WESTFIELD — Parents at the Oct. 21 meeting of the School Committee expressed worry about plans to close the Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center after this year.
Nicole Tillman said her son was “a miracle born at 23 weeks, who we were told was not viable,” and who “crushed the odds and is now 5 years old.” She spoke about how happy her son is at Fort Meadow. She said he has a feeding tube, is non-verbal and has autism, and the compassion his teacher gives him is something she knows will not be matched at another school.
“My child would certainly not have navigated as he has at another school,” Tillman said. She said at Fort Meadow the staff took the time to help parents navigate the tricky IEP process that sets students up for future success. “My child may be one of the monumental success stories that comes from Fort Meadow,” she said.
The School Committee voted 4-3 to close the aging building on White Street after the school year ends in June. The eight pre-kindergarten classrooms currently at Fort Meadow, serving 3- and 4-year-olds, will move to Highland Elementary School and Munger Hill Elementary School.
There are already pre-K classrooms scattered among Westfield’s elementary schools, with one each currently at Highland and Munger Hill, and two each at Southampton Road Elementary School and planned for the new Westfield River Elementary School, which will replace Abner Gibbs and Franklin Avenue elementary schools.
Space will be available next year at Highland and Munger Hill because the state is mandating that students in the English language learner program, who are currently concentrated at those two schools, be returned to their “home” schools so that they attend the same buildings as other children in their neighborhoods.
Special Education Director Debra Ecker said in Fort Meadow, roughly 50% of the students are on individualized education plans, and there are also students on IEPs in other preschool classrooms. She said classrooms would continue to be integrated, and related services and special education instruction would take place in the new locations.
“We know there are some students with greater needs than others,” Ecker said. She said the district will strategically assign these students to schools based on student need and caseloads, and the staff from Fort Meadow would be reassigned to the elementary buildings to serve preschool students, also based on student need and caseloads.
“We have talked about the plan for Fort Meadow, which has been discussed for several years. We never would have presented it if we didn’t believe we could provide the same services [as] at Fort Meadow,” said School Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski.
Human Resources Director Michael Morris said he expects a savings of $165,000 in utilities and maintenance from closing the Fort Meadow building, and a potential $300,000 in savings on staff by operating one fewer school, although he said it was too early to say what specific positions would be cut or reduced.
School Committee member Michael Tirrell highlighted another cost savings that administrators hadn’t mentioned: not having to spend the $2.9 million estimated for necessary renovations at the Fort Meadow building. He said that estimate is several years old.
Mariana Sullivan, serving her second year as president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Fort Meadow, expressed her reservations about the process.
She said she had been under the impression, when the School Committee first discussed moving Fort Meadow classrooms into the elementary schools, that a committee would be formed to discuss the future of Fort Meadow.
“I am concerned a committee wasn’t formed, and the vote is today,” she said.
Sullivan said her concerns include whether the preschool classrooms would have bathrooms in them and changing tables, and whether they would have adequate physical and occupational therapy, something she said 60% of the Fort Meadow students need.
Czaporowski said when school officials had talked about forming a committee, it was meant to be a formed to manage the transition, after a plan was decided.
“The options are to stay in Fort Meadow or do this. No other options have come forth,” he said.
School Committee member Jeffrey Gunther said he could not support the proposal as it stood. There was some information he felt that he didn’t have, including the cost of retrofitting Highland and Munger Hill classrooms to accommodate preschoolers, what the half-day and full-day mix of preschool would be, and what the district capacity is. He voted no, along with committee members Kathleen Hillman and Heather Sullivan.
“I’ve always been in favor of keeping Fort Meadow together, and I still feel strongly about that,” said Hillman.
Tirrell, School Committee Vice Chair Timothy O’Connor, committee member Bo Sullivan and Mayor Michael McCabe voted in favor.
“There’s not one person here that is not trying to work in the best interest of our children,” said McCabe.
