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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“A man can’t
ride your back unless it’s bent.” — Martin Luther King Jr
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 12
75 cents
Knapik seeks sewer funding By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik is seeking a City Council appropriation of $3,450,000 from the city’s sewer inflow and infiltration account to Water Resource Department’s construction account to be used to install new sewers in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. The $3.45 million appropriation will be submitted to the City Council tomorrow night. City Engineer Mark Cressotti said the $3.45 million will be used as a component of the Gaslight District infrastructure improvements. That Dan Knapik project will also Mayor include a $2 million investment to replace water mains in the target neighborhood. The $2 million water main funding was approved as a component of the Elm Street water line bond when the Elm Street water main was replaced last year. The Gaslight District project will encompass the neighborhood between Elm Street on the east, and Washington Street on the west, Franklin Street on the north and Court Street on the south. Cressotti said the Gaslight Project would improve the infrastructure and streets, while enhancing pedestrian movement in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods abutting Elm Street, and was initiated to support downtown redevelopment. “This whole neighborhood is in need of upgraded utilities. The existing facilities don’t support economic development or serve the needs of the residents,” Cressotti said. Underground utilities, water sewer gas and storm drains would be replaced and overhead utilities will be buried to support further commercial and residential development in the neighborhood. A new street will be constructed through the Arnold Street municipal parking lot at an offset See Sewer Funding, Page 8
South Middle sounds Joel A. Martin, a jazz pianist from Northampton, demonstrates a combination of jazz and classical piano techniques to a group of Westfield South Middle School students this morning. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Schools get mid-year progress report By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Last night, the Westfield School Committee took the opportunity to both review the progress the district has made this year to date, and to look to the future. After welcoming new member Jeffrey Gosselin to the table, the committee also recognized the recently crowned western Mass. champion Westfield High School Gymnastics team, fresh off their seventh straight regional title. This was followed by Westfield Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion highlighting strategic objectives and student achievement gains made during this fall, progress for a district which is looking to continue it’s rise up out of Level Three status. Strategic objectives for the district included using the Massachusetts Frameworks as
“a foundation to align and implement cirriculum and instructional programs to improve student achievement”, to develop “a focused, coordinated professional development programs to cultivate professional skills of staff”, and to allocate resources with “equity and transparency” in the district, which will go to pay for “cirriculm materials, technology, staffing and facility upgrades.” Other objectives are to maximize the district’s capacity to “collaborate as a ‘coordinated school system and instructional leaders” and to develop district programs which meet the needs of all learners. “This is something I hope is at the forefront of your minds at all times. I know it’s at the principal’s at all times,” Scallion said. District gains were highlighted regarding Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills in the Superintendent’s report, with significant gains being made at Highland and Franklin Elementary Schools, where the
Imagine Learning program has been implemented at both schools. The program will be accessible to kindergarteners citywide this year. “We fully expect to see the number of students who qualify for special education decline. We are now 140 students fewer than we were three years ago,” Scallion said. The district also made gains toward it’s goals for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam established when Massachusetts was granted a flexibility waiver under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2012, which enabled the state to replace the previous goal of 100 percent proficiency by 2013-2014, which Scallion referred to as “ridiculous”, with a more realistic goal of reducing proficiency gaps in half by 2016-2017. “Our bar was set by our scores a year ago,” See Schools, Page 8
Double duty not unprecedented By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The deadline is January 21 for candidates to submit paperwork with the state for the 4th Hampden District seat in the House of Representatives, held formerly by now-State Senator Don Humason, Jr. (R – Westfield). Recently inaugurated At-large City Councilor Daniel Allie, a Republican, has been gathering signatures in an effort to challenge city attorney John Velis, a Democrat, who expressed interest in running for the seat even before Humason’s senate victory. But can an individual serve the City of Westfield as a city councilor and as a state representative? Susan Philips, the solicitor for the City of Westfield’s Law Department, said she hasn’t looked into the matter and therefore couldn’t comment, but said she wouldn’t doubt that it has occurred elsewhere in the Commonwealth, a state which, as it
turns out, has a history of local officials serving double duty in both their home districts and Boston. “It is not as common a practice as it used to be,” said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for State Secretary William F. Galvin. “But there is no legal or statutory bar to prevent a member of a city’s council from serving in the State House at the same time.” He added that state senators and representatives holding elected positions back home is more common at different levels of government and that it has considerable precedent, as many cities in eastern Massachusetts have seen instances in which city councilors and even mayors have served their municipalities and the Commonwealth simultaneously. McNiff cited James McIntyre as a prime example of such a figure, as he held the mayorship in the Norfolk County city of Quincy from 1965 to 1971 while serving as state senator.
McIntyre is often credited with setting in motion such transportation initiatives as the construction of the city’s Burgin Parkway and the extension of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Red Line subway across the Neponset River from Boston to Quincy. The former mayor also drew sharp criticism however from the Quincy Police Department during his tenure on Beacon Hill for voting for pay increases for Capital, State and Metropolitan District Commission Police forces while neglecting to increase the budget for the city’s own police department, which led to the formation of the Quincy Police Betterment Association, known today as the Quincy Police Patrol Officers’ Association, in 1968. The Essex County city of Lawrence has also seen a mayoral double dip when they elected State Rep. William See Double Duty, Page 7
Massachusetts has a history of local officials serving double duty in both their home districts and Boston.
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