WA School Council Minutes
Westford Academy School Council
Thursday, December 14, 2023 7:45 AM - 8:45 AM Principal’s Conference Room
In attendance: Hansen Shieh, Mia Votano, Sahil Dua, Mark House, Michele Curtis, Lauren Clark, Amanda Welch, Russell Coward, Kristin Morris, Dan Twomey
Agenda:
1. Approve minutes from the last meeting
a. Approved 2. Budget
a. Enrollment
i. In the past we can absorb retirements, this year we have 0 retirements
Reduction of 10/11 positions WPS, 2.2 positions from WA (.2 World Lang, .6 English, .2 history, reduction in VPA and World Lang that will equal another 1.2– which will be based upon student selections)
Shortfall in funding: There will be a vote for an override (increase taxes by more than 2 1⁄2 percent)
If override isn’t approved: an additional 11.4 positions lost
Increase class sizes (25:1)
Scheduling: Master schedule will need to be rebuilt, schedules will not be ready by end of the school year, gaps in schedule in Sept, add/drop timeline needs to be changed
Authentic learning will be impacted
Reductions in elective classes in every department
Significant impact to co-curricular activities (at least 35 clubs, 10 different sports) due to teacher caseloads or loss of that staff member
Staff may have to teacher a section outside of their license
School
Increase caseloads by 30+ students, to over 230+ per counselor
Eliminate Junior Job Shadow Day and Career Bfast
Eliminate or reduce counseling newsletter/social media presence
Eliminate Coffee with Counselors
Personal/Social: Impact Counselor on Call, change mental health
screenings
Math & Comp Sci reduction of 2.0
Reduction in Double-Ups
Less electives that would include AP offerings
Comp Sci: harder to meet pre-reqs
Counselor reduction of 1.0
Science reduction of 2.0
Certain labs can’t run
Less hands-on learning
Reduce electives (forensics, marine bio, environmental bio,
robotics/engineering)
English reduction of 2.0
Eliminate English electives (film and lit, journalism, creative writing)
Ghostwriter would most likely not run or be completely different
Less guided feedback on college essays
Impact in classroom setups
Impact the amount of writing– only so much to correct
Experienced teachers (12 and 17 years experience)
WL
Reductions in Spanish, Latin, Mandarin or eliminate the Mandarin
program
Eliminate upper level honors/CP classes
More combining of levels (4CP, 5CP, 5H)
VPA reduction of .8
Ensemble offerings will be reduced
Few sections in Visual Arts (photo or ceramics) or inability to run level 2
courses
District impact in music dept
Social Studies reduction 1.4
APUSH would be limited in number of section
Class sizes could jump as high as 30
Impact the quality of authentic learning
Library Media Specialist reduction 1.0
Eliminate research collaboration with teachers
Reduction on the amount of library teaching for classes
Closed to students more frequently
Look at school profile– give school committee a version of what it could look like (DT and LC)
3. Other:
a. Open portal for PowerSchool for Q2 progress reports
i. Students– on chromebook, saw grades, pretty straightforward, very few comments
Principal’s Friday emails will go to students as well
Hamlet the service dog stopped by
Next meeting: at January 25, 2024, 7:45am in the principal’s conference room
reduction in 1.2