WTA aviation students Skylar Emmelman and Kiera Jacquier make the case for a new building for Westfield Technical Academy.
Photo credit: Westfield Community TV
WESTFIELD — The City Council voted 12-0 on April 2 to approve the submission of a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a new Westfield Technical Academy building, with one councilor, Nicholas Morganelli Jr., absent.
Westfield School Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the district is not going forward with its earlier plan to build a comprehensive school incorporating both high schools.
“Our plan shifted after the significant investments made at Westfield High School over the last 18 months,” he said.
During public participation before the council discussion, WTA aviation students Kiera Jacquier and Skylar Emmelman promoted a new building. They said they had spent the past few days looking at the problems in the facility. “In the winters, it is very, very cold; we have to layer up. In the summers, there is no AC.” They listed limited access to bathrooms, toilets that are not usable, poor supplies and sink spouts barely working.
The students said in a lot of the walls, there are large holes that can’t be painted over and are falling apart. The ceilings leak, and there are buckets in the hallway, missing ceiling tiles and chunks missing in the floor. Other failings include a limited number of electrical outlets throughout many of the classrooms and shops, a ceiling too low in the gymnasium for volleyball and elevators that shut down.
“Overall, the school is falling apart; we want to see it grow in the future,” said Jacquier and Emmelman.
School Committee member Kathleen Hillman implored the Council to vote for the SOI. “Our students deserve a good, healthy place to work. We have beautiful programs; they deserve a good building too,” she said.
Jeffrey Amanti, vice president of Advance Manufacturing and chair of the WTA Advisory Committee, said WTA is known as one of the best trade schools in the state, with nationally recognized top-of-the-line programs. He talked about the manufacturing shop’s relevance, noting that aircraft and missile guidance components the students built are being deployed to the Middle East right now.
“These students need a school and a facility to match the abilities they have there. They need a facility to match their skills, then the sky is the limit for these talented students,” Amanti said.
Councilor Ralph Figy read two letters he had received into the public comment; the first from Tina Gorman, special project coordinator and past director for Council on Aging, who said she hoped the council would seriously consider the request. “As the former director, I know all too well the process from the need of a new building to groundbreaking. In my 20 years at the COA, I had the privilege of successfully coordinating with programs at WTA,” Gorman wrote, citing her work with electrical wiring, graphic arts, culinary arts, horticulture and Allied Health. “The students and faculty do an amazing job in a less-than-ideal educational environment. We can do so much more, just as we did at the Senior Center,” Gorman said.
Resident Ephraim Luna also sent an email that was read into the record by Figy. He questioned the transparency of the SOI for a new technical school and whether it was actually for a new comprehensive school.
Luna referred to Westfield’s tax increase of 6.5% last year, added to increases in trash disposal and water, among other services. “Let’s be rational and base this presentation on rational numbers,” Luna wrote, asking, “Is the SOI for a new technical academy or a new comprehensive school.”
During his presentation before the vote, Czaporowski began by addressing the question. “To be clear, this SOI is for Westfield Technical Academy. Given the work happening with Westfield High School and other things, it would not make sense to do a larger school,” Czaporowski said.
He told the Council that the request must be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 17, and the Council must vote to approve the project before submission. “Once selected, we will need funding for a feasibility study, and then it will go to the ballot,” he said.
“We have a building that’s aging poorly at this point,” Czaporowski said. The upper campus was built in 1931, the lower campus in 1962, and the connector in 1994, which he said was in the worst shape, and made of material not meant to last.
He said the district has done some work on the school in terms of capital planning. They have paved the upper parking lot, had a weight room upgrade and opened up space in manufacturing, thanks to a Capital Skills grant, one of several the school has received for different shops.
Other improvements have included a new telephone and intercom system, a front entrance concrete project done by students in partnership with MassDOT, new exterior doors and windows in 2012 and a Tiger’s Pride dining room upgrade in 2018.
On Feb. 19, the Council approved $637,791 from free cash to replace and repair four restrooms, but Czaporowski said there are six more to be done, and the ones in the upper campus are 95 years old.
