Westfield Technical Academy Principal Bruce Hastings addresses the School Committee on Oct. 6.
Photo credit: Westfield Community TV
WESTFIELD — On a vote of 3-4 at its meeting on Oct. 6, the School Committee voted not to approve the new Westfield Technical Academy application and admissions policy, dated 2025-2026.
“They weren’t voting against the policy we created, they were voting against the whole idea of lottery versus merit,” said WTA Principal Bruce Hastings after the meeting.
In introducing the revised policy before the vote, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has gone against the recommendation of career technical education administrators across the state by requiring a lottery for admission.
Hastings said enrollment at the school is currently 560 students, having brought in the largest freshman class in its history after having graduated the largest senior class in its history last spring. He said now that WTA will be required to choose students via a lottery, all students will be admitted via a lottery system, with Westfield students ahead of out-of-town students.
In the former admissions policy, five factors for admission were considered including attendance, discipline, academic referral from a guidance counselor, grades and a student’s interest in career technical education.
“We did interviews with each applicant to see what their interest was in coming,” Hastings said. He said schools may still conduct interviews as part of the new policy, but students can’t be graded on them.
In the new system, schools will have a choice of employing two different types of lottery; a straight lottery in which every applicant gets one name entered, and a weighted lottery with three different criteria; an attendance weight if a student had less than 27 absences to date in seventh and eighth grade; a discipline weight if they have no grievances against them per state law of possession of a dangerous weapon or assault against educational staff, and another weight for showing an interest in career technical education.
Hastings said right now WTA is considering only putting in an extra slip for attendance. “The way we’re looking at it is if they’re applying, they’re showing interest.”
In practical terms, what the new lottery system may mean is fewer out-of-town students. Hastings said last year, for the 160 available freshmen seats, there were 177 applicants from Westfield and 80 applicants from other districts, 20 of whom were admitted. He said if the new rules had been in place, only 10 would have been admitted.
One difference with Westfield Technical Academy is that it is the only single-district vocational school that is part of a city district that takes in out-of-town students, Hastings said. He said regional vocational schools, such as Pathfinder in Chicopee, are their own school districts with a superintendent and a principal.
“For us, the law says we have to take Westfield kids if there are spots available. Now, our out-of-district students are going to have a much harder time to get in,” Hastings said.
“We can still take out-of-town kids if there are still seats open. Last year, we had more Westfield applicants than seats. Not everyone who we offer a place to takes it.” He said what will happen under the new system is there will be a lottery for Westfield residents. If that fills up and overflows, the school will start a waiting list, and out-of-district students will be at the bottom of the waiting list. “I get that, it is a Westfield district school, but that will have an effect on our budget,” Hastings said.
“We’re going to have fewer out-of-district kids, which will negatively affect our budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Czaporowski. “What we want is more seats. This doesn’t make more seats, it makes different kids get in.” He said a lot of the WTA students go into their career fields because their families are in that career, which can’t be taken into consideration.
“The theory is, kids will get in who might not have previously,” said Czaporowski. He said some of them might not be successful at the school if they have poor discipline and attendance. “When students are going through that program, you want them to be successful. Our numbers of successful students have improved so much over the last ten years, it’s something to be proud of,” he said.
In terms of introducing WTA to Westfield students, Hastings said WTA has always had a great connection with Westfield Middle School, offering annual tours to eighth graders and also having shops go into the school on a regular basis.
In an earlier presentation at the meeting, WMS Principal Jesse McMillan talked about the middle school’s strong collaboration with WTA. He said every eighth grader tours the technical shops, and during the year different shops come into the school during lunches with informational tables, something he said the students enjoy very much. This year, WMS also plans to take seventh graders on a more general tour of WTA.
Hastings said WTA is also going to go to Westfield Intermediate School to introduce the program, so fifth and sixth graders know who they are, and understand what they will need to do in seventh and eighth grade to attend the school. “The merit system is working here,” he said.
During the discussion, most School Committee members weren’t happy with the new policy either.
“I was under the impression — didn’t we always have a weighted system,” asked Heather Sullivan.
Czaporowski said the new system is different. Previously, they had five criteria for acceptance. Now if a student meets certain criteria, for example no more than 27 absences in the last 270 days of seventh and eighth grade, their name will go in twice. He said in the old system, good discipline matters. He said in the new system, the state no longer recognizes kids who get in trouble, such as fights, which is a safety concern in the shops.
He said attendance also matters. “If you miss a week of shop, 30 hours of instruction – you can’t make it up. When you fall behind in the curriculum, it gets complicated.”
Czaporowski said across the state career technical academy administrators are up in arms about the new policy. “For me, attendance and discipline should be huge factors. I would have liked to have more time to look at it,” he said. The new policy has to be approved by the School Committee and submitted to DESE by Nov. 1. “Was the system so bro
ken that it needed to be fixed?” asked Bo Sullivan. When Hastings and Czaporowski both said no, Sullivan asked, “Then, why?”
School Committee Chair and Mayor Michael McCabe said he has been speaking to the Massachusetts Municipal Association and other state organizations about his concerns. “It’s absolutely a terrible policy for the city of Westfield,” he said, adding that under the new form, if students don’t get in, he believes the city will have to pay out-of-district costs.
“It’s a mess that was created politically, not a mess that couldn’t be fixed. This really was politically motivated,” McCabe said.
“What happens if we vote no?” asked Sullivan.
Czaporowski said the state could hold back Chapter 74 funding. “A vote from you would allow me to follow the rules. I don’t want to jeopardize future funding,” he said, adding that the policy should apply to regional school districts that serve up to 15 towns, not to city-owned vocational schools.
“I am glad that Westfield students come first,” said Kathleen Hillman..
“Not everyone that applies should get in,” said McCabe.
“My vision for the new school is to create more seats,” Czaporowski said, adding this doesn’t.
A motion was made to accept the new admissions policy, to which Jeffrey Gunther, Kathleen Hillman and Michael Tirrell voted yes, and Tim O’Connor, Heather Sullivan, Bo Sullivan and McCabe voted no. The motion did not pass.
McCabe thanked everyone for their frank discourse. “I was against it from the start. I was against it at MMA. I was against it at the legislative advisory council,” McCabe said. He asked Czaporowski to check with the school attorney about the no vote before the next meeting.
