West Springfield Middle School staff support renaming gym
Updated Apr 29, 2021;
Posted Apr 29, 2021
Staff at West Springfield Middle School are asking that the school’s gymnasium be renamed for former principal Thomas McNulty.
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WEST SPRINGFIELD Several teachers are asking the School Committee to turn the West Springfield Middle School gymnasium into a permanent tribute to the school’s former principal.
Thomas J. McNulty Jr., who was an assistant principal when the school opened in 1998 and was principal from 2002-15, was an exceptional administrator who set the tone for middle school education in West Springfield, proponents of the honor said in a presentation to the School Committee on Tuesday.
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West Springfield council eyes another alternative to mayor’s racism order
Updated Feb 01, 2021;
West Springfield town councilors will take up the issue of racism at their next meeting, and this time they’ll have another competing resolution to consider.
Following a Jan. 25 discussion that failed to reach a consensus on changing any of the wording in Mayor William Reichelt’s executive order declaring racism an “emergency and public health crisis,” Councilor Michael Eger last week shared his own version of the order, suggesting a few changes.
The council was slated to vote on the executive order Monday, but the meeting was canceled because of inclement weather.
West Springfield Town Council ready to vote on racism declaration
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
Several councilors again faulted the language of the proposed order at a study session Jan. 25, but said they didn’t want to delay the start of a town-wide effort to gather information on racial disparities and promote equity. They also said they had started to think deeply about systematic racism after reading the studies and news reports that Reichelt researched before writing the order.
“I had some serious issues with this when I read it the first time, and when I read it the second time, but since then, I’ve kind of changed my mind,” said Councilor Nathan Bech. “I think of racism as some jerk saying some horrible things to someone, but there’s a whole lot more to racism. That’s what I’m understanding in this whole process.”
Mayor William Reichelt: Renegotiate with union to get West Springfield kids back in school
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
First, they’ll have to convince the teachers union.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the school board, Mayor William Reichelt said he’s not satisfied with the agreement negotiated by school officials and ratified on Monday by the West Springfield Education Association. That agreement, an amendment of the COVID-19 work rules agreed by teachers before the school year began, continues to bar West Springfield from reopening its schools until the town is taken off the state’s list of “high risk” communities.
That would likely keep students in their homes until at least April, Reichelt said.