Czaporowski said enrollment is at or near capacity at 550 students. There is no ability to add new programs due to lack of space, and they have had to open the teacher’s lounge and gym for student lunches. “During hot days in June, classrooms in the upper levels are moved to the auditorium,” he said.
Due to its aging facility, the school’s accreditation is at risk, Czaporowski said. In June of 2025, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) voted to place the school on warning for the standard on learning resources, stating: “The existing facility no longer meets the demands of modern technical education. To address this, WTA will present a detailed, data-driven proposal to the Westfield Public Schools district advocating for a new, modern facility that better supports student learning and industry-aligned programming.”
“What we would like to do is submit this proposal to MSBA for a new Westfield Technical Academy, not only because a comprehensive school would be cost-prohibitive. With a new building, we would be able to accept all the students on the waiting list, and open up the opportunity to add other programming,” Czaporowski said, listing HVAC, plumbing, cosmetology and farming, among the programs he would like to see added.
As to whether it is a school for 750 students and what it would look like, he said that is the purpose of the feasibility study. “A new Westfield Technical Academy is needed; our students deserve it,” Czaporowski said, adding there is no guarantee that the SOI will be accepted by the MSBA, and in fact, it is unlikely that it would be accepted in the first year of submission, but the district would keep going back. He said in the best case scenario, a new school would likely take eight to 10 years to realize.
During the discussion before the unanimous vote, Councilor Daniel Knapik said that in 2011 and 2014, the MSBA spent a lot of money on a green repair program at WTA. “We spent millions of dollars,” he said, but even at the time, the observation by the state was that the building should be demolished and was not worth saving. Coming out of the recession, Knapik said there was not an option to do anything different but repair it, adding that the repairs bought the city 15 years, and will probably last another five to seven years.
“We have a lot of significant decisions to make in a very short amount of time in the city. In this particular one, I’m glad to see this is going to advance,” Knapik said. He said he had a graduate from the WTA aviation program last year who went directly to the FAA Academy and is now an air traffic controller in New Hampshire, and another one who is going to Embry Riddle University in the fall. “So it does graduate first-class children. There’s no question it does. And they do deserve a first-class building,” he said.
“The school was in need when I went there in 1984,” said Councilor James Adams. He asked for clarification on whether, if the vote passed, the question would go to the ballot in November or after the state accepts the project. He also asked if the district had a location in mind for a new school.
Czaporowski said there is land available at the airport, which he said would be great for the aviation program and proximity to area businesses. “We would probably submit multiple parcels of land,” he said.
Adams said the city just went through this with the Police Department, and finding three acres was almost impossible. “I’ll certainly support this. We’ll leave it up to the voters; they’ll be paying for it. What do we do; we don’t have a choice,” he said.
Figy said last year he voted against submitting the SOI. “Considering all that has transpired in a year, I’m going to be a yes. Our kids do deserve better,” he said.
Councilor Karen Fanion asked when the question would go to the ballot.
“Typically, if they get accepted into the MSBA, it would go on the ballot the next November,” Czaporowski said, adding it could get selected anywhere from one to four years. “That is when the funding would need to be allocated, and it would go to polls the following November.”
Councilor Dan Allie suggested that the city seek national funding for the school as well. “It’s happening now. We’ve done so well with our business partners,” responded Czaporowski.
Councilor Cindy Harris agreed that it is a phenomenal school. “I want to address the economic aspect,” she said, adding that the citizens have seen so many increases in taxes, water and life in general. “I want the people to understand [that] starting it is not going to cost anything, is that correct? If we all approve this beginning of the process, there will be no tax increases for the citizens unless they vote on it at this time until this reaches the ballot,” Harris said, adding, “We are saying you can proceed with this, the paper trail basically to get into the possibility of getting a new school, but the citizens have the final decision whether or not the school goes through or not.”
“Does a yes vote require an appropriation,” asked Councilor Kristen Mello, to which Czaporowski said no. Mello also asked when the money for the feasibility study would come into play.
“They would have to accept us first. Then we would have to come up with funding for a feasibility study. If they select us, we would find a way collectively to move forward,” Czaporowski said.
Councilor William Onyski then read the resolution to approve submission of the SOI, and the motion to approve was unanimous, followed by applause in the gallery.
