 8th graders by having them use writing and journaling to deal with stressful situations. The students research techniques to deal with stress.

Garbacik said she loves the integration of English, arts and civics, while school committee member William Garvey praised the teachers for taking the opportunity to integrate social and emotional learning.

Assistant Superintendent Kevin McQuillan updated the school committee on the next steps in the new Coburn Elementary School project. In early December, he said, the design drawings and specifications will be presented to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for review. At this point, the MSBA is monitoring progress, checking to see that the budget is on target and flagging inconsistencies, McQuillan said.

McQuillan also updated the committee on the Tatham Elementary School modulars. He said the steps, stairs, awnings and gutters were added. Vents have been installed in the crawl spaces, the floor work has been completed and the IT department has installed the projectors in each classroom. Last-minute details need to be finished such as testing the fire alarm system, but McQuillan said they were on track for move-in date of Nov. 15.

Tatham Elementary School principal Kate Morneau told the committee that the majority of students and staff will go to The Boys & Girls Club on moving day, while the remainder of the staff and volunteers facilitate the move.

“We’re really excited and looking forward to having space,” Morneau said.

The committee approved several field trips including the West Springfield High School field trip to Dingle, Ireland. On April 17, 2020, 37 students and eight chaperones will leave for Ireland and return on April 25, 2020. While in Ireland, students will see Killarney, Blarney Castle and spend two days at the school in Dingle with the Irish students. Mayor Will Reichelt and Town Councillor Edward Sullivan will also be traveling to Dingle as members of the sister city committee.

A representative for the high school wrestling team received permission for three in-season tournament field trips and three post-season tournament field trips provided the team qualifies. Five of the six are overnight field trips.

 The CARE Coalition also was approved for a trip to National Harbor, MD, for a national leadership forum in February.

Richard urged parents to update their “SchoolMessenger” preferences so they receive messages in the medium they prefer, whether it be by phone, email, text, Twitter, Facebook, or the West Springfield Public Schools app.

He also encouraged families to make plans in advance in case school is canceled, delayed, or there is an early dismissal due to inclement weather.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, a second-grade teacher told the school committee that she had asked her students if they had winter coats. When she checked lockers, she found that of the 17 students who said they had them, two had none, three had hoodies and two had light jackets. The kids with the hoodies and jackets claimed those were their winter coats.

“I want to encourage parents that if a child doesn’t have a winter coat please ask because we do have resources and it just saddens me,” she said